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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



By the aid of the weighted floating stakes represented in Fig. 10, it is 

 practicable to rescue a person who has fallen into the water at a short 

 distance from the qnay on the shore. The slide allows the cord to be 

 taken between two fingers, and the apparatus to be thrown like a 

 sling. This instrument is composed of a rattan or stick of Malacca- 

 wood, having projecting points, around which lead is melted ; the 

 whole is then surrounded with cork chips and covered with cloth and 



Fig. 10. Floating Leaded-Stake buoted wtth Cork (life-preserver). The apparatus is repre- 

 sented with the line, which is uncoiled when it is thrown into the water. 



outside with a network to protect it against friction. Other forms 

 of life-saving apparatus are exemplified in the cork jacket and life- 

 buoy represented in Fig. 11. Rubbers are made of cork inclosed in 

 canvas sacks, and placed along' the sides of ships to lessen the shock 

 of their friction against the pier. 



The Roman women's custom of wearing cork soles, mentioned by 

 Pliny, has not yet died out, for cork soles are common in the ward- 

 robes of the present day. Cork heels w T ere invented in the time of 

 Louis XY, to be worn inside of the shoe, so as to increase the appar- 

 ent height of the wearer, without displaying an outer heel. Cork is 

 also useful at the other extremity of the body, shaped into helmets, or 

 as a kind of lining for high hats, or in ventilating-bands, for the pro- 

 tection of the head in hot countries against insolation. Women in 

 the barbarous days, when dead birds were worn in hats, used cork 

 bodies, to which eves beaks, and features Mere added, as the molds 

 for their ornithological structures. Trimming-makers use cork molds 

 or bodies, which they cover with silk or cotton to form elaborate orna- 

 ments for mantles and cloaks. Cravats and babies' bibs have been 



