[Illustration: CULEBRA CUT. LOOKING SOUTH. FEBRUARY, 1905.] A Spanish laborer who had lost both his legs on the Isthmus was sent to New York by the Commission, where he was fitted with two cork legs and then sent back to his home in Spain. The Red Cross gave him $50 to help him on his way, for the Commission could not advance more than his actual transportation and medical fees. Not long ago a Boer, who had become naturalized as an American, was declared so far gone with tuberculosis that he could not work on the Isthmus nor remain here with safety. He had been in Mexico a few years before, and felt sure that if he could return to the plateau region his health would be restored. The Red Cross advanced him $150 to defray his expenses—in other words, gave him another chance for his life. A number of cases have been relieved where the necessity was just as pressing but where a smaller amount was sufficient. It is not improbable that there may be a call for immediate relief on a larger scale before the Canal is completed and the Americans in this big construction camp pass on to other work. If an accident occurs, it will find a thorough organization with funds in hand and ready to begin work without any preliminaries. Lectures on first aid are delivered by the district physicians along the line of the Canal to members of the police and fire departments. To what extent this instruction will aid in time of emergency is conjectural, but it should have the effect of adding instructed men to the corps of nurses and doctors in case of a big accident. It is probable, however, that there is no place on earth where the hospital corps is so well equipped to give prompt aid as on the Canal Zone. On this account, the instruction of the police and firemen is not likely to prove such a benefit as it would in a less thoroughly organized community. [Illustration: GATUN DAM SITE. LOOKING EAST FROM SPILLWAY. AUGUST, 1908.] The Canal Zone Branch has already spent about $500 in its relief work, and its balance on July 1, 1909, was $1,577.17.