664 MINING ENGINEERING 



work; in the measurement of angles and distances in surveying; 

 and in sampling, assaying, and the common methods of analysis. 

 At first, accuracy is more important than speed. But the latter is, 

 in practice, only less important, and should be insisted on from 

 the beginning. A sound judgment on the degree of precision needed 

 for the particular purpose in question is also indispensable. The 

 student should be sure, on the one hand, that his errors do not 

 exceed this limit, and, on the other hand, that he does not waste 

 time in needless refinement when approximations suffice. He should 

 form the habit of always checking his measurements and calcula- 

 tions by at least two independent methods. The only way to in- 

 sure this standard of accuracy and dispatch is to hold him to the 

 hard standard that he will have to meet in practice, and to make 

 him realize that for carelessness or blunders no explanations can 

 be accepted. Rigid discipline on these lines should begin in the 

 mathematical, physical, and chemical departments, and should run 

 right through the higher technical work with increasing severity. 

 Tolerance of blunders is cruelty in the end. 



General Training 



The mining engineer needs a certain fundamental training in 

 economics, by reason of his position as an intermediary between 

 capital and labor; his necessary dealings with merchants and 

 contractors; and his handling of questions as to the valuation of 

 mining properties and the financing of mines. Besides the broad 

 questions of money, interest, wages, and other leading topics of 

 economics, it is also important that he should be familiar with the 

 laws of specifications and contracts, of ordinary business usage, the 

 science of accounting, and the law of mines and water. 



The broader the general culture with which a student comes to the 

 mining school the better. The minimum entrance requirement should 

 include some familiarity with general history, with the best of English 

 literature, and the command of a simple, clear, and forcible English 

 style. A reading power of the leading modern languages is only less 

 necessary than a mastery of one's mother tongue. 



As the training of the mining engineer must of necessity be chiefly 

 scientific and technical, its natural tendency is to put him somewhat 

 out of sympathy with the gentler side of human culture. It is import- 

 ant to counteract this tendency by keeping him in touch with the 

 finer arts, by which life is mellowed, enriched, and ennobled. 



Where, as is frequently the case in America, the mining school is 

 an integral part of a great university whose scope includes all the 

 activities of our nature, this end is easily and naturally reached by the 

 association of mining students with other students who are devoting 





