572 CIVIL ENGINEERING 



To this end it is important that all of the elements which deter- 

 mine its locus should be duly weighed and coordinated, since the 

 resultant law and prediction must depend upon the accuracy of, 

 and the interpretation placed upon, the available data used in the 

 compilation. 



Some of the physical elements are reasonably well understood 

 with reference to the laws governing their action, such as universal 

 and terrestrial gravitation; the relations of thermic and dynamic, 

 chemical and electric energies; the conservation of force, or the 

 mutations of matter and the like; but who can fathom the basic 

 principles underlying all physical activities and trace the origin of 

 all energies as revealed in the life of organic bodies? 



In the language of our lamented and distinguished physicist, 

 Dr. R, H. Thurston : 



"All life and movement, whether of man, animal, vegetable, 

 seasons, suns and planets, arts, commerce, civilization, intellectual, 

 moral or physical worlds, depend upon transformations of preexist 

 ing energy. . . . We have learned to compute the velocity, 

 refraction and reflection of light, but we still know little of its exact, 

 character as motion of molecules. 



"We know the related form, heat-energy, in its sensible effects; 

 but we are still unable to differentiate the one from the other. . . 

 We can produce and utilize electricity in many ways, but we do 

 not even know what it is or how its transformations from other 

 energies are effected. We work with these three forms of power, 

 but we do not know what is the nature of the substance through 

 which they act to produce their beautiful, marvelous, world-im- 

 pelling effects." He adds in substance: 



The chemist, by analysis, can determine the composition of 

 compounds, but he has only recently discovered that his theoret- 

 ical basic atom can be atomized. The physicist finds in the spec- 

 troscopic lines a strange language of which he lacks the key. He 

 can isolate the phosphorus of steel, but cannot produce that of the 

 glow-worm or the firefly. The analyst can separate organic mat- 

 ter into its elements, but he cannot by synthesis reconstruct the 

 storage batteries of brain and spine nor the subtle alchemy of the 

 bee, which converts the nectar of the rose into its sublimated honey, 

 nor the vegetable verdure of the field into the life-giving, lacteal 

 pabulum of the mammal for the sustenance of its offspring. 



, The astronomer has unraveled the laws of the motions of the 

 celestial bodies, but he is unable to determine their duration, origin, 

 or destiny. His little span of life is all too brief to enable him to 

 reveal the secrets of their Maker. 



The geologist probes the bowels of the earth, from its loftiest to 

 its lowliest depths, but fails to ascertain its age or longevity or to 



