In the “Journal de Paris” of July 27, 1779, there is a description of a vehicle invented by Messrs. Blanchard and Mesurier, the former the celebrated aeronaut, which was exhibited on the Place Louis XV., named to-day Place de Concorde, in the presence of many members of the French Academy and a large concourse of spectators. At the head of the machine was the figure of an eagle, with outspread wings, to which was attached the apparatus with which the driver directed its movements. Behind it was seated an individual who propelled the machine. At a subsequent date, the inventor transported the vehicle to Versailles, and exhibited its capabilities, in the presence of Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, and their effeminate court. At a later date M. Dreuze made an improvement on this invention, which met with some success as a toy. A number of these machines were constructed after his model, and distributed among country postmen, who used the novelty for a time, until a heavy fall of snow rendered them unserviceable, when they were abandoned, greatly to the gratification of a conservative class, who, detesting anything in the way of innovation, had prophesied their failure. The article upon the Velocipede in the “American Encyclopedia,” commences by giving the well-known derivation of the word from the Latin _velox_, swift, and _pes_, a foot, and defines it as a carriage, by means of which the rider propels himself along the ground, and states that it was invented at Manheim. In a little old French book called “Dictionnaire de Conversation,” under the word _Velocipede_, we are referred to the word _Drasienne_, on turning to which, we find a description of the three-wheeled arm movement Velocipede, and the credit of its invention ascribed to Baron Charles Drais de Saverbrun, at Manheim, at the early commencement of the nineteenth century. The Drasienne, though a decidedly crude idea, differed very materially from the clumsy structure of Messrs. Blanchard and Mesurier. Baron Drais de Saverbrun seems to be universally considered the inventor of the germ, which has developed into the present improved Velocipede. He was a man of considerable scientific attainments, and author of several works; son of a lawyer, himself a landscape gardener; and died at Carlsruhe, December 12, 1851. He was master of the woods and forests of the Grand Duke of Baden, and rode about upon the Drasienne, while performing his official duties.