THE PRESENT PROBLEMS OF TECHNOLOGY 



BY LEWIS MUHLENBERG HAUPT 



[Lewis Muhlenberg Haupt, Consulting, Civil, and Maritime Engineer, Philadel- 

 phia, Pennsylvania, b. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, March 21, 1844. Graduate, 

 United States Military Academy. Resigned 1869. M.S. University of Penn- 

 sylvania; Engineer Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, 1869-72; Assistant Exam- 

 iner United States Patent Office, April to September, 1872; Professor of Civil 

 Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 1872-92; Assistant, United States 

 Light House Service, 1874; in charge of Geodesy of Pennsylvania, 1875; Sec- 

 retary of Bureau of Awards, Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, 1876; mem- 

 ber of Nicaragua and Isthmian Canal Commissions, 1897-1901. Has received 

 many medals and awards for discoveries in physical hydrography and harbor 

 improvements. Member of Franklin Institute; Pennsylvania Historical So- 

 ciety; Institute of Mining Engineers; Engineers' Club of Philadelphia; Amer- 

 ican Philosophical Society; American Association for Advancement of Science; 

 American Society of Civil Engineers; Geographical Society of Philadelphia; 

 National Geographic Society. Author of Working Drawings; Engineering Speci- 

 fications and Contracts; The Topographer; The American Engineering Register; 

 A Move for Better Roads; and numerous reports and special pamphlets on 

 transportation and engineering topics.] 



STANDING in the shadow of the century which this greatest 

 of expositions signalizes, it is fitting that one should consider its 

 fruition, as typified in these exhibits, and also indulge in a fore- 

 cast of the magnificent possibilities which they portend. 



Amongst the varied subjects assigned for the consideration of 

 this distinguished international Congress, that of "Present Pro- 

 blems" would seem, from its title, to be restricted to the existing 

 status of civil engineering; yet it is so intimately related to both 

 history and prophecy as to involve a brief reference to its past evo- 

 lution and its future potentialities. 



This is the more evident when it is considered that the present 

 is but an infinitesimal link between the two infinities, past and 

 future; the former, being the storehouse of models, tools, and ex- 

 periences; the latter, the great laboratory of psychological possi- 

 bilities, rendered attainable only through the application of pre- 

 sent activities. 



Whenever the curve of progress * in any art or science may be 

 traced from sufficiently exact data, its present status becomes at 

 once known and its prospective possibilities may be predicted 

 within reasonable limits of certainty, under similar conditions. 



It is by such graphical records of quantitative events that the 

 composite results of history are most clearly projected forward 

 into the domain of accurate predictions. The grandest problem of 

 the present is to portray definitely that curve of progress which 

 will point the way most surely for succeeding generations. 



1 See Scientific Research, by Dr. R. H. Thurston, Science, vol. xvi, 1902. 



