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[[start left-hand column]] [[start clipping]] ORIGIN OF BALLOONS. A desire to fly has prevailed in all ages, and most children have a wish to imitate the birds. ROGER BACON, born at Ilchester, in Somersetshire, in the beginning of the 13th century, was the first that is known to have conceived the idea of rising in the air, supported by exhausted balls of thin copper. He was ignorant of the existence of light air, endowed with as great an elastic force as common air, and therefore, though his example of light balls was the same as that on which Balloons are now made, it was impracticable: but we find that Dr. BLACK, of Edinburgh, is the first person who is known to have suggested the possibility of enclosing inflammable air so as to render it capable of raising a vessel into the atmosphere, which was done in his lectures in 1767 and 1768; and Mr. CAVALLO, in 1782, first made experiments upon the subject, but he was unable to retain the air in any material light enough for the purpose, except a thick solution fo soap, which the practice of children had shewn would ascend even with respired air rarefied by heat. In the same year, STEPHEN and JOHN MONTGOLFIER, Paper Manufacturers, of Annonay, about ten leagues from Lyons, filled a silken bag rarefied by burning paper, which rose, first in a room, and afterwards, to the height of 70 feet, in the open air. Several repetitions of the experiment were made in the ensuing year, and finally, dry straw and chopped wool were consumed instead of paper. One of their Balloons, about 13 feet in diameter, rose to the height of 3000 feet in two minutes. At length, on the 15th of October, 1783, M. PILATRE DE ROZIERE rose from the garden of the Fauxbourg St. Antoine at Paris, in a wicker gallery about three feet broad, attached to an oval Balloon of 74 feet by 48, which had been made by MONTGOLFIER, and which also carried up a brazier, or grate, for the purpose of continuing at pleasure the inflation of the Balloon by a fire of straw and wool. The weight of this machine was 1600 pounds. On that day it was permitted to rise no higher than 84 feet, but on the 19th, when M. GIRAUD DE VILLETTE ascended with him, they rose to the height of 332 feet, being prevented from farther ascent only by ropes. In November of the same year, M. P. DE ROZIERE and the Marquis D'ARLANDES first trusted a Balloon to the elements, who, after rising to the height of 3000 feet, descended about five miles from the place of their ascent. About the same time, Count ZAMBECCARI sent up from the Artillery Ground, in London, a small gilt Balloon, filled with inflammable air, which in two hours and a half reached a spot near Petworth, in Sussex, and would not then have fallen had it not burst. The discovery was now nearly as complete as in its present state. Inflammable air, produced by iron filings and vitriolic acid, was soon used in the inflation of larger Balloons, and by one of 27 1/2 feet in diameter, M. CHARLES and M. ROBERTS rose in December from the garden of the Thuilleries in Paris, and in an hour and a half descended 27 miles from that city. In this voyage, the thermometer fell from 47 to 31, from which datum the Balloon was supposed to have reached the height of 3500 feet. - Subsequent experiments may rather be enumerated than described. The adventurers in them were - M. J. Montgolfier, who, in 1784, ascended, with six other persons, from Lyons, by a balloon 131 feet high, and 104 broad. M. Blanchard, in March of the same year, rose to an altitude, which is calculated at 9500 feet, and descended in an hour and a quarter, having experienced, heat, cold, hunger, and an excessive drowsiness. M. Bertrand, in April, rose from Dijon to the height of 13,000 feet and in an hour and a quarter sailed 18 miles. Madame Thible, who was the first female adventurer, ascended in June from Lyons, with M. Flourant, in the presence of the late King of Sweden, and reached the height of 8500 feet. M. Mouchet, in the same month, ascended from Naniz, and travelled 27 miles, in 58 minutes. M. Rozier, in another experiment, reached the height of 11,700 feet, and found the temperature of the air reduced to 5 degrees below the freezing point. The Duke de Chartres (Orleans) ascended in July from the park of St. Cloud, with three other persons. Vincent Lunardi, in September 15, rose from the Artillery ground, by a balloon 33 feet in diameter. In his ascent the thermometer fell to 29, and some drops of water round his balloon were frozen. M. Roberts and Hullin, in the same month, sailed from Paris to Arras, in six hours and a half. Mr. Sadler, who was the first Englishman that ascended with a balloon, rose in October, from Oxford. Mr. Sheldon ascended from Chelsea in the same month. M. Blanchard and Dr. Jefferies, on the 7th of January, 1783, crossed the channel between Dover and Calais, by means of a balloon, but had such difficulty to keep it above the water, that they were obliged to throw overboard every thing they had with them. Mr. Crosbie ascended from Dublin, in the same month, with such rapidity that he was completely out of sight in three minutes. Count Zambeccari and Admiral Sir E. Vernon, in March, sailed from London to Horsham, 35 miles, in less than an hour. Mr. Windham and Mr. Sadler, ascended from Moulsey Hurst in May, and descended at the confluence of the Thames and Medway. Mr. McGuire, in the same month, having ascended from Dublin, was taken up in the Channel by a boat, when on the point of expiring with fatigue. M. M. P. De Rozier and Romain ascended from Boulogne, on the 15th of July, with the intention of crossing the Channel, but their balloon, being a Montgolfier, took fire at the height of 1200 yards, and they were dashed to pieces by the fall. Mr. Crosbie, who again ascended from Dublin; and Major Money, from Norwich, in the same month, both fell into the sea, and were with great difficulty saved. M. Blanchard, in August, sailed from Lisle to a distance of 300 miles, before he descended. [[end clipping]] [[end column]] [[start centre column]] [[start clipping]] For the MORNING HERALD. PHILOSOPHICAL OBSERVATIONS on the AIR and BALLOONS. ^[[1784]] Mr. EDITOR, THE indulgence of honoring the Laurel Sprig, with a corner of your paper, has induced him to continue his communications; at least, if his principles are not philosophic, they will be found under the government of minute observation, arising from the nature and existence, and operation of a deliberative knowledge. He will therefore consider THREE things, which the Balloonists have never attended to. 1st. Whether the air is not more humid in the second region, than on the earth, or above that humid region, and how much more [[fiecose?]] that superior region is than on the earth. The highest region, as I formerly noticed, is not influenced by the sun, more than the lower regions of fresh water; and that it is very cold, and the air almost in a stagnated state, but it neither can be below 33 degrees, nor become putrid. It is drier, and less moist than the region below, and whenever there is collected any denser particles of air, they will fall into the medium or moist atmosphere. But notwithstanding the serenity of that superior region, no observation, however high a balloon may ascend, can be taken of the planets, so distinctly as on the earth, because the compass will not point; because a time piece will not keep distinct and accurate; because they cannot know what latitudes and longitudes they may be in; and therefore they cannot discover the hour, longitude, latitude, and altitude, in which, to observe the planet, even supposing the balloon to stop for the purpose; but principally, because there can be no reflection of any fixed star on the balloon, as on water on the earth, or on the earth itself, which acts as a reflector to these luminant bodies. 2d. Whether the middle region is not always moist and drizzles, and is rendered apparently colder, than the superior region, on account of the humidity. A cloud must contain wet, however thin and light, as well as a phlogiston :- That region receives the denser particles from the higher regions, as well as the moisture and exhalations from the earth, with the phlogiston arising from the reflection of, and metals, minerals, sulphur, acids, and salines in the earth, and sea; such a region or atmosphere must always have impregnant materials, to burst into thunder, on a surcharge, even without the action of the sun. To evince this, I have known some claps of thunder in December, with a South wind; but the sun's influence agitating the whole mass, the thunder oftener bursts in Summer. In America, at the falls of the Mississippi river, it thunders always, from this cause; that the fall is very high, the air it passes through carries off part, and forms an impendant cloud over it, and that increase of moisture and phlogiston is continually poured out in thunder and rain. It is in that middle atmosphere, the clouds are collected and densified, though some times a stream of air, intercepts the one body from the other; hence, we sometimes see, the clouds driven different ways. This densification contains a body of water impregnated with phlogiston, and swims along, on the thick atmosphere, spread over the earth - Mountains bring these clouds in contact, hence it rains oftener in mountaneous and hilly countries than in plains; islands have an air altogether unequal, on account of the sea; and that they are less of a focus for the sun; hence it rains oftener, and is colder, and the air more various in islands, than on continents; and for this reason, that continents have the effect of a focus, and the air more equal, it is warmer in Summer, further North, than in this island, and their rains are periodical; for which, I shall at a future period assign the cause; therefore a balloon in England, and on the continent, will have a different motion; on the continent it will be equal, here it will rise and fall, go fast and slow, according to the mediums of air it gets into. If a balloon comes in contact with a thick cloud, it will attract the water, and they will be certain of being overborn by the stream, and tumble in confusion; lightning will also spring forth, and that will be followed with thunder. They cannot penetrate, it would be as easy to force the balloon down some fathoms in fresh water, as operate a projection above such a cloud: Those in the gondola must be drowned or suffocated; the gondola filled with water, and nothing could prevent the bursting of the balloon, but that it is not wholly filled; but, if the balloon should be in that situation, it could not escape the lightning, notwithstanding its conductorial stile. I may evince this by firing a cannon; at the mouth, when the shot is discharged, every object, within some feet at least of circumference is singed, perhaps destroyed; the flash from a cannon is not the hundredth part so large, as that from a cloud, before a clap of thunder, and the balloon's being immediately in contact, must fall a wreck to its immediate power, and though a conductor, it would not in the least avail. [[end column]] [[start right-hand column]] [[clipping continued]] 3d. That the atmosphere, nearest the earth, is that which the wind passes immediately along, because compressed between the region of the clouds and the earth. It affects the earth from another cause, because it flies always horizontally, and falls down till resisted by the earth, where it scours along with noise and impetuosity, proportioned to its obstructions. On the sea the same cause is assignable, because it is gibbose, and throws many obstructions in the way as well on that account as the surges, forced by the compression of the wind. - The waves run not along, as we suppose, but are as many columns of water which fall and rise. The same wind will affect them differently, according to the depth or shallowness, fluxes, rocks, or such circumstances. The sea is not agitated very deep, but acts in a regular body, by an imperceptible motion, such as we suppose the earth, but her motions are Lunar, and give rise to the tides. The balloon, in this atmosphere nearest the earth, will rise and be supported with ease, but I am fully persuaded cannot be carried beyond it, because if it gets out of that air, in a clear day, it will come into an air too thin, nearer approaching to its own levity, and there it cannot swim, and it must remain and be carried along the same atmosphere according to the surface of the earth, the air in that region will be different. In the vicinity of mountains a balloon will not easily rise or swim; from the top of a mountain it would not go off; between mountains it would be hurled impetuously along. On a plain, either marshy or woody, it would be long buoyed up and go gently. It will not make its course to mountains, because the wind often, in all directions, blow from them. It will keep its direction on plains or great rivers, because the air is dense and more equal. But it has not been ascertained by the travellers, at what rate, equal or unequal, the balloon goes. They cannot measure its different actions by any known instrument; that has [[?]]ly been done on earth. [[end clipping]] [[start clipping]] The Air-Balloon, says a correspondent, is not a modern invention. The first who ventured to ride the air, according to Milton, was the Devil. And the attempt and success are thus described: ^[[1784]] --His sail-broad vans He spread for flight, and in the surging smoke Uplifted spurn'd the ground; thence many a league, As in a cloudy chair, ascending rode Audacious; but that seat soon sailing, met A vast vacuity: All unawares Fluttering hispennons vain, plumb down he dropt. [[end clipping]] [[start clipping]] On the art of navigating the air, even the learned Franklyn has acknowledged his ignorance: he called [[underlined]] balloon-flying [[/underlined]], "A child that would become mature!" The cognoscenti of France, however, speak of efforts made, before the present century, to approach the atmosphere. It appears in the Memoirs of the French Royal Academy of Sciences, that one De Lana contrived an areonautic engine for navigating the air; and that the famous Roger Bacon contrived something of the kind. But it does not appear that either De Lana or Bacon, ventured to rise up in their machines, as Blanchard and Lunardi. ^[[Oct 1784]] [[end clipping]] [[start clipping]] The invention of navigation is variously attributed to various causes or accidents: The poets have given the honor to Janus, Jason, Hercules, Neptune, &c. whilst history ascribes it to the Phoenicians, Tyrians, and the ancient inhabitants of Britain; and sacred writ refers us to the ark of Noah! But 'tis the present age which has the honor of inventing balloon flying! And as the machine of Lunardi, when high in the air, appeared obviously to depend, as to its course, on the oar or oars which he had, it is impossible to say to what perfection this sublime mode of travelling may be brought. Whether it should ever be of any use or not, it is worthy of encouragement and applause, if genius be deserving of patronage. ^[[1784]] [[end clipping]] [[start clipping]] The invention of balloons is by no means a modern discovery; for so early as the reign of Edward the First, the great Roger Bacon, (who died A.D. 1284) asserts that he "was exceedingly well acquainted with a very prudent man, who had invented the whole artifice of flying." Again he says, that "it is not impossible to make engines for flying, a man sitting in the midst whereof, by turning about an instrument with artificial wings, made to beat the air." -- He afterwards observes, "such engines as these were of old, and are made even in our days. The same great man clearly discovered gunpowder, "a very competent quantity of matter (says he) rightly prepared (the bigness of one's thumb) will make a most hideous noise and corruscation, this may be done several ways, by which a city or army may be overcome." - Bacon's Discovery of Miracles. - This sublime philosopher was accused of diabolical magic before Pope Clement the 4th, and was imprisoned on that account for some considerable time. [[end clipping]] [[end column]] ^[[437]]
