INTRODUCTORY 5 



"see things " in the mind is an attribute of every great engineer. 

 Vagueness of thought and mental inefficiency are revealed by 

 untidy and inaccurate sketches, poor composition and illegible 

 writing. It is, however, possible to train the mind and greatly 

 increase its efficiency by developing neatness and accuracy in 

 the making of sketches, and by the study of languages. 



The knowledge of foreign languages has an obvious practical 

 value apart from its purely educational advantage, but the study 

 of English, for the engineer of English-speaking countries, is of 

 far greater importance. By enlarging and enriching one's 

 vocabulary through the reading of high class literature, and by 

 paying constant attention to the correct meaning of words and 

 their proper connection in spoken and written language, the 

 clearness of thought important to every engineer, and essential 

 to the designer, may be cultivated to an extent which the average 

 student in the technical schools and engineering universities 

 entirely fails to recognize. In an address delivered on April 8, 

 1904, to the Engineering Society of the University of Nebraska, 

 DR. J. A. L. WADDELL 



"Too much stress cannot well be laid on the importance of a thorough 

 study of the English language. Given two classmate graduates of equal 

 ability, energy, and other attributes contributary to a successful career, 

 one of them being in every respect a master of the English language 

 and the other having the average proficiency in it, the former is certain to 

 outstrip the latter materially in the race for professional advancement." 



Considering further the difference between the training re- 

 ceived by the student in the schools and the training he will 

 subsequently receive in the world of practical things, it must 

 be remembered that the object of technical education is mainly 

 to develop the mind as a thinking machine, and provide a good 

 working basis of fundamental knowledge which shall give weight 

 and balance to all future thinking. The commercial aspect of 

 engineering is seen more clearly after leaving school because it 

 is not easily taught in the class room. The student does not, 

 therefore, get a proper idea of the value of time. Engineering 

 is the economical application of science to material ends, and if 

 the items of cost and durability are omitted from a problem, the 

 results obtained however important from other points of view 

 have no engineering value. The cost of all finished work, 

 including that of the raw materials used in construction, is the 



