

S7A' WILLIAM SII-..M r.\'S, l-.R.S. 25! 



man passed over the line at a level crossing, no harm was done, 

 because he put his foot on only one rail at a time ; but a horse l>eing 

 endowed with four feet, he sometimes put one foot on one rail 

 :in<l another on the other, and thus experienced a most inconvenient 

 shock, so much so, that horses decidedly objected to these level 

 crossings, and it became necessary to make some special arrange- 

 ments to avoid this inconvenience. It sufficed to put one rail at 

 ilio missings out of circuit, and to connect the backward and 

 forward rail electrically. This experiment showed the practic- 

 ability of the system, but his brother entirely agreed with him 

 that it was not by any means to be supposed that the electric 

 railway would banish locomotive engines from our great thorough- 

 fares. The electric transmission of power would be efficacious, no 

 doubt, for local traffic, such as tramways, and also for lines con- 

 veying minerals from the interior of a mine to the bank, and in 

 exceptional cases for the transmission of heavy trains along rails. 

 One of these cases was presented by the St. Gothard Tunnel. The 

 company to which that" belonged were fully alive to all modern 

 improvements, and had requested them to work out a plan for 

 utilising the hydraulic power, which could be had in great abund- 

 ance near the mouth of the tunnel, for the passage of the train 

 through the tunnel. By the accomplishment of that object, very 

 great advantages would be gained ; for, as those who had travelled 

 through the Mont Cenis Tunnel, or through the one on the line 

 Ix-tween Alessandria and Genoa, were. aware, great inconvenience 

 resulted from the emission of the products of combustion from the 

 engines during the transit. If a train could be sent through this 

 long Alpine tunnel by electric force, a great inconvenience would 

 be saved to the passenger, and at the same time a great saving 

 would be effected for the company. Nearer home there was a case 

 which would lend itself admirably to electric transmission the 

 Underground District Railway. All those who were in the habit 

 of using that railway appreciated the facilities it ottered in going 

 to the City or from it ; but they also felt the inconveniences of 

 the products of combustion choking the atmosphere. Plans had 

 been proposed for more thoroughly ventilating the tunnel, but 

 they were only palliatives ; the cure would consist in finding a 

 source of power without the inconvenience of combustion being 

 carried on in the tunnel. A plan had been proposed for working 



