Page:The fairy tales of science.djvu/359

 land, steam is harnessed to our chariot, and we outstrip the flight of the swiftest bird, and equal the fury of the tempest!"

We may form an idea of the versatile powers of steam if we consider the manufacture of this volume. It was printed by steam upon paper made by steam. The rags of which the sheets were formed were woven by steam, their separate threads having been previously spun by steam. Moreover, by steam the types were cast in metal, that the same agent had raised from the mine; by steam, too, the mill-board and cloth which form the cover were fabricated, and the thread which fastens the sheets together was twisted.

The author we have quoted above gives the following excellent illustrations of the power of steam:&mdash; A train of coaches weighing about 80 tons, and transporting 240 passengers with their luggage, has been taken from Liverpool to Birmingham, and back from Birmingham to Liverpool; the trip each way taking about four hours and a quarter, stoppages included. The distance between these places by railway is 95 miles. The double journey of 190 miles was effected by the mechanical force produced in the combustion of four tons of coke, the value of which is about five pounds. To carry the same number of passengers daily between the same places, by stage-coaches on a common road, would require twenty coaches and an establishment of 3800 horses, with which the journey in