I received your friendly Letter of the 7th Inst. I am glad my Letters
respecting the Aerostatic Experiment were not unacceptable. But as more
perfect Accounts of the Construction and Management of that Machine
have been and will be published before your Transactions, and from
which Extracts may be made that will be more particular and therefore
more satisfactory, I think it best not to print those Letters. I say
this in answer to your Question; for I did not indeed write them with
a view of their being inserted. Mr. Faujas de St. Fond acquainted me
yesterday that a Book on the Subject which has been long expected, will
be publish'd in a few Days, and I shall send you one of them. Enclosed
is a Copy of the _Procès verbal_ taken of the Experiment made yesterday
in the Garden of the Queen's Palace la Muette where the Dauphin now
resides which being near my House I was present. This Paper was drawn
up hastily, and may in some Places appear to you obscure; therefore I
shall add a few explanatory Observations.
This Balloon was larger than that which went up from Versailles and
carried the Sheep, &c. Its bottom was open, and in the middle of the
Opening was fixed a kind of Basket Grate in which Faggots and Sheaves
of Straw were burnt. The Air rarified in passing thro' this Flame rose
in the Balloon, swell'd out its sides, and fill'd it.
The Persons who were plac'd in the Gallery made of Wicker, and attached
to the Outside near the Bottom, had each of them a Port thro' which
they could pass Sheaves of Straw into the Grate to keep up the Flame,
& thereby keep the Balloon full. When it went over our Heads, we could
see the Fire which was very considerable. As the Flame slackens, the
rarified Air cools and condenses, the Bulk of the Balloon diminishes
and it begins to descend. If those in the Gallery see it likely to
descend in an improper Place, they can by throwing on more Straw,
& renewing the Flame, make it rise again, and the Wind carries it
farther.
_La Machine poussée par le Vent s'est dirigée sur une des Allées du
Jardin._ That is against the Trees of one of the Walks. The Gallery
hitched among the top Boughs of those Trees which had been cut and were
stiff while the Body of the Balloon lean'd beyond and seemed likely to
overset. I was then in great Pain for the Men, thinking them in danger
of being thrown out, or burnt for I expected that the Balloon being no
longer upright the Flame would have laid hold of the inside that leaned
over it. But by means of some Cords that were still attach'd to it, it
was soon brought upright again, made to descend, & carried back to its
place. It was however much damaged.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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