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I now considered that , provided in my passage I found the medium I had imagined , and provided it should prove to be essentially what we denominate atmospheric air , it could make comparatively little difference at what extreme state of rarefaction I should discover it — that is to say , in regard to my power of ascending — for the gas in the balloon would not only be itself subject to similar rarefaction , ( in proportion to the occurrence of which , I could suffer an escape of so much as would be requisite to prevent explosion , ) but , being what it was , would , at all events , continue specifically lighter than any compound whatever of mere nitrogen and oxygen . As a last resource , therefore , having got rid of my coat , hat , and boots , I cut loose from the balloon the car itself , which was of no inconsiderable weight , and thus , clinging with both hands to the net-work , I had barely time to observe that the whole country , as far as the eye could reach , was thickly interspersed with diminutive habitations , ere I tumbled headlong into the very heart of a fantastical-looking city , and into the middle of a vast crowd of ugly little people , who none of them uttered a single syllable , or gave themselves the least trouble to render me assistance , but stood , like a parcel of idiots , grinning in a ludicrous manner , and eyeing me and my balloon askant , with their arms set a-kimbo . Punctually every sixty minutes was I aroused by my trusty chronometer , when , having emptied the pitcher into the bung-hole of the keg , and performed the duties of the condenser , I retired again to bed . Founding members include Shorenstein Center Director Alex Jones , Geoffrey Cowan of USC , John Lavine of Northwestern , Nicholas Lemann of Columbia and Orville Schell of Berkeley . In fact , many emerging markets experienced declines in investment rates . It is also a matter of the compensation levels that are taken as norms in society .