"3. That their weight, including engine, fuel, water, and attendants, may be under three tons. "4. That they can ascend and descend hills of considerable inclination with facility and safety. "5. That they are perfectly safe for passengers. "6. That they are not (or need not be, if properly constructed) nuisances to the public. "7. That they will become a speedier and cheaper mode of conveyance than carriages drawn by horses. "8. That, as they admit of greater breadth of tire than other carriages, and as the roads are not acted on so injuriously as by the feet of horses in common draught, such carriages will cause less wear of roads than coaches drawn by horses. "9. That rates of toll have been imposed on steam-carriages, which would prohibit their being used on several lines of road, were such charges permitted to remain unaltered." THE RAILROAD, which now, by the adaptation of steam to the propulsion of its carriages, became the successful rival of the system of transportation of which an account has just been given, was not a new device. It, like all other important changes of method and great inventions, had been growing into form for ages. The ancients were accustomed to lay down blocks of stone as a way upon which their heavily-loaded wagons could be drawn with less resistance than on the common road. This practice was gradually so modified as to result in the adoption of the now universally-practised methods of paving and road-making. The old tracks, bearing the marks of heavy traffic, are still seen in the streets of the unearthed city of Pompeii.