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Page 1
It may also be that Verne had little to do with this volume; Hetzel may
have edited the collection so that it would count as one of the required
volumes Verne was to produce annually. The correspondence archives may
shed some light.
Ms. Wilbur also translated other articles on ballooning from the French.
It is also interesting that she retained in her translation the original
units which Verne used (metre, feet, leagues), a practice forgotten
until recently. This may be the first appearance of a work by Jules
Verne in the English language.
Norman M. Wolcott
Rockville, Maryland
A VOYAGE IN A BALLOON
by
JULES VERNE
Translated from the French by Anne T. Wilbur
1852
I.
My Ascension at Frankfort--The Balloon, the Gas, the Apparatus, the
Ballast--An Unexpected Travelling Companion--Conversation in the
Air--Anecdotes--At 800 Metres[A]--The Portfolio of the Pale Young
Man--Pictures and Caricatures--Des Rosiers and d'Arlandes--At 1200
Metres--Atmospheric Phenomena--The Philosopher
Charles--Systems--Blanchard--Guyton-Morveaux--M. Julien--M. Petin--At
1500 Metres--The Storm--Great Personages in Balloons--The Valve--The
Curious Animals--The Aerial Ship--Game of Balloons.
[Footnote A: A metre is equal to 39.33 English inches.]
In the month of September, 1850, I arrived at Frankfort-on-the-Maine. My
passage through the principal cities of Germany, had been brilliantly
marked by aerostatic ascensions; but, up to this day, no inhabitant of
the Confederation had accompanied me, and the successful experiments at
Paris of Messrs. Green, Godard, and Poitevin, had failed to induce the
grave Germans to attempt aerial voyages.
Meanwhile, hardly had the news of my approaching ascension circulated
throughout Frankfort, than three persons of note asked the favour of
accompanying me. Two days after, we were to ascend from the Place de la
Com�die. I immediately occupied myself with the preparations. My
balloon, of gigantic proportions, was of silk, coated with gutta percha,
a substance not liable to injury from acids or gas, and of absolute
impermeability. Some trifling rents were mended: the inevitable results
of perilous descents.
The day of our ascension was that of the great fair of September, which
attracts all the world to Frankfort. The apparatus for filling was
composed of six hogsheads arranged around a large vat, hermetically
sealed. The hydrogen gas, evolved by the contact of water with iron and
sulphuric acid, passed from the first reservoirs to the second, and
thence into the immense globe, which was thus gradually inflated. These
preparations occupied all the morning, and about 11 o'clock, the balloon
was three-quarters full; sufficiently so;--for as we rise, the
atmospheric layers diminish in density, and the gas, confined within the
aerostat, acquiring more elasticity, might otherwise burst its envelope.
My calculations had furnished me with the exact measurement of gas
required to carry my companions and myself to a considerable height.
We were to ascend at noon. It was truly a magnificent spectacle, that of
the impatient crowd who thronged around the reserved enclosure,
inundated the entire square and adjoining streets, and covered the
neighbouring houses from the basements to the slated roofs. The high
winds of past days had lulled, and an overpowering heat was radiating
from an unclouded sky; not a breath animated the atmosphere. In such
weather, one might descend in the very spot he had left.
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