indeed, the musical execution of every part of the two last mentioned pezzi concertati.

In dwelling on the extraordinary endowments of this admirable singer, we have been insensibly drawn into an essay of unintended length, so that we must reserve the continuation of our paper for the future numbers of our Magazine.

The subscribers to the New-York Review and Atheneum Magazine are informed that the Senior Editor of the Journal still continues to conduct it, in conjunction with his former Associate.

THE

NEW-YORK REVIEW.

JANUARY, 1826.

ART. VII.-A Practical Treatise on Rail Roads and Carriages, showing the principles of estimating their strength, proportions, expense and annual produce, and the conditions which render them effective, economical and durable; with the theory, effect and expense of sleam carriages, stationary engines, and gas machinery, illustrated by four engravings and numerous useful tables. By THOMAS TREDGOLD, Civil Engineer, Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, &c. NewYork, E. Bliss & E. White.

THE subject of rail-roads has of late attracted an unusual degree of public attention in Great Britain, and has also become an object of discussion and interest in various parts of this country. It was therefore with much pleasure that we hailed the appearance of Tredgold's work in an American dress.

Of all public works, those which facilitate the means of internal commerce, and promote a rapid exchange, not only of commodities, but of information, and mental improvement, may be considered as marking in the most pointed manner, the state of civilization in the countries in which they are constructed.

It is only within a few years that the nations of Europe have reached an elevation in this respect, equal to that attained by the ancient Romans. To the works or remains of that people, wonderful alike for its humble origin, its rapid progress, and its final extent of dominion, legislators and jurists, poets and philosophers, mechanics, mathematicians, and even divines, looked, up to the beginning of the last century, for the models and principles of their several professions; and were humbly content to imitate, without ever hoping to emulate or equal their originals.

This state of pupilage has at last ceased; and although we Vol. II.

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may still venerate the literature of the ancient world, we have at length far surpassed them both in science and art.

In nothing was the wisdom of the Romans more remarkable, than in the construction of their public roads; and in this, perhaps alone of all the arts, are we still behind them. These roads, originally military ways, first furnished the means of conquest, next maintained the subjection of the conquered countries, and finally became the source of wealth and civilization to the barbarous people submitted to their arms. Besides the Appian, Flaminian and Emilian ways in Italy, the provinces of Gaul and Spain, and even their distant dominion of Britain, were every where intersected by lasting and durable roads, that even to the present day attest the labours of the unwearied legionary. That grass never again grew where a Roman army had trod, is no figurative expression, for we may still trace their brown uncultivated vestiges through the moors of Scotland, the marshes of Flanders, and the sierras of Castile. A Roman citizen might pass from his residence within the walls of the eternal city, and crossing the Tiber on the Milvian bridge, proceed by Milan to Aquilcia on the extreme frontier of Italy, thence through Rhetia, Noricum, and Pannonia to Byzantium, traverse the whole breadth of Asia Minor, and after visiting Antioch and Tyre, enter Egypt and reach Alexandria; he might then extend his journey to Carthage and the Pillars of Hercules, and crossing the Mediterranean, return by Spain, Gaul and Liguria to Rome; performing, except where the sea intervened, his whole journey of near nine thousand miles, upon roads that for perfection of construction, and cost of erection, have never been equalled. Indeed, the care and precautions taken to render these roads lasting, appear to us excessive, and far beyond the impor tance of even those that were most frequented. Those on which most labour was expended were in the neighbourhood of the metropolis itself. Of these, the Appian way, although more than two thousand years have elapsed since it was completed, still exists for the length of several miles in the neighbourhood of Fondi, in a state almost perfect; not to mention many other places where considerable portions are found equally entire. The structure of these remains has been carefully examined, and will furnish us with an instance of the manner in which these great works were constructed. The upper surface is composed of great blocks of stone, extremely hard, and of a character that permitted it to be fashioned into irregular five and six sided polygons; these are so well fitted to each other, that the edge of a knife can with difficulty be passed into the joints. They are bedded in a mass of mortar filled with

pebbles, in such a way as to form a solid foundation for them, and support their surfaces at a uniform level in spite of their different thicknesses. Below all is a second bed of mortar filled with chip stone, and forming with it a solid mass, that at the present day is harder than the stones themselves, and probably attained this hardness soon after it was laid. The whole constitutes a body of upwards of three feet in thickness, and is almost every where elevated above the surface of the ground.

The roads of modern times are much less expensive in their construction; they are also much less fitted for the purpose of easy conveyance either of passengers or of commodities. On the continent of Europe, particularly in France, the system of roads paved with flat stones in the middle, still continues, a relic probably of the Roman customs; but so deficient in solidity are they, as to require constant repairs, and they are generally in such bad order that all light carriages prefer to travel upon the sides on the earth, except where this part of the road is rendered impracticable by the lodgement of water.

In the south east of England, the country furnishes, at small depths beneath the surface, beds of solid flints. These appear to have been resorted to at a very early period, as materials for roads; and when properly selected, they form perhaps the best and smoothest paths that exist in the world. To General Roy that country is indebted, in a great measure, for having been the first to discover that fragments of the rocks found in situ, in convenient positions and prepared for the purpose, were equally valuable as materials for roads with flinty gravel. Yet the true principles of applying either of these substances were not understood; and hence the very great variety in the quality of different roads, and even of the same road at different periods, arising from uncertain and vague views of the modes of making or repairing.

The true principles of road making have lately been laid down by M'Adam, upon a basis that cannot be controverted ; and the introduction of these principles into general practice, is causing a rapid advance to perfection in the roads of England, already superior to those of every part of the continent of Europe, with the single exception of Sweden.

The superiority of the roads of England is owing in no small degree to their turnpike system, by which the cost of repairing the roads is thrown upon those who actually travel them, who in most cases contribute with pleasure. The same system has been partially introduced into the United States, but its most valuable feature has been neglected. The turnpikes of England are all public trusts, whereas in this country