[November, 
684 Analyses of Books, 
muscles weary ; so that after the effort I am unfitted for any 
mental work until recruited by a long rest.” Such inconve- 
niences after travelling the same distance on a tricycle Dr. Rich- 
ardson does not feel, but, on the contrary, is “ agreeably refreshed 
and ready for study or other mental occupation.” 
After this comparison, unfavourable to man’s natural locomo- 
tive organs, he goes on to show the physical advantages of 
“ cycling,” to defend it against objeCtors, and to record the per- 
formances of various persons with the two- or the three-wheeled 
machine. At last we come to the pith of the matter. The sug- 
gestion the author has to offer is “ that the ladies and gentlemen 
who at this time are making cycling a pastime should form 
themselves into an association for collecting various kinds of 
information while they are carrying on their excursions in this 
and in other countries.” He suggests the organisation of such 
a Society, and its division into four sections, — an archaeological, 
a geographical, a natural-historical, and a mechanical. The 
members of the Society are to colleCt information under these 
heads, to hand it for collation to local offices, whence it is to be 
transmitted to the head-quarters of the Society. 
We will now endeavour to form an estimate of the feasibility 
of this startling proposal. It strikes us that the cyclist moves 
to.o fast for anything like a close observation of Nature, whilst, 
however skilful and experienced he may be, some portion of his 
attention will be drawn off to the management of his machine. 
Again, he is almost exclusively confined to the main roads : the 
woodland paths, the mountain declivities, the precipitous river- 
banks, the marshes, and peat-moors, where respectively the 
botanist, the entomologist, the mineralogist, &c., find their best 
harvests, must be for him forbidden ground. Or if he leaves his 
“cycle” on the road, and goes on foot into the thickets and 
among the rocks to make the explorations, he will be continually 
under the necessity of coming back to his mechanical roadster. 
Hence he will find himself at a heavy disadvantage as compared 
with the pedestrian. 
But possibly Dr. Richardson may mean that the cyclist is 
merely to travel down by machine to some central spot, take up 
his quarters there, and explore the neighbourhood on foot. This, 
of course, will be perfectly feasible, and the tourist will then be 
in no worse and no better a position than if he had come from 
home by train or by ship. 
It must also be remembered that — at least as far as Natural 
History and Archaeology are concerned — that minute exploration 
which Dr. Richardson thinks his associated cyclists might effeCt, 
is being already done by local societies. These bodies are now 
numerous, earnest, and disposed to co-operate with each other. 
They are making minute examinations of the florae and the faunae 
of their respective districts, and noting down the geological 
features. In France, and still more in Germany, the same work 
