Thus I found that my senses
      would shortly give way altogether, and I had already clutched one
      of the valve ropes with the view of attempting a descent, when
      the recollection of the trick I had played the three creditors,
      and the possible consequences to myself, should I return,
      operated to deter me for the moment. I lay down in the bottom of
      the car, and endeavored to collect my faculties. In this I so far
      succeeded as to determine upon the experiment of losing blood. Having no lancet, however, I was constrained to perform the
      operation in the best manner I was able, and finally succeeded in
      opening a vein in my right arm, with the blade of my penknife. The blood had hardly commenced flowing when I experienced a
      sensible relief, and by the time I had lost about half a moderate
      basin full, most of the worst symptoms had abandoned me entirely. I nevertheless did not think it expedient to attempt getting on
      my feet immediately; but, having tied up my arm as well as I
      could, I lay still for about a quarter of an hour. At the end of
      this time I arose, and found myself freer from absolute pain of
      any kind than I had been during the last hour and a quarter of my
      ascension. The difficulty of breathing, however, was diminished
      in a very slight degree, and I found that it would soon be
      positively necessary to make use of my condenser. In the
      meantime, looking toward the cat, who was again snugly stowed
      away upon my coat, I discovered to my infinite surprise, that she
      had taken the opportunity of my indisposition to bring into light
      a litter of three little kittens. This was an addition to the
      number of passengers on my part altogether unexpected; but I was
      pleased at the occurrence. It would afford me a chance of
      bringing to a kind of test the truth of a surmise, which, more
      than anything else, had influenced me in attempting this
      ascension. I had imagined that the habitual endurance of the
      atmospheric pressure at the surface of the earth was the cause,
      or nearly so, of the pain attending animal existence at a
      distance above the surface. Should the kittens be found to suffer
      uneasiness in an equal degree with their mother, I must consider
      my theory in fault, but a failure to do so I should look upon as
      a strong confirmation of my idea. “By eight o’clock I had actually attained an elevation of
      seventeen miles above the surface of the earth. Thus it seemed to
      me evident that my rate of ascent was not only on the increase,
      but that the progression would have been apparent in a slight
      degree even had I not discharged the ballast which I did. The
      pains in my head and ears returned, at intervals, with violence,
      and I still continued to bleed occasionally at the nose; but,
      upon the whole, I suffered much less than might have been
      expected. I breathed, however, at every moment, with more and
      more difficulty, and each inhalation was attended with a
      troublesome spasmodic action of the chest. I now unpacked the
      condensing apparatus, and got it ready for immediate use. “The view of the earth, at this period of my ascension, was
      beautiful indeed. To the westward, the northward, and the
      southward, as far as I could see, lay a boundless sheet of
      apparently unruffled ocean, which every moment gained a deeper
      and a deeper tint of blue and began already to assume a slight
      appearance of convexity. At a vast distance to the eastward,
      although perfectly discernible, extended the islands of Great
      Britain, the entire Atlantic coasts of France and Spain, with a
      small portion of the northern part of the continent of Africa. Of
      individual edifices not a trace could be discovered, and the
      proudest cities of mankind had utterly faded away from the face
      of the earth. From the rock of Gibraltar, now dwindled into a dim
      speck, the dark Mediterranean sea, dotted with shining islands as
      the heaven is dotted with stars, spread itself out to the
      eastward as far as my vision extended, until its entire mass of
      waters seemed at length to tumble headlong over the abyss of the
      horizon, and I found myself listening on tiptoe for the echoes of
      the mighty cataract. Overhead, the sky was of a jetty black, and
      the stars were brilliantly visible. “The pigeons about this time seeming to undergo much suffering, I
      determined upon giving them their liberty. I first untied one of
      them, a beautiful gray-mottled pigeon, and placed him upon the
      rim of the wicker-work. He appeared extremely uneasy, looking
      anxiously around him, fluttering his wings, and making a loud
      cooing noise, but could not be persuaded to trust himself from
      off the car. I took him up at last, and threw him to about half a
      dozen yards from the balloon. He made, however, no attempt to
      descend as I had expected, but struggled with great vehemence to
      get back, uttering at the same time very shrill and piercing
      cries. He at length succeeded in regaining his former station on
      the rim, but had hardly done so when his head dropped upon his
      breast, and he fell dead within the car. The other one did not
      prove so unfortunate. To prevent his following the example of his
      companion, and accomplishing a return, I threw him downward with
      all my force, and was pleased to find him continue his descent,
      with great velocity, making use of his wings with ease, and in a
      perfectly natural manner. In a very short time he was out of
      sight, and I have no doubt he reached home in safety. Puss, who
      seemed in a great measure recovered from her illness, now made a
      hearty meal of the dead bird and then went to sleep with much
      apparent satisfaction. Her kittens were quite lively, and so far
      evinced not the slightest sign of any uneasiness whatever. “At a quarter-past eight, being no longer able to draw breath
      without the most intolerable pain, I proceeded forthwith to
      adjust around the car the apparatus belonging to the condenser. This apparatus will require some little explanation, and your
      Excellencies will please to bear in mind that my object, in the
      first place, was to surround myself and cat entirely with a
      barricade against the highly rarefied atmosphere in which I was
      existing, with the intention of introducing within this
      barricade, by means of my condenser, a quantity of this same
      atmosphere sufficiently condensed for the purposes of
      respiration. With this object in view I had prepared a very
      strong perfectly air-tight, but flexible gum-elastic bag.