184 



Popular Scifncr Monthly 



The skirt is guided by the two hands and the 

 machine operated by treadle, to obviate all danger 



War is more terrible, more devastat 



Soldier of Today Better Off 

 Amid New Horrors 



THOSE who argue that the 

 horrors of applied science 

 exceed its blessings are ignorant 

 of the soldier's life. The soldier 

 in to-day's war is infinitely better 

 off amid all his new horrors than 

 was the soldier of yesterday. The 

 man in the trench is "the darling 

 of time." Death stares him in 

 the face, but a thousand hands 

 are stretched forth by science to 

 snatch him from those jaws. 



In the words of Sir William 

 Osier: "What shall be our final 

 judgment — for or against science? 



At Last ! a Machine Which Irons Skirts 

 Without a Murmur 

 AMONG the latest of labor saving 

 l\. devices is a skirt ironing-machine 

 invented by a Troy, New York, man. 

 The skirt to be ironed is placed over a 

 big conical roller. The ironing member 

 is a hollow structure that fits over the 

 conical roller and is supplied with steam 

 to do the ironing. The conical roller 

 over which the skirt is placed is opera- 

 tively connected with a treadle, which- 

 when depressed raises the roller so that 

 the ironer presses the garment. 



An Air-Tight Compartment for 

 Canoe Campers 



FOR the convenience and safety of ca- 

 noeists an improved form of air 

 and water-tight compartment or 

 locker has been invented. It not 

 only affords a storage place for 

 food and sufficient equipment for 

 a small camping trip, but also 

 jirovides a buoyant means for 

 the canoe sliouUl it upset. 



The metallic locker fits snugly 

 into the forward end of the canoe. 

 All seams are inade water and air- 

 tight, and a circular opening, fit- 

 ted with a water-tight cap, is 

 provided through which food, 

 clolhing, anununition or other 

 supplies may be placed without 

 fear of them getting wet. The 

 locker is bolted to the canoe 

 frame, and a padlock and chain 

 prevents the cap from being re- 

 moved. 



ing, more brutal, and the organization 

 of the forces of Nature has enabled man 

 to wage it on a titanic scale. More 

 men will be engaged and more will 

 be killed and wounded in a couple of 

 years than in all the wars of the previous 

 century. 



"To humanity in the gross she seems a 

 monster; but on the other side is a great 

 credit balance — the enormous number 

 spared the misery of sickness, the un- 

 speakable tortures saved by anesthesia, 

 the more prompt care of the wounded, 

 the better surgical technique, the les- 

 sened time in convalescence, the whole 

 organization of nursing: 



"The wounded soldier would throw his 

 sword into the scale for science — and he 

 is right." 



The ;ni iij;lit loc k( r is a storage place for a camping 

 equipiiienl anil also prevents the canoe from sinlcing 



