MODES OF TRAVELLING. 



tons and 400 horse-power, made the passage from Bristol 

 to New York in fourteen days, and thus inaugurated the 

 system of ocean steam-navigation, which has since devel- 

 oped to such an enormous extent. The average speed 

 then attained, of about ten miles an hour, has now been 

 more than doubled, and is still increasing. But the 

 horse-power needed to attain this high speed has in- 

 creased in much greater proportion; and it is only the 

 much greater size and capacity, both for passengers and 

 goods, that render such high speeds and enormous con- 

 sumption of coal profitable. Some of the smaller steel- 

 built war-ships torpedo-boats and torpedo-destroyers 

 have considerably exceeded thirty miles an hour, and the 

 limit of speed is probably not yet reached. Many sug- 

 gested forms of vessels, such as the cigar-shaped and the 

 roller-boats, have not been adequately tried; and there 

 are other suggested forms by means of which greater 

 steadiness and speed may yet be obtained. 



Almost as remarkable as our railroads and steamships 

 is the new method of locomotion by means of the bicycle 

 and tricycle. The principle is old enough, but the per- 

 fection to which these vehicles have now attained has 

 been rendered possible by the continuous growth of all 

 kinds of delicate tools and machines required in the con- 

 struction of the infinitely varied forms of steam-engines, 

 dynamos, and other rapidly-moving machinery. In the 

 last century it would not have been possible to construct 

 a modern first-class bicycle, even if any genius had in- 

 vented it, except at a cost of several hundred pounds. 

 The combination of strength, accuracy, and lightness 

 would not then have been attainable. It is a very inter- 

 esting fact that three out of the four methods of rapid 



