Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/863

 Popular Science Monthly

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��A Device Invented by a Blind Doctor to Enable Himself to Write Letters MIE grcitcst sufferers of the present war are the soldiers who have been blinded. To palliate their miser\- French soldiers who ha\e lost their sight are urged to use the suggestions of a book called "A Blind Man to the Blind," writ- ten some time ago by a scien- tist, Dr. Emile Javal, who when he found his sight going, tried to prepare himself for his days of blackness. Dr. Javal managed lo write the book with his own hand. The de\'ice he invented is shown in the accompanying illustration. The difficulty in writing without seeing is that although the first line may be fairly straight the following lines are apt to o\'erIap. Dr. Javal's inven- tion consists of a tablet set on a slide resting on a toothed board. The catch of the slide is pressed by a spring into one of the openings between the teeth of the board, thus forming a kind of rack-bar. The end of the board has a rest for the elbow, which rest keeps the pen at a (i.xed distance from the end of the slide. By means of the catch and spring the tablet is moved at the end of

each line and set in place

for the next line. The

paper is held on the tablet

by a clip; the end of a

line can be revealed by the

sense of touch.

Dr. Ja\al made con- stant use of his tablet un- til his death. Men of

little education can hardly

gain as much benefit from

such inventions, Init as

the blind should be en- couraged in the use of

whatcNcr preserves their

individuality, soldiers who

have lost their sight will

be taught the use of some

such method of expressing

their thoughts. A plain,

unvarnished recital of any

one man's experiences in

the war would be of

real literarv ^"alue.

���w

��Dr. Javal's device is simply a tablet set on a slide resting on a toothed board

��Why We Remember Those Big Snow- Storms of Youth 'H\ do most pef)ple believe that the win- ters were more se\ere and were attended in- heavier snowfall in their child- hood days than they are now? The myth of the "old-fashioned winter" is almost uni\ersal, and is another exam[)le of "count- ing the hits and not the miss- es." Heavy snow and in- tense cold produce a more lasting impression upon the mind than open, mild weather. \\'e remember the exceptional weather of the past, and forget the normal weather. In some cases a change of residence ac- counts for this belief. Some parts of the country ha^■e a much heavier snowfall than others. In any given locality the weather conditions are usually uniform.

���The medicine vials are placed in separate compartments in the belt as if they were so many cartridges

��A Medicinal Cartridge-Beit for Peaceful Expeditions

THE man who is hunting for health instead of for wild animals can wear a medicinal cartridge-belt recenth- devised by Dr. Otto Sommer, of Seat- tle, Washington. The belt ismade of canvas or leath- er, as desired, and it has numerous compartments tor vials containing medi- cine, just as a cartridge- Ik-1 t has holes for cartridges. When a person wearing the belt wishesto takeashotat some internal di.sorder he plucks a medicinal pellet from the belt and swal- lows it. If relief does not follow he jilucks another of a diflerent kind imtil his medicinal ammunition is depleted.

At this point he dons another belt fulh- loaded and repeats the operation. The inxentor claims the belt is useful on long walks, trips, and on horseback expeditions.

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