Now, all such reasoning and
from such data must, of course, be simply analogical. The greatest
height ever reached by man was that of 25,000 feet, attained in the
aeronautic expedition of Messieurs Gay-Lussac and Biot. This is a
moderate altitude, even when compared with the eighty miles in
question; and I could not help thinking that the subject admitted room
for doubt and great latitude for speculation.
But, in point of fact, an ascension being made to any given
altitude, the ponderable quantity of air surmounted in any farther
ascension is by no means in proportion to the additional height
ascended (as may be plainly seen from what has been stated before),
but in a ratio constantly decreasing. It is therefore evident that,
ascend as high as we may, we cannot, literally speaking, arrive at a
limit beyond which no atmosphere is to be found. It must exist, I
argued; although it may exist in a state of infinite rarefaction.
On the other hand, I was aware that arguments have not been
wanting to prove the existence of a real and definite limit to the
atmosphere, beyond which there is absolutely no air whatsoever.
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