Note on Balloons, [ca. 9 January 1793]
Note on Balloons
[ca. 9 Jan. 1793]
Blanchard tells me that it takes
3000 ℔ vitriolic acid for a single person to ascend in a baloon. 2000 ℔ iron1 filings - the vitriolic acid costs in London 4d. sterl. per ℔.
- the baloon he ascended in was 22. feet French in diam.
MS (DLC: TJ Papers, 234: 41865); written entirely in TJ’s hand on a small scrap; undated; endorsed by TJ: “Baloons.”
1. Word written over what appears to be “steel,” erased.