246 llMEHRI. 



FASHIONABLE AND HEALTHFUL EXERCISES. 

 Received by the Elizabeth from Liverpool, and for Sale 

 by the Subscriber. 

 The Velocipede ; or Swift Walker. — This truly 

 original Machine is the invention of Baron CHARLES DE 

 Drais, Master of the Woods and Forests of H.S.H., the 

 Grand Duke of Baden ; the account given by the inventor 

 of its Nature and Properties is : 



1. That on a well-maintained post road it will travel 

 up hill as fast as an a6live man can walk. 



2. On a plain even after a heavy rain, it will go six 

 or seven miles an hour, which is as swift as a courier. 



3. When roads are dry and firm, it runs on a plain at 

 the rate of eight or nine miles an hour, which is equal to 

 a horse's gallop. 



4. On a descent it equals a horse at full speed. 



Its theory is founded on the application of a wheel to 

 the a6tion of a man in walking. With respe6l to the 

 economy of power, this invention may be compared to 

 the very ancient one of carriages. As a horse draws, in 

 a well constructed carriage, both the carriage and its 

 load much easier than he could carry the load alone on 

 his back ; so a man condufts, by means of the Veloci- 

 pede, his body easier than if he had its whole weight to 

 support on his feet. It is equally incontestible, that the 

 Velocipede, as it makes but one impression or rut, may 

 always be directed on the best part of the road. On a 

 hard road the rapidity of the Velocipede resembles that 

 of an expert skaiter ; as the principles of the two motions 

 are the same. In truth, it runs a considerable dis- 

 tance while the rider is ina6tive. and with the same 

 rapidity as when his feet, are in motion ; and in a descent 



