have ascended higher and probably lost their lives in the rarefied
atmosphere, for there was no compressed oxygen then as now to inhale
into their lungs. The last reckoning of which they were capable before
Glaisher lost consciousness showed an elevation of twenty-nine thousand
feet, but it is supposed that they ascended eight thousand feet higher
before Coxwell was able to open the descending valve. In 1901 in the
city of Berlin two Germans rose to a height of thirty-five thousand
feet, but the two Englishmen of almost fifty years ago are still given
credit for the highest ascent.

The largest balloon ever sent aloft was the "Giant" of M. Nadar, a
Frenchman, which had a capacity of 215,000 cubic feet and required for
a covering 22,000 yards of silk. It ascended from the Champ de Mars,
Paris, in 1853, with fifteen passengers, all of whom came back safely.

The longest flight made in a balloon was that by Count de La Vaulx, 1193
miles in 1905.

A mammoth balloon was built in London by A. E. Gaudron. In 1908 with
three other aeronauts Gaudron crossed from the Crystal Palace to the
Belgian Coast at Ostend and then drifted over Northern Germany and was
finally driven down by a snow storm at Mateki Derevni in Russia, having
traveled 1,117 miles in 31-1/2 hours. The first attempt at constructing
a dirigible balloon or airship was made by M. Giffard, a Frenchman,
in 1852. The bag was spindle-shaped and 144 feet from point to point.
Though it could be steered without drifting the motor was too weak to
propel it. Giffard had many imitations in the spindle-shaped envelope
construction, but it was a long time before any good results were
obtained.