All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

CHAPTER XI The Dawn of Aerial Navigation The hour of four was ringing lazily through the haze of the hot, still summer afternoon of August 9th, 1884. Ere the last stroke had vibrated into, silence a balloon rose from the French military establishment at Chalais-Meudon. It did not shoot suddenly into the ethereal blue, in the manner of a rocket and which is so characteristic of the ordinary balloon, but ascended slowly and majestically, its upward speed perceptibly diminishing, until at last it came gently to rest. The eyes of all those within the military aero- nautical centre followed the ascent with ill-suppressed excitement, while the unenlightened members of the public, who happened to be in the vicinity, also turned their eyes skyward to rivet them irremovably upon the floating object, their interest becoming addition- ally keen as a musical droning came down to their ears from above. The floating object exercised a strange fascination ; it was quite different from any balloon which had been seen before. It did not follow the usual spherical lines, but with its blunt nose and a tapering tail recalled a huge fish. The idle sight- seers around Chalais followed the movement of the vessel towards the capital, while the Parisians throng- ing the boulevards, as it came within sight, likewise craned their necks to observe the strange form floating above them. 237