Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/874

 A Dozen Ways of Breaking Your Neck

Would you care to imitate the motion of a corkscrew pulling a stopper out of a bottle? Does the idea of looping-the-loop on roller skates thrill you? Would a dash under water in an open boat make life a little less wearisome? If not, this article will reveal more monotony killers

By Cicorgc WiJrl.s

���A prize is placed on the pinnacle of a polished incline in a whirling wheel, but centrifugal force deposits the aspirants on the circular seat around the edge. The incline also revolves rapidly

��THK suicidal insiimi must lurk dccji within "us. In its niiltlest form it displays itself wlien wc march up to a Cone>- Island ncck-broakor and are twisted, turned and hurled by some tk-ndish contrivance. The barljarian treads keen knife-blades and up-ended nails when the need of self-pain possesses him. We, who are ci\ilized, pay a dime to have our senses of gravity and cc|uilii)rium tortured and distorted. We drop down inclines with a speed sufficient to place the jiits of our stomachs on an ecpial footiiii; witii our ears; we s|)in through iialls of iiorror. built on the architectural i)lan of a Bdasco iiell, and we l)ouncc and iioj) and skid over crazy contrajnions in a wa%- that would cause our J'ilj^rim leathers to tiirow up their hands in luily terror. In spite of it all, we like it. Nine times out of ten, we Ia>' another ilime and dash inlo the II. dl of Horrors for a second thrill.

Hack in the (la\s of our barb.uic be^jin- nings, when we were smitten with the pangs of self-hate and we had tired of treading hot coals or up-ended spikes or sel-in safety razor-blades, we consulted thi- medicine man, and lo! — he contri\e<l ,i new and refreshing tori inc.

Arc you tired of such mcdi.ieval tortures as liie scenic railway with its stom.uh-

��elevating swoop? Do the crash and splatter of the shoot-the-chute bore you.' Thumb, then, the illuminating pages' of the Patent Oflice {".azelte, and let the medicine-man inventor (lecide for you. Select your neck- breaker and request your favorite amuse- ment park man to build one.

The Waslehasket of Dizziness For exam|)Ie, there is a thriller which might be labeled "The Wastei)asket of Dizziness" (page Sfu). .Xnot her good name for it is the "autowhirl." A wood or steel structure resembling a gigantic waste- basket is lined with rails set spirally. The car starts at the top, gathers momentum and whirls arountl and around until it shoots out at tile bottom. It resembles the iiaskets of death si> familiar to the circus or vaude\ ille luihiltie. in which a bicycle or niotorcvcle rider drives around and around until, by centriltig.il jorce, he h.is attained a whirling motion p.irallel with the .stage. Ivvhibit H p.uiakes of the merry-go- 'round variety of tiirill (page 8(>j). A mount.iin St ream which apparently defies I he well-known law that waler runs down hill, not up. c.iscades merril\- up .md (low n a n.ir- row ravine. This feature is. ichieved through recourse to a good plumber. It surpa.ssi-s Tennyson's brook. It not tinlv Hows on

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