RAILWAY ACCIDENT. 147 



the famous philosophical system of Bacon will be to a 

 certain extent superseded, and when instead of arriving at 

 a discovery by induction from experiment, we shall obtain 

 our largest accession of new facts by reasoning deductively 

 from fundamental principles." 



Joule was in London in 1855, an d again early in 1856. 

 On May 25, 1857, he had another visit from Sir William; 

 and on the 30th, Joule and his brother went with Sir 

 William and Mr. Crum to Liverpool to inspect the Atlantic 

 cable. 



In November, 1857, Joule was elected on the Council of 

 the Royal Society, which caused him to make frequent 

 visits to London. 



On February 3, 1858, he was invited by Scott Russell 

 to inspect Brunei's plan for launching the Great Eastern, 

 when he had lunch with the Duke of Argyll and his little 

 son, the Marquis of Lome ; and on his return wrote a letter 

 in the Courier (January 22) on "A Stranded Leviathan." 



He was at Glasgow, February 27, and at Peterborough, 

 March 15, observing the annular eclipse of the sun. On 

 May 6, he was again in London, returning on the 10th, 

 when he encountered an incident, of which his brother gives 

 the following account : — 



11 10th May, 1858. I went to London Road Station to 

 meet James. I had long to wait. He left London by the 

 London and North-Western train at 9 a.m. Near Nun- 

 eaton he noticed a rapid diminution of speed, which was 

 quickly followed by a crash, and his carriage went over 

 on one side. He scrambled out and found that the carriage, 

 which on starting was fourth from the engine, was now the 

 first. The accident was caused by a cow which had 

 strayed on the line. The engine which remained on the 



