Balloonacy

We live in an age of balloonacy. Only a few weeks ago I sent you the account of M. Nadar and his 'Géant,” “the greatest balloon in the world;” now M. Eugène Godard has built an 'Aigle,' by the side of which the 'Giant' is a mere dwarf.

Horace Walpole was severe on this new whimsy of balloonacy, which was only chilled, not extinguished, by De Rosière's catastrophe.

In the milder case of "balloonacy" the enthusiast proposes essentially a modernized Hindenburg (8 million cu ft). In the most virulent form of the disease, however, the victim calls for fleets of 100 million cu ft helium whales.