538 Popular Science Monthly 



A Houseboat of Marble Built to Amuse The Airplane to the Rescue of Storm- 

 Chinese Royalty Tossed Mariners! 



THE most 

 beauti- 

 ful and per- 

 il a p s the 

 most costly 

 houseboat in 

 the world is 

 the one illus- 

 trated on this 

 page. It is 

 made entire- 

 ly of marble 

 and served to 

 amuse the 

 household of 

 Chinese 

 royalty. 



When the 

 boat was 

 built no one 



knows. It floated on a small lake within 

 the precincts of the "Forbidden City" in 

 the last days of the Manchu dynasty. Re- 

 cently it was removed to the national 

 park in Pekin. 



The marble houseboat is exquisitely carved and has elab- 

 orate trimmings of solid gold. It is enormous in size 



"Do It Electrically' ' Also Applies to 

 the Up-to-Date Barber 



AN electrically operated hair cutter 

 xi which entirely eliminates the 

 shears has been devised. It con- 

 sists essentially of a light standard 

 with cross-arms at the top to 

 support a small electric motor 

 connected with the clippers by a 

 flexible cord three or four feet 

 long. In cutting long hair 

 the fingers and comb are used 

 in exactly the same manner 

 as with shears. In out- 

 lining the hair in front the 

 cutters are turned up- 

 side down and the points 

 pressed close to the skin ; 

 this produces a straight 

 line without danger of 

 cutting the skin. When 

 the cutter is held in 

 the same position and 

 passed rapidly over the 

 hair stray wisps are 

 removed. 



The hair is cut in a 

 fraction of the time us- 

 ually required. 



Cutting the hair electrically 

 with clippers instead of shears 



MORE 

 than a 

 hurricane on 

 the high seas 

 do sailors 

 fear even 

 sixty- mile 

 gales near a 

 rocky coast. 

 To the life 

 savers, also, 

 a rocky coast 

 is most dan- 

 gerous. In 

 any attempt 

 of theirs to 

 reach a ves- 

 sel that is 

 doomed, 

 what is to 

 keep their puny shell from being dashed 

 upon the rocks? During the great storms 

 off the coast of Maine, for instance, the 

 experienced guards well know the useless- 

 ness of any attempt of reaching ships in 

 rowboats. Rockets or cannons are brought 

 into action immediately and with these the 

 guards attempt to shoot lifelines out to 

 the foundering vessel. 

 With these lines, it is 

 j' often possible to carry 

 the sailors off the vessel 

 in hawsers. Notwith- 

 standing this admirable 

 method, there are times 

 when the lines do not 

 reach the sinking ship and 

 crew. Rocket nor mortar 

 is powerful enough to carry 

 the heavy lines against the 

 wind, far off the land. But 

 shall we let the sailors 

 perish, because of that? 

 Not while there is a way 

 out. And that way is with 

 the airplane, the next great 

 servant of man that is 

 coming as soon as the world 

 sees a righteous peace. The 

 airplane is a rider of winds, 

 and sixty-mile gales will 

 never prevent it from carry- 

 ing a lifeline to the ship! 

 The plan has already been 

 worked out by the United 

 States Coast Guard. 



