114 



NA TURE 



[March 24, 1910 



from the chemical point of view will greatly aid us m 

 getting a broader and more correct conception of the nature 

 of chemical action itself. Certainly in living beings we 

 have numerous, fundamental, and deep-seated chemical 

 changes going on continually with apparently the greatest 

 ease at ordinary temperatures and pressures, and it is 

 tantalising that we are unable to comprehend how this is 

 all brought about. In the unravelling of the questions that 

 here confront us a clear recognition that solutions are 

 chemical in nature will be of the greatest service. 



Engineering as a Profession. 

 Prof. G. F. Swain, of Harvard University, addressed 

 Section D (Mechanical Science and Engineering) on 

 engineering as a profession. During the course of his 

 remarks he said : — 



The field of engineering is more extensive than that of 

 any of the three so-called learned professions, and 

 the different branches of the profession differ from each 

 other to such an extent as in some cases to have little 

 in common, except a knowledge of the general principles 

 of physics, chemistry, mechanics, and other sciences. The 

 profession of the physician, it is true, is divided into many 

 specialities, but while the throat specialist deals with the 

 throat, and the stomach specialist with the stomach, they 

 are all dealing with the human body, in which all the 

 parts and functions are closely interconnected ; but even 

 within the field of what is termed civil engineering, the 

 railroad engineer and the irrigation engineer, or the rail- 

 road engineer and the architectural engineer, have little 

 in common. 



The work of the engineer as applied to any contem- 

 plated project consists essentially of four parts, first, to 

 ascertain whether anything should be done, and, if so, 

 what should be done; second, to design and formulate 

 the means to be employed in doing it ; third, to select the 

 proper materials ; and, fourth, to carry on the actual 

 work into execution. As the engineer's problem is to 

 adapt the materials, the forces, the sources of power in 

 nature to the use and convenience of man, it is clear that 

 in order to fulfil his calling to the highest extent the 

 engineer should be scientifically trained — that he should be 

 familiar with the fundamental principles which govern 

 natural phenomena. Different branches of science are 

 required in varj'ing degrees in the different branches of the 

 profession, but every engineer should know, and know 

 thoroughly, the fundamental principles of chemistry, 

 physics, mathematics, and mechanics. The engineer 

 should be possessed of the true scientific spirit, loving the 

 study of science for its own sake as well as for its applica- 

 tions, and trained to seek always the truth, Ihe whole 

 truth, and nothing but the truth ; but the work of the 

 engineer deals, not with science for its own sake, but 

 with its applications to the practical affairs of rnen. The 

 engineer must, therefore, be above all a practical man. 

 He must not be a pure theorist, a dreamer, a visionary. 

 He must see in his mathematical formulae a meaning, and 

 not a simple accumulation of letters. The engineer, then, 

 must not only be a scientific man, but he must be, first 

 and foremost, a practical man ; and, on the whole, ^ the 

 latter is more important than the former, although it is 

 in the proper combination of the two that the greatest 

 excellence will result. 



The engineer, unlike the true man of science pr mathe- 

 matician, does not work in his laboratory or his study — 

 his work is with the affairs of men. Engineering is more 

 than half business, and the successful engineer, therefore, 

 must be to a considerable extent a business man and a 

 financier. 



The profession of the engineer is a wide and varied one, 

 but it requires varied qualifications, and demands pre- 

 eminently an all-round man. It must not be forgotten, 

 however, that without the scientific training, or at_ least 

 the scientific spirit, the engineer will not attain the highest 

 success. It is also evident that the thoroughly trained 

 and capable engineer will find manv opportunities to make 

 himself useful in scientific as well as in administrative 

 positions. He will also find many opportunities for doing 

 general public service to the State or nation. Different 

 men have different ideals of success, but the highest ideal 

 is the one which most involves the idea of public service. 



NO. 2108, VOL. 83] 



The Principles of Palaeo geography. 

 In his presidential address to Section E (Geology and 

 Geography), Prof. Bailey Willis, of the University of 

 Chicago, discussed the principles of palaeogeography. To 

 summarise his remarks, it may be said that the following 

 were given as the fundamental principles of the science :— 



Ocean basins are permanent hollows of the earth s 

 surface, and have occupied their present sites since an 

 early date in the development of geographical features. 

 This principle does not exclude notable changes in the posi- 

 tions of their margins, which have encroached upon 

 continental areas. , . , » 



Superficial oceanic circulation within the permanent 

 oceans has persisted since an early stage of their exist- 

 ence, essentially in the great drifts which it now follows 

 under the trade winds. It is probable that the present 

 deep circulation of oceanic waters, poleward at the surface 

 and equatorward below the surface, is due to exceptional 

 refrigeration at the pole. j- ^ » 



Diastrophism has been periodic. Viewed according to 

 the periodicity of diastrophism, the earth's history falls 

 into cycles, and each cycle into two periods, one of in- 

 activity and another of activity. The periods of inactivity 

 have been long, and during a major part of the duration 

 of any such period the condition of inactivity has been 

 common to the entire surface of the globe. The periods 

 of diastrophlc activity have been relatively short, and, as 

 regards the whole surface of the earth in general, not 

 contemporaneous. The great ocean basins are distinct 

 dynamic provinces, and- each has experienced periods ot 

 diastrophic activity peculiar to its individual history. Ihe 

 epochs of organic deformation are relatively brief, fold- 

 ing and unconformity are frequently not contemporaneous 

 even in one and the same dynamic province. _ 



The processes of erosion, sedimentation chemical 

 activity and organic evolution have been periodically con- 

 ditioned according to the periodicity of diastrophism. Ihe 

 corresponding physical phenomena exhibit rhvthmic changes 

 which repeat siniilar conditions in like associations. 



Erosion has been constant on land surfaces through the 

 activity of some of the subprocesses, decay, denudation, or 

 aggradation, which have never failed to make a record. 



Marine sedimentation has sometimes been inconstant. 

 During periods of diastrophic activity, when lands have 

 been high, epicontinental seas small, and marine currents 

 largely confined within deep ocean basins, sedimentation 

 has been dominant; but during periods of _ diastrophic , 

 inactivity, when lands have been low, epicontinental seaS| 

 extensive and marine currents active on shallows and^ 

 'Straits, sedimentation has failed in consequence of non- 

 deposition or marine scour in appropriate situations. _ 



The criteria of correlation are both physical and organic 

 The physical facts are basal. The organic forms, though 

 endowed wifh evolutionary energy, are dependent and 



sequential. , , 



Evolution of Intelligence. 



Prof C. Judson Herrick in his presidential address to 

 Section F (Zoology) discussed the evolution of intelhgence 

 and its organs. In the course of his address he observed :— 



Many a boy's brains are curdled and squeezed into tradi- 

 tional artificial moulds before he leaves school. His 

 education is complete, and senile sclerosis of the niind 

 has begun by the time he has learned his trade. For how 

 many such disasters our brick-yard methods in the public 

 schools are responsible is a question of lively interest. We 

 who seek to enter into the kingdom of knowledge and to 

 continue to advance therein must not only become as little 

 children, but we must learn to continue so. The proble^n 

 of scientific pedagogy is essentially this-to /'f^^'f 'I'l 

 plasticity of childhood, or otherwise expressed, to reduce 

 die interval between the first childhood and the second 

 childhood to as small dimensions as possible The docile 

 or educational period of a manimal is l^^-g^ly, ^^^^^^^f^^; 

 the progressive mechanisation of the in-born plastic tissue 

 of the higher correlation centres, i.e. to habit formation^ 

 or otherwise expressed, to the elaboration o acamre 

 automatisms and reflexes of the type_ commonly referrec 

 to as lapsed intelligence. Much confusion has arisen fron^ 

 the failure to distinguish these individually ,^^q"''-^^d auto 

 matisms from those performed in the hereditary pattern 

 i.e. lapsed intelligence from true instinct. 



