THE PRACTICAL SCIENCE SERIES _The following Vols. are now ready or in the Press_:-- BALLOONS, AIRSHIPS, AND FLYING MACHINES. By GERTRUDE BACON. MOTORS AND MOTORING. By Professor HARRY SPOONER. RADIUM. By Dr. HAMPSON. METEOROLOGY; or, WEATHER EXPLAINED. By J. GORDON M‘PHERSON, M.A., LL.D. _Others in Preparation_ [Illustration: THE AUTHORESS, HER FATHER, AND MR. SPENCER MAKING AN ASCENT. _Frontispiece._ ] BALLOONS AIRSHIPS AND FLYING MACHINES BY GERTRUDE BACON NEW YORK DODD, MEAD & COMPANY LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK 1905 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. THE ORIGIN OF BALLOONING 9 II. THE COMING OF THE GAS BALLOON 23 III. FAMOUS BALLOON VOYAGES OF THE PAST 38 IV. THE BALLOON AS A SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT 57 V. THE BALLOON IN WARFARE 69 VI. THE AIRSHIP 84 VII. THE FLYING MACHINE 105 VIII. CONCLUSION 119 BALLOONS, AIRSHIPS, AND FLYING MACHINES CHAPTER I THE ORIGIN OF BALLOONING One November night in the year 1782, so the story runs, two brothers sat over their winter fire in the little French town of Annonay, watching the grey smoke-wreaths from the hearth curl up the wide chimney. Their names were Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, they were papermakers by trade, and were noted as possessing thoughtful minds and a deep interest in all scientific knowledge and new discovery. Before that night--a memorable night, as it was to prove--hundreds of millions of people had watched the rising smoke-wreaths of their fires without drawing any special inspiration from the fact; but on this particular occasion, as Stephen, the younger of the brothers, sat and gazed at the familiar sight, the question flashed across his mind, “What is the hidden power that makes those curling smoke-wreaths rise upwards, and could I not employ it to make other things rise also?” [Illustration: MEDALLION SHOWING BROTHERS MONTGOLFIER.]