March 24, 1882.] 



• KNOVVTLEDGE 



451 



great advantage the machine possesses is that it can be steered by 

 either or both hands, and having a chain to cacli wheel, it is a 

 Irue duuble-drii:er. In most of the opcu-fronted, rear-stccring 

 machiucs there is a tendency, when travelling down-hill, from the 

 weight of the rider being in front, for the liind wheel to leave the 

 ground. When this is the case, the power of steering is lost just 

 when it is most wanted. 



The Monarch I liave selected for its originality, good workman- 

 ship, portability, and lightness. These good qualities are obtained 

 by dispensing witli all levers, chains, cog-wheels, or other gearing. 

 The pedals are in tliL' form of a stirrup, and are hung on the 

 cranks. 



There are no more bearings in the Monarch than there are in a 

 bicycle, and all bearings are ball bearings. The brake acts on both 

 wheels, and it is a true double-driver. It would be better if the 

 bruko acted on the hubs of the wheels, or on drums, instead of on 

 the tires, and sonic persons would prefer the machine if the wheels 

 could bo made larger than forty inches, but small wheels are 

 stronger, safer, and lighter than lai-ge ones, and a machine with 

 small wheels can be driven much easier than one with large ones 

 against that bugbear of tricyclists, a strong head wind. 



The National Tricycle I mentioned for its lightness and excel- 

 lent workmanship, but the lightness seems to have been exagge- 

 rated, for a macluno which was supposed to weigh 65 lbs. proves to 

 weigh 80 lbs. 



The Improved Omnicycle solves in the best manner yet contrived 

 the application of speed-changing gear to a tricycle. It gives the 

 rider a command of thiee different speeds, which can be changed 

 without stopping the machine. The gearing is strong, and is not 

 likely to get out of order. It seems to me probable that the power 

 of applying changeable gearing to a tricycle, so as to adapt it to the 

 varying inclinations of the road or their condition, will, when the 

 machine has been perfected, cause it to be generally preferred for 

 road-riding, or at least for touring, to the bicycle. 



In my former paper I have described the Humber tricycle, a'nd 

 spoken of it a.'; the fastest machine yet made. I have, therefore, 

 been asked if I strongly recommend this machine. 1 reply that 1 

 do for speed, but I think this has been gained at a sacrifice of 

 comfort, and, to a certain extent, of safety. The Humber has no 

 foot rests, and this greatly detracts from the comfort and safety of 

 ) the rider when running downhill. 



The new Rotary Coventry has the chain in the centre. It is one 

 of the lightest machines made. The throw of the cranks can be 

 altered at pleasure. It makes only two tracks, is an open-fronted 

 machine, has ball-bearings to all parts, and is the most perfect of 

 all machines in steering. This is due to the fact that it is steered 

 by means of two wheels, which are moved by one rod in opposite 

 directions. 



The machine can be turned round in a circle one foot less than 

 its own length. None of our fastest riders have ridden the Coventry 

 Eotary in races. If they would do so, I think the machine would 

 prove among the fastest machines made, probably coming verj- close 

 to, and possibly equalling the Humber. The Coventry Rotary is an 

 excellent luggage carrier, one of the most important advantages 

 that can be possessed by a tricycle. 



Scarcely a day passes without my being asked : " Which is the 

 best tricycle ? " It would be about as easy to answer another 

 question. " What is the best thing to have for dinner ? " So much 

 in this case would depend upon the eater, and in the first case 

 on the rider. Still a few hints may guide intending riders in the 

 choice of a machine. 



For a man about 9 stone I would recemmeud a special Salvo, with 

 46-in. driving-wheels, geared down to 10, if the country is hilly ; 

 or, perhaps better still, a Monarch, with 36-in. driving-wheels. A 

 ridor who wishes to obtain speed apart from other considerations, 

 should select from the Humber, the Premier, or the Rucker, the 

 last being probably the best of the three, because it is a true double- 

 diiver, and has a double break. For hill riding the Humber, the 

 geared-down Devon, the improved Oninicycle, or the Rucker are 

 all good. For a very heavy man the Salvo, with 48-in. wheels and 

 1-in. tires, is excellent, and so would be many other machines, if the 

 makers were asked to make them equally strong for a specially heavy 

 rider. 



THE DUCHESS OF CONXAUGHT'S ILLNESS. 



n^UE Lancet publishes the "result of an inquirj- into the sanitary 

 X condition of the Duke of Connaught's house at Bagshot-park. 

 Dr. W. S. Playfair states that he wTites this notice at the suggestion 

 of the Duke of Connaught, as a matter of general interest to the 

 meilical profession, and in the hope that this instance of the danger 

 which may arise from faulty construction and workmanship in the 

 system of drainage may direct attention to the paramount im- 



portance of questions of this kind. These defects are believed to 

 have led directly to the Duchess of Connaught's late serious illness, 

 from which she is now happily entirely convalescent. It appears 

 that the present house at I3agshot-park is not that long 

 occupied by the late Sir James Clark, but an entirely new 

 building, recently erected at a cost of from £30,000 to £'W,000. 

 Considerable pains were taken in the arrangement and venti- 

 lation of the drains, but not only was the system adopted in 

 itself defective ; the work was in many instances so carelessly car- 

 ried out that it is surprising that in this new and costly mansion 

 graver results did not follow. As a matter of fact, offensive smells 

 had long been perceived about the house, but no one suspected their 

 origin, or realised the danger they were likely to cause. Many of the 

 inmates, however, had suffered from various forms of indisposition, 

 such as sore throat, diarrhoea, and a general senso of heaviness and 

 mafaise, and those generally affected new-comers. About a fort- 

 night after the accouchement of her Royal Highness the Duchess 

 of Connaught, symptoms ominous of blood-poisoning presented 

 themselves. Happily these were promptly recognised by Dr. 

 Playfair, who has bestowed especial attention on the treatment 

 of the puerperal state, and the only efficient means of cure was 

 adopted, namely, instant removal. It is, however, with the cause 

 of the perilous occurrence of incipient blood-poisoning that Dr. 

 Playfair's statement is chiefly concerned. It may at first sight 

 seem incredible, but it is the fact tint the elaborately con- 

 structed system of baths, drains, and waste-pipes communicated 

 directly with the soil drains of the building, and by a Machia- 

 vellian poUcy, which would appear to be the pastime of 

 modern builders, pipes which ought to have been stopped 

 were left open, and the poisonous gas which rises from foecal 

 accumulations was actually conducted, in sundry ingenious and 

 wonderful ways, into the very apartments it was particularly 

 desired to preserve from possible infection. The professedly 

 "sanitary" constructors are, if possible, the least to be trusted. It 

 would seem to be the common practice of these remarkable persons 

 to ventilate the house-drains, and therefore, of course, the sewers 

 generally, into bedrooms. We are repeatedly hearing of this piece 

 of wantonness. Probably, in six cases out of ten the waste-pipes 

 of baths and cisterns, which are never cleared by a current of 

 water, except at the rare moment when a bath or cistern ** runs 

 over," communicate directly with a soil-jiipe. It is well that 

 the opportunity offered by this important instance of a wide-spread 

 peril has been so ably utilised. The state of affairs at Bagshot, 

 which Dr. Playfair has been not merely permitted, but commissioned, 

 t© disclose, may be taken as typical of that which prevails probably 

 throughout the class of modern and what are misleadingly called 

 sanitary houses. Dr. Playfair says he has long been satisfied that sani- 

 tary defects have often much to do with grave forms of illness after 

 child-birth, the origin of which illness cannot otherwise be traced. 

 He mentions two or three cases in which exposure to sewer-gas, as 

 he believes, caused puerperal disease ; they were cured by removal. 

 Fortunately, in the ease of the Duchess of Connaught, her symp- 

 toms did not commence for more than a fortnight after her confine- 

 ment ; and her removal, too, was immediately followed by a most 

 remarkable and instmctive change for the better. 



Viviseltiox. — It is the notion of such absolute despotism as shall 

 j\istify, not merely taking life, but converting the entire existence 

 of the animal into a misfortune, which we denounce as a brutal 

 misconception of the relations between the higher and the lower 

 creatures, and an utter anachronism in the present stage of human 

 moral feeling. A hundred years ago, had physiologists frankly 

 avowed that they recognised no claims on the part of the brutes 

 which should stop them from torturing them, they would have been 

 only on the level of their contemporaries. But to-day they arc 

 behind the age ; ay, sixty years behind the legislature and the por i- 

 Irish gentleman who "ruled the houseless wilds of Connemara. ' 

 and had the glory of giving his name to Martin's Act. How their 

 claim for a "free vivisecting table" may be looked back upon a 

 century to come we may perhaps foretell with no great chance of 

 error. In his last book, published ten years ago. Sir Arthur Helps 

 wrote those memorable words : " It appears to mo that the advance- 

 ment ef the world is to be measured by the increase of humanity 



and the decrease of cruelty I am convinced that if an 



historian were to sum the gains and losses of the world at the close 

 of each recorded century, there might be much which was retro- 

 grade in other aspects of human life and conduct, but nothing coiUd 

 show a backward course in humanity " (pp. 195, l!t6). As I have 

 said ere now, the battle of Mercy, like that of Freedom, 

 once begun, 

 Though often lost, is always won. 

 — Miss F. P. Cobbe, in the Comhill Mayazine. 



