TRAVELING AT HIGH SPEEDS HEL-E-SHAW. 635 



by that of steam and the other forces of nature, the origin of the 

 wheel being absolutely lost in antiquity. 



From the models which I now show will be noticed the way in 

 which the wheel acts and how it overcomes the defect of animal 

 locomotion, giving a rotary and continuous movement instead of a 

 reciprocating and variable one. At one and the same time the wheel, 

 therefore, does away with the three causes of loss shown in the 

 diagram as occurring with animal locomotion. The mere use of the 

 wheel has enabled man himself, by his own muscular effort, enor- 

 mously to increase his individual power of locomotion. The top 

 curve on figure 2 shows, in comparison with the other curves of 

 walking and running, his unpaced records on a bicycle, in using 

 which it will be realized that all three causes of loss which occur in 

 running and walking are obviated. You will notice a similar differ- 

 ence in speed as the distance varies to that which is made evident in 

 the curves for walking and running. For the distance of 100 miles 

 the average speed is thus only 21 miles an hour, while that for a one- 

 fourth mile is more than 35 miles an hour. In view of the results 

 shown by the curve, it is not surprising that the bicycle has entered 

 largely into the conditions of modern life. I am not able to give you 

 any exact figures of the quantity of bicycles turned out each year in 

 this country, but I can tell you that in the post office alone there are 

 now 12,000 bicycles employed, and their number is always on the 

 increase; the distance covered on them by men and boys in the year 

 is mo*re than 120,000,000 miles. 



I have not dealt with paced bicycle records, as such are not the 

 result of muscular effort, but of being pushed along by the current 

 of wind which follows up the pacing machine, such as occurs when a 

 man on a "push" bicycle is paced by a motor vehicle. In a record 

 first set up in America for 60 miles an hour on a bicycle, a man was 

 paced by a locomotive engine, running at 60 miles an hour along a 

 special track; the rider was nearly killed when he tried to drop 

 behind, owing to the whirlwind which was being dragged along by 

 the engine; ultimately his fife was saved by his being lifted bodily 

 off his bicycle onto the locomotive. There is no record as to what 

 became of the bicycle. 



Curiously enough, records for ice skating and roller skating are 

 almost the same, and far below that on the bicycle, which I think 

 proves distinctly that the reciprocating movement of the limbs limits 

 man's powers, whether he is sliding on the ice or using wheels as with 

 roller skates. This is so, notwithstanding that he carries along 

 with him when on a bicycle the extra weight of the bicycle, but the 

 reciprocating movement of his legs is so slow, owing to the gearing 

 up of the driving wheel, as to give him the material advantage shown 

 by the respective curves. Further, in skating, there is no doubt that 



