Evening journal., 1904-12-24

phere presses against all parts or his
body about fifteen pounds 70 the
square inch. Yet the pressure is as
much from within outward as IN the
opposite direction and 80 neutralizes IL
self. AS soon as the diver descends
into water the pressure Of air against
his flesh must be increased just enough
10 prevent the ponderous brass he'll
met in which his head is incased from
crushing his shoulders.
A peril which constantly menaces
the diver is the breaking Of his air
pipe. Wherever he goes he watches
lest he cut Il on some sharp projec-
ton. The moment that It snaps the
air pressure within his suit is gone,
and the dead weight OF all those feet
Of water pounds his helmet with the
force Of trip hammer. AS his body
is charged with air at high pressure
this air rushos outward. thus distend-
ing such elastic organs as the eyes and
eardrums TO bursting.
81 remember a case where a divers
hose broke" said q master diver. "He
was at work on a sunken sugar ship,
and be was down some sixty feet All
at once the air pump handles whizzed
round like the dywhees Of an engine
when the belt slips Off, and, with hiss
that sounded like a snakes, the hose
came writhing and twisting to the sur
face. Before the tender could yell for
help a great bubble exploded right I'M
der him. followed by a string Of small
er ones.
"Well, we pulled up that life line all
IN one breath. We got that helmet of
and pulled Off his suit. We thought
him dead. Els eyes bulged out till
/ they looked like fingers, and his ear
drums were blown ont like little bal
looms. Around his neck, where the
heavy brass rim OF the helmet struck
him, there was a livid black circle
which looked like burned wood. But
he came out Of it. He's alive, but life
isn't much good to him now"
At depths less than sixty feet the
ordinary diver can work hour after
hour. but below that limit he must take
frequent rests. Four hours constitute
a days work at all depths, Thus, al
seventy feet he works three-quarters
Of an hour and rests fifteen minutes
At eighty feet no works forty and rests
twenty minutes. Thus the ratio con,
tlnues until at 10 feet few divers car
work more than ten minutes.
When a diver has stayed down toe
long, he does not suffer while still in
the water, but after coming to the sur
face. After a prOtracted immersion
his organs do not react as quickly tC
the lighter pressure, and the swellings
from air pushing out through the tis
sues do not subside as rapidly.
Ordinarily the experienced diver as
he slowly descends does not notice any
sensations that are painful. He feels
Il cracking Of the eardrums, which he
relieves by keeping his mouth oper
and swallowing frequently. He does
not find 1t much harder to breathe un
til he gets very deep, when the air has
a drowsy effect on his senses. On ris
ing after the usual "stay down" the
crackings of the ears begin again, anC
again they may be checked by swal
lowing, an act which forces air of thu
same density as that outside through
the eustachian tubes into the chambe
behind the eardrum. Unless a maj
has a heart that is perfectly sound ant
lungs that are especially strong h
should never don the divers armoI
Even with these he sometimes is CON
PEELED TO abandon submarine wOr
after a year or two.
Another peril which the diver er
counters is the "somersault." Becaus
of the great weight of his helmet he !
likely to turn turtle despite his lea
soled boots. In Suda bay. island @
Crete, a diver of the British battleshi
Hood lost his balance while at wor
on a sunken torpedo and hung for fiv
hours heels over head under some fOl
" feet Of water. He had tangled hl
lines with the hawser, which he ha
attached to the torpedo and with whic
his companions above were attemptn
10 hoist When rescued at last by
fellow diver he was found uncoI
scious, but alive. In another half hou
however he would have drowned. b
cause the pressure of air had not bee
sufficient water had leaked in and co
lected in the helmet. When he wa
found the water had risen to within
quarter Of an inch of his nostrlls.
tropical waters sharks menace dive
with such feroclty that he is only sal
when working in a great cylindric'
cnge.-New York Tribune.
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