64 "Defcription of a new Diving Machine. 



the pipe. If a man exercifes himfelf in this manner for 

 feveral days fucceffively, ftill increafing his depth, he will 

 foon^be able to dive boldly, and to move under the water 

 with eafe and freedom : when he wifties to afcend, he needs 

 only unhook the weight, which will drop to the bottom ; and 

 being then lighter than an equal volume of water, he will 

 rife to the furfacc. To preferve the weight from being loft, 

 a particular rope muft be employed, which may be let down 

 to the diver upon his making a certain fignal, and which he 

 may faften to the weight before he unhooks it. 



By following thefe directions a refolute man may be 

 taught, in the courfc of a few days, to dive to a moderate 

 depth, though on account of various preparations and un- 

 foreseen difficulties, the author employed five whole weeks 

 In teaching one who was unacquainted with fwimming. 

 This man, culled Frederick William Joachim, a huntfman 

 by profeffion, dived in the above apparatus into the Oder, 

 near Breflau, where the water was of confiderable depth 

 and the current ftrong, on the 24th of June 1797, before 

 a great number of fpeclators, and fawed through the trunk 

 of a tree which was lying at the bottom. He fhewed alfo 

 that he could have faftened funk bodies to a rope in order to 

 be drawn up, and that in cafe any impediments fhould pre- 

 vent the ufe of the faw, fuch trunks might be hewn to 

 pieces by an axe. It clearly appears, therefore, that two 

 men furniftied with fuch apparatus could faw to pieces large 

 beams of wood lying at the bottom of rivers, which are 

 often a great obftru&ion, and, on account of their fize, can- 

 not be otherwife removed. 



One part of the conftruftion was attended with an incon- 

 venience, which it may be proper to mention. It has been 

 already remarked, that a man at the depth of five feet under 

 the water cannot breathe without a machine; and though 

 one, fuch as that above defcribed, will defend his breaft and 

 body from the preffure of the water, yet though it be 

 furniftied with a pipe to breathe through, it will appear, 

 3 from- 



