Literature.

British pluck and sense determined to test the scientific pundit ' s assertion ; the consequence being that the Great Western at once led the van of a continually increasing lino of ocean steamers , ivhich has rendered a voyage to New York in our time less eventful , and moro punctual as to arrival , than a journey to Berlin in the zenith of the learned doctor ' s fame .

While gas , railways , and ocean steamers were as yet things of tho future , a discovery had been made and tested equal in importance , there is hardly room to doubt , to any of these . This was the applicability of steam instead of horse-power on common roads . More than a hundred years ago , the first carriage to try the experiment was constructed by a Frenchman named Cugnofc , since which time

many able engineers havo employed their best energies to perfect the idea . Numerous have been the designs from which these carriages have been built , and frequent the experiments by ivhich to satisfy tho public of their utility . Though scarcely one of the various inventors has incurred the reproach of a failure , while the success of tho greater number has been convincing and remarkable , yet , strango

to say , men in authority , corporations , and other persons of influence , have from time to time , opposed the introduction of this undoubted public improvement , and with too much success . Again and again projectors have brought forward r-iriations of tho same great scheme , to meet with similar defeat and mortification . But though prejudice , bigotry , and selfishness have not ceased to do their worstthe importance

, of the matter has not been lost sight of by thinking men , and protests have been from time to time put forth against burking the project . The question has been again taken up and most ably discussed by Bro . Young in the volume before us , whicli is one of the most interesting treatises upon a purely scientific subject which we have over met with . The ¦ author is deeply impressed with the importance of his

subject , and has looked at it in ahnosfc every point of view ; ifc is studded thickly with tables , plans , and statistics for the hungry philosopher , while the most desultory reader may find much ii : ifc not onl y of information , bufc also of interest and amusement . Our brother commences hy adverting to the increased attention which is now given to the substitution of steam for horse-power , both for transport on common roads and for

farming operations . He proceeds to notice the various experiments which havo been made with a view to this end , with tho reasons for their want of success , and for steam -traction not being in general use . Ho also carefully considers the two systems of " concentrating" and " distributing" the weight ; giving of course the preference to the latter with regard to the transport of heavy loads ,

-though a comparatively small speed is attained in thafc way . Boydcll ' s traction engine , with endless train , appears to _ b ' c the most perfect example yet pi-oduced of judicious distribution of weight over a large surface . Beginning at the beginning , Bro . Young devotes a chapter to tlie history of transport and roads , and thoir influence upon industry and civilisationillustrated by what has been

, done in England and on tho continent , by tho wretched condition of Spain , and by a sketch of tho resources in India which might bo developed by these means . Tho admirable roads of fche Romans , which have never been surpassed in firmness of construction , have lasted in many places for fifteen centuries , without entirely giving way to tho ravages of time and weatherand are no less remarkable ' for

, "fche unbroken lines of communication which they formed , than for tho excellence of thoir construction . Barbarism rapidly increased its power on the- departure of the Romans from this country , and then roads fell speedily into neglect . Through succeeding , ages trifling amendments were made from time to time in the means ¦ an d aids to transport but tho place of tho great

; Roman road-makers was never effectually filled until the genius of M'Adam supplied this country with the magnificent turnpike roads ivhich bear his name . Canals next come under notice , an interesting sketch of thoir history being given , ivith a glance at their commercial capabilities ; the factbeing pointed out that this mode of transport is not susceptible of any particular improvement—at any rate , nofc such :-. s would be necessary to meet the requirements ofthe present day .

The chapter devoted to railroads is tho most interesting , perhaps , to the general reader , and is written in the agreeable narrative style which the contributors to Household Words have rendered so popular and have brought so largely into vogue . Bro . Young gives tho history of railroads in Britain and their promoters , from "Master Beaumont , a gentleman of great ingenuity and rare parts , " in 1649 , down

to Hudson , " fche Yorkshire tape measurer , " whoso smiles were courted by the proudest poors in the land . There is an interesting sketch of the career of Thomas Gray , tho railway prophet-, who , as early as 1816 , put forth the doctrine of travelling by steam on railways , and superseding horses . In 1820 , the Edinburgh Bcuiciv examined his scheme and his books with a critical eye , and with astonishing acumen

pronounced him to be a lunatic , and only fit to bo shut up in Bedlam—a tribute to his genius which delighted Gray , who anticipated success from that moment . That success was fated to enrich others—nofc himself . In 1826 the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Bill was carried , and the line commenced , to be followed by a host of others in different parts of the kingdom . The work of railway extension has

continued to the present day , ivith results of the utmost importance to the nation ; bufc for more than a quarter of a century Gray was doomed to sou his own ideas ancl suggestions adopted , and other men enriched bv them , while

ho himself was neglected and left fco pine in miserable poverty . Ifc may , indeed , be considered as no more than characteristic of the manner in which railway enterprise has hitherto been carried out , that one who had done so much for them should receive such a reward ; for railway making , as our author observes , has given rise to such conduct and revelations as havo caused tho honour and

integrity of . Englishmen to appear in anything but a favourable light ., The author gives some excellent reasons why those gigantic English railways do not pay , from the Great AVestcrn ( with its shares afc thirty per cent , discount ) , downwards . This he considers is not owing to fche great value of land so much as to the extravagant costliness and magnificence of tho

works , ancl above all , to our defective system of railway legislation . The proportionate cost of railways is taking England as 4 ; Prance , 3 ; Germany , 2 ; America , ! . Branch lines in England , instead of proving " feeders" to the trunk line , are too frequently " suckers , " tending to diminish profits ; while all tho trunk lines , with their branches , still leave many extensive districts totally unprovided with

accommodation . The ruinous opposition of rival main lines with their branches swell the general loss , and yet leave the railway system as a whole , limited , exceptional , and incomplete . Looking afc the railway mania of 184-5 , Bro . Young says : —

" The waste of capital directly and indirectly in the formation ol railways has been estimated at not less than £ 12 , 000 , 000 ! apart from the loss which has been incurred in the support of unsuccessful Jiills , and the maintenance of unsuccessful opposition . This sum ivould have been sufficient to construct a railway six hundred miles long , at the rate of £ 20 , 000 a mile ; while the interest which has to be paid by the public in the increased cost of existing lines amounts , at 5 per cent ., fo £ 000 , 000 .

" Ot the cost of projects ivhich were ultimately unsuccessful , a single illustration may be given . In the celebrated battle of the Stour and Rugby Ilailway , the inquiry continued during sixty-six sitting days , from 1 ' ebruai'y to August , 1839 , and having been renewed in tlie following year , the Bill ivas finally defeated at an expense to its promoters of iCl-16 , 000 1 " To show what advantage the " gentlemen learned in the law " obtained from this state of affairsit is mentioned that the bill of

, the solicitor of a certain line leading out of London , contained ten thousand folios , occupied twelve months in taxation before tho master , and amounted to the exceedingly modest sum of £ 210 , 000 ! "Another company had to light so hard for their Dill that they found , when at length they reached the last stage , thafc of receiving the lioyal assent , that their preliminary undertakings had cost nearly lialf-a million of money ! and that before a single yard of line had been , or could be constructed . "

The actual dishonesty ( indeed , flagrant robbery it may be called ) which existed in tho management of many of these schemes is touched upon with no light hand , and the objects of railroad " cookery " are very fairly and wittily shown up : —