Mr. Green relates some singular experiences of the variety of currents
in our atmosphere, influencing the rate of his aërial travelling. He has
found that at a great elevation, the north-west current generally
prevails throughout the year, without reference to the direction of the
wind near the earth; this constant current being at an elevation of from
13,000 to 14,000 feet. This upper current carries his balloon at the
rate of six miles an hour; whilst the lower current wafts it at the rate
of thirty miles an hour. He states, that in one of his ascents from
Liverpool, he entered the constant current at an elevation of 14,000
feet, and descended into a lower south-east current at the height of
12,000 feet; the former carrying his balloon at the rate of five miles,
and the latter at the rate of eighty miles an hour. He has travelled
ninety-seven miles in fifty-eight minutes, and his speed has often been
from sixty to eighty miles an hour.
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