636 REPORT—1883. 
assisted during a long illness in carrying out his work by the talent, industry, and 
energy of his wife, who acquired theoretical and practical knowledge enough to aid 
in seeing that her husband’s design was properly carried out. I think this example 
is not unworthy of mention here, as honourable to the individual woman, to the 
energetic nation to which she belongs, and to the better half of the human race. 
The previous meetings of the British Association have been held in places pos- 
sessing very varied characteristics; but in none in which the pursuits of science 
could be undertaken under more pleasing circumstances than in Southport, with 
which I have been acquainted for a good many years. 
It is customary for the President of each Section to begin the session by giving 
an introductory address, I propose, with your kind indulgence, to offer some brief 
remarks, as far as possible free from technical language, on a subject which is 
familiar to my own mind, and within my own experience, during a period now 
approaching half a century, that is: The growth of mechanical appliances for the 
construction and working of railways and docks. 
The railway of the present day is in principle what it was at the outset; but 
it differs in detail from the original railway as much, or more than the skewer 
which fastened the dresses of the ladies of Elizabeth’s time, from the pin of 
the present day, or the carpets of this era from the rush-strewn floors of that. 
The progress has been gradual, but not slow. From the opening of the first rail- 
way to the present date is only a period of about sixty years, and in that short 
time Great Britain and Ireland, the continent of Europe, America, North and 
South, India, Australia, and Africa, have been pretty well supplied with railway 
lines, more and more perfect in construction, and in a degree more or less suitable 
to the needs of their populations. 
The growth of the railway line from a mere plank of wood or iron plate, to a 
rail laid on stone or wooden sleepers ; from the rail with a flange, to the smooth rail 
and the flanged wheel, were early and important, but now almost forgotten steps 
in the progress of the railway system. The substitution of the flanged wheel for 
the flanged rail was an organic change which has been the forerunner of the great 
results accomplished in modern travelling by railway. You may easily imagine 
the condition to which our railways would be reduced if they were constructed on 
the principle of street tramways; how they would be obstructed by slight impedi- 
ments, and how difficult the construction of junctions would be rendered, by con- 
sidering how the speed and convenience of railway travelling would have been 
retarded if it had not early been discovered that the rail should be lifted clear of 
the ground, and the guide put upon the wheel instead of the rail. 
After the flange had been abolished from the rail, the form of the rail itself 
took a good while to settle; and even now there is no universal form of rail, 
though in this country and in our colonies the double-headed rail generally pre- 
vails, and on the Continent the flat-footed or Vignoles rail. At the outset the 
yail was a mere bar of cast iron, with a surface sufficient for the wheels to roll on, 
and with a rib deep enough to give strength to sustain the load. Cast-iron chairs 
were used to hold the rail in position ; and as, owing to the nature of the material 
employed, these chairs were frequently injured, the first efforts for the improvement 
of the rail were directed to dispensing with the chairs. But the forms of rail 
introduced for this purpose did not effect their object, for practical reasons which it 
is not necessary here to go into. Mr. Locke introduced the double-headed rail, 
the ends of which were at first made to rest in the chair; but the effect of this 
plan was found to be that the rails were speedily worn at the ends, and they had 
to be replaced. The fish-plate was introduced to remedy this defect. The fish- 
plate was a great improvement in the permanent way of railways. It consists, as 
you are aware, of two plates of iron placed on each side in the hollow of the 
rail immediately under the head, the plates being held together by bolts passing 
through them and through the rail, the bolts being screwed up tight to the rail 
at the joint by nuts. The effect is to make the rails as nearly continuous as is 
practically possible. 
About thirty years ago, when the traffic on railways had been very largely 
developed, the parts of the permanent way which had at first been thought likely 
