Emphasis Preaching Journal

In France, September of 1783, Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier publicly demonstrated the first practical hot air balloon. Passengers on the flight were a duck, a rooster, and a sheep. Among the witnesses of the demonstration were Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The three animals were safely recovered, paving the way for more test flights, and human beings went up in the balloon two months later. Also in the audience was a man invited for his reputation as an inventor and scientist. At the time, he was an ambassador from the American colonies in rebellion.