PROTO-BATHYSPHERES 63 



forced to breathe, furnishes them a greater quantity of 

 oxygen in a given time, and increases their strength very 

 much for the time being. A diver, at a depth of ninety 

 feet under water, at Portsmouth, England, was known to 

 bend nearly double an iron crowbar in his work, which 

 resisted the strength of four men at the surface. 



"At the same place, and in water nearly one hundred 

 feet in depth, two divers got quarreling in their work, 

 and finally came to blows — one of them, under the in- 

 fluence of his increased supply of oxygen, and his rage, 

 gave the other so severe blows with his fist on his metallic 

 helmet, that he drove it in, and the man was drawn up 

 dead." 



As a contrast to this fantasy we read of the first record 

 of diving helmets used for scientific observations. 



"In the summer of 1844, the Academy of Sciences of 

 France furnished Prof. Milne Edwards, one of its mem- 

 bers, with a diving apparatus for the purpose of study- 

 ing the natural history of the shores of Sicily. This con- 

 sisted of a metallic helmet or reservoir, communicating 

 above with a flexible tube, through which air could be 

 forced. Covered with this casque, the lower part of which 

 was adapted to a cushion placed around the neck, and 

 wearing sandals of lead as a counterpoise to the air carried 

 down, the learned Professor descended into the sea. The 

 air pumped in from above escaped around the neck. Thus 

 protected he examined very closely, in the clear water, 

 through the glass eyes of the helmet, the cavities and fis- 



