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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
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