considering the rage which there was at
that period for ballooning.

In order to provide aeronauts with a means of escape--a last resource in
case of accident--the parachute was invented. It may be regarded as a
balloon's lifeboat, which will (perhaps!) bear the passengers in safety
to the ground in case of balloon-wreck.

Doubtless the umbrella suggested the parachute. Every one knows the
tremendous force that this implement exerts in a high wind if the
unfortunate owner should happen to get turned round in the wrong
direction. The men of the east have, it is said, turned this power to
account by making use of an umbrella to enable them to leap from
considerable heights. In particular, a native of Siam, who was noted
for his feats of agility, was wont to amuse the King and his court by
taking tremendous leaps, having two small umbrellas with long slender
handles attached to his girdle. These eased him down in safety, but he
was occasionally driven by the wind against trees or houses, and
sometimes into a neighbouring river.

In case any adventurous individual should be tempted to make trial of
the powers of himself and his umbrella in this way, we think it right,
by way of caution, to tell him that the French General Bournonville, who
was imprisoned in the fortress of Olmutz in 1793, became so desperate
that he attempted to regain his freedom by leaping with an umbrella from
his window, which was forty feet from the ground. He hoped that the
umbrella would break his fall. Doubtless it did so to some extent, and
saved him from being killed, but being a large heavy man, he came down
with sufficient violence to break his leg, and was carried back to his
dungeon.

The chief differences between a parachute and an umbrella lie in the
great size of the former, and in the cords which stretch from the outer
points of its ribs to the lower end of the handle. These cords give it
strength, and prevent it from turning inside out. There is also a hole
in the top of the parachute to allow some of the air to escape.

The first parachute was constructed by Blanchard in 1785, and a dog was
the first living creature that descended in it, and reached the earth
unhurt. Blanchard afterwards made a descent in person at Basle, and
broke his leg in the fall.

The bold aeronaut Monsieur Garnerin next ventured to make the perilous
descent. He visited London in 1802, and made several ascents in a
balloon. During one of these, o