1865.] Tyleb on Circulation and Communication on Railways. 583 



publique, une satisfaction aussi peu dispendieuse, et inviter les com- 

 pagnies a, installer immediatement, dans toutes les cloisons, une ou 

 deux glaces dormantes, ayant un minimuni m. 10 de haut, sur m. 

 25 de large, placees inimediatement au-dessous des filets a. menus 

 bagages et pouvant etre recouvertes de chaque cote par une piece 

 d'etoffe mobile." And in reference to tbeir proposals tbat the companies 

 "fussent invitees a. pratiquer dans le delai de six mois, dans les comparti- 

 ments de premiere et de deuxieme classe, des ouvertures fermees par 

 une glace transparente et placees au-dessus des filets a bagages ; " and 

 tbat a means of communication between the guard and tbe engine- 

 driver should be obligatory " toutes les fois que la composition des 

 trains ne s'y opposerait pas," — M. de Janze remarks, " Ces demandes 

 £taient modestes, et le senat, comme le corps legislatif, ont chaque 

 annee appele l'attention du Gouvernement sur la nt$cessite de donner 

 satisfaction aux legitimes exigences du public. 



" Cependant les compartiments sont encore aujourd'hui ce qu'ils 

 e'taient il y a cinq ans, ou des cabinets particuliers, ou des cellules 

 matelasses, etouffant les cris de douleur et d'agonie." 



But, in truth, the transparency of the partition affords no remedy 

 at all for the worst evil — the isolation of the carriages. These 

 portions of glass only afford a more or less perfect means of seeing 

 into an adjoining compartment ; and they are rendered useless, either 

 by a curtain drawn across them, or for a whole carriage composed of 

 three compartments, when the centre compartment happens to be 

 empty. They might possibly afford some deterrent protection against 

 insult or outrage, but they would be of no use in case of accident. 

 They would be least agreeable to passengers in long journeys, where 

 protection is most called for, and would afford no means in general of 

 attracting attention from the servants of the company. Even if glass 

 were similarly inserted in the ends of the carriages, and poles were 

 provided to attract attention by rapping from one to another, a 

 luggage compartment, or an empty carriage, or a truck, might still 

 be the means of cutting off communication. 



The next requirement, either with or without a system of circula- 

 tion, is a ready means of calling the attention of the servants of the 

 company in any case of necessity. One difficulty which presents 

 itself at first sight, and which has been put forward by the French 

 Commission, and felt strongly by the sub-committee of the Clearing 

 House, is in effect that communication without circulation is compara- 

 tively useless. The French Commission say, for instance, " Mais une 

 reflexion qui n'a pas ete assez faite, et qui domine evidemment toute 

 la question, c'est qu'avant de donner au voyageur le moyen d'appeler 

 a lui les agents du train, il faut d'abord donner a ces agents le moyen 

 de se rendre aupres du voyageur, car on ne peut raisonnablement 

 admettre qu'on arrete le train au premier signal emanant d'un com- 

 partiment. II nous semble done tout-a-fait premature de mettre les 

 voyageurs en relation avec les agents du convoi, tant qu'on n'aura 

 pas resolu la question du controle de route." The sub-committee of 

 1853 state, " When discussing and weighing the inferences naturally 

 deducible from the facts and information which it had collected, the 



