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EXPERIMENTS AND STUDIES.
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in subsequent ascents. The Brothers Montgolfier had dreamed of the employment of oars as a means of guidance, but had ultimately rejected the idea. Joseph wrote to his brother Étienne, about the end of the year 1783:
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Wonderful_Balloon_Ascents%2C_1870_-_Blanchard%27s_Ascent_%28Caricature%29.jpg/400px-Wonderful_Balloon_Ascents%2C_1870_-_Blanchard%27s_Ascent_%28Caricature%29.jpg)
Blanchard's Ascent (Caricature).
"For my sake, my good friend, reflect; calculate well before you employ oars. Oars must either be great or small; if great, they will be heavy; if small, it will be necessary to move them with great rapidity. I know no sufficient means of guidance, except in the knowledge of the different currents of air, of which it is necessary to