CONTENTS. vi 



PACK 



9. Example illustrating this. 10. Necessary data given in 

 official reports. 11. Reports of 1847-8 and 1850-51. 12. 

 Total mileage of passengers in these intervals. 13. Computation 

 of the risk to life and limb in a journey of given length. 14. 

 Tabular statement. 15. Analysis of its results. 16. Classi- 

 fication of accidents in relation to their causes. 17. The greatest 

 disasters arise from imprudence. 18. Accidents to railway 

 servants. 19. No progress observable in railway safety. 20. 

 Accidents on foreign railways Risk on Belgian lines. 21. Acci- 

 dents on French railways. 22. Contrasted with accidents by 

 stage coaches in and near Paris. 23. Frequent departures, great 

 expedition, and numerous stoppages create danger of collision. 

 24. Liability to collision with express trains. 25. Accidents by 

 escaping rails. 26. Neglect of points and switches. 27. Analy- 

 tical table of proportion of causes of accidents in 100 cases. 28. 

 Number of brakes. 29. Greater number of brakes necessary 

 with fast trains.- -30. Danger of bringing trains to rest too 

 suddenly. 31. Danger of reversing action of engine. 32. Fog 

 signals. 33. Consequences of collision aggravated by manner of 

 connecting vehicles. 34. Derailment of carriages . . . 161 



CHAP. II. 1. Necessity of adopting means of watching trains. 

 2. Proposals of Great Western. 3. Of the North-Western. 

 4. Merit of engine-drivers. 5. Example in the accident on the 

 Dee. 6. Investigation of circumstances producing accidents, 

 arising from imprudence or want of vigilance or care. 7. In- 

 stances from reports of railway commissioners. 8. Analysis of 

 100 accidents produced by imprudence of passengers. 9. Pre- 

 cautions against accidents. 10. Plain rules fo: railway travellers 

 to avoid accidents. 11. Not to get in or out while moving. 

 12. Not to take an unusual position. 13. Stay in your place. 

 14. Don't get out on wrong side. 15. Don't cross the line. 

 16. Avoid going in express trains. 17. Avoid special and ex- 

 cursion trains. 18. In case of accident, get out. 19. Don't 

 attempt to recover a falling article. 20. Take the middle 

 carriage. 21. Don't hand an article into a train in motion. 

 22. Don't sit in your private carriage. 23. Anecdote of Lady 

 Zetland. 24. Beware of level crossings. 25. Avoid night rail- 

 way travelling 177 



LIGHT. 



Description of eye, and mode in which light is transmitted to it 

 Ways in which objects are rendered visible. 2. Analogy between 

 the eye and the organ of smelling. 3. Analogy between the eye 

 and the ear. 4. Luminiferous ether. 5. Corpuscular theory 

 Undulatory theory. 6. Dndulatory theory explained and examined 

 Roemer's discovery of the velocity of light Newton's solution 

 of the amplitude or breadth of the luminous waves Altitude of 

 luminous waves Table of the magnitudes of the luminous waves 

 of each colour. 7. Consideration of the two theories of light. 



