THE RAILWAY SYSTEM COAL, STEAM, AND IRON. 



83 



undertaken in the year 1586, 

 the day lor raising the obelisk 

 was marked with great solemnity. 

 High mass was celebrated at St. 

 Peter's, and the architect and 

 workmen received the benediction 

 of the Pope. The blast of a trum- 

 pet was the given signal, when 

 nes were set in motion by an 

 incredible number of horses ; but 

 not until after fifty-two unsuccess- 

 ful attempts had been made was 

 the huge block lifted from the 

 earth. As the ropes which held 

 it had somewhat stretched, the 

 base of the obelisk could not reach 

 the summit of the pedestal, when 

 a man in the crowd cried out, 

 " Wet the ropes /" This advice was 

 followed, and the column, as of it- 

 self, gradually rose to the required 

 height, and was placed upright on 

 the pedestal prepared for it. 



THE RAILWAY SYSTEM COAL, 

 STEAM, AND IRON. 



Coal, steam, and iron, are the 

 threefold power which has created 

 the vast system of railways. It 

 has, chiefly in England and Scot- 

 land, and betwixt the years 1843 

 and 1849, increased the number of 

 miles of railway previously con- 

 structed from 1857 to 5000 miles; 

 and the year 1848 conveyed from 

 one part of the kingdom to an- 

 other 67,965,000 passengers, and 

 expended on these works the enor- 

 mous sum of 200,000,000, double 

 the amount being required in 

 order to complete the existing and 

 the contemplated lines. Miss Mar- 

 tiueau, after travelling in the 

 East, and seeing the Pyramids of 

 Egypt, in the account of her jour- 

 ney, expressed regret that the art 

 by which the stones of these im- 

 mense structures were elevated is 

 lost. An engineer, in reference 

 to this regret, sent a letter to the 

 Times, stating, in effect, that he, or 

 any engineer of the day, would 

 have no objection to undertake the 



and erection 



of a pyramid equal to the 

 largest and the loftiest in Egypt. 

 To show that this is no idle boast, 

 the following facts may be men- 

 tioned : According to ancient au- 

 thors, betwixt 100,000 and 300,000 

 men were engaged for twenty years 

 in building the great Pyramid of 

 Egypt, at an expenditure of labour 

 which has been estimated as equal 

 to lifting fifteen thousand seven 

 hundred and thirty-three millions 

 (15,733,000,000) of cubicfeet of stone 

 one foot high. From a computation 

 by M. Dupin, it appears that the 

 steam-engines of England would 

 equal the whole product of this 

 immense application of human la- 

 bour, in lifting stones, within the 

 short space of eighteen hours. In 

 the construction of the southern 

 division of the London and North 

 Western Railway, the labour, as 

 estimated in the same manner, is 

 twenty- five thousand millions 

 (25,000,000,000) of cubic feet of 

 similar material lifted to the same 

 height, being 9,267,000,000 (nine 

 thousand two hundred and sixty- 

 seven millions) more than was lifted 

 for the Pyramids, and 'yet the Eng- 

 lish work was performed by about 

 20,000 men, in less than five years. 

 According to another calculation, 

 illustrating the enormous extent of 

 these works, called into existence 

 by the united influence of iron 

 coal, and steam, in making tho 

 division of railway just referred 

 to, and which is 112 miles in 

 length, as much earth was re- 

 moved as would form a footpath 

 a foot high and a yard broad, 

 round the whole circumference of 

 the earth ; the cost of this divi- 

 sion of the railway in penny pieces, 

 being sufficient to form a copper 

 kerb or edge to it. When the 

 train has been connected, consist- 

 ing of passenger-carriages, luggage- 

 vans, horse-boxes, carriage-trucks, 

 and, as on the leading English lines, 

 a travelling post-office the loco- 



