side, and have often been miraculously aved by inches long and half an inch in diameter is fastclinging to ropes.

Upsetting of a boat.

If a person should fall out of a boat, or he boat upset by going foul of a cable, &c. or should he fall off the quays, or indeed fall into any water, from which he cannot extricate himself, but must wait some little time for assistance-had he presence of mind enough to whip off his hat, and hold || it by the brim, placing his fingers within side of the crown, (top upwards) he would be able, by this method, to keep his mouth above water till || assistance should reach him. It often happens that danger is apprehended long before we are involved in the peril, although there may be time enough to prepare this, or adopt any other method. Travellers, in fording rivers at unknown fords, or where shallows are deceitful, might make use of this method with advantage.

Cork waistcoats.

ened to the front of the girdle by a tape or cord, about three inches long. To use the spencer, it should be slidden from the feet close up to the arms, the tapes or cords are to be brought one over each shoulder, and fastened by the loops to the pin: those between the legs are to be fastened to the other pin. A person thus equipped, though unacquainted with swimming, may safely trust himself to the waves; for he will float, head and shoulders above water, in any storm, and by paddling witn his hands, may easily gain the shore. Such a spencer may also be made of cork shavings put into a long canvass bag.

It has also been suggested, that every part of the usual dress of the sailor should be made with a view of preserving his life, in cases of accident; and for this purpose that a quantity of cork shavings or clippings should be quilted into his jacket about the collar and neck, between the outside and inProvide a cork waistcoat, composed of four side lining: or as a belt, of considerable breadth pieces, two for the breast and two for the back, across the back and shoulders, then principally each pretty near in length and breadth to the quar- omitted under the arms, and resumed over the ters of a waistcoat without flaps; the whole is to be chest and stomach, yet not so much as to create incovered with coarse canvass, with two holes to put convenience. If in these, and other parts of his the arms through. There must be a space left be- dress, so much cork could commodiously be worktween the two back pieces, and the same betwixt || ed, as would give the sailor an opportunity of reeach back and breast piece, that they may fit the covering himself, and making use of his own poweasier to the body. By this means the waistcoat ers in cases of contingency, many valuable lives is open only before, and may be fastened on the might be saved. 'wearer by strings; or if it should be thought more Bamboo habit. secure, with buckles and leather straps. This waistcoat may be made up for five or six shillings. || If those who use the sea occasionally, and especially those who are obliged to be almost constantly there, were to use these waistcoats, it would be next to impossible that they should be drowned.

Further means.

It will likewise be proper to prepare an oil skin bag, on going to sea, for a temporary supply of provisions, in case of shipwreck. If suddenly plunged into the water, and unable to swim, it will be necessary to keep the hands and arms under the water-few animals being capable of drowning, owing to their inability to lift their fore legs over their heads.

The legs, therefore, being necessarily immersed in the water, the difference between the specific gravity of the animal and the water, is sufficient to enable it to keep its nostrils and mouth above the water, and therefore it is not suffocated by the Auid, but breathes freely. But man, on the contrary, being able to lift his hands over his head, and generally doing so in case of this accident, his hands and arms make up the difference in specific gravity, and his head, impelled by the weight of his hands and arms below the water, his body fills, and he is consequently choked and suffocated. The remedy therefore is, in all such cases, to keep down the hands and arms, and as a further security, to act with them under and against the water. It will then be impossible to sink, unless the weight of clothes or other circumstances operate to the contrary.

The marine spencer.

The marine spencer is made in the form of a girdle, of a proper diameter to fit the body, and Bix inches broad, composed of about 500 old tavern works, strung upon a strong twine, well lashed together with lay-cord, covered with canvass, and painted in oil so as to make it water-proof. Two tapes of cords, about two feet long, are fastened to the back of the girdle with loops at the ends. Another tape or cord of the same length, having a few corks strung to the middle of it, is covered with canvass painted. A pin of hard wood, three 2 H

||

The bamboo habit is an invention of the Chines?, by the use of which, a person unskilled in the art of swimming, may easily keep himself above water. The Chinese merchants, when going on a voyage, are said always to provide themselves with this simple apparatus, to save their lives in cases of danger from shipwreck. It is constructed by placing four bamboos horizontally, two before, and two behind the body of each person, so that they project about twenty-eight inches; these are crossed on each side by two others, and the whole properly secured, leaving an intermediate space for the body. When thus formed, the person in danger slips it over his head, and ties it securely to the waist, by which simple means he cannot possibly sink.

To extricate persons from broken ice.

Let two or more persons hold a rope or ropes, at both ends, stretched over the broken iee; so that the drowning person may catch hold of it.

The life boat.

The life-boat is generally thirty feet long, and in form much resembling a common Greenland boat, except the bottom, which is much flatter. She is lined with cork, inside and outside of the gunwale, about two feet in breadth, and the seats underneath are filled with cork also.

She is rowed by ten men, double banked, and steered by two men with oars, one at each end, both ends being alike. Long poles are provided for the men, to keep the boat from being driven broadside to the shore, either in going off or lauding. About six inches from the lower poles, it increases in diameter, so as to form a flat surface against the sand. The weight of the cork used in the boat is about seven cwt.

She draws very little water, and when full is able to carry twenty people. The boat is able to contend against the most tremendous sea and broken water; and never, in any one instance, Las she failed in bringing the crew in distress into a place of safety. The men have no dread in going off with her in the highest sea and broken water: cork jackets were provided for them; but their confifidence in the boat is so great, that they do not use them.

A common paper kite launched from the vessel, and driven by the wind to the shore has been sup posed capable of conveying a piece of pack thread, to which a larger rope might be attached and drawn

The success attending this expedient for dimin- || methods have been invented and pointed out for ishing the number of unhappy individuals almost this purpose. daily lost in a watery grave, appears to have been more than equal to the most sanguine expectations formed of its utility; and the great object in view, viz. the safety of those persons who hazard their own security to preserve others, has been fully accomplished.

Safe and readily constructed life-boat. In April, 1806, a model of a life-boat was exhibited before the Royal Humane Society, which may Le put together in the space of half an hour, in any case of shipwreck, and which cannot sink or overset, let the sea run ever so high. All that is necessary to be provided is, a keel or plank of any convenient length, and a few pigs of iron, such as vessels usually carry out for ballast. The officers of the ship are to take care to keep two or three empty water-casks, perfectly tight, the bung-holes corked up, and a piece of tin or leather nailed over them. These casks are to be lashed with ropes to the keel, along with the pigs of iron for ballast; and any spare poles or spars may be also lashed to the sides, so as to give the raft the form of a vessel, and at each end to make a lodgement for the men. Any of the square sails of the ship will form a lug-sail, and may speedily be adapted to the new life-boat, and a strong and broad spar may be lashed on as a rudder.

Another.-Let a quantity of ballast, even more than what is commonly used for sailing, be laid in the bottom of the boat, over this lay bags filled with cork, prepared for the purpose, and numbered according to their places, and if considerably higher than the gunwales so much the better; a sail or part of one folded may be thrown over from stem to stern, to combine and unite the several parts; and lastly, the whole is to be secured together by passing ropes by so many turns as may be deemed sufficient, round and round over the gunwales and under the keel, and these, if necessary, may be itched by a turn or two taken lengthwise.

Every person either on board or holding by the boat, so prepared, may be absolutely certain of being carried safe through any breach whatever. When no such preparation of cork has been made, the following is proposed as a substitute:

on board.

A small balloon, raised by rarified air might be made to answer the same purpose.

A sky rocket, of a large diameter, has also been considered as capable of an equal service, and, indeed, this method seems the best; for besides the velocity of the discharge, could it be brought to act during the night, it must both point out the situ tion of the ship, and the direction that the line took in flying ashore.

Useful hints when a leak is spring.

When a vessel springs a leak near her bottom, the water enters with all the force given by the weight of the column of water without, which force is in proportion to the difference of the level between the water without and that within. It enters therefore with more force at first, and in greater quantity than it can afterwards, when the water within is higher. The bottom of the vessel, too, is narrower, so that the same quantity of water coming into that narrow part, rises faster than when the space for it is larger. This helps to terrify. But as the quantity entering is less and less, as the surfaces without and within become more nearly equal in height, the pumps that could not keep the water from rising at first, might after. wards be able to prevent its rising higher, and the people might have remained on board in safety, without hazarding themselves in an open boat on the wide ocean.

Besides the greater equality in the height of the two surfaces, there may sometimes be other causes that retard the farther sinking of a leaky vessel. The rising water within may arrive at quantities of light wooden works, empty chests, and particularly empty water casks, which, fixed so as not to float themselves, may help to sustain her. Many bodies which compose a ship's cargo may be specifically lighte than water: all these, when out of water, are an additional weight to that of the ship, and she is in proportion pressed deeper in the water, but as soon as these bodies are immersed, they weigh no longer on the ship: but, on the contrary, if fixed, they help to support her in proportion as they are specifically lighter than the water.

Temporary nautical pump.

Let a quantity of ballast, as coals in canvass, be secured in its place, as well as circumstances will admit; then take an empty water cask (beer cask, or any others that are tight) and fill the boat with them, and if the bilge of the cask rises considerably Captain Leslie, of the George and Susan, in a higher than the gunwales, it will be so much the voyage from North America to Stockholm, adopt better; let a sail then be thrown in to jam the cask ed an excellent mode of emptying water from his and ballast in their places, as well as to combine ship's hold, when the crew were insufficient to per and unite the several parts by covering all fore and form that duty. About 10 or 12 feet above the aft; and lastly, let the whole be lashed and secured pump, he rigged out a spar, one end of which pro together, in the manner above stated. It is be-jected overboard, while the other was fastened, as lieved the boat in this trim would always continue upright on her keel, be lively and buoyant on the water, and have sufficient efficacy to support the crew of any ordinary vessel, till drifted within their own depth.

It frequently happens that after men have gained the shore, they perish of cold for want of dry clothes. As a remedy for this, every man should try to secure one or two flannel or woollen shirts, by wrapping them up tightly in a piece of oiled cloth or silk; and to guard against tearing, the last inight be covered with canvass, or inclosed in a tin

a lever, to the machinery of the pump. To the end which projected overboard, was suspended s water-butt, half full, but corked down: so that when the coming wave raised the butt-end, the other end depressed the piston of the pump; but at the retiring of the wave, this was reversed, for, by the weight of the butt, the piston came up again, and with it the water. Thus, without the aid of the crew, the ship's hold was cleared of the water in a few hours.

Another. When a vessel springs a leak at sea, which cannot be discovered, instead of exhausting the crew by continual working a. the pumps, they may form, with very little trouble, a machine to discharge the water, which will work itself, wille out any assistance from the hands on board.

Let a spar, or spare top-mast, be cat to the length of eight or ten feet, or more, according t

spread over the shoulders as loosely as possible. Now pour the water from the pot over the patient's ead, face, neck, shoulders, and all parts of the ody, progressively down to the feet, until the whole has been thoroughly wetted.

This great man left, as a legacy to the world, A large sponge may, in some measure, be sub- the following simple and unerring directions for stituted for the shower bath; particularly in affec-preserving health; they contained the sum and sui tions of the head, which arise from intemperance, stance of his vast professional knowledge, during night watching, study, or other perplexity. Head- a long and useful life:-" Keep the feet warm; the ache, from these causes, will be greatly alleviated head cool; and the body open. "-If these were by wiping the top and fore-part of the ead with generally attended to, the physician's aid would a sponge frequently dipped in water. The cold seldom be required. thus produced will check the determination of Clothing. blood to the head, and has often been known to prevent delirium and insanity.

The tepid-bath.

On immersing the body in a tepid-bath, which takes its range from 85 to 95 degrees, no string sensation either of heat or cold is felt. But a person much chilled, will, on entering the tepid-bath, feel the water warm, while another, who had been heated by exercise, will find it insensibly cold.

To adapt the dress with a scrupulous nicety to the fluctuations of temperature every day, would indeed require such minute attention as hardly any person can bestow: but every person may comply with the general rules of clothing, as far as not to lay aside too early the dress of the winter, nor to retain that of the summer too late; from a neglect of which precaution thousands of lives are every year sacrificed to mortality. The perfection of dress, considered merely as such, is to fit without fettering the body. Air.

The tepid-bath is attended with several advantages: the surface of the skin is, by it, freed from that scaly matter, which always collects more or less in the healthiest person; the pores of the skin, Nothing is more pernicious than the air of a thus being free, the natural perspiration is pro-place where a numerous body of people are colmoted, the limbs are rendered supple, and any lected together within doors; especially if to the stiffness, which may have been produced by exer- breath of the crowd there be added the vapours of tion, or fatigue, is removed. Such immersion has a multitude of candles, and the consumption of the Deen found to allay thirst; a proof that a quantity || vital air by fires in proportion. Hence it happens, of water is absorbed, and enters the body through that persons of a delicate constitution are liable to become sick or faint in a place of this kind. These ought to avoid, as touch as possible, the air of great towns; which is also peculiarly hurtful to the asthmatic and consumptive, as it is likewise to hysteric women, and men of weak nerves. Where such people cannot always live without the verge of great towns, they ought, at least, to go out as often as they can into the open air, and, if possible, pass the night in the wholesome situation of the suburbs Ventilation.

the skin.

The tepid-bath seems the best adapted to the purposes of cleanliness and healthy exercise. To delicate females, and young children, it is of primary importance. Nothing can be more absurd than the common practice of mothers and nurses in washing children, no matter how sickly or unwell, with cold water, under the idea of bracing the constitution: whereas, the use of tepid water alone, is not only the most agreeable, but the most proper fluid to excite the energies of the system in young children.

Affusion with tepid water has generally the same result, except, that if the body continue exposed to the air after the affusion, a sensation of cold is produced, which ought to be avoided, by wiping dry the upper part of the body, whilst the lower extremities are still covered with water.

There can be little doubt, that human existence, by tepid bathing, temperance, and proper exercise, may be made more agreeable, and also be prolonged.

Air that has long stagnated becomes extremely unwholesome to breathe, and often immediately fatal. Such is that of mines, wells, cellars, &c. People ought therefore to be very cautious in en. tering places of this description which have been long shut up. The air of some hospitals, jails, ships, &c. partakes of the same unwholesome and pernicious nature; and they ought never to be destitute of ventilators-those useful contrivances for expelling foul, and introducing fresh air into its place. The same may be said of all places where numbers of people are crowded together.

It is found that most plants have the property of correcting bad air within a few hours, wher

GENERAL RULES FOR PRESERVING LIFE AND HEALTH. they are exposed to the light of the sun; but that,

Sir R. Phillips's rules.

1. Rise early, and never sit up late,

2. Wash the whole body every morning with cold water, by means of a large sponge, and rub it dry with a rough towel, or scrub the whole body for ten or fifteen minutes with flesh brushes.

3. Drink water generally, and avoid excess of spirits, wine, and fermented liquors.

4. Keep the body open by the free use of the syringe, and remove superior obstructions by aperient pills.

on the contrary, during the night, or in the shade, they corrupt the common r of the atmosphere. Hence it is a dangerous practice to have shrubs in an apartment that is slept in.

Ventilation of churches.

Both in public and private buildings there are errors committed, which affect in an extraordinary degree the salubrity of the air. Churches are seldom open above once a week; they are never ventilated by fires, and rarely by opening the windows: while, to render the air of them yet more unwholesome, little or no attention is paid to keeping them clean. The consequence of which is, that they are damp, musty, and apt to prove hurtful to peo6. Keep the head cool by washing it when neces-ple of weak constitutions; and it is a common resary with cold water, and abate feverish and in- mark, that a person cannot pass through a large Aammatory symptoms when they arise by perse- church or cathedral, even in summer, without a vering stillness. strong sense of coolness.

5. Sleep in a room which has free access to the open air.

7. Correct symptoms of plethora and indigestion ny eating and drinking less per diem for a few days.

Ventilation of houses.

The great attention paid to making houses close