This
announcement was necessary, to abate in some degree the
excitement of the people until some satisfactory results should
be obtained; it was also necessary for those engaged in the work,
whose firmness of nerve might have suffered from the enthusiastic
cries of excited spectators. On Wednesday, the 15th of October,
Pilatre des Roziers, who had on other occasions given proofs of
his intelligence and courage in performing dangerous feats, and
who had already signalised himself in connection with balloons,
offered to go up in the new machine. His offer was accepted; the
balloon was inflated; stout ropes, more than eighty feet long,
were attached to it, and it rose from the ground to the height
to which this tackle allowed it. At this elevation it remained
four minutes twenty-five seconds; and it is not surprising to
hear that Roziers suffered no inconvenience from the ascent.
What was really the interesting thing in this experiment was,
that it showed how a balloon would fall when the hot air became
exhausted, this being the point which caused the greatest amount
of disquietude among men of science. In this instance the
balloon fell gently; its form distended at the same time, and,
after touching the ground, it rose again a foot or two, when its
human passenger had jumped out.
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