Untitled

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7266, 28 January 1889, Page 4

'TfißSfi are difficulties in the way of making "parachuting" a popularjwwtime,' Otherwise" we _h6__d'view *w_th alarm the interest excited byProfea-or lUldwzn's visit, The Professor assures us; that he has reduced the risks to -zero, and though he bids gO-d*by_ to his'wife before «aoh ascent, as if he contemplated the possibility Of never seeing.her again in this world, we suppose we must believe him that the risk; ia small:. ; We ffifty fcOMeede that in the hands of the skilful aeronaut the balloon and parachute and the awful d. op ~ari nor fiesf-y _c dangerous as they look, and Professor Baldwin wants nothing in the way of daring, or knowledge of his business., If this kind of exhibition is at' all Tsforthyof We suppose the Professor gives it to us in the most desirabloTorm. But, putting it at its best, One's attendance at a performance^whose -chief attraction is its great danger, .and, the. possible death, ot the chief performer, requires some justification. We suppose an intelligent spectator would justify liimjaelf if he were taken to task in some ' such way as this:. Every exercise that: gives opportunities. for., displaying pluck, nerve, aiid resource is advantageous, for :i those qualities are necessary . for • .the: progress- . aud permanence, .. of=; our race* The fact; that great danger is jpresent does not! detract from the p^-fOrtfiftUCe,'but adds; to it, for it is only*, by reason of the; danger that occasion ia given for pluck. | This is the prime jtist-fibatibn for all kinds of British -parte : Which are inj some degree : ,, ,;?hey are* good because they develope manliness, and they develope manliness because there is some danger attached to them. Professor Bak>w«t might- tell us this if we asked him what good his performances. did "him, and he might also add that they are the means by which he earn* his Living. That we may accept as a sufficient answer from.the aeronaut. But:how about the crowds' who gp to see him? Oh what pounds than enriosity aud the. love of the sensational dan they explain their ft gives them neither courage, nerve, nor resource y and as it does not fall to the 1 lot of ordinary men to have occasion to | drop irom the olouds on a parachute, lit cannot be said that they 1 learn anything . practically useful.; No, the intelligent spectator whom we have; assumed ourselves to be questioning, we are afraid, could not say anything more for himself than j that the spectacle ia novel, and fo? a i moment exquisitely blood-curdling. And if that isl all that he can say for his patronage of Professor T s_4_>W&, it will be seen that it is precisely what the Roman tiiight have said When he went to see the gladiators fight, or the Spaniard when he goes to the 'bull ring. Do we mean then that the Legislature or .the Municipal authorities ought to interpose their veto] and forbid all sudh Certainly not, for that would H>4 Legislating ahead of public sentiment, and grandmotherly legislation ol that kind never-sucoeeds.: It is indeed the weakest of all kinds of law-making, The law forbids attempts to commie suicide, and perhaps, on the whole, that is the best jkjifit for the line to ha drawn, at. :■ We ead_ Imagine feats. «f daring in which the danjtfr fas EO grSttt.

that the polioa would be entitled to interfere as if tfaey eSS the performer throwing hiniseU J? the Avon, practised by Professor BAL_>wttf m?* happily, a good many degrees e a gj safe side of that, and we think it wS be exceedingly foolish to forbid bircTS practice his vocation; or as we we may call it, "to parachute." *yY7. The statistics of balloon; casual are by no means co alarming aa ___! be supposed. In 1000 ascents it : computed that one and a half J? lost, by no means a large pro&ffS when compared with the fatalities occurring in other methods of locomotion by sea aud knd. jw these statistics refer to baUooniJl proper, and not to the use of t_e k J|£ ohnte, which is a much more risky d® formance. Of its dangers PwfeJZ Bartholomew, who has recently been giving exhibition* iv , tralia, has had a livelier than Professor Bal-wiit. H e met with hia twenty-first accideut the other d_v coming down with great velocity on to the roof of ashed, and badly both of his legs, Hi« parachutaißSfeM all right, and he did hot commit the error of dropping from the soon, but he forgot apparently to allow for the greater rarity of the ,air,ia ft locality situated IuOO feet above sea level. One would think ah a.rona_j knew everything about the derail* .j the air, but PrbfAasor Ba-Wholomiw solemnly stated after liis fall that he attributed the misfortune to the lesser density of the air in the colonial That the atmosphere, under gl-jflu conditions of temperature,: is of ths same density at the same level all ths world oyer is a fact boy knows j yet it appears the praotised aeronaut quite overlook^.% disturbing element of higher altiCiiaeJ Of Professor Baldwin* upgaratua aad performance wa have already some description in OiU' columns, ft Is impossible to deny that hi- -ti_r| one requiring singular nerve and coolness, but it is equally/impossible to suggest any benefit that it Upon humanity, not 7m wholesome pleasure of seeing a hum&a being for a few momoats apparently _a imminent risk of a violent death.