Poe, Edgar Allen - The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe

by Volume 01-05 (lit)

  them. Indeed, had the car and contents been three times heavier than

  they were, I should not have been at all uneasy. I now raised up the

  hoop again within the covering of gum-elastic, and propped it at

  nearly its former height by means of three light poles prepared for

  the occasion. This was done, of course, to keep the bag distended at

  the top, and to preserve the lower part of the net-work in its proper

  situation. All that now remained was to fasten up the mouth of the

  enclosure; and this was readily accomplished by gathering the folds

  of the material together, and twisting them up very tightly on the

  inside by means of a kind of stationary tourniquet.

  "In the sides of the covering thus adjusted round the car, had been

  inserted three circular panes of thick but clear glass, through which

  I could see without difficulty around me in every horizontal

  direction. In that portion of the cloth forming the bottom, was

  likewise, a fourth window, of the same kind, and corresponding with a

  small aperture in the floor of the car itself. This enabled me to see

  perpendicularly down, but having found it impossible to place any

  similar contrivance overhead, on account of the peculiar manner of

  closing up the opening there, and the consequent wrinkles in the

  cloth, I could expect to see no objects situated directly in my

  zenith. This, of course, was a matter of little consequence; for had

  I even been able to place a window at top, the balloon itself would

  have prevented my making any use of it.

  "About a foot below one of the side windows was a circular opening,

  eight inches in diameter, and fitted with a brass rim adapted in its

  inner edge to the windings of a screw. In this rim was screwed the

  large tube of the condenser, the body of the machine being, of

  course, within the chamber of gum-elastic. Through this tube a

  quantity of the rare atmosphere circumjacent being drawn by means of

  a vacuum created in the body of the machine, was thence discharged,

  in a state of condensation, to mingle with the thin air already in

  the chamber. This operation being repeated several times, at length

  filled the chamber with atmosphere proper for all the purposes of

  respiration. But in so confined a space it would, in a short time,

  necessarily become foul, and unfit for use from frequent contact with

  the lungs. It was then ejected by a small valve at the bottom of the

  car -- the dense air readily sinking into the thinner atmosphere

  below. To avoid the inconvenience of making a total vacuum at any

  moment within the chamber, this purification was never accomplished

  all at once, but in a gradual manner -- the valve being opened only

  for a few seconds, then closed again, until one or two strokes from

  the pump of the condenser had supplied the place of the atmosphere

  ejected. For the sake of experiment I had put the cat and kittens in

  a small basket, and suspended it outside the car to a button at the

  bottom, close by the valve, through which I could feed them at any

  moment when necessary. I did this at some little risk, and before

  closing the mouth of the chamber, by reaching under the car with one

  of the poles before mentioned to which a hook had been attached.

  "By the time I had fully completed these arrangements and filled the

  chamber as explained, it wanted only ten minutes of nine o'clock.

  During the whole period of my being thus employed, I endured the most

  terrible distress from difficulty of respiration, and bitterly did I

  repent the negligence or rather fool-hardiness, of which I had been

  guilty, of putting off to the last moment a matter of so much

  importance. But having at length accomplished it, I soon began to

  reap the benefit of my invention. Once again I breathed with perfect

  freedom and ease -- and indeed why should I not? I was also agreeably

  surprised to find myself, in a great measure, relieved from the

  violent pains which had hitherto tormented me. A slight headache,

  accompanied with a sensation of fulness or distention about the

  wrists, the ankles, and the throat, was nearly all of which I had now

  to complain. Thus it seemed evident that a greater part of the

  uneasiness attending the removal of atmospheric pressure had actually

  worn off, as I had expected, and that much of the pain endured for

  the last two hours should have been attributed altogether to the

  effects of a deficient respiration.

  "At twenty minutes before nine o'clock -- that is to say, a short

  time prior to my closing up the mouth of the chamber, the mercury

  attained its limit, or ran down, in the barometer, which, as I

  mentioned before, was one of an extended construction. It then

  indicated an altitude on my part of 132,000 feet, or five-and-twenty

  miles, and I consequently surveyed at that time an extent of the

  earth's area amounting to no less than the three

  hundred-and-twentieth part of its entire superficies. At nine o'clock

  I had again lost sight of land to the eastward, but not before I

  became aware that the balloon was drifting rapidly to the N. N. W.

  The convexity of the ocean beneath me was very evident indeed,

  although my view was often interrupted by the masses of cloud which

  floated to and fro. I observed now that even the lightest vapors

  never rose to more than ten miles above the level of the sea.

  "At half past nine I tried the experiment of throwing out a handful

  of feathers through the valve. They did not float as I had expected;

  but dropped down perpendicularly, like a bullet, en masse, and with

  the greatest velocity -- being out of sight in a very few seconds. I

  did not at first know what to make of this extraordinary phenomenon;

  not being able to believe that my rate of ascent had, of a sudden,

  met with so prodigious an acceleration. But it soon occurred to me

  that the atmosphere was now far too rare to sustain even the

  feathers; that they actually fell, as they appeared to do, with great

  rapidity; and that I had been surprised by the united velocities of

  their descent and my own elevation.

  "By ten o'clock I found that I had very little to occupy my immediate

  attention. Affairs went swimmingly, and I believed the balloon to be

  going upward witb a speed increasing momently although I had no

  longer any means of ascertaining the progression of the increase. I

  suffered no pain or uneasiness of any kind, and enjoyed better

  spirits than I had at any period since my departure from Rotterdam,

  busying myself now in examining the state of my various apparatus,

  and now in regenerating the atmosphere within the chamber. This

  latter point I determined to attend to at regular intervals of forty

  minutes, more on account of the preservation of my health, than from

  so frequent a renovation being absolutely necessary. In the meanwhile

  I could not help making anticipations. Fancy revelled in the wild and

  dreamy regions of the moon. Imagination, feeling herself for once

  unshackled, roamed at will among the ever-changing wonders of a

  shadowy and unstable land. Now there were boary and time-honored
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br />   forests, and craggy precipices, and waterfalls tumbling with a loud

  noise into abysses without a bottom. Then I came suddenly into still

  noonday solitudes, where no wind of heaven ever intruded, and where

  vast meadows of poppies, and slender, lily-looking flowers spread

  themselves out a weary distance, all silent and motionless forever.

  Then again I journeyed far down away into another country where it

  was all one dim and vague lake, with a boundary line of clouds. And

  out of this melancholy water arose a forest of tall eastern trees,

  like a wilderness of dreams. And I have in mind that the shadows of

  the trees which fell upon the lake remained not on the surface where

  they fell, but sunk slowly and steadily down, and commingled with the

  waves, while from the trunks of the trees other shadows were

  continually coming out, and taking the place of their brothers thus

  entombed. "This then," I said thoughtfully, "is the very reason why

  the waters of this lake grow blacker with age, and more melancholy as

  the hours run on." But fancies such as these were not the sole

  possessors of my brain. Horrors of a nature most stern and most

  appalling would too frequently obtrude themselves upon my mind, and

  shake the innermost depths of my soul with the bare supposition of

  their possibility. Yet I would not suffer my thoughts for any length

  of time to dwell upon these latter speculations, rightly judging the

  real and palpable dangers of the voyage sufficient for my undivided

  attention.

  "At five o'clock, p.m., being engaged in regenerating the atmosphere

  within the chamber, I took that opportunity of observing the cat and

  kittens through the valve. The cat herself appeared to suffer again

  very much, and I had no hesitation in attributing her uneasiness

  chiefly to a difficulty in breathing; but my experiment with the

  kittens had resulted very strangely. I had expected, of course, to

  see them betray a sense of pain, although in a less degree than their

  mother, and this would have been sufficient to confirm my opinion

  concerning the habitual endurance of atmospheric pressure. But I was

  not prepared to find them, upon close examination, evidently enjoying

  a high degree of health, breathing with the greatest ease and perfect

  regularity, and evincing not the slightest sign of any uneasiness

  whatever. I could only account for all this by extending my theory,

  and supposing that the highly rarefied atmosphere around might

  perhaps not be, as I had taken for granted, chemically insufficient

  for the purposes of life, and that a person born in such a medium

  might, possibly, be unaware of any inconvenience attending its

  inhalation, while, upon removal to the denser strata near the earth,

  he might endure tortures of a similar nature to those I had so lately

  experienced. It has since been to me a matter of deep regret that an

  awkward accident, at this time, occasioned me the loss of my little

  family of cats, and deprived me of the insight into this matter which

  a continued experiment might have afforded. In passing my hand

  through the valve, with a cup of water for the old puss, the sleeves

  of my shirt became entangled in the loop which sustained the basket,

  and thus, in a moment, loosened it from the bottom. Had the whole

  actually vanished into air, it could not have shot from my sight in a

  more abrupt and instantaneous manner. Positively, there could not

  have intervened the tenth part of a second between the disengagement

  of the basket and its absolute and total disappearance with all that

  it contained. My good wishes followed it to the earth, but of course,

  I had no hope that either cat or kittens would ever live to tell the

  tale of their misfortune.

  "At six o'clock, I perceived a great portion of the earth's visible

  area to the eastward involved in thick shadow, which continued to

  advance with great rapidity, until, at five minutes before seven, the

  whole surface in view was enveloped in the darkness of night. It was

  not, however, until long after this time that the rays of the setting

  sun ceased to illumine the balloon; and this circumstance, although

  of course fully anticipated, did not fail to give me an infinite deal

  of pleasure. It was evident that, in the morning, I should behold the

  rising luminary many hours at least before the citizens of Rotterdam,

  in spite of their situation so much farther to the eastward, and

  thus, day after day, in proportion to the height ascended, would I

  enjoy the light of the sun for a longer and a longer period. I now

  determined to keep a journal of my passage, reckoning the days from

  one to twenty-four hours continuously, without taking into

  consideration the intervals of darkness.

  "At ten o'clock, feeling sleepy, I determined to lie down for the

  rest of the night; but here a difficulty presented itself, which,

  obvious as it may appear, had escaped my attention up to the very

  moment of which I am now speaking. If I went to sleep as I proposed,

  how could the atmosphere in the chamber be regenerated in the

  interim? To breathe it for more than an hour, at the farthest, would

  be a matter of impossibility, or, if even this term could be extended

  to an hour and a quarter, the most ruinous consequences might ensue.

  The consideration of this dilemma gave me no little disquietude; and

  it will hardly be believed, that, after the dangers I had undergone,

  I should look upon this business in so serious a light, as to give up

  all hope of accomplishing my ultimate design, and finally make up my

  mind to the necessity of a descent. But this hesitation was only

  momentary. I reflected that man is the veriest slave of custom, and

  that many points in the routine of his existence are deemed

  essentially important, which are only so at all by his having

  rendered them habitual. It was very certain that I could not do

  without sleep; but I might easily bring myself to feel no

  inconvenience from being awakened at intervals of an hour during the

  whole period of my repose. It would require but five minutes at most

  to regenerate the atmosphere in the fullest manner, and the only real

  difficulty was to contrive a method of arousing myself at the proper

  moment for so doing. But this was a question which, I am willing to

  confess, occasioned me no little trouble in its solution. To be sure,

  I had heard of the student who, to prevent his falling asleep over

  his books, held in one hand a ball of copper, the din of whose

  descent into a basin of the same metal on the floor beside his chair,

  served effectually to startle him up, if, at any moment, he should be

  overcome with drowsiness. My own case, however, was very different

  indeed, and left me no room for any similar idea; for I did not wish

  to keep awake, but to be aroused from slumber at regular intervals of

  time. I at length hit upon the following expedient, which, simple as

  it may seem, was hailed by me, at the moment of discovery, as an

  invention fully equal to that of the telescope, the steam-engine, or

  the art of printing itself.
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  "It is necessary to premise, that the balloon, at the elevation now

  attained, continued its course upward with an even and undeviating

  ascent, and the car consequently followed with a steadiness so

  perfect that it would have been impossible to detect in it the

  slightest vacillation whatever. This circumstance favored me greatly

  in the project I now determined to adopt. My supply of water had been

  put on board in kegs containing five gallons each, and ranged very

  securely around the interior of the car. I unfastened one of these,

  and taking two ropes tied them tightly across the rim of the

  wicker-work from one side to the other; placing them about a foot

  apart and parallel so as to form a kind of shelf, upon which I placed

  the keg, and steadied it in a horizontal position. About eight inches

  immediately below these ropes, and four feet from the bottom of the

  car I fastened another shelf -- but made of thin plank, being the

  only similar piece of wood I had. Upon this latter shelf, and exactly

  beneath one of the rims of the keg, a small earthern pitcher was

  deposited. I now bored a hole in the end of the keg over the pitcher,

  and fitted in a plug of soft wood, cut in a tapering or conical

  shape. This plug I pushed in or pulled out, as might happen, until,

  after a few experiments, it arrived at that exact degree of

  tightness, at which the water, oozing from the hole, and falling into

  the pitcher below, would fill the latter to the brim in the period of

  sixty minutes. This, of course, was a matter briefly and easily

  ascertained, by noticing the proportion of the pitcher filled in any

  given time. Having arranged all this, the rest of the plan is

  obvious. My bed was so contrived upon the floor of the car, as to

  bring my head, in lying down, immediately below the mouth of the

  pitcher. It was evident, that, at the expiration of an hour, the

  pitcher, getting full, would be forced to run over, and to run over

  at the mouth, which was somewhat lower than the rim. It was also

  evident, that the water thus falling from a height of more than four

  feet, could not do otherwise than fall upon my face, and that the

  sure consequences would be, to waken me up instantaneously, even from