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Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
48
cold
outside.
I
was
in
my
vest,
with
my
head
uncovered.
I
immediately
covered
my
head
with
a
bonnet
of
wool
which
was
at
my
feet,
but
the
pain
only
disappeared
with
my
descent
to
the
ground.
“It
was
now
seven
or
eight
minutes
since
I
had
arrived
at
this
elevation,
and
I
now
commenced
to
descend.
I
remembered
the
promise
I
had
made
to
the
Duke
of
Chartres,
to
return
in
half
an
hour.
I
quickened
my
descent
by
opening
the
valve
from
time
to
time.
Soon
the
balloon,
empty
now
to
one
half,
presented
the
appearance
of
a
hemisphere.
“Arrived
at
twenty-three
fathoms
from
the
earth,
I
suddenly
threw
over
two
or
three
pounds
of
ballast,
which
arrested
my
descent,
and
which
I
had
carefully
kept
for
this
purpose.
I
then
slowly
descended
upon
the
ground,
which
I
had,
so
to
speak,
chosen.”
Such
is
the
narrative
of
the
second
aerial
voyage.
After
such
a
memorable
ascent
one
is
astonished
to
learn
that
Professor
Charles
never
repeated
his
experiment.
It
has
been
said
that,
in
descending
from
his
car,
he
had
vowed
that
he
would
never
again
expose
himself
to
such
perils,
so
strong
had
been
the
alarm
he
felt
when
the
peasants
ceasing
to
hold
him
down
he
shot
up
into
the
sky
with
the
rapidity
of
an
arrow.
But
after
him
a
thousand
others
have
followed
the
daring
example
he
set.
With
this
ascent
the
memorable
year
1783
closed,
and
the
seed
which
had
been
sown
soon
began
to
be
productive.
PART
II.
Chapter
I.
The
History
of
Aerostation
from
the
Year
1783.
The
Open
Route--Travels
and
Travellers--Great
Increase
in
the
Number
of
Air
Voyages--Lyons,
Ascent
of
“Le
Flesselles--
Milan,
Ascent
of
Adriani--Flight
of
a
Balloon
from
London--
Lost
Balloons
in
the
Chief
Towns
of
Europe
From
the
year
1783,
in
which
aerostation
had
its
birth,
and
in
which
it
was
carried
to
a
degree
of
perfection,
beside
which
the
progress
of
aeronauts
in
our
days
seems
small,
a
new
route
was
opened
up
for
travellers.
The
science
of
Montgolfier,
the
practical
art
of
Professor
Charles,
and
the
courage
of
Roziers,
subdued
the
scepticism
of
those
who
had
not
yet
given
in
their
adhesion
to
the
possible
value
of
the
great
discovery,
and
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