Popular Science Monthly 



221 



electricity the plants were capable of 

 turning out. The cables were connected 

 up by concealed wires with all the bits 

 of metal, the machine guns, the field 

 pieces and the corrugated armor. Safety 

 zones were left for the escape of the de- 

 fenders of the first trench, but all other 

 parts were connected with the electric 

 cables. 



The next 

 morning the 

 German mass 

 attack came, 

 driving the first . 

 trench defend- 

 ers back re- 

 morselessly. 

 The huge body 

 of men swept 

 over the first 

 trench, and on 

 to the second. 



Something 

 radically %vrong 

 appeared there. 

 Men jumped in- 

 to the trench, 

 and it appeared 

 to be evacuated, yet the invaders did 

 not re-appear. The charging Germans 

 behind could not know what was wrong. 

 They came on and on, seizing the machine 

 guns, the old field pieces and whatever 

 they could lay hands on. It is needless 

 to say that none of 

 these lived to tell the 

 tale of their captured 

 trophies, for each was 

 electrocuted where he 

 first entered the trench. 



All along the eight 

 miles, the condition was 

 the same. Of course 

 the German command 

 soon found out what 

 was wrong, but not 

 until nearly eight thou- 

 sand of ■ the very best 

 of Germany's troops 

 were dead — and all 

 without a single Italian 

 casualty! And besides, 

 the attack was halted 

 for a day giving the 

 Italians time to reorgan- 

 ize their defenses, on the 

 other side of the Piave. 



The electrical slaughter was silent and 

 terrible. The German regiments coming up 

 behind could not know what was wrong 



The Seal Which Is Used on Our 

 Paper Money 



A RELIC of the Revolutionary days 

 when we were not yet a nation still 

 remains on our paper money. The seal 

 which appears on every bill issued by the 

 Government contains the abbreviated 



words "Thesaur. 

 Amer. Septent. 

 Sigil. The full 

 phrase is "The- 

 sauri Americana 

 Septentriomalis 

 Sigillum," which 

 simply means, 

 "Seal of the 

 Treasury of 

 North Ameri- 

 ca." Our distin- 

 guished ances- 

 tors felt that if 

 a thing were to 

 be said with dig- 

 nity, it had to 

 be said in Latin. 



Disks treated with a radium 

 compound are placed at the five- 

 minute points and on the hands 



Don't Light a Match. Read Your 

 Clock in the Dark 



SMALL, flat disks treated with a 

 radium compound are now being 

 glued on the dials of clocks at the five- 

 minute points and also 

 to the hands so that the 

 clock can be read in the 

 dark. A complete set 

 of eleven disks and a 

 pair of hands can be 

 affixed to a clock in a 

 few minutes. 



The glow is practical- 

 ly everlasting and the 

 disks, according to the 

 manufacturer, will out- 

 last the mechanism of 

 the clock itself. The 

 disk is omitted from the 

 6 of the clock so that 

 the dial may be read 

 instantly. 



For automobilists, 

 campers, hunters, doc- 

 tors, nurses and soldiers 

 this clock is a great 

 convenience. 



