450 MUSCULAR MOTION. 



heard our cheers from the sloop, hope "began to fail him, and he was 

 on the point of resigning himself to a watery grave, when he heard the 

 captain's life-restoring voice. On telling Catlin that we despaired of 

 his safety, as we understood that he could not swim, he replied: 'Nor 

 can I. I was never before out of my depth ; but I am fond of bathing, 

 and have often seen lads what they call tread the water; that's what I 

 did.' The truth of this account was made manifest, by the boy not 

 only retaining his hat on his head, but its being perfectly dry; and 

 what adds to the singularity of this event, the boy never quitted his 

 grasp of the knife that he was eating his bread and cheese with." 



Mr. Knight Spencer found, that he was buoyant on the surface of 

 the sea, even when he held stones, weighing six pounds avoirdupois, in 

 his hands. In the water, however, the stones lost two pounds five 

 ounces in weight, so that he was really freighted with no more than 

 three pounds eleven ounces. He himself weighed one hundred and 

 thirty pounds. 1 Dr. Franklin, 2 whilst he considered the detached 

 members of the body, and particularly the head, as of greater weight 

 than their bulk of water, acknowledged the body in the aggregate to 

 be of less specific gravity, by reason of the hollowness of the trunk. 

 He thought, that a body immersed in water would sink up to the eyes, 

 but that if the head were inclined back, so as to be supported by the 

 water, the mouth and nostrils would remain above, the body rising 

 one inch at every inspiration, and sinking one inch at every expiration; 

 and also, that clothes give additional weight in the water, although, 

 in stepping out of it, the case is quite otherwise. He concluded, there- 

 fore, that if a person could avoid struggling and plunging, he might 

 remain in the posture described with safety. That the body is to a 

 certain degree buoyant, he refers to the experience of every one who 

 has ever attempted to reach the bottom of deep water, the effort re- 

 quired sufficiently proving that something resists our sinking. 



The truth would appear to be, that there is only a slight difference 

 between the specific gravity of the human body and that of water; the 

 former being something greater, otherwise there would be no reason 

 why the dead body should sink to the bottom, as it is known to do. 

 It would seem, however, where the deposition of fat is excessive, the 

 body may be of less specific gravity than water. 3 The old notion was, 

 that, in the living state, the specific gravity of the body is decidedly 

 less; but that, in death from drowning, a quantity of water always 

 enters the lungs and stomach, and thus these cavities being no longer 

 occupied with air, buoyancy is lost and the body sinks. Nothing is 

 now better established than that no water gets into the stomach, ex- 

 cept what is accidentally swallowed during the struggling; and that 

 no water must be looked for in the lungs; a quantity of frothy mucus 

 being all that is generally perceptible there. Yet, in courts of justice, 

 the absence of water in these situations has been looked upon as evi- 

 dence, where a body has been found in the water, that death had not 

 occurred from drowning; and attention has consequently been directed 



1 Fleming's Philo?. of Zoology, vol. i., Edinb., 1822. 



a Works, iii. 374, Philad,, 1808 ; and Sparks's edit., vi. 289, Boston, 1838. 



3 See vol. ii., under ADIPOUS EXHALATION. 



