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In that portion of the cloth forming the bottom, was likewise, a fourth
window, of the same kind, and corresponding with a small aperture in the
floor of the car itself. This enabled me to see perpendicularly
down, but having found it impossible to place any similar contrivance
overhead, on account of the peculiar manner of closing up the opening
there, and the consequent wrinkles in the cloth, I could expect to see
no objects situated directly in my zenith. This, of course, was a matter
of little consequence; for had I even been able to place a window at
top, the balloon itself would have prevented my making any use of it.
"About a foot below one of the side windows was a circular opening,
eight inches in diameter, and fitted with a brass rim adapted in its
inner edge to the windings of a screw. In this rim was screwed the large
tube of the condenser, the body of the machine being, of course, within
the chamber of gum-elastic. Through this tube a quantity of the rare
atmosphere circumjacent being drawn by means of a vacuum created in the
body of the machine, was thence discharged, in a state of condensation,
to mingle with the thin air already in the chamber. This operation being
repeated several times, at length filled the chamber with atmosphere
proper for all the purposes of respiration. But in so confined a space
it would, in a short time, necessarily become foul, and unfit for use
from frequent contact with the lungs. It was then ejected by a small
valve at the bottom of the car--the dense air readily sinking into the
thinner atmosphere below. To avoid the inconvenience of making a total
vacuum at any moment within the chamber, this purification was never
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