stily rigging up a cambric muslin balloon,
soaking it in linseed oil and essaying the best exhibition that
this improvised experiment could afford. It was intended to become
a memorable one, inasmuch as, should he meet with no hindrance, his
determination was nothing less than that of bursting this balloon at a
great height, having firmly convinced himself that the machine in these
circumstances would form itself into a natural parachute, and bring
him to earth with every chance in favour of safety. In his own words,
"Scientific calculations were on his side with a certainty as great and
principles as comprehensive as that a pocket-handkerchief will not fall
as rapidly to the ground when thrown out of a third storey window as
will a brick."

His balloon was specially contrived for the experiment in hand, having
cords sewn to the upper parts of its seams, and then led down through
the neck, where they were secured within reach, their office being that
of rending the whole head of the balloon should this be desired. On this
occasion a cat and a dog were taken up, one of these being let fall from
a height of 2,000 feet in a Cocking's parachute, and landing in safety,
the other being similarly dismissed at an altitude of 4,000 feet in an
oiled silk balloon made in the form of a collapsed balloon, which,
after falling a little distance, expanded sufficiently to allow of its
descending with a safe though somewhat vibratory motion. Its behaviour,
at any rate, fully determined Wise on carrying out his own experiment.

Being constructed entirely for the main object in view, the balloon had
no true opening in the neck beyond an orifice of about an inch, and by
the time a height of 13,000 feet had been reached the gas was streaming
violently through this small hole, the entire globe being expanded
nearly to bursting point, and the cords designed for rending the balloon
very tense. At this critical period Wise owns to having experienced
considerable nervous excitement, and observing far down a thunderstorm
in progress he began to waver in his mind, and inclined towards
relieving the balloon of its strain, and so abandoning his experiment,
at least for the present. He remembers pulling out his watch to make a
note of the hour, and, while thus occupied, the straining cords, growing
tenser every moment, suddenly took charge of the experiment and burst
the balloon of their own accord. The gas now rushed from the huge rent
above tumult