aerostatical

(1755-1805), director of the aerostatical school at Meudon, and a man of many parts -- a chemist, mechanician and painter, -- devised an instrument in which the lid of the metal chamber was supported by internal springs; this instrument was employed during the Egyptian campaign for measuring the altitudes of the war-balloons.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3 "Banks" to "Bassoon" Various