Note 14 — Chapter VII · OUR SIXTH ATTEMPT TO ASCEND THE MATTERHORN.

Mr. J. Glaislier has frequently pointed out that all sounds in balloons at some distance from the earth are notable for their brevity. “It is one sound only; there is no reverberation, no reflection; and this is characteristic of all sounds in the balloon, one clear sound, continuing during its own vibrations, then gone in a moment.” (Good Words, 1863, p. 224.) I learn from Mr. Glaislier that the thunder claps which have been heard by him during his ‘travels in the air’ have been no exception to the general rule, and the absence of rolling has fortified his belief that the rolling sounds which accompany thunder are echoes, and echoes only.