As an outcome of these disputes, Pilatre de Rozier, the first man ever to make an ascent, proposed to attempt to cross the Channel in a new-type balloon, a combination of hot-air and hydrogen machine, which was supposed to represent the good qualities of both types. Several months were consumed in constructing it, and when finally completed he and a companion attempted to cross the Channel, as had been done by Blanchard and Jeffries a short time previously. All went well at first and the balloon was several miles on its journey when suddenly the wind changed, the balloon was blown back over the heads of the anxious watchers below, and when a short distance inland, suddenly burst into flames. At first it descended with an oscillating movement, and then, freed from the restraining silk and canvas, it shot downward, striking the earth with terrible force, the two occupants being killed. Thus the man to make the first ascent in a balloon was also the first to lose his life. Rozier himself seems to have expected some such ending to his voyages, and just before making his last ascent he remarked to a friend that, whatever the outcome, "one had lived long enough when one had added something to humanity." The fate of Rozier and his companion being known, and the awful dangers of balloon ascensions thus forcibly brought home, there was a popular outcry against such attempts and efforts were made to pass laws forbidding them. But no such demand or suggestion came from the balloonists themselves. They could point to the fact that, while as yet the balloon had been of no importance commercially, it had at least been turned to some account in the field of science, which was simply a stepping-stone to commercial advancement. It had been the means of settling forever the question of temperature and rarefaction at different altitudes, besides numerous less important although no less interesting subjects. While it was true that many of the experiments of the aeronauts had added largely to human knowledge, some of them were both dangerous and foolhardy. An exhibition of this kind of folly was given by the Frenchman, Testu-Bressy, who, wishing to test his theory that large animals would bleed from the nose at a much lower elevation than man, despite the thicker consistency of their blood, made an ascent mounted on the back of a horse. On this occasion the aeronaut did not, even take the simple precaution of tying the horse's feet to the car; and what seems most remarkable, the animal made the journey without moving or showing any sign of fear. [Illustration: AN INTERNATIONAL BALLOON RACE. This view was taken before the start of an international balloon race near Berlin. The balloons are of the ordinary non-dirigible type.]