Page:Remarks on the Present System of Road Making (1823).djvu/38

 dragged forwards, instead of turning round; and the rotative motion is occasioned by the resistance presented by the surface over which it passes; yet this resistance does not entirely prevent dragging; for every wheel running upon a road drags in some degree. This degree will be proportioned to the weight of the carriage, and the velocity of the wheel upon its axis, and will be opposed by the breadth of the tire coming in contact with the road.

Stage Coaches, therefore, carrying heavy weights, moving with great velocity, and presenting to the road a narrow tire of wheel, must of necessity drag in a greater degree than any other carriage, as combining in themselves every cause by which dragging is produced.

When the Legislature shall have provided the means of putting all the roads in the United Kingdom into the best and fittest state for the accommodation of the agriculture and commerce of the country, they will naturally consider of the most proper modes of protecting them from injury, or for indemnifying the