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THE GREAT BALLOON OF NASSAU. - MR. MONCK MASON's ACCOUNT OF THE ASCENT. - Priestley, London. - One of the enterprising aeronauts who ascended from Vauxhall on the 7th of November (Mr. Monck Mason) is about to lay before the world an account of the voyage. We have been favoured with an early copy of his pamphlet, from which we have selected several extracts, giving a preference to such passages as seemed to throw a light upon questions of a scientific character. The whole account will however, we have no doubt, be eagerly perused by the public. Its descriptions are vivid, and the tone and enthusiasm which pervades it highly engaging. The general character of the production is popular rather than scientific:-
  "Great as are the merits of Mr. Green's previous discoveries, they may be said to yield in importance to that whereby he has succeeded in enabling the aeronaut to maintain the power of his balloon undiminished during the continuance of the most protracted voyage it could ever be required to perform. In order fully to comprehend the value of this discovery, which more immediately formed the object of our late enterprise, it is necessary that some idea should be had of the difficulties it was intended to obviate, and of the effects they were calculated to produce upon the further progress of aerostation. When a balloon ascends to navigate the atmosphere, independent of the loss of power occasioned by its own imperfections, an incessant waste of its resources in gas and ballast becomes the inevitable consequence of its situation. No sooner has it quitted the earth than it is immediately subjected to the influence of a variety of circumstances, tending to create a difference in its weight, augmenting or diminishing, as the case may be, the power by the means of which it is supported. The deposition or evaporation of humidity to the extent, in proportion to its size, of several hundred weight; the alternate heating and cooling of its gasuous contents by the remotion or interposition of clouds between the object itself and the influence of the solar rays, with a variety of other more secret though no less powerful agencies, all so combine to destroy the equilibrium which it is the main object of the aeronaut to preserve, that scarcely a moment passes without some call for his interposition, either to check the descent of the balloon by the ejection of ballast, or to control the ascent by the proportionate discharge of gas: a process by which, it is unnecessary to observe, the whole power of the balloon, however great its dimensions, must in time be exhausted, and sooner or later terminate its career by succumbing to the laws of terrestrial gravitation. By the simple contrivance of a rope of the requisite magnitude and extent, trailing on the ground beneath (and, if over the sea, with a sufficient quantity of liquid ballast, contained in vessels floating on its surface), have all these difficulties been overcome, and all the features of the art completely and effectually reversed. Harnessed to the earth or ocean by a power too great for her to resist, it is in vain the balloon endeavours to change the level of her course; every foot she would have been otherwise compelled to add to her elevation now only adds to her weight by her endeavours to abstract from the earth a further portion of that rope which is dependent upon its surface: while, on the other hand, every foot she would have been inclined to descend, has she been at liberty as heretofore, now only abstracts from the weight which draws her downwards, by throwing on the earth the labour of supporting an additional portion of the guide rope, which she would otherwise have had to sustain without relief. Limited by one unalterable plane all the fluctuations above-mentioned, whereby her irreparable stock of power became subjected to incessant waste have thus completely been avoided, and not only her ascensive force maintained in its full vigour throughout a period determinable solely by her own imperfections, but at all times, and under all circumstances, over the boundless ocean, without a landmark, in the densest fog, and throughout the darkest night, the exact direction of her course, as well as the very rate of her progress, determined with the utmost facility and most infallible results.[[asterisk]] The main feature, however in this discovery is the altered aspect under which it enables the aeronaut to regard the perils of the sea, and the consequent extension it bestows upon the hitherto limited sphere of his relations. The ocean, now no longer the dreaded enemy of the aerial voyager, becomes at once his greatest friend; and instead of opposing his progress, offers him advantages more certain and efficacious than even the earth itself, with all its presumed security, is calculated to contribute.
  "The proprietors, Messrs. Gyo and Hughes, having kindly conceded the use of the great Vauxhall balloon, and of their premises, for the purpose of the ascent, after several unavoidable delays, occasioned chiefly by the weather, the day of departure was fixed for Monday, November 7, 1836, and the process of inflation having been commenced at an early hour, every thing was got ready for starting by one o'clock in the afternoon of the same day.
  "It was at this period of our voyage that the first opportunity occurred of showing how far it was possible for the skilful and experienced aeronaut to influence the course of his aerial vessel, by availing himself of the advantages which circumstances frequently placed at his disposal. Shortly after we had lost sight of the city of Canterbury a considerable deviation appeared to have taken place in the direction of our route. Instead of pursuing our former line, of south by east, which was that of the upper current, by means of which we had hitherto advanced, it became apparent that we were now rapidly bearing away upon one which tended considerably to the northward, and which, had we continued to remain within the limits of its influence, would have shortly brought us to sea, in the direction of the North Foreland. As it had all along been an object to proceed as near to Paris as circumstances would permit, we resolved to recover as soon as possible the advantages which a superior current had hitherto afforded us, and accordingly rose, to resume a station upon our previous level. Nothing could exceed the beauty of this manueavre or the success with which the balloon acknowledged the influence of her former associate. Scarcely had the superfluous burthen been discharged proportioned to the effect required, when slowly she arose, and sweeping majestically round the horizon, obedient to the double impulse of her increasing elevation, and the gradual change of current, brought us successively in sight of all those objects which we had shortly before left retiring behind us, and in a few minutes placed us almost vertically over the castle of Dover, in the exact direction of crossing the straits between that town and Calais, where it is confined within its narrowest limits.
  "It was forty-eight minutes past four when the first line of waves breaking on the beach appeared beneath us, and we might be said to have fairly quitted the shores of our native soil, and entered upon the hitherto dreaded regions of the sea.
  "Not a sound now reached our ears; the beating of the waves upon the British shores had already died away in silence, and from the ordinary effects of terrestrial agitation our present position had effectually excluded us.
  "In this situation we prepared to avail ourselves of those contrivances, the merits of which, as I have already stated, it was one of the main objects of our expedition to ascertain; and consequently, to provide against the loss of power by the increase of weight proceeding from the humidity of the atmosphere naturally to be expected on the approach of night, we commenced lowering the copper vessels we had provided for the occasion.
  "Scarcely, however, had we completed our design, and were patiently awaiting the descent we had anticipated, when the faint sound of the waves beating against the shore again returned upon our ears and awakened our attention. The first impression which this event was calculated to convey was that the wind had changed, and that we were in the act of returning to the shores we had so shortly before abandoned. A glance or two however served to show us the fallacy of this impression; the well-known lights of Calais and of the neighbouring shores were already glittering beneath us; the barrier of clouds which I have before mentioned as starting up so abruptly in our path as abruptly terminated; and the whole adjacent coast of France, variegated with lights, and rife with all the nocturnal signs of population, burst at once upon our view.
  "It was exactly fifty minutes past five when we had thoroughly completed this trajet; the point at which we first crossed the French shore bearing distant about two miles to the westward of the main body of the lights of Calais, our altitude at the time being somewhat about three thousand feet above the level of the ocean.
  "We did not experience any diminution of ascensive power in our transit across the sea, beyond what we should have expected under similar circumstances over a similar extent of land.

  "The cold during this part of the night especially was certainly intense, as could be perceived not less from the indications of the thermometer (ranging variously from within a few degrees below to the point of congelation) than from the effects which it produced upon the different liquors wherewith we were provided. The water, coffee, and of course the oil in our several vessels were completely frozen; and it was only by the actual application of the heat of the lamp that we were enabled to procure a sufficiency of the latter to supply our wants during the long term of darkness to which we were about to be subjected.
  "Strange however as it may appear, while all around bore such unequivocal testimony to the severity of the cold, the effects produced upon our persons, undefended as they were by any extraordinary precautions, were by no means commensurate to the cause, nor such as even under ordinary circumstances we might fairly have expected to encounter. The reason to which may be attributed this unusual exemption from the consequences of a low temperature is the absence of all current of air, the natural result of our situation, and one of the peculiar characteristics of aerial navigation.
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  "To this intensity of cold, preceeded by a long subjection to the action of a humid atmosphere while floating at a lower elevation, is likewise to be attributed the occurence of an incident which, for the impression it is calculated to produce upon the minds of those who experience it for the first time, and in ignorance of its cause, merits particularly to be noticed. It was about half-past three in the morning, when the balloon having gained a sudden accession of power, owing to a discharge of ballast which had taken place a few minutes before, while navigating too near the earth to be considered perfectly safe in a country with the main features of which we were totally unacquainted, began to rise with considerable rapidity, and [[ere?]] we had taken the customary means to check her ascent had already attained an elevation of upwards of twelve thousand feet. At this moment, while all around was impenetrable darkness and stillness, and darkness most profound, an unusual explosion issues from the machine above, followed instantaneously by a violent rustling of the silk, and all the signs which may be supposed to accompany the bursting of the balloon, in a region where nothing but itself exists to give occasion to such awful and unnatural disturbance. In the same instant the car, as if suddenly detached from its hold, becomes subjected to a violent concussion, and appears at once to be in the act of sinking with all its contents into the dark abyss below. A second and a third explosion follow in quick succession, accompanied by a recurrence of the same astounding effects, leaving not a doubt upon the mind of the unconscious voyager of the fate which nothing now appears capable of averting. In a moment after all is tranquil and secure; the balloon has recovered her usual form and stillness, and nothing appears to designate the unnatural agitation to which she has been so lately and unaccountably subjected. The occurrence of this phenomenon, however strange it may appear, is nevertheless susceptible of the simplest resolution, and consists in the tendency to enlargement from remotion of pressure which the balloon experiences in rising from a low to a higher position in the atmosphere, and the resistance to this enlargement occasioned by the net-work previously saturated with moisture, and subsequently congealed into the elliptical form which the dependant weight of the car obliges it to assume whenever the shrunken capacity of the sphere it encompasses will admit of its longitudinal distention: as this resistance is occasioned by the intervention of a non-elastic medium (the ice) which had bound the meshes of the net-work in their contracted form, it is evident that the liberation occasioned by their disrupture will not take place until the internal pressure of the balloon has reached a certain amount; when suddenly that liberation is accomplished, attended by those collateral effects which we have already attempted to describe. The impression of the descent of the car in the above representation is evidently a false one; the car, so far from sinking, actually springs up; it is the unexpectedness of such a movement, and its apparent inconsistency with the laws of gravitation, that occasions the delusion, the reality of which the concomitant circumstances essentially tend to confirm.
  "Several times during the latter part of the night we had approached so near the earth as to be enabled to observe, imperfectly it is true, some of the most prominent of its features, and to obtain some faint idea of the nature of the ground beneath us. At these times we appeared to be traversing large tracts of country partially covered with snow, diversified with forests, and intersected occasionally with rivers, of which the Meuse in the earlier part of the night, and the Rhine towards the conclusion, formed, as we afterwards learned, the principal objects of our admiration and of our conjectures.
  "Large masses of fleecy clouds would at times likewise occupy the lower regions of the atmosphere, intercepting our view as we descended, and for a while leaving us in doubt whether they were not a continuation of those snowy districts which we so frequently had occasion to remark.
  "From out of this mass of vapours more than once during the night our ears became assailed with sounds bearing so strong a resemblance to the rushing of waters in enormous volumes, or the beating of the waves upon some extensive line of coast, that it required all our power of reasoning, aided by the certain knowledge we had of the direction we were pursuing, to remove the conviction that we were approaching the precincts of the sea, and, transported by the winds, were either thrown back upon the shores of the German Ocean, or about to enter upon the remoter limits of the Baltic.
  "It would be endless to enumerate all the conjectures to which this phenomenon gave rise, or the various manners by which we endeavoured to explain its occurrence.

  "It was about six o'clock, during an ascent which occurred shortly after we had crossed this river, that the balloon, having reached a considerable elevation, showed us our first view of the sun, and gladdened us with the prospect of a speedy approach of day. Powerful indeed must be the pen which could do justice to a scene like that which here presented itself to our view.

  "This splendid spectacle however we were not long destined to enjoy; a rapid descent, which shortly after ensued, for a while concealed it from our view, once more consigned us to the shades of night, which still continued to reign unbroken throughout the lower region of the air.
"Again we rose within the region of this delightful prospect; and again did we lose sight of it amid the vapours and obscurity that accompanied our descent; nor was it till we had three times made the sun rise, and twice beheld it set, that we could fairly consider it established above the horizon, and daylight complete upon the plane of the earth beneath us.

  "As the region we were immediately approaching seemed to offer advantages (for the descent) which, under these circumstances, we could not always hope to command, we resolved not to lose the occasion it so opportunely appeared to have afforded us. As soon as we had come to this determination all preparations were speedily commenced for the descent; the guide-rope was hauled in (an operation of much labour, owing to the bad construction and imperfect action of the windlass), the grapnel and cable lowered, and every thing got ready that we might be able to avail ourselves of the first and fittest opportunity that might occur. To this intent likewise we quitted our exalted station, and sought a more humble and appropriate level, along which we continued to range for some time and to a considerable distance, the yet early hour of the day deterring us from completing the descent, in the fear of not obtaining that ready assistance from the inhabitants which it is always the main object of the aeronaut if possible to secure. As the mists of the night began to clear away from the surface of the soil we were delighted to perceive a country intersected with roads, dotted with villages, and enlivened with all the signs of an abundant and industrious population. One or two towns likewise of superior pretensions, were distinctly to be seen, giving promise of accommodation and advantages which, in our present emergencies and under our present convictions, were not to be neglected. Accordingly, having pitched upon the spot most proper for the purpose, the valve was opened and we commenced our descent. The place so selected was a small grassy vale of about a quarter of a mile in breadth, embosemed in hills, whose sides and summits were completely enveloped with trees. Beyond this, on the opposite side, lay another valley of the same description, the only one visible for many miles where we could conveniently effect our landing; an endless succession of forest-scenery completing the landscape in the direction in which we should have to proceed. In the former of these we now precipitated our descent, with the design of alighting, if possible, in the centre, clear of the woods that enclosed it on all sides. In these hopes we were however disappointed; the wind, suddenly increasing as we approached the ground, so much accelerated the onward progress of the balloon that before the grapnel could take effectual hold of the soil we had passed the middle of the valley, and sweeping rapidly over the ground, were borne close against the wooded declivity that flanked its eastern termination. To discharge a sufficiency of ballast to raise the balloon and carry her clear of the impending danger, was the natural remedy. An unexpected obstacle to this operation here again presented itself: the sand which forms the ballast, frozen during the night into a solid block of stone, refused to quit the bag in the proportion required; and no time remained to search for one more suited to the occasion. Not a moment was, in fact, to be lost; the valley was passed, and the branches of the trees that clotted the opposing precipice were already within a few feet of the balloon; the grapnel continued to drag, and no chance appeared of arresting her progress onward. In this emergency one alternative alone remained, and the sack itself, with all its contents to the amount of fifty-six pounds in weght, were at once consigned to the earth. In a moment the balloon, lightened of so large a portion of her burden, had sprung up above one thousand feet, and, clearing the mountain at a bound, was soon in rapid progress in the realms above. To counteract the consequence of this sudden accession of power, and avoid being carried beyond the reach of the second valley, which we have already described as the only other available spot for our descent, the valve was again opened, and issue given to a large quantity of gas, sufficient, as was calculated, to check the course of the balloon in time to enable us to attain the point to which all our views were now directed. A second time however we were doomed to be disappointed. No sooner had we completed this manoeuvre than by another caprice of nature, the wind suddenly abating, we found ourselves at once becalmed, and rapidly descending into the bosom of the woods that capped the summit and clothed the sides of the intervening eminences. From this dilemma we were only relieved by the timely discharge of a further portion of our weight - not however before the accelerated descent of the balloon had brought us within a cable's length of the ground,^[[+]] and almost in contact with the upper surface of the wood. Here, for a few moments we continued to hover, the grapnel struggling with the topmost branches of the trees, and grasping and relinquishing its hold according to the varying impulse of the slight wind that prevailed at our elevation. While in this situation we perceived, standing in the path of the wood, two females, the first inhabitants we had noticed, lost in astonishment, and absolutely petrified with gazing upon so astounding an apparition. It was in vain we addressed them with a speaking-trumpet, in hopes of procuring the assistance of some of the male population, which we conjectured could not be far off: the sound of our voices, proceeding from such an altitude, and invested with such an unearthly character, only augmented their astonishment, and added to their fears; they fled incontinently, and, without waiting farther parley, sought the shelter of the neighbouring coverts.
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  "After continuing of a few minutes longer in these straits we at length reached the confines of the wood; when, resolving not to be again baffled in our designs by the treacherous inconstancy of the wind, the valve was opened to its fullest dimensions, and the grapnel taking hold, shortly after we came to the ground with considerable, though by no means disagreeable, rapidity. [[double dagger]]
  "As soon as the descent was completed, and the power of the balloon sufficiently crippled to permit one of the party to quit the car, [[section sign]] the inhabitants, who had hitherto stood aloof, regarding our manoeuvres from behind the trees, began to flock in from all quarters: eyeing at first our movements with considerable suspicion, and not seldom looking up in the direction from which we had just alighted, in the expectation, no doubt, of witnessing a repetition of this to them inexplicable phenomenon.
  "A few words in German, however, served to dissipate their fears, and secure their services; when, as if eager by present assiduity to make amends for former backwardness, they absolutely seemed to contend with each other in their exertions to afford us assistance, and execute our several behests.

  "Having procured a cart and horses for the transportation of the balloon, we quitted this (to us evermemorable) spot, and, attended by an amazing concourse of persons of every rank, age, and sex, set out for Weilburg, which a few hours enabled us to attain.
*     *     *     *    *
  "Nothing in fact could surpass the courtesy and attention that we experienced from this simple-hearted and hospitable community during the whole period of our residence at Weilburg.

  "Every one seemed to vie with each other in conferring favour and contributing to our entertainment. Balls, dinners, concerts, and other amusements, in honour of our adventure, were given without intermission, and the congratulations of the city were presented to us by a deputation of the principal citizens, headed by their chief civil officer, in the form of a document duly signed and sealed by the competent authorities. Among the festive recreations to which our unexpected arrival at Weilburg gave rise, we must not omit to mention the ceremony of christening the Baron de Bibra, Grand Maitre des Eaux et Forets, and the Colonel Baron de Preen, being the godfathers; the Baroness de Bibra and the Baroness de Dungern the godmothers on the occasion. The balloon having been inflated to the greatest size the dimensions of the place would admit, eight young ladies, in company with Mr. Green, entered within the gigantic sphere, and the name of "The Great Balloon of Nassau" having been bestowed by one of their number, Mdlle. Theresa, the lovely and amiable daughter of the Baron de Bibra, accompanied by a copious libation of wine, the ceremony was concluded with a collation, consisting of our stock of provisions, which had been unconsumed at the time of our descent.  *  *  *  *

  "Ere concluding this hasty narrative a word or two is required concerning the success of that experiment which formed the main feature,[[23?]] as well as the chief object, of the expedition. This success I feel no hesitation in now declaring to be complete; and the discovery itself one the entire result of which on the future progress of the art, it would be impossible at present to anticipate. With such an instrument as this there now seems to be no limit to the powers of aerostation--no bounds to its sphere of action. All the theoretical objections which a hasty consideration of the means might otherwise have suggested experiment has now proved to be erroneous; and perhaps the best answer that can be given to those who might be inclined to question the practicability of its employment, or cavil at its effects is, that by such means alone have we been enabled, without let or hindrance, danger or difficulty, to traverse so large a portion of the European continent; descending at a distance of above five hundred miles from the place of our departure, with power enough to have enabled us, had we been s intentioned, to have continued our course throughout the whole circumference of the globe." [[smudge: notation?]]

  * The time referred to here and elsewhere throughout this narrative is that of Greenwich. Upon the completion of the voyage a difference amounting to about thirty-four minutes was found to exist between the times indicated at its two extremes: the chronometers of Weilberg being so much in advance of those of London. This difference was occasioned by the easterly direction of our course, and the difference in latitude to the extent of eight degrees twenty minutes between the two places.
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  + + The length of the cable to which the grapnol is attached is about one hundred and twenty feet.
  ! Too much praise cannot be given to Mr.Green, for his excellent conduct throughout the whole of this intricate pilotage.
  [[symbol ?]] It was half-past seven o'clock when this occurrence took place, and our descent could be fairly said to be completed. the duration of our voyage may therefore be calculated at exactly eighteen hours. The exact spot where the event took place was in a field adjacent to a mill, known by the name of Dillhausen, situated in the valley of Elbern, in the commune of Niederdausen, about two leagues from the town of Weilburg, already, by a curious coincidence, noted in the annals of aerostation as the place where the celebrated M. Blanchard effected his landing after an ascent which he made at Frankfort in the year [[?]].
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  *"The progress of the guide-rope being delayed to a certain extent by its motion over the more solid plane of the earth's surface, while the movement of the balloon is as freely as ever controlled by the propelling action of the wind, it is evident that the direction of the latter, when in progress, must ever be in advance of the former; a comparison therefore of the relative positions of these two objects by means of the compass must at all times indicate the exact direction of her course; while, with equal certainty, an estimate can at once be obtained of the velocity with which she is proceeding, by observing the angle formed by the guide-rope and the vertical axis of the machine. In proportion as this angle enlarges, an increase in the rate of the balloon may be infallibly inferred, and vice versa, its diminution  will be found to correspond exactly with the diminished velocity of her advance. When the rope is dependent perpendicularly, no angle of course is formed, and the machine may be considered as perfectly stationary, or at least endowed with a rate of motion too insignificant to be either appreciable or important.

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  *"I scarcely know whether it is an observation worthy of being committed to paper, that the sea, unless perhaps under circumstances of the most extraordinary agitation, does not in itself appear to be the parent of the slightest sound; unopposed by any material obstacle, an awful stillness seems t reign over its motions. Nor do I think that even under any circumstances, no matter how violent, can any considerable disturbance arise from the conflict of its own opposing members. The impossibility of ever having been placed in a situation to bring this fact under the cognizance of our senses, is no doubt the reason why it has never before been noticed. On the shore or in the sea no one has ever been present, independent of that material support, the absence of which is necessary to the success of the experiment; it is in the balloon alone, suspended in elastic ether, that such [a phenomenon could either have been verified or observed.]
  † "At no time however did we experience the slightest effect upon our bodies, proceeding from the diminished pressure of the atmosphere; nor from my own observations, and still more those of Mr. Green (whose experience in such matters far outweighs that of all the aeronautical world together), should I be inclined to believe that any such effects as are currently attributed to this diminished pressure have any existence at all; at least at an elevation to which any person has hitherto been enabled to arrive. The impressions experienced in the ascent of high mountains which have no doubt led to the adoption of such opinions, and induced aeronauts, with more regard to fame than veracity, to anticipate and assert effects they thought they would have experienced had they reached the elevation they fain would have the credit for, owe their existence to another cause, and proceed from the inordinate muscular exertion and its consequences upon the circulating system developed in the attempt I am aware that great names appear in array against such an opinion, and likewise that nothing but the having arrived at the same altitude, without experiencing the same results, can authorize the flat denial of another's experience. If however, at an altitude of three miles and three quarters, no symptom whatever is to be felt of those effects which at a quarter of a mile further evince themselves by such terrific consequences, the world is at least at liberty to exercise its own judgment upon the case
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