[51]: By a stroke of the piston is meant its motion from one end of the cylinder and back again.
[52]: This is the proportion under which the cylinder with a given capacity will present the least possible surface to the cooling effect of the atmosphere.
[53]: The actual consumption of coal upon railways is in practice about eight ounces per ton per mile. It is, therefore, worked with sixteen times less effect than in the engine above mentioned.
[54]: Some of these examples were given by Sir John Herschel, in his Preliminary Discourse on Natural Philosophy; but since that work was written an increased power has been obtained from coals, in the proportion of 7 to 12-1/2.
Transcriber's notes
Only obvious printer's errors have been corrected (e.g.: 3 s instead of 2, etc.). The author's spelling has been maintained and inconsistencies have not been standardised.
The advertisement pages have been move from the front to the end of the book.
Other corrections made:
—Page [x]: "the wealth of rations" has been replaced by "the wealth of nations".
—Page [17]: "Pressure of Rarified Air." has been replaced by "Pressure of Rarefied Air."