Proto Science Fiction from 1847

ORRIN LINDSAY'S
PLAN OF

AERIAL NAVIGATION,

WITH A NARRATIVE OF HIS EXPLORATIONS IN THE

HIGHER REGIONS OF THE ATMOSPHERE,

AND HIS WONDERFUL

VOYAGE ROUND THE MOON!

The first relevant experiment which I made worthwhile here to relate was by confining a young bull terrier dog, weighing about fifteen pounds, in the square box before mentioned, attaching a twine to the box and allowing it to ascend in the air. The dog did not seem to relish this compulsory mode of making him contribute to the cause of science; but up he went, box, twine and all, near two hundred feet high, to the length of the twine. I pulled him down and let him ascend slowly for several times. I had all along kept a tight string upon the box, so as to moderate the velocity of ascent; but, wishing to observe the velocity which it might attain, unimpeded, I gave it at last a slack twine. Starting slowly at first, it gradually increased its rate of ascent (on the same principle as the ascent of a vertical ash pole, sunk deep in the water and then let to go) until it came to the length of the string, of which I kept hold, by which time, it had acquired so much momentum as to snap the twine. It continued to ascend with still accelerating velocity, its course modified a little by the winds, until it finally entered a fleecy cloud, and was forever lost to my sight.