Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/225

215 ON THE ART OF SWIMMING.

IN ANSWER TO SOME ENQUIRIES OF M. DUBOURG ON THE SUBJECT.

AM apprehenſive that I ſhall not be able to find leiſure for making all the diſquiſitions and experiments which would be deſirable on this ſubject. I muſt, therefore, content myſelf with a few remarks.

The ſpecific gravity of ſome human bodies, in compariſon to that of water has been examined by M. Robinſon, in our philoſophical Tranſactions, volume 50, page 30, for the year 1757. He aſſerts, that fat perſons with ſmall bones float moſt eaſily upon water.

The diving bell is accurately deſcribed in our Tranſactions.

When I was a boy, I made two oval pallets, each about ten inches long, and ſix broad, with a hole for the thumb, in order to retain it faſt in the palm of my hand. They much reſemble a painter's pallets. In ſwimming I puſhed the edges of theſe forward, and I ſtruck the water with their flat ſurfaces as I drew them back. I remember I ſwam faſter by means of theſe pallets, but they fatigued my wriſts.—I alſo fitted to the ſoles of my feet a kind of ſandals; but I was not ſatisfied with them, becauſe I obſerved that the ſtroke is partly given by the inſide of the feet and the ancles, and not entirely with the ſoles of the feet.

We have here waiſtcoats for ſwimming, which are made of double ſail-cloth, with ſmall pieces, of cork quilted in between them.