188 president's address — section J. 



into hydraulic, mining, electrical engineering, land and 

 engineering surveying, and every year we may look for some 

 new secession from the parent state, so that an unfortunate, 

 lad who may contemplate becoming an engineer is at his wit's 

 end to choose from this Pandora's Box all the gifts in which 

 will be a weariness of the flesh to him. 



All these petty kingdoms in the great empire of engineering 

 are distinguished by energy, originality, and progress. There 

 is now no worshipping old models, no drowsy resting upon 

 the old authorities ; novel and startling designs and projects 

 burst upon an astonished world from time to time ; many of 

 the arts and sciences assist and contiibute to engineering, and 

 are assisted by it in turn, each serving as a stepping-stone to 

 the other, until there would appear to be no end to the pro- 

 gress and improvements which every branch of engineering 

 is undergoing. In the different branches into which engineer- 

 ing is now separated, the special knowledge required is so 

 extensive and complicated that no human brain can master 

 more than a part of it; thus the various branches are taken up 

 by those who devote special study to one or other. In this 

 respect mechanical engineering requires such an intimate 

 knowledge of constructive details, of the laws of motion in 

 its most complicated forms, and of the physical properties of 

 matter of every kind, that it was at once evident that it must 

 stand by itself as an entirely different profession. 



A man who could lay out extensive railway, canal, or 

 harbour works could not possibly design the machinery of 

 great marine engines, locomotives, or factory mills, and do 

 justice to all. 



But in the progress of engineering as a whole, mechanical 

 engineering must be allowed the greater merit. It is to the 

 perfection of tools, implements, and machinery that we owe 

 the possibility of the great engineering works of the present day. 



In the old days the want of our modern tools and 

 machinery stood in the way of the use of iron, except as 

 fastenings to wood or stone ; but wood is quite unsuitable 

 for large structures, and stone is too unwieldy for many 

 essential uses. The discovery of the means of making up 

 iron into large masses, and every required shape, at once 

 extended engineering possibilities in all directions. The 

 knowledge of methods for making steel cheaply in great 

 quantity still further extended the range of engineering 

 achievements, which is only checked for want of a material 

 harder and stronger than steel. Chemists have been throwing 



