EXPERIENCES OF DIVERS. 265 



begins to ascend as well as Lis strength will allow ; 

 feels himself impeded by his guide-cord, which he 

 cuts ; and then rises alone very rapidly, having lost 

 his senses. A violent shock brings him to ; he 

 recognises the sides of the ship, against which his 

 mask has struck, and regains his courage. He waves 

 his hand over tlie surface of the water, and feels him- 

 self sinking. His mask having got displaced, the 

 collar almost chokes him. He feels himself seized 

 by the arms, and grasps a rope which his hand huj - 

 pened to touch. He again loses consciousness for a 

 moment in the ship's boat, and asks to be raised on 

 deck as soon as his mask shall be unscrewed. He 

 suders much from the right hand, breathes with 

 difficulty ; his extremities are cold, and neck painful. 

 Twice he nearly faints, and ceases to breathe. His 

 sight appears troubled, everything turns round with 

 him, and his gaze has no steadiness. 



*' We unanimously concluded that the state of the 

 diver and his apparatus proved that neither could 

 work with regularity under a pressure of six atmo- 

 spheres, and that it would be very impiudent to 

 expose the lives of men by causing them to work 

 under this pressure. The diver wished to repeat tho 

 attemi)t, but neither the captain nor the engineers 

 would {)erniit him to do so. The above experiments 

 show that the diver may breathe, that his organs 



