sengers to be conveyed-thereby greatly lessening the general annual expenditure." 5. Passengers could be conveyed with a remunerating profit by this plan, at the rate of twenty miles an hour, for one penny per mile each, and goods at about five farthings per ton per mile; while the Liverpool and Manchester charge (for not greater speed) is 5s., or twopence per mile for passengers, and 78., or about twopence three-farthings per mile for goods * The calculation on which these results are founded is, that the united strength of four men turning a winch or lever is equal to 144 lbs., and that this will "be more than sufficient to propel three tons at the rate of twenty miles an hour, for what may be termed a working day of eight hours." 6. The expense of fuel, and the incon enience of smoke, will be altogether done away with; and accidents from explosion rendered impossible. And 7. " Fast travelling can be attained much more economically by manual labour, under every view of the question, than by steam-locomotion; and The actual charges, on this railway are somewhat higher, being, according to the last halfyearly Report of the Directors, for passengers 5s. 1d.; goods per ton 98. 81⁄2d. hence the grand object sought after is now obtained-that of securing employment for the many individuals now seeking for work, but looking for it in vain." "Henceforward Mr. Snowden's inventions will supply adequate labour, and ensure fair remuneration for the toil of man." "There shall no longer be pretence for saying there exists a redundant population; neither will any willing labourer be afterwards driven to participate the pauper's mess for want of remunerative employ; but, on the contrary, the whole body of society will receive a new and vigorous impulse, that cannot fail to diffuse health and happiness to all." Let us now examine these pretensions, in the order in which they are here set forth : : 1. The application of the rack-rail and cogged wheel to locomotive purposes, though claimed for Mr. Snowden by Mr. Ward as quite a new thought, has been long familiar to engineers. It formed the most striking feature of Blenkinsop's railway carriage, patented as far back as 1811; was strongly advocated by Mr. Gray of Nottingham, in his "Observations on a General Iron Railway," published (if we recollect rightly) about 1818; and, when treating ourselves of the subject of railways, in our Journal of the 21st May, 1831, we observed (page 190):-"For the conveyance of great weights the rack-rail must manifestly have an immense advantage over every description of plain rail; no gripe by mere adhesion of surfaces can ever match the gripe of a good set of teeth." We readily concede, however, to Mr. Snowden the merit of devising a better mode of turning the rack principle to account, than either Blenkinsop's or any other with which we are acquainted. It is very simple, and we make no doubt would answer well in practice. We must be understood, however, as limiting the advantage to be derived from it to cases where considerable heights have to be surmounted, which could not be levelled but at a great expense; for wherever railways can be made without difficulty, and at small cost, perfectly level, we hold that, both as regards passengers and goods, the plainer and smoother they are the better. There is no desirable degree of speed or power which may not on a level railway be obtained by simple adhesion alone. 2. The flatness of Mr. Snowden's rails at top, and the absence of flanges, are advantages certainly; but more than counterbalanced, we apprehend, by the increase of friction, occasioned by the rack and cogs. 3. The saving in the original cost of the carriages, and in the wear and tear, would no doubt be very great. 4. That manual force could be more conveniently increased or diminished than steam power, according to the load to be conveyed, or degree of speed required, is also quite certain. The engine of a steam-carriage remains constantly the same-so far as regards all the capital expended upon it-though the quantity of work required from it may often vary; but in the case of Mr. Snowden's carriages, the number of hands employed might vary with every trip, and every change in the load. 5. Mr. Ward's calculations of the rates at which he could profitably convey passengers and goods on Mr. Snowden's plan, appear to us to rest on very imperfect and unsatisfactory data. Is it on a level, or on an inclined plane, that he expects to realise his twenty miles an hour? He does not say. If it be on an inclined plane, what is the degree of inclination on which he calculates? C1 does he consider the force required to be the same for all inclinations? We d not know where he could find the materials for such a calculation, as regards rack-railways, and rather suspect that he has drawn on his fancy, entirely, for the one with which he has favoured his readers. 6. The absence of smoke and of danger are indisputable recommendations. 7. But, with respect to the splendid vision with which Mr. Ward concludes -employment to all the unemployedplenty for all who choose to earn it by honest industry-an end to overpopulation and pauperism- another golden age, in short, brought about by "Mr. Snowden's inventions -we are sorry to be constrained to say that it is, to our thinking, altogether chimerical. That "fast travelling can be attained much more economically by manual labour than by steam-locomotion," is a mere dictum of Mr. Ward's, resting on no authority whatever, and contrary not only to all experience, but to all probability. Besides, if such were really the case, manual labour would not possess this superiority on rackrailways alone, but on railways of every description, and most of all on a plain railway, where there is neither cog nor rack. If ever profitable labour is to be obtained for all our unemployed, it will not, at least, be by means of any thing peculiar to "Mr. Snowden's inventions." It is but fair, however, to add, that it is putting these inventions not quite in a just light, to represent them as deriving their chief value from the facility which they afford for the employment of our idle hands in carriage propelling; for a railway and carriage, on Mr. Snowden's plan, could be worked by any other motive power as well as by hand, and probably to more advantage with the help of a steam-engine than in any other way. RAILWAY SYSTEM. Sir,-As the railway scheme is gradually advancing, perhaps you will allow me, from time to time, a little room in your Magazine, to continue my remarks on a subject that must eventually attract the attention of every nation. It is much to be regretted that the spirited individuals of Liverpool and Manchester (who were the first to take up my plan of railways, although they did not think proper to adopt the cograilway system) should impose such heavy charges and rates of fare, for I am persuaded that one half of their present rates would be more than sufficient to remunerate the shareholders; indeed, it is my humble opinion, that the traffic along the railway would be more than doubled by a judicious reduction of rates and charges. Pray, sir, do the proprietors of the canal, running between Liverpool and Manchester, hold any shares in the railway? And if any, what proportion? It that some undue influence on appears the part of individuals interested in the canal or turnpike-road must be at work, to the great prejudice of the railway; otherwise, I am sure the canal could not get one ton of merchandise in a month. As the original projector of the system, you may be sure that I am particularly anxious about the success of my darling scheme, and therefore I cannot tolerate any underhand measures which interfere any way to detract from the merits of railways. To the mismanagement of the Liverpool and Manchester railway, and to the exorbitant charges thereon, may be attributed the lukewarmness of the public to the further progress of the system. If the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company shall still persist in demanding those high fares and rates of carriage, the time is not far distant when a new company, on improved principles, will take the field. Indeed, the leading merchants and manufacturers, who are daily transmitting merchandise to and from Liverpool, will soon find that, by competition, one half of the present charges may be economised. Ever since the publication of my work in 1820, on a general or national iron railway system, I have regularly every year memorialised Government, in the hope of drawing the attention of ministers to the subject, as I feel fully confident that from this scheme funds may eventually be raised to defray the general expenses of the state, besides setting apart each year a certain sum for the gradual liquidation of the national debt. When public attention shall be drawn to the scheme, through the influence of Government, it will soon be admitted that the million upon million, now thoughtlessly thrown away every year upon our miserable and contemptible threefold system of conveyance-turnpikeroads, canals, and coasting vessels—may be in a very considerable degree economised. The national debt, and all our state expenses, are a mere feather in the scale, when compared with the sums of money annually squandered in this coun try on animal power. I am, sir, Author of "Observations on a No. 143, Fore-street-hill, Exeter, REMARKS ON THE RIVAL CLAIMS TO THE INTRODUCTION OF STEAM NAVIGATION. Sir,-It must be evident to every one, that not only England, but the whole of the civilised world, is under immense obligations to the individual who first rendered steam available to the purposes of navigation. Public opinion, however, seems still to vibrate between the conflicting claims to this honour put forward by the late William Symington, Mr. Miller of Dalswinton (or rather by his representatives on his behalf), and Mr. James Taylor. As to those of Fulton and Bell, they seem, according to common consent, to be wholly untenable. We will, if you please, begin "wi' the laird" first. Mr. Miller was a man of property, possessed of an active mind, which was constantly requiring excite ment. He was, therefore, always ready to enter into any experiments which promised to afford him that mental stimulus congenial to his feelings. He was, consequently, very ready to assist with his patronage young men who possessed inventive genius, or supposed that they were so blessed, and of course was very commonly disappointed. As he was easily induced to begin experimentalising, he was just as apt to quit it without carrying it on to a successful result. For, although not deficient in wealth, he lacked that spirit of perseverance, from which alone success can emanate. Taylor was a tutor in this Mr. Miller's family. He had been on terms of intimacy with William Symington when at the University of Edinburgh, and had seen a model of an improvement which Symington (though then still a very young man) had just perfected in the steam-engine. In consequence, it would seem, of some mention made to Mr. Miller of Symington (very probably by Taylor), Mr. Miller early in 1786 called upon Symington, who was then in the employment of, and residing with, Mr. Gilbert Meason, the manager of the Wanlock-Head Mining Company, and after conversing with him for some time 'engaged him to make some experiments, for the purpose of ascertaining the practicability of propelling boats by steam. Miller himself had, previously to this, attempted to move boats by means of wheels, set in action by treddles-a plan which he was compelled to abandon from the excessive fatigue it occasioned to the men employed. This scheme, by the way, had not even the charm of novelty to recommend it, for it had been practised by the Romans, who used oxen to work machinery; and also by Savary who had, like Mr. Miller, exerted human force for that purpose.* The biographer of Taylor, in " Chambers's Journal," states that he" attended the University of Edinburgh for several years;" that the classes selected by him were anatomy, surgery, and chemistry; and that he "prosecuted his studies with much assiduity and success, for at the end of his course he was prepared to • Mr. Miller seems to have had a predilection for appropriating other person's inventions to himself; or, if he had not, his friends have endeavoured to do so for him, as they would willingly have us to believe that the piece of sea-ordnance, known as the Carronade, was the fruit of Mr. Miller's genius, when, in truth, it was invented by Mr. Gascoigne, one of the proprietors and managers of the Carron Iron Works, from which circum. stance it derived its nam enter either upon the profession of medicine or divinity"!! Now, if the College Album be an authority to be confided in, Taylor matriculated for one season only, and attended the classes above mentioned for one course each. "One swallow," says the adage, “does not make a summer;" but, according to Taylor's biographer, one course of lectures fully qualified him to be either a physician or divine! I make no doubt that he was just as well qualified for the one as the other-that is, not at all. I agree with the writer in "Chambers's Journal" that his genius was excursive, and that to a very considerable extent, but I have yet to learn that its excursions were ever attended by any beneficial result. He is said to have had a predilection for mineralogy, geology, and mechanics; but if this were true, how comes it that Taylor, being at the university where those subjects were treated upon scientifically, never availed himself of so excellent an opportunity of attending the classes in which they were taught? The improvement in the steam-engine, devised by Mr. Symington, was accomplished in 1785-1786; and it was in the spring of 1786 that Mr. Miller, as already mentioned, engaged him to carry on some experiments upon steam navigation. These were made upon the lake at Dalswinton, Mr. Miller's property, in 1788. It is asserted that Mr. Taylor remained in Edinburgh, after Mr. Miller had left, to superintend castings of the parts of the engine intended to be employed in moving the boat. But if this were necessary, why did not Taylor afterwards put the engine together? If he were capable of furnishing the drawings and models by which the various parts were to be constructed, surely there could be no necessity for sending for Mr. Symington from the Lead-hills to put the different pieces properly "in situ." Mr. Miller would have been little less than mad to employ Symington in these experiments, when he had such a brilliant and inventive genius as Taylor residing under his own roof. If (as has been asserted) Taylor was the author of these experiments, where are the drawings and documents to substantiate his claim? Have they ever been seen by any person? Or, indeed, have they ever existed, except in the imagination of his partisans ? |