Neither is it possible to analyze with any satisfactory degree of precision the nature of the accidents in the two countries, with a view to drawing inferences from them. Without attempting to do so it maybe said that the English Board of Trade reports for the last five years, 1874-8, include inquiries into 755 out of 11,585 accidents, the total number of every description reported as having taken place. Meanwhile the _Railroad Gazette_ contains mention of 4,846 reported train accidents which occurred in America during the same five years. Of these accidents, 1,310 in America and 81 in Great Britain were due to causes which were either unexplained or of a miscellaneous character, or are not common to the systems of the two countries. In so far as the remainder admitted of classification, it was somewhat as follows:-- GREAT BRITAIN. AMERICA. Accidents due to Defects in permanent way 13 per cent. 24 per cent. " " rolling-stock 10 " " 8 " " Misplaced switches 16 " " 14 " " Collisions Between trains going in opposite directions 3 " " 18 " " Between trains following each other 5 " " 30 " " At railroad grade crossings[29] 0.6 " " 3 " " At junctions 11 " " At stations or sidings within fixed stations 40 " " 6 " " Unexplained 2 " " [29] During these five years there were in Great Britain four cases of collision between locomotives or trains at level crossings of one railroad by another; in America there were 79. The probable cause of this discrepancy has already been referred to (_ante pp. 194-7_).