22 Kansas Academij of Science. 



ADDRESS OF RETIRING PRESIDENT. 



PROGRESS IN SANITARY ENGINEERING PRACTICE. 



By Alva J. Smith. 



FIFTY years ago there was no class of men devoting their 

 entire time and attention to the subject of sanitation. 

 Engineering- covered such a broad and indefinite field that little, 

 was accomplished along the lines of what is now sanitary 

 engineering. In 1828 civil engineering was described as the 

 art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the 

 use and convenience of man. Then the practice of the civil 

 engineer might cover most of the numerous subjects now 

 classed under the six widely distinct departments of engineer- 

 ing — mechanical, mining, marine, sanitary, chemical, and 

 electric. But there were philanthropists and public-spirited 

 men interested in the public-health questions who strove to 

 better the condition of their fellow men, to lower the death 

 rate of the community, and to inculate into the minds of the 

 people the wise saying of Benjamin Franklin that "Public 

 health is public wealth," and that of John Wesley that "Clean- 

 liness is next to godliness." Specialization in matters per- 

 taining to sanitation gradually set in, however, until there 

 developed a new class of individuals in sanitary affairs, 

 namely, sanitary engineers and inspectors and health officers, 

 whose efficient and praiseworthy efforts have been a promi- 

 nent factor in giving us the high standard that is held to-day 

 in sanitary aifairs. Sanitary engineering is now a profession 

 concerned with matters pertaining to public health. Since 

 pure food, pure water and pure air are essential to public 

 health the sanitary engineer busies himself mostly with the 

 design, construction and inspection of the two systems so 

 vitally important to every community: first, for furnishing 

 an abundance of pure water, and, second, for the sanitary 

 disposal of sewage. 



Before noting the great strides that have been made since 

 sanitary engineering became a profession, let us consider the 

 real beginning of its development. We find it almost lost in 

 antiquity. "It always has been and always will be an art to 

 preserve health and ward off disease," says Seneca Egbert, 



