on this occasion was no toy; it was said to be capable of containing over 700,000 cubic feet of gas, and weighed over three tons. We do not vouch for these figures, but it is certain that the dimensions were enormous, and beyond the capabilities of Donaldson's management at that time. Three unsuccessful attempts were made at inflation, the balloon bursting each time, when finally the aeronaut Prof. S. A. King was sent for, the work was accomplished, and the ascension made from the Capitoline baseball grounds in Brooklyn, N. Y., on 7 Oct., 1873. Donaldson had two companions, named Ford and Lunt. A handsome life-boat, filled with provisions and loaded with great quantities of sand, was hung beneath the balloon, which served both as car and as a means of escape in case of falling into the ocean. But they never reached the sea. Fortunately, they kept inland sufficiently to clear the water till it became manifest that the aeronaut was as incapable of managing the mammoth globe in the air as he had been on the ground. Scarcely one hundred miles had been run when control was completely lost, and the voyagers found themselves dashing about among trees and fences, and coming close to the ground. Donaldson gave the word to jump, and Ford jumped with Donaldson, but Lunt was too late. A thousand-pound drag-rope was trailing, which prevented the balloon from rising to any considerable height after the two men had left the car, and Lunt, panic-stricken at finding himself alone with the monster, threw himself bodily into the first tree the boat came in contact with near Canaan, Conn., and fell through to the ground without being able to stop himself. He died six months later. P. T. Barnum offered Mr. Donaldson an engagement first at Gilmore's garden and then with his hippodrome, which was accepted. On 24 July, 1874, he ascended from Gilmore's garden in a balloon containing 54,000 cubic feet of gas, with five passengers; these he continued to land one after another as the balloon became weakened; but by resorting to the use of the drag-rope he was able to keep afloat for thirteen hours, landing finally at Greenport, near Hudson, 130 miles from New York. Four days afterward he again ascended from Gilmore's garden. Three hours after starting, two passengers were landed, and the voyage continued into the night. At 2 A. M. a landing was effected at Wallingford, Vt., the journey being resumed at 8 A. M., and at noon the voyage terminated at Thetford, Vt. On 19 Oct. of the same year Mr. Donaldson took up a wedding party from Cincinnati, the ceremony being performed in mid-air. On 23 June, 1875, he ascended from Toronto, taking three newspaper reporters with him. They were carried out over Lake Ontario, and finally descended into the water, through which they were dragged for several miles before they were rescued by a boat's crew sent out from a passing schooner. Donaldson, during his tour with the hippodrome, made numerous ascensions. From Pittsburg, Pa., he ascended with five ladies and one gentleman, making a pleasant and safe voyage. On 17 June, 1875, he ascended from Buffalo, accompanied by two reporters and his friend Prof. King. They expected to have an experience over Lake Erie, but after a sail of twenty miles or more over the water they reached the Canada shore, landing finally near Port Colborne. On 14 July, 1875, Donaldson ascended from the Lake front in Chicago, carrying several persons with him. The air being very still, the balloon, although it drifted lakeward, did not get more than three miles from the shore, and was towed back to the starting-place with most of the gas remaining in it, and held for the ascension of the following day. One of the hippodrome managers, looking at the balloon, inquired of Donaldson: “What's the use of this? Why didn't you go somewhere?” “Wait till to-morrow,” he replied, “and I'll go far enough for you.” On the following day the wind was blowing up the lake at the rate of ten to fifteen miles an hour. An additional amount of gas was supplied to make up for what had been lost; but, in consequence of the deterioration of what had been in the balloon since the previous day, the buoyancy was not as great as usual. Knowing that he would have a long voyage up the lake, he determined to take but one companion with him, Newton S. Grimwood, of the Chicago “Evening Journal,” drawing the prize, as it was then considered. At 5 P. M. the voyage began. The balloon gradually rose to the height of a mile or more, floating off up the lake, and in about an hour and a half disappeared. At seven o'clock the crew of the “Little Guide,” a small craft, saw the balloon about thirty miles from shore, trailing the car through the water, and tried to reach it; but before this could be done, the balloon, as if suddenly relieved of some weight, shot up into the air again and off into the distance. Night came on, and, with the cooling gas and natural loss of buoyancy, the luckless aeronauts doubtless came down upon the lake again. But they might have escaped with their lives had it not been for a violent storm which came up about eleven o'clock. The body of Grimwood was washed ashore on the farther side of the lake, and was found on 16 Aug. Donaldson never was found, nor any part of the balloon.
DONDÉ IBARRA, Joaquín (don-day'), Mexican
scientist, b. in Campeche, Mexico, 6 July, 1827;
d. in Merida, 1 Nov., 1875. He received his early
education in the city of Campeche, and in 1844 removed
to Puebla, where he entered the college of pharmacy,
being graduated in 1847. He continued his studies
in the city of Mexico, and in 1850 established
a chair of pharmacy in Campeche, and in 1853
another in Merida. He also held for a long time the
chair of botany in the Catholic college of Merida,
and the chair of industrial chemistry for artisans.
Donde was one of the founders of the special
school of medicine and pharmacy of Yucatan. He
was the inventor of some very useful chemical
products, and the first to produce santonate of soda
(1862). He published “Pharmaceutical Prescriptions,”
which appeared in Philadelphia under the
name of “Pharmaceutical Notes,” and were republished
in France, England, and Germany; “Preparación
del Santonato de Sosa”; “Estudio sobre el
Ni-in”; and “Elementos de Botánica.” Donde was
a great benefactor of the local industries of Merida.
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DONELSON, Andrew Jackson, politician, b. near Nashville, Tenn., 25 Aug., 1800; d. in Memphis, 26 June, 1871. He studied in the University of Nashville, and was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1820, standing second in his class. From 1820 till 1822, while 2d lieutenant in the engineers, he served as aide-de-camp to his uncle, Gen. Andrew Jackson, when the latter was governor of the recently-acquired territory of Florida, and then as assistant to the board of engineers. He resigned from the army in February, 1822, attended law-lectures in the Transylvania university at Lexington, Ky., and was admitted to the bar in 1823, but turned his attention to cotton-planting on his estates in Bolivar county, Miss. On Jackson's election to the presidency, he became his confidential adviser and private secretary, continuing in that capacity until the close of his second administration. The annexation treaty between the United States and Texas having been rejected by
