THE 



LONDON AND EDINBURGH 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



[THIRD SERIES.] 



JULY 1838. 



J. Education of Students in Civil Engineering and Mining it. 

 the University of Durham.* 



IT has. long been a subject of regret that no institution 

 existed in England in which young men might receive an 

 education which should peculiarly fit them for the higher 

 branches of the profession of a Civil Engineer. That pro- 

 fession is comparatively of recent origin. It has been formed 

 by the exigencies of the times, and has had to struggle with 

 great disadvantages. The names of Smeaton, Brindley, and 

 others recall to our minds the difficulties which those men 

 of masterly abilities had to encounter, in order to devise the 

 means and create the instruments necessary to accomplish 

 the purposes which their genius conceived. A portion of this 

 difficulty still subsists; while the attainments necessary to 

 enable the engineer to meet the emergencies which he has to 

 encounter, have continually become more varied and exten- 

 sive. 



The construction of canals, harbours and railroads, the 

 successful application of steam to the purposes of navigation 

 and of locomotive engines on land, the increased activity in 

 opening out the treasures of coal and other minerals, in si- 

 tuations hitherto deemed inaccessible, have combined to offer 

 a field of almost boundless extent for the exercise of talent of 

 the highest order. In the meanwhile the profession of civil 

 engineer has risen in the scale of national importance, in 

 consequence of the immense capital employed under his di- 

 rection. In no other profession, with the exception of that 

 of the law, are so many questions of pecuniary importance 



* Communicated by the Rev. Prof. Chevallier and Prof. Johnston. 

 Phil Mag. S. 3. Vol. 13. No. 79. July 1838. B 



