in connection with a hot country and the production of hydrogen. But have skilled, recognized balloonists ever been taken into the employ and confidence of the inner circle of erudite and profound committee men at Woolwich and Chatham? I have not, but could certainly design and suggest a light composite balloon which could be carried on a soldier's back, and sent up without all this furnace work of bricks, mortar, iron, acid, and so forth. For intricate steering with ships pilots are held in esteem. Able officers are all very well for plain sailing, but when rocks and shoals abound, a different class of man is wanted, or the vessel may founder and do very little good. Recently, army signalling between London and Portsmouth has attracted public notice. The heliograph could not do much, owing to the lack of sunshine; flags were resorted to, and, to my thinking, the system of balloon signalling I designed three years since would have come in opportunely, as well as the plans of others in the same line. But we will not wander beyond short and apt digressions from our text- viz., "Flying and Steering." To touch upon the former is our next duty, and this will, in gradual sequence, lead one to attempts at flight. "Can you, Mr. Aeronaut," said a gentleman who lately interviewed me, "give, as it were in a nutshell, a few references as to flying, with a dash of modern thought as to its possibilities at the present time?" Just so. To make a long tale short, I may remind you that, to commence with fables, the story of Dædalus rose from his being the first to use sails in a ship. But in the reign of Nero, a man at the public games attempted to fly; he was killed; his blood sprinkled the emperor. Archytas made a pigeon that could fly by an enclosed spirit, but if it fell it could not rise. This probably turned out to be a parachute disguised as a bird. Elmer attempted to fly, in the days of Edward the Confessor, from a tower- he broke his legs; an Italian, too, from Stirling Castle - he broke his thigh. Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, imagined that a flying chariot could be made. He anticipated a time when a man would call for his wings as he does for his boots, so that When pleasure begins to grow dull in the East, crossed the Seine and fell on a boat at the opposite quay he was injured. Just so, Borelli proved that the human muscles are not able to raise a man with wings. To simply test muscular power, just place two posts at such a distance that a man could, by extending his arms, rest a hand on each post, when he stands on a chair; remove the chair and he will fall. If he cannot thus support himself, much less can he by striking the thin air with wings. Colonel Burnaby, himself no insignificant specimen of strength, argues, with his customary lucidity of expression, that if any one takes a large umbrella when his weight is nicely balanced, and gives a downward tug with all his might, the result will be disappointing- he will merely score a few pounds the less. On this topic we may gather some valu. able information from the discussions of the Aeronautic Society. At a general meeting held at the Society of Arts, in the year 1868, a paper was read announcing that one of its members had actually accomplished the feat of flying. This afforded an exciting subject for conversation over the tea and coffee which followed. Probably, the first imposing exhibition of the Society at the Crystal Palace caused a mere flight of fancy, on a par, we may take it, as to figurative license with the balloon steering in Paris. It could not well have been quite accurate, for on p. 13 of the second society's Report we read that: "On reviewing the facts that have come within the reach of this Society during the past year, it is apparent that our knowledge of aeronautics, so far as regards the navigation of the air by me. chanical means, amounts to but very little, and the information recorded is of a contradictory character. Without a definite law of the acting and counteracting forces of the elastic air, we have not even entered the threshold of aeronautical discovery." Whether the Balloon Society, which is a totally different and distinct association, can give any more cheering tidings I am unaware, not being a member. Their range of inquiry is certainly most extensive, as it takes in subjects appertaining to the earth below as well as the heavens above, and even goes into cremation and fog-formation, and at length a centenary commemoration is added. and the ghastly descent of the poor young Cocking's parachute, in the year 1837, Belgian at Cremorne, did not materially advance this feature of ballooning. A The Marquis de Bacqueville, in 1742, writer in the Engineer made use of lan guage which seems to describe the present phase of air-locomotion. "Beautiful as it would be," he says, "to have a flying. machine, the motive engines at present at our command do not allow of its construction." The Duke of Argyll remarked that "if the air is ever to be navigated, it will not be by individual men flying by means of machinery; but that it is quite possible vessels may be invented which will carry a number of men, and the motive force of which will not be muscular action." to me when I wrote to you about this affair." "Then your name is so-and-so, and you have evidently not succeeded yet." Shortly after this interview we heard that the professor had positively flown; but then the sheriffs' officers were behind him, and it is doubtful where he landed, as he has never since been heard of at D In Although Dr. Lardner asserted the impracticability of steam navigation, I am not going to imitate that distinguished Dr. Pettigrew most pertinently observes authority as far as balloon steering is that "the problem of flight seems to re- concerned. At the same time, until unsolve itself into one of weight, power, deniable proof is forthcoming that it has velocity, and small surfaces versus buoy been done, we may proceed to point out ancy, diminished speed, and extensive the various impediments to success. surfaces." It is scarcely ten years since the spring of 1840 the action of one of an Englishman at D- gave it out that Mr. Green's models at the Polytechnic he could fly without a balloon and cross Institution may be thus described: A the Channel at an enormous pace, not miniature balloon was filled with common even wings or propellers being requisite. coal gas; to this was attached a small The audacity of the assertion captivated piece of spring mechanism, to give motion a vast number of people, and a few nice to the fans, which communicated a rotahundreds were soon forthcoming as a tory movement, whereupon the machine mark of confidence. At that time I hap-rose steadily to the ceiling. Deprived of pened to be at F, and went over with this assistance, it immediately fell. The a friend to make the acquaintance of this professor. My companion's card instead of my name was sent up for obvious reasons, when we were graciously received; but, "dear me," as my friend observed, "what a queer fellow!" He was a midland man of no education, address, or even of presentable appearance. For our inspection he handed a ridiculous sketch of some mystic wheels inside of a wicker basket, which contained the source of flight, but no wings or propellers were to be seen, and he professed not to want a balloon. A spring like that in a railway buffer was produced. "There it is," he said; "when that is turned on away I go, and once off it would take a good deal to stop me." 66 That," I said, with a sly wink, "we can readily believe; and I can only say that if you will come and take your luncheon with us to-morrow in your aerial chariot you shall have a cheque for £500." "I might think seriously of your offer," said the professor, "but to-night I am going to Prince Bismarck for war objects. But might I ask," he continued, "if your name is Coxwell?" My friend suppressed an outburst of laughter, while I made a clean breast of it by confession. "Why do you ask?" I inquired. 66 Because," ," said he, "some few years since you must have made a similar offer reverse of this was next shown, and the model was pulled down to the ground. A more interesting effect was then exhibited. The balloon, with the guide-rope attached to it as before, was balanced with a wheel fixed to the end of the cord which trailed on the ground. Mr. Green stated that by these simple means a voyage across the Atlantic might be performed as easily as one from Vauxhall to Nassau. But the renowned aeronaut never attempted it, nor did our American cousins a few years since, when they insisted that at two miles high a regular current moved from east to west. I made it my business, with the identical Nassau balloon, which I purchased of Mr. Green, to ascend, at the time of the American projected trip across, and so far from finding a settled current at two miles high from east to west, I encountered, after lingering at this height for some hours, a wind blowing due north. Green's adaptation of Mr. Taylor's fan was somewhat of a new departure, but it was not the celebrated aeronaut's own conception. The true secret of directing within doors was the brass wheel and the trail rope, which could not well be used in the open air, and without them steerage was impossi ble. Green never tried it on the large scale, or on the broad Atlantic, as he talked of doing. A sample of the vast number of propositions for guiding may thus acquired a momentum, the fan wheels were to be put in motion and raise it in the air. Strange to say, this ponderous, unsightly affair bore nothing like so commendable an outline as M. Renard and Krebs's cigar, or Mr. Brearey's plan, or that of Mr. Thos. Moys, and others. It was believed that it would safely run off the stocks and rise; its actual flight, I remember, was notified in a leading news. paper and credited, until the joke was exposed. here be appropriately given. Some of these would not stand investigation, as my esteemed friend, Hatton Turnor, shows in "Astra Castra." No. 1. A flying globe, made by an engineer named Blainville; his idea was weighting and lightening a balloon by means of a pump. No. 2. 1784, Abbé Molans Montgolfiere, a lateral opening in the envelope, from which it was expected the heated air would rush out and force the balloon in an opposite direction. No. 3. A balloon with a reversed parachute, by M. Henin, If this apparatus had been rigged and to slacken the ascent and allow the action set up on an incline, an ordinary wind, of sails. No. 4. Sir George Caley's nav-acting on such a mass of surface, would igable baloon, 1816. No. 5. Samson's aero- have hurled it upon the trees or housestat, furnished with fins made of feathers. tops before it had got half-way down the No. 6. The aerial ship "L'Aigle" of Mr. slip. If any machine fails to embrace the Lennox; it proved a failure in the Champs requisite power contained in a small comde Mars in the year 1834. No. 7. Petins' pass, and cannot shut up its wings like a system of balloons in a row, with sails partridge, and move them with a rapidity and planes attached to them in line. No. producing an audible whirr, it chance of 8. Julien's aerostat, its movement by go is minimized extremely. clockwork suspended below. No. 9. Aerial scheme of Mr. Helle, consisting of oblique vanes. M. Depuis Delcourt said aerostats of spherical shape can never be guided. They should be, ship-like, of wood and metal. Henson's aerial carriage was a singularlooking construction. The apparatus, according to the sketch, consisted of a car to contain passengers, engine, fuel, etc., to which a rectangular frame, made of bamboo cane, and covered with canvas, was attached. This frame extended on either side of the car in a similar manner to the outstretched wings of a bird, but with this difference, that they were immovable; behind the wings were two vertical fan-wheels, furnished with vanes, intended to propel the apparatus through the air. These wheels received motion, through bands and pulleys, from a steam or other engine. To an axis at the stern of the car a triangular frame was attached, resembling the tail of a bird; beneath the tail was a rudder, and, to facilitate the steering, a sail was stretched between two masts. Incredible as it may appear, the whole affair weighed three thousand pounds, and the area of surface spread out to support it, forty-five hundred square feet in the wings, and fifteen hundred and five in the tail, making altogether six thousand square feet. The engine was to be of thirty-horse power. On launching, an elevated situation was to be selected, and the machine allowed to run down an inclined plane. When the machine had But we have yet to learn the merits of the Meudon war balloon; at any rate the secrets have not transpired, so far as I am aware, at the time of writing these remarks. Should the broken screw be made good, the inventors may land themselves beyond the English cliffs. We would rather decline the honor of an escort of light infantry, and should decidedly object if they spring up from beneath the "silver streak." Should they come manfully by the overhead route, and discuss a genuine foreign balloon cigar of a good brand, we shall give them a friendly greeting, and we are sure to patronize and imitate the Paris fashions. The English haughtily demand, That seas should be at their command. But in thus seizing on the empire, how about the right and title or the ability to do it? A new and extensive colony will this "conquest of the air" add to the possessions of our neighbors. Talk about "perfidious Albion," and the sun never going down on ours: well, if space is laid hold of, the king of day must always smile on France or her belongings. As this paper merely professes to enter upon a familiar conversational statement of professional opinion, without offering or combining the formulæ of engineers and scientific men to bear out the ab. struse calculation advanced by steering aeronauts, it would be quite out of place were I to affect general approval or la bored disagreement with the kinds of Great Britain. In the first place, the mechanical changes and improvements should have been shown between Lunardi's balloon and those that were exhibited. Secondly, each ascent should have practically illustrated some progressive feature. Balloon signalling, as designed by Major Jones, myself, and others, would have formed a novel display. Thirdly, if each balloonist had been called motors and machinery selected, and of the arguments adduced in favor of each as to weight, size, and pitch of screw, together with the proportions as to shape and displacement of air. I simply hold that no invention, as yet introduced, has given satisfactory results, or it surely would have been established and subsequently pursued, instead of being allowed to dazzle and bewilder by a single miraculous flutter without appearing to be sus-upon to state his opinion as to where he ceptible of repetition. As we lack full or, was likely to drift to, and had consulted indeed, concise particulars of this latest the map and compass, to spot his supplan, a few general allusions as to what posed locality, a moot point in military we are called upon to believe seems all that ballooning would have been advanced a it is possible to review. We may say gen- stage perhaps. Fourthly, if trained oberally of other schemes bearing a family servers for meteorological purposes had likeness, that it is not yet clear about the ascended, the upper-air readings might decided reduction in the weight of steam have been added to those below. Fifthly, motors and accumulators so as to solve the three balloons might have contrasted the problem before us. Long after La- their speed with the anemometer indicavoisier had perceived the analogy between tions on the earth's surface. In short, water and air, he suggested the force of many amusing and instructive things men to cause the balloon to vary from the might have been added to show that some direction of the wind. The last note-advancement had been made, and that worthy effort in this line was when eight more might follow if the subject had been men worked together with a screw from handled in a manner worthy of the occaDupuy de Lôme's aerostat on February 2, sion. HENRY COxwell. 1872, when it was said that an independent velocity was obtained of 2.82 metres per second, or about 6.3 miles per hour. M. Giffard's trial in Paris with an elongated balloon on September 24, 1852 was not very dissimilar in appearance to the Meudon production. Although some results were obtained - so we are told as regards M. Giffard's machine—it was notified soon after that improvements were necessary, which "would take time." The inventor of the dirigible balloon then went into the construction of captive balloons. This retreat or change of front might have been masterly, but it was not following up the asserted advantages that had been gained, and grave doubts may be felt whether the next trial would have pro duced equal results. It is evident, therefore, that before it is possible to produce a more purely practical investigation of flying and steering, it is necessary to rely upon something like positive data to be used as a groundwork. As these are wanting in toto, I decline to examine separately mere speculative dogmas supported by clever figuring, which, if falsified, may be made to prove anything. Paris and London have just experienced prodigious struggles to maintain the apparently waning character of ballooning. To my thinking, a more suitable demonstration might have been devised for the Honorable Artillery Company of From The Spectator. LIFE IN TEXAS. [FROM A CORRESPONDENT.] Ranche, on the Rio Grande, IT must be many years now (how they do shut up in these latter days like a telescope !) since I confided to you in these columns the joy not unmixed with reverence -of my first interview with that worthy small person (I am sure he must be a person) the tumble-bug of the U.S.A. I looked upon him in those days as, on the whole, the most industrious and athletic little creature it had ever been my privilege to encounter. I am obliged now. to take most of that back, for to-day I have discovered that he isn't a circumstance to his Mexican cousin on this side the Rio Grande. At any rate, the specimens I have met with here are not only bigger, but work half as hard again, and about twice as quick. I was sitting just now in the verandah in front of this ranche cabin, waiting for the horses to be saddled-up at the corral just below, and looking lazily, now eastward over the river, and the wide Texan plains beyond, fading away in the haze till the horizon looked like the Atlantic in a calm, now westward to the jagged scrub, so that the general effect was outline of the Sierra Nevada, gleaming in The very mother that him bare She had not known her child. and saw, and come at once to our ride home shortly before sunset. The ranchemen and I were abreast, and the cow-boy a few yards behind, when we came across a bunch of cattle, conspicuous amongst which strode along a stalwart yearling bull-calf, whose shining brindle hide and jaunty air showed that he, at least, was not suffering from the scanty food which the drought has left for the herds on these wide plains. He was already as big as his poor, raw-boned mother, who went along painfully picking at every shrub and I had barely finished my ciphering when tuft in her path to provide his evening I was called to horse and in a few minutes meal at her own expense. Now these was riding across a vast plain, nearly bare dude-calves (who insist on living on their of grass in this drought, but dotted with parents, and will do nothing for their own mesquite-bushes, prickly-pear, and other | livelihood) can only be cured by the inser יון |