1 74 Miscellanies. 



health has been enjoyed during the year ; at no one period could it 

 be said of Savannah, it was unhealthy. It may also be stated, that 

 for the last four years, no city at the south, and perhaps few, if any, 

 in any part of the whole U. States, has been blessed with more health. 

 No prevailing sickness has appeared for this period of time. 

 Chatham Academy, Savannah, Geo. June 28, 1834. 



11. ^ Treatise upon Elemental Locomotion, hy means of steam 

 carriages, vpon common roads, London, 1832; and Journal of Ele- 

 mental Locomotion; by Alexander Gordon, Esq. Civil Engineer. 

 No one can peruse these works without being pleased with the forci- 

 ble manner in which the author has set forth the advantages of apply- 

 ing steam power to the purposes of conveyance upon common roads. 

 He seems fully aware of the obstacles which prejudice or individual 

 interest would oppose, and with no inconsiderable talent and philan- 

 thropic feeling he grapples with them, until they are entirely de- 

 molished. _ 



The changes which he proposes to effect, by the substitution of 

 steam for animal power, are very extensive, and if realized, they 

 may produce the most beneficial results to society. The work con« 

 tains an account of the progress of improvement in the use of steam, 

 and the construction of steam engines and carriages ; the importance 

 of a rapid and cheap inland communication, in its bearing upon the 

 commercial, moral and agricultural interests, and to many branches 

 of national industry ; the means of accomplishing this, with a great 

 economy of time and an increase of power, at a much less expense. 

 He proves that the plan proposed will dispense with the use of two 

 millions of horses, and while it prevents cruelty to the brute creation 

 and the degradation which inflicts it, he calculates there will be a 

 saving of grain sufficient for the support of eight millions of people. 

 His conclusions are mostly the result of calculation or actual experi- 

 ment. Several journeys, for trial, were made, and the practicability 

 of the scheme has been fully proved by " the running of a carriage, 

 four times a day, (Sundays excepted.) between Gloucester and 

 Cheltenham, for four months, and over nearly four thousand miles 

 of ground, without a single accident, during which period it carried 

 upwards of three thousand passengers, at one half the expense of 

 four-horse coaches." The subject was fully investigated by a select 

 committee of the House of Commons, and their very favorable re- 

 port, together with all the testimony adduced before them, is con- 

 tained in this work. 



