806 



Popular Science Monthly 



The principle of the snowshoe applied in 

 .. • walking on mud when digging shellfish 



Shoes that Prevent the Wearer from 

 Being "Stuck in the Mud" 



ALONG certain portions of the French 

 x\ coast there are extensive flats of 

 mud that the tide leaves uncovered when 

 it recedes. While these are by no means 

 beautiful, they yet provide the habitants 

 with profitable employment in addition 

 to the usual fishing operations by reason 

 of the various mollusks that live in the 

 mud. To obtain these the fishermen use 

 long-handled rakes and forks, with which 

 to dig the shell-fish out of the mud. How- 

 ever, the mud itself forms a 

 serious obstacle. It is so soft 

 that a man sinks into it and 

 cannot move about with ease. 

 Hence, peculiar wooden shoes 

 are worn which act in the same 

 manner as a snow- 

 shoe. They support 

 the weight by dis- 

 tributing it over a 

 greater area. Similar 

 devices are in use 

 on the east coast of 

 England, where they 

 are called "pattens." 

 The picture shows 

 how simple the shoes 

 are in construction. 



The Process of Making 

 Parchment Paper 



BY immersing paper for a short time 

 in a fairly concentrated solution 

 of sulphuric acid, the cellulose is 

 converted into a gelatinous mass 

 which fills up the pores of the paper, 

 and, on being thoroughly v/ashed, the 

 paper is found to be parchmentized, 

 or converted into a non-porous ma- 

 terial resembling parchment (pre- 

 pared skin of the sheep or she-goat). 

 According to Alexander Findlay's 

 "Chemistry in the Service of Man" 

 (Longmans, Green & Co.) such parch- 

 ment paper can also be prepared by 

 immersing paper in a solution of 

 zinc chloride; and by compressing 

 together a number of sheets of such 

 parchment paper, the compressed 

 fiber, or "hard fiber," so largely used in 

 the manufacture of trunks and as an 

 insulating material, is obtained. 



An exhibit of wastefulness which is doubly 

 reprehensible now when economy is a duty 



Raising a Ghost to Prevent Waste] 

 of Commodities 



HOW would you like to have the ghosts 

 of your misdeeds and the carcasses 

 of your victims resuscitated for your 

 benefit? This is what a great Pittsburg 

 electrical company did a short time ago 

 as a gentle reminder to its employees 

 that we are at war. 



A storage-battery truck was used for an 

 exhibit. On it was accusingly arranged the 

 material rescued from waste-boxes during 

 one day. This included scraps of food' 

 from employees' lunches, 

 and material belonging to 

 the company. The truck 

 was run around the shop, a 

 notice calling attention to 

 what it represented. 



The company's officials 

 estimated that from thir- 

 ty-five to fifty dollars' 

 worth of food was wasted 

 daily, and hundreds of 

 dollars' worth of manu- 

 facturing material. 

 Thiswould be a total 

 loss to the company 

 if it were not for the 

 efforts of a staff of 

 "recovery men." 



FOOD MATERIAL 



BPouoHTFJiwi Belonging TO 



YOURHOHfcSi 



