13 OCTOBER 1888, Page 44

Wonderful Balloon Ascents. From the French of F. Marion. (Cassell

and Co.)—M. Marion begins with relating various attempts to traverse the air, as that of the Marquis de Racqueville, who tried to fly with wings, and fell into a washerwoman's boat in the Seine, till we come to Mongolfier's successful balloon ascent in 1783. He follows the subject through many interesting details. If a Frenchman first rose into the air, it was an Englishman who accomplished the longest journey hitherto known. Mr. Green started from London at midday on November 7th, 1836, and landed not far from Wiberg, in the Duchy of Nassau, at 7 a.m. on the following day. M. Marion says the distance was "1,200 miles," but from London to Nassau is nothing like that ; the rate of 63 miles per hour is a manifest impossibility.