The Submarine in War and Peace: Its Development and its PossibilitiesLake, Simon
History
The Submarine in War and Peace: Its Development and its Possibilities
Lake, Simon
Submarines (Ships)
had ever heard. In discussing this matter with an ear specialist some
time afterward, he explained to me that the lady had probably been
suffering with a disease which caused the small bones connected with
the ear-drum to freeze fast, so that the ear-drum did not vibrate.
He stated that it is a very common cause of deafness and can seldom
be cured; that the bringing of the uneven pressure on the Eustachian
tube or other parts had broken away the secretion which had cemented
these small bones together and permitted the ear-drum to vibrate as it
should, and probably that was the only way in which she could have been
helped. I am publishing this incident in the hope that it may lead to
the construction of scientific apparatus for the cure of deafness in
cases where the deafness is caused by trouble similar to that of the
professor's wife.
After our experiments with the _Argonaut_ in the Chesapeake Bay and on
the Atlantic coast, she was enlarged and otherwise improved and in the
winter of 1899 I brought her to Bridgeport, Connecticut, which offered
excellent harbor conveniences and deep water, as well as providing the
necessary manufacturing facilities for continuing my experimental work.
While there the request was made of me to let some of the newspaper
people and some prominent men of the town witness her trials; I
therefore invited them to take a trip out into the Sound. I remember
that we extended in all twenty-eight invitations to the Mayor, to the
press, and to some other prominent citizens, expecting that perhaps
three or four of the number would accept. Very much to my surprise,
twenty-nine appeared, and only one of those who had received the
invitation failed to come, while two others brought their friends with
them. Among the number was John J. Fisher, at that time quite a noted
singer for the American Graphophone Company. I had planned to cook and
serve a dinner for the party on board, and we intended to be back about
two o'clock in the afternoon, but when we got out on the bottom of the
Sound all the different members of the party wanted to see the bottom,
so we travelled out over some oyster beds and clam beds and I opened
the diving door and let the party all see the bottom of the Sound and
pick up clams and "jingle" shells, in depths varying from twenty-four
to thirty-odd feet, while running along the bottom. The air-lock was
small and we could take only two at a time through it into the diving
compartment. In the meantime a meal had been cooked for the others and
served. Mr. Fisher amused the company by singing "Rocked in the Cradle
of the Deep" and other songs appropriate to the occasion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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