h and Jacques Montgolfier were the sons of a
wealthy paper-maker at Annonay, not very far from Lyons. The suggestion
of their balloon came to them from observing that thick opaque clouds
float high in the air. Linen material was readily accessible to them at
the factory, and they resolved to try whether a large balloon, some
thirty-three feet in diameter, filled with smoke vapours, would rise in
the air. Their experiment was successful. On the 5th of June 1783 they
filled their balloon with smoke (and therefore with hot air) over a fire
of chips and shavings; it rose easily, and travelled to a distance of
about a mile and a half before it cooled and sank. The fame of this
experiment quickly reached Paris, the centre of science and fashion, and
awakened rivalry. Under the direction of Professor Charles, a well-known
physicist, two brothers whose surname was Robert made from varnished
silk a balloon of about thirteen feet in diameter; it was filled with
hydrogen, and on the 27th of August 1783, in the presence of a large and
excited assembly, it rose from the Champ de Mars and travelled some
fifteen miles into the country, where it fell, and produced a panic
among the peasantry. On the 19th of September Joseph Montgolfier was
brought to Versailles to give a demonstration of his new invention in
the presence of the King and Queen. On this occasion his balloon rose
1,500 feet into the air, carrying with it a sheep, a cock, and a duck,
the first living passengers, whom it deposited unhurt when it came to
ground again after a short flight. Thereafter society went balloon-mad.
Pilatre de Rozier, a young native of Metz, determined to attempt an
aerial voyage. During the month of October he experimented with a
captive balloon of the Montgolfier type, from which he suspended a
brazier, so that by a continued supply of heated air the balloon should
maintain its buoyancy. On the 21st of November 1783, accompanied by the
Marquis d'Arlandes, he rose in a free balloon from the Bois de Boulogne,
and made a successful voyage of twenty minutes, during which time he
travelled over Paris for a distance of about five miles. Ten days later,
on behalf of the savants, M. Charles retorted with a voyage of
twenty-seven miles, in a hydrogen balloon, from Paris to Nesle; he was
accompanied by one of the brothers Robert, and when Robert left the car
at Nesle the balloon, lightened of a part of its burden, rose rapidly
with M. Charles to a height of t