New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-10-26
TRANSPORT BY LAND
The Development of Vehicles
on Wheels.

; CARRIAGES AND COACHES. Their
History and Their Evolution. BY Ralph
Strauss Fully illustrated, with repro
auctions from Cd prints, contemporary
drawings and photographs. Svo, PIP. S09.
Philadelphia: The j. 3. Lippincott Com
pany.
This is an informing and entertaining
book for the general reader Begin
ming with the days when primitive man
discovered that he could drag a heavier
load than he could carry, and that he
could drag it move easily on a sled, the
author traces tho evolution Of the We
hicle through antiquity down to our
own day, paying special attention 10
the part it has played In social life.
The work is not a technical handbook
Of coach building, neither is It a review
Of the romance Of travel before the ad-
vent Of the railroad good roads and
the horseless carriage, but IT draws
Of necessity heavily upon the literature
Of the past, especially that Of England,
from the Middle Ages, through the
EHzabethan period and the eighteenth
century down TO the Victorian era. In
the course Of this study one becomes
Increasingly aware Of the enduring
prejudice against coaches and car
riages as symbols Of luxury and aristo-
cratic arrogance, a prejudice that, 1t
need hardly be pointed out, has taken
new lease Of life with the advent Of
the automobile and its reckless driver,
inconsiderate Of the PEDESTRIANS rights
comfort and safety.
Mr.. Strauss is of the opinion that
the raft preceded the sledge, and prob
ably suggested it. AS for wheels. they
may have evolved in the mind Of early
man from his observation Of the ease
with which round substances can be
moved. Thus the sled may have been
placed on logs, and run forward after
a manner stlll in use the world over
The invention Of wheels and axles at
tached TO the sled itself followed In
course Of time.
Egyptian, Assyrian and Greek We
hicles. among them the war chariot.
need not detain us here; suffice 1t to
say that the luxurious carriages Of the
Roman decadence led to a reaction In
the Middle Ages, when locomotion on
wheels came to be regarded as evidence
Of effeminacy. Men rode on horseback.
In the thirteenth century laws were
passed in France and elsewhere for
bidding the use Of coaches for this rea-
son. and as their numbers decreased
the roads were neglected, or built and
kept in repair for the requirements Of
horsemen only. Hence the introduction
OF the litter, or, rather, its revival,
since Rome had employed that form OF
transportation too. Used by women
oniy-the prejudice against effeminacy
persisted-it came gradually to be the
state vehicle in preference to the car
rage. Its comfort must certainly have
been greater than that of the spring
less coach, whose effeminacy must
nave lain In its luxurious equipment
ana ornamentation rather than In Its
ease on execrable roads, the influence
Of whose condition on the development
OF carriages is constantly kept in mind
by the author.
Anne Boleyn rode to her wedding In
Hitter; the vehicle was still In use in
ne days Of Charles II, but improve
ments in coach building on the CONT
hent gradually brought the carriage on
wheels into favor again. Flanders and
hungary led in the art OF coach con-
.straction. to give way In the eighteenth
CENTURY TO Germany. whence, later still,
came the landau and the berlin. The
o'uest coach still in existence Is one
preserved at Coburg. which was used
~ the marriage Of the Elector Of Sax
bury, in 1884.
me medieval litter had a revival in
sne sedan chair. II began to be seen in
england after the death Of Elizabeth,
oue It's great vogue came later. The
Z nrst hackney -"hackneyed," or COM
moh--coaches appeared in the streets Of
s%0hoon In the beginning OF the seven
.sshtn century. Originally they were
tue discarded carriages of the "qual-
h"y' still adorned with their armorial