the appearance of Montgolfier at Versailles, on the 19th of
September, 1783, before Louis XVI, or of the earliest aeronauts
at the Tuileries. Paris hailed the first of these men with the
greatest acclaim, "and then, as now," says a French writer, "the
voice of Paris gave the cue to France, and France to the world!"
Nobles and artisans, scientific men and badauds, great and small,
were moved with one universal impulse. In the streets the
praises of the balloon were sung; in the libraries models of it
abounded; and in the salons the one universal topic was the great
"machine." In anticipation, the poet delighted himself with
bird's-eye views of the scenery of strange countries; the
prisoner mused on what might be a new way of escape; the
physicist visited the laboratory in which the lightning and the
meteors were manufactured; the geometrician beheld the plans of
cities and the outlines of kingdoms; the general discovered the
position of the enemy or rained shells on the besieged town; the
police beheld a new mode in which to carry on the secret service;
Hope heralded a new conquest from the domain of nature, and the
historian registered a new chapter in the annals of human
knowledge.

"Scientific discoveries in general," says Arago, "even those from
which men expect the most advantage, like those of the compass
and the steam-engine, were greeted at first with contempt, or at
the best with indifference. Political events, and the fortunes
of armies monopolised almost entirely the attention of the
people. But to this rule there are two exceptions--the
discoveries of America and of aerostatics, the advents of
Columbus and of Montgolfier." It is not here our duty to inquire
how it happened that the discoveries made by these two personages