Airships past and present, together with chapters on the use of balloons in connection with meteorology, photography and the carrier pigeon . rical had with us four cylinders of compressed oxygen, each hold-ing 35 cubic feet. Soon we began to turn to the right, and ourcourse was directed somewhat towards the south of the start the temperature had been 74° F. ; it hadnow sunk to 19° F. We began to inhale oxygen at a heightbetween 16,000 and 20,000 ft., but rather as a precaution andwith a view to saving our strength than from any actual neces-sity. The balloon seemed to
Airships past and present, together with chapters on the use of balloons in connection with meteorology, photography and the carrier pigeon . rical had with us four cylinders of compressed oxygen, each hold-ing 35 cubic feet. Soon we began to turn to the right, and ourcourse was directed somewhat towards the south of the start the temperature had been 74° F. ; it hadnow sunk to 19° F. We began to inhale oxygen at a heightbetween 16,000 and 20,000 ft., but rather as a precaution andwith a view to saving our strength than from any actual neces-sity. The balloon seemed to be rising steadily, and we threw t 2 276 AIRSHIPS PAST AND PRESENT. out large quantities of ballast continually, in amounts varyingfrom 130 lb. to 330 lb. Then when a position of equilibriumwas reached, a complete series of observations would be takenafter which more ballast would be thrown out. Besides the ordinary readings on the barometer, we tooknote occasionally of the readings given by two black-bulb ther-mometers, one of which was specially protected from downwardradiation and the other from upward radiation. After three hours. Fig. 176.—The balloon, Prussia, half full of gas. we had risen to a height of 26,000 ft., and in four hours wereached an altitude of 29,500 ft., and soon after we eclipsed therecord, which till then had stood at 30,000 ft. This height hadbeen reached on December 4th, 1894. The pressure was nowless than 10 in., and the temperature was —25° F. Oursleepiness increased, which was not remarkable, seeing thatwe had had only four or five hours sleep the night before. Butit got no further than nodding, and we roused one another fromtime to time. Each little effort seemed to require more will had sufficient energy to carry out the readings and note themin the book, and we could also throw out the ballast; but as for SCIENTIFIC BALLOONING. 277 looking about us and determining the direction of our course,that was quite beyond us. After drifti
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