March 23, 1883.] 



KNOWLEDGE • 



177 



not to run down steep hills at a greater speed than from 

 ten to twelve miles an hour, while those who ride frout- 

 steerers consider it safe to rush down hills at any pace. 

 I can assert, both from my own experience and that of my 

 friends, that it is not so. 



One reason why rear-steering machines have fallen back 

 in public favour has been that they were none of them 

 double-drivers from one chain-gearing. Of course, a main 

 axle running right across the machine is inadmissible. 

 This year Rucker has introduced two rear-steerers with 

 double-driving balance gearings of good promise, which are 

 attached entirely to the cranks. 



One of the most original tricycles brought forward this 

 year is the " Quadrant," by Lloyd Brothers. This machine 

 is a rear-steerer, with the steering-wheel nearly as large as 

 the driving-wheels. The three wheels are arranged with 

 their axles nearly in the form of an equilateral triangle, 

 and the rider sits about the centre of the triangle. His 

 weight in this position not being directly over either of the 

 wheels, he experiences the minimum of vibration when 

 travelling over a rough load. The large steering-wheel 

 will pass over a brick with less jar to the rider than he 

 would experience if the small wheel of a front>steering 

 machine came in contact with a stone one or two inches in 

 diameter. A small steering-wheel often skids, and so 

 makes the steering uncertain, and this skidding frequently 

 drags the tire ofl' the wheel 



It is a great pleasure to note the numerous thoughtful 

 contrivances in this machine. The machine is a perfect 

 double-driver by means of a patent clutch. It has a 

 double-band brake' acting simultaneously on both driving- 

 wheels. This brake is so arranged that it can be kept on 

 at full power with the pressure of a single finger. Foot- 

 rests are provided, but the feet may remain stationary on 

 the pedals at pleasure. This leads to a great saving of 

 power, as riders often keep on driving down hill when the 

 machine would run alone quicker than they are driving it. 

 They simply cannot move their feet as fast as the pedals 

 will run. 



Tlie saddle is adjustable in every direction. The handles 

 are also adjustable. No spanner is required to clamp these 

 parts when they are adjusted, and the weight of any rider 

 would not shift them once they are set. I expect to hear a 

 good deal more of this excellent machine, as it is a most 

 valuable addition to our list of trustworthy rear-steerers. 



I would venture to suggest to the makers that they 

 would do well to make their small machine, which has 

 40-in. driving-v/heels, lighter, when ordered by light riders, 

 and gear the wheels up if speed is required. Such a 

 machine need not necessarily weigh more than SO lb. 



Some of my tricycling friends have asked me why I 

 devote so much space to rear-steering machines 1 I reply, 

 because I believe that they are right in principle, and it is 

 only in details they have l>een wrong. A very thoughtful 

 rider, to whom I made a similar remark a few days since, 

 replied, " Certainly ; if not, we ought to take all our 

 horses out of our vehicles and harness them with their 

 heads in the shafts so that they should push the vehicles 

 along instead of pulling them." 



The rider of a front-steering tricycle pushes the greater 

 portion of his machine along Ijefore him. The rider of a 

 rear-steerer pulls the greater portion of his machine along 

 behind liim. On a rough road, just where a rider wants 

 all his power, the front-steerer, then, is at a great disad- 

 vantage, as the small steering-wheel is pushed against 

 every obstacle, insteatl of being pulled, over it, at the same 

 time, a much greater amount of vibration is communicated 

 to the rider. Front-steering machines should have the 

 steering-wheel about a foot more in advance of the machine 



than tliey are made at present ; they resemble a boat « ith 

 the rudder in the bow, and as now made in short turns on 

 a rough road they do not answer their helm properly. 



Many subscribers to K.M>WLEDr;E have written me 

 privately, asking me to tell them which is the best tricycle. 

 I regret that it is impossible for me to give them this in- 

 formation. There is at present no such machine. I can 

 tell them which is the fastest machine, which is the safest 

 machine, which is a good hill-climber, which is the best for 

 a rough road ; but they will not find .I'i tliesegood qualities 

 combined in any one machine, nor will the same machine 

 suit a very heavy man and a very light one, even for the 

 same roada In my articles on tricycles I have tried to 

 indicate the strong points of each machine, and I am sure, 

 if my readers will look over them again, bearing in mind 

 what 1 have just said, they will be able to select the 

 machine best suited to their own special requirements. 



PRAYER AND WEATHER. 



By Richard A. Proctor. 



A CORRESPONDENT submitted to me a paragraph 

 relating to prayers for better weather. He asked 

 the purely scientific question whether I supposed the 

 weather would be affected by such prayers. To this I 

 replied. Quite a number of correspondents have objected, 

 apparently labouring under the truly absurd delusion that 

 the question is a religious one. They ought to see that 

 meteorology is a scientific subject, though, as the Director 

 of our Meteorological Observatory points out in his 

 recently-issued work, it has scarcely yet developed into a 

 science. If science understood meteorology as well as it 

 understands the movements of the heavenly bodies, it 

 could have told the President of tlie Wesleyan Conference 

 whether the weather he wanted was due or the reverse, 

 and wfii/ ; so that, supposing, in accordance with natural 

 laws it would continue without the desired change, he 

 might either have seen the propriety of ceasing to pray, or, 

 if he went on, have known precisely where the order of 

 nature would require to be interrupted in order to produce 

 the desired change. 



But for this ignorance prayer for a change of weather 

 would be seen to be much like prayer for or against an 

 eclipse. The savage who sees the sun apparently encroached 

 upon, or — as he thinks — devoured, prays lustily that the 

 destruction of the great luminary may be prevented. He 

 would doubtless regard an astronomer who should tell him 

 that the sun would disappear in a little while, let him pray 

 his hardest, as a very wicked person. One who was not 

 quite so well informed as the astronomer, but not 

 quite so ignorant as the savage, might not know 

 how near the eclipse would be to totality, yet would 

 see the absurdity of praying for what he knew to 

 be a natural phenomenon. He would reason that, if the 

 eclipse was not going to be total, prayer that it might not 

 be so was unnecessary ; and if it was going to be total, 

 such prayer must be useless, unless a miracle was to be 

 performed in response to it. The meteorologist of to day 

 is in somewhat the position of our supposed middle-man — 

 he knows the progress of a bad season is a natural phe- 

 nomenon, and that to pray for any change, however 

 desirable the change may be, is to pray for what is either 

 bound to happen (soon enough to be of use) or bound not 

 to happen, unless a miracle is prayed for. 



But then, say some, the weather may be changed in 

 response to prayer, not by controlment of the laws of 

 nature, but by means of them. Let them try to think 



