Filling a balloon with hydrogen gas Size:XS: 30 x 20cm View of Middle Row and

View of Middle Row and Gray's Inn Lane

Figures are dwarfed by the size of the pillars

Many lives were lost each year through ships putting to sea over-laden or unseaworthy

The scene is described below the image in English and French

on Tuesday 20th July

Filling a balloon with hydrogen gas Size:XS: 30 x 20cm View of Middle Row andScene showing the inflation of a balloon by hydrogen gas piped from a barrel. The gas was produced by the reaction of sulphuric acid and iron. A preliminary balloon of this type was flown at the Champ de Mars in Paris, France on the 27 August 1783 an event witnessed by Benjamin Franklin. Plate 3 from the book Description des expriences de la machine arostatiques de MM. de Montgolfier, by Faujas de Saint Fond (Paris, 1783). Inscribed below : 'Bertault