same distance is now performed by the locomotive in as many hours; and instead of leaving Salford for Liverpool at seven in the morning, and dining at Warrington in order to appease our hunger on the way, we can leave the same place at the same time, aul arrive at Liverpool in time for an early breakfast. Things common, although absolutely necessary to our existence or well-being, are by the great majority little thought of, and apparently as little cared for; hence the absence of knowledge by so many of the magnitude of our railway system and engineering progress. In December, 1856 we had 8,708 miles of railway opened in the United Kingdom. In the six months previous to the 31st of December, there travelled on those rails 71,091,075 passengers; the total number of miles traversed amounted to 1021,784,747; there were also 17,487 holders of season tickets. Parcels conveyed, 4,546,021. Number of carriages, 27,602. Horses, 115,611, and of dogs, 164,429. There was also conveyed in the same time, 12,011,473 tons of general merchandise; and 21,801,482 tons of minerals, 1,050,622 head of cattle, 3,926,203 sheep, and 667,583 pigs. There were 946,664 passenger trains; the number of miles traversed by which amount respectively to 21,523,329 and 18,582,138. The gross total receipts from all sources of traffic on the railways of the United Kingdom during the half-year was £12,383,741, viz: £5,648,255 (3,583 excess fares) from passengers of all classes; £438,579 from luggage, parcels, carriages, horses, and dogs; £3,897,574 from general merchandise; £934,475 for minerals; and £255,823 from live stock, cattle, sheep, and pigs; and I may further say that it is estimated that the mechanical trades have, through the intervention of steam, given us nearly 1 million horses' power on our railways alone, saying nothing of the immense number sent to various parts of the world.

In 1856 out of 125,000,000 human beings who
were conveyed on our railways, only 8 were killed
and 282 wounded by causes beyond their own control.
Have we not cause to be thankful for so efficient and
safe a conveyance?

Mr. Edward Corderoy states that as nearly as can
be computed, the sum total of the Railways in
Europe is as follows:-

TOTALS..

1,010,000,000 53,147 | 24,469 || 77,616

If we take Mr. Robert Stephenson's estimate that

ths of an engine per mile of railway is required for

working the same, the number of locomotive engines we should, and probably have

In Europe...
In the World

15,140 33,216

I may observe in reference to another very important application of the steam-engine, viz:-the propulsion of vessels on water, which has completely revolutionised our former system of mercantile navigation, that in 1787, William Symington, Engineer, of Falkirk, a man of great practical attainments, employed and encouraged by Mr. Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton, fitted up a steam-engine with cylinders of brass 4 inches diameter, and fixed the same in a small pleasure-boat on Dalswinton lake; the first trial was a successful one, and for a number of weeks Miller and his numerous visitors were much delighted with it, and from its performance, Mr. Miller had the satisfactory assurance of the correctness of his former ideas of the possibility of applying steampower to the propulsion of his vessels. On the approach of winter, the machinery was removed from the boat, and placed in the library of Mr. Miller, where it is still preserved by his family as a monument of the earliest instance of navigation by steam in Great Britain. The following year a larger boat of 60 feet long was built and tried on the Forth and Clyde canal; the engines were made at the Carron Iron-works; and in December, 1789, after some breakages, on account of the lightness of its timbers, and repairs having been made, on the 25th of the same month it was again put in motion, and made way at the rate of seven miles an hour, without accident; but on account of the machinery being too heavy for the vessel, Mr. Miller gave orders for the removal of the same.

In 1801 Symington was engaged by Lord Dundas of Kerse, to go through a series of experiments, the result of which was the building of a steam-boat, the engine of which had a cylinder of 22 inches

diameter, and 4 feet stroke. Having previously made various experiments, in March, 1802, the first trial was made on the Forth and Clyde canal. The steam-boat took in tow two loaded boats of 70 tons burthen each, and with much ease went 19 miles in 6 hours, with a strong breeze right-a-head. Of this boat, the following appeared in the Falkirk Herald a few days ago—" Grangemouth.-Discovery of the hull of a steam-boat. The excavation for extending the Junction basin proceeds as well as could be expected. In looking at the operations, we were surprised to observe the workmen employed removing the stuff from what appeared to us a vessel, and on enquiry we were told it was the remains of the Experiment, the old ballast boat, and formerly the first steam-boat built by the late Mr. Symington, engineer, of Falkirk, in which an engine was placed as a propelling power for steam navigation, and successfully tried on the Forth and Clyde canal in 1801, but afterwards interdicted by the Canal Company on account of the surge injuring the banks. Previous to the vessel being submerged in the former Grangeburn above twenty years ago, several bits of its timbers were sent to London and elsewhere, and no doubt converted into snuff-boxes and other nicknacks. The timbers are as fresh as ever, although darker in colour." From this time some years passed away before steam vessels were brought to a state of much usefulness.

Robert Fulton, of America, made considerable progress in steam navigation; he studied the subject fully, and ultimately wrote to Boulton and Watt, in this country, ordering engines with cylinders of 2 feet diameter, and 4 feet stroke, and afterwards came to England, had an interview with Symington, and gathered all the information possible, returned to America in 1806, and completed his steam-boat, the Clermont, of 160 tons burthen, in 1807, which made her first voyage from New York to Albany, a

distance of 150 miles, without accident, and attained ■ speed of five miles an hour. After this time, rapid progress was made both in Great Britain and America, which contributed largely to their mutual prosperity. In 1812 the steam-boat, Comet, was tried on the River Clyde, by Mr. Henry Bell, to whom this country is much indebted for his unceasing perseverance in the useful application of steam as a propelling power to vessels. The Comet plied between Glasgow and Greenock with ultimate success. Many very important alterations took place, not only in the steam-engine, but in the construction of the vessels for which they were intended, and as they had hitherto only been used for river and coasting purposes, these improvements established the practicability of their extended use at sea.

In 1816 steamers began to ply between Holyhead and Dublin, which is one of the earliest applications of steam navigation to sea voyages. At the annual meeting of the British Association, held in Liverpool, in September, 1837, the possibility of crossing the Atlantic by steamers was discussed, and the idea opposed by many scientific men, amongst whom Dr. Lardner was most conspicuous: he in his argument taking his data from the performance of the Medea, the best of the government steamers, and believing no doubt, that no superior vessel could be made, contended that no steamer could carry the necessary quantity of coal for a voyage of 3,200 miles, the distance from England to the United States; others however were sanguine of success.

On the 4th of April, 1838, the Sirius, Captain Roberts, left Cork at 10 a.m. She was seen on the 14th, having encountered heavy weather, and made only 110 miles per day, and was 1,620 miles from New York. No further intelligence was received respecting her until the 18th of May, when she arrived safely at Falmouth, bringing the news that she had made the voyage from Cork to New York