Amodificationofthisinstrument，asemployedbythewriter，consistedofalight，spherical，drum—shapedframeoflargesize，which，whencoveredwithdarkmaterialandhungintheclearbelowthecarofaloftyballoon，couldbewellseeneitheragainstblueskyorgreyatagreatdistance。Theso—calleddrumcould，byaverysimplecontrivance，readilyworkedfromthecar，bemadetocollapseintoaveryinconspicuousobject，andthusbecapableofdisplayingMorseCodesignals。Alongpausewiththedrumextended——likethelongwaveofasignallingflag——woulddenotea\"dash，\"andashortpausea\"dot，\"andthesemotionswouldbeatonceintelligibletoanyoneacquaintedwiththenowuniversalMorseCodesystem。
Providedwithanapparatusofthekind，thewritermadeanascentfromNewburyatatimewhenthemilitarycampswerelyingonSalisburyPlainatadistanceofnearlytwentymilestothesouth—west。Thegroundwindupto2，500feetonstartingwasnearlyduenorth，andwouldhavedefeatedtheattempt;again，theairstreamblowingabovethatheightwasnearlydueeast，whichagainwouldhaveprovedunsuitable。Butitwasmanifestlypossibletoutilisethetwocurrents，andwithgoodlucktozig—zagone’scoursesoastocomewithineasysignallingdistanceofthevariouscamps;and，asamatteroffact，weactuallypassedimmediatelyoverBulfordCamp，withwhichweexchangedsignals，whiletwoothercampslayclosetorightandleftofus。Fortunefavouringus，wehadactuallyhitourmark，thoughitwouldhavebeensufficientfortheexperimenthadourcourselainwithintenmilesrightorleft。
Yetafurtherusefortheballooninwarfareremainsuntriedinthiscountry。ActingundertheadviceofexpertsintheService，thewriter，intheearlypartofthepresentyear，suggestedtotheAdmiraltythedesirabilityofexperimentingwithballoonsasameansofdetectingsubmarineenginesofwar。
Itiswellknownthatreefsandshoalscangenerallybeseenfromaclifformastheadfarmoreclearlythanfromthedeckorotherpositionnearthesurfaceofthewater。Wouldnot，then，aballoon，ifskilfullymanoeuvred，serveasavaluablepostofobservation？TheAdmiralty，inacknowledgingthecommunication，promisedtogivethemattertheirattention;butbythemonthofJunethePresshadannouncementsofhowtheself—sameexperimentshadbeensuccessfullycarriedthroughbyFrenchauthorities，whileafewdayslatertheAdmiraltywrote，\"Forthepresentnoneedisseenfortheuseofacaptiveballoontodetectsubmarines。\"
Amongmanyandvariedballooningincidentswhichhaveoccurredtothewriter，therearesomewhichmaynotunprofitablybecomparedwithcertainexperiencesalreadyrecordedofotheraeronauts。Thunderstorms，aswitnessedfromaballoon，havealreadybeencasuallydescribed，anditmayreasonablybehopedthattheobservationswhichhave，undervaryingcircumstances，beenmadeathighaltitudesmaythrowsomeadditionallightonthisfamiliar，thoughsomewhatperplexing，phenomenon。