of making a suitable coating for the silk. With
a quarter of a ton of sulphuric acid, and half a ton of iron filings
and turnings, sufficient hydrogen was generated in four days to fill
Charles's balloon, which went up on August 28th, 1783. Although the day
was wet, Paris turned out to the number of over 300,000 in the Champs de
Mars, and cannon were fired to announce the ascent of the balloon. This,
rising very rapidly, disappeared amid the rain clouds, but, probably
bursting through no outlet being provided to compensate for the
escape of gas, fell soon in the neighbourhood of Paris. Here peasants,
ascribing evil supernatural influence to the fall of such a thing from
nowhere, went at it with the implements of their craft--forks, hoes, and
the like--and maltreated it severely, finally attaching it to a horse's
tail and dragging it about until it was mere rag and scrap.

Meanwhile, Joseph Montgolfier, having come to Paris, set about the
construction of a balloon out of linen; this was in three diverse
sections, the top being a cone 30 feet in depth, the middle a cylinder
42 feet in diameter by 26 feet in depth, and the bottom another cone 20
feet in depth from junction with the cylindrical portion to its point.
The balloon was both lined and covered with paper, decorated in blue and
gold. Before ever an ascent could be attempted this ambitious balloon
was caught in a heavy rainstorm which reduced its paper covering to pulp
and tore the linen at its seams, so that a supervening strong wind tore
the whole thing to shreds.

Montgolfier's next balloon was spherical, having a capacity of 52,000
cubic feet. It was made from waterproofed linen, and on September 19th,
1783, it made an ascent for the palace courtyard at Versailles, taking
up as passengers a cock, a sheep, and a duck. A rent at the top of the
balloon caused it to descend within eight minutes, and the duck and
sheep were found none the worse for being the first living things to
leave the earth in a balloon, but the cock, evidently suffering, was
thought to have been affected by the rarefaction of the atmosphere at
the tremendous height reached--for at that time the general opinion was
that the atmosphere did not extend more than four or five miles above
the earth's surface. It transpired later that the sheep had trampled on
the cock, causing more solid injury than any that might be inflicted by
rarefied air in an eight-minute ascent and descent of a balloon.