stance of three-quarters
of a mile, it fell, having traversed this distance in fifteen minutes.

A society, under the presidency of the Abbe de Mably, having constructed
a balloon thirty-seven feet high and twenty feet in diameter, sent it
off from the court of the Castle of Pisancon, near Romano, on the same
day, the 13th of February. At first it was carried to the south by
a strong north wind, but after it had risen to 1,000 feet above the
surface, its course was changed towards the north. It was calculated
that, in less than five minutes, this balloon rose to the height of
6,000 feet.

On the 16th of the same month the Count d'Albon threw off from his
gardens at Franconville a balloon inflated with gas, and made of silk,
rendered air-tight by a solution of gum-arabic. It was oblong, and
measured twenty-five feet in height, and seventeen feet in diameter.
To this balloon a cage, containing two guinea-pigs and a rabbit,
was suspended. The cords were cut, and the inflated globe rose to an
enormous height with the greatest rapidity. Five days afterwards it was
found at the distance of eighteen miles, and it is remarkable that, in
spite of the cold of the season, and particularly of the elevated region
through which the balloon had been passing, the animals were not only
living, but in good condition.

On the 3rd of February, 1784, the Marquis de Bullion sent up a paper
balloon, of about fifteen feet in diameter. A flat sponge, about a foot
square, placed in a tin dish and drenched with a pint of spirits of
wine, was the only apparatus made use of to create a supply of heated
air. It rose at Paris, and three hours afterwards it was found near
Basville, about thirty miles from the capital.

On the 15th of the same month Cellard de Chastelais sent up a paper
balloon. Heated air was supplied on this occasion by a paper roll,
enclosing a sponge, and soaked in oil, spirits of wine, and grease.
A cage, which contained a cat, was attached to this air globe. In
thirty-five minutes it had mounted so high that it looked but like the
smallest star, and in two hours it had flown a distance of forty-six
miles from the place where it was thrown off. The cat was dead, but it
was not discovered from what cause.

The first balloon that traversed the English channel was sent off at
Sandwich, in Kent, on the 22nd of February, 1784. It was five feet in
diameter, and was inflated with hydrogen gas. It rose rapidly, and was
carried towar