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Show A LIFE-SAVING LESSON IN PHYSICS. It is a well-known fact that any person of average structure and lung capacity will float securely in water if care is taken to keep the hands and arms submerged and the lungs full of air. Yet in most cases people who are not swimmers immediately raise their hands above their head and scream the moment they find themselves in deep water. The follow of such action can be impressively illustrated by means of a half empty bottle and a couple of nails, and the experiment should be repeated in every household until all the members-particularly the women and children-realize that the only chance for safety in deep water lies in keeping the hands under and the mouth shut. Any short-necked, square shouldered bottle will answer, and the nails can be easily kept in place by a rubber band or a string. First ballast the bottle with sand, so that it will just float with the nails pointing downward, then by turning the arms upward, the bottle will be either forced under water at once or will be tipped over so that the water will pour into the open mouth, and down it will go. To children the experiment is a very impressive one and the moral of it is easily understood. The vital value of this precaution was strikingly illustrated near Accomac C. H., Va., a few days ago. A niece of the Hon. John Neely, while bathing, was swept off into the ocean by a strong current and soon disappeared in the high breakers. As she could not swim her companions gave her up for lost. Two young fishermen who were employed some distance away thoughtfully set out with a small boat on search of her, and when a mile or more from shore, found her floating on the water. She had been drifting nearly an hour and was greatly exhausted, but soon recovered. Unable to swim she had pluckily floated, thereby making her rescue possible.-Scientific American. |