tons, now used
as the pedestal of the equestrian statute of Peter the Great, at St.
Petersburg, was transported 4 miles by land over a railway, and 13
miles in a vast caisson by water. The railway consisted of two lines
of timber furnished with hard metal grooves; between these grooves
were placed spheres of hard brass about 6 inches in diameter. On these
spheres the frame with its massive load was easily moved by 60 men,
working at capstans with treble purchase blocks.

In 1716 Swedenborg contrived to transport (on rolling machines of his
own invention) over valleys and mountains, 2 galleys, 5 large boats
and 1 sloop, from Stromstadt to Iderfjol (which divides Sweden from
Norway on the South), a distance of 14 miles, by which means Charles
XII. was able to carry on his plans, and under cover of the galleys
and boats to transport on pontoons his heavy artillery to the very
walls of Frederickshall.

Belzoni considered the tract between the first and second cataract of
the Nile as the hottest on the globe, owing to there being no rain.
The natives do not credit the phenomenon of water falling from above.
Hence it is that all monuments are so nicely preserved. Buckingham
found a building left unfinished about 4,000 years ago, and the chalk
marks on the stones were still perfect.

Pompey's Pillar is 92 feet high, and 27-1/2 round at the base.

Water is the absolute master, former and secondary agent of the power
of motion in everything terrestrial. It is the irresistible power
which elaborates everything, and the waters contain more organized
beings than the land.

Rivers hold in suspension 100th of their volume (more or less) of mud,
so that if 36 cubic miles of water (the estimated quantity) flow daily
into the sea, 0.36 cubic miles of soil are daily displaced. The Rhine
carries to the sea every day 145,980 cubic feet of mud. The Po carries
out the land 228 feet per annum, consequently Adria which 2,500 years
ago was on the sea, is now over 20 miles from it.

The enormous amount of alluvium deposited by the Mississippi is almost
incalculable, and constantly renders necessary extensive engineering
operations in order to remove the impediments to navigation.

As an exponent of the laws of friction, it may be stated that a square
stone weighing 1,080 lbs. which required a force of 758 lbs. to drag
it along the floor of a quarry, roughly chiseled, required only a
force of 22 lbs. to move it when mounted on a platform