the deck or other position near the surface of the water. Would not,
then, a balloon, if skilfully manoeuvred, serve as a valuable post of
observation? The Admiralty, in acknowledging the communication, promised
to give the matter their attention; but by the month of June the Press
had announcements of how the self-same experiments had been successfully
carried through by French authorities, while a few days later the
Admiralty wrote, "For the present no need is seen for the use of a
captive balloon to detect submarines."

Among many and varied ballooning incidents which have occurred to the
writer, there are some which may not unprofitably be compared with
certain experiences already recorded of other aeronauts. Thunderstorms,
as witnessed from a balloon, have already been casually described,
and it may reasonably be hoped that the observations which have, under
varying circumstances, been made at high altitudes may throw some
additional light on this familiar, though somewhat perplexing,
phenomenon.

To begin with, it seems a moot point whether a balloon caught in a
thunderstorm is, or is not, in any special danger of being struck. It
has been argued that immunity under such circumstances must depend upon
whether a sufficiently long time has elapsed since the balloon left the
earth to allow of its becoming positively electrified by induction from
the clouds or by rain falling upon its surface. But there are many other
points to be considered. There is the constant escape of gas from the
mouth; there is the mass of pointed metal in the anchor; and, again, it
is conceivable that a balloon rapidly descending out of a thunderstorm
might carry with it a charge residing on its moistened surface which
might manifest itself disastrously as the balloon reached the earth.

Instances seem to have been not infrequent of balloons encountering
thunderstorms; but, unfortunately, in most cases the observers have not
had any scientific training, or the accounts which are to hand are those
of the type of journalist who is chiefly in quest of sensational copy.

Thus there is an account from America of a Professor King who made an
ascent from Burlington, Iowa, just as a thunderstorm was approaching,
with the result that, instead of scudding away with the wind before the
storm, he was actually, as if by some attraction, drawn into it. On
this his aim was to pierce through the cloud above, and then follows a
description which it is har