of the eighteenth and the opening years of the nineteenth century
there had been numerous ascents in Charlier balloons, both in
Britain and on the Continent. It had already been discovered
that hydrogen gas was highly dangerous and also expensive, and
Mr. Green proposed to try the experiment of inflating a balloon
with ordinary coal-gas, which had now become fairly common in
most large towns, and was much less costly than hydrogen.

Critics of the new scheme assured the promoters that coal-gas
would be of little use for a balloon, averring that it had
comparatively little lifting power, and aeronauts could never
expect to rise to any great altitude in such a balloon. But
Green firmly believed that his theory was practical, and he put
it to the test. The initial experiments quite convinced him that
he was right. Under his superintendence a fine balloon about 80
feet high, built of silk, was made in South London, and the car
was constructed to hold from fifteen to twenty passengers. When
the craft was completed it was proposed to send it to Paris for
exhibition purposes, and the inventor, with two friends, Messrs.
Holland and Mason, decided to take it over the Channel by air.
It is said that provisions were taken in sufficient quantities to
last a fortnight, and over a ton of ballast was shipped.

The journey commenced in November, 1836, late in the afternoon,
as the aeronauts had planned to cross the sea by night. A fairly
strong north-west wind quickly bore them to the coast, and in
less than an hour they found themselves over the lights of
Calais. On and on they went, now and then entirely lost to Earth
through being enveloped in dense fog; hour after hour went by,
until at length dawn revealed a densely-wooded tract of country