INTRODUCTION. IN offering these pages to the Public, little explanation is perhaps necessary; the acknowledged importance of Rail-road conveyance, and the intense anxiety existing in the public mind, respecting the relative value of Canals and Rail-roads, as species of internal communication, render any information concerning them of interest; and, if that information is founded on the result of experiments performed on a working scale, it is conceived that, whether they tend towards establishing the one system or the other, they will be equally entitled to attention. The want of practical information on the subject of Rail-roads, has been much lamented; detached observations and opinions have at times been circulated, but little has been done towards the exhibition of the subject in a systematic manner.—The want of experiments on the friction of carriages, the want of detailed observations on the performance of horses, and of other kinds of motive power, have alike been the subject of regret among those interested in such enquiries; and little more than mere conjecture has transpired in the writings of all those who have not been more immediately concerned in the practical application of this mode of convey ance. In attempting to supply these defects, considering the importance of the subject, some apology may be necessary; but in giving the result of facts, which have come under my knowledge in the course of professional practice, and also of several experiments made with the express view of obtaining the requisite information; it is trusted, that it will be a sufficient excuse for any errors, when it is considered, that the path is almost an unbeaten one, and that little, except general observations, has hitherto been published. The greatest care has been used in the prosecution of the different experiments, and the most minute details are given, in order that the reader may be able to judge of the credit to which they are entitled'; my object has been to furnish practical data on the subject, and in doing so, not to assume any theory, or deduce any proposition, which is not supported by experiment; and if, in doing this, I have rendered the work less suited to the taste of general readers, or have fallen into prolixity in the description of the details; I trust that it will be attributed to my desire of rendering the subject clear and familiar to the capacity of every one, whether acquainted or unacquainted with the technical phraseology of the enquiry. It would be too much for me to assume that I have supplied all the information of which the subject is susceptible; on the contrary, I wish it to be understood, that what is herein contained must be considered only as an approximation. It will be sufficient, if what I have done be of use in the practical elucidation of this species of internal communication, and serviceable in establishing a more correct judgment of its nature and utility. I shall, therefore, without further comment, proceed to give an outline of the nature of the work; and, in doing so, will point out some omissions, which want of time and opportunity have obliged me for the present to postpone. CHAPTER I.-Contains an introduction on the history of the various species of internal communication, with their successive and several transitions into the present modes. CHAPTER II.—Comprehends an historical account of the introduction of Rail-roads, with a description of their gradual improvement from wooden to cast. and |