PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS—SECTION J. 201 
has been produced, in addition to the ordinary records of the 
tests), including 1,500 specimens of Australian timbers, which 
have been tested in tension, compression, cross-breaking and 
shearing, both for strength and elasticity. A variety of models, 
made to scale, of timber trusses and compound beams; 300 blocks 
of concrete of various proportions and ages; a series of experi- 
ments on the adhesion of cement mortar to bricks; a number 
of experiments on the crushing resistance of sewer pipes, bricks, 
stone, and asphalt ; also a number of experiments on the tensile 
strength of iron, steel, bronzes, &c., chiefly used in Government 
works. In all these experiments the students take part. 
A student having completed a course such as this is in a 
position to commence his practical duties—if a civil engineer, in 
the drawing office, and afterwards on the works in progress of 
construction; if a mechanical engineer, first in the workshops 
and afterwards in the drawing office—and generally he will make 
decided progress in acquiring a knowledge of all those practical 
details which will daily come under his notice. Having received 
a complete scientific training in the underlying principles of his 
profession, and having acquired the habit of thinking accurately, 
he will be able to observe, analyse, and classify the various 
operations in the process of construction of the works he is 
engaged upon. A good student will be anxious to extend his 
experience in every possible way, and will study closely the 
engineering practice on works other than those he is engaged 
upon ; and, in general, he will acquire more valuable practical 
experience in three years after the completion of his theoretical 
studies than could possibly be obtained in a lifetime without such 
preliminary training. 
The advantages of a training such as the one I have referred 
to is more conspicuous when it is attempted to design works 
where no previous examples of a similar character are available. 
Here an engineer who is deficient in scientific training may 
endanger life and property, and is almost certain to incur 
unnecessary expense. 
Again, it will be at once conceded that an engineer, if he is 
to progress with the times, must diligently study the various 
professional journals and the proceedings of our principal 
engineering societies, in order that he may be acquainted with 
the works ‘of other engineers in the special branch in which he is 
interested; but unless he has received a training such as the one 
referred to he cannot derive one half of the real benefit obtainable. 
For example, he cannot follow completely the various papers in 
connection with the steam and gas engine without a sound 
knowledge of thermodynamics ; neither can he follow the 
development of engineering practice in bridge-building unless he 
thoroughly understands the scientific basis of that practice. 
