Chapter VI. Third Experiment.
(Montgolfier's Balloon, Paris, Faubourg St. Antoine.)
As we have seen, the triumph of aerostation was sudden and
complete. The young Montgolfier had arrived in Paris prior to the
experiment of the 27th of August, and was present as a simple
spectator on that occasion. immediately afterwards he set to
work upon a balloon, which was to be made use of when the Academy
should investigate the phenomenon at Versailles in presence of
the king, Louis XVI.
It was at this time (September, 1783) that those small balloons,
made of gold-beaters' skin, which are used as children's toys to
the present day, were first made. The whole of Paris amused
itself with them, repeating in little the phenomenon of the great
ascent. The sky of the capital found itself all at once traversed
by a multitude of small rosy clouds, formed by the hand of man.
Faujas de Saint Fond says that at first an attempt was made to
construct balloons of fine, light paper; but this material being
permeable, and the gas being inflammable, balloons thus made did
not succeed. It was necessary to seek a material less porous,
and, if possible, still lighter.
The Journal de Paris, of the 11th of September, 1783, informed
the public that the Baron de Beaumanoir, "who cultivated the
sciences and the fine arts with as much success as zeal," would
send up a balloon eighteen inches in diameter.
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