becoming a prodigy. Encouraged by their fresh success, the
inventors at once set about preparations for the construction
of a much larger balloon some thirty-five feet diameter (that
is, of about 23,000 cubic feet capacity), to be made of linen
lined with paper and this machine, launched on a favourable day
in the following spring, rose with great swiftness to fully a
thousand feet, and travelled nearly a mile from its starting
ground.

Enough; the time was already ripe for a public demonstration of
the new invention, and accordingly the 5th of the following
June witnessed the ascent of the same balloon with due ceremony
and advertisement. Special pains were taken with the
inflation, which was conducted over a pit above which the
balloon envelope was slung; and in accordance with the view
that smoke was the chief lifting power, the fuel was composed
of straw largely mixed with wool. It is recorded that the
management of the furnace needed the attention of two men only,
while eight men could hardly hold the impatient balloon in
restraint. The inflation, in spite of the fact that the fuel
chosen was scarcely the best for the purpose, was conducted
remarkable expedition, and on being released, the craft
travelled one and a half miles into the air, attaining a height
estimated at over 6,000 feet.

From this time the tide of events in the aeronautical world
rolls on in full flood, almost every half-year marking a fresh
epoch, until a new departure in the infant art of ballooning was
already on the point of being reached. It had been erroneously
supposed that the ascent of the Montgolfier balloon had been