ching the ground rent
itself. Next, ere it plunged into the water, it carefully deposited
a portion of its crown on the tomb of Nero. Napoleon, on learning
the facts, forbade that they should ever be referred to. Further,
he thenceforward discountenanced the balloon in his army, and the
establishment at Meudon was abandoned.

There is record of an attempt of some sort that was made to revive the
French military ballooning school in the African campaign of 1830, but
it was barren of results. Again, it has been stated that the Austrians
used balloons for reconnaissance, before Venice in 1849, and yet again
the same thing is related of the Russians at the time of the siege of
Sebastopol, though Kinglake does not mention the circumstance. In 1846
Wise drew up and laid before the American War Office an elaborate scheme
for the reduction of Vera Cruz. This will be discussed in its due place,
though it will be doubtless considered as chimerical.

On the other hand, eminently practical were the experiments co-ordinated
and begun to be put to an actual test by Mr. Coxwell, who, before he
could duly impress his project upon the military authorities, had to
make preliminary trials in private ventures. The earliest of these was
at the Surrey Zoological Gardens in the autumn of 1854, and it will be
granted that much ingenuity and originality were displayed when it
is considered that at that date neither wireless telegraphy, electric
flashlight, nor even Morse Code signalling was in vogue. According to
his announcement, the spectators were to regard his balloon, captive or
free, as floating at a certain altitude over a beleaguered fortress, the
authorities in communication with it having the key of the signals and
seeking to obtain through these means information as to the approach
of an enemy. It was to be supposed that, by the aid of glasses, a vast
distance around could be subjected to careful scrutiny, and a constant
communication kept up with the authorities in the fortress. Further,
the flags or other signals were supposed preconcerted and unknown to the
enemy, being formed by variations of shape and colour. Pigeons were also
despatched from a considerable height to test their efficiency
under novel conditions. The public press commented favourably on the
performance and result of this initial experiment.

Mr. Coxwell's account of an occasion when he had to try conclusions with
a very boisterous wind, and of the way in which