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Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
6
Sovereigns.
In
France,
each
one
following
his
own
notions,
made
out
for
himself
special
benefits
to
flow
from
the
discovery
of
balloons.
Every
discovery
then
appeared
to
be
only
the
precursor
of
other
and
greater
discoveries,
and
nothing
after
that
time
seemed
to
be
impossible
to
him
who
attempted
the
conquest
of
the
atmosphere.
This
idea
clothed
itself
in
every
form.
The
young
embraced
it
with
enthusiasm,
the
old
made
it
the
subject
of
endless
regrets.
When
one
of
the
first
aeronautic
ascents
was
made,
the
old
Marechal
Villeroi,
an
octogenarian
and
an
invalid,
was
conducted
to
one
of
the
windows
of
the
Tuileries,
almost
by
force,
for
he
did
not
believe
in
balloons.
The
balloon,
meanwhile,
detached
itself
from
its
moorings;
the
physician
Charles,
seated
in
the
car,
gaily
saluted
the
public,
and
was
then
majestically
launched
into
space
in
his
air-boat;
and
at
once
the
old
Marechal,
beholding
this,
passed
suddenly
from
unbelief
to
perfect
faith
in
aerostatics
and
in
the
capacity
of
the
human
mind,
fell
on
his
knees,
and,
with
his
eyes
bathed
in
tears,
moaned
out
pitifully
the
words,
“Yes,
it
is
fixed!
It
is
certain!
They
will
find
out
the
secret
of
avoiding
death;
but
it
will
be
after
I
am
gone!”
If
we
recall
the
impressions
which
the
first
air-journeys
made,
we
shall
find
that,
among
people
of
enthusiastic
temperament,
it
was
believed
that
it
was
not
merely
the
blue
sky
above
us,
not
merely
the
terrestrial
atmosphere,
but
the
vast
spaces
through
which
the
worlds
move,
that
were
to
become
the
domain
of
man--the
sea
of
the
balloon.
The
moon,
the
mysterious
dwelling-place
of
men
unknown,
would
no
longer
be
an
inaccessible
place.
Space
no
longer
contained
regions
which
man
could
not
cross!
Indeed,
certain
expeditions
attempted
the
crossing
of
the
heavens,
and
brought
back
news
of
the
moon.
The
planets
that
revolve
round
the
sun,
the
far-flying
comets,
the
most
distant
stars--these
formed
the
field
which
from
that
time
was
to
lie
open
to
the
investigations
of
man.
This
enthusiasm
one
can
well
enough
understand.
There
is
in
the
simple
fact
of
an
aerial
ascent
something
so
bold
and
so
astonishing,
that
the
human
spirit
cannot
fail
to
be
profoundly
stirred
by
it.
And
if
this
is
the
feeling
of
men
at
the
present
day,
when,
after
having
been
witnesses
of
ascents
for
the
last
eighty
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