"In Locomotion by land [...] our progress has been most stupendous-- surpassing all previous steps since the creation of the human race. [...] In the days of Adam the average speed of travel, if Adam ever did such things, was four miles an hour; in the year 1828, it was still only ten miles, and sensible and scientific men were ready to affirm and eager to prove that this rate could never be materially exceeded; --in 1850 it is habitually forty miles an hour, and seventy for those who like it."
(via "The Great Train Robbery" pg XIV)