TKANSACTIONS OF SECTION 0. 865 



But the most wonderful increase to the locomotive power of man on land is 

 obtained by the use of the modei-n cycle. Cycling is easily performed only where 

 roads, wind, and weather are favourable. But similar conditions must also be 

 present to secure the best speed of horses, with which we have been making com- 

 parison. One mile has been cycled at the rate of 27*1 miles per hour,' 50 at 20,'^ 

 100 at 16-6;- 383 at 12-5,3 ^nd 900 at 12-43 ' miles per hour. 



The recent race bstween German and Austrian cavalry officers on the high 

 road between Vienna and Berlin has afforded an excellent opportunity to judge 

 of the speed and endurance of horses as compared with men over long distances. 

 Count Starhemberg, the winner, performed the distance, about 388 miles, in 71-33 

 hours, equal to 5-4o miles per hour. He rested only one hour in twelve. His 

 horse, though successful, has since died.* 



Lawrence Fletcher cycled, also along the high roads, from Land's End to 

 John o' Groat's house, 900 miles, in 72-4 hours, equal to 12-43 miles per hour, 

 or more than double the distance that the Count rode, and at above double the 

 speed. To the best of my knowledge he still lives, and is no worse for his effort. 

 The horse in this case would have to carry extra weight equal to one-sixth of his 

 own, and the cyclist equal to a quarter of his own. But the horse carried him- 

 self and his rider on his own legs, while the cyclist made his machine bear the 

 weight of itself and rider. Herein was probably the secret of his easy victory. 



With the very remarkable exception of long-distance cycling, which is of 

 limited application, man, relying on his own bodily strength, cannot successfully 

 compete with other animals which, like the horse, are specially fitted for rapid 

 land locomotion. His only alternatives are either to utilise tlie horse and ride 

 or drive him, and so get the benefit of his superior strength and speed, or to use 

 his own inventive faculty and construct appliances altogether apart from animal 

 mechanisms. In either case he virtually gives up the contest as a self-moving 

 animal, and to a great extent abandons himself to be carried by others or by 

 inanimate machinery. 



Nearly seventy years ago mankind came to this conclusion, and the modern 

 railway system is the result. The locomotive will go at least double the speed of 

 the racehorse. It will carry not only itself but three or four times its own 

 weight in addition, and will go not 2 or 3, but 100 miles or more without 

 stopping, if only the road ahead be clear. And the iron horse is fed and controlled 

 without even so much exertion as that put forth by a man on a horse of flesh and 

 bone. 



Locomotion in Water. — Let us now consider the powers of man relatively to 

 other animals in moving upon and through the great waters with which three- 

 fourths of the earth's surface is covered. Here he is in competition with fishes, 

 aquatic mammals, and swimming birds. 



I have already stated that, unaided by mechanism, he has shown himself able 

 to swim for short distances at the rate of 3, and long distances (22 miles) at the 

 rate of I mile per hour. He has also given instances of being able to remain 

 under water for 44 minutes.^ 



Credible eye-witnesses inform me that porpoises easily overtake and keep pace 

 with a steamer going 12i knots, or, say, over 14 miles per hour, for an indefinite 

 length of time. This is five and fifteen times the maximum swimming speed of a 

 man for short and long distances respectively. No doubt the form and surface of 

 a fish whose main business is swimming offer less resistance, and his muscular 

 power is more concentrated and better applied towards propulsion in water than 

 is the case with man, whose body is also adapted for so many other purposes. 



I am further informed by Mr. Nelson, of Redcar, a naturalist who has made 

 the experiment, that it is impossible for an ordinary sea-boat, rowed by two men 

 and going at 5 miles per hour, to overtake the aquatic bird called the Great 

 Northern Diver when endeavouring to make his escape by alternately swimming 



' IVhitaker's Almanaek, 1893. ^ Chambers's Encyclopo'dia , ' Crcling.' 



» Times, Sept. 26 to Oct. 7, 1892. * Vienna-Berlin Race, June 1893. 



' Whitalter's Alma'tack, 1893. 



1893. 3 K 



