Our chief object in making these selections has been to bring under the notice of our readers the character and writings of a person of whom perhaps not many of them have heard, but with whom those who share her sentiments may wish to become better acquainted. We have no doubt that the new volume will be received with the same interest that has been shown in the case of Eugénie's other writings, and that it will disclose more of the same beauty of style, purity of thought, and fervour of religion, which are her characteristics and her charm.

293

THE TUNNEL THROUGH THE ALPS

'Edinburgh Review,' 1865.

AMONGST the 'imperial works and worthy kings' which this age, prolific in triumphs of engineering skill, has produced, there is none which-whether we regard the difficulty of the undertaking or the importance of the object-more conspicuously challenges attention and deserves admiration than the great tunnel through the Alps, now steadily advancing, of which we propose, in the following article, to give a short

account.

Although the most frequented in modern times, the Mont Cenis is by no means the oldest of the passes of the Alps. It seems not to have been known to the ancient Romans, nor to have been used as a highway, or at all events not as a military road, until the Middle Ages. Recent researches have established the fact, almost beyond a doubt, that Hannibal led his army into Italy by the pass of the Little St. Bernard. To reach the north of Italy and the plains of Lombardy from France, however, the shortest route is by way of Chambéry and the valley of the Arc. The railway, which leaves the Paris and Lyons line at Ambérieux and passes by Culoz and Chambéry, has been pushed forward to St. Michel in that valley, and from this point the traveller proceeds in a diligence as far as the village of Lans-le-bourg-a distance of about sixteen miles-where the ascent of the Mont Cenis begins. About one-fourth of the distance between St. Michel and Lans-le-bourg, in a romantic part of the deep valley through which the rapid torent of the Arc forces its way

1 1. Traforo delle Alpi tra Bardonnèche e Modane: Relazione della Direzione Tecnica alla Direzione Generale delle Strade Ferrate dello Stato. Torino: 1863.

2. Rapport adressé à la Compagnie des Chemins de Fer du Nord de l'Espagne sur les Travaux de Percement du Mont

Cenis. Par M. NOBLEMAINE. Neuilly: 1861.

3. Notice Historique sur la Percée du Mont Cenis et les Nouvelles Machines de MM. Sommeiller, Grandis et Grattoni. Par M. BONJEAN. Chambéry:

1863.

shut in by lofty snow-covered mountains-lies the poor little hamlet of Fourneaux, and about a mile beyond it the larger but still insignificant village of Modane. On the right of the road, close to Fourneaux, the attention of the traveller is arrested by numerous white buildings which have the appearance of barracks; behind them a steep inclined plane, with two lines of iron tramway, ascends to a considerable height, and stops at two square-framed doors placed against the side of the mountain, near which are perched a few cottages and workshops. On the same line with the top of the incline, and a few paces to the east or left, may be distinguished a semicircular hole, out of which the spectator may perhaps, at the moment when he gazes, see a wagon or wagons issuing loaded with broken stones, and tilting their contents down the steep side of the mountain. Those buildings are the dwellings and workshops of the men employed in piercing the Alps, and that hole is the mouth of the great tunnel itself on the Savoy or northern side.

Hopeless indeed must have appeared even a few years. ago the idea of carrying a railway through the mighty barrier with which Nature has girdled Italy, and which, while it has too often failed as a defence against invasion, has had the effect of isolating her in a great degree from the rest of Europe, and has impeded her material prosperity. The genius of Napoleon did much when under his auspices the Simplon road was made, and the traveller could climb the lofty summit of the Alps comfortably seated in his carriage. M. Céard of Geneva, to whom that noble work is due, the more remarkable as it was the first of its kind, relates in his account of it that the Emperor Napoleon frequently summoned him to his presence to ask the same question: 'Eh bien! le canon, quand passera-t-il le Simplon?' This was followed by similar roads across the St. Gothard, the Splugen, and the Stelvio; and when these magnificent roads were completed, it seemed as if all had been done that engineering skill could accomplish to make a highway into Italy. Nor is it likely that more would have been attempted if steam had not entirely changed the nature of the case. The delay occasioned on a long journey by the ascent and descent of these mountain-passes was little felt when the greatest rate of

speed on level roads did not exceed eight or nine miles an hour. But when railways began to spread their multitudinous arms on both sides of the Alps-when they crept up the valleys, and the course of the locomotive was suddenly arrested by the frowning masses of rock which seemed to say, 'Thus far shalt thou come and no farther'-when the traveller had to exchange the luxurious saloon in which he was whirled along like an arrow through the air for the uncomfortable seat of a slow and jolting diligence-the question irresistibly occurred, 'Is it possible for a locomotive to scale that lofty wall? or, if not, is it impossible to carry on the railway through the Alps?' The Austrian engineers, who have shown the greatest boldness and skill in the construction of Apine roads, were the first to deal with this difficult problem. The railroad from Vienna to Trieste crosses the Noric chain of the Alps at Semmering. The line ascends in gradients varying from I in 40 to 1 in 100 for 25 miles from Gloggnitz station to the summit of the pass, and then crosses the watershed in a tunnel 4,000 yards in length at an elevation of 2,893 English feet above the sea. This colossal work was accomplished for the Austrian Government by the engineer Carlo Chega, between 1848 and 1854. Another line of railway is also far advanced across the Brenner, between Botzen and Inspruck, which will open a very easy and direct mode of communication between Central Europe and Northern Italy. But the Italian Government was naturally anxious that these important Alpine passes for steam-carriages should not be exclusively in the hands of Austria; and they therefore applied themselves with great energy to open a similar connexion between the Italian kingdom and the French provinces both of Savoy and of Nice.

At first the favourite idea was that a practicable railway could be so constructed as to climb the mountain, and many were the ingenious schemes devised for the purpose. Perhaps in nothing has engineering science made more rapid progress than in the power of overcoming steep gradients. We well remember when the man would have been thought a visionary who should have proposed to make a locomotive line with a gradient of one in fifty; even one in a hundred was thought a formidable obstacle. Now, however, gradients are faced of

one in thirty, or even one in twenty-seven, of which an example exists in England, and a ruling gradient of one in fifty is only considered objectionable, inasmuch as it limits the carrying power of the engine, and so increases the ratio of the working expenses to the gross returns. It is, in fact, a mere question of expense. But the gradient of the Alps! That was a gradient which transcended all experience. Still, engineers did not despair. The possibility of a railway across the Simplon was seriously discussed, and we believe that the late lamented Mr. Robert Stephenson was employed by a company to survey the pass, but his report was unfavourable. We remember, ten years ago, meeting in a small chalet near the summit of the mountain a foreign gentleman surrounded by maps, and plans, and sections, who told us that he was bent upon the same errand. Stationary engines, cog-wheels, pneumatic tubes-every kind of mechanical apparatus, were proposed to meet the difficulty, but hitherto without result.'

A tunnel was thought of and talked of, but it seemed the dream of enthusiasts. The difficulties in the way were indeed tremendous, and might well appal the boldest engineer. In the first place, the length would be much greater than had ever been before attempted, and how was a sufficient quantity of air to be obtained in the gloomy heart of the mountain to enable the passengers to avoid suffocation? How, in the progress of the excavation, were the workmen to breathe? At the distance of miles in the interior what might not be

An experimental line is at this moment in operation on the Mont Cenis, on the plan invented by Mr. Fell, an American, for the application of steam traction to ordinary carriage roads across mountains. The spot selected for the trial is on the zigzag road that ascends the mountain on the Savoy side, and the line is two miles and a quarter in length. The inclines vary from 1 in 23 to 1 in 12, and the smallest radius of the curves is one-fifth of a furlong. There are three sets of rails, of which the middle one is placed on an elevation, and it is used to secure the adhesion of four horizontal wheels attached two to each side of the locomotive. The lower rim of each of these wheels has a catch that firmly clasps the middle rail, so as to prevent the engine from being thrown off the

line. They have also a lateral movement which acts as a powerful break and enables the train to be almost instantaneously stopped, even when going at full speed. It is calculated that by means of this system, when completed, the distance between St. Michel and Susa could be traversed in four hours and a half. We saw the locomotive at work a few months ago, and the effect at a distance was very curious. It seemed with its train like an avalanche descending the mountain, and the illusion was increased by the long line of steam which floated above the snow and was hardly distinguishable from it.

[The above was my original note in 1865. Since then the Fell Railway has been completed, used, and finally abandoned. 1874.]