INTRODUCTION 



marily to locomotives and steamships, for bringing all 

 essential food-stuffs from distant regions. 



What this all means when applied on a larger scale 

 may be suggested by the reflection that the entire 

 character of the occupation of the average resident of 

 England has been changed within a century. A century 

 ago England was a self-supporting nation, in the sense 

 that it produced its own food-stuffs. To-day the popu- 

 lation of England as a whole is dependent upon food 

 shipped to it from across the oceans. Obviously such 

 a transformation could never have been effected had 

 not the application of steam revolutionized the entire 

 character of transportation. 



Far-reaching as are the economic aspects of the prob- 

 lem of transportation, this extraordinary revolution, 

 the effects of which are visible on every side, has been 

 brought about by the application of only a few types of 

 mechanisms. The steam engine, the dynamo, and the 

 gas engine are substantially responsible for the entire 

 development in question. In the succeeding pages, 

 which deal with the development of steamships, loco- 

 motives, automobiles, and flying machines, we have 

 to do with the application of principles with which our 

 previous studies have made us familiar; and in par- 

 ticular with the mechanisms that have engaged our 

 attention in the preceding volume. Yet the applica- 

 tion of these principles and the utilization of these 

 mechanisms gave full opportunity for the exercise of 

 inventive ingenuity, and the story of the development 

 of steamships, locomotives, electric vehicles, automo- 

 biles, gyro cars, and flying machines, will be found to 



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