And when we take a still further survey of the vast field that is opening before us, we find in the strength without size a most desirable assistant in all the avenues of locomotion.  It is the ideal metal for railway traffic, for carriages and wagons.  The steamships of the ocean of equal size will double their cargo and increase the speed of the present greyhounds of the sea, making six days from shore to shore seem indeed an old time calculation and accomplishment.  A thinner as well as a lighter plate; a smaller as well as a stronger engine; a larger as well as a less hazardous propeller; and a natural condition of resistance to the action of the elements; will make travel by water a forcible rival to the speed attained upon land, and bring all the distant countries in contact with our civilization, to the profit of all.  This metal is destined to annihilate space even beyond the dream of philosopher or poet.

The tensile strength of this material is something equally wonderful, when wire drawn reaches as high as 128,000 pounds, and under other conditions reaches nearly if not quite 100,000 pounds to the square inch.  The requirements of the British and German governments in the best wrought steel guns reach only a standard of 70,000 pounds to the square inch.  Bridges may be constructed that shall be lighter than wooden ones and of greater strength than wrought steel and entirely free from corrosion.  The time is not distant when the modern wonder of the Brooklyn span will seem a toy.

It may also be noted that this metal affords wide development in plumbing material, in piping, and will render possible the almost indefinite extension of the coming feature of communication and exchange—­the pneumatic tube.

The resistance to corrosion evidently fits this metal for railway sleepers to take the place of the decaying wooden ties.  In this metal the sleeper may be made as soft and yielding as lead, while the rail may be harder and tougher than steel, thus at once forming the necessary cushion and the avoidance of jar and noise, at the same time contributing to additional security in virtue of a stronger rail.

In conductivity this metal is only exceeded by copper, having many times that of iron.  Thus in telegraphy there are renewed prospects in the supplanting of the galvanized iron wire—­lightness, strength, and durability.  When applied to the generation of steam, this material will enable us to carry higher pressure at a reduced cost and increased safety, as this will be accomplished by the thinner plate, the greater conductivity of heat, and the better fiber.

It is said that some of its alloys are without a rival as an anti-friction metal, and having hardness and toughness, fits it remarkably for bearings and journals.  Herein a vast possibility in the mechanic art lies dormant—­the size of the machine may be reduced, the speed and the power increased, realizing the conception of two things better done than one before.  It is one of man’s creative acts.