The subjects to which they
were specially to direct their attention, were the law of the
decrease of temperature in progress upwards, the discovery of
whether the chemical composition of the atmosphere is the same
throughout all its parts, the comparison of the strength of the
solar rays in the higher regions of the atmosphere and on the
surface of the earth, the ascertaining whether the light
reflected and transmitted by the clouds is or is not polarised,
&c.
All the preparations having been made in the garden of the
Observatory at Paris, the ascent took place on the 29th of June,
1850, at 10.27 a.m., the balloon being filled with hydrogen gas.
The first ascent was a signal failure. It was found that the
weather being bad, the envelope of the balloon was torn in
several places, and had to be mended in all haste. Immediately
preceding the moment of ascent, a torrent of rain fell. But the
voyagers were determined to ascend. They placed themselves in
the car, and, when thrown off from the fastenings, they rose
through the air with the speed of an arrow. The height to which
the balloon reached made it suddenly dilate, and the network,
which was much too small, was stretched to the utmost.
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