9 6 HER OES OF INVENTION AND DISCO VER V. 



each, and each waggon may be loaded with different kinds of 

 goods to suit the traffic on the line. 



" If we compare the railway with the best lines of common 

 road, it may be fairly stated that in the case of a level railway 

 the work will be increased in at least an eightfold degree. The 

 best horse is sufficiently loaded with three-quarters of a ton on 

 a common road, from the undulating line of its draught, while 

 on a railway it is calculated that a horse will easily draw a load 

 of ten tons. At Lord Elgin's works, Mr. Stephenson, the cele- 

 brated engineer, states that he has actually seen a horse draw 

 twenty-three tons thirteen cwt. upon a railway, which was in 

 some parts level, and at others presented a gentle declivity ! 



" The formation of a railway, if it creates no improvement in 

 a country, certainly bars none, as all the former modes of com- 

 munication remain unimpaired ; and the public obtain, at the 

 risk of the subscribers, another and better mode of carriage, 

 which it will always be to the interest of the proprietors to make 

 cheap and serviceable to the community. 



" On undertakings of this kind, when compared with canals, 

 the advantages of which (where an extensive traffic on the 

 ascending or descending line can be obtained) are nearly equal, 

 it may be remarked that public opinion is not easily changed 

 on any subject It requires the experience of many years, 

 sometimes ages, to accomplish this, even in cases which by 

 some may be deemed obvious. Such is the effect of habit, and 

 such the aversion of mankind to anything like innovation or 

 change. Although this is often regretted, yet, if the principle 

 be investigated in all its ramifications, it will jjerhaps be found 

 to be one of the most fortunate dispositions of the human mind. 



" The discovery of the cast-iron railway is comparatively of 

 recent date. It is not only intimately connected with inland 



