Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/431

* Loco-roco. 381 LOCOMOTIVE. on financial matters held by the Equal Rights Party, did much to bring the mass of the reform- ers back into the Democratic ranks, a result which was further hastened by the refusal of some of the Whig-Loco-Foco fusion candidates to live up to their pledges. The party made no more nominations, although the name 'Loco- Foco' continued to be applied to the whole Democratic Party for ten years longer. The influence of the movement, however, was felt in New York State politics in the passage of the safety-fund banking law in 1838, in the prohibi- tion of special legislation for banks, and in the provision for an elective judiciary in the new Constitution of 1846. Consult: Byrdsall, His- tory of the Loco-Foco or Equal Rii/hts Party (New York, 1842) ; Hammond, History of Po- litical Parties in the State of Nmv York (Syra- cuse, 1852). LOCOMOTION (from Lat. locus, place + motio, motion, from movere, to move). In plants, the free spontaneous movements from place to place that occur in lower forms and in the so- called zoospores of higher forms. Swimming movement occurs in many of the lower alg.T? and fungi, in zoospores of higher alga', and in sperms of mosses and ferns. It is found as far up the scale of plant life as the gymnosperms. Ginkgo, Cycas, and Zamia. in which the male cells, which correspond physiologicall.v to the sperms of low- er forms, are freely motile. A creeping (amoe- boid) movement over a moist surface occurs in the masses of naked protoplasm ( plasmodia ) which constitute the vegetative stage of slime- molds. Swimming movements are usually due to the rapid lashing of long or short protoplasmic processes (cilia) which propel the organism through the water. They are very minute and often numerous, the entire surface of some zoospores (e.g. those of Vaucheria) being cov- ered with them. Sometimes, however, there are four, three, two, or only one. In this case they are longer than when more numerous. A single large cilium is often termed a flagellum. AN AM(EBA, Sketched at intervals of halt a minute. Compare particu- larly cl and e. The smaller end ot e will probabl.v next move Into the larger, thus effecting: translation. The mechanism of the movement of diatoms is not yet fully known. Some forms creep by means of protrusions of the protoplasm through the slit (raphe) which traverses the siliceous wall length- wise. Amoeboid movements are brought about by a flowing motion of the naked protoplasm which composes the organism. One or more processes form on one side of the body and elongate and the plasma flows slowly away from other regions to enter these processes. If this be continued in one direction the whole protoplasmic mass may creep over the substratum, material being thrust out in front and drawn in from behind. It has been suggested that this form of move- ment is due to variations in the surface ten- sion of the protoplasmic mass. These variations may be due to unequal oxidation at different points on the surface. But nothing is known with certainty in this regard. It may be that the rotation of the protoplasm within certain walled cells is a form of amoeboid movement. Certain other forms ot free movement which are sometimes confused with true locomotion are not the result of inherent energy at all, but are merely the effects of c-ternal forces. Such are the migrations of the wind-blown tumble-weeds, and of all winged seeds, pollen-grains, etc. Also the movements of certain seeds provided Avith hygroscopic awns are purely physical. Alternate wetting and drying cause these awns to change their form and position and thus to displace the seeds or to force them into the earth. See ^lovEiiENT ; Rotation. LOCOMOTIVE (from Lat. locus, place + ML. motivus, moving, from Lat. moirre, to move, Skt. mlv, to push). A .steam-engine and boiler mounted on wheels and so connected with them as to be capable of self-propulsion along a rail- way track; specifically, a railway engine. By extension the term has come to be a|)plied to other motors than steam-engines, which are simi- larly mounted and self-propelling, as compressed- air locomotives, electric locomotives, etc. The locomotive as a railway engine operated by steam is alone considered in this article. See CoiIPRESSED-AiR LoCOltOTIVE; ELECTRIC RAIL- WAYS. Early History and Dea'elopment. The loco- motive engine was first developed fov use on com- mon roads (see Automobile) : it was not until 1804 that it was applied to railway <ii)eration by Richard Trevithick. Little is definitely known of the Trevithick locomotive first used on the ^lerthyr-Tj-dvil Railway beyond the fact that it had a return tubular boiler, a tall smoke- .stack, into which the cylinder steam exhaust- ed, and a cylinder eight inches in diameter, and four and one-half foot stroke. Another point which deserves to be noticed is that Trevitliick recognized the suflTcipncy of the adhesion be- tween a plain cylindrical wheel and a smooth rail for securing the necessary tractive ])owcr, liut he recognized also that under certain condi- tions this adhesion would be insufficient and provided for toothed wheels and rails to be used in such cases. Trevitliick's locomotive made no more than one or two trips on the Merthyr-Tydvil Railway. Commercially it was regarded as a failure. In ho]ie of something better growing out of it, however. Mr. Blaekett of the Wylam Colliery, near Newcastleon-Tj-ne, wrote to Trevithick in Cornwall in ISOil with reference to the construction of another engine. Trevithick at first refused to consider the mat- ter, but apparently reconsidered his decision ; for