The astonishment with which such performances must be viewed, might be qualified, if the art of transport by steam on railways had been matured, and had attained that full state of perfection which such an art is always capable of receiving from long experience, aided by great scientific knowledge, and the unbounded application of capital. But such is not the present case. The art of constructing locomotive engines, so far from having attained a state of maturity, has not even emerged from its infancy. So complete was the ignorance of its powers which prevailed, even among engineers, previous to the opening of the Liverpool railway, that the transport of heavy goods was regarded as the chief object of the undertaking, and its principal source of revenue. The incredible speed of transport, effected even in the very first experiments in 1830, burst upon the public, and on the scientific world, with all the effect of a new and unlooked-for phenomenon. On the unfortunate occasion which deprived this country of Mr. Huskisson, the wounded body of that statesman was transported a distance of about fifteen miles in twenty-five minutes, being at the rate of thirty-six miles an hour. The revenue of the road arising from passengers since its opening, has, contrary to all that was foreseen, been nearly double that which has been derived from merchandise. So great was the want of experience in the construction of engines, that the company was at first ignorant whether they should adopt large steam-engines fixed at different stations on the line, to pull the carriages from station to station, or travelling engines to drag the loads the entire distance. Having decided on the latter, they have, even to the present moment, laboured under the disadvantage of the want of that knowledge which experience alone can give. The engines have been constantly varied in their weight and proportions, in their magnitude and form, as the experience of each successive month has indicated. As defects became manifest they were remedied; improvements suggested were adopted; and each quarter produced engines of such increased power and efficiency, that their predecessors were abandoned, not because they were worn out, but because they had been outstripped in the rapid march of improvement. Add to this, that only one species of travelling engine has been effectively tried; the capabilities of others remain still to be developed; and even that form of engine which has received the advantage of a course of experiments on so grand a scale to carry it towards perfection, is far short of this point, and still has defects, many of which, it is obvious, time and experience will remove. If then travelling steam engines, with all the imperfections of an incipient invention--with the want of experience, the great parent of practical improvements--with the want of the common advantage of the full application of the skill and capital of the country--subjected to