France to meet the heavy expenses entailed in the venture. The
work was entrusted to a French scientist, Professor Charles, and
two brothers named Robert.

It was quickly seen that paper, such as was used by the
Montgolfiers, was of little use in the construction of a gas
balloon, for the gas escaped. Accordingly the fabric was made of
silk and varnished with a solution of india-rubber and
turpentine. The first hydrogen balloon was only about 13 feet in
diameter, for in those early days the method of preparing
hydrogen was very laborious and costly, and the constructors
thought it advisable not to spend too much money over the initial
experiments, in case they should be a failure.

In August, 1783--an eventful year in the history of aeronautics--
the first gas-inflated balloon was sent up, of course
unaccompanied by a passenger. It shot up high in the air much
more rapidly than Montgolfier's hot-air balloon had done, and was
soon beyond the clouds. After a voyage of nearly an hour's
duration it descended in a field some 15 miles away. We are told
that some peasants at work near by fled in the greatest alarm at
this strange monster which settled in their midst. An old print
shows them cautiously approaching the balloon as it lay heaving
on the ground, stabbing it with pitchforks, and beating it with
flails and sticks. The story goes that one of the alarmed
farmers poured a charge of shot into it with his gun, no doubt
thinking that he had effectually silenced the panting demon
contained therein. To prevent such unseemly occurrences in the
future the French Government found it necessary to warn the
people by proclamation that balloons were perfectly harmless