540 



Popular Science Monthly 



The Bomb-Droppers Are Coming! 

 Hug the. Ground 



THIS is the advice which is being given 

 to the school children of Sussex, 

 England. They are being drilled daily in 

 dropping suddenly face downward and re- 

 maining perfectly 

 motionless on the 

 ground, just as 

 our school chil- 

 dren are put 

 through the fire 

 drill. The reason 

 for the ground- 

 hugging is not 

 quite clear to us, 

 unless it is to 

 make the street 

 appear deserted 

 to the bomb- 

 throwers in the 

 air. 



Heretofore the 

 people of Eng- 

 land have been 

 so careless in re- 

 gard to their be- 

 havior during an 

 air raid that they 

 have played into 

 the hands of the 

 raiders, so to 

 speak, by flock- 

 ing to the roofs 

 of their houses 

 and swarming 

 the streets in 

 order to get a 

 good view of 

 them. This led 

 to an official edict 

 requiring all persons to get into and keep 

 inside their houses or any available house 

 when a bomb-dropper was reported in 

 sight. 



School children of Sussex, England, in a ground- 

 hugging drill to be practised during an air raid 



If Your Eyes Are Weak Use a Less 

 Brilliant Desk Light 



IF you have a sense of faulty vision it is 

 a natural inclination to seek a very 

 strong light by which to read or study. 

 This simply adds to the eye strain. The 

 best light is an indirect, diffused light of 

 sufficient strength to make the letters on 

 the page stand out in uniform distinctness. 

 Avoid the brilliant reflection from metallic 

 objects that may be on the desk. 



Torpedoed! But the Cargo 

 Floats Off Safely 



THE question of saving the cargo of 

 food-stuffs on a torpedoed ship has 

 received what seems to be a practical 

 answer by W. G. Durant, of Jacksonville, 

 Florida, who pro- 

 poses to seal up 

 the cargo in gal- 

 vanized iron con- 

 tainers which will 

 float on the sur- 

 face of the sea 

 after the ship 

 has sunk. H i s 

 idea is not unlike 

 that of Menotte 

 Nanni, which was 

 described in the 

 March issue of 

 the Popular Sci- 

 ence Monthly. 

 Mr. Durant 

 plans to make his 

 air-tight con- 

 tainers large 

 enough to hold 

 cargo weighing 

 from two to 

 fifteen tons. 

 Each tank is to 

 contain a com- 

 pressed air cham- 

 ber to afford the 

 necessary buoy- 

 ancy, and each is 

 to be equipped 

 with a hook and 

 chain, so that a 

 large number of 

 containers upon 

 floating to the surface can be fastened to- 

 gether and towed to land. The crew of the 

 torpedoed vessel could use the floating 

 containers as life rafts. 



So far as the destruction of the containers 

 goes, it would not be practicable for a 

 submarine to waste torpedoes on them. 

 Of course a submarine could shell as many 

 containers as it wished, but this would 

 not continue for long with so many vessels 

 patroling the barred zone. 



A feature of Mr. Durant's plan which 

 is more important than the containers 

 themselves, is the ship which will carry 

 them. The inventor does not favor the 

 ordinary design of ship, but he suggests 

 a ship without decks to enable the con- 



