Three more international ascents were made during the year 1897, which were participated in less extensively. At this time it was necessary to decide questions that had arisen, and to make plans for the future, consequently a meeting of the International Committee was held at Strassburg in 1898. Many technical questions were settled, but the chief result accomplished was the dissipation of misunderstandings and prejudices, not only between French and Germans, but between the German representatives themselves, for no doubt personal intercourse is the greatest good of such conferences. Although it was not a surprise, nevertheless it was regretted that no one came from Great Britain, where, since Glaisher's epoch-making balloon ascensions, little has been done to explore the air. The beneficial results of the Conference were apparent at the fifth international ascent, which occurred in the early morning of June 8, 1898. Austria and Belgium joined Germany, France, and Russia, and the field of atmospheric survey was extended over a good part of Europe. A veritable aeronautic fleet was launched from Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Warsaw, St. Petersburg, Strassburg, Munich, and Vienna, consisting of twenty-one balloons, of which thirteen carried observers, who all used the aspiration thermometers, and eight were equipped only with self-recording instruments. Some of the latter balloons reached altitudes of 50,000 feet, and the former attained extreme heights of one-third this. On the day selected the atmosphere was in a state of repose, with light variable winds, except high up, where they blew, as is usual, from the west or south-west. These observations were sufficiently numerous to form a synoptic chart at a considerable height above Europe for comparison with the usual chart drawn from the surface observations.