but the drowsiness only ceased to assail me when I was struck by two
furious winds, which compressed my balloon to such an extent that its
size became sensibly diminished to the eye. I was not sorry when I began
to descend rapidly upon the river, which at first seemed to me a white
thread, afterwards a ribbon, and then a piece of cloth. As I followed
the course of the river, the fear that I should have to descend into
it, made me agitate the oars very rapidly. I believe that it is to these
movements that I owe my being able to cross the river transversely, and
get above dry land. When I saw myself upon the plain of Billancourt, I
recognised the bridge of Sevres, and the road to Versailles. I was then
about as high as the towers above the plain, and I could hear the words
and the cries of joy of the people who were following me below. At
length I came to a plain about 200 feet in extent. The people then
assisted me and brought my vessel to anchor. Immediately I was
surrounded by gentlemen and foot passengers who had run together from
all parts."

This voyage lasted one hour and a quarter. The most important incident
of it was that the balloon was very nearly burst by the expansion of the
hydrogen gas. No balloon, as we have already seen, should be entirely
inflated at the beginning of a journey. Blanchard had a narrow escape
from being the victim of his ignorance of physics, and it is a wonder
he was not left to the mercy of fate in a burst balloon, at several
thousand feet above the earth.

Biot, the savant, who had watched the experiment, declared that
Blanchard did not stir himself, and that the variations of his course
are alone to be attributed to the currents of air that he encountered.
As he had inscribed upon his flags, his balloons, and his entrance
tickets, from which he realised a considerable sum, the ambitious
legend, Sic itur ad astra, the following epigram was produced respecting
him:--

From the Field of Mars he took his flight:
In a field close by he tumbled;
But our money having taken
He smiled though sadly shaken,
As Sic itur ad astra he mumbled.

What is most important to examine in each of the great aerial voyages
that have been made, is the special character which distinguishes them
from average experiments. All our great voyages are rendered special
and particular by the ideas of the men who undertook them, and the aims
which they severally meant to achieve by them.