THE CONQUEST OF TIME AND SPACE 



taking a ** header" on encountering any obstacle in 

 the road was one that seemed to the average person to 

 out-measure the pleasure or benefit to be derived from 

 rapid transit thus attained. The safety bicycle, how- 

 ever, practically ehminated this danger. It was, 

 moreover, comparatively easy to balance ; and not long 

 after its introduction in perfected form, with pneu- 

 matic tires, it had made an appeal to which all the 

 world responded. For a few years the safety bicycle" 

 was the most conspicuous of vehicles on every country 

 road, and partisans of outdoor life believed that the 

 health and stamina of the generation were to be in- 

 creased immensely by the new vehicle. 



Nor were these anticipations altogether visionary, 

 as undoubtedly, the bicycle did do much to improve the 

 average health of nearly all classes of citizens. But its 

 popularity was too suddenly acquired to be permanent, 

 and at the very moment when it was most used, another 

 vehicle was suddenly developed which was to lead to 

 its practical abandonment by the great mass of people 

 for whom it might have been supposed to afford a means 

 of permanent recreation. 



THE COMING OF THE AUTOMOBn.E 



The vehicle that effected this sudden eclipse of the 

 bicycle is, as everyone knows, that form of power- 

 driven carriage known in England as the motor car, 

 and in France and America as the automobile. The 

 first form of this vehicle to gain popularity was a tri- 

 cycle driven by a small steam motor. But almost 



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