ed an altitude of 16,000 feet, when the external air was at
freezing point, the gas high in the balloon being 72 degrees, and at the
centre 66 degrees. Ere this height had been fully reached, however,
the voyagers had begun to breathe oxygen. At 11.57, an hour previously,
Spinelli had written in his notebook, "Slight pain in the ears--somewhat
oppressed--it is the gas." At 23,000 feet Sivel wrote in his notebook,
"I am inhaling oxygen--the effect is excellent," after which he
proceeded to urge the balloon higher by a discharge of ballast. The
rest of the terrible narrative has now to be taken from the notes of M.
Tissandier, and as these constitute one of the most thrilling narratives
in aeronautical records we transcribe them nearly in full, as given by
Mr. Glaisher:--

"At 23,000 feet we were standing up in the car. Sivel, who had given up
for a moment, is re-invigorated. Croce-Spinelli is motionless in front
of me.... I felt stupefied and frozen. I wished to put on my fur gloves,
but, without being conscious of it, the action of taking them from my
pocket necessitated an effort that I could no longer make.... I copy,
verbatim, the following lines which were written by me, although I have
no very distinct remembrance of doing so. They are traced in a hardly
legible manner by a hand trembling with cold: 'My hands are frozen. I am
all right. We are all all right. Fog in the horizon, with little rounded
cirrus. We are ascending. Croce pants; he inhales oxygen. Sivel
closes his eyes. Croce also closes his eyes.... Sivel throws out
ballast'--these last words are hardly readable. Sivel seized his knife
and cut successively three cords, and the three bags emptied themselves
and we ascended rapidly. The last remembrance of this ascent which
remains clear to me relates to a moment earlier. Croce-Spinelli was
seated, holding in one hand a wash bottle of oxygen gas. His head was
slightly inclined and he seemed oppressed. I had still strength to tap
the aneroid barometer to facilitate the movement of the needle. Sivel
had just raised his hand towards the sky. As for myself, I remained
perfectly still, without suspecting that I had, perhaps, already lost
the power of moving. About the height of 25,000 feet the condition of
stupefaction which ensues is extraordinary. The mind and body weaken by
degrees, and imperceptibly, without consciousness of it. No suffering
is then experienced; on the contrary, an inner joy is felt like
an ir