816 



Popular Science Monthly 



A Switchman Who Became Judge, 

 Though Armless 



DAVID Moylan was formerly a 

 switchman on a Western railroad. 

 Through an accident he lost his right 

 arm, but he refused to relinquish his 

 position. Only when he had lost his left 

 arm, through a second accident, did he 

 turn to something else. Then he began 

 the study of law and showed marked 

 ability. With his examinations, how- 

 ever, came the first big handicap; but 

 this man who seems undismayed at 

 anything, proceeded to learn to write 



not only proficient but popular, he was 

 elected to the City Council of Cleveland, 

 Ohio, where he resides. He was as suc- 

 cessful in this office as before, and was 

 re-elected at the end of two years. 

 Recently he ran for the office of Munic- 

 ipal Judge and won. 



David Moylan was once a switchman, 

 he is now a judge. Did an accident force 

 him to rise to his present success, or 

 would ambition have elevated him to 

 equal responsibility? At any rate, he 

 succeeded where many less unfortunate 

 would fail. 



by holding a pen 

 between his teeth. 

 Using this method, 

 he took the exami- 

 nations, proving 

 not only his mental 

 ability, but good 

 penmanship as 

 well, for he can 

 write better with 

 his teeth than 

 many persons can 

 with their right 

 hand. 



After becoming 

 a lawyer, he prac- 

 tised in that 

 profession for four 

 years. Becoming 



Judge David Moylan lost his arms in two 



different accidents while employed as a 



switchman on a western railroad 



Why We Can See Through Water 



IF you go to an aquarium and look 

 at the fishes or other animals that 

 live in the water, you will see that in 

 one case water may be very clear and 

 transparent, and in another may be 

 only half transparent. There are 

 really all degrees possible. 



When the waves of light pass 

 through a translucent thing like 

 frosted glass, they are twisted and 

 broken and mixed. That is why you 

 can see some light coming through, 

 although you cannot make out things 

 on the other side. But transparent 

 glass lets waves of light come through 

 it almost exactly as they come in, so 

 that sometimes 

 you are not sure 

 whether the win- 

 dow pane is there 

 or not. Water is 

 much the same as 

 glass in this re- 

 spect. If there 

 are no solid sub- 

 stances in the wa- 

 ter, and if the 

 water is still, it is 

 very fairly trans- 

 parent. Neither 

 water nor glass 

 nor anything else 

 lets through ab- 

 solutely all the 

 light that comes 

 to it. It keeps 

 back at least a 

 little, just as the 

 air itself does 

 with the light 

 of the sun. 



