PROGRESS IN ENGINEERING. 



BY ROBERT HEYWOOD FERNALD. 



[Robert Heywood Fernald, engineer; bom Crono, Me., Dec. 19, 1871; educated at 

 University of Maine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Case School of Applied 

 Science, and Columbia university; is professor of mechanical engineering in the Wash-i 

 ington university at St. Louis, Mo. ; has written many monographs chiefly dealing 

 with the result of his own scientific investigations.] 



The past century has been a period of special significance' 

 in the development of technical education, and is properly- 

 regarded as the era of its most important advancement. 

 Reviewing the history of this period, we find ourselves, even 

 at its beginning, a long way from the original source of tech- 

 nical education, which is, in fact, prehistoric. A brief sketch 

 of the earliest known results of this type of education is of 

 value as revealing the foundation of its more recent accom- 

 plishments. 



The Bible states that Tubal-Cain, the inventor of the 

 art of forging metals, was "an instructor of every artificer 

 in brass and iron" — and this nearly 4,000 years B.C. The 

 building of the great cities of the ancients required a knowl- 

 edge of materials and methods of construction which seem 

 marvelous to-day, and manufacturing and other industries- 

 must have formed a necessary part of the evidently active 

 life of ancient communities. The cutting of the great mono- 

 liths from the quarries of Syene, together with the inscrip- 

 tions wrought upon their faces; the raising of these huge; 

 masses of stone to form the pyramids; the building of great 

 tombs in these structures, as well as the excavating into 

 the mountains of the region for a like purpose, and the ap- 

 plication of the mechanic arts in ways more refined and 

 delicate, but nevertheless enduring, lead directly to the con- 

 clusion that the foundation of technical training and a knowl- 

 edge of technical principles are as old as civilization; and in 

 tracing the history of engineering education in any country 



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