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2.

there are four rather distinct regions or spheres of the atmosphere in which certain gases predominate; the troposphere, in which are the clouds, the stratosphere, predominatingly nitrogen, the hydrogen sphere, and the geocoronium sphere. This highest sphere appears to consist essentially of an element, "geocoronium," a gas undiscovered at the surface of the earth, having a spectrum which is the single aurora line, 557 ^[[µµ]], and being 0.4 as heavy as hydrogen. The existence of such a gas is in agreement with Nicholson's theory of the atom, and its investigation would, of course, be a matter of considerable importance to astronomy and physics as well as to meteorology. It is of interest to note that the greatest altitude attained by sounding balloons extends but one third through the second region, or stratosphere.

No instruments for obtaining data at these high altitudes are herein discussed, but it will be at once evident that their construction is a problem of small difficulty compared with the attainment of the desired altitudes.

[[underline]] PART I.  [[/underline]]   [[underline]] THEORY [[/underline]]

[[underline]] METHOD TO BE EMPLOYED. [[/underline]]

It is possible to obtain a suggestion as to the method that must be employed from the fundamental principles of mechanics, together with a consideration of the conditions of the problem. We are at once limited to an apparatus which reacts against matter, this matter being carried by the apparatus in question. For the entire system we must have: first, action in accordance with Newton's Third Law of Motion; and, secondly, energy supplied from some