Popular Sciejice Monthly 



New Diver's Suit Does Away 

 with the Hand Pump 



A GERM AN has invented a hrcath- 

 ing apparatus for divers which does 

 away with the cumbersome liand i)ump 

 and tubes. A diver can descend in the 

 water with no other impediment than a 

 safety rope and telephone wires, and 

 these can be dispensed with if desired. 

 The feature of most unusual interest 

 in connection 

 with the equip- 

 ment is the 

 means of re- 

 freshing the 

 air. Vitiated 

 air from the 

 lungs is forced 

 into a tank 

 containing sev- 

 eral layers 

 of potash 

 through which 

 i t percolates. 

 The potash 

 cartridge a b- 

 sorbs the car- 

 b o n dioxide. 

 The oxygen 

 supply is r e - 

 plenished from 

 a small oxygen 

 tube as it is 

 required. 



Caustic pot- 

 ash has been 

 found to be 

 the most satis- 

 factory chemi- 

 cal for absorp- 

 tion purposes. 

 In this new 

 device it is 

 placed in a 

 number of 

 shallow trays 



one upon the other ; so that the air passes 

 through each layer. 



An Ancient Wooden Leg 



SOME years ago, wdien archcological 

 researches were going on at Cajnia, 

 Italy, the excavators came upon an an- 

 cient tomb. Upon opening it they 

 found it to contain a rather vmusual relic 

 of the past. A skeleton was found, and 

 with it were numerous objects sup[)osed 



The air inhaled by the diver is purified chemically and 



breathed again and again through an apparatus which 



he can carry on his back. The diver is about to enter 



a tank in order to test the apparatus 



29 



to have been associated with the living 

 personage of whom this was the se- 

 pulchre. One of the objects, as to the 

 use of which there was no doubt, was 

 an artificial leg. One of the leg bones 

 of the skeleton was missing, indicating 

 that the leg had been interred with the 

 wearer. The artificial limb, a creditable 

 mechanical contrivance, was made of a 

 coml^ination of bronze, wood and iron. 



Fortunately, 

 the tomb also 

 contained some 

 evidence as to 

 the age of its 

 contents and 

 the period in 

 w h i c h the 

 wearer of the 

 wooden leg 

 might be sup- 

 posed to have 

 been walking 

 on it. Three 

 vases were 

 found which 

 were decided 

 upon as being 

 representative 

 of the period 

 which had end- 

 ed some three 

 centuries b e- 

 fore the birth 

 of Christ. 



With this re- 

 m o t e date 

 practically fix- 

 ed as a time 

 when very ad- 

 vanced forms 

 o f artificial 

 liml)s were in 

 use, an inter- 

 esting light is 

 shed on the an- 

 tiquity of their in\cntion. It is natural 

 that there should be a considerable peri- 

 od of development between the first 

 crude effort and a fairly well-finished 

 combination of wood and two different 

 metals. 



The artificial leg here mentioned may 

 still be seen, preserved in the museum of 

 the Royal College of Surgeons in Lon- 

 don. It is an evidence that archeology 

 may teach even the surgeon. 



