In impelling a velocipede, the limbs are not constantly in motion; for on level ground, when the impetus is at the average rate, or when the machine is descending an incline, the feet may be removed from the pedals, and the legs be placed on the bar, fixed in front of the machine for that purpose. A slight impulsion to the vehicle from time to time suffices to keep up the speed. When a rider encounters a formidable hill, he can dismount and lead his bicycle by the hand. He can do this with almost the same ease that he can carry an ordinary walking-stick. A hill, to be insurmountable, has to be, however, of more than average steepness. Though Massachusetts is proverbially hilly, there is no ascent between Boston and Worcester, a distance of thirty miles, that cannot be ridden over with the bicycle. The best speed thus far attained on the road is a mile in a few seconds over three minutes. A gentleman in New Jersey, a few weeks since, travelled fifty miles in four hours and a half. A gentleman residing in 22d Street, New York, goes down town to his business on his velocipede in twelve minutes. Adepts abroad find no difficulty whatever in accomplishing fully fifty miles in five hours, without once alighting from their vehicles. A few months ago, a couple of amateurs, making a tour through a part of France, challenged each other as to which could perform the greatest distance in four and twenty hours. One accomplished eighty-seven miles, the other one hundred and twenty-three. A party of nine quitted Rouen early in the morning on their velocipedes, and arrived in Paris in time for dinner the same evening; having performed the distance of eighty-five miles, exclusive of stoppages, and at a rate of speed averaging between ten and twelve miles an hour. An English gentleman travelled the distance from London to Bristol, one hundred and thirty-five miles, between the hours of three o’clock, P. M., one day, and ten A. M. the next, stopping some hours in Reading. In Paris, the Americans carry off the prizes for slow as well as fast riding. The slow riding is much the more difficult. It is much easier for the rider to keep his equilibrium while riding swiftly. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes once published an article in the “Atlantic Monthly,” entitled “The Human Wheel; its Spokes and Felloes;” in which he treated the act of walking as analagous to the movement of a wheel: the legs being the spokes and the feet the felloes. Had he postponed his humorous and instructive essay a year or two, he would have found himself behind the age.