of jealousy
at which we might now blush, if we do not remember that the sagacious
and convincing views of Adam Smith on political economy had only just
been published and had not yet had time to circulate; for, though we
were obliged to admit a discovery had been made in France, yet the
periodicals argued that all the experiments that had led to it were made
in England. Many were the caricatures which appeared.

In a discourse at the Academy of Lyons, Jacques Montgolfier says that a
French copy of Priestley's _Experiments relating to the Different Kinds
of Air_ came in his way, and was to him like light in darkness; as from
that moment he conceived the possibility of navigating the air, but,
after some experiments in gas, he again tried smoke and hot air.

In Paris this intelligence caused a meeting of savants, who, by the
advice of M. Faujas de Saint-Fond, started a public subscription for
defraying the expense of making inflammable gas (hydrogen), the
materials of which were expensive: one thousand pounds of iron filings
and four hundred ninety-eight pounds of sulphuric acid were consumed to
fill a globular bag of varnished silk, which, for the first time, was
designated a ballon, or balloon, as we call it, meaning a great ball.

The filling commenced on August 23d, in the Place des Victoires.
Bulletins were published daily of its progress, but, as the crowd was
found to be immense, it was moved on the night of the 26th to the
Champ-de-Mars, a distance of two miles. It was done secretly and in the
dark, to avoid a mob.

A description by an eye-witness is as follows: "No more wonderful scene
could be imagined than the balloon being thus conveyed, preceded by
lighted torches, surrounded by a _cortege_, and escorted by a
detachment of foot and horse-guards; the nocturnal march, the form and
capacity of the body carried with so much precaution; the silence that
reigned, the unseasonable hour, all tended to give a singularity and
mystery truly imposing to all those who were unacquainted with the
cause. The cab-drivers on the road were so astonished that they were
impelled to stop their carriages, and to kneel humbly, hat in hand,
while the procession was passing."

In the morning the Champ-de-Mars was lined with troops, every house to
its very top, and every avenue, was crowded with anxious spectators. The
discharge of a cannon at 5 P.M. was the signal for ascent, and the globe
rose, to the great surprise of the spec