A distinct advance on Schott is marked by the scheme for aerial

navigation proposed by the Jesuit, Francis Lana (1631-1687),

in his book, published at Brescia in 1670, Prodromo ovvero

Saggio di alcune invenzioni nuove promesso all' Arte Maestra.

His idea, though useless and unpractical in so far that it

could never be carried out, is yet deserving of notice, as

the principles involved are sound; and this can be said of

no earlier attempt. His project was to procure four copper

balls of very large dimensions (fig. 1), yet so extremely

thin that after the air was exhausted from them they would

be lighter than the air they displaced and so would rise;

and to those four balls he proposed to attach a boat, with

sails, &c., which would carry up a man. He submitted the

whole matter to calculation, and proposed that the globes

should be about 25 ft. in diameter and 1/225th of an inch

in thickness; this would give from all four balls a total

ascensional force of about 1200 lb., which would be quite enough

to raise the boat, sails, passengers, &c. But the obvious

objection to the whole scheme is, that it would be quite

impossible to construct a globe of so large a size and of

such small thickness which would even support its own weight

without collapsing if placed on the ground, much less bear

the external atmospheric pressure when the internal air was

removed. Lana himself noticed this objection, but he

thought that the spherical form of the copper shell would,

notwithstanding its extreme thinness, enable it, after the

exhaustion was effected, to sustain the enormous pressure,

which, acting equally on every point of the surface, would tend

to consolidate rather than to break the metal. His proposal

to exhaust the air from the globes by attaching to each a

tube 36 ft. long, fitted with a stopcock, and so producing

a Torricellian vacuum, suggests that he was ignorant of the

invention of the air-pump by Otto von Guericke about 1650.

We now come to the invention of the balloon, which was

due to Joseph Michel Montgolfier (1740-1810) and Jacques

Etienne Montgolfier (1745-1799), sons of Pierre Montgolfier,

a large and celebrated papermaker at Annonay, a town about

40 m. from Lyons. The brothers had observed the suspension

of clouds in the atmosphere, and it occurred to them that

if they could enclose any vapour of the nature of a cloud in

a large and very light bag, it might rise and carry the bag

with it into the air. Towards the end of 1782 they inflated

bags with smoke from a fire placed underneath, and found

that either the smoke or some vapour emitted from the fire

did ascend and carry the bag with it. Being thus assured

of the correctness of their views, they determined to have a

public ascent of a balloon on a large scale. They accordingly

invited the States of Vivarais, then assembled at Annonay,

to witness their aerostatic experiment; and on the 5th of

June 1783, in the presence of a considerable concourse of

spectators, a linen globe of 105 ft. in circumference was

inflated over a fire fed with small bundles of chopped straw.

When released it rapidly rose to a great height, and descended,

at the expiration of ten minutes, at the distance of about

1 1/2m. This was the discovery of the balloon. The brothers

Montgolfier imagined that the bag rose because of the levity

of the smoke or other vapour given forth by the burning straw;

and it was not till some time later that it was recognized that

the ascending power was due merely to the lightness of heated

air compared to an equal volume of air at a lower temperature.

In this balloon, no source of heat was taken up, so that the

air inside rapidly Cooled, and the balloon soon descended.

The news of the experiment at Annonay attracted so much

attention at Paris that Barthelemi Faujas de Saint-Fond

(1741-1819), afterwards professor of geology at the Musee

d'Histoire Naturelle, set on foot a subscription for paying

the expense of repeating the experiment. The balloon was

constructed by two brothers of the name of Robert, under

the superintendence of the physicist, J. A. C. Charles. The

first suggestion was to copy the process of Montgolfier, but

Charles proposed the application of hydrogen gas, which was

adopted. The filling of the balloon, which was made of

thin silk varnished with a solution of elastic gum, and was

about 13 ft. in diameter, was begun on the 23rd of August

1783, in the Place des Victoires. The hydrogen gas was

obtained by the action of dilute sulphuric acid upon iron

filings, and was introduced through leaden pipes; but as the

gas was not passed through cold water, great difficulty. was

experienced in filling the balloon completely; and altogether

about 300 lb. of sulphuric acid and twice that amount of iron

filings were used (fig. 2). Bulletins were issued daily of

the progress of the inflation; and the crowd was so great

that on the 26th the balloon was moved secretly by night

to the Champ de Mars, a distance of 2 m. On the next day

an immense concourse of people covered the Champ de Mars,

and every spot from which a view could be ob obtained was

crowded. About five o'clock a cannon was discharged as the

signal for the ascent, and the balloon when liberated rose to

the height of about 3000 ft. with great rapidity. A shower

of rain which began to fall directly after it had left the

earth in no way checked its progress; and the excitement was so

great, that thousands of well-dressed spectators, many of them

ladies, stood exposed, watching it intently the whole time

it was in sight and were drenched to the skin, The balloon,

after remaining in the air for about three-quarters of an

hour, fell in a field near Gonesse, about 15 m. off, and

terrified the peasantry so much that it was torn into shreds by

them. Hydrogen gas was at this time known by the name of

inflammable air; and balloons inflated with gas have ever

since been called by the people air-balloons, the kind invented

by the Montgolfiers being designated fire-balloons. French

Writers have also very frequently styled them after their

inventors, Charlieres and Montgolfieres. On the 19th

of September 1783 Joseph Montgolfier repeated the Annonay

experiment at Versailles, in the presence of the king, the

queen, the court and an immense number of spectators. The

inflation was begun at one o'clock, and completed in eleven

minutes, when the balloon rose to the height of about 1500

ft., and descended after eight minutes, at a distance of

about 2 m., in the wood of Vaucresson. Suspended below the

balloon: in a cage, had been placed a sheep, a cock and a duck,

which were thus the first aerial travellers. They were quite

uninjured, except the cock, which had its right wing hurt in

consequence of a kick it had received from the sheep; but this

took place before the ascent. The balloon, which was painted

with ornaments in oil colours, had a very showy appearance

(fig. 3). Francois Pilatre de Rozier (1756-1785), a native

of Metz, who was appointed superintendent of the natural

history collections of Louis XVIII. On the 15th of October

1783, and following days, he made several ascents (generally

alone, but once with a companion, Girond de Villette) in a

captive balloon (i.e. one attached by ropes to the ground),

and demonstrated that there was no difficulty in taking up

fuel and feeding the fire, which was kindled in a brazier

suspended under the balloon, when in the air. The way being

thus prepared for aerial navigation, on the 21st of November

1783, Pilatre de Rozier and the marquis d'Arlandes first

trusted themselves to a free fire-balloon. The experiment was

made from the Jardin du Chateau de la Muette, in the Bois de

Boulogne. A large fire-balloon was inflated at about two

o'clock, rose to a height of about 500 ft., and passing over

the Invalides and the Ecole Mililaire, descended beyond

the Boulevards, about 9000 yds. from the place of ascent,

having been between twenty and twenty-five minutes in the

air. Only ten days later, viz. on the 1st of December 1783,

Charles ascended from Paris in a balloon inflated with hydrogen

gas. The balloon, as in the case of the small one of the

same kind previously launched from the Champ de Mars, was

constructed by the brothers Robert, one of whom took part in the

ascent. It was 27 ft. in diameter, and the car was suspended

from a hoop surrounding the middle of the balloon, and fastened

to a net, which covered the upper hemisphere. The balloon

ascended very gently from the Tuileries at a quarter to two

o'clock, and after remaining for some time at an elevation

of about 2000 ft., it descended in about two hours at Nesle,

a small town about 27 m. from Paris, when Robert left the

car, and Charles made a, second ascent by himself. He had

intended to have replaced the weight of his companion by a

nearly equivalent quantity of ballast; but not having any

suitable means of obtaining such at the place of descent, and

it being just upon sunset, he gave the word to let go, and

the balloon being thus so greatly lightened, ascended very

rapidly to a height of about 2 m. After staying in the air

about half an hour, he descended 3 m. from the place of ascent,

although he believed the distance traversed, owing to different

currents, to have been about 9 m. In this second journey he

experienced a violent pain in his right ear and jaw, no doubt

produced by the rapidity of the ascent. He also witnessed

the phenomenon of a double sunset on the same day; for when he

ascended, the sun had set in the valleys, and as he mounted

he saw it rise again, and set a second time as he descended.

All the features of the modern balloon as now used are

more or less due to Charles, who invented the valve at

the top, suspended the car from a hoop, which was itself

attached to the balloon by netting, &c. With regard to his

use of hydrogen gas, there are anticipations that must be

noticed. As early as 1766 Henry Cavendish showed that this

gas was at least seven times lighter than ordinary air, and

it immediately occurred to Dr Joseph Black, of Edinburgh,

that a thin bag filled with hydrogen gas would rise to the

ceiling of a room. He provided, accordingly, the allantois

of a calf, with the view of showing at a public lecture such

a curious experiment; but for some reason it seems to have

failed, and Black did not repeat it, thus allowing a great

discovery, almost within his reach, to escape him. Several

years afterwards a similar idea occurred to Tiberius Cavallo,

who found that bladders, even when carefully scraped,

are too heavy, and that China paper is permeable to the

gas. But in 1782, the year before the invention of the

Montgolfiers, he succeeded in elevating soap-bubbles by

inflating them with hydrogen gas. Researches on the use of

gas for inflating balloons seem to have been carried on at

Philadelphia nearly simultaneously with the experiments of

the Montgolfiers; and when the news of the latter reached

America, D. Rittenhouse and F. Hopkinson, members of the

Philosophical Society at Philadelphia; constructed a machine

consisting of forty-seven small hydrogen gas-balloons attached

to a car or cage. After several preliminary experiments, in

which animals were let up to a certain height by a rope, a

carpenter, one James Wilcox, was induced to enter the car for

a small sum of money; the ropes were cut, and he remained in

the air about ten minutes, and only then effected his descent

by making incisions in a number of the balloons, through

fear of falling into the river, which he was approaching.

First Ascents in Great Britain.

Although the news of the Annonay and subsequent experiments

in France rapidly spread all over Europe, and formed a topic

of general discussion, still it was not till five months

after the Montgolfiers had first publicly sent a balloon

into the air that any aerostatic experiment was made in

England. In November 1783 Count Francesco Zambeccari

(1756-1812), an Italian who happened to be in London, made

a balloon of oil-silk, 10 ft. in diameter, and weighing 11

lb. It was publicly shown for several days, and on the 25th

it was three-quarters filled with hydrogen gas and launched

from the Artillery ground at one o'clock. It descended after

two hours and a half near Petworth, in Sussex, 48 m. from

London. This was the first balloon that ascended from English

ground. On the 22nd of February 1784 a hydrogen gas

balloon, 5 ft. in diameter, was let up from Sandwich, in

Kent, and descended at Warneton, in French Flanders, 75 m.

distant. This was the first balloon that crossed the

Channel. The first person who rose into the air from British

ground appears to have been J. Tytler1, who ascended from the

Comely Gardens, Edinburgh, on the 27th of August 1784, in a

fire-balloon of his own construction. He descended on the road

to Restalrig, about half a mile from the place where he rose.

But it was Vincent Lunardi who practically introduced

aerostation into Great Britain. Although Tytler had the

precedence by a few days still his attempts and partial

success were all but unknown; whereas Lunardi's experiments

excited an enormous amount of enthusiasm in London. He was

secretary to Prince Caramanico, the Neapolitan ambassador,

and his published letters to his guardian, the chevalier

Compagni, written while he was carrying out his project,

and detailing all the difficulties, &c., he met with as they

occurred, give an interesting and vivid account of the whole

matter. His balloon was 33 ft. in circumference (fig.4),

and was exposed to the public view at the Lyceum in the

Strand, where it was visited by upwards of 20,000 people. He

originally intended to ascend from Chelsea Hospital, but the

conduct of a crowd at a garden at Chelsea, which destroyed

the fire-balloon of a Frenchman named de Moret, who announced

an ascent on the 11th of August, but was unable to keep his

word, led to the withdrawal of the leave that had been

granted. Ultimately he was permitted to ascend from the Artillery

ground, and on the 15th of September 1784 the inflation with

hydrogen gas took place. It was intended that an English

gentleman named Biggin should accompany Lunardi; but the crowd

becoming impatient, the latter judged it prudent to ascend

with the balloon only partially full rather than risk a longer

delay, and accordingly Mr Biggin was obliged to leave the

car. Lunardi therefore ascended alone, in presence of the

prince of Wales and an enormous crowd of spectators. He

took up with him a pigeon, a dog and a cat, and the balloon

was provided with oars, by means of which he hoped to raise

or lower it at pleasure. Shortly after starting the pigeon

escaped, and one of the oars became broken and fell to the

ground. In about an hour and a half he descended at South

Mimms, in Hertfordshire, and landed the cat, which had suffered

from the cold: he then ascended again, and descended, after

the lapse of about three-quarters of an hour, at Standon, near

Ware, where he had great difficulty in inducing the peasants

to come to his assistance; but at length a young woman, taking

hold of one of the cords, urged the men to follow her example,

which they then did. The excitement caused by this ascent was

immense, and Lunardi at once became the star of the hour. He

was presented to the king, and was courted and flattered on all

sides. To show the enthusiasm displayed by the people during

his ascent, he tells himself, in his sixth letter, how a lady,

mistaking the oar which fell for himself, was so affected by

his supposed destruction that she died in a few days; but, on

the other hand, he says he was told by the judges ``that he had

certainly saved the life of a young man who might possibly be

reformed, and be to the public a compensation for the death

of the lady''; for the jury were deliberating on the fate of

a criminal, whom they must ultimately have condemned, when

the balloon appeared, and to save time they gave a verdict

of acquittal, and the whole court came out to view the

balloon. The king also was in conference with his ministers;

but on hearing that the balloon was passing, he broke up

the discussion, and with them watched the balloon through

telescopes. The balloon was afterwards exhibited in the

Pantheon. In the latter part of the following year (1785)

Lunardi made several successful ascents from Kelso, Edinburgh

and Glasgow (in one of which he traversed a distance of 110

m.); these he described in a second series of letters. The

first ascent from Ireland was made on the 19th of January 1785

by a Mr Crosbie, who on the following 19th of July attempted

to cross St George's Channel to England but fell into the

sea. The second person who ascended from Ireland was Richard

Maguire. Mr Crosbie had inflated his balloon on the 12th

of May 1785, but it was unable to take him up. Maguire in

these circumstances offered himself as a substitute, and

his offer being accepted he made the ascent. For this he

was knighted by the Lord-Lieutenant. Another attempt to

cross St George's Channel was made by James Sadler on the

1st of October 1812, and he had nearly succeeded when in

consequence of a change of wind he was forced to descend

into the sea off Liverpool, whence he was rescued by a

fishing-boat. But on the 22nd of July 1817 his second son,

Windham Sadler, succeeded in crossing from Dublin to Holyhead.

The first balloon voyage across the English Channel was

accomplished by Jean Pierre Blanchard (1753-1809) and Dr.

J. Jeffries, an American physician, on the 7th of January

1785. In the preceding year, on the 2nd of March, Blanchard,

who was one of the most celebrated of the earlier aeronauts,

made his first voyage from Paris in a balloon 27 ft. in

diameter (fig. 5), and descended at Billancourt near Sevres.

Just as the balloon was about to start, a young man jumped

into the car and drawing his sword declared his determination

to ascend with Blanchard. He was ultimately removed by

force. It has sometimes been incorrectly stated that he was

Napoleon Bonaparte; his name in reality was Dupont de Chambon.

In their Channel crossing Blanchard and his companion, who

started from Dover, when about one-third across found themselves

descending, and threw out every available thing from the boat or

car. When about three- quarters across they were descending

again, and had to throw out not only the anchor and cords, but

also to strip and throw away their clothing, which they found

they were rising, and their last resource, viz. to cut away the

car, was rendered unnecessary. As they approached the shore

the balloon rose, describing a magnificent arch high over the

land. They descended in the forest of Guinnes. On the 15th

of June 1785, Pilatre de Rozier made an attempt to repeat the

exploit of Blanchard and Jeffries in the reverse direction,

and cross from Boulogne to England. For this purpose he

contrived a double balloon, which he expected would combine the

advantages of both kinds---a fire-balloon, 10 ft. in diameter,

being placed underneath a gas-balloon of 37 ft. in diameter,

so that by increasing or diminishing the fire in the former

it might be possible to ascend or descend without waste of

gas. Rozier was accompanied by P. A. Romain, and for rather

less than half an hour after the aerostat ascended all seemed

to be going on well, when suddenly the whole apparatus was

seen in flames, and the unfortunate adventurers came to the

ground from the supposed height of more than 3000 ft. Rozier

was killed on the spot, and Romain only survived about ten

minutes. A monument was erected on the place where they fell,

which was near the sea-shore, about 4 m. from the starting-point.

Early large balloons.

The largest balloon on record (if the contemporary accounts

are correct) ascended from Lyons on the 19th of January

1784. It was more than 100 ft. in diameter, about 130 ft. in

height, and when distended had a capacity, it is said, of over

half a million cubic feet. It was called the ``Flesselles''

(from the name of its proprietor, we believe), and after having

been inflated from a straw fire in seventeen minutes, it rose

with seven persons in the car to the height of about 3000

ft., but descended again after the lapse of about a quarter

of an hour from the time of starting, in consequence of a

rent in the upper part. Another large fire-balloon, 68 ft. in

diameter, was constructed by the chevalier Paul Andreani of

Milan, and on the 25th of February he ascended in it from

Milan, remaining in the air for about twenty minutes. This

is usually regarded as the first ascent in Italy (but see

Monck Mason's Aeronautica, p. 247). On the 7th of November

1836, at half-past one o'clock, a large balloon containing

about 85,000 cub. ft. of gas ascended from Vauxhall Gardens,

London, carrying Robert Hollond, M.P., Monck Mason and Charles

Green, and descended about two leagues from Weilburg, in the

duchy of Nassau, at half-past seven the next morning, having

thus traversed a distance of about 500 m. in 18 hours; Liege

was passed in the course of the night, and Coblentz in the early

morning. In consequence of this journey the balloon became

famous as the ``Nassau Balloon'' (fig. 6). Charles Green

(1785-1870), who constructed it and subsequently became its

owner, was the most celebrated of English aeronauts, and made

an extraordinary number of ascents. His first, made from the

Green Park, London, on the 19th of July 1821 at the coronation

of George IV., was distinguished for the fact that for the first

time coal-gas was used instead of hydrogen for inflating the

balloon. In 1828 he made an equestrian ascent from the

Eagle Tavern, City Road, London, seated on his favourite

pony. Such ascents have since been repeated; in 1852 Madame

Poitevin made one from Cremorne Gardens, but was prevented

from giving a second performance by police interference, the

exhibition outraging public opinion. It was in descending

from the ``Nassau Balloon'' in a parachute that Robert

Cocking was killed in 1837 (see PARACHUTE) . Green was the

inventor of the guide-rope, which consists of a long rope

trailing below the car. Its function is to reduce the waste

of gas and ballast required to keep the balloon at a proper

altitude. When a balloon sinks so low that a good deal of

the guide-rope rests on the ground, it is relieved of so

much weight and therefore tends to rise; if on the other

hand it rises so that most of the rope is lifted off the

ground, it has to bear a greater weight and tends to sink.

In 1863 A. Nadar, a Paris photographer, constructed ``Le

Geant,'' which was the largest gas-balloon made up to that

time and contained over 200,000 cub. ft. of gas. Underneath

it was placed a smaller balloon, called a compensator,

the object of which was to prevent loss of gas during the

voyage. The car had two stories, and was, in fact, a model

of a cottage in wicker-work, 8 ft. in height by 13 ft. in

length, containing a small printing-office, a photographic

department, a refreshment-room, a lavatory, &c. The first

ascent took place at five o'clock on Sunday the 4th of

October 1863, from the Champ de Mars. There were thirteen

persons in the car, including one lady, the princess de

la Tour d'Auvergne, and the two aeronauts Louis and Jules

Godard. In spite of the elaborate preparations that had been

made and the stores of provisions that were taken up, the

balloon descended at nine o'clock, at Meaux, the early descent

being rendered necessary, it was said, by an accident to the

valve-line. At a second ascent, made a fortnight later,

there were nine passengers, including Madame Nadar. The

balloon descended at the expiration of seventeen hours, near

Nienburg in Hanover, a distance of about 400 m. A strong wind

was blowing, and it was dragged over the ground for 7 or 8

m. All the passengers were bruised, and some seriously

hurt. The balloon and car were then brought to England,

and exhibited at the Crystal Palace at the end of 1863 and

beginning of 1864. The two ascents of Nadar's balloon excited

an extraordinary amount of enthusiasm and interest, vastly

out of proportion to what they were entitled to. Nadar's

idea was to obtain sufficient money, by the exhibition of his

balloon, to carry out a plan of aerial locomotion he had

conceived possible by means of the principle of the screw; in

fact, he spoke of ``Le Geant'' as ``the last balloon.'' He

also started L'Aeronaute, a newspaper devoted to aerostation,

and published a small book, which was translated into English

under the title The Right to Fly. Directly after Nadar's two

ascents, Eugene Godard constructed a fire-balloon of nearly

half a million cubic feet capacity--more than double that of

Nadar's and only slightly less than that attributed to the

``Flesselles'' of 1783. The air was heated by an 18-ft. stove,

weighing, with the chimney, 980 lb. This furnace was fed

by straw; and the ``car'' consisted of a gallery surrounding

it. Two ascents of this balloon, the first fire-balloon seen

in London, were made from Cremorne Gardens in July 1864.

After the first journey the balloon descended at Greenwich,

and after the second at Walthamstow, where it was injured

by being blown against a tree. Notwithstanding its enormous

size, Godard asserted that it could be inflated in half an

hour, and the inflation at Cremorne did not occupy more than an

hour. In spite of the rapidity with which the inflation was

effected, few who saw the ascent could fail to receive an

impression unfavourable to the fire-balloon in the matter

of safety, as a rough descent, with a heated furnace as it

were in the car, could not be other than most dangerous.

Long balloon voyages.

In the summer of 1873 the proprietors of the New York

Daily Graphic, reviving a project discussed by Green in

1840, determined to construct a very large balloon, and

enable the American aeronaut, John Wise, to realize his

favourite scheme of crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, by

taking advantage of the current from west to east which was

believed by many to exist constantly at heights above 10,000

ft. The project came to nothing owing to the quality of

the material of which the balloon was made. When it was

being inflated in September 1873 a rent was observed after

325,000 cub. ft. of gas had been put in, and the whole rapidly

collapsed. The size was said to be such as to contain 400,000

cub. ft., so that it would lift a weight of 14,000 lb. No

balloon voyage has yet been made of a length comparable to the

breadth of the Atlantic. In fact only two voyages exceeding

1000 m. are on record--that of John Wise from St Louis to

Henderson, N.Y., 1120 m., in 1859, and that of Count Henry

de la Vaulx from Paris to Korosticheff in Russia, 1193 m., in

1900. On the 11th of July 1897 Salomon Andree, with two

companions, Strendberg and Frankel, ascended from Spitzbergen

in a daring attempt to reach the North Pole, about 600 m.

distant. One carrier pigeon, apparently liberated 48 hours

after the start, was shot, and two floating buoys with messages

were found, but nothing more was heard of the explorers.

Scientific Ascents.

At an early date the balloon was applied to scientific

purposes. as far back as 1784, Dr Jeffries made an ascent from

London in which he carried out barometric, thermometric and

hygrometric observations, also collecting samples of the air

at different heights. In 1803 the St Petersburg Academy of

Sciences, entertaining the opinion that the experiments made

on mountain-sides by J. A. Deluc, H. B. de Saussure, A. von

Humboldt and others must give results different from those

made in free air at the same heights, resolved to arrange a

balloon ascent. Accordingly, on the 30th of January 1808,

.Sacharof, a member of the academy, ascended in a gas balloon,

in company with a French aeronaut, E. G. Robertson, who at

one time gave conjuring entertainments in Paris. The ascent

was made at a quarter past seven, and the descent effected

at a quarter to eleven. The height reached was less than 1 1/2

m. The experiments were not very systematically made, and

the chief results were the filling and bringing down of

several flasks of air collected at different elevations,

and the supposed observation that the magnetic dip was

altered. A telescope fixed in the bottom of the car and

pointing vertically downwards enabled the travellers to

ascertain exactly the spot over which they were floating at any

moment. Sacharof found that, on shouting downwards through

his speaking-trumpet, the echo from the earth was quite

distinct, and at his height was audible after an interval

of about ten seconds (Phil. Mag., 1805, 21, p. 193).

Some of the results reported by Robertson appearing doubtful,

Laplace proposed to the members of the French Academy of

Sciences that the funds placed by the government at their

disposal for the prosecution of useful experiments should be

utilized in sending up balloons to test their accuracy. The

proposition was supported by J. A. C. Chaptal, the chemist,

who was then minister of the interior, and accordingly the

necessary arrangements were speedily effected, the charge

of the experiments being given to L. J. Gay-Lussac and J. B.

Biot. The principal object of this ascent was to determine

whether the magnetic force experienced any appreciable diminution

at heights above the earth's surface. On the 24th of August

1804, Gay-Lussac and Biot ascended from the Conservatoire des

Arts at ten o'clock in the morning. Their magnetic experiments

were incommoded by the rotation of the balloon, but they found

that, up to the height of 13,000 ft., the time of vibration

of a magnet was appreciably the same as on the earth's

surface. They found also that the air became drier as they

ascended. The height reached was about 13,000 ft., and the

temperature declined from 63 deg. to 51 deg. F. The descent was

effected about half-past one, at Meriville, 18 leagues from Paris.

In a second experiment, which was made on the 16th of September

1804, Gay-Lussac ascended alone. The balloon left the

Conservatoire des Arts at 9.40 A.M., and descended at 3.45

P.M. between Rouen and Dieppe. The chief result obtained was

that the magnetic force, like gravitation, did not experience

any sensible variation at heights from the earth's surface

which we can attain to. Gay-Lussac also brought down air

collected at the height of nearly 23,000 ft., and on analysis

it appeared that its composition was the same as that of air

collected at the earth's surface. At the time of leaving the

earth the thermometer stood at 82 deg. F., and at the highest

point reached (23,000 ft.) it was 14.9 deg. F. Gay-Lussac remarked

that at his highest point there were still clouds above him.

From 1804 to 1850 there is no record of any scientific ascents

in balloons having been undertaken. In the latter year

J. A. Bixio (1808-1865) and A. Barral (1819-1884) made two

ascents of this kind. In the first they ascended from the

Paris observatory on the 29th of June 1850, at 10.27 A.M.,

the balloon being inflated with hydrogen gas. The day was

a rough one, and the ascent took place without any previous

attempt having been made to test the ascensional force of the

balloon. When liberated, it rose with great rapidity, and

becoming fully inflated it pressed upon the network, bulging

out at the top and bottom. The ropes by which the car was

suspended being too short, the balloon soon covered the

travellers like an immense hood. In endeavouring to secure

the valve-rope, they made a rent in the balloon, and the

gas escaped so close to their faces as almost to suffocate

them. Finding that they were descending then too rapidly,

they threw overboard everything available, including their

coats and only excepting the instruments. The ground was

reached at 10h. 45m., near Lagny. Of course no observations

were made. Their second ascent was made on the 27th of

July, and was remarkable on account of the extreme cold met

with. At about 20,000 ft. the temperature was 15 deg. F., the

balloon being enveloped in cloud; but on emerging from the

cloud, at 23,000 ft., the temperature sank to --38 deg. F.,

no less than 53 deg. F. below that experienced by Gay-Lussac

at the same elevation. The existence of these very cold

clouds served to explain certain meteorological phenomena

that were observed on the earth both the day before and the

day after the ascent. Some pigeons were taken up in this,

as in most other high ascents; when liberated, they showed a

reluctance to leave the car, and then fell heavily downwards.

In July 1852 the committee of the Kew Observatory resolved

to institute a series of balloon ascents, with the view of

investigating such meteorological and physical phenomena as

require the presence of an observer at a great height in the

atmosphere. John Welsh (1824-1859) of the Kew Observatory was

the observer, and the great ``Nassau Balloon'' was employed,

with Green himself as the aeronaut. Four ascents were made

in 1852, viz. on the 17th and 26th of August, the 31st of

October and the 10th of November. The heights attained

were 19,510, 19,100, 12,680 and 22,930 ft., and the lowest

temperatures met with in the four ascents were 8.7 deg. F. (19,380

ft.), 12.4 deg. F. (18,370 ft.), 16.4 deg. F. (12,640 ft.) and

10.5 deg. F. (22,370 ft.). The decline of temperature was very

regular. A siphon barometer, dry and wet bulb thermometers,

aspirated and free, and a Regnault hygrometer were taken

up. Some air collected at a considerable height was found

on analysis not to differ appreciably in its composition

from air collected near the ground. For the original

observations see Phil. Trans., 1853, pp. 311-346.

Glaisher's ascents.

At the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement

of Science held at Aberdeen in 1859, a committee was appointed

for the purpose of making observations in the higher strata

of the atmosphere by means of the balloon. For two years

nothing was effected, owing to the want both of an observer

and of a suitable balloon. After its reappointment at

the Manchester meeting of 1861, the committee communicated

with Henry Tracey Coxwell (1819-1900), an aeronaut who had

made a good many ascents, and he agreed to construct a new

balloon, of 90,000 cub. ft. capacity, on the condition that

the committee would undertake to use it, and pay L. 25 for

each high ascent made especially on its behalf, defraying

also the cost of gas, &c., so that the expense of each high

ascent amounted to nearly L. 50. An observer being still

wanted, James Glaisher, a member of the committee, offered

himself to take the observations, and accordingly the first

ascent was made on the 17th of July 1862, from the gas-works

at Wolverhamiton, this town being chosen on account of its

central position in the country. Altogether, Glaisher made

twenty-eight ascents, the last being on the 26th of May

1866. Of these only seven were specially high ascents,

although six others were undertaken for the objects of the

committee alone. . On the ether occasions he availed himself

of public ascents from the Crystal Palace and other places

of entertainment, merely taking his place like the other

passengers. In the last six ascents another aeronaut and a

smaller balloon were employed. The dates, places of ascent

and greatest heights (in feet) attained in the twenty-eight

ascents were--1862: July 17, Wolverhampton, 26,177; July 30,

Crystal Palace, 6937; August 18, Wolverhampton, 23,377; August

20, Crystal Palace, 5900; August 21, Hendon, 14,355; September

1, Crystal Palace, 4190; September 5, Wolverhampton, 37,000;

September 8, Crystal Palace, 5428. 1863: March 31, Crystal

Palace, 22,884; April 18, Crystal Palace, 24,163; June 26,

Wolverton, 23,200; July 11, Crystal Palace, 6623; July 21,

Crystal Palace, 3298; August 31, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 8033;

September 29, Wolverhampton, 16,590; October 9, Crystal Palace,

7310. 1864: January 12, Woolwich, 11,897; April 6, Woolwich,

11,075; June 13, Crystal Palace, 3543; June 20, Derby, 4280;

June 27, Crystal Palace, 4898; August 29, Crystal Palace,

14,581; December 1, Woolwich, 5431; December 30, Woolwich,

3735. 1865: February 27, Woolwich, 4865; October 2, Woolwich,

1949; December 2, Woolwich, 4628. 1866: May 26, Windsor, 6325.

The primary object of the ascents was to determine the temperature

of the air, and its hygrometrical state at different elevations

to as great a height as could be reached; and the secondary

objects were-(1) to determine the temperature of the dew-point

by Daniell's and Regnault's hygrometers, as well as by the

dry and wet bulb thermometers, and to compare the results;

(2) to compare the readings of an aneroid barometer with those

of a mercurial barometer up to the height of 5 m.; (3) to

determine the electrical state of the air, (4) the oxygenic

condition of the atmosphere, and (5) the time of vibration

of a magnet; (6) to collect air at different elevations;

(7) to note the height and kind of clouds, their density and

thickness; (8) to determine the rate and direction of different

currents in the atmosphere; and (9) to make observations on

sound. The instruments used were mercurial and aneroid

barometers, dry and wet bulb thermometers, Daniell's dew-point

hygrometer, Regnault's condensing hygrometer, maximum and

minimum thermometers, a magnet for horizontal vibration,

hermetically sealed glass tubes exhausted of air, and an

electrometer. In one or two of the ascents a camera was taken up.

The complete observations, both as made and after reduction,

are printed in the British Association Reports, 1862-1866;

here only a general account of the results can he given.

It appeared that the rate of the decline of temperature with

elevation near the earth was very different according as

the sky was clear or cloudy; and the equality of temperature

at sunset and increase with height after sunset were very

remarkable facts which were not anticipated. Even at the

height of 5 m., cirrus clouds were seen high in the air,

apparently as far above as they seem when viewed from the

earth. The results of the observations differed very much,

and no doubt the atmospheric conditions depended not only

on the time of day, but also on the season of the year, and

were such that a vast number of ascents would be requisite

to determine the true laws with anything approaching to

certainty and completeness. It was also clear that England is

a most unfit country for the pursuit of such investigations,

as, from whatever place the balloon started, it was never

safe to be more than an hour above the clouds for fear of

reaching the sea. It appeared from the observations that an

aneroid barometer could be trusted to read as accurately as

a mercurial barometer to the heights reached. The time of

vibration of a horizontal magnet was taken in very many of the

ascents, and the results of ten different sets of observations

indicated that the time of vibration was longer than on the

earth. In almost all the ascents the balloon was under the

influence of currents of air in different directions which

varied greatly in thickness. The direction of the wind on the

earth was sometimes that of the whole mass of air up to 20,000

ft., whilst at other times the direction changed within 500

ft. of the earth. Sometimes directly opposite currents were

met with at different heights in the same . ascent, and three

or four streams of air were encountered moving in different

directions. The direct distances between the places of ascent

and descent, apart from the movements of the balloon under

the influence of these various currents, were always very much

greater than the horizontal movement of the air as measured by

anemometers. For example, on the 12th of January 1862, the

balloon left Woolwich at 2h. 8m. P.M., and descended at

Lakenheath, 70 m. distant from the place of ascent, at 4h.

19m. P.M. At the Greenwich Observatory, by a Robinson

anemometer, during this time the motion of the air was 6 m.

only. With regard to physiological observations, Glaisher

found that the frequency of his pulse increased with elevation,

as also did the number of inspirations. The number of his

pulsations was generally 76 per minute before starting,

about 90 at 10,000 ft., 100 at 20,000 ft., and 110 at higher

elevations. But a good deal depended on the temperament of the

individual. This was also the case in respect to colour; at

10,000 ft. the faces of some would be a glowing purple, whilst

others would be scarcely affected; at 4 m. high Glaisher

found the pulsations of his heart distinctly audible, and

his breathing was very much affected, so that panting was

produced by the slightest exertion; at 29,000 ft. he became

insensible. In reference to the propagation of sound, it

was at all times found that sounds from the earth were more

or less audible according to the amount of moisture in the

air. When in clouds at 4 m. high, a railway train was heard;

but when clouds were far below, no sound ever reached the ear

at this elevation. The discharge of a gun was heard at 10,000

ft. The barking of a dog was heard at the height of 2 m.,

while the shouting of a multitude of people was not audible

at heights exceeding 4000 ft. In his ascent of the 5th of

September 1862, Glaisher considered that he reached a height

of 37,000 ft. But that figure was based, not on actual

record, but on the circumstances that at 29,000 ft., when he

became insensible, the balloon was rising 1000 ft. a minute,

and that when he recovered consciousness thirteen minutes

later it was falling 2000 ft. a minute, and the accuracy of

his conclusions has been questioned. Few scientific men have

imitated Glaisher in making high ascents for meteorological

observations. In 1867 and 1868 Camille Flammarion made eight

or nine ascents from Paris for scientific purposes. The

heights attained were not great, but the general result was

to confirm the observations of Glaisher; for an account see

Voyages aeriens, Paris, 1870, or Travels in the Air,

London, 1871, in which also some ascents by W. de Fonvielle are

noticed. On the 15th of April 1875, H. T. Sivel, J. E.

Croce-Spinelli and Gaston Tissandier ascended from Paris in

the balloon ``Zenith,'' and reached a height of 27,950 ft.;

but only Tissandier came down alive, his two companions being

asphyxiated. This put an end to such attempts for a time.

But Dr A. Berson and Lieut. Gross attained 25,840 ft. on

the 11th of May 1894; Berson, ascending alone from Strassfurt

on the 4th of December 1894, attained about 31,500 ft. and

recorded a temperature of --54 deg. F.; and Berson and Stanley

Spencer are stated by the latter to have attained 27,500 ft.

on the 15th of September 1898 when they ascended in a hydrogen

balloon from the Crystal Palace, the thermometer registering

--29 deg. F. On the 31st of July 1901, Berson and R. J. Suring,

ascending at Berlin, actually noted a barometric reading

corresponding to a height of 34,500 ft., and possibly rose

1000 or 1500 ft. higher, though in spite of oxygen inhalations

they were unconscious during the highest portion of the ascent.

The personal danger attending his ascents led Gustave Hermite

and Besancon in November 1892 to inaugurate the sending up of

unmanned balloons (ballons sondes) equipped with automatic

recording instruments, and kites (q.v.) have also been employed

for similar meteorological purposes. (See also METEOROLOOY.)

Military balloons.

The balloon had not been discovered very long before it

received a military status, and soon after the beginning of

the French revolutionary war an aeronautic school was founded

at Meudon, in charge of Guyton de Morveau, the chemist, and

Colonel J. M. J. Coutelle (1748-1835). Four balloons were

constructed for the armies of the north, of the Sambre and

Meuse, of the Rhine and Moselle, and of Egypt. In June 1794

Coutelle ascended with the adjutant and general to reconnoitre

the hostile army just before the battle of Fleurus, and two

reconnaissances were made, each occupying four hours. It is

generally stated that it was to the information so gained that

the French victory was due. The balloon corps was in constant

requisition during the campaign, but it does not appear that,

with the exception of the reconnaissances just mentioned,

any great advantages resulted, except in a moral point of

view. But even this was of importance, as the enemy were much

disconcerted at having their movements so completely watched,

while the French were correspondingly elated at the superior

information it was believed they were gaining. An attempt

was made to revive the use of balloons in the African campaign

of 1830, but no opportunity occurred in which they could be

employed. It is said that in 1849 a reconnoitring balloon

was sent up from before Venice, as also were small balloons

loaded with bombs to be exploded by time-fuses. In the French

campaign against Italy in 1859 the French had recourse to the

use of balloons, but this time there was not any aerostatic

corps, and their management was entrusted to the brothers

Godard. Several reconnaissances were made, and one of

especial interest the day before the battle of Solferino. No

information of much importance seems, however, to have been

gained thereby. In the American Civil War (1861) balloons

were a good deal used by the Federals. There was a regular

balloon staff attached to Mcclellan's army, with a captain, an

assistant-captain and about 50 non-commissioned officers and

privates. The apparatus consisted of two generators, drawn

by four horses each; two balloons, drawn by four horses each,

and an acid-cart, drawn by two horses. The two balloons used

contained about 13,000 and 26,000 ft. of gas, and the inflation

usually occupied about three hours. (See Royal Engineers'

Papers, vol. xii.) By their aid useful information was

gained about the enemy round Richmond and in other places,

but eventually difficulties of transport and the topography

of the theatre of war made ballooning impracticable; and

little was heard of it after the first two years of the war.

The balloon proved itself very valuable during the siege of

Paris (1870-71). It was by it alone that communication was

kept up between the besieged city and the external world,

as the balloons carried away from Paris the pigeons which

afterwards brought back to it the news of the provinces. The

total number of balloons that ascended from Paris during the

siege, conveying persons and despatches, was sixty-four--the

first having started on the 23rd of September 1870, and the

last on the 28th of January 1871. Gambetta effected his

escape from Paris, on the 7th of October, in the balloon

``Armand-Barbes,', an event which doubtless led to the

prolongation of the war. Of the sixty-four balloons only two

were never heard of; they were blown out to sea. One of the

most remarkable voyages was that of the ``Ville d'Orleans,''

which, leaving Paris at eleven o'clock on the 21st of November,

descended fifteen hours afterwards near Christiania, having

crossed the North Sea. Several of the balloons on their

descent were taken by the Prussians, and a good many were

fired at while in the air. The average size of the balloons

was from 2000 to 2050 metres, or from 70,000 to 72,000 cub.

ft. The above facts are extracted from Les Ballons du

siege de Paris, a sheet published by Buila and Sons,

Paris, and compiled by the brothers Tissandier, well-known

French aeronauts, which gives the name, size and times of

ascent and descent of every balloon that left Paris, with the

Da.mes of the aeronaut and generally also of the passengers, the

weight of despatches, the number of pigeons, &c. Only those

balloons, however, are noticed in which some person ascended.

The balloons were manufactured and despatched (generally from

(the platforms of the Orleans or the Northern railway) under

the direction of the Post Office. The aeronauts employed were

mostly sailors, who did their work very well. No use whatever

was made in the war of balloons for purposes of reconnaissance.

Ballooning, however, as a recognized military science, only

dates back to about the year 1883 or 1884, when most of the

powers organized regular balloon establishments. In 1884-85

the French found balloons very useful during their campaign

in Tongking; and the British government also despatched

balloons with the Bechuanaland expedition, and also with that

to Suakin in those years. During the latter campaign several

ascents were made in the presence of the enemy, on whom it was

said that a great moral effect was produced. The employment

of balloons has been common in nearly all modern wars.

We may briefly describe the apparatus used in military

operations. The French in the campaigns of the 19th century

used varnished silk balloons of about 10,000 cub. ft.

capacity. The Americans in the Civil War used much

larger ones. those of 26,000 cub. ft. being found the most

suitable. These were also of varnished silk. In the present

day most nations use balloons of about 20,000 cub. ft., made

of varnished cambric; but the British war balloons, made of

goldbeater skin, are usually of comparatively small size,

the normal capacity being 10,000 cub. ft., though others of

7000 and 4500 cub. ft. have also been used, as at Suakin.

The usual shape is spherical; but since 1896 the Germans,

and now other nations, have adopted a long cylindrical-shaped

balloon, so affixed to its cable as to present an inclined

surface to the wind and thus act partly on the principle of a

kite. Though coal-gas and even hot air may occasionally be used

for inflation, hydrogen gas is on account of its lightness fat

preferable. In the early days of ballooning this had to

be manufactured in the field, but nowadays it is almost

universally carried compressed in steel tubes. About 100 such

tubes, each weighing 75lb., are required to fill a 10,000-ft.

balloon. Tubes of greater capacity have also been tried.

The balloon is almost always used captive. If allowed

to go free it will usually be rapidly carried away by the

wind and the results of the observations cannot easily be

transmitted back. Occasions may occur when such ascents

will be of value, but the usual method is to send up a

captive balloon to a height of somewhere about 1000 ft.

With the standard British balloon two officers are sent up,

one of whom has now particularly to attend to the management

of the balloon, while the other makes the observations.

With regard to observations from captive balloons much depends on

circumstances. In a thickly wooded country, such as that in

which the balloons were used in the American Civil War, and in

the war in Cuba (in which the balloon merely served to expose

the troops to severe fire), no very valuable information is, as a

rule, to be obtained; but in fairly open country all important

movements of troops should be discernible by an experienced

observer at any point within about four or five miles of the

balloon. The circumstances, it may be mentioned, are such

as would usually preclude one unaccustomed to ballooning

from affording valuable reports. Not only is he liable to

be disturbed by the novel and apparently hazardous situation,

but troops and features of the ground often have so peculiar

an appearance from that point of view, that a novice will

often have a difficulty in deciding whether an object be a

column of troops or a ploughed field. Then again, much will

depend on atmospheric conditions. Thus, in misty weather

a balloon is well-nigh useless; and in strong winds, with a

velocity of anything over 20 m. an hour, efficient observation

becomes a matter of difficulty. When some special point has

to be reported on, such as whether there is any large body

of troops behind a certain hill or wood, a rapid ascent may

still be mace in winds up to 30 m. an hour, but the balloon

would then be so unsteady that no careful scouting could be

made. It is.usually estimated that a successful captive

ascent can only be made in England on half the days of the

year. As a general rule balloon ascents would be made for

one of the following objects-- to examine the country for an

enemy; to reconnoitre the enemy's position; to ascertain the

strength of his force, number of guns and exact situation of

the various arms; also to note the plan of his earthworks or

fortifications. During an action the aerial observer would

be on the look-out for any movements of the enemy and give

warning of flank attacks or surprises. Such an observer

could also keep the general informed as to the progress of

various detached parties of his own force, as to the advance of

reinforcements, or to the conduct of any fighting going on at a

distance. Balloon observations are also of especial use

to artillery in correcting their aim. The vulnerability

of a captive balloon to the enemy's fire has been tested

by many experiments with variable results. One established

fact is that the range of a balloon in mid-air is extremely

difficult to judge, and, as its altitude can he very rapidly

altered, it becomes a very difficult mark for artillery to

hit. A few bullet-holes in the fabric of a balloon make but

little difference, since the size of the perforation is very

minute as compared with the great surface of material, but

on the other hand, a shrapnel bursting just in front of may

cause a rapid fall. It is therefore considered prudent to

keep the balloon well away from an enemy, and two miles are

laid down as the nearest approach it should make habitually.

Besides being of use on land for war purposes, balloons have

been tried in connexion with the naval service. In France

especially regular trials have been made of inflating balloons

on board ships, and sending them aloft as a look-out; but it

is now generally contended that the difficulties of storing

the gas and of manoeuvring the balloon are so great on

board ship as to be hardly worth the results to be gained.

A very important development of military ballooning is the navigable

balloon. If only a balloon could be sent up and driven in any

required direction, and brought back to its starting-point, it

is obvious that it would be of the very greatest use in war.

Dirigible balloons.

From the very first invention of balloons the problem has

been how to navigate them by propulsion. General J. B. M.

C. Meusnier (1754-1793) proposed an elongated balloon in

1784. It was experimented on by the brothers Robert, who

made two ascensions and claimed to have obtained a deviation

of 22 deg. from the direction of a light wind by means of aerial

oars worked by hand. The relative speed was probably about

3 m. an hour, and it was so evident that a very much more

energetic light motor than any then known was required to

stem ordinary winds that nothing more was attempted till

1832, when Henri Giffard (1825-1882) as ascended with a

steam-engine of then unprecedented lightness. The subjoined

table exhibits some of the results subsequently obtained :---

Year. Inventor. Length. Dia- Con- Lifting Weight Weight H.P. Speed

meter. tents. Capa- of of per

city. Ballon. Motor. hour.

Ft. Ft. Cub.ft. lb. lb. lb. Miles

1852 Giffard 144 39 88,300 3,978 2,794 462 3.0 6.71

1872 Dupuy de

Lome 118 49 120,088 8,358 4,728 2000 0.8 6.26

1884 Tissandier 92 30 37,439 2,728 933 616 1.5 7.82

1885 Renard and

Krebs 165 27 65,836 4,402 2,449 1174 9.0 14.00

1897 Schwarz 157 {46 39} 130.500 8,133 6,800 800? 16.0 17.00

1900 Zeppelin I 420 39 400,000 25,000 19,000 1500 32.0 18.00

1901 Santos

Dumont VI. 108 20 22,200 .. .. .. 16.20 19.00

1908 ``Repub-

lique'' 195 35 130,000 3,100 .. .. 80 30

1908 Zeppelin IV 446 42 1/2 450,000 .. .. .. 220 ..

Giffard, the future inventor of the injector, devised a

steam-engine weighing, with fuel and water for one hour,

154 lb. per horse-power, and was bold enough to employ it in

proximity to a balloon inflated with coal gas. He was not

able to stem a medium wind, but attained some deviation.

He repeated the experiment in 1855 with a more elongated

spindle, which proved unstable and dangerous. During the

siege of Paris the French Government decided to build a

navigable balloon, and entrusted the work to the chief naval

constructor, Dupuy de Lome. He went into the subject very

carefully, made estimates of all the strains, resistances and

speeds, and tested the balloon in 1872. Deviations of 12 deg.

were obtained from the course of a wind blowing 27 to 37 m. per

hour. The screw propeller was driven by eight labourers, a

steam-engine being deemed too dangerous; but it was estimated

that had one been used, weighing as much as the men, the

speed would have been doubled. Tissandier and his brother

applied an electric motor, lighter than any previously built,

to a spindle-shaped balloon, and went up twice in 1883 and

1884. On the latter occasion he stemmed a wind of 7 m. per

hour. The brothers abandoned these experiments, which

had been carried on at their own expense, when the French

War Department took up the problem. Renard and Krebs, the

Officers in charge of the War Aeronautical Department at

Heudon, built and experimented with in 1884 and 1885 the

fusiform balloon `` La France,'' in which the `` master''

or maximum section was about one-quarter of the distance

from the stem. The propelling screw was at the front of

the car and driven by an electric motor of unprecedented

lightness. Seven ascents were made on very calm days, a

maximum speed of 14 m. an hour was obtained, and the balloon

returned to its starting-point on five of the seven occasions.

Subsequently another balloon was constructed, said to be

capable of a speed of 22 to 28 m. per hour, with a different

motor. After many years of experi- ment Dr Wolfert built and

experimented with in Berlin, in 1897, a cigar-shaped balloon

driven by a gasoline motor. An explosion took place in the

air, the balloon fell and Dr Wolfert and his assistant were

killed. It was also in 1897 that an aluminium balloon was

built from the designs of D. Schwarz and tested in Bedin.

It was driven by a Daimler benzine motor, and attained a

greater speed than ``La France''; but a driving belt slipped,

and in coming down the balloon was injured beyond repair.

From 1897 onwards Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, of the German

army, was engaged in constructing an immense balloon, truly an

airship, of most careful and most intelligent design, to carry

five men. It consisted of an aluminium framework containing

sixteen gas bags with a total capacity of nearly 400,000

cub. ft., and it had two cars, each containing a 16 h.p.

motor. It was first tested in June 1900, when it attained

a speed of 18 m. an hour and travelled a distance of 3 1/2

m. before an accident to the steering gear necessitated the

discontinuance of the experiment. In 1905 Zeppelin built

a second airship which had a slightly smaller capacity

but much greater power, its two motors each developing 85

h.p. This, after making some successful trips, was wrecked

in a violent gale, and was succeeded by a third airship,

which, at its trial in October 1906, travelled round Lake

Constance and showed itself able to execute numerous curves and

traverses. At a second series of trials in September 1907,

after some alterations had been effected, it attained a

speed of 36 m. an hour, remaining in the air for many hours

and carrying nine or eleven passengers. A fourth vessel of

similar design, but with more powerful motors, was tried in

1908, and succeeded in travelling 250 m. in 11 hours, but

owing to a storm it was wrecked when on land and burnt at

Echterdingen on the 5th of August. Subscriptions, headed by

the emperor, were at once raised to enable Zeppelin to build

another. Meanwhile in 1901 Alberto Santos Dumont had begun

experiments with dirigible balloons in Paris, and on the 19th

of October won the Deutsch prize by steering a balloon from

St Cloud round the Eiffel tower and back in half an hour,

encountering on his return journey a wind of nearly 5 metres a

second. An airship constructed by Pierre and Paul Lebaudy in

1904 also made a number of successful trials in the vicinity

of Paris; with a motor of 40 h.p., its speed was about 25 m. an

hour, and it regularly carried three passengers. In October

1907 the ``Nulli Secundus,'' an airship constructed for the

British War Office, sailed from Farnborough round St Paul's

Cathedral, London, to the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, a distance

of about 50 m., in 3 hours 35 minutes. The weight carried,

including two occupants, was 3400 lb., and the maximum speed

was 24 m. an hour, with a following wind of 8 m. an hour.

Thus the principles which govern the design of the dirigible

balloon may be said to have been evolved. As the lifting

power crows as the cube of the dimensions, and the resistance

approximately as the square, the advantage lies with the

larger sizes of balloons, as of ocean steamers, up to the

limits within which they may be found practicable. Count

Zeppelin gained an advantage by attaching his propellers

to the balloon, instead of to the car as heretofore; but

this requires a rigid framework and a great increase of

weight. Le Compagnon endeavoured, in 1892, to substitute

flapping wings for rotary propellers, as the former can

be suspended near the centre of resistance. C. Danilewsky

followed him in 1898 and 1899, but without remarkable

results. Dupuy de Lome was the first to estimate in detail

the resistances to balloon propulsion, but experiment showed

that in the aggregate they were greater than he calculated.

Renard and Krebs also found that their computed resistances

were largely exceeded, and after revising the results they

gave the formula R=0.01685 D2V2, R being the resistance in

kilograms, D the diameter in metres and V the velocity in

metres per second. Reduced to British measures, in pounds,

feet and miles per hour, R=0.0006876 D2V2, which is somewhat

in excess of the formula computed by Dr William Pole from

Dupuy de Lome's experiments. The above coefficient applies

only to the shape and rigging of the balloon ``La France,''

and combines all resistances into one equivalent, which is

equal to that of a flat plane 18% of the ``master section.''

This coefficient may perhaps hereafter be reduced by one-half

through a better form of hull and car, more like a fish than a

spindle, by diminished sections of suspension lines and net,

and by placing the propeller at the centre of resistance.

To compute the results to be expected from new projects, it

will be preferable to estimate the resistances in detail. The

following table shows how this was done by Dupuy de Lome, and

the probable corrections which should have been made by him:--

RESISTANCES--DUPUY DE LOME'S BALLOON

Computed by Dupuy de Lome. More Probable Values.

V = 2.22 m. per sec. V = 2.82 m. per sec.

Area Coeffici- Air Resist- Coeffici- Air Resist-

Part. Sq. ent. Pres- ance, ent. Pres- ance,

Metres sure. Kg. sure Kg.

Hull,

without net 172.96 1/30 0.665 3.830 1/15 0.875 10.091

Car 3.25 1/5 ,, 0.432 1/5 ,, 0.569

Men's bodies 3.00 1/5 ,, 0.400 1/5 ,, 1.312

Gas tubes 6.40 1/5 ,, 0.850 1/2 ,, 2.750

Small cords 10.00 1/2 ,, 3.325 1/2 ,, 4.375

Large cords 9.90 1/3 ,, 2.194 1/3 ,, 2.887

11.031 21.984

When the resistances have been reduced to the lowest minimum

by careful design, the attainable speed must depend upon the

efficiency of the propeller and the relative lightness of the

motor. The commercial uses of dirigible balloons, however,

will be small, as they must remain housed when the wind aloft is

brisk. The sizes will be great and costly, the loads small,

and the craft frail and short-lived, yet dirigible balloons

constitute the obvious type for governments to evolve,

until they are superseded by efficient flying machines. (See

further, as to the latter, the article FLIGHT AND FLYING.)

Practice of aerostation.

The chief danger attending ballooning lles in the descent; for

if a strong wind be blowing, the grapnel will sometimes trail

for miles over the ground at the rate of ten or twenty miles

an hour, catching now and then in hedges, ditches, roots of

trees, &c.; and, after giving the balloon a terrible jerk,

breaking loose again, till at length some obstruction, such

as the wooded bank of a stream, affords a firm hold. This

danger, however, has been much reduced by the use of the

``ripping-cord,'' which enables a panel to be ripped open and

the balloon to be completely deflated in a few seconds, just

as it is reaching the earth. But even a very rough descent

is usually not productive of any very serious consequences;

as, although the occupants of the car generally receive many

bruises and are perhaps cut by the ropes, it rarely happens

that anything worse occurs. On a day when the wind is light

(supposing that there is no want of ballast) nothing can be

easier than the descent, and the aeronaut can decide several

miles off on the field in which he will alight. It is very

important to have a good supply of ballast, so as to be able

to check the rapidity of the descent, as in passing downwards

through a wet cloud the weight of the balloon is enormously

increased by the water deposited on it; and if there is no ballast

to throw out in compensation, the velocity is sometimes very

great. It is also convenient, if the district upon which

the balloon is descending appear unsuitable for landing, to

be able to rise again. The ballast consists of fine baked

sand, which becomes so scattered as to be inappreciable

before it has fallen far below the balloon. It is taken

up in bags containing about 1/2 cwt. each. The balloon at

starting is liberated by a spring catch which the aeronaut

releases, and the ballast should be so adjusted that there

is nearly equilibrium before leaving, else the rapidity of

ascent is too great, and has to be checked by parting with

gas. It is almost impossible to liberate the balloon in such

a way as to avoid giving it a rotary motion about a vertical

axis, which continues during the whole time it is in the

air. This rotation makes it difficult for those in the car to

discover in what direction they are moving; and it is only by

looking down along the rope to which the grapnel is suspended

that the motion of the balloon over the country below can be

traced. The upward and downward motion at any instant is at once

known by merely dropping over the side of the car a small piece

of paper: if the paper ascends or remains on the same level or

stationary, the balloon is descending; while, if it descends,

the balloon is ascending. This test is exceedingly delicate.

REPERENCES.--Tiberius Cavallo, Treatise on the Nature

and Properties of Air and other permanently Elastic Fluids

(London, 1781); Idem, History and Practice of Aerostation

(London, 1785); Vincent Lunardi, Account of the First Aerial,

Voyage in England, in a Series of letters to his Guardian

(London, 1785); T. Forster, Annals of some Remarkable aerial

and alpine Voyages (London, 1832); Monck Mason, Aeronautica

(London, 1908; John Wise, A System of Aeronautics,

comprehending its Earliest Investigations (Philadelphia,

1850); Hatton Tumor, Astra Castra, Experiments and Adventures

in the Atmosphere (London, 1863); J. Glaisher, C. Flammarion,

W. de Fonvielle and G. Tissandier, Voyages aeriens (Paris,

1870) (translated and edited by James Glaisher under the title

Travels in the Air (London, 1871); O. Chanute, Progress

in Flying Machines (New York, 1894); W. de Fonvielle, Les

Ballons sondes (Paris, 1899); Idem, Histoire de la navigation

aerienne (Paris, 1907); F. Walker, Aerial Navigation

(London, 1902); J. Lecornu, La Navigation aerienne (Paris,

1903); M. L. Marchis, Lecons sur la navigation aerienne

(Paris, 1904), containing many references to books and

periodicals on pp. 701-704; Navigating the Air (papers

collected by the Aero Club of America) (New York, 1907); A.

Hildebrandt, Airships past and present (London, 1908).

1 Mr Tytler contributed largely to, and, indeed,

appears to have been virtually editor of, the second

edition (1778-1783) of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

AEROTHERAPEUTICS, the treatment of disease by atmospheric

air: a term which of late has come to be used somewhat more

loosely to include also pneumotherapeutics, or the treatment

of disease by artificially prepared atmospheres. The physical

and chemical properties of atmospheric air, under ordinary

pressure or under modified pressure, may be therapeutically

utilized either on the external surface of the body, on the

respiratory surface, or on both surfaces together. Also

modifications may be induced in the ventilation of the lungs by

general gymnastics or respiratory gymnastics. The beneficial

effects of air under ordinary pressure are now utilized in

line open-air treatment of phthisical patients, and the main

indications of benefit resulting therefrom are reduction

of the fever, improvement of appetite and the induction of

sleep. The air, however, may be modified in composition or in

temperature. Inhalation is the most common and successful

method of applying it--when modified in composition--to the human

body. The methods in use are as follows: (1) Inhalation

of gases, as oxygen and nitrous oxide. The dyspnoea and

cyanosis of pneumonia, capillary bronchitis, heart failure,

&c., are much relieved by the inhalation of oxygen; and

nitrous oxide is largely used as an anaesthetic in minor

operations; (2) Certain liquids are used as anaesthetics,

which volatilize at low temperatures, as chloroform and

ether. (3) Mercury and sulphur, both of which require heat for

volatilization, are very largely used. In a mercurial or

sulphur bath, the patient, enveloped in a sheet, sits on a

chair beneath which a spirit lamp is placed to vaporize the

drug, the best resuits being obtained when the atmosphere is

surcharged with steam at the same time. The vapour envelops

the patient and is absorbed by the skin. This method is

extensively used in the treatment of syphilis, and also for

scabies and other parasitic affections of the skin. (4) Moist

inhalations are rather losing repute in the light of modern

investigations, which tend to show that nothing lower

than the larger bronchial tubes is affected. Complicated

apparatus has been devised for the application, although

a wide-mouthed jug filled with boiling water, into

which the drug is thrown, is almost equally efficacious.

Artificial atmospheres may be made for invalids by

respirators which cover the mouth and nose, the air being

drawn through tow or sponge, on which is sprinkled the

disinfectant to be used. This is most valuable in the

intensely offensive breath of some cases of bronchiectasis.

The air may be modified as to temperature. Cold air at

32--33 deg. F. has been used in chronic catarrhal conditions of

the lungs, with the result that cough diminishes, the pulse

becomes fuller and slower and the general condition improves.

The more recent observations of Pasquale di Tullio go far to

show that this may be immensely valuable in the treatment of

haemoptysis. The inspiration of superheated dry air has been the

subject of much investigation, but with very doubtful results.

Hot air applied to the skin is more noteworthy in its

therapeutic effects. If a current of hot air is directed

upon healthy skin, the latter becomes pale and contracts

in consequence of vaso-constriction. But if it is directed

on a patch of diseased skin, as in lupus, an inflammatory

reaction is set up and the diseased part begins to undergo

necrosis. This fact has been used with good results in lupus,

otorrhoea, rhinitis and other nasal and laryngeal troubles.

Lastly the air may be either compressed or rarefied. The

physiological effects of compressed air were first studied in

diving-bells, and more recently in caissons. Caisson workers

at first enjoy increased strength, vigour and appetite; later,

however, the opposite effect is produced and intenbe debility

supervenes. In addition, caisson workers suffer from a series

of troubles which are known as accidents of decompression. (See

CAISSON DISEASE.) But, therapeutically, compressed air has

been utilized by means of pneumatic chambers large enough to

hold one or more adults at the time, in which the pressure of

the atmosphere can be exactly regulated. This form of treatment

has been found of much value in the treatment of emphysema, early

pulmonary tuberculosis (not in the presence of persistent high

temperature, haemorrhage, softening or suppuration), delayed

absorption of pleural effusions, heart disease, anaemia and

chlorosis. But compressed air is contra-indicated in advanced

tubercle, fever, and in diseases of kidneys, liver or intestines.

Rarefied air was used as long ago as 1835, by V. T. Junod,

who utilized it for local application by inventing the Junod

Boot. By means of this the blood could be drawn into any

part to which it was applied, the vessels of which became

gorged with blood at the expense of internal organs. More

recently this method of treatment has undergone far-reaching

developments and is known as the passive hyperaemic treatment.

There are also various forms of apparatus by means of which

air at greater or lesser pressures may be drawn into the

lungs, and for the performance of lung gymnastics of various

kinds. Mr Ketchum of the United States has invented one which

is much used. A committee of the Brompton Hospital, London,

investigating its capabilities, decided that its use brought

about (1) an increase of chest circumference, and (2) in cases

of consolidation of the lung a diminution in the area of dulness.

AERTSZEN (or AARTSEN), PIETER (1507-1573), called

``Long Peter'' on account of his height, Dutch historical

painter, was born and died at Amsterdam. When a youth he

distinguished himself by painting homely scenes, in which he

reproduced articles of furniture, cooking utensils, &c., with

marvellous fidelity, but he afterwards cultivated historical

painting. Several of his best works---altar-pieces in

various churches---were destroyed in the religious wars of the

Netherlands. An excellent specimen of his style on a small

scale, a picture of the crucifixion, may be seen in the Antwerp

Museum. Aertszen was a member of the Academy of St Luke,

in whose books he is entered as Langhe Peter, schilder.

Three of his sons attained to some note as painters.

AESCHINES (389-314 B.C.), Greek statesman and orator, was

born at Athens. The statements as to his parentage and early

life are conflicting; but it seems probable that his parents,

though poor, were respectable. After assisting his father

in his school, he tried his hand at acting with indifferent

success, served with distinction in the army, and held

several clerkships, amongst them the office of clerk to the

Boule. The fall of Olynthus (348) brought Aeschines into the

political arena, and he was sent on an embassy to rouse the

Peloponnesus against Philip. In 347 he was a member of the

peace embassy to Philip of Macedon, who seems to have won him

over entirely to his side. His dilatoriness during the second

embassy (346) sent to ratify the terms of peace led to his

accusation by Demosthenes and Timarchus on a charge of high

treason, but he was acquitted as the result of a powerful

speech, in which he showed that his accuser Timarchus had, by

his immoral conduct, forfeited the right to speak before the

people. In 343 the attack was renewed by Demosthenes in his

speech On the False Embassy; Aeschines replied in a speech

with the same title and was again acquitted. In 339, as one

of the Athenian deputies (pylagorae) in the Amphictyonic

Council, he made a speech which brought about the Sacred

War. By way of revenge, Aeschines endeavoured to fix the

blame for these disasters upon Demosthenes. In 336, when

Ctesiphon proposed that his friend Demosthenes should be

rewarded with a golden crown for his distinguished services

to the state, he was accused by Aeschines of having violated

the law in bringing forward the motion. The matter remained

in abeyance till 330, when the two rivals delivered their

speeches Against Ctesiphon and on the crown. The result

was a complete victory for Demosthenes. Aeschines went

into voluntary exile at Rhodes, where he opened a school of

rhetoric. He afterwards removed to Samos, where he died in

the seventy-fifth year of his age. His three speeches, called

by the ancients ``the Three Graces,'' rank next to those of

Demosthenes. Photius knew of nine letters by him which

he called the Nine Muses; the twelve published under his

name (Hercher, Epistolographi Graeci) are not genuine.

ANCIENT AUTHORITIES.---Demosthenes, De Corona and De

Falsa Legatione; Aeschines, De Falsa Legatione and

In Ctesiphontem; Lives by Plutarch, Philostratus and

Libanius; the Exegesis of Apollonius. EDITIONS.--Benseler

(1855-1860) (trans. and notes), Weidner (1872), Blass (1896);

Against Ctesiphon, Weidner (1872, 1878), G.A.and W.H.

Simcox (1866), Drake (1872), Richardson(1889), Gwatkin and

Shuckburgh (1890). ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS.--Leland (1771).

Biddle (1881), and others. See also Stechow, Aeschinis

Oratoris vita (1841); Marchand, Charakteristik des Redners

Aschines (1876): Castets, Eschine, l'Orateur (1875);

for the political problems see histories of Greece, esp. A.

Holm, vol. iii. (Eng. trans., 1896); A. Schofer, Demosth.

und seine Zeit (Leipzig, 1856-1858); also DEMOSTHENES.

AESCHINES (5th century B.C.), an Athenian philosopher.

According to some accounts he was the son of a sausage-maker,

but others say that his father was Lysanias (Diog. Laert. ii.

60; Suidas, q.v..) He was an intimate friend of Socrates,

who is reported to have said that the sausage-maker's son

alone knew how to honour him. Diogenes Laertius preserves

a tradition that it was he, not Crito, who offered to help

Socrates to escape from prison. He was always a poor man, and

Socrates advised him ``to borrow from himself, by diminishing

his expenditure.'' He started a perfumery shop in Athens on

borrowed capital, became bankrupt and retired to the Syracusan

court, where he was well received by Aristippus. According to

Diog. Laert. (ii. 61), Plato, then at Syracuse, pointedly

ignored Aeschines, but this does not agree with Plutarch, De

adulatore et amico (c. 26). On the expulsion of the younger

Dionysius, he returned to Athens, and, finding it impossible

to profess philosophy publicly owing to the contempt of Plato

and Aristoue, was Compelled to teach privately. He wrote also

forensic speeches; Phrynichus, in Photius, ranks him amongst

the best orators, and mentions his orations as the standard

of the pure Attic style. Hermogenes also spoke highly of him

(Peri ideon.) He wrote several philosophical dialogues:

(1) Concerning virtue, whether it can be taught; (2)

Eryxias, or Erasistratust concerning riches, whether they

are good; (3) Axiochus: concerning death, whether it is

to be feared,--but those extant on the several subjects

are not genuine remains. J. le Clerc has given a Latin

translation of them, with notes and several dissertations,

entitled Silvae Philologicae, and they have been edited

by S. N. Fischer (Leipzig, 1786), and K. F. Hermann, De

Aeschin. Socrat. relig. (Gott. 1850). The genuine dialogues

appear to have been marked by the Socratic irony; an amusing

passage is quoted by Cicero in the De inventione (i. 31).

See Hirzel, Der Dialog. i. 129-140; T. Gomperz, Greek Thinkers,

vol. iii. p. 342 (Eng. trans. G. G. Berry, London, 1905).

AESCHYLUS (525-456 B.C.), Greek poet, the first of the

only three Attic Tragedians of whose work entire plays survive,

and in a very real sense (as we shall see) the founder of

the Greek drama, was born at Eleusis in the year 525 B.C.

Life.

His father, Euphorion, belonged to the ``Eupatridae'' or old

nobility of Athens, as we know on the authority of the short

Life of the poet given in the Medicean Manuscript (see

note on ``authorities'' at the end). According to the same

tradition he took part as a soldier in the great struggle

of Greece against Persia; and was present at the battles of

Marathon, Artemisium, Salamis and Plataea, in the years

490-479. At least one of his brothers, Cynaegirus, fought with

him at Marathon, and was killed in attempting a conspicuous act

of bravery; and the brothers' portraits found a place in the

national picture of the battle which the Athenians set up as a

memorial in the Stoa Poecile (or ``Pictured Porch'') at Athens.

The vigour and loftiness of tone which mark Aeschylus'

poetic work was not only due, we may be sure, to his native

genius and gifts, powerful as they were, but were partly

inspired by the personal share he took in the great actions

of a heroic national uprising. In the same way, the poet's

brooding thoughtfulness on deep questions---the power of the

gods, their dealings with man, the dark mysteries of fate,

the future life in Hades--though largely due to his turn of

mind and temperament, was doubtless connected with the place

where his childhood was passed. Eleusis was the centre of

the most famous worship of Demeter, with its processions, its

ceremonies, its mysteries, its impressive spectacles and

nocturnal rites; and these were intimately connected with

the Greek beliefs about the human soul, and the underworld.

His dramatic career began early, and was continued for more

than forty years. In 499, his 26th year, he first exhibited

at Athens; and his last work, acted during his lifetime at

Athens, was the trilogy of the Oresteia, exhibited in 458.

The total number of his plays is stated by Suidas to have

been ninety; and the seven extant plays, with the dramas named

or nameable which survive only in fragments, amount to over

eighty, so that Suidas' figure is probably based on reliable

tradition. It is well known that in the 5th century each

exhibitor at the tragic contests produced four plays; and

Aeschylus must therefore have competed (between 499 and 458)

more than twenty times, or once in two years. His first

victory is recorded in 484, fifteen years after his earliest

appearance on the stage; but in the remaining twenty-six

years of his dramatic activity at Athens he was successful

at least twelve times. This clearly shows that he was the

most commanding figure among the tragedians of 500-458; and

for more than half that time was usually the victor in the

contests. Perhaps the most striking evidence of his exceptional

position among his contemporaries is the well-known decree

passed shortly after his death that whosoever desired to

exhibit a play of Aeschylus should ``receive a chorus,''

i.e. be officially allowed to produce the drama at the

Dionysia. The existence of this decree, mentioned in the

Life, is strongly confirmed by two passages in Aristophanes:

first in the prologue of the Acharnians (which was acted

in 425, thirty-one years after the poet's death), where the

citizen, grumbling about his griefs and troubles, relates his

great disappointment, when he took his seat in the theatre

``expecting Aeschylus,'' to find that when the play came

on it was Theognis; and secondly in a scene of the Frogs

(acted 405 B.C.), where the throne of poetry is contested

in Hades between Aeschylus and Euripides, the former complains

(Fr. 860) that ``the battle is not fair, because my own

poetry has not died with me, while Euripides' has died, and

therefore he will have it with him to recite''-a clear

reference, as the scholiast points out, to the continued

production at Athens of Aeschylus' plays after his death.

Apart from fables, guesses and blunders, of which a word is

said below, the only other incidents recorded of the poet's

life that deserve mention are connected with his Sicilian

visits, and the charge preferred against him of revealing

the ``secrets of Demeter.'' This tale is briefly mentioned

by Aristotle (Eth. iii. 2), and a late commentator

(Eustratius, 12th century) quotes from one Heraclides

Pontius the version which may be briefly given as follows:--

The poet was acting a part in one of his own plays, where there

was a reference to Demeter. The audience suspected him of

revealing the inviolable secrets, and rose in fury; the poet

fled to the altar of Dionysus in the orchestra and so saved

his life for the moment; for even an angry Athenian crowd

respected the inviolable sanctuary. He was afterwards charged

with the crime before the Areopagus; and his plea ``that he

did not know that what he said was secret'' was accepted by

the court and secured his acquittal. The commentator adds

that the prowess of the poet (and his brother) at Marathon was

the real cause of the leniency of his judges. The story was

afterwards developed, and embellished by additions; but in the

above shape it dates back to the 4th century; and as the main

fact seems accepted by Aristotle, it is probably authentic.

As to his foreign travel, the suggestion has been made that

certain descriptions in the Persae, and the known facts

that he wrote a trilogy on the story of the Thracian king

Lycurgus, persecutor of Dionysus, seem to point to his

having a special knowledge of Thrace, which makes it likely

that he had visited it. This, however, remains at best a

conjecture. For his repeated visits to Sicily, on the other

hand, there is conclusive ancient evidence. Hiero the First,

tyrant of Syracuse, who reigned about twelve years (478-467),

and amongst other efforts after magnificence invited to his

court famous poets and men of letters, had founded a new town,

Aetna, on the site of Catana which he captured, expelling the

inhabitants. Among his guests were Aeschylus, Pindar,

Bacchylides and Simonides. About 476 Aeschylus was entertained

by him, and at his request wrote and exhibited a play called

The Women of Aetna in honour of the new town. He paid a

second visit about 472, the year in which he had produced the

Persae at Athens; and the play is said to have been repeated

at Syracuse at his patron's request. Hiero died in 467, the

year of the Seven against Thebes; but after 458, when the

Oresteia was exhibited at Athens, we find the poet again

in Sicily for the last time. In 456 he died, and was buried

at Gela; and on his tomb was placed an epitaph in two elegiac

couplets saying: ``Beneath this stone lies Aeschylus, son of

Euphorion, the Athenian, who perished in the wheat-bearing

land of Gela; of his noble prowess the grove of Marathon can

speak, or the long-haired Persian who knows it well.'' The

authorship of this epitaph is uncertain, as the Life says

it was inscribed on his grave by the people of Gela, while

Athenaeus and Pausanias attribute it to Aeschylus. Probably

most people would agree that only the poet himself could

have praised the soldier and kept silence about the poetry.

Of the marvellous traditions which gathered round his name

little need be said. Pausanias' tale, how Dionysus appeared

to the poet when a boy, asleep in his father's vineyard, and

bade him write a tragedy---or the account in the Life, how

he was killed by an eagle letting fall on his head a tortoise

whose shell the bird was unable to crack---clearly belong to

the same class of legends as the story that Plato was son of

Apollo, and that a swarm of bees settled upon his infant

lips as he lay in his mother's arms. Less supernatural,

but hardly more historical, is the statement in the Life

that the poet left Athens for Sicily in consequence of his

defeat in the dramatic contest of 468 by Sophocles; or the

alternative story of the same authority that the cause of

his chagrin was that Simonides' elegy on the heroes slain at

Marathon was preferred to his own. Apart from the inherent

improbability of such pettiness in such a man, neither story

fits the facts; for in 467, the next year after Sophocles'

success, we know that Aeschylus won the prize of tragedy with

the Septem; and the Marathon elegy must have been written

in 490, fourteen years before his first visit to Sicily.

Work.

In passing from Aeschylus' life to his work, we have obviously

far more trustworthy data, in the seven extant plays (with

the fragments of more than seventy others), and particularly

in the invaluable help of Aristotle's Poetics. The real

importance of our poet in the development of the drama (see

DRAMA: Greek) as compared with any of his three or four

known predecessors--who are at best hardly more than names to

us--is shown by the fact that Aristotle, in his brief review

of the rise of tragedy (Poet. iv. 13), names no one before

Aeschylus. He recognizes, it is true, a long process of

growth, with several stages, from the dithyramb to the

drama; and it is not difficult to see what these stages

were. The first step was the addition to the old choric song

of an interlude spoken, and in early days improvised, by

the leader of the chorus (Poet. iv. 12). The next was the

introduction of an actor (upokrites or ``answerer''),

to reply to the leader; and thus we get dialogue added to

recitation. The ``answerer'' was at first the poet himself

(Ar. Rhet. iii. 1). This change is traditionally attributed

to Thespis (536 B.C.), who is, however, not mentioned by

Aristotle. The mask, to enable the actor to assume different

parts, by whomsoever invented, was in regular use before Aeschylus'

day. The third change was the enlarged range of subjects.

The lyric dithyramb-tales were necessarily about Dionysus, and

the interludes had, of course, to follow suit. Nothing in the

world so tenaciously resists innovation as religious ceremony;

and it is interesting to learn that the Athenian populace (then,

as ever, eager for ``some new thing'') nevertheless opposed

at first the introduction of other tales. But the innovators

won; or other-wise there would have been no Attic drama.

In this way, then, to the original lyric song and dances in honour

of Dionysus was added a spoken (but still metrical) interlude by

the chorus-leader, and later a dialogue with one actor (at first

the poet), whom the mask enabled to appear in more than one part.

But everything points to the fact that in the development of

the drama Aeschylus was the decisive innovator. The two things

that were important, when the 5th century began, if tragedy

was to realize its possibilities, were (1) the disentanglement

of the dialogue from its position as an interlude in an

artistic and religious pageant that was primarily lyric; and

(2) its general elevation of tone. Aeschylus, as we know on

the express authority of Aristotle (Poet. iv. 13), achieved

the first by the introduction of the second actor; and though

he did not begin the second, he gave it the decisive impulse

and consummation by the overwhelming effect of his serious

thought, the stately splendour of his style, his high dramatic

purpose, and the artistic grandeur and impressiveness

of the construction and presentment of his tragedies.

As to the importance of the second actor no argument is

needed. The essence of a play is dialogue; and a colloquy

between the coryphaeus and a messenger (or, by aid of the

mask, a series of messengers), as must have been the case when

Aeschylus began, is in reality not dialogue in the dramatic

sense at all, but rather narrative. The discussion, the

persuasion, the instruction, the pleading, the contention---in

short, the interacting personal influences of different

characters on each other--are indispensable to anything

that can be called a play, as we understand the word; and,

without two ``personae dramatis'' at the least, the drama

in the strict sense is clearly impossible. The number of

actors was afterwards increased; but to Aeschylus are due

the perception and the adoption of the essential step;

and therefore, as was said above, he deserves in a very

real sense to be called the founder of Athenian tragedy.

Of the seven extant plays, Supplices, Persae, Septem contra

Thebas, Prometheus, Agamemnon, Choephoroe and Eumenides,

five can fortunately be dated with certainty, as the archon's

name is preserved in the Arguments; and the other two

approximately. The dates rest, in the last resort, on the

didaskaliai, or the official records of the contests, of

which we know that Aristotle (and others) compiled catalogues;

and some actual fragments have been recovered. The order

of the plays is probably that given above; and certainly

the Persae was acted in 472, Septem in 467, and the last

three, the trilogy, in 458. The Supplices is generally,

though not unanimously, regarded as the oldest; and the best

authorities tend to place it not far from 490. The early

date is strongly confirmed by three things: the extreme

simplicity of the plot, the choric (instead of dramatic)

opening, and the fact that the percentage of lyric passages is

54, or the highest of all the seven plays. The chief doubt

is in regard to Prometheus, which is variously placed by

good authorities; but the very low percentage of lyrics (only

27, or roughly a quarter of the whole), and still more the

strong characterization, a marked advance on anything in the

first three plays, point to its being later than any except

the trilogy, and suggest a date somewhere about 460, or

perhaps a little earlier. A few comments on the extant plays

will help to indicate the main points of Aeschylus' work.

Supplices.---The exceptional interest of the Supplices

is due to its date. Being nearly twenty years earlier than

any other extant play, it furnishes evidence of a stage in

the evolution of Attic drama which would otherwise have been

unrepresented. Genius, as Patin says, is a ``puissance

libre,'' and none more so than that of Aeschylus; but with

all allowance for the ``uncontrolled power'' of this poet, we

may feel confident that we have in the Supplices something

resembling in general structure the lost works of Choerilus,

Phrynichus, Pratinas and the 6th century pioneers of drama.

The plot is briefly as follows: the fifty daughters of Danaus

(who are the chorus), betrothed by the fiat of Aegyptus (their

father's brother) to his fifty sons, flee with Danaus to

Argos, to escape the marriage which they abhor. They claim

the protection of the Argive king, Pelasgus, who is kind but

timid; and he (by a pleasing anachronism) refers the matter to

the people, who agree to protect the fugitives. The pursuing

fleet of suitors is seen approaching; the herald arrives (with

a company of followers), blusters, threatens, orders off the

cowering Danaids to the ships and finally attempts to drag them

away. Pelasgus interposes with a force, drives off the

Egyptians and saves the suppliants. Danaus urges them to

prayer, thanksgiving and maidenly modesty, and the grateful

chorus pass away to the shelter offered by their protectors.

It is clear that we have here the drama in its nascent

stage, just developing out of the lyric pageant from which it

sprang. The interest still centres round the chorus, who

are in fact the ``protagonists'' of the play. Character and

plot---the two essentials of drama, in the view of all critics

from Aristotle downwards--are both here rudimentary. There

are some fluctuations of hope and fear; but the play is a

single situation, The stages are: the appeal; the hesitation

of the king, the resolve of the people; the defeat of insolent

violence; and the rescue. It should not be forgotten,

indeed, that the play is one of a trilogy---an act, therefore,

rather than a complete drama. But we have only to compare it

with those later plays of which the same is true, to see the

difference. Even in a trilogy, each play is a complete

whole in itself, though also a portion of a larger whole.

Persae.---The next play that has survived is the Persae,

which has again a special interest, viz. that it is the

only extant Greek historical drama. We know that Aeschylus'

predecessor, Phrynichus, had already twice tried this

experiment, with the Capture of Miletus and the Phoenician

Women; that the latter play dealt with the same subject

as the Persae, and the handling of its opening scene was

imitated by the younger poet. The plot of the Persae is

still severely simple, though more developed than that of

the Suppliants. The opening is still lyric, and the first

quarter of the play brings out, by song and speech, the

anxiety of the people and queen as to the fate of Xerxes' huge

army. Then comes the messenger with the news of Salamis,

including a description of the sea-fight itself which can

only be called magnificent. We realize what it must have been

for the vast audience---30,000, according to Plato (Symp.

175 E)-- to hear, eight years only after the event, from

the supreme poet of Athens, who was himself a distinguished

actor in the war, this thrilling narrative of the great

battle. But this reflexion at once suggests another; it

is not a tragedy in the true Greek sense, according to the

practice of the 5th-century poets. It may be called in one

point of view a tragedy, since the scene is laid in Persia,

and the drama forcibly depicts the downfall of the Persian

pride. But its real aim is not the ``pity and terror'' of

the developed drama; it is the triumphant glorification of

Athens, the exultation of the whole nation gathered in one

place, over the ruin of their foe. This is best shown

by the praise of Aeschylus' great admirer and defender

Aristophanes, who (Frogs, 1026-1027) puts into the poet's

mouth the boast that in the Persae he had ``glorified a noble

exploit, and taught men to be eager to conquer their foe.''

Thus, both as an historic drama and in its real effect,

the Persae was an experiment; and, as far as we know,

the experiment was not repeated either by the author or his

successors. One further point may be noted. Aeschylus

always has a taste for the unseen and the supernatural; and

one effective incident here is the raising of Darius's ghost,

and his prophecy of the disastrous battle of Plataea. But

in the ghost's revelations there is a mixture of audacity and

naivete, characteristic at once of the poet and the early

youth of the drama. The dead Darius prophesies Plataea, but

has not heard of Salamis; he gives a brief (and inaccurate)

list of the Persian kings, which the queen and chorus,

whom he addresses, presumably know; and his only practical

suggestion, that the Persians should not again invade Greece,

seems attainable without the aid of superhuman foresight.

Septem contra Thebas.---Five years later came the Theban

Tragedy. It is not only, as Aristophanes says (Frogs,

1024), ``a play full of the martial spirit,'' but is (like the

Supplices) one of a connected series, dealing with the evil

fate of the Theban House. But instead of being three acts of

a single story like the Supplices, these three plays trace

the fate through three generations, Laius, Oedipus and the two

sons who die by each other's hands in the fight for the Theban

sovereignty. This family fate, where one evil deed leads to

another after many years, is a larger conception, strikingly

suited to Aeschylus' genius, and constitutes a notable stage

in the development of the Aeschylean drama. And just as

here we have the tragedy of the Theban house, so in the last

extant work, the Oresteia, the poet traces the tragedy of

the Pelopid family, from Agamemnon's first sin to Orestes'

vengeance and purification. And the names of several lost

plays point to similar handling of the tragic trilogy.

The Seven against Thebes is the last play of its series; and

again the plot is severely simple, not only in outline, but in

detail. Father and grandfather have both perished miserably;

and the two princes have quarrelled, both claiming the

kingdom. Eteocles has driven out Polynices, who fled to

Argos, gathered a host under seven leaders (himself being

one), and when the play opens has begun the siege of his own

city. The king appears, warns the people, chides the clamour of

women, appoints seven Thebans, including himself, to defend the

seven gates, departs to his post, meets his brother in battle

and both are killed. The other six chieftains are all slain,

and the enemy beaten off. The two dead princes are buried

by their two sisters, who alone are left of the royal house.

Various signs of the early drama are here manifest. Half the

play is lyric; there is no complication of plot; the whole

action is recited by messengers; and the fatality whereby the

predicted mutual slaughter of the princes is brought about

is no accidental stroke of destiny, but the choice of the

king Eteocles himself. On the other hand, the opening is no

longer lyric (like the two earlier plays) but dramatic; the

main scene, where the messenger reports at length the names

of the seven assailants, and the king appoints the seven

defenders, each man going off in silence to his post, must

have been an impressive spectacle. One novelty should not be

overlooked. There is here the first passage of dianoia

or general reflexion of life, which later became a regular

feature of tragedy. Eteocles muses on the fate which involves

an innocent man in the company of the wicked so that he shares

unjustly their deserved fate. The passage (Theb. 597-608)

is interesting; and the whole part of Eteocles shows a new

effort of the poet to draw character, which may have something

to do with the rise of Sophocles, who in the year before

(468) won with his first play, now lost, the prize of tragedy.

There remain only the Prometheus and the Oresteia, which

show such marked advance that (it may almost be said) when

we think of Aeschylus it is these four plays we have in mind.

Prometheus.---The Prometheus-trilogy consisted of three plays:

Prometheus the Fire-bringer, Prometheus Bound, Prometheus

Unbound. The two last necessarily came in that order; the

Fire-bringer is probably the first, though recently it has

been held by some scholars to be the last, of the trilogy.

That Prometheus sinned against Zeus, by stealing fire from

heaven; that he was punished by fearful tortures for ages;

that he finally was reconciled to Zeus and set free,--all

this was the ancient tale indisoutably. Those who hold the

Fire-bringer (Purforos) to be the final play, conjecture

that it dealt with the establishment of the worship of

Prometheus under that title, which is known to have. existed at

Athens. But the other order is on all grounds more probable; it

keeps the natural sequence---crime, punishment, reconciliation,

which is also the sequence in the Oresteia. And if the

reconciliation was achieved in the second play, no scheme of

action sufficing for the third drama seems even plausible.1

However that may be, the play that survives is a poem of

unsurpassed force and impressiveness. Nevertheless, from the

point of view of the development of drama, there seems at first

sight little scope in the story for the normal human interest

of a tragedy, since the actors are all divine, except Io, who

is a distracted wanderer, victim of Zeus' cruelty; and between

the opening where Prometheus is nailed to the Scythian rock,

and the close where the earthquake engulfs the rock, the hero

and the chorus, action in the ordinary sense is ipso facto

impossible. This is just the opportunity for the poet's bold

inventiveness and fine imagination. The tortured sufferer

is visited by the Oceanic Nymphs, who float in, borne by an

(imaginary) winged car, to console; Oceanus (riding a griffin,

doubtless also imaginary) follows, kind but timid, to advise

submission; then appears Io, victim of Zeus' love and Hera's

jealousy, to whom Prometheus prophesies her future wanderings

and his own fate; lastly Hermes, insolent messenger of the

gods, who tries in vain to extort Prometheus' secret knowledge

of the future. Oceanus, the well-meaning palavering old

mentor, and Hermes, the blustering and futile jack-in-office,

gods though they be, are vigorous, audacious and very human

character-sketches; the soft entrance of the consoling nymphs

is unspeakably beautiful; and the prophecy of Io's wanderings

is a striking example of that new keen interest in the world

outside which was felt by the Greeks of the 5th century,

as it was felt by the Elizabethan English in a very similar

epoch of national spirit and enterprise two thousand years

later. Thus, though dramatic action is by the nature of the

case impossible for the hero, the visitors provide real drama.

Another important point in the development of tragedy

is what we may call the ``balanced issue.'' The question

in Suppliants is the protection of the threatened

fugitives; in Persae the humiliation of overweening

pride. So far the sympathy of the audience is not doubtful or

divided. In the Septein there is an approach to conflict

of feeling; the banished brother has a personal grievance,

though guilty of the impious crime of attacking his own

country. The sympathy must be for the defender Eteocles;

but it is at least somewhat qualified by his injustice to his

brother. In Prometheus the issue is more nearly balanced.

The hero is both a victim and a rebel. He is punished for his

benefits to man; but though Zeus is tyrannous and ungrateful,

the hero's reckless defiance is shocking to Greek feeling.

As the play goes on, this is subtly and delicately indicated

by the attitude of the chorus. They enter overflowing with

pity. They are slowly chilled and alienated by the hero's

violence and impiety; but they nobly decline, at the last

crisis, the mean advice of Hermes to desert Prometheus and

save themselves; and in the final crash they share his fate.

Oresteia.---The last and greatest work of Aeschylus is the

Oresteia, which also has the interest of being the only complete

trilogy preserved to us. It is a three-act drama of family

fate, like the Oedipus-trilogy; and the acts are the sin, the

revenge, the reconciliation, as in the Prometheus-trilogy.

Again, as in Prometheus, the plot, at first sight, is such

that the conditions of drama seem to exclude much development in

character-drawing. The gods are everywhere at the root of the

action. The inspired prophet, Calchas, has demanded the sacrifice

of the king's daughter Iphigenia, to appease the offended

Artemis. The inspired Cassandra, brought in as a spear-won

slave from conquered Troy, reveals the murderous past of the

Pelopid house, and the imminent slaughter of the king by his

wife. Apollo orders the son, Orestes, to avenge his father by

killing the murderess, and protects him when after the deed he

takes sanctuary at Delphi. The Erinnyes (``Furies'') pursue

him over land and sea; and at last Athena gives him shelter at

Athens, summons an Athenian council to judge his guilt, and

when the court is equally divided gives her casting vote for

mercy. The last act ends with the reconciliation of Athena

and the Furies; and the latter receive a shrine and worship

at Athens, and promise favour and prosperity to the great

city. The scope for human drama seems deliberately restricted,

if not closed, by such a story so handled. Nevertheless,

as a fact, the growth of characterization is, in spite of

all, not only visible but remarkable. Clytemnestra is one

of the most powerfully presented characters of the Greek

drama. Her manly courage, her vindictive and unshaken purpose,

her hardly hidden contempt for her tool and accomplice,

Aegisthus, her cold scorn for the feebly vacillating elders, and

her unflinching acceptance (in the second play) of inevitable

fate, when she faces at last the avowed avenger, are all

portrayed with matchless force--her very craft being scornfully

assumed, as needful to her purpose, and contemptuously dropped

when the purpose is served. And there is one other noticeable

point. In this trilogy Aeschylus, for the first time, has

attempted some touches of character in two of the humbler

parts, the Watchman in Agameninoni, and the Nurse in the

Choephoroe. The Watchman opens the play, and the vivid and

almost humorous sententiousness of his language, his dark

hints, his pregnant metaphors drawn from common speech, at

once give a striking touch of realism, and form a pointed

contrast to the terrible drama that impends. A very similar

effect is produced at the crisis of the Choephoroe by the

speech of the Nurse, who coming on a message to Aegisthus pours

out to the chorus her sorrow at the reported death of Orestes

and her fond memories of his babyhood---with the most homely

details; and the most striking realistic touch is perhaps

the broken structure and almost inconsequent utterance of the

old faithful slave's speech. These two are veritable figures

drawn from contemporary life; and though both appear only

once, and are quite unimportant in the drama, the innovation

is most significant, and especially as adopted by Aeschylus.

It remains to say a word on two more points, the religious ideas

of Aeschylus and some of the main characteristics of his poetry.

The religious aspect of the drama in one sense was prominent

from the first, owing to its evolution from the choral

celebration of the god Dionysus. But the new spirit imported

by the genius of Aeschylus into the early drama was religious

in a profounder meaning of the term. The sadness of human lot,

the power and mysterious dealings of the gods, their terrible

and inscrutable wrath and jealousy (aga and pthonos),

their certain vengeance upon sinners, all the more fearful

it delayed.---Such are the poet's constant themes, delivered

with strange solemnity and impressiveness in the the songs,

especially in the Oresteia. And at times, particularly in

the Trilogy, in his reference to the divine power of Zeus,

he almost approaches a stern and sombre monotheism. ``One God

above all, who directs all, who is the cause of all'' (Ag.

163, 1485); the watchfulness of this Power over human action

(363-367), especially over the punishment of their sins; and

the mysterious law whereby sin always begets new sin (Ag.

758-760):---these are ideas on which Aeschylus dwells in the

Agamemnon with peculiar force, in a strain at once lofty and

sombre. One specially noteworthy point in that play is his

explicit repudiation of the common Hellenic view that prosperity

brings ruin. In other places he seems to share the feeling;

but here (Ag. 730) he goes deeper, and declares that it is

not olbos but always wickedness that brings about men's

fall. All through there is a recurring note of fear in his

view of man's destiny, expressed in vivid images---the ``death

that lurks behind the wall'' (Ag. 1004), the ``hidden reef

which wrecks the bark, unable to weather the headland'' (Eum.

561-565). In one remarkable passage of the Eumenides

(517-525) this fear is extolled as a moral power which ought

to be enthroned in men's hearts, to deter them from impious or

violent acts, or from the pride that impels them, to such sins.

Of the poetic qualities of Aeschylus' drama and diction,

both in the lyrics and the dialogue, no adequate account

can be attempted; the briefest word must here suffice.

He is everywhere distinguished by grandeur and power of

conception, presentation and expression, and most of all in

the latest works, the Prometheus and the Trilogy. He

is pre-eminent in depicting the slow approach of fear, as in

the Persae; the imminent horror of impending fate, as in

the broken cries and visions of Cassandra in the Agamemnon

(1072-1177), the long lament and prayers to the nether powers

in the Choephoroe (313-478), and the gradual rousing of the

slumbering Furies in the Eumenides (117-139). The fatal

end in these tragedies is foreseen; but the effect is due to

its measured advance, to the slowly darkening suspense which

no poet has more powerfully rendered. Again, he is a master

of contrasts, especially of the Beautiful with the Tragic:

as when the floating vision of consoling nymphs appears to

the tortured Prometheus (115-135); or the unmatched lyrics

which tell (in the Agamemnon, 228-247) of the death of

Iphigenia; or the vision of his lost love that the night

brings to Menelaus (410-426). And not least noticeable is

the extraordinary range, force and imaginativeness of his

diction. One example of his lyrics may be given which will

illustrate more than one of these points. It is taken from

the long lament in the Septem, sung by the chorus and the two

sisters, while following the funeral procession of the two

princes. These laments may at times be wearisome to the modern

reader, who does not see, and imperfectly imagines, the stately

and pathetic spectacle; but to the ancient feeling they were as

solemn and impressive as they were ceremonially indispensable.

The solemnity is here heightened by the following lines sung

by one of the chorus of Theban women (Sept. 854-860):--

Nay, with the wafting gale of your sighs, my sisters,

Beat on your heads with your hands the stroke as of oars,

The stroke that passes ever across Acheron,

Speeding on its way the black-robed sacred bark,--

The bark Apollo comes not near,

The bark that is hidden from the sunlight--

To the shore of darkness that welcomes all!

AUTHORITIES.---The chief authority for the text is a single

MS. at Florence, of the early 11th century, known as the

Medicean or M., written by a professional scribe and revised

by a contemporary scholar, who corrected the copyist's

mistakes, added the scholia, the arguments and the dramatis

personae of three plays (Theb., Agam, Eum.), and at

the end the Life of Aeschylus and the Catalogue of his

dramas. The MS. has also been further corrected by later

hands. In 1896 the Italian Ministry of Public Instruction

published the MS. in photographic facsimile, with an instructive

preface by Signor Rostagno. Besides M. there are some eight

later MSS. (13th to 15th century), and numerous copies of the

three select plays (Sept., Pers., Prom.) which were most

read in the later Byzantine period, when Greek literature

was reduced to gradually diminishing excerpts. These later

MSS. are of little value or authority. The editions, from

the beginning of the 15th century to the present are very

numerous, and the text has been further continuously improved

by isolated suggestions from a host of scholars. The three

first printed copies (Aldine, 1518; Turnebus and Robortello,

1552) give only those parts of Agamemnon found in M., from

which MS. some leaves were lost; in 1557 the full text was

restored by Vettori (Victorius) from later MSS. After these

four, the chief editions of He seven plays were those of

Schutz, Porson, Burler, Wellauer, Dindorf, Bothe, Ahrens,

Paley, Hermann, Hartung, Weil, Merkel, Kirchhoff and

Wecklein. Besides these, over a hundred scholars have

thrown light on the corruptions or obscurities of the text,

by editions of separate plays, by emendations, by special

studies of the poet's work, or in other ways. Among recent

writers who have made such contributions may be mentioned

Wilamowitz-Moellendorf, Enger, Conington, Blaydes, Cobet,

Meineke, Madvig, Ellis, W. Headlam, Davies, Tucker, Verrall and

Haigh. The Fragments have been edited by Nauck and also by

Wecklein. The Aeschylean staging is discussed in Albert

Muller's Lehrbuch der griechischen Buhnenalterhumer; in

``Die Buhne des Aeschylos,'' by Wilamowitz (Hermes, xxi.);

in Smith's Dict. of Antiquities, art. ``Theatrum'' (R. C.

Jebb); in Dorpfeld and Reisch (Das griechische Theater),

Haigh's Attic Theatre, and Gardner and Jevons' Manual of Greek

Antiquities. English Verse Translations: Agamemnon, Milman

and R. Browning; Oresteia, Suppliants, Persae, Seven against

Thebes, Prometheus Vinctus, by E. D. A. Morshead; Prometheus,

E. B. Browning; the whole seven plays, Lewis Campbell. (A. SI.)

1 The Eumenides is quoted as a parallel, because there the

establishment of this worship at Athens concludes the whole

trilogy; but it is forgotten that in Eumenides there is much

besides--the pursuit of Orestes, the refuge at Athens, the trial,

the acquittal, the conciliation by Athena of the Furies; while

here the story would be finished before the last play began.

AESCULAPIUS (Gr. `Asklepios), the legendary Greek god of

medicine, the son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis. Tricca in

Thessaly and Epidaurus in Argolis disputed the honour of his

birthplace, but an oracle declared in favour of Epidaurus.

He was educated by the centaur Cheiron, who taught him the

art of healing and hunting. His skill in curing disease and

restoring the dead to life aroused the anger of Zeus, who,

being afraid that he might render all men immortal, slew him

with a thunderbolt (Apollodorus iii. 10; Pindar, Phthia, 3;

Diod. Sic. iv. 71). Homer mentions him as a skilful physician,

whose sons, Machaon and Podalirius, are the physicians in the

Greek camp before Troy (Iliad, ii. 731). Temples were erected

to Aesculapius in many parts of Greece, near healing springs

or on high mountains. The practice of sleeping (incubatio)

in these sanctuaries was very common, it being supposed that

the god effected cures or prescribed remedies to the sick in

dreams. All who were healed offered sacrifice---especially a

cock---and hung up votive tablets, on which were recorded their

names, their diseases and the manner in which they had been

cured. Many of these votive tablets have been discovered

in the course of excavations at Epidaurus. Here was the

god's most famous shrine, and games were celebrated in his

honour every five years, accompanied by solemn processions.

Herodas (Mimes, 4) gives a description of one of his

temples, and of the offerings made to him. His worship was

introduced into Rome by order of the Sibylline books (293

B.C.), to avert a pestilence. The god was fetched from

Epidaurus in the form of a snake and a temple assigned him

on the island in the Tiber (Livy x. 47; Ovid, Metam. xv.

622). Aesculapius was a favourite subject of ancient

artists. He is commonly represented standing, dressed in a long

cloak, with bare breast; his usual attribute is a club-like

staff with a serpent (the symbol of renovation) coiled round

it. He is often accompanied by Telesphorus, the boy

genius of healing, and his daughter Hygieia, the goddess of

health. Votive reliefs representing such groups have been

found near the temple of Aesculapius at Athens. The British

Museum possesses a beautiful head of Aesculapius (or possibly

Zeus) from Melos, and the Louvre a magnificent statue.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--L. Dyer, The Gods in Greece (1891); Jane E.

Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (1903);

R. Caton, Examples and Ritual of A. at Epidaurus and Athens

(1900); articles in Pauly-Wissowa's Real-Encyclopadie,

Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie; T. Panofka, Asklepios und

die Asklepiaden (1846); Alice Welton, ``The Cult of Asklepios,''

in Cornell Studies in Classical Philology, iii. (New York,

1894); W. H. D. Rouse, Greek Votive Offerings (1902).

AESERNIA (mod. Isernia), a Samnite town on the road from

Beneventum to Corfinium, 58 m. to the north-east of the former,

at the junction of a road going past Venafrum to the Via

Latina. These routes are all followed by modern railways---the

lines to Campobasso, Sulmona and Caianello. A Roman colony was

established there in 263 B.C. It became the headquarters of

the Italian revolt after the loss of Corfinium, and was only

recovered by Sulla at the end of the war, in 80 B.C. Remains

of its fortifications are still preserved---massive cyclopean

walls, which serve as foundation to the walls of the modern

town and of a Roman bridge, and the subterranean channel of

an aqueduct, cut in the rock, and dating from Roman times.

AESOP (Gr. Aisopos), famous for his Fables, is supposed

to have lived from about 620 to 560 B.C. The place of

his birth is uncertain---Thrace, Phrygia, Aethiopia, Samos,

Athens and Sardis all claiming the honour. We possess little

trustworthy information concerning his life, except that he

was the slave of Iadmon of Samos and met with a violent death

at the hands of the inhabitants of Delphi. A pestilence that

ensued being attributed to this crime, the Delphians declared

their willingness to make compensation, which, in default of

a nearer connexion, was claimed and received by Iadmon, the

grandson of his old master. Herodotus, who is our authority

for this (ii. 134), does not state the cause of his death;

various reasons are assigned by later writers--his insulting

sarcasms, the embezzlement of money entrusted to him by

Croesus for distribution at Delphi, the theft of a silver cup.