Popular Scicficc MonfJilj/ 



507 



ship, though it may be perfectly visible 

 from an airplane. The man on the deck 

 can see only reflections from the choppy 

 waves. He is too near the surface. 



K. 0. Leon, a Swede, has patented in 

 this country an unusual depth-bomb 

 mechanism. The sketch on page 566 

 gives details. The Government has ex- 

 perimented exten- 

 sively with this 

 type and its varia- 

 tions. The peculiar 

 feature about this 

 machine is that it 

 is designed to keep 

 a depth-bomb at a 

 certain predeter- 

 mined depth be- 

 neath the surface, 

 to remain there 

 until contact with 

 an underwater 

 prowler sets it off. 

 A metal bellows 

 at the top of the 

 bomb is filled with 

 air and is sur- 

 rounded by sea- 

 water which enters 

 through the top- 

 most point of the 

 bomb's case. Nat- 

 urally, the pres- 

 sure which this 

 water is capable of 

 exerting varies 

 with the distance 

 the bomb happens 

 to be beneath the 

 surface. Mr. Leon has not disclosed in 

 his patent the particular type of firing 

 mechanisiTi he uses with his bomb. 



T. G. Fitz G. McCombie has invented a 

 type of depth-bomb to be fired from a gun. 

 The bomb can thus be dropped among 

 enemy ships with the readiness of a shell, 

 yet possesses the submerged exploding 

 feature so destructive to a ship's plates 

 beneath the water line. The figure, on 

 page 563 shows details. 



All reports from the zones where sub- 

 marines are operating indicate that depth- 

 bombs are almost the universal means of 

 going after and "getting" underwater 

 prowlers. While other means for extermi- 

 nating U-boats will be evolved during the 

 war, few can be so simple and effective. 



How a subiiKfine under water looks to an air- 

 plane above. It makes a fine depth-bomb target 



The War llath Slain Its Millions, 

 but the Nursery Its Ten-Millions 



WHO is the safer, a soldier in a Flan- 

 ders trench, or a baby in an 

 American cradle? Statistics would seem 

 to show that the soldier has much the 

 better chance of living to a green old age. 



The statement 

 recently made by 

 Secretary of War 

 Baker, and the 

 statistics published 

 by the Prudential 

 Insurance Com- 

 pany of England, 

 both agree that 

 the mortality 

 among the men at 

 the front is just 

 about twenty out 

 of a thousand- 

 two per cent. On 

 the other hand the 

 death-rate among 

 babies, before they 

 reach their first 

 birthday, is one 

 hundred and forty 

 out of a thousand — 

 fourteen per cent. 

 It will thus be 

 seen that a soldier 

 has a sevenfold 

 better chance of 

 living than a baby. 

 The worst part 

 is that all this 

 baby-killing is due 

 to ignorance and negligence. Improper 

 foods and clothing, and the criminal 

 ignorance of both midwives and mothers 

 are the underlying causes. Food is one of 

 the things about which tbe greatest igno- 

 rance is displayed. Conditions can be 

 imagined when a certain city found it de- 

 sirable to print notices saying "Beer and 

 Pickles are Bad for Babies!" 



It is estimated that at least fifty per 

 cent of infant deaths are preventable, 

 proved by the fact that in other countries 

 the death-rate for the first year of life has 

 been cut to half that of the United States 

 and that certain cities in the United States 

 have cut their infant death-rate to less 

 than half the average for the country at 

 large. 



