346 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of the accidents of infection and of diseases of nutrition. Moral 

 shock is in reality equivalent to a cerebral commotion ; and, with- 

 out forcing analogies too far, we are able to understand that it all 

 the more readily can provoke cerebral lesions. Translated for The 

 Popular Science Monthly from the Revue Scientifique. 







UNCLE SAM'S LIFE SAVERS. 



By frank G. carpenter. 



THE United States Life-saving Service is now one of the great 

 institutions of our Government. Its system embraces the 

 dangerous parts of our Great Lakes and oceans, and its hundreds 

 of stations cover a coast line of more than ten thousand miles in 

 length. It began to be as far back as 1848, but in its present 

 organization its life commenced in 1871, when Congress made an 

 appropriation of $200,000 and established some experimental sta- 

 tions along the New Jersey coast. These at once showed the value 

 of the system, and to-day on the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico 

 there are one hundred and eighty-two different stations, while 

 there are about fifty on the chain of the Great Lakes, and a 

 steadily increasing number on the Pacific. 



The buildings are located sufiBciently far from the water line 

 to be safe from high tides. They are plain structures, designed to 

 serve as barracks for the crews and to afford convenient storage 

 for boats and apparatus. Each station is generally equipped 

 with two surfboats and their accessories, two sets of " breeches- 

 buoy" apparatus, life lines, life car, a vehicle for the transporta- 

 tion of boats to points where needed, a Lyle gun, cork jackets, 

 signal lights, rockets and flags, well-equipped medicine chest, in- 

 struments of various kinds, together with everything necessary 

 for the comfort and well-being of the crews. Where practicable 

 along the Atlantic coast, the stations are connected by telephone. 

 At a few points there are long stretches of uninhabitable coast, 

 and houses of refuge have been established at intervals of about 

 twenty miles for the shelter of shipwrecked persons. They are 

 supplied with cots and provisions for twenty-five persons for ten 

 days. On the Ohio River, at Louisville, there is a floating sta- 

 tion. The great rise and fall of the river renders impracticable 

 the use of a stationary building. In recent floods the crew of this 

 station were of incalculable service to the people of Louisville. 

 Hundreds of imperiled persons were rescued, and thousands who 

 for days could not leave their houses were supplied with food and 

 other necessaries. 



Each station and its crew are in charge of a " keeper," who 



