ibrium with the
surrounding air; which may not happen till it has attained to a
great height. Anyone who should see such a globe,
resembling the moon in an eclipse, should be aware that far from
being an alarming phenomenon it is only a machine made of
taffetas, or light canvas covered with paper, that cannot
possibly cause any harm and which will some day prove serviceable
to the wants of society.

Came now the next great step in the progress of aeronautics. It had
been demonstrated that balloons could lift themselves. They had even
been made to lift dumb animals and restore them to earth unhurt. But
if the conquest of the air was to amount to anything, men must go
aloft in these new machines. Lives must be risked to demonstrate a
theory, or to justify a calculation. Aeronautics is no science for
laboratory or library prosecution. Its battles must be fought in the
sky, and its devotees must be willing to offer their lives to the
cause. In that respect the science of aviation has been different
from almost any subject of inquiry that has ever engaged the
restless intellect of man, unless perhaps submarine navigation, or
the invention of explosives. It cannot be prosecuted except with a
perfect willingness to risk life. No doubt this is one of the
reasons why practical results seemed so long in the coming. Nor have
men been niggardly in this enforced sacrifice. Though no records of
assured accuracy are available, the names of forty-eight aeronauts
who gave up their lives in the century following the Montgolfiers'
invention are recorded. That record ended in 1890. How many have
since perished, particularly on the battlefields of Europe where
aircraft are as commonplace as cannon, it is too early yet to
estimate.

[Illustration: Montgolfier's Passenger Balloon.]

After the success of the ascension from the _Champ de Mars_, the
demand at once arose for an ascension by a human being. It was a
case of calling for volunteers. The experiments already made showed
clearly enough that the balloon would rise high in air. Who would
risk his life soaring one thousand feet or more above the earth, in
a flimsy bag, filled with hot air, or inflammable gas, without means
of directing its course or bringing it with certainty and safety
back to a landing place? It was a hard question, and it is
interesting to note that it was answered not by a soldier or sailor,
not by an adventurer, or devil-may-car