Stone tramways have occasionally been ap plied to common roads with great advantage. They consist of wheel-tracks formed of large blocks of stone, usually granite, over which the wheels roll smoothly, while. there is an intermediate broken stone road for the horses. Iron tramways are sometimes used for a simi lar purpose. The saving of horselabour by these tramways is remarkable. Sir John Mac neill stated in 1830 :—" If a tramway were con structed of iron plates the whole way from Leedt to Birmingham, a coach carrying six teen passengers might be drawn at the rate of ten miles an hour with only two horses ; and one horse would be able to draw a post-chaise more easily than two now can." The pavements of towns require a different mode of construction from the roads of open districts. They must afford the means of sweeping or cleaning, and there must be pave ments besides those which are traversed by vehicles. Of the granite paving, the wood paving, the asphaltic paving, the inhabitants of London have had abundant means of forming a judgment within the last few years, for they have been renewed and repaired to a weari some degree.
It is supposed by many persons, that if stone or iron tramways were laid down, locomotives on common roads would have had much more success than has hitherto attended them. Such locomotives have been constructed in considerable variety within the last thirty years; but although mechanically correct in principle they have not come into use—owing partly to the imperfect state of the roads. The
public journals have recently noticed a new road-locomotive at St. Etienne, in France, which excited much attention on its first ap pearance. It was invented by M. Verpilleux. On its first journey it went through all the streets of the town with the greatest facility, under the most perfect control of the man sitting in front, turning it to the right or left, or sending it baeltward or forward, as he pleased. Two cabriolets, filled with some of the friends of the inventor, were attached to the carriage, as was afterwards a heavy cart of coals. The carriage weighs two tons, and is of four horse power. It runs on three wheels, and its speed is 10 English miles an hour. Its consumption of coke per hour is from 20 to 25 kilogrammes. It had left the same morning Rive-de-Gier, and arrived at St. Eti enne by the old Sorbiers road, which is badly kept and full of ruts. The carriage, however, did not suffer. A new vehicle on the same principle, but of a 12-horse power, is now in course of construction: it will be able, it is said, to move four coal-waggons with a weight of 12,000 kilogrammes. It is intended shortly to employ this mode of locomotion for carrying the coals of Bessege to the Rhone, and those of Firminy to the Lyon Railway. The cost for doing this will not, it is calculated, be more than one-half of that of the ordinary mode of conveyance.