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Marion, F. (Fulgence)

"Wonderful Balloon Ascents"

Roziers died at the age of
twenty-eight and a half years."
Olivari perished at Orleans on the 25th of November, 1802. He
had ascended in a Montgolfiere made of paper, strengthened only
by some bands of cloth. His car, made of osiers, and loaded with
combustible matter, was suspended below the grating; and when at
a great elevation it became the prey of the flames. The
aeronaut, thus deprived of his support, fell, at the distance of
a league from the spot from which he had risen.
Mosment made his last ascent at Lille on the 7th of April, 1806.
His balloon was made of silk, and was filled with hydrogen gas.
Ten minutes after his departure he threw into the air a parachute
with which he had provided himself. It is supposed that the
oscillations consequent on the throwing off of the parachute were
the cause of they aeronaut's fall. Some pretend that Mosment had
foretold his death, and that it was caused by a willful
carelessness. However this may be, the balloon continued its
flight alone, and the body of the aeronaut was found partly
buried in the sand of the fosse which surrounds the town.
Bittorff made a great many successful ascents. He never used any
machine but the Montgolfiere.


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