The day
when the great Holyrood train passed over the Strait of Menai by this
grand expedient established the superiority of this principle of
construction, and became a memorable occasion in the annals of
mechanical science, and immortalized the name of Stephenson.
We find great national significance in the history of bridges in
different countries. Their costly and substantial grandeur in Britain
accords with the solid qualities of the race, and their elegance on the
Continent with the pervasive influence of Art in Europe. It is a curious
illustration of the inferior economical and high intellectual
development of Greece, that the "Athenians waded, when their temples
were the most perfect models of architecture"; and equally an evidence
of the practical energy of the old Romans, that their stone bridges
often remain to this hour intact. Our own incomplete civilization is
manifest in the marvellous number of bridges that annually break down,
from negligent or unscientific construction; while the indomitable
enterprise of the people is no less apparent in some of the longest,
loftiest, most wonderfully constructed and sustained bridges in the
world.
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