long distance without loss of gas.

The airship was built in St. Cloud Park; in length it was 52 feet with
a diameter of 82 feet, and was ellipsoidal in shape with a capacity of
30,000 cubic feet. Oars were provided to propel it through the air,
experiments having proved that with two oars of six feet diameter a
back pressure of 90 lb. was obtained and with four oars 140 lb.

On July 6th in the same year the first ascent was made from St. Cloud.
The passengers were the Duke of Chartres, the two brothers Robert and
Colin-Hulin. No valves having been fitted, there was no outlet for the
expansion of gas and the envelope was on the point of bursting, when
the Duke of Chartres, with great presence of mind, seized a pole and
forced an opening through both the envelopes. The ship descended in
the Park of Meudon.

On September 19th the airship made a second ascent with the same
passengers as before, with the exception of the Duke. According to the
report of the brothers Robert, they succeeded in completing an ellipse
and then travelled further in the direction of the wind without using
the oars or steering arrangements. They then deviated their course
somewhat by the use of these implements and landed at Bethune, about
180 miles distant from Paris.

In those days it was considered possible that a balloon could be
rendered navigable by oars, wings, millwheels, etc., and it was not
until the last decades of the nineteenth century, when light and
powerful motors had been constructed, that the problem became really
practical of solution.

During the nineteenth century several airships were built in France and
innumerable experiments were carried out, but the vessels produced were
of little real value except in so far as they stimulated their
designers to make further efforts. Two of these only will be
mentioned, and that because the illustrations show how totally
different they were from the airship of to-day.

In 1834 the Compte de Lennox built an airship of 98,700 cubic feet
capacity. It was cylindrical in form with conical ends, and is of
interest because a small balloon or ballonet, 7,050 cubic feet
contents, was placed inside the larger one for an air filling. A car
66 feet in length was rigged beneath the envelope by means of ropes
eighteen inches long. Above the car the envelope was provided with a
long air cushion in connection with a valve. The intention was by
compression of the air in the cushion and the