Parisians are greatly delighted because a Brazilian engineer, H. Santos-Dumont,
resident in their city, has succeeded in steering a balloon. He failed by an accident in a competitive trial on Saturday last, b ut he succeeded in travelling nine miles at the rate of thirteen and three-quarter miles an hour, circled round the Eiffel Tower, and showed, as he had done in previ- ous experiments, that he could ascend and descend at his own pleasure. His balloon is cigar-shaped and inflated with hydrogen gas at a cost of £100 for each ascent. Below it is a skeleton car, on which stands the motor, a small "Daimler," which is fed by petroleum, and is exceptionally light. M. Santos-Dumont has, it seems, clearly made a. distinct advance towards guiding balloons, but it is admitted in all accounts that any puff of wind deflected his course, and that great im- provements are required before the new method can be of much practical use. The inventor, however, who is fortunately rich, hopes yet to sail in air round the world, and Paris makes him a hero, as on November 21st, 1783, it made Mongolfier. More than a century of invention has elapsed since thew and aerial navigation remains in its infancy, but the long delay is no proof that the problem will not be solved. The Marquis of Worcester made a steam-engine which raised water at Vauxhall in 1656.
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