CONSTRUCTION OF COACHES. 91 



received a good deal of attention, not only as re- 

 garded the ease and comfort of the travellers, but as 

 facilitating the draught and getting the coach over 

 all obstructions, preservation of the roads, safety 

 of the goods conveyed, and duration of the carriages. 

 The advantage of springs was said to be equal to 

 one horse in four — by no means inconsiderable, and 

 showing that the interior of the old mail-coach could 

 not have been a very comfortable place for a long 

 journey. I cannot do better than give an account of 

 it by a gentleman who, from his minute details, must, 

 I think, have gained his knowledge from practical 

 experience. He said : 



'Much requires to be done to improve the mail- 

 coaches so as to render them less fatiguing to 

 travellers going long distances. The whole weight of 

 a traveller's body is supported on the projecting bones 

 at the root of the spinal column, which itself is 

 unsupported throughout its whole length, as from 

 the perpendicular back given to the seats the 

 shoulder-blades are the only parts of the body which 

 can touch them. If in the new coaches the seats 

 should be of the breadth proposed, and if they are 

 made one and a half inches higher in front than 

 at the back, then the whole of the thigh will 

 find support, and by the action of its muscles 

 much relief will be given to the other parts. A 



