history as existing at as early a period as war itself, commercial commodities were transported in ancient times almost entirely on beasts of burden. Hence the slow growth for a long time of the demand for roads.

All records of work done in the early life of the human race are indefinite, and much that ought to be history and founded upon fact is only conjecture.

It is said that a little to the east of the Great Pyramid remains of a stone causeway a mile long have been discovered. This is supposed to be a portion of a road built by Pharaoh for the purpose of conveying stone or other material across the sand for the construction of the pyramid. As this pyramid is generally considered to have been built in the fourth dynasty, or about 4000 B.C., it is undoubtedly, if authentic, the oldest road on record.

Another ancient boulevard is mentioned by historians which must have been built soon after, as these times are now considered. The city of Memphis is said to have been connected with the pyramids by a broad roadway, two leagues long, having a paved and well-kept driveway lined on both sides with temples, mausoleums, porticoes, monuments, statues, etc. In fact, according to descriptions it must have been the modern boulevard with all the accessories that the times and unlimited wealth would allow.

The Carthaginians, however, are generally given the credit of being the first people to construct and maintain a general system of roads. This African city had sprung up about 600 B.C. and by its growth and enterprise became a rival of the Roman Empire across the Mediterranean. Rome endured this rivalry. for a time, but at last she issued that famous edict, Carthago delenda est, which resulted in the invasion of Africa and the destruction of Carthage

B.C. 146.

The Romans without doubt appreciated the benefit of improved highways for the rapid mobilization of troops, for they immediately took up the practice of the Carthaginians, and road-building was always one of the features of their subsequent conquests. It is claimed that in Great Britain alone they constructed 2500 miles of roads.

The Appian Way was built by Appius Claudius about 300 B.C., and the Flaminian Way some years later. These roads were prac

tically examples of solid masonry laid in cement mortar and sometimes several feet thick.

A traveller in one case reports having crawled entirely across a road under the pavement where the earth had been washed away and the masonry had been self-supporting. Such roads lasted a long time. The Appian Way was said to have been in good repair eight hundred years after it was built. But it must be remembered that the traffic it sustained was of such a nature and amount as to produce a very slight abrasion on the roadway. The stone used was irregular in size and shape, but laid in such a manner as to make a solid roadbed impervious to water.

Prof. John Beekman of the University of Göttingen states in his "History of Inventions and Discoveries" that the streets of Thebes were regularly cleaned, and that the Talmud says the streets of Jerusalem were swept every day, and accordingly concludes that they must have been paved.

A consular report from Palestine states that the pavements of Jerusalem laid by the Romans over two thousand years ago are still in fair preservation, but adds: "They are indeed hidden from sight, and are many feet beneath the rubbish of the city." It is easy to understand how a stone pavement might last centuries under such conditions.

Mexico and Peru, although not countries where much transportation was ever carried on by vehicles, built in ancient times many foot-roads of great excellence; those of Peru alone extended for more than a thousand leagues.

In the special consular reports it is stated that more than one thousand years before Columbus discovered the New World, the province and also the city of Genoa boasted of fine roads and streets.

In France all travelling was done on horseback until the latter part of the sixteenth century. In 1508 Louis XII. appointed officers to inspect and report upon the condition of all roads; to repair those under the care of the king, and to enforce the repair of the others by the proper authorities. Other rulers followed his example, but little good was accomplished, as these officers were often appointed and almost immediately discharged so as to create vacancies which might be filled upon the payment of a certain fee,

thereby creating a considerable revenue by the sale of appointments. This fact would seem to show that corruption existed in the carrying out of public work in ancient as well as in modern times.

In the latter part of the sixteenth century Henry IV. appointed a "Great Waywarden of France." This is probably the earliest record of the appointment of a public official with a specified title to have systematic supervision over the public roads.

These different actions, however, do not seem to have accomplished much, as it is recorded that as late as 1789 the country roads of France were generally in a state of nature or worse.

It is, however, stated that in 1556 a stone road was built from Paris to Orleans, the portion improved being 15 feet, although the entire width was 54 feet.

The first highway constructed in Spain, after the Roman régime, was built by Fernando VI. in 1749 from Santander to Reinoso, the labor being performed by soldiers. In 1761 regulations were made for the classification, construction, and repair of highways in general, but no definite results were obtained. In 1794 the matter was delegated to a special bureau of the government, but with no better success. And it was not till 1834, when an engineering school was established, graduating its first class in 1839, that any real good was accomplished. From that time roads were built according to the condition of the public treasury.

The first Highway Act for the improvement of roads in England was passed in 1555.

The above facts relate to roads rather than pavements proper, and it is interesting to note to what size European cities grew before any particular attention was given to street pavements, and how many years it required to arrive at any satisfactory results. Alexander Dumas said after a visit to Russia, in answer to a question as to how he found the streets and roads, that he had scarcely seen any, inasmuch as during the winter season they were covered with snow, and during the summer they were in process of repair.

The streets of Rome were paved in the fourth and fifth centuries after the founding of the city.

The first pavements in Paris were laid during the reign of

Philip Augustus about 1184, the square of the Châtelet and the streets of St. Antoine, St. Jacques, St. Honoré, and St. Denis being the first improved. The population of Paris at that time must have been little less than 200,000.

Cordova, Spain, although a smal place, is said to have had paved streets in 850.

The Strand, London, was ordered paved by act of Parliament in the fourteenth century, and streets outside of the city in the sixteenth, although it is said that the first regular pavements were laid in 1533, when the city had a population of 150,000. Holborn had some pavements in 1417. Square granite blocks were introduced by acts of Parliament for Westminster in 1761, and for London generally in 1766.

When the Forum Trajanum was cleaned by the French in 1813, the old Roman pavements were found on an average of 12 feet below the then surface. The stones in these old pavements were polyangular in shape, containing from 4 to 5 square feet and 12 to 14 inches deep, laid with close joints. More modern blocks. in Rome were about 2 cubes long, and on being set up endwise had an area of 10 square inches. This would give a block about 7 inches long, 3 inches deep, and 3 inches wide. They were set on 12 inches of cement concrete.

A recent novelist, speaking of London in 1516, says: "There were great mud-holes where one sank ankle-deep, for no one paved their streets at that time; strangely enough preferring to pay the sixpence fine per square yard for leaving it undone." How often this fine was imposed was not stated.

Speaking of London in 1685, Lord Macaulay says: "The pavement was detestable; all foreigners cried shame upon it. The drainage was so bad that in rainy weather the gutters soon became torrents."

Walter Besant in his "History of London" states that in the Elizabethan period carts only were allowed on the street, and their number was restricted to 420. Merchandise was carried on packhorses. Also: "In the streets the roads were paved with round pebbles-they were cobbled; the footway was protected by posts placed at intervals; the paving-stones, which only existed in the principal streets, before 1766 were small and badly laid; after a

shower they splashed up mud and water when one stepped upon them."

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In a pamphlet written by a Colonel Macirone of London in 1826, when the city had a population of 1,400,000, the author says: Florence, Sienna, Milan, and other Italian cities have pavements with especially prepared wheel-tracks. These tracks are three feet in width, made of large and particularly well-laid stones. They are about four feet apart, and the space between paved with smaller stones." He further states that these pavements, as well as those of Rome last mentioned, are the best that he has ever seen, but that they would be too expensive for London. Also: "There is no species of pavement that I have ever seen or heard of to the application of which to the streets of London there would not be many and great objections. . . However true it may be that an observant traveller cannot fail of being struck with admiration at the excellence of the turnpikes and other roads throughout this country, he must at the same time be very much surprised at the badness of the carriage-pavements, even of the principal streets of this metropolis."

These were the observations of an engineer who had travelled and examined the European pavements of that time, and they ought to express fairly their condition.

This was about the time of Macadam and Telford, and soon after this considerable broken-stone pavements were laid in London.

A pavement consisting of broad, smooth, well-jointed blocks of granite for wheel-tracks, with pitching between for horses, was laid in Commercial Road, London, in 1825.

In 1839 there were 1100 square yards of wood pavement in London, which in 1842 had increased to 60,000, when, according to a statement made in the City Council by an alderman during a controversy as to the relative merits of wood and stone pavements, there were 600,000 square yards of the latter, probably nearly if not all macadam. These two items without doubt represented the total amount of pavements in a city of nearly 2,000,000 people.

In 1825 Telford recommended the use of stone blocks 41 to7 inches in size for street use; and 3×9 inches granite sets were laid on Blackfriars Bridge with mortar joints in 1840. This was probably the first attempt at a modern stone pavement. Rock