Page:LA2-NSRW-2-0044.jpg



DIVER

536

DIX

Diver, a water-bird, famous as a diver, commonly called the loon. It is found on

both hemispheres, and during the breeding - season frequents ponds and lakes of fresh water, but after the breeding-season is i over it seeks ,the seacoast ^ and salt water. The webbed ; e e t are re-^markably far | back on the .body, and ~ these birds are fe very awkward on the ground, but they are good flyers and unusually fine swimmers and swift divers. They are difficult to shoot. They are large, solitary birds, seldom more than one pair occupying a lake. The voice Is loud and harsh. In June they lay two or three dark,rolive-colored eggs in a rude depression in the ground near the water.

Di'ving. The art of diving to great depths under the water to bring up pearls, corals and sponges has been practiced in the

DIVING-DRESS AND DIVING-HELMET

Indian seas from very early times. Stories are told of these divers remaining under water for from two to three minutes. In modern times mechanical arrangements of different kinds have been invented to enable divers to stay longer under water. The most important of these is the diving-bell. This was used in quite ancient times,

but it was not until the i8th century that it was so improved as to be of any great value. It is a large bell of iron which sinks by its own weight. The air in the bell keeps the water from fillkig it, but the farther down the bell goes, the greater is the pressure of the water, so that the air in the bells is continually compressed into a smaller space. By attaching a rubber hose to the top of the bell and continually pumping air with a force-pump, the water is kept from rising in the bell. Inside of this bell, therefore, men can breathe and can search for pearls on the bottom of the sea or do anything else under water. Another apparatus used by the divers is the diving-dress or armor. It is an india-rubber suit, with a metal helmet, having pieces of glass in front to enable the diver to see. Lead soles are used for the shoes in order to make the diver sink. A tube is fastened to the helmet through which air is supplied by a force-pump at the surface, while superfluous air escapes through a valve in the faceplate. Other forms of diving-armor are also used. While going down through the water, the diver suffers from severe pain in the ears and over the eyes, but this stops as soon as he touches the bottom. Divers have been known to work at a depth of 201 feet; but 150 feet are as deep as it is safe to work.

Dix, Dorothea Lynde, an American philanthropist and author, was born at Hampton, Me., April 4, 1802, and died at Trenton, N. J., July 19,1887. She established a school for girls in Boston, and later gave much of her time to helping criminals, the insane and the poor. In 1834 she went to Europe to investigate the methods of treating these classes, and three years later visited nearly every state in the Union, her exertions^ being the means of establishing many state insane asylums. During the Civil War she was superintendent of hospital-nurses at Washington. She published several works, among them The Garland of Flora and Prisons and Prison-Discipline.

Dix, John Adams, an American soldier and politician, born at Boscawen, N. H., in 1798. He entered the army and became a captain in 1825, but soon resigned, studied law and settled in New York, soon becoming secretary of state for New York. In 1845 ne was cliosen "to fill a vacancy in the United States senate, being a Democrat. In 1860 he was appointed secretary of the treasury, and it was he who issued the famous order to the commander of a revenue-cutter at New Orleans: "If anv one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot." In 1861 he became major-general of volunteers, and later had command of an army corps. H« was in command at New York in 1863 during the riots which then took place; and later had charge of the department

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER