Performing Somersets from a Balloon

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A late Paris letter says—The aeronauts are bent upon rendering their profession every day more and more perilous. During the whole of the past year the ascensions trom the Hippodrome have been made with gym nasts suspended beneath the car, executing their terrible exercises during the passage ot the balloon to the clouds. The last experi ment was the reverse of this. It consisted of the descent of the parachute from an enor mous altitude, with M. Godard hanging be low it. He turned somersets and performed all kinds of rigadoons in the air, trom the time when the cord was cut till it was time to look out that he touched the ground with his feet. The experiment was successfully and grace fully performed. . This is the most wonderful feat of lofty tumbling ever performed by a mortal man. It takes the French to do up these things in grand style. A meteor of a very large size waS seen to fall at Roma, Texas, on the night ofths 20th ult. The phenomenon was accompanied by a slight shock of an earthquake, which agita ted the river for a few moments, and shook the windows in frame houses. The meteor appeared about the size of a thirty-two pound cannon ball, and caused an illumination as brilliant as the noonday sun would.

Scientific American Magazine Vol 8 Issue 14This article was published with the title “Performing Somersets from a Balloon” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 8 No. 14 (), p. 106
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican12181852-106a

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