Wheels with Broad Felloes. 675 



in which one can judge of the elegance of its form. 

 Besides, I am of the opinion that the shape of wheels 

 with broad felloes is more noble and beautiful than 

 that of ordinary wheels ; and that a painter of good 

 taste would give it the preference, if he were about 

 to introduce a chariot or a modern carriage into a 

 large painting. 



Some persons have supposed that wheels with broad 

 felloes must be harder to draw than ordinary wheels, on 

 unpaved roads, especially in mud, on account of their 

 greater adhesion to the road ; but the resistance due to 

 the adhesion which one body experiences in rolling on 

 another is always so inconsiderable that, in the case in 

 question, the supposed difference would be altogether 

 insensible. The resistance arising from the friction of 

 two bodies sliding one over the other is an altogether 

 different affair ; but I have already shown that the 

 broad wheels slide less on the road than the narrow 

 ones. 



Others have supposed that broad wheels must take 

 up more mud than narrow ones : but this supposition 

 is scarcely better founded than the preceding one ; for 

 the quantity of mud that a wheel can take up must be 

 in proportion to the amount of surface by which it 

 comes in contact with the mud. Now, the broader the 

 felloes of a wheel, the less it sinks into the mud : con- 

 sequently, a broad wheel ought not to come in contact 

 with the mud by a larger surface than a narrow wheel 

 does ; it is even very probable that the surface of con- 

 tact is smaller. 



As to the advantage of wheels with large felloes on 

 the score of economy, they ought assuredly to be supe- 

 rior to the old style of wheels ; for, although they may 



