2 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



trouble and some expense, by those who have thus evinced in 

 such a practical manner their interest in the work. 



"When I addressed you on a similar occasion to the pre- 

 sent eleven years ago some of the present applications of 

 science were in comparative infancy, and the advance that 

 has been made since then offers a tempting opening to enlarge 

 on what may be achieved iu the future. But I have no 

 intention of inflicting on you a tirade in the gushing style of 

 which we have had a good deal of experience since the com- 

 mencement of the century. Some of the conclusions reached 

 in these predictions might eventuate if the law of gravitation 

 could be repealed. But just as we have experienced the pos- 

 sible, so also we have a clearer conception of what is impos- 

 sible ; just as we have learned the possibilities of electric 

 transmission of heat, light, and force, so have we learned the 

 laws by which these things are governed, and wbich are as 

 immutable as those pertaining to the older science of 

 hydraulics. When one takes up a specimen of these florid 

 predictions, such as I have now before me in a cutting from 

 an American newspaper, and eliminates therefrom all that is 

 equivalent to perpetual motion — and, singular to say, many 

 things that are already in use ; others, again, long known 

 but not in use — it is wonderful how little remains of what is 

 possible and at the same time new. 



There are, however, among those who have been forecast- 

 ing future possibilities the names of some who have scored 

 their mark indelibly in the annals of time. And if, as is 

 asserted, Nikola Tesla predicts that electric messages and 

 power will be sent from England to Australia without wires, 

 we have no scientific warrant for disbelief, although we have 

 not the smallest foundation in our present experience for 

 hoping that such a thing may be possible. 



But to enter into a train of speculative thought on these 

 and kindred subjects on this occasion would be somewhat 

 out of place, and I shall therefore endeavour to enlist your 

 attention in matters having a more or less practical bearing 

 and influence on every-day life. This opens out a very ex- 

 tensive field of vision," far too much for either your time or 

 patience, and I will endeavour to exhaust neither. 



The advance of engineering during the last fifty years has 

 been suggested as a theme of general interest, and it is to me 

 in many points attractive, for it is just fifty years ago last 

 New Year since I entered to serve my time to the work of my 

 life, a raw youth of eighteen fresh from Ian Maclaren's Scots 

 Grammar School. I will therefore glance at a few of the 

 changes which have taken place in the practice of what has 

 been happily defined as the " art of directing the great sources 

 of power in nature for the use and convenience of man." 



