Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/583

 Popular Scicficc MonfJilj/

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��ship, though it may be perfectly visible from an airplane. The man on the deck can see only reflections from the choppy waves. He is too near the surface.

K. 0. Leon, a Swede, has patented in this country an unusual depth-bomb mechanism. The sketch on page 566 gives details. The Government has ex- perimented exten- sively with this type and its varia- tions. The peculiar feature about this machine is that it is designed to keep a depth-bomb at a certain predeter- mined depth be- neath the surface, to remain there until contact with an underwater prowler sets it off. A metal bellows at the top of the bomb is filled with air and is sur- rounded by sea- water which enters through the top- most point of the bomb's case. Nat- urally, the pres- sure which this water is capable of exerting varies with the distance the bomb happens to be beneath the surface. Mr. Leon has not disclosed in his patent the particular type of firing mechanisiTi he uses with his bomb.

T. G. Fitz G. McCombie has invented a type of depth-bomb to be fired from a gun. The bomb can thus be dropped among enemy ships with the readiness of a shell, yet possesses the submerged exploding feature so destructive to a ship's plates beneath the water line. The figure, on page 563 shows details.

All reports from the zones where sub- marines are operating indicate that depth- bombs are almost the universal means of going after and "getting" underwater prowlers. While other means for extermi- nating U-boats will be evolved during the war, few can be so simple and effective.

���How a subiiKfine under water looks to an air- plane above. It makes a fine depth-bomb target

��The War llath Slain Its Millions, but the Nursery Its Ten-Millions

WHO is the safer, a soldier in a Flan- ders trench, or a baby in an American cradle? Statistics would seem to show that the soldier has much the better chance of living to a green old age.

The statement recently made by Secretary of War Baker, and the statistics published by the Prudential Insurance Com- pany of England, both agree that the mortality among the men at the front is just about twenty out of a thousand- two per cent. On the other hand the death-rate among babies, before they reach their first birthday, is one hundred and forty out of a thousand — fourteen per cent. It will thus be seen that a soldier has a sevenfold better chance of living than a baby. The worst part is that all this baby-killing is due to ignorance and negligence. Improper foods and clothing, and the criminal ignorance of both midwives and mothers are the underlying causes. Food is one of the things about which tbe greatest igno- rance is displayed. Conditions can be imagined when a certain city found it de- sirable to print notices saying "Beer and Pickles are Bad for Babies!"

It is estimated that at least fifty per cent of infant deaths are preventable, proved by the fact that in other countries the death-rate for the first year of life has been cut to half that of the United States and that certain cities in the United States have cut their infant death-rate to less than half the average for the country at large.

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