“In this ascent six pigeons were taken up. One was thrown out at the height of three miles, when it extended its wings and dropped as a piece of paper; a second, at four and five miles, and it fell downward as a stone. A fourth was thrown out at four miles on descending. It flew in a circle, and shortly alighted on the top of the balloon. The two remaining pigeons were brought down to the ground. One was found to be dead, and the other, a ‘carrier,’ was still living, but would not leave the hand when I attempted to throw it off, till after a quarter of an hour it began to peck a piece of ribbon which encircled its neck, and was then jerked off the finger, and flew with some vigor toward Wolverhampton. One of the pigeons returned to Wolverhampton on Sunday the 7th, and it is the only one that has been heard of.” This was the loftiest ascent ever made up to that time; and thus Glaisher, or rather Coxwell, who was in the ring above him, could be called the “highest man” of the first century of aëronautics. Their greatest elevation, however, is now generally estimated at much less than seven miles, and probably below six miles, due allowance being made for inaccuracies of estimate made by Mr. Glaisher. His results, nevertheless, were considered valuable, revealing as they did, that the balloon may be used safely up to the neighborhood of five miles; that the temperature of the atmosphere does not, as previously supposed, decline one degree for each 300 feet of ascent, but often declines more rapidly, and sometimes even increases with the elevation for considerable stretches; that the moisture percentage is extremely slight at an altitude beyond five miles; that at all elevations attainable by man the dry- and wet-bulb thermometers can be used effectively, etc. A still loftier ascent was made by Professor Berson of Germany, aided by the respiration of oxygen. On July 31, 1901, accompanied by Dr. Süring, he ascended from Berlin in the balloon _Preussen_ to an elevation of 10,800 meters, which at present constitutes the world’s record for altitude. The balloon had a capacity of 300,000 cubic feet, and left the ground two thirds filled with hydrogen, and carrying 8,000 pounds of ballast in the form of sand bags attached to the sides of the basket, so that they could be cut loose with the slightest physical effort.