Indiana American, Volume 15, Number 38, Brookville, Franklin County, 17 September 1847 — Page 1

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BRIEF ACCOUNT Of some novel experiments upon gravitation, and also narrative of two voyages into empty space By Orrin Lindsay, A. M., of Cincinnati. 1st Preliminary remarks and Progress Discovery--It is now six years since, when reflecting upon the various sources of mechanical force, offered by nature, and made available by man, such as wind and water power, steam and electro-magnetism, it occurred to me that a vast reservoir of momentum, an inexhaustible supply of force.must exist in that ever active, though inscrutable principle, gravitation. This principle gives weight, and causes bodies to fall, and to it we are indebted to our notions, of up and down. It is said to be a force exercised mutually by material bodies on each other, in the right line or shortest path between them, varying in intensity inversely as the squares of their distances from each other, and directly as their respective amounts of matter. Such being the case, it appeared a fair inference, that if we could command the means of i ntercepting the attractive iufluence at pleasure, we might thereby advantageously make use of the principle of gravitation as a moving power- I thereupon betho't me of every expedient which my reason and imagination could devise, to compass this desirable end. I made many experiments, but without any result that made promise of ultimate uecess, until at length I began to think it best to give the project up aa hopeless. I could not, however, wholly divert my mind from the subject, but continued to seize upon, and canvass in reference to the mailer, every new fact in molecular philosophy, which the rapid progress of experimental science revealed. More than a year since, I met with the splendid researches of Farraday, on magne tism, which suggested t my mind some new and valuable ideas. I refletted again much upon the subject, and last summer, renewed my experimental researches with an increased zeal, and morn definite ideas of what I had to do. Without following step by step, the course and order of my experiments, suffice it at present to say, that I found well prepared steel, after being superficially amalgamated with quicksilver; and then strongly magnetized, to possess the quality of an impervious screen, to the influence of gravitation. In preparing steel for this purpose, the difficulty consists in combining it properly with the quicksilver;! he true mode of accomplishing which, I do not intend to reveal until I shall have properly secured my rights as an inventor, in England and France, as well as in my native country, the United Stales. Among the numerons satisfactory results, first obtained, I will here advert to a few, the most remarkable. A smooth bar of steel.thus completely invested with the coating impervious to gravitation, was found to lose its weight and manifest a tendency to rise in ihe atmosphere, Prepared plates, made into a box, of the capacity of one cubic foot, exercised an ascending power, sufficient to suspend in the air a weight of one ounce and one tenth avoirdnpo.s; which is about the weight of the cubic foot of air w hich i. displaced; and this result occurred alike, whether the box was empty or filled with any material whatever tried, such as earth. wood, bread, nails &c., the influence of the earth's gravitation, being completely excluded from the contents of the box. Opening a hole latterly in the box, resulted in the earth's attraction acting in a line almost horizontal, which gave the box a tendency to move in the direction of the hole. The applicability of this invention, as a chpiip, efficient and inexhaustible moving power, must therefore be at once apparent. Nothing can be better adapted to the propulsion of railroad cars, vessels floating on water, and stationary maehinry. It at once occurred la me, that mine was the invention par excellence, which render the void regions of space easily accessible and safely navigable. In early lire I had allowed my fancy to go wild n the subject af aerial navigation: I en vied the birds of the air in possession of inetr talent of flying, and longed to be ameto meet them. I fondly hoped and believed, that human science and skill would at length attain to this desideratum. But when, with a better informed and more mature mind, I canvassed the mean or aerial , navigation which are possesed. I came to the reluctant conclusion, that it would never be possible for man to attain to much in the way of flying through the air. aiy tortunale discovery, however, at once changed the prospect, and I re' solved to lose no time in pressing into mr service one of the great original forces of nature, in furtherance of aerial navigalion. The first relevant experiment which I made worth while here to relate. was bv confining a young bull terrier dog, weigh ing about fifteen pounds in the sanare box before mentioned, attaehining a twine to the box, and allowing it to ascend in the air. The dog did not seem to relish this compulsory mode of miking him contribute to the cause of science, but up he went, box, twine and all. near two! hundred feet high,the length or the twine, I pulled him down and let him ascend slowly for several times. I had all along kept a tight string upon the box, so as to moderate the velocity of ascent; but wishing to observe the velocity which it might attain, unimpeded, I gave it at last! a Slack twine. Starlino kIou )v ol fir... eradually increased its rate of ascent (on' 'I.. ...u r. A C - I MIDI. II uv. rauia puiitipic as tne aaiTiu ui a ver Heal ash pole, sunk deep in the water an I then let go,) until it came 10 the lenl f the string, of which I kept hold, by which time, il had acquired so much mo - mentum as lo snap the twine. Iicontinued to ascend with still arrclirAtt city, its course modified a little bv th winds.uiuil.it finally entered a fleecy"

cloud, and was forever lost to my sight. Delighted beyond measure with my success, I deliberately set to work to devise the kind of machine upon this principle, in which I might personally venture to make an aerial voyage, as well as to determinine upon the various instruments appliances, and accessory matters, that might prove subservient to the scheme. I devoted six weeks, in maturing and

perfecting my plan, after which I supplied myself with everything that I had before hand determined upon. I also employed, confidentially. Mr. Abner Josslin a skillful philosophical instrument maker of Cincinnati, to assist me in carry, ing my plan into execution. Preferring a winter's residence in a southern climate, and, moreover, being unwilling to expose the progress of my grand experiment to the unpleasant scrutiny and interference, which curious observers in Cincinnati, could not fail to have awarded me, on the 15th of October. I put the boxes containing all my fixtures, on board of a Steamboat; (the Pike No. 8) and with Josslin, took passage for the city of Natchez, where we arrived on the 22d Taking excursions into the country, with a view of selecting a suitable site for my intended operations, I at length fixed upon and secured a vacant secluded house, some distance from the river, in the bottom of the biggest and gloomiest of those wonderful circular gorges, called the Devil's Punch Bowls, upon Captain Nevitt's wild lands, three miles above Natchez. Providing ourselves with various necessaries, we transhipped everything from the tory of the wharf boat, to a small up river Steamboat, (the Charlotte,) and we landed as per contract two and a half miles higher up. We soon established ourselves comfortably, in the Devil's big Punch Bowl, where, for a long time, we had all the privacy we desired. It is unnecessary to enter into special details of our progress, in the construclion of the Magnetic Balloon, or into a circumstantial account of our mode of living. I cannot omit, however, to express my gratitude to Dr. T. B. Osserman for the valuable assistance which he rendered me in various ways, and for the fidelity with which he has kept secret my plans, confided to him some three or four weeks after we were enscounsed in the Punch Bowl. Hunting, one day, for fossil, mastadon bones, in the exposed strata of the gorge, a perfect stranger he found us out, We soon became acquainted, and I tho't it prudent to make him a confidant. I am also under obligations to Messrs. Wilkinson and Harmason, proprietors of the Natchez Foundery, for their courteous conduct, and skill, in constructing for me various isolated pieces of machinery. II Narrative of the fast Aerial Voyage. The Magnetic Balloon having been completed on the 15th of February, after a few preliminary trials, to the heighth of the brim of the Punch Bowl, one hundred and fifty feet, I concluded to adventure myself into the sky. I will here briefly describe the balloon. Its external form was globular, and ten feet in diameter. It consisted of a strong frame of wood work, covered with poplar boards. upon which eternally, were secured plates of the magnetic amalgam. There was one considerable opening in the manner of a door, into the interior, externally also covered with the amalgam, and twelve circular spy-holes, or windows. symmetrically and equidistantly placed over the whole surface of the sphere, each one six inches in diameter, with twelve plates of the magnetical amalgam, to close the openings at pleasure. Within, the furniture consisted of a small low table, a chair, a box of philosophical instruments &c, &c, At 10 A M.. giving my directions to Josslin, I entered the balloon alone; not without some misgivings. I sealed myself, lighted a wax taper. closed the twelve spy holes-- the rope was loosened. An had lost all my bodily weight. The flame of the taper became globular and less luminous, the heated air from it, seemingly not knowing which way to rise, diffused

itself slowly in every direction. The /quence if all being excited with the eame slightest springing rff.jrt, sent me slowly/ kind of electricity. I soon found myseef from one side of the balloon to the oppo-/ below the cloud and in a moderate current

site. II tt nw the rhi i aer denta v w t my foot, it played about the ronn like a mote in a sunbeam, being like myseir, ap' P-re.my uevo.u m weig.ii. r oriui.iue.y the chest and table I had taken lhe precatilion M fisien do'vn. I very shortly toCovered my self posesi in, and got an air gage, and observed that the pressure of the air was about half what it is at the 1 , - , e - , . T. . . - Tsurface or the earth. Trom which I inferred that I had attained an elevation of three miles and a half. I immediately opened several of the windows, until I found the direction the earth Uy. Instantly the face or gravitation took rule again, and lhe rapid ascent was checked. Bodies, acquired weight and the perception of up and down, was reestablished. I then proceeded so to adjust the openings, that the ascending power o( the balloon was about balanced by the gravitation allowed to be exerted upon its contents, which left me nearly at rest in mid air I experienced a most uncomfortable sensation or coldness. The temperature or ' the air at the surface of the ground, when I left, was 50 deg. Fahr. Now at the height of three and a half miles, the thermometor, fairly exposed, stooJ at two degrees below zero. The day was fine with very few cloud and little air '.lirrinn holnvv hull nvrreiva thnl I hud ..llllii. Ufct"". vvi..i' got into an invisable curren,bearing meat .u ..r r. :i i ! raie ui uenr ue mites mi ikmii, iv ards the north east. Prospect as grand,, beyond my power to delineate. ' deep blue sky, far above me as ever, still , benl over me its hemispherical vault, like an enormous soap bubble. The surface nf the earth seemed hollowed out into a corresponding hemisphere, in form like the sky, tamed bottom side up. The

BROOKVILLE,

whole country, with its rivers, Iake, fields, J we bad introduced an air-tigbt lining of wrests, towns, &c, lay spread out before sheet lead, and adapted air-tight plate me, like an immense concave map. The .glass to the twelve small openings, so that scenery seemed to rise in the distance, the &ir contained in the balloon could not appearing less distinct, more and more,e8caPe ,a il "tended, in order that the blue, until in my horizon.it shaded .off accuttome'1 lmPberic pressure of near all around, imperceptibly, into the mur- ?aen Pu"d8 t0 lhe ejue inch, might ky, smoky blue or the lowe, sky. I constantly maintained; such is the usu-

tured to ascend "still higher.and the higher I went the colder it became, at the rate or about one degree Fahr. for every 352 feet. I could all along, approximate closely to my height, by observing the volume occupied by a small portion or air, confined by mercury, in a graduated glass tube, celled an air gage; it being well understood, that at the height of 3 1/2 miles the air has half its normal density or twice its volume at the level of the sea, at 7 miles high, one-fourth the density, or 4 times the volume, and so in the same ratio. Indeed, if the whole atmosphere were of the uniform density, which it has at the level of the sea. it would only extend to the height of 26,057, feet, almost equal to five miles. The higher I ascended tne deeper became the blue of the sky, until at my greatest altitude, it became almost black from which it may be infered, that the blue tint of the sky is solely due to the earth's atmosphere, and had the earth no atmosphere, the sky would appear black. At mid-day I found myself about 26,400 feet say five miles, from the surface of the earth. My altitude was equal to the highest peak of the Himalaya mountains, the highest known on our globe. The highest ascent by means of a balloon hitherto on record, was made Sept. 1804. by Guy Lussac from Paris. He reached the enormous elevation of 23,100 feet, near 4 1/2 miles. But my ascent was 26,400 feet, nearly two-thirds of a mile higher still. My breathing became quick and laborious from the greatly rarified condition of the air. The thermometor fell to 21 deg. below zero. I began to feel an unavoidable drowsiness stealing over me, and knowing the fatal consequences of yielding to it. t resolved to commence my descent. For this purpose I increased the lower opening, and looking down, far below me, I beheld a mass of fleecy sunlight clouds, of a pure white appearance, like giant locks of the finest cotton. I had prepared myself several 8 oz. numbered phials, fitted with corks. Just as I began to descend I filled one of these phials, by means of a small bellows, with the air of that region, and then corked it up. And so as near as practicable for every half mile of my decent, I filled a phial with the circumambient air. I may as well go ahead of my narrative to relate that a few days afterwards having the means, I subjected these samples of air, to chemical analysis, and from that altho' the higher the region in which the phial was filled. the less air it contained, as might have been anticipated from the indication of the air gage, yet in respect to the relative proportions of elementary ingredients, hardly a shade of differenence could be made out. They all yielded oxygen gas, or vitral air, rather under 21 per cent, by measure, nitrogen or azotic gas, near 79 percent.; carbonic-acid gas, varying near one -fifth of one per cent, the vapor of water, nearly one fifth of one per cent.; but more variable and microscopic organized matters, about one part in 50, 000 by weight. Recurring to my narrative. I allowed the balloon to descend slowly, until I sunk greatly into the cloud before mentioned, which I found by the air gage, to be about a mile and a half high. While there I observed that the hallow vesicles of liquid water, which, repelled from one another by electricity . constitute the cloud, were much larger than I had ever seen them : before: so much so as to be very distinctly visible to the naked eye. These little tioflow watery globes were nil. apparently. of lr mc size, and about as large as mustard seed. St,usure says he na them I on ?l'8 t0P of M1" "'""C large as peas, j ylThev looked o:i a em ill scale, l.ke the soap bubble, which bovs sometimes blow up and throw off from the bowl of a tobacco pipe, it was curious to ooserve that tuey wonlJ not j is tie, nr come in contact with ech other, bsiog held nssunuer in consc or air, mn nig i iuu mui, muni; ien nine north cast of Nrtchez. By judiciously (opening an attraction in tbo direction of I 1 . 1-n f'..nsir.liA 1 crtin linrl ilia B.tiwfn.inn i 11'" v.v-..ov.. . . nw,.. ...v. v....... of finJ lhe hMnim coving, despite the win(, f in t.,e direction of the Devil's Punch Howls, at the rale of about 15 miles an i,0ur. Moderating my gait, in due lime I caused the balloon to subside genilv, and ! sifely, into the big punch bowl; lanJing, at ; I M .not ten feet from where I had star ted five hours before, to the great joy of Josslin, who. loosing night nf me in the clouds, had given me up for lost. The balloon was carefully secured in the shed under which it was built, and I can truly I say that I felt thankful in having so safely escaped from the frigid and dizzy region of the sky, and in feeling myself on th firm earth, surrounded by an atmosphere warm enough and dense enough to be breathed with comfort. Two days afterwards. Dr. Overman visited me, having just returned front a week's excursion over on BUck river. From loin I learned lhl mv bal loon had been observed, bv sundry persons, during my aerial trip of the IkIi, and that it was supposed to be one of those tire balloons often sent up lor anviseioont, by means of raritiod air, and therefore excited no particular inquiry. Ill Preparation fir the tecomt r yngcKnowing by experience the circumstances which produced discomfort during my first voyage, 1 set about devising nitons to ol- ' . . , I I I Va eu, m luturc. as wen as to ..ipp such necessaries as wou'd enable me to days ab ve the surface p'ovide against tne ex . cessive coldf Josslin and myself lined the interior surface of the balloon, with sheep's wool, woollen blankets, and bulf.ilo skius. arranging the twelve openings so that over them the liuing might be "removed a. p.ea sure; but before these blankets, skins. Are. , were permanently attached tu the interior,

INDIANA, FRIDAY, SEPT. 17, 1847.

i -- u tci ui the sea. The moveable plates of magnet ic amalgam covering uie twelve windows were to be managed by turned copper rods, passing out externally through air-tight packing boxes. Sundry thermometers, air gauges, and other philosophical instru ments, calculated to give information of tbe exterior condition of things, were also made to pass out air tight and were screened by moveable plates of the amalgam, as was also a curious rotary valvular cup for excluding any thing from the balloon without permitting the escape of air. Tbd door of entrance was intended to be made impervious to air, by thick sheets of India rubber. For a voyage of some days continuance, it was obvious that the balloou must have two inmates in order that they might relieve each other on watch. It therefore was apparent, that the air which the balloon could contain, about 500 cubic feet, about one hundred cubic feet of which would bo oxygan, would be sufficient to support the respiration of two men only a comparatively short time, especially aa long oeiore tne oxygen is consumed, tbe air would become so vitiated by the car. bonic acid exhaled from the lungs, as to produce asphyxia and death. Ahealthy man consumes near 23.75 cubic feet of oxygen, weighing near 14,000 grains or 2 pounds avoir , in 24 hours, which is absorb ed into the lungs and combined with tbe blood. About tbe same weight, 2 pounds but near one third less volume, of carbonic acid gas formed in the general system is exhaled from the lungs and is mingled with tbe air, in twenty four hours. Inen days a man consumes 237 cubic feet of oxygen. 1 wo men in tue 6ame time would consume 474 cubic feet, equal to forty pounds of oxygen. I thought it prudent to lay by a fund of vital air of this amount, for which purpose 1 had two strong copper reservoirs constructed, and adapted to the interior of the balloon; both these reservoirs beinff to gether of the capacity of 24 cubic feet, so that compressing tbe oxygen by a force pump to one twentieth its normal volume, I was enabled to restore in them the required amount. The interior pressure up. on the reservoirs was near three hundred pounds to the square inch, and brass stopcocks wore adapted tolbein so that the oxygen might be allowed to escape when required. This amount of pure oxygen was procured by beating in a large iron retort, I0S pounds of the chlorate of potash, previously mixed with a little black oxide of manganese to facilitate decomposition, it being well known that chlorate of potash yields by heat 37 per cer-t. of its own weight of pure oxygen gas. Now, I reasoned thus.- The nitrogen of the atmosphere is not essentially increased or diminished by tbo pritceta of animal respiration. The oxygen alone is diminished. I bad contrived a way to keep the proportion of oxy. gen good. But carbonic acid gas will bo constantly produced by respiration almost as fast as oxygen is consumed. This must be gut rid of. I thought it best to provide slacked lime to effect its absorption ny converting it into carbonate of lime; and I found by calculation, that sixty eight pounds of pure slacked lime would be a trifl-? more than was necessary to ab sorb the 40 pound or carbonic acid gis which two men would exhale in ten days, which amount or lime I provided. The balloon was liberally supplied with ten days provisions, w ith a sufficiency of wa ter, a few bottles of wine, a bottle of bran dy, and numerous other matters minessary hereto re capitulate. Finding the room considerably abridged, 1 regretted that I had not in the first place constructed il upon a larger model, yet I fell convinced that two persons might therein make shift to accommodate themselves for some days. I had now comfortably provided for eating, drinking, breathing &c, when it occurred to me that the constant transpiration of the vapor of water ithrough the skin and lungs, might in lime 80 verioad our air wiin moisture as tc render the balloon uncomfortably damp so overload our air with moisture as to Ti guard against Ihis contingency. I pul on a board a small tin trunk containg lumps of u ii slacked lime, which has the power of abstracting moisture from the atmosphere, so lhat by keeping the lid of ihe trunk more or less open or shut, as required, hygrometric condition of the air, could be regulated at pleasure. IV. Narrative of the Second Voyage. The last day of February had arrived, and everything was in complete readiness frr our departure, which was fixed for lhe following day. Accordingly, at 4 P. M., on the "first of March, in presence of Dr. Osserman, Josslin and myself entered tho magnetic balloon. The thermometer stood at GO deg. The day was clear, with a moderate breeze from S. S. W. We proceeded firsl by means of clamps, screws, and sheets of India Rub ber, to secure the door of our entrance air tight, and then, by the assistance of the doctor, to determine that the whole balloon was impervious to air, as we'desired. Finding all satisfactory, we lighted a wax laper, and proceeded to close the t indowsor spie-holes with the movable plates of magnetic amalgam, wljich, excluding all gravitation, robbed us of bodily weight and the discrimination or uo and down, the same as in my first voyage. That the balloon was ascendin?, was apparent by inspecting at times an I air guage; and when by its indications we supposed ourselves about three miles high, we ventured to admit a little light to several of the windows, checking our rate of ascent, and enabling u to know th-? direction of the zenith. The baloon setting steady, we left open rur windows near the zenith for the admission of light which we could not do at the time we left l he surface of lhe earth, on account of the danger of the baloon's rolling over as it ascended, and thus being drawn to the eaiih Every way comfortable, we quietly floated an hour in an east erly direction, enjoying the sublimity of

the scene around and below s. We were slowly descending and were but one mile high, when we thought it time to set forward in earnest on the unexampled journey for which we had provided. Darkening, therefore, every spie-hole through which lhe earth's attraction could reach us, we soon perceived lhat we were again rising, and twenty minutes thereafter, the air-guage showed lhat we were fousteen miles high, while our upward velocity was still increasing. Turning my attention to an exposed thermometer, I perceived the mercury frozen in the bulb, an occurrence which is known to take place at 30 deg. below zero. I then regretted that we had omitted to supply ourselves with an alco hoi thermometer to measure greater degrees of cold. The air guage soon became useless, so immensely was tho atmosphere expanded without: yet within the balloon, protected as we were, we suffered neither from tbe cold nor the rarefied medium which surrounded us. It was my Intention to ascend about seventy miles Ligh, so as to be beyond the confines of the atmosphere, which is supposed to extend to the height of 50 miles, and then to open an attraction upon tbe moon, which that evening rose at half past five. When clear of the atmosphere. I knew the balloon would pursue a tangent line to tbe east, with the velocity of tbe

enrui s roiauon on uer axis, which, at the latitude of Natchei, 31i deg.. is not far

from one mile in four seconds of time. I dominant V T V Te pr6knew that this tangent line would be to- mountains wards the constellation Leo, in which the " S. ' ";.". immense full moon then was, aud I had good rea- I m. i de',r!8S,0n8' and radiated streams son to suppose lhat this tangential veloci- mu, JL"08 Con?ea cd- Some of he ty. conjoined with the moons auction, "J IT ,TP eak8,werJe f"f. mile high, would carry us into the neighborhood of "lti the moon, 240,000 miles fromtbe earth in 1 h" jec- 1 ,,e of the a few days. Had I depended for motive S bJBT dlrk Bt lh" lime- nd power-for the performance of this journey. I .. y'f nevcr turned ,owrd8

solely on the moons force of attraction. I bad determined that it would take forty four days, seventeen hours and twenty four minutes to arrive at the moon. At seven o'clock we took carelul observation as to our position. The sun was still visible in the west, and the moon ap. parently one and a half or tvo hours high,

in the east. I supposed we were fully ono the moon, is sudden and complete beinrr hundred miles high. We forthwith open- unattended by an, aen.ibS"wB z'ht beed an attraction on the moon, and relying cause the moon has so ve ! mt e a m oson the unfailing cons.stency of the mechan- phere. This apparent want of an adeical laws of nature, permitted ourselves to quate atmosphere, induced us to give up be sw. t,y borne into the abyss of space all idea of attemptin? to land-and having

never oeiore explored by mortal man.Thus, for a length of time equal to almost four terrestrial days, we pursued our noiseless path towards the moon, Josslin and myself taking turns as to keeping watch. t or eleven nours alter starting, the sun shone upon the balloon; for eighteen ho urs afterwards, the sun was shaded b, the earth; during the rest of the time nient ioned, we had perpetual sunshine, the sun be ing behind us, and nearly in the direction of the earth. As to tha nature of the region through which we wre pissing, called ethereal space, it is everywhere rilled with invisi ble matter so attended as not to manifest sensibly what we call weight, nor does it sensibly obstruct mechanical motion. This matter constitutes ihe medium which transmits the impulses of light. TLe temperature of this region, if it may be said to posses temperature, is far colder t ban we had means of measuring. We were he.e presented with no azure sky, no diffuse daylight as on the earth. The tky was intensely black, and multitudes of stars ever visible whether the sun shone or not. glittered with a brilliancy never seen thro' the earth's atmosphere, like diamonds upon a ground of black ve'vet. We many times, when the sun was in our sky and invisible to us, because behind us, observed faint flashes of light, apnarently near us. in continuous line, of momentary duration. They were first noticed w hen near one hundred miles from the earth. From attentive observation, I satisfied myself that the phenomenon was caused by tbe sun's sbining on 6tnal! patches of nebulous, incoherent matter, which were perfonninj orbital revolutions about the earth; and I Lave since found by calculation t hat a body maintained in an orbit 100 miles from the earth,' surface, would go entirely round the earth within 1 hour, 27 min. 43 sec. else the earth's attraction would ultimately bring it down to the atmosdheru, which I presume often happens. Indeed, I have no doubt that what we call thoothig stars have an origin analogous. These nebulous masses, impinging upon tho atmosphere with great velocity, necessarily produce the phenomena of heat and light. For a while I was apprehensive that some of the more substantial of these denizens of ethereal space, such as produce meteorites or solid sky stones, might by chance impinge upon and destroy the balloon. Nothing of tho kind occurred, and we continued to pursue our journey safely and rather comfortably than otherwise. We very seldom ventured to look in the direction of the earth we had left, because by opening a spie bole in that diiection, tba earth's attraction tended to impede our progress. The moon we had in full sight without intermission, increasing in apparent magnitude and brilliancy as we approsched her. f rom the easterly progress of tbe moon in

tier orDit round tho earth, at the mean rale ! first came in contact with the highest and of 39 miles a minute, it resulted that ourj most rarsfied stratum of the atmosphere, course as we ncired the moon, had become! not far from over the city or Q'nto, in directtd towards the extreme western lim-j South America. At leas' I in'erred that its of the moon's disc. This I had antici- it was near ll'tito, for we were near the pated, and had intended to lake advantage j equator, and on the western margin of of it in the way of gliding alonz horizon- j South America and just before we atruck. tally through the moon's atmosphere, so us j I saw a large city, with two mountain to get rid of our immense velocity without peaks hard by, one of which I supposed was barui.prepiritory to landing on the moon's Javisac and the other Pinch'.ncba. So ex eurface. At the expiration of ninety hours ceediagly great was our veloc.ty. that 1 from the time of starting, we found our- feared for the consequences of the impact, selves within 100 miles of the moon's Ear-1 We had a clear moonlight, and were movface, near the line separating her day from '; ing horizontally West. v e felt a slight night, and moving nearly parallel with the -shock, and p-.-rceivcd a flash of light as we surlace below us. Our velocity at the'

time was incredibly great, and fearing we j tmri of the balloon upon the atr bcio? sufmight fly past the moon, and be irrecover-' ficient to produce that effect. In a few

ably lost inthe outei wilds of chaos. I at once removed the magnetic screens from all the windows, so that the moon's attraction might draw us into her atmosphere. It shortly afterwards appeared that our projectile force was so great, as just about to counterbalance the moon's attraction. suu iuo rc.uii w8, mai me oanonii oeffan to circulate about the moon, as the mi on

does about th earth. In one hour. 54 duced by the balloon's rebounding from lhe minutes and 17 seconds we had performed ! atrial billows, just a cannon ball Will ria complete revolution aboiu the maon, and ! cjcbet al jn the snrfa?e of the ater. Af-

rreii,e"thanfive-orit

cul cnn.e uroe. at a mean distance, as I Lav ;n j frnm tl.. h.....J . ' ""7 from tbe observed time it took to ret a .uuuu, ui im mi its irom tne moon surface; though in some parts of our orbit we were within 20 or 30 miles; and in others proportionately remote, cur path beinr ellipsoidal. During these circumgyrations we were mostly employed in observing the wonderful appearances presented by tbe moon, which is known to be a globular body, rather more dense than the lath S times as dense as water, and 2160 miles in diameter. I will briefly set down the inferences rrom our obssrvations. At first, the moon's atmosphere is exceeding thin ... and does not seem to rise more than one i k k, m"e.,rom cr average surface, rrobably the air is morn rrifi-i : - n uiao iu tne nearest approach to v..,..m t.:u we can produce in oar air numn. v . vestige of a cloud anv whp r,K...-j :. unless near some active volcanic vent. As to her immediate surface, nothing on earth can be compared thereto, if we except perhaps, these enormous volcanic craters on some of tbe islands of the Pacific Ocean. There were no seas, lakes, nor rivers of water; indeed not a drop of water was any where visible. There were no indications of animal or vegetable life: but all seemed a cola, dry, dresry, wild and barren waste. W e were every where presented with the Bviaenccs oi former volcanic action, upon Z "7 " .- - 6and and 8ub'""e, lhan any . i . . -- t ! L..T i '"' "l,LUU'u nl well inspect; -v c uescnea a volcano in a state of active eruption. The creter, sunk deep in the bowels of the moon, was circular and near four miles in diameter. It sent forth a red and lurid light, which was partly objured by what seemed to be rolling clouds of sulphurous smoke. The transi" nil! LOP r ...a . I uon irom oay to night and night to day on satisfied our curiosity. . rr ..... permitted, we resolved to set out upon our return to our native planet, the earth with this view, while emeririnT from boI hind the moon's limb, on the eastern side r her disc, our rnnr k; .- tion of lbe earth at that ti,nc, we screened every window from the moon? aJtra t on which bad retained us in our oi bit about her, and cf ccu.-se off we came in tho direct tangent line. Respecting the appesranse nf the earth ne'e-re starting from the moon, it is proper to relate the fact that ,e looked much like a new moon, but fifteen times larger, subtending an angle of 1 deg. 54 rain? 13 sec. Now bad we succeeded in landing upon the moon as we had hoped, from the time of leaving the moon, it would have taken us 4 days 10 hours 16 min. 46 sec. to reach the earth's surface, solely by the force of her gravitation. But Parting as we did. with a tangential velocity ofnTore than a mile per second, we could travel without any other aid the whole distance in about two and a half days. Availing ourselves of both these circum.-tances. we performed the distance in two days, three hours and a half, recoiling from the time of leaving tin moon, March 5tb, Gi P. M. of Natchez time, until we first impigned upon the earth's otinphere, on the 7th Mirch at 10 P. M. During this rapid journey, the chief object of interest was the earth that we wera approaching. She looked like au enormous moon, almost in her first qutrter, presenting different special appearnnces according to the distance. For instance, whan were HUH") miles off, she subtended an angle o" 33 degrees, and appeared conso qncntly more than 4300 times as big as we usually seo the moon. A deii-ste blue ring, mottled with flake of white, invested the luminous fvortinn of her disc an appearance due to her atmosphere. The prevailing green or fertile inlands and continents, the p ale sands of arid deserts, the naked rocks of mountain ranges, the glistening ramifications of rivers, and the polished convexity of the oceans were all clearly to be discriminated. The intense rays of the sun. were rerlacicd from a small tract of the ocean, and tf,c whole was set off by occasional patc '.i of clouds of alazrling whiteness. A u r . i... c inviting orb seemed our earth, than t..t .M and barren moon we had lately left, and as we continued rapidly to approach our planet, new features wortly of admiration were perpetually developing themselves. Brilliant beyond description was the appearance of the icy regions about the South Pole, illuminated as they were, by the Sun and truly beautiful and inimitable, was tho del -icate rose colored shading of dy into night a feature wholly wanting in the cold luminary we bad so lately explored. At 10 1. M. Natchez time, our balloon moments ojr meteoric light ceased, and again after some twenty minutes had elapsed, the light re-appeared, accompanied with another slight 6hock and thus for perhaps eight or ten limes at decreasing interval, tho shocks and the luminary roi turned, both becoming at each sucenssive : return esa n. I-- nxrcnntibla. These singular nhcnnmena. 1 nresurae. were nro

VOL. XV -NO. 38.

tLese occurrence. wa corttimW ,. move quietly, b !..... s. ru'.. 0 move quietly, but ith immense velecitt , l-rougr, lh,n upper ; f , pherc across the Pacific Ocean, and theri cross a vast expanse of land sad water embracin? the East India Islands, lhe China Sea. Malabar, tbe Bay of IJengul, tlirdostan, tLe Arabian Ssa, c the wfc. t. journey baving been performed in lhe niht time, by the ligkt of tie moon, vi-lidi." account of our rapid transit towards ft, West, actually presented to us ihe ate i..aly of setting iD the East. For the same reason, after we had crossed the straits of Babelmnndel, and were nearly over the city of Mocha, in Arabia the sun in all his effulgence sppeared t. rise in the West. We continued our fear fol flight across tbe broad African continent, recogmisihg the head waters of the Nile, tbe Abysinian mountains, the river ISigsr, the southern confines of the grett desert of Sahara, and the river Senegal ss we passed. Leaving the Cape Verd Islands behind us, we boldly commenced spinning me Atlantic, although it was apparent cur pace had sensibly slackened. F earing we might descend so low as to encounter toe much atmospheric friction, I shut off the earth's attraction for half an hour, which resulted in our pursuing a straight horizontal line, without reference to the curved surfaco of the earth, whereby we regained a higher and more rarefied region of the atmosphere. Admitting the earth's influence again, we kept on oar way, until we had the satisfaction of beLolding tbe southern coast of Oeorgia. when sheering a little to the north, and losi ng by degrees the incredible velocity with which wehd long been travelling, we de ssended triumphantly, and landed safely at our port of departure, the Devil's big punch bowl, at half pas two P. M. on tbe 8th of March having been in fact kermetrically sealed up lor thi spaca of six day, twenty hours and thirty minutes, and during that time, having performed a voyage, which, without incurring the risk of being thought egotistical, I will venture to say, is witbot any authentic parallel in the history of a?rial navigation. We very soon loesoued the air tight India rubber fastenings to the door of the balloon, snd with inexpressible satisfaction, once more set foot in the open air upon ierra firms, thankful that we had esaaped in safety, the perils ef the great deep of ethereal space, in which wo bad had the temerity to sojourn. Thus endetb Mr. Lindsay's narrative, which, whatever msy be thought ef its au. thenticity, certainly embraces and connects together, many authentic and impor tsnt facts in Natural Science. I have since received a letter from him. the concluding pari of which reads thue! 'I find that the pecuniary outlays w which I have prosecuted ibeae experiments, have mado such considerable inroads upon my moderate fortune, that I cod no longer say I possess a competency. I therefore solicit your advise, as t tbe most proper and ready mode of realizing some thing from my invention being fully resolved, so soon as I can command aJequate means, to construct a balloon upon a' mora extended scale, and make a voyage to th planet Mars. The leleacnpe hasevealed to us that like our earth. Mars possesses a considtfribld aim 'sphere, and that Lis surficj undergoes the changes ef seasons. In short, analogy would lead us to infer that he may be peopled by intelligent bcinzs. perhaps not inferior to ourselves. I have a strong desire to go and see ao J if a refined and rational people are lo ba ',j lod there, who knows but they may be tea thousand years in advance of os in arts and sciences! And r hocan foretell the advantages which would accrua to oar rare, from thus opening an interplanetary commerce! Respectfully your ob't serv't, ORRIN LINDSAY. To Dr. J. L. Riddell. Devil's Punch DjvoI, April 1, 1S17.' An Eloquect Passagethe Ilonored Dead. The speech of welcome as delivered at New O ulans by the Hon. S. S. Prentiss, abounds w ith eloauetu and i!ow. ing passages. The following for exampie, in relation to the gallant dead: "But ala! lhe joy of our greeting is mingled with sorrow. We gaze upon your thinned ranks and seek in vain for many beloved and familiar (aces. Why come they not from the battle field7 Why meet they not the embrace of their loving friends? A year ago I saw them jnarch forth beneath their country's Laiiusr, full of lml lifd.with buoyant hearis and noble emulation. Where are they now? Where is brave McKee. impetuous Veil, Intrepid Hardin, chivalrous, Clay, and gallant Watson, with hundreds of their noble comrades, whom we meel not here? Ahl I see it all your laurel wreathes are thickly entwined wiih cypress the dead cannot come to lhe banquei! "Alas, alas, for the noble dead. If we cannitt welcome, we will weep for them. Our tears fall fast and free; but they flo-w ratner lor the living than the dead; forhe nation that has lost such noble sunt; for the desolate fireides,tereavd nr their cheii'hed and !oedone; for she hewed father, the heart-broken mother, the sobbing smer, the frantic wife and wondering children. Foriheui we weep, and not for the noble. We envy ihelr fate loudly did ihey di, those who rendered up their soul iu battle. They fulfilled lhe highest duly mankind owe to thi. world; -ihey died for their country. They fell upon stricken fields which their own valor had already ha'f won. The earthquake voice of victory waa in iheir dyina gaze who turned proudly on the triumphant stars and stripes! Uannr eternal honor to ihe brave who bptiieJ Iheir patriotism in their blood!'' Whits Rat. pir of white rata have bsen captured at Randolph, Vt. They are similar to th common rat, only larger and more active. Thair color is a spotless whit, tHir'fiir so't aud downy and their eyes red. PseoaKssiNo Fix civ. Tbe Smithsonian Institute buildine at Wasiinrtan. ia i finish-id as far as the bascmout story. What it costs. In Mexico, from th" lowest class, the marrrag fee te tbe ftrjesl is ua: less. tha.n ill.