Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/503

 SUPERCARGO SUPERIOR 483 denly by syncope. 2. When death does not quickly ensue, paralysis of the respiratory nerves may induce pulmonary congestion, ter- minating in asphyxia. 3. The cerebral may be much greater than the pulmonary conges- tion, and death may take place by coma. 4. Partial recovery may supervene, and the pa- tient die in two or three days afterward, with serous effusion within the cranial cavity. Rather more than half the cases of sunstroke are fatal, death sometimes occurring in a few minutes, but oftener in a few hours, the aver- age perhaps being from three to four, the pa- tient remaining in a comatose state till the end of life. The treatment has been a matter of much discussion, and for cases having marked apoplectic or comatose symptoms it is so still. Some contend that bloodletting may be ad- vantageously employed, while others strongly oppose it in all cases, maintaining that there is always a degree of vital depression which forbids it. This is the position generally held by the surgeons of the English army in India. The principal remedies relied upon in nearly all countries are stimulation to the surface, especially along the spine, by sinapisms or blisters and electricity, and the administration of stimulant and purgative enemata containing alcoholic spirits ; the bathing of the surface of the body with tepid or warm water contain- ing ammonia or carbonate of soda ; and the ap- plication of the cold douche to the spine and of cold to the head. The hair should be cut short, and in the worst cases blisters may be applied to the nape of the neck and along the spine. When the breathing is very difficult and the bronchial tubes are clogged with mu- cus, the patient should be often turned upon the side and face. Beneficial effects have sometimes been found from the inhalation of chloroform, but the use of this requires great caution. Promptness and decision are neces- sary, and the services of a physician should be )rocured as quickly as possible; but cold to e head, sinapisms, and stimulating enemata ly be employed before his arrival. SUPERCARGO, a person who accompanies a cargo shipped to a foreign port, and is intrust- ed with the sale of it there, either as specially directed or to the best advantage, and with the investment of its proceeds in a proper cargo for the home or other market. As the supercargo's authority properly concerns the cargo, it is ordinarily dormant during the voy- age, and is called into exercise by arrival at the foreign port; and though for the sake of the cargo and a market the supercargo may sometimes have the authority to determine the destination of the ship, yet he has none to interfere in the navigation of her, or in any respect to usurp the office and functions of the master. The powers and duties of a super- cargo are not very specifically regulated by law or usage, but are determined in every in- stance by the express instructions of the ship- per where such instructions are given, as they usually are. The supercargo is simply an agent, and is limited like other agents to the author- ity vested in him by his principal. Yet, by construction of the law, new authority is con- ferred upon the supercargo by the existence and force of necessity; and it has been ex- pressly held that if by any sudden emergency it becomes impossible for the supercargo to comply with the precise tenor of his instruc- tions, or if a literal execution of them would defeat the objects of the shipper and amount to a sacrifice of his interests, it then becomes the duty of the supercargo to do the best he can for the shipper; and his acts done bona fide and with a reasonable discretion, in such an exigency, are binding upon the latter. A supercargo, like a master or foreign factor, generally buys and sells in his own name, and his acts in a foreign port, even after the death of the owner of the cargo, and while that event was unknown to him, are binding upon all parties. SUPERIOR, Lake, the uppermost of the great border lakes of the United States and Canada, and the largest body of fresh water on the globe. It is included between lat. 46 30' and 49 N., and Ion. 84 50' and 92 10' W. ; greatest length from E. to W. 360 m. ; great- est breadth, across its central portion, 140 m. ; area, 32,000 sq. m. Its length of coast is about 1,500 m., its mean depth about 1,000 ft., and the level of its surface above the sea about 630 ft. The boundary line between Canada and the United States passes from Lake Huron up the St. Mary's river, the out- let of Lake Superior, through the centre of the lower half of this lake, to the mouth of Pigeon river on the N. shore, between Isle Royale and the Canadian coast. This island was allowed to fall on the American side of the boundary in compensation for one of the islands at the mouth of the St. Mary's river. The S. coast of the lake from the outlet to Montreal river belongs to the upper peninsula of Michigan. From this river to the river St. Louis the coast belongs to Wisconsin, and thence round to Pigeon river to Minnesota. Toward each extremity the lake contracts in width, and at the lower end terminates in a bay which falls into the outlet, the St. Mary's river, at the two opposite headlands of Gros Cap on the north and Point Iroquois on the south. Thence to the mouth of the St. Mary's at Lake Huron is about 60 m. Numerous streams flow into Lake Superior, but none of large size. High lands in general lie near the coast, the long slopes from which are directed away from the lake and the short slopes toward it. The rapid fall prevents the navigation even by canoes of most of these streams, but pro- vides excellent water power, which is almost everywhere available. The principal rivers are the St. Louis, which enters at the head of the lake ; on the K shore, the Pigeon, Kami- nistiquia, Black Sturgeon, Nipigon (the outlet of Nipigon lake), Pic, and Michipicoten ; and