MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
159 
INTERNAL COMMUNICATION. 
Under the above title, we offered to our 
readers in our last issue a plan for the 
construction of a cheap railway, for horse 
traction. It was soon after demonstrated 
to us, that the plan we suggested had been 
anticipated, and patented in England. 
Under these circumstances, although we 
tenaciously maintain, that the scheme was 
our own unaided invention, we felt it to'be 
our duty to disclaim the merit of having 
been the first to suggest it, and accordingly 
published a letter to that effect in the 
Sydney Morning Herald of December 26th, 
1857. As many of our readers may not 
have observed it in that journal, and may 
still attribute a larger share of merit than 
property belongs to us, we feel it to be 
also our duty to state the fact in the same 
pages in which the article first appeared. 
On reference to the plan that appeared 
in our last issue, and comparing it with 
the extract which follows, it will be seen 
that it is nearly identical in all respects. 
The description will be found In “ He¬ 
bert's Engineers and Mechanics’ Cyclopoe- 
dia, vol. 2, pp. 425. 
We now introduce to the reader an entirely different 
description of railway conveyance, invented by Mr. H. K, 
Palmer, at present the Engineer to the London Bock 
Company, and which was patented by him on the 22nd of 
November, 1821. Instead of two lines of rail laid upon 
the ground as heretofore, Mr. Palmer’s railway consists of 
only one, which is elevated on pillars and carried in a 
straight line across the country hoirever undulating and 
rugged, over hills, valleys, brooks, and rivers: the pillars 
being longer or shorter to suit the height of the rail above 
the surface of the ground, so as to preserve the line of rail 
always straight^ whether the plane be horizontal or 
Inclined, The waggons or receptacles for the goods travel I 
in pairs : one of a pair being suspended on one side of the I 
rail and the other on the opposite side, like panniers ' 
from the hack of ahorse. By this arrangement, only 
two wheels,, instead of eight, are employed to convey a 
pair of waggons. The two wheels are placed one before 
the other on the rail, and the axletrees on which they 
revolve are made of sufficient length and strength to form 
extended arms of support, to which are suspended the 
waggons or receptacles, on each side of the rail, t/& centre 
of gravity being always bdow the surface of the rail. 
Although an equal distribution of the weight on both 
sides is desirable, it is not necessary. A number of 
carriages are linked together, and towed along the rail by 
a horse, as barges on a cabal. Owing to the undulation of 
the country, the horse will sometimes be much below the 
rail, in consequence of which he is provided with a sufli- 
cent length of rope to preserve a proper angle of draught . 5 ’ 
Here follow a whole series of plans of sectiuns, with a view 
of railway in operation, and it is further stated that 
line of railway on this principle was erected in 1825, at 
Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire, chiefly for conveying .bricks I 
from that town across the marshes for shipment in the i 
river Lea. By this rail, in the level, one horse seemed to I 
be capable of drawing, at the usual pace., about fourteen 
tons, including the carriage.” Tim writer goes on to say 
that the eminent Mr. Tredgohl, ki whose opinion in these 
matters will be ever entitled to attentive consideration, 
expressed himself very favourably to this invention. “ We 
No. 8. Jan. 1858. 1 
expect,” says Trcdgold, 4t that this single railroad will be 
found far superior to any other for the conveyance of the 
mails and those light carriages of which speed is the- 
principal object, because we are satisfied that a road for 
such carriages must be raised, so as to be free from the 
interruptions and crossings of an ordinary railway.” 
After this corcrfboration of the practica¬ 
bility of our plan, we have no hesitation 
in urging its adoption on the government 
of the country. The necessity is urgent, 
and the remedy is rapid of accomplish¬ 
ment, and cheap in execution. 
We have been promised the assistance 
of practical engineers to make out a de¬ 
tailed estimate of the expense at which a 
railway on this principle could ho con¬ 
structed, In our next issue this shall 
appear, together with engravings of the 
plans, sections, and elevation, as designed 
by the original patentee. The plan has 
now excited considerable attention, mid 
has secured the favourable consideration of 
several scientific gentlemen, under whose 
auspices, we believe, experiments will he 
made. 
THE RIVERS OF AUSTRALIA. 
We are indebted to Mr.F. S.Feppercorne, 
C.E., for the following interesting paper 
on the rivers of this colony. 
The rivers of Australia are amongst the most interest¬ 
ing features of this vast country : they are the reser¬ 
voirs in which is stored the superabundant moisture 
which supplies nutriment to the herbage and richness 
to the soil. 
Tiio most eminent explorers, as Mitchell, Streleski, 
and Leichhardt, all dwell with pleasure on tho invalu¬ 
able and, for the most part, unfailing streams found in 
Victoria, in Gipps’ Land, and in the country to the 
north of Moreton Bay. 
An opinion, however, seems to prevail in some quar¬ 
ters that .the colony is destitute of navigable rivers, and 
it has oven bcoD stated at a meeting of "the Philosophi¬ 
cal Society of New South Wales, that “ there is no 
river in New South Wales of sufficient capacity to ihat 
a canoe!” J 
That this statement is totally at variance with truth 
appears at once, by reference "to the known fact, that 
tho Murray (including the lakes) is navigable for 
nearly 2000 miles, 1000 of which are inclnded within 
the boundaries of New South Wales. Its affluenfs, tho 
Edwards, the V akool, &c., arc navigable for 400 miles. 
Tlie Murrnmbid^eo, with its lakes Ganga, Lila, Wal- 
dcira, Ac., is navigable for 1000 miles, and the Darling 
[ is navigable for 800 miles. Thus making no less than 
I 1,200 miles of navigable rivors in a single district of 
Australia! 
By reference also to tbe Table of P.ivers which ac- 
companies this paper, it will be soon that there are uo 
less than 2G rivers which empty themselves into the 
Pacific, to the south of Moreton Bay, a great number of 
which are capable of being navigated by steamers and 
vessels of considerable tonnage. 
It is no doabt true that many of these rivets have 
1 ‘ bats’ at their embouchures; and when rivers arc de¬ 
scribed as having at their mouths bars, some persons 
may think that, owing to this cause, they are unim¬ 
portant, and unfit even to float a canoe. "But if they 
advert to the numerous bar-liacbours on the British and 
