The early bicycle, such as that of Dennis Johnson, patented in England, No. 4321, 1818, did not support the rider entirely free from the ground. It consisted in a pair of wheels placed under him, constituting a sort of third or rolling leg, the feet, though not for support, still touching the ground. This machine is a fair sample of an intermediate stage between the era of oscillating devices subjoined to the trunk by nature—to wit, the legs—and that of the present cycle. In the Johnson machine the legs are used for projectile force only, and serve as a motor, the weight of the body being supported on rolling mechanism as aforesaid; hence it was a more natural and palpable sequence to walking than other prior contrivances in which the rider was raised upon a platform such as shown in the machine of Bolton, patented in the United States, September 29, 1804. [Illustration: The Bolton machine.] The Bolton and similar machines really belong to a different class from that of Johnson, but if we confine ourselves to our bicycle or balancing-machine, thus throwing out the Bolton class, the development from the leg to the wheel method proceeded in order, for we have next the Lallement crank-wheel, United States patent, November 20, 1866, which represents substantially the present single-track type. [Illustration: The Lallement machine.] One illustrious gentleman, Croft by name, patented a machine in the United States, August 21, 1877.[4] [Illustration: The Croft machine.] In the Croft machine a pair of bars held in the hands are used with which to propel by pushing against the ground, instead of using the legs as in the Johnson. By supporting the body entirely free from the roadway, Croft takes a step in advance of Johnson, but he still retains his propulsive power by means of oscillating devices having contact with the ground, and in this respect might be said to use a pair of mechanical legs. He combined a walking method with that of rolling, as was the case with Johnson and Baron Draise, but he seemed to think a mechanical extension to the arms a better medium through which to pass his energy than nature’s own devices for that purpose. Quite a number of inventors have gone astray on this question of the power of the arms in these manumotors. No doubt the arms could be made to help, but our present physical development suggests the legs as better; especially if one or the other plan is to be used alone. True, the Croft machine could use the entire body, as in the case of a man shoving a flat-boat or scow upon the water, but the inventor’s engraving does not show any such effort as necessary. What a pity that we did not have a single-track machine, propelled by the Croft process, between the time of Johnson and Lallement; how nicely it would have helped us out in our chronological development. We of the wheeling fraternity may, however, take a crumb of comfort from the fact that the two bicycles,