LIFE-SAVING SERVICE 



3421 



LIGAMENT 



receipts from all sources are about three- 

 quarters of a million dollars a year. 



Other Countries. The life-saving organiza- 

 tions of Belgium and Denmark are supported 

 by the government; that of France is a vol- 

 untary association receiving government sup- 

 port, and that of Germany is entirely supported 

 by voluntary contributions. Holland and Nor- 

 way maintain voluntary associations which re- 

 ceive government subsidies. The organizations 

 of Italy, Australia and New Zealand are vol- 

 untary associations. E.D.F. 



Life 'boat, a stout, buoyant boat used in res- 

 cuing persons from the sea. Lifeboats of the 

 latest design are so constructed as to discharge 

 water that breaks into them; they are broad 

 of beam and are equipped with air chambers 

 to keep them from 

 sinking even when 

 filled with water and 

 loaded with rowers. A 



LIFEBOAT AND CREW 



In case of heavy seas the boat may be drawn 

 by horses to a place along the shore from which 

 a call for help has, come. The smaller illustration 

 shows method of launching. 



transporting carriage, on which the boat rests, 

 facilitates launching in a heavy sea. The first 

 lifeboat was invented in 1785. For over fifty 

 years prior to 1851, a boat invented by Henry 

 Greathead was almost the only one in use. 



In the United States Life-Saving Service 

 there is used a power lifeboat thirty-six feet 

 long and over eight and a half feet wide at 

 the broadest portion, which develops a speed 

 of about nine miles an hour. This boat is 

 equipped with sails and oars, besides a gasoline 

 engine, the oars being provided for cases of 

 emergency. The vessel has all the character- 

 istic features of the modern oar-propelled boat, 

 for it is self-baling and self-righting, and the 

 engine, which is enclosed in a water-tight com- 

 partment, stops automatically in case the boat 

 capsizes. 



Life Buoy, a device for keeping persons 

 afloat. The commonest type of buoy is a can- 



vas belt filled with cork, which the wearer 

 fastens about his body under the arms. It 

 should be buoyant enough to support at least 

 two persons for a considerable time. Another 

 style of buoy consists of a sort of jacket, con* 

 structed of plates of cork held together by a 

 stout casing. Each of these buoys is com- 

 monly known as a life preserver, and no passen- 

 ger vessel or freight boat may sail without such 

 equipment. Since such disasters as the Gen- 

 eral Slocum fire in New York and the Titanic 

 loss laws relating to number and quality of life 

 buoys have become more strict. There must 

 be on all vessels as many life preservers as 

 there are people aboard. 



Life-Saving Gun and Rocket. Each life- 

 saving station is now equipped with a small 

 mortar capable of hurling an arrowlike projec- 

 tile or other missile from the shore to a vessel 

 in distress. The projectile carries a light rope, 

 with which the 

 ship's crew can 

 haul a heavy haw- 

 ser aboard. When 

 this has been ac- 

 complished, pas- 

 sengers and crew 

 may be conveyed 

 to safety by 

 means of the 



GUN AND ROCKET 



breeches-buoy, traveling over the line. A 

 rocket is often substituted for a gun. At its 

 head it carries a coil of rope, which runs out 

 as the rocket approaches its object. Some of 

 the guns used have a range of 700 yards, and 

 the more powerful rockets can reach objects 

 1,000 yards distant. 



LIG'AMENT, in anatomy, a band of tough, 

 white, flexible tissue, which serves to hold the 

 ends of bones together and keep them in their 

 relative positions. They are strong and pli- 

 able, but cannot be stretched unless the 

 muscles and cords about a joint are severed. 

 When the bones of a joint are pulled apart 

 the ligaments are torn, and until they are 

 healed the limb can be moved very little. A 

 sprain is an injury in which the ligaments are 

 torn or twisted, but where there is no disloca- 

 tion of the bones. Torn ligaments require a 

 long time to heal, and a period of complete 

 rest must always follow a severe sprain. Those 

 persons who have shallow sockets in the ball- 

 and-socket joints are provided with long liga- 

 ments which enable them to twist themselves 

 into some remarkable positions. Such persons 

 make good acrobats. 



