it
seemed to reach the ears of the people in Paris, and put the whole town
in quite a flutter of excitement. Some of those who had been present at
the great experiment wrote an account of it to their friends in Paris,
who at once began to make arrangements for inviting the Montgolfiers to
send up another balloon from the capital. But these arrangements took
too long to satisfy the impatience of the people of Paris, and they were
better pleased when M. de Saint-Fond opened a subscription to pay
expenses for a separate experiment.

No one in all France had heard of the event at Annonay with more
interest and delight than a certain M. James Alexander Caesar Charles, a
young and clever scientist who took great pleasure in showing people the
wonderful things he had discovered. When Franklin brought lightning out
of the clouds with a kite, M. Charles followed the road thus pointed out
to him, and soon found new wonders which he had a great talent for
explaining. Thus, though he might not be a great original discoverer, he
was quick to see in what direction truth lay, and was able to lead those
who were less learned than himself. What wonder, then, that the people
of Paris were full of expectation when they heard that M. Charles had
put away his electrical studies to devote his attention to balloons?
Sufficient money having been collected he set to work with the
assistance of two brothers named Robert, and constructed an 'envelope'
of silk, which, when filled, would make a balloon twelve feet two inches
in diameter. This was very small when compared with the giant of
Annonay, but the gas that M. Charles was going to use would make it
thirteen times stronger. 'You see,' said he, 'the air that the
Montgolfiers use is twice as light as the atmosphere. I shall use
inflammable gas' (as hydrogen was then called), 'which is fourteen times
lighter; though to retain this it will be necessary to paint the silk
with rubber dissolved in turpentine.'

But if the gentlemen who sat around the platform at Annonay had gathered
to see this baby balloon inflated they would have grown very weary, for
it took nearly four days. Every morning outside Charles's house a notice
was hung up to inform the eager crowds how the wonderful little giant
was growing; and at last it became necessary for mounted police to
protect his door, so great was the crush. Then, on the twenty-sixth of
August, though the balloon was not quite full, it was decided to carr