The rapidity of the descent is arrested by the large surface
which the parachute presents to the air. When the aeronaut
wishes to descend by the parachute, all that is required is,
after he has slipped down from the car of the balloon to that of
the parachute, to loosen the rope which binds the latter to the
former, which is done by means of a pulley. In an instant the
aeronaut is launched into space with a rapidity in comparison
with which the wild flights of the balloon are but gentle
oscillations. But in a few moments, the air rushing into the
folds of the parachute, forces them open like an umbrella, and
immediately, owing to the wide surface which this contrivance
presents to the atmosphere, the violence of the descent is
arrested, and the aeronaut falls gently to the ground, without
receiving too rude a shock.
The virtues of the parachute were first tried upon animals.
Thus, Blanchard allowed his dog to fall in one from a height of
6,500 feet. A gust of wind caught the falling parachute, and
swept it away up above the clouds. Afterwards, the aeronaut in
his balloon fell in with the dog in the parachute, both of them
high up in the cloudy reaches of the sky, and the poor animal
manifested by his barking his joy at seeing his master.
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