650 MINING ENGINEERING 



that in America that graduates from such schools have always found 

 in America much to be unlearned. The American mining schools 

 have already adapted themselves so well to their environment that 

 this year, for the first time in nearly a century, there were no Ameri- 

 can mining students in the great Saxon Mining School at Freiberg. 

 And already some of the American mining schools have exceeded in 

 wealth, in equipment, and in attendance, this most famous of all 

 mining schools. 



7s Theoretical Training Worth While ? 



But, it may be urged, if practical men without theoretical training 

 have accomplished so much, what is the use of theoretical training? 

 Why not confine the education of the mining engineer to the purely 

 practical part, omitting all the theory? The answer is not far to reach. 

 The purely practical man has indeed accomplished wonders, but at 

 the cost of enormous waste of money, labor, and human lives. For 

 every success that he has made there are a thousand failures which 

 only the thoughtful notice. There is no profession where practical 

 experience is more essential than in mining, but the necessity of a 

 sound scientific training is even more indispensable. A hard-headed 

 Arizona miner once put the matter very tersely when the superiority 

 of the " practical man " was being strongly urged, by saying: " I have 

 had thirty years' practical experience in mining, and I would give 

 twenty-five of those years to have had a good technical education to 

 begin with." He was clearly right, for a man well trained in funda- 

 mentals has a broader grasp and can more intelligently and rapidly 

 utilize his experience than a man without this training. 



Either theory or practice alone is helpless; united they are invin- 

 cible. And the brilliant success of the American mining engineer in 

 so many fields has been because these two important elements have 

 been so thoroughly blended in his training. 



Specialization, How Much and When ? 



This problem arises from the great breadth of training which has 

 been necessary to the American mining engineer. Like the soldier or 

 sailor, he must go to the ends of the earth. His work often lies beyond 

 the borders of civilization, where, like Prospero upon his lonely 

 isle, he must conjure up his resources from the vasty deep; and he 

 must act in turn as geologist and as civil, mechanical, hydraulic, 

 electrical, mining, or metallurgical engineer. The problem is: What 

 degree of specialization shall be undertaken in an undergraduate 

 mining course? Shall we endeavor to turn out at graduation special- 

 ists, each completely equipped for work in some narrow line, or shall 

 we rather attempt to establish a broad basal training in the physical 



