414 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



" Notes on Railway Accidents," but 

 which is the first digest of information 

 we have regarding great railway disas- 

 ters, their causes, and the progress of 

 security in this mode of travel. The 

 book is interesting and valuable, no less 

 for its reflections and conclusions than 

 for its well-collated facts. 



Mr. Adams begins by calling atten- 

 tion to the melancholy fact that there 

 are few things of which nature or man 

 is more lavish and careless than hu- 

 man life. There is really but little care 

 about the waste of life so long as the 

 fatality is unobtrusive. The destruction 

 of life by war is as nothing to that by 

 intemperance, bad sewerage, and worse 

 ventilation; but, as it does not come 

 by crush and shock, it attracts small 

 attention. Eailroad "horrors" make 

 a strong impression upon the public 

 mind ; and each fresh catastrophe, by 

 arousing public opinion, by inciting the 

 courts to hold the companies to a more 

 rigorous responsibility, and, above all, 

 by the damage and detriment they work 

 to the corporations, leads to increasing 

 vigilance and greater security, " until 

 it has been said, and with no inconsid- 

 erable degree of truth, too, that the 

 very safest place into which a man can 

 put himself is the inside of a first-class 

 railroad-carriage, on a train in full mo- 

 tion." 



But, on the other hand, all these ap- 

 palling disasters seem to have been ne- 

 cessary to secure the improvement of the 

 railway system. There can be no great- 

 er mistake than to suppose that men are 

 guided and governed by reason. Most 

 of them are creatures of habit, stupid, 

 sluggish, and prejudiced, and can only 

 learn slowly through calamitous expe- 

 rience. As Mr. Adams says, " To bring 

 about any considerable reform, railroad 

 disasters have, as it were, to be empha- 

 sized by loss of life." Indeed, the most 

 instructive part of his volume is the 

 profuse illustration it aiFords of that 

 inveterate stolidity on the part of rail- 

 road managers and officials which no- 



thing could overcome but slaughter, 

 public indignation, murmurs, pecuniary 

 losses — and all this over, and over, and 

 over again — while it has proved impos- 

 sible even yet to get rid of some of the 

 most serious sources of danger. 



The bell-cord for signaling the en- 

 gineer is a simple device for an impor- 

 tant purpose, but it has had a curious 

 history. Nothing certainly would seem 

 to be more essential than for a passen- 

 ger in case of grave accident to be able 

 to communicate instantaneously with 

 the engine-driver of his train. This is 

 perfectly accomplished by the bell-cord, 

 which has been accordingly long in use 

 in this country. Yet it was not used in 

 England, and its adoption, singular to 

 say, w^s actively resisted, although they 

 had nothing else to replace it. Mr. 

 Adams says, " An English substitute 

 for the American bell-cord has for more 

 than thirty years set the ingenuity of 

 Great Britain at defiance." 



In 1857 the British Board of Trade 

 issued a circular to the railroad compa- 

 nies, pointing out the dangers that arise 

 from lack of proper signal-connection. 

 They say : " From the beginning of the 

 year 1854 down to the present time 

 (December, 1857) there have been twen- 

 ty-six cases in which either the acci- 

 dents themselves or some of the ulterior 

 consequences of the accidents would 

 probably have been avoided had such a 

 means of communication existed." But 

 there had not been funerals enough to 

 enforce the recommendation. To get a 

 string attached to a bell for the safety 

 of travelers required a succession of 

 shocks to thrill the country ; and they 

 came, of course, in due time. Not only 

 did accidents continue from the setting 

 fire of carriages and throwing them 

 from the rails, but several dreadful 

 instances of assault by maniacs, men 

 with delirium tremens, and criminals, 

 and even outright murder took place, 

 which would undoubtedly have been 

 avoided if there had been any means of 

 communication to stop the train. Sev- 



