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and new processes of Art the.se have not always, nor yet even 

 often, it must be conceded, commenced their career as men of 

 ^'science. The Watts, the Arkwrights, the Bramahs, the Clem- 

 ' ents, the Nasmyths, the Stephensons, the Fairbairns, the Ful- 

 tons, the Erricsons, the G-oodyears, the Howes, the McCormicks, 

 have usually had their training in the shops, not in the Schools. 

 As Isaac Taylor phrases it, " The great Inventor is one who 

 has walked forth upon the industrial world, not from univer- 

 sities, but from hovels ; not as clad in silks and decked with 

 honors, but as clad in fustian, and grimed with soot and oil." 

 What then, you will ask, is the use of scientific training ? 

 Why palter with Theory, when Practice can accomplish such 

 marvels without it ? Why Colleges to train Engineers, when 

 the great giants of engineering have grown up outside of 

 Colleges ? 



In the first place, I answer, the great engineers and invent- 

 ors named, though, for the most part sprung from poverty, 

 and trained mainly in the shops, have not accomplished their 

 results independently of science. They did not come from 

 College, it is true ; they did not study science in the class- 

 room. But, nevertheless, they did study science. They found 



opportunity, in the midst of laborious occupations, to acquire, 

 as they needed them, at least its rudiments and its results. 

 Gifted with high genius and indomitable energy, they, in spite 

 of obstacles, pushed their way upward, often stumbling, it is 

 true, yet gathering new knowledge by the dear-bought experi- 

 ence ; conning the science they needed by the light of the 

 forge, or the midnight torch, or at early dawn ; and when 

 their own scanty stock failed them, calling to their aid the 

 profounder scientific acquirements of men trained in the 

 Schools. Most of the great English Engineers, though thus 

 gathering their knowledge only in the midst of active business, 



