Astonishment Gegg's wrath.

was cooling Mrs. She had heard, nay, upon one occasion seen, that a pavement artist in distant Gloucester earned good money, though it was but a poor trade. Then there was Miss Cardross, always messing with paints and things -perhaps she really knew something about it.

"If you will leave the picture where it is till Monday," continued Mary, "I will ride over to Colescombe tomorrow and persuade an artist friend to come and look at it, and we will see what can be done for Jethro. Please, Mrs. Gegg!" And Mary got her way.

"You must leave him where he is," said the great art critic to Mary, when he had inspected the frescoed floor. "He may be a genius. I think he is. All the more reason to leave him alone just now. Give him paper and paints-lots of them; don't lose sight of him, and Longman's Magazine.

we'll help him when the right time comes. It hasn't come yet."

So Mary left him in the peace of the kindly Coteswold hills. And while Bellini's Madonna smiles down upon him from the whitewashed attic wall, while sun and cloud make light and shadow for him on beech-clad slopes and grassy plain, and life is full "of mysteries and presences, innumerable, of living things," we need not pity Jethro. For, even as one who wandered long ago upon the steps of far Fiesole found infinite potentialities among solitary places and pleasant pastoral creatures, even so in time to come the little Coteswold peasant may enter into his inheritance in that kingdom where "every color is lovely and every space is light. The world, the universe is divine; all sadness is a part of harmony, and all gloom a part of peace."

L. Allen Harker.

Horseless carriages are no new thing, for in two years we shall be able to celebrate the centenary of automobilism. In the year 1802 Trevithick constructed a front-steering road-carriage, driven by steam, which attained the speed of ten miles an hour. He was followed, in later years, by Gurney, Hancock and others, who designed and constructed most excellent steam-omnibuses, which for some years competed successfully with the horsedrawn coaches. Mr. Scott Russell also ran a service of steam carriages between Glasgow and Paisley, which were always crowded with passengers; but the service had to be discontinued owing to the action of the road trustees in raising barricades of stones

which the motor-cars could not surmount. The road automobile movement was eventually killed by the prejudice and opposition of parties interested in horseflesh, by the iniquitous tolls levied on horseless carriages, and by the advent of the railway automotor.

The horseless carriage, thus driven from its birthplace, found an asylum in countries less conservative than Britain. This is the reason why the French are so far ahead in the industry, and we who were the pioneers of automobilism have now to go abroad for the best models and designs.

The horseless-carriage emancipation act-that is, the Locomotives on Highways Act-only came into force on No

vember 14, 1896. Thus British manufacturers have had barely four years for experimental work; and the firms so far most successful in this have been content to profit by the experience of Our Continental rivals rather than strike out on new lines.

My knowledge of horseless carriages has been gained mainly with three types of petrol automotors. The first was a French De Dion Bouton quadricycle which arrived just in time to take part in a picnic excursion along the coast-road into East Lothian. With the exception of a little instruction from the agent of the machine in Paris, I had, till this time, no experience in managing a motor-cycle. Having procured a gallon of petroleum spirit, or petrol, and filled the reservoir, we started without much difficulty, and had a pleasant run to Longniddry, twelve miles from Edinburgh. Arrived there, I had to give several of our party rides, with the result that my stock of petrol became exhausted, and we had the laborious task of pushing the machine part of the way on our return journey.

Failing in the attempt to procure petrol in a village we passed through, I filled the reservoir with ordinary lamp-oil; but the engine refused to work with this fuel. Determined not to be beaten, and being tired out with the exertion of pushing the machine, I made a bonfire with some newspapers under the reservoir, and continued the heating until I could plainly see the vapor of the lamp-oil escaping up the float-chimney. The result was magnificent, and we covered some six miles at a great speed. Again the motor flagged, and eventually stopped. We had repeated recourse to the bonfire before we reached home late at night. Here, however, let me strongly advise motor cyclists not to attempt this bonfire performance, the danger of which I did not realize at the time. I now

regard our escape from a severe explosion as almost miraculous. This motorcycle carried us some three thousand miles, including a journey to Bristol and back; and, though it afforded us much pleasure, I am unable to recommend it as a reliable means of locomotion.

My next machine was a Daimler five and a half horse-power car made at Coventry. The price of this was £370. The parent company, which manufactures under the patents of the late Herr Gottlieb Daimler, is German; and when the English branch was started it had the assistance of trained engineers from the chief manufactory. The work they turn out is first-class in all respects, and the engine is one of the most successful quick-running light oilmotors yet made.

An adaptation of this engine is used by Panhard & Levassor, the leading French automobile makers. It has a two-cylinder vertical engine; the diameter of the piston is 3 9-16 inches; length of stroke 4 3-4 inches; and the number of revolutions per minute is 720. Tube ignition is used. The diameter of the front wheels is 2 feet 6 inches, of the back wheels 3 feet 3 inches. The steering is effected by a tiller, which moves in a direction opposite to the wheels, which have solid rubber tires. The method of cooling is by water, which is circulated by means of a pump; and ten to fifteen gallons are carried. There is a spoonbrake on the tires, and a band-brake on the countershaft. The power is transmitted from the motor to the rear wheels by a friction clutch, tooth gearing and chains; and there are four speeds-namely, four, eight, twelve and sixteen miles per hour. Petroleum spirit of a specific gravity of 0.680 is used. The total weight of the car is about nineteen hundredweight.

Though the Daimler is, undoubtedly, the most reliable and satisfactory Eng

lish car yet made, it has certain faults. To some of these I will now refer: (1) It is underpowered; the twelve and sixteen miles an hour speeds can only be used on good level roads in summer. A touring car to carry four people with their luggage should be provided with an engine of at least eight brake horsepower. (2) Tube ignition has many disadvantages. The most serious one is the danger of the car and its occupants catching fire in case of an accident; others are the difficulty of keeping the burners alight in the wind, and of relighting them, and also the difficulty of getting them to burn with a sufficiently hot flame. (3) Owing to the absence of an efficient water-cooling arrangement, a large dead weight of water is carried, and this must be renewed every twenty-five to thirty miles. (4) The brake power is insufficient. (5) There are no efficient means to prevent the car running backwards if stopped on a hill. (6) The tiller steering is too sensitive, and is dangerous at high speeds. understand, however, that in the latest Daimler cars most of these faults have been rectified.

I

On the arrival of my Daimler car at the Caledonian Station, in Edinburgh, last January, I went there with a can of petrol to drive it home. I had no difficulty in starting the engine, and all went well until I was about half-way up a steep street, when a snap was heard, the engine stopped, and the car began to run backward downhill. Fortunately, two active friends who were with me were able to stop the car before it had got up any momentum. A subsequent examination of the engine showed that the eccentric rod which worked the water-pump had broken, probably owing to the freezing of the water in the pipes during the previous night. By means of a strap and a piece of cord the rod was fastened out of the way and an attempt made to start the engine; but the attempt was in

vain. In turn we all tried to start the engine; but go the right way it would not. Eventually, however, it began to run backward, and then the happy thought occurred to me that by putting the reversing gear into action the car might be persuaded to move forward. I tried this at once, and, to our intense relief, it forged slowly forward, and so went to the coach-house. We must have spent fully two hours in the street, and I had just resolved to get horses to pull the car home, when we succeeded in moving it.

A short time after this accident, while leaving the Queen's Park, Edinburgh, by St. Leonard's Hill, the car suddenly began to run backward, and before we could do anything it had run violently into the wall at the side of the road. Fortunately the hood, which was projecting behind, served as a buffer, and saved us from injury. Until I got down and noticed that one of the chains had come off I had no idea what the cause of the mishap was. This is one of the points requiring particular attention in the construction of a new car; for the chains are liable to stretch and come off, and usually do so at the most awkward times. On another occasion an admission-valve spindle broke when I was taking a friend for a drive on the outskirts of the town; and we had to push the car into a dairyman's yard and walk home.

Otherwise, I have only had trouble with the burners and tubes; but this occurred pretty frequently. Last August we started with two friends for London, spending the first night at Moffat and the second at Penrith; but the speed of the car, in consequence of the burners acting badly, gradually diminished, until it was only with the greatest difficulty we managed on the third day to get over Shap Fells, a rise of one thousand three hundred feet. Further, when descending on the other side, I had, in consequence of the some

what precipitous incline, great difficulty in holding the car in check, and when we reached the bridge at the bottom the car was enveloped in smoke. Here we jumped off quickly and removed the spare cans of petrol and our luggage. It was then discovered that the brakestrap, owing to the long-continued and intense friction, was smouldering. Two or three buckets of water put this right. One of the burners, however, had gone from bad to worse, and now it would not light at all. We had, therefore, to continue our journey to Kendal on one cylinder. So far I had only endeavored to doctor the tube-burners themselves; but on our arrival at Kendal I determined to examine into the condition of the tube that conveyed the petrol from the reservoir to the burner; and here I found the origin of our trouble, for the tube was almost blocked at one place with a curious deposit from the petrol. After this had been removed the burners gave us much less trouble. Leaving the Daimler in London, I went to Paris to drive back a car which had been on order for some months. This car was made by the Delahaye firm, of Tours and Paris, and its cost is £450. It is a four-wheeled phaeton. There are two horizontal cylinders placed at the back. The diameter of the piston is 4.33 inches; length of the stroke 6.29 inches; with about 725 revolutions per minute. The diameter of the front wheels is 34 inches, of the back wheels 43 inches, and the tires are pneumatic. The ignition is electric; the brake horse-power 10.8. Power is transmitted from the motor to the wheels by belts and chains. There are three band-brakes-one on the countershaft and one on each driving-wheel; and a ratchet arrangement prevents the car from running backward downhill. A very efficient water-cooling arrangement, consisting of thirty metres of copper piping, is placed in front, to be cooled by the air, the result being

that only three gallons of water are carried, and two hundred miles or more can easily be run without renewal. A device is provided whereby the compression is relieved while the engine is being started. The fuel used is petroleum spirit, and the average cost per mile for the fuel, at one shilling a gallon, is 0.36 pence; thus four people could be conveyed from Edinburgh to Carlisle at a cost of less than ninepence each for fuel.

This car has given me very great satisfaction. It is, undoubtedly, much superior to anything yet turned out in this country, one of its chief merits. being the efficiency of its brake-power. When descending a gradient of 1 in 12.9 at a speed of sixteen miles per hour, it was stopped in twelve and onethird yards (automobile club trials). Further, there is ample reserve power, and it will ascend the slope of Liberton: Hill, Edinburgh, at an average speed of eight or nine miles an hour.

A few lines will be sufficient for a narrative of my journey on this car from Paris to Edinburgh. We left Paris with a mécanicien from the works, who, to my mind, drove far too recklessly through traffic. The only incident on the first day's journey, however, was the catching up and running over of a hen. We slept at Rouen; and the next day, on our way to Dieppe, the con necting water-pipe broke, causing a delay of several hours. As motor-cars are only carried by the night-boats of the Dieppe-Newhaven service, we had to drive to the wharf about midnight. Here the captain informed us that the sea was too rough to permit him to take the car, so we had to return to our hotel.

Next morning we drove the ninety miles to Boulogne; and, after waiting there two days for calmer weather, we crosed by the day-boat. Arrived at Folkestone, we found that great caution is required to prevent the wheels

getting between the rails and the planking; and, in spite of the greatest care, I unfortunately got both fore and aft wheels firmly wedged in. It took the united efforts of some fifteen men to lift the car out.

During our drive to London the engine stopped at Mitcham. I now found the water-pipe had broken just where it gave way before. We had been running for an unknown period without cooling-water, and the engine had stopped from overheating. It was raining hard and blowing a gale; I, therefore, had to crawl under the car, detach the broken pipe, and then walk some distance to an engineer's shop to have it repaired; this done, I replaced it, filled up with fresh water, and then, to my joy, found that the engine worked quite satisfactorily. Since then the water-pipe has given me no trouble.

We stayed at night at Oxford, Kidderminster, Liverpool, Windermere and the Gordon Arms, Yarrow. We ran on an average about ninety miles a day, and were nearly always at our resting-place for the night before 4 P. M. Our longest day's run was one hundred and fourteen miles.

Three chief types of motors have been used for the propulsion of horseless carriages: steam engines, petroleum-vapor or gas engines and electric motors. Steam holds the field for wagons or lorries; its chief advantages are its elasticity, its variable speed, very great range of power and self-starting action. Its disadvantages are that a fire and a boiler are required; consequently it cannot be started at once, steam must first be raised, and constant vigilance must afterwards be exercised as to the state of the fire, the pressure of the steam and the supply of water.

Oil-motors or internal combustion engines are of two kinds: heavy oil, and light oil or petroleum spirit or

petrol. Attempts have been made in this country by Roots & Venables, and on the Continent by Koch, to utilize ordinary petroleum. These attempts will no doubt be eventually successful, and will result in a great saving of trouble and expense, because ordinary petroleum can be obtained almost anywhere and at a cost of less than half that of mineral spirit. At present there are difficulties connected with the vaporization of the oil, the deposits which form in the cylinders and the smell of the exhaust. Chiefly for these reasons the petroleum-spirit engines are at present to be preferred. They have, as compared with steam, the following advantages: they are always ready and can be started at once; when once started they practically require no looking after, but will run on as long as the supply of spirit is maintained. The consumption of fuel is less, and the consumption of water in a modern car fitted with a radiator is practically nil.

To mention some of the disadvantages of oil-motors: they have neither much range of power nor capability of variation of speed; thus a complicated transmission-gear between the engine and the driving-wheels is necessary; they must be started by hand, and cannot be reversed; and there is more vibration, which naturally is most noticeable when the car is at rest.

For touring purposes the petroleumspirit car is at present unsurpassed. Provided with a few gallons of the spirit, the autocarist is enabled to travel immense distances at high speed, and he has an engine that never tires and requires scarcely any attention. Arrived at his destination at night, he has only to extinguish his ignition and turn off the petroleum spirit, and the car will receive no damage and will undergo no deterioration though he should not return to it for an indefinite period.

The third source of power is electricity. This will probably be the motive