CRUCIFIX IN THROAT TEN DAYS REMOVED WITHOUT KNIFE

After lying for ten days, imbedded in the throat of a patient in a Boston hospital, a crucifix, two inches long, was extracted without surgery. X-rays located the obstruction and, although the victim was at the point of strangulation, no knife was used, despite the fact that the prongs had become lodged in the sides of the windpipe.

Fastened in an upright position, the cross arms are believed to have prevented the piece from penetrating further.

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HOW CAMERA SHUTTERS WORK

CAMERAS are constructed to be light-tight, and yet in order to make an exposure it is necessary to let light into the camera and onto the film. This requires a special mechanism called the camera shutter. It is so designed that when a release is pressed, it will move, let light into the camera for a moment or so, and then close and protect the film again from the light. As films have been made more sensitive and shorter exposures made possible, the design and construction of camera shutters has been improved until today there are shutters that split seconds into almost unbelievably small fractions and let light into the camera for just that fractional part of a second. Most of the smaller hand cameras with which we are familiar are fitted with one, or even both, of two types of shutters.

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UNDER-SEA TRACTOR-SPHERE ROAMS OCEAN FLOOR

NEWEST of mechanical monsters intended for under-sea exploration is the tractor-sphere being designed by Otis Barton, builder of the bathysphere used by Dr. William Beebe in setting a new world’s diving record of 3028 feet.

The new invention, intended to be driven into the sea from the beach level under its own power, might be classed as a bathysphere mounted on caterpillar treads. Powerful electric motors operating from sealed-in storage batteries would move this undersea tractor over the rocky slopes and pinnacles of the ocean floor.

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Fire Fighters Play Poker in Flames

LOS ANGELES firemen have at last solved the problem of getting rid of kibitzers at poker who persist in looking over the player’s shoulder. Clad in their asbestos suits, and using a deck of metal cards, the two firemen in the photo above sit down to have a quiet game while flames lick at their fireproof anatomies.

This novel game was part of a demonstration of Los Angeles firemen to show that carbon dioxide gas will “freeze” when coming into contact with flames, thus smothering the most stubborn blazes. Their asbestos suits gave them complete protection from the heat and the gas did its duty in putting out fire.

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Home Tests show Strange Nature of Chlorine

How to Make Metals Flame and Why Red Flowers Turn White is Explained Here
By RAYMOND B. WAILES

UNTIL you experiment with chlorine, you have missed some of the biggest thrills your home laboratory can give you. Among other things, you can make metals burst mysteriously into flame, remove the color from dyed cloth, and turn a red flower or a scrap of red paper white.

Chlorine, a heavy greenish-yellow gas, is exceedingly active. Few substances can remain uncombined in its presence. Even silver and gold yield to its action under certain conditions. With many elements, it combines with such suddenness and violence that intense heat and a brilliant flash of light accompany the reaction.

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