234 ^-^^ POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



locomotive was furnislied with an armor in the shape of the raking 

 cow-catcher or the plow-shaped pilot to remove from the track logs, 

 cattle, or whatever else might be found upon it ; with a head-light to 

 illuminate the track ; with a bell to give warning at road-crossings 

 and places where the public were exposed to danger ; and with a 

 spark-catcher, required by the former universal use of wood as fuel 

 for the furnace. In this manner the physiognomy of the American 

 locomotive was the outgrowth of the novel physical and geographical 

 conditions of the new continent. 



With these and other studies conducted in a similar spirit, of 

 the problems which the geographical configuration of each country 

 imposes upon its railway service, and the means which it permits or 

 indicates for attaining a solution of them, Herr von Weber has under- 

 taken to lay a scientific basis for his observations on the physiognomy 

 of the railway systems among the principal civilized nations. He also 

 offers some remarks on the special aspects of the service in different 

 states ; and in this category he has not omitted to indicate a geo- 

 graphical influence in points the determination of which would be 

 regarded as wholly casual were not the evidence on the other side 

 so strong. The traveler on the English railways must have remarked 

 the quiet and self-suflicient manner in which every person, from the 

 train-master, or conductor, to the porter, performs his duties ; it is 

 pleasant to have these observations not only confirmed but also shown 

 to be the sign of just that which ought to be, by a writer who is an 

 authority on the art of traveling. The English railway service owes 

 its " physiognomy " to two circumstances : first, to the fact that Eng- 

 land is the native country of the railway, in which the very people 

 among whom the new institution grew up were intrusted with its 

 working, and furnished a personal service " to the manor born " ; and, 

 secondly, to the purely mercantile character which, by the natural 

 features and situation of the island, the railway administration is able 

 to maintain. The business at an English railway-station is done in 

 the same style as in an old mercantile house, where, instead of special 

 directions having to be given all the time, it is understood by every 

 one that he knows what his duties are and how he is expected to per- 

 form them. The case is different in Germany, where the railway sys- 

 tem was transplanted already made, and it was necessary to create a 

 personal service, and where the configuration of the boundaries had its 

 influence, not only on the laying out of the lines, but also on the whole 

 system of administration. It would not have been possible to secure 

 certainty in the management if there had not been at hand a host of 

 officers trained under military discipline, who, unqualified to act freely, 

 knew well how to obey. An English engineer has described as the 

 basis of the German service intelligent command and strict obedience. 

 English management expects its subordinates to be intelligent enough 

 to do the right thing without a special order. " If we should charac- 



