xiv Presidenfs Address for the year 1887. 



An excellent Encyclopaedia in the University Library, 

 bearing date 1828, speaks of the locomotive engine as a 

 slow clumsy machine, quite in the experimental stage, and 

 of which the utmost that could be hoped, was that it might 

 possibly replace horses in the laborious operation of moving 

 heavy merchandise and minerals, while the writer becomes 

 quite scornful at the expense of certain foolish enthusiasts 

 who imagined that a future greatly improved locomotive 

 might come into competition with that grand old British 

 institution — the stage coach. But a year later it was 

 demonstrated to the British public by actual trial, that it 

 was possible to convey passengers with comfort and safety, 

 at the incredible speed of 20 miles per hour, or twice as 

 fast as swift coaches on the best roads. That day con- 

 stituted the real birthday of the vast passenger railway 

 system of the world. For some years, however, progress 

 was not very rapid. The engines were small and feeble, 

 and capable of attaining a fair speed and carrying a payable 

 load on very level railways only. By 1837, however, the 

 weight of engines had advanced to about half of that of the 

 average locomotive of the present day, while the proportions 

 and details of the machine were gradually being assimilated 

 to those with which we are familiar. As the locomotive 

 improved in power and efficiency, so railways, though at 

 first confined to level districts, before long extended into 

 hilly and even mountainous parts, needing steep grades, and 

 curves of a sharpness at first deemed impracticable ; the 

 speed also increased, until the public, who had been at first 

 incredulous as to the modest rate of 20 miles per hour, began 

 to complain as to the tardiness of trains travelling at double 

 that pace. It will thus be seen, that railways may not 

 unreasonably be regarded as having passed out of the 

 experimental stage and commenced to assume their present 

 position of commercial and social importance at a date roughly 

 approximating with Her Majesty's accession to the throne. 



At that time the mileage of British railways was only 200, 

 while now it is not far short of 20,000, while in other lands 

 the total length of lines, of which hardly any existed in 



