No petition is made to the Fraternity to read this book in particular, but it is hoped that all cycling books and periodicals will be patronized, hereafter, with the usual liberality so characteristic of wheelmen in connection with other matters, and if this work should, in any way, foster this hope, its mission will be more than filled. In one way the writer has already been amply repaid; if he had never undertaken this task it is just possible that he, like many others, might never have followed a cycler through India, or have made the acquaintance of “The Best of Bull-Dogs.” The nature of this book has drifted, to some extent, from the rigid mathematical character originally intended, partially because it just drifted, and also perhaps intentionally, in order to give it a more popular bearing. If some severely practical readers should notice an attempt at humor, or an amusing turn given to what should be stern mathematical or mechanical reasoning, it is hoped that it will not be considered undignified or trivial, for it is done with an object; and if the popular reader should be averse to running off into abstract theories, let him but remember how little we realize that everything we do, or make, in our daily experience rests upon some fundamental principle which we ought to know and be able to explain. Who would have thought that the principles underlying the simple matter of balancing a bicycle would confuse even a school-boy? Perhaps it ought not; nevertheless, the article on that subject is cut rather short, for the reason that the writer, even with the help of others more competent, was unable to definitely determine all points in regard to it. My thanks are due to Prof. E. W. Davis, of Columbia, S. C., Gustav Bissing, Ph.D., of Baltimore; Prof. Robinson, of Columbus, Ohio; F. R. Smith, A.M., of Cambridge, England, and others, for valuable assistance courteously rendered. Respectfully, +R. P. Scott+. +Baltimore+, 1889. CONTENTS. PART I. CHAPTER I. PAGE +Introductory+ 17 CHAPTER II. The Cycle Art 20 CHAPTER III. Can we improve upon the Creator’s Methods? 22 CHAPTER IV. The Direct Application of Power 28 CHAPTER V. The Connecting Link between the Legs of Nature and the Wheel of Mechanics 41 CHAPTER VI.