poisoned the whole neighbourhood by the
disagreeable stench emitted." The success and triumph of this first
attempt in aerial navigation in English air exceeded Signor Lunardi's
utmost expectations. Everywhere he was received with marks of
approbation, and treated as a hero. "My fame," he writes, "has not been
sparingly diffused by the newspapers (which in England are the
barometers of public opinion; often erroneous, as other instruments are,
in their particular information, but yielding the best that can be
obtained). You will imagine the importance of these vehicles of
knowledge when you learn that in London alone there are printed no less
than 160,000 papers weekly, which, by a stamp on each paper, and a duty
on advertisements, brings into the treasury of the nation upwards of
80,000 pounds a year. They are to the English constitution what the
Censors were to those of ancient Rome. Ministers of State are checked
and kept in awe by them, and they freely, and often judiciously, expose
the pretensions of those who would harass Government merely to be taken
into its service."

There were many other aeronauts who distinguished themselves after this
period.

In 1785, Monsieur Blanchard, with Dr J. Jeffries, an American, crossed
the channel between England and France in a balloon--starting from
Dover, and descending in safety in the Forest of Guiennes. They had,
however, a narrow escape, having been compelled to throw out all their
ballast, and everything they could dispense with, to prevent their
balloon from falling into the sea.

The first ascents for scientific purposes were made about the beginning
of the present century. In 1803, Mr Robertson ascended from Saint
Petersburg, for the purpose of making electrical, magnetical, and
physiological experiments. Messieurs Gay-Lussac and Biot followed his
example from Paris, in 1804. Gay-Lussac was an enthusiastic and
celebrated aeronaut. He made several interesting ascents.

Two years afterwards, Brioschi, the Astronomer-Royal at Naples,
endeavoured to ascend to a higher elevation than had been reached by
Monsieur Gay-Lussac--namely, 22,977 feet. He was accompanied by Signor
Andreani, the first Italian aeronaut. The balloon burst when at a great
height, but the remnants were sufficient to check the descent so much
that both gentlemen escaped with their lives. Brioschi, however,
received injuries which afterwards resulted in his death.

In England one of t