v CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



CHAP. II. 1. Inland steam navigation. 2. Table of sea-going steam- 

 ships. 3. Towing river steamers. 4. Water goods train. 5. 

 Commencement of railways. 6. Average cost of construction to 

 1849. 7. Tabular statement of the railways to 1851. 8. Their 

 distribution and general direction. 9. New England lines. 10. 

 New York lines. 11. New York and Philadelphia. 12 Penn- 

 sylvania lines. 13. Great celerity of construction tabular 

 statement. 14. Extent of lines open and in progress in 1853. 

 15. Their distribution among the States. 16. Average cost 

 of construction. 17. Railways in central States. 18. General 

 summary. 19. Causes of the low comparative cost of construc- 

 tion. 20. Method of crossing rivers. 21. Modes of construction 

 rails and curves. 22. Engines. 23. Greater solidity of con- 

 struction recently practised. 24. Railway carriages. 25. Ex- 

 pedient for passing curves 33 



CHAP. III. 1. Railways carried to centre of cities Mode of turning 

 corners of streets. 2. Accidents rare. 3. Philadelphia and 

 Pittsburgh line. 4. Extent and returns of railways. 5. Traffic 

 returns. 6. Western lines. Transport of agricultural produce. 

 7. Prodigious rapidity of progress. 8. Extent of common 

 roads. 9. Railways chiefly single lines. 10. Organisation of 

 companies and acts of incorporation. 11. Extent of railways in 

 proportion to population. 12. Great advantages of facility of 

 inland transport in the United States. 13. Passengers not 

 classed. 14. Recent report on the financial condition of the 

 United States railways. 15. Table of traffic returns on New 

 England lines. 16. Cuban railways. 17. Recapitulation . 19 



COMETARY INFLUENCES. 



CHAP. I. 1. Popular tendency to connect terrestrial events with 

 celestial phenomena. 2. Popular opinions as to influences of 

 Comets. 3. Explanation of Comets, their nature attractions 

 their shape, volume, and mass tails density non-luminous. 

 4. Question discussed as to a Comet encountering the Earth, 

 and the result Comet of 1832, of 1805 Probabilities of such 

 an occurrence. 5. Question discussed as to the temperature of 

 the seasons being aifected by Comets. 6. Question discussed as 

 to the Earth passing through the tail of a Comet, and the 

 probable consequences. 7. Suppositions adopted by some authors 

 as to Comets producing epidemic diseases Comet of 1680 Great 

 Plague of London Comet of 1668 alleged to have produced a 

 remarkable epidemic among cats in Westphalia. 8. Comet of 

 1746 Earthquakes of Lima and Callao ascribed to it. 9. 

 Various influences ascribed to particular Comets Earthquakes 

 Plagues the success of the Turks under Mahomined II. .65 



CHAP. II. 10. The birth and death of heroes, &c. 11. Questions 

 discussed as to whether the dry fog of 1783 or that of 1831 was 

 produced by the immersion of the Earth in the tail of a Comet. 

 12. Influences of atmospheric disturbances and currents in 



