DEPARTMENT XVIII TECHNOLOGY 



(Hall 3, September 20, 2 p. m.) 



CHAIRMAN: CHANCELLOR WINFIELD S. CHAPLIN, Washington University, 



St. Louis. 

 SPEAKER: PROFESSOR HENRY T. BOVEY, F. R. S., McGill University, Montreal. 



THE FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTIONS WHICH ENTER INTO 



TECHNOLOGY 



BY HENRY TAYLOR BOVEY 



[Henry Taylor Bovey, Professor of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics, 

 Dean of Faculty of Applied Science, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. 

 b. Devonshire, England. Graduate B.A. (Cantab.); M.A. ibid.; LL.D. McGill; 

 LL.D. Queens; D.C.L. Bishops. Assistant Engineer, Mersey Docks and 

 Harbour Works, 1877; Professor of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechan- 

 ics, McGill University, 1878; Dean of Faculty of Applied Science, ibid. 

 Member of Institution of Civil Engineers (England), Liverpool Society of Civil 

 Engineers, Past President, Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, National Elec- 

 tric Light Association of the United States. Fellow of the Royal Society (Lon- 

 don); Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Author of Applied Mechanics; 

 Theory of Structures and Strength of Materials; Hydraulics.] 



The Fundamental Conceptions which enter into Technology is a 

 large subject and one which, from its very nature, I cannot hope 

 to treat with completeness. In asking me to undertake its exposi- 

 tion, I assume it was understood that, as a technologist myself, 

 I should naturally speak without the terminology of philosophy 

 shall I say-in an untechnical manner? that is, from the stand- 

 point of a practical man. 



The prevailing characteristic of the eighteenth century has been 

 considered to be the philosophic spirit, while that of the present 

 age is admitted to be the scientific spirit; some even call it the age 

 of the application of science. Is it a sign of a coming reaction that 

 I am asked to speak of what might not inappropriately be called 

 the philosophy of science? 



Science, which, at the outset, attacked the more striking facts 

 of the external world, now busies itself with the invisible, the 

 intangible, the inaudible. This line of growth must tend in the 

 direction of stimulating the imagination, and of directing the mind 

 to an investigation of the principles on which sciences are based. 

 Thus we find that science, which at first appeared to be leading 

 away from philosophy, is seemingly leading back to it again, and 



