"BALLOONING"
"The proposition made by Mr. Gale through the London newspapers
to endeavor to discover the whereabouts of Sir John Franklin by a balloon
ascent has called forth, in Paris, a letter from a M. Dupuis Delcourt –
alleging that the first idea of such an ascent in the Polar regions was
made by him in a publication nearly twenty-five years ago and was repeated
in another publication in 1845. But this is not all. M. Delcourt is not
content with robbing the English Lieutenant of his laurels, gravely assures
the world that he is about to promulgate a project for undertaking the
circumnavigation of the globe, by means of balloons; and says that he shall
appeal to the government, to foreign and national academies, and to other
learned bodies for the means of executing his project. As we have not yet
got beyond that state of aerostatic science, in which the crossing of the
Alps in a balloon is deemed a marvelous exploit – it may be doubted whether
the Frenchman’s scheme will meet with much encouragement."
source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 6, 1850,
Page 4
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