1902.] on Auto-Cars. 119 



the whole apparatus lodged inside the spokes of the hind wheel. 

 You will appreciate the ingenuity required to fix on such a small 

 machine as a tricycle or bicycle, an engine of 2, 2J or 2J horse- 

 power to run at as much as 1200 or more revolutions a minute. 

 Such vehicles have a great future before them. There are other auto- 

 mobile carriages in which a heavier oil is used, applying heat to the 

 oil, and thus bringing it into a vaporised condition. This has not 

 made much progress as yet, but its promoters are persevering, and, if 

 crowned with success, may find a field of usefulness in places where 

 so volatile a liquid as petrol cannot be carried in large quantities — 

 as, for instance, in very hot climates — without great danger either in 

 consequence of the heat or from the proximity of other things. 



Steam cars have become highly successful, but of these I need 

 not speak at much length. For the benefit of the ladies I shall only 

 say, that while petrol engines resemble " fives " or rackets, where the 

 ball, corresponding to the piston, is struck from only one end, and 

 from its own rebound given back to be struck again, the steam engine 

 is like ping-pong or lawn tennis, in which the ball is struck and 

 forced from one end to the other alternately. In the steam engine, as 

 the piston arrives at one end of the cylinder the steam is shut off from 

 the other end, and let in at the former, and thus the piston is driven 

 backwards and forwards. This mode has its advantages and disadvan- 

 tages, which it is impossible now to enter into, as the time is limited. 



Another class of automobile is moved by electric power — a 

 luxurious class of auto-car, if I may say so, and there is a great field 

 before it. Its advantages are ease of starting and control, absence of 

 complication, and noiselessness and cleanliness. Its disadvantages 

 at present are its dead weight, and the impossibility, when its power 

 is exhausted, of renewing it except at places where you can recharge 

 from accumulators, as you can only run 60 or 70 miles without coming 

 to the end of your power. For going about town, making calls or 

 shopping, or visiting places of amusement, or taking a short drive, 

 nothing can possibly be better. I have no time to explain to you what 

 a storage battery is, beyond stating that it is a box in which there is 

 sufficient energy stored up to do certain work when you want it. 



Allow me a few words in conclusion upon the question of how the 

 motor car will affect the general community. It will undoubtedly 

 facilitate the residence in the country of those requiring to do their 

 work in towns. Parts of the country, and those of the most pic- 

 turesque and healthy, are unapproachable by rail or tramway, both 

 because of the gradients and the width of the roads, and the present 

 paucity of population. The tendency of suburban dwellers to cluster 

 around railway stations, or along tramcar routes, will be modified. 

 The range in distance from town will be increased, and the choice in 

 rural scenery will be enlarged. 



There is a limit to human endurance of daily tramcar runs if the 

 distance is great. And what a relief it will be to many, who now 

 travel daily in and out by rail, to be able to do so by road if the time 



