J 98 president's address — section J. 



summer as to warm tliem in winter. The Americans seek to 

 temper the summer heats by an unlimited consumption of ice 

 taken internally ; we hope theingenuity of ouryoung- engineers 

 will save us from this hai'barous and hurtful way of cooling our 

 overheated bodies, and a grateful public, sweltering under a 

 hot wind, will be delighted to reward the engineer who shall 

 invent comfortable cooling places in their houses. 



In ])roportion to the increasing magnitude and importance 

 of modern engineering works, the corresponding necessity has 

 arisen for sound theoretical and scientific knowledge in the 

 engineer. The complicated structure of large bridges and 

 heavy machinery could not safely be designed by men defi- 

 cient in mathematical and mechanical science. The day is 

 now past when, to make an engineer, it was considered suflS- 

 cient to apprentice a youth to an engineer who set him to 

 tracing, plotting, and drawing, taught him the use of the 

 theodolite and level, and sent him to pick up experience on 

 the works. This process turned out a race of so-called 

 practical, or rather rule-of-thumb engineers, now happily 

 dying out. 



The scientific and theoretical teaching of engineering is 

 now recognised to be as important as the technical training 

 required for other professions of high standing. Engineering 

 schools and colleges are provided in most large cities, where 

 there is no want of opportunity for the youth of these colonies 

 to acquire the science of all branches of engineering. A good 

 engineer, however, is not manufactured by schools and 

 colleges only, for Avithout the natural bent and mental apti- 

 tude the best scientific teaching will lead to disappointing- 

 results ; there is no profession that demands so wide a 

 range of knowledge, scientific as well as practical, and none in 

 which common sense and sound judgment are so indespensable 

 to success. 



Hitherto there has been much laxity and indifference on 

 the part of public bodies as to the qualifications of the men 

 employed by them as engineers, with the result that the pro- 

 fession has had to submit to blame and obloquy for the work 

 of men not properly qualified as engineers. Victoria is the 

 only colony which has recognised the importance, in the 

 public interest, of insisting on public bodies which have charge 

 of public works satisfying themselves that the engineers they 

 employ shall be properly qualified. If this example were 

 imitated by the other colonies the public would reap a mani- 

 fest advantage. 



