August 2, 1888] 



NATURE 



323 



ments to go through Cooper's Hill Engineering School ; 

 and yet the Home Civil Service do not in any way even 

 recognize the very same technical training given to other 

 students who stay at home as of any value at all. 



The instruction given in engineering schools is of two 

 kinds : — 



I. Lectures and demonstrations in mathematics, me- 

 chanics, physics, chemistry, geology, &c. ; and in the 

 theory and practice of engineering, surveying, &c, &c. 



II. Practical training — 



(a) Practical work in laboratories and workshops in 

 mechanics, machines, physics, chemistry, and field-work 

 in geology. 



{b) Drawing and office work, including designing, 

 making out specifications, taking out quantities, &c, &c. 

 (c) Practical surveying, and all manner of field work. 

 \d) Inspection of works in progress. 

 It will be observed what a large and important part of 

 the training given in a school cannot be obtained in 

 an office at all. All the instruction in mathematics, 

 mechanics, physics, chemistry, geology, &c, and in the 

 theory of engineering, and all the important practical 

 laboratory training in these subjects, can only be obtained 

 in a school ; and unless an engineer has been properly 

 and practically taught these things before entering on his 

 profession, it is almost certain that he will never learn 

 them. In the other more especially engineering parts of 

 the course there are several great advantages in the 

 school course over the office course. In the school, in 

 the first place, the student is under the constant instruc- 

 tion of teachers whose time is devoted to instructing the 

 student, and explaining to him the principles upon which 

 his work depends ; and, in the second place, the course of 

 instruction covers as wide a range of subjects as is con- 

 sistent with teaching each properly. In the office, in the 

 first place, the apprentice has to pick up what instruction 

 he can, and is generally content with a rule-of-thumb 

 knowledge, that may desert him at any really critical 

 juncture ; and, in the second place, in any one office the 

 work is yearly becoming more specialized, so that an 

 apprentice will have experience of only a small range of 

 subjects, and, not being acquainted with the theory of 

 even these, will be incompetent to engage in other work. 



There are, of course, certain things, such as facility in 

 numerical calculation, and perhaps in the use of field- 

 instruments, acquaintance with the details of specifica- 

 tions in a particular class of work, familiarity with prices 

 at a particular time, and an opportunity of seeing designs 

 carried into execution, which cannot be as well obtained 

 in school as on works The object of a school being to 

 teach, and of works being to pay, neither can completely 

 supply the place of the other. As a course of technical 

 training for a young engineer, the school course is out of 

 all proportion the more important. What can be learnt 

 from the office course will certainly be acquired, while 

 what can be learnt from the school course will hardly 

 ever be acquired, unless learnt before beginning the 

 practice of his profession. In this age of technical edu- 

 cation it is practically certain that in a few years no 

 engineer will be recognized as such unless he has had a 

 proper technical school education, just as in the medical 

 profession it has long ago been recognized that, without 

 a proper medical school education, it is impossible for a 

 doctor to learn the many sciences upon which the suc- 

 cessful practice of his profession necessarily depends. 



Eminent engineers who have had experience of students 

 taught in engineering schools hold opinions similar to 

 those here enunciated. Our late Professor of Engineering, 

 Mr. Crawford, whose engineering experience is world- 

 wide, is of this opinion. Mr. Bindon B. Stoney, Engineer 

 to the Dublin Port and Docks Board, is of the ssme 

 opinion. Both these have had experience of school- 

 trained students, and think that the proper course for a 

 young engineer to pursue is to go through a course of 



instruction in a properly-equipped school, and then to go 

 for a year on works. They consider that a year on works 

 is required to complete the education of an engineer, and 

 they think that a short time on works is quite sufficient for 

 a student who has already gone through an engineering 

 school. Mr. Stoney, for instance, takes students who 

 have been through an engineering school as apprentices 

 for one year, although he will not take untrained 

 apprentices for so short a term. 



Foreign Governments in general require all who profess 

 to practise as engineers to go through a proper technical 

 school training, and it is a serious difficulty in the way of 

 English engineers who endeavour to obtain employment 

 on the Continent that, even though they may have been 

 trained in an excellent school, yet this is not recognized 

 by foreign Governments, because our engineering schools 

 are in no way recognized by our own Government. 



The Civil Service Commissioners should endeavour to 

 encourage the proper scientific training of the engineers 

 they receive into the public service, and they can do so by 

 recognizing the years spent in an engineering school as 

 equivalent to the same number of years of the technical 

 training that is now required. In the more important 

 appointments, which at present require five years' technical 

 training, the candidate would have to supplement his 

 school course by an office course of at least two years ; 

 and this, in the opinion of eminent engineers, as quoted 

 above, would be amply sufficient. In the case of the less 

 important appointments, the school training is probably 

 much better than what satisfies the Commissioners at 

 present ; but if it is thought that the special qualifications 

 of an office-trained apprentice are essential, they can 

 be easily secured by requiring in every case at least one 

 year's office experience. 



The Civil Service Commissioners should, before recog- 

 nizing any engineering school as giving the instruction 

 qualifying a candidate to compete for an appointment, 

 inspect the school, and see that it is properly equipped, 

 and has the means and teachers required to teach what it 

 professes. For instance, in some schools there is no 

 special instruction in architecture, and this special teaching 

 should be required of any school that was recognized as 

 qualifying candidates for specially architectural appoint- 

 ments. Similarly, in the case of mechanical engineering, 

 some schools have not the means of teaching it properly, 

 and these schools should not be recognized as qualifying 

 candidates for specially mechanical engineering appoint- 

 ments. A school that teaches civil engineering should be 

 recognized as such, and only as such ; and similarly, one 

 that only teaches mechanical engineering should be 

 recognized only as such In the case of medical appoint- 

 ments, the State recognition of schools is already fully 

 carried out, so that there can be no insuperable difficulty 

 in doing the same in the case of the engineering 

 appointments. 



If the Civil Service Commissioners require further 

 information as to the instruction imparted in engineering 

 schools, it would be well for them to inspect University 

 College, London, the City and Guilds of London Institute, 

 and Cooper's Hill, all of which are easy of access from 

 London ; and if they require further information they had 

 better appoint some competent Committee to inspect and 

 report to them generally as to the training given in 

 engineering schools, and as to whether they give a 

 technical training that the Civil Service Commissioners 

 would recognize as equivalent to some years spent in an 

 office; and, if -not, how the schools should modify their 

 courses so as to give this instruction. Statements as to 

 the nature and value of instruction made by those 

 interested in it and responsible for it are not so valuable 

 as independent testimony. 



In conclusion, I would earnestly press upon the Civil 

 Service Commissioners the very great desirability of their 

 encouraging scientifically-trained candidates to apply for 



