perpendicularly through an elevator shaft, fracturing the skull. Pieces
of bone at the superior angle of the occipital bone were removed,
leaving the aura exposed for a space one by four inches. The man was
unconscious for four days, but entirely recovered in eighteen days,
with only a slightly subnormal hearing as an after-effect of his fall.

For many years there have been persons who have given exhibitions of
high jumps, either landing in a net or in the water. Some of these
hazardous individuals do not hesitate to dive from enormous heights,
being satisfied to strike head first or to turn a somersault in their
descent. Nearly all the noted bridges in this country have had their
"divers." The death of Odlum in his attempt to jump from Brooklyn
bridge is well known. Since then it has been claimed that the feat has
been accomplished without any serious injury. It is reported that on
June 20, 1896, a youth of nineteen made a headlong dive from the top of
the Eads bridge at St. Louis, Mo., a distance of 125 feet. He is said
to have swum 250 feet to a waiting tug, and was taken on board without
having been hurt.

Probably the most interesting exhibition of this kind that was ever
seen was at the Royal Aquarium, London, in the summer of 1895. A part
of the regular nightly performance at this Hall, which is familiar on
account of its immensity, was the jump of an individual from the
rafters of the large arched roof into a tank of water about 15 by 20
feet, and from eight to ten feet deep, sunken in the floor of the hall.
Another performer, dressed in his ordinary street clothes, was tied up
in a bag and jumped about two-thirds of this height into the same tank,
breaking open the bag and undressing himself before coming to the
surface. In the same performance a female acrobat made a backward dive
from the topmost point of the building into a net stretched about ten
feet above the floor. Nearly every large acrobatic entertainment has
one of these individuals who seem to experience no difficulty in
duplicating their feats night after night.

It is a common belief that people falling from great heights die in the
act of descent. An interview with the sailor who fell from the
top-gallant of an East Indiaman, a height of 120 feet, into the water,
elicited the fact that during the descent in the air, sensation
entirely disappeared, but returned in a slight degree when he reached
the water, but he was still unable to strike out