To descend to terra firma was then a
comparatively easy matter, and it was safely accomplished. The
fire, which in the case of the French balloons had dried,
calcined, and almost consumed the upper part of the balloon, had
no evil effect upon that of Andriani, which came down looking as
fresh as if it had never been used.
The new idea had now passed the frontiers of France, in which it
was originally conceived, and among the other nations, as at
first in France, the power of the inflated balloon came to be
tested everywhere by the construction of small toy globes.
It was just about five months after the first experiment at
Annonay--viz., on the 25th of November, 1783--that the first
balloon ascended in London. We are informed, in the History of
Aerostation by Tiberius Cavallo, that an Italian, Count
Zambeccari, who was staying in the English capital, made a
balloon of silk, covered with a varnish of oil. Its diameter was
ten feet, and its weight eleven pounds. It was gilded for the
double purpose of enhancing its appearance and preventing the
escape of air. After having been exposed to public inspection
for several days, it was filled three parts full of hydrogen gas,
a tin bottle was suspended from it, containing an address to
whoever might find it when it should fall, and it was let off
from the Artillery Ground, in presence of a vast assembly.
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