4/6 



NATURE 



[March 14, 1895 



and are afterwards cut. drilled, bent to the required roriii. and many 

 of them riveted ; and il is by steam-power also that ships, after 

 they are b liU, are propelled through the water, steered, pumped 

 and dr lined, ventilated, lightrd, loaded and discharged ; the 

 an ;hor is weighed, guns are trained, loaded and lired, ani all 

 the principal working operations are cirrietl on. There could 

 liave been no great difference in size between the ships of 2000 

 vears ago and the trading vessels of the la^st century. It is 

 the appli--alion of steam-power to propulsion and to manu- 

 facture that has enabled vessels to be jiroducci the dimen- 

 sions and pro|>ortions of which were formerly unapproach- 

 able. The cmploym-nt of iron and steel as the material of 

 construction would have been impossible without the aid of 

 steam-power; and it is the extra strength of hull obtained by 

 thrse means which cn.al)les ships to be built of the large 

 size that has now become common. Steam-power has thus not 

 on'y f imished a mode of propulsion certain and regular in 

 its action, and enabled ships to make their voyages with little 

 or no legarJ to wind or weather, but it has, in manufacturing 

 the raw material out of which ships are built, permitted the 

 dimensions to be very largely increased, and that not only with- 

 out risk and inconvenience, but with very great increase of 

 accommo lation. comfort, and safety. It is sometimes thought 

 that the largest ships arc essentially more unsafe than those of 

 smaller size ; the fact is, increa-e of size enables a vessel not 

 only to be made easier in her movements at sea and less affected 

 by the waves across which she is travelling, but it also 

 cnab'es the largest ships to be divided into so many separate 

 wa'er-tight compartments as to be practically unsinkable by the 

 action of ihe heaviest seas, or by the worst effVcts of a collision. 

 I do not say that all large ships are constructed so as to possess 

 this high degree of .safety, but many of the latest ones are, and 

 it is perfectly practicable to obtain in cases where safety is the 

 principal considerati'in. In small vessels the same degree of safely 

 could not always beohtaincJ. .Safety is aquality that can be much 

 increased by growth in dimensions. 



Although James Watt may not have helped actively in 

 the application of steam-power to ships, it is really to 

 him and his inventions we have to look as the source whence 

 all the great moJcrn improvements i<i ocean navigation 

 have been derived. We tind in James Watt the typical 

 engineer. He was a great philoso,>her and a great mechanic. 

 He possessel just the combination of qualities and the tempera- 

 ment rrquisiie to enable a man to ascertain what may 

 be learned of the f.jrces of nature and their mode of 

 operation, and to utilise and apply these in the most direct way 

 for producing a required result. He formed that happy union 

 of what is commonly called the "theoretical" with the 

 " practical " man. For .as there was no better practical 

 mechanic than Watt in the countr)-, so was there no more 

 diligent student of the sciences related t j the subjects of his 

 work, or a more patient and thorough investigator of the 

 principles or theories upon which it depended. He tested 

 everything by experiment ; and it Is said thai when asked an 

 opinion of a novel invention or propo-al, his reply invatiahly 

 w»s, " Make a model." But having asceitained by experiment 

 all he could learn of the facts connected with any subject he was 

 inve»ti,;ating, he was never satisfied till the<e couli be explained 

 by some physic il law with which they could be shown 10 accord. 

 Hit meni >l aliijdc io*ards the great nuchanical prol'lems he 

 took in hand was th.11 of one engaged in a close and desperate 

 struggle with nature herself, qutslioning, cross-examining, 

 testing hyexperimcnn, attacking (r.im all sides, and refusing to 

 give in till he had succeeded in discovering the particular sccrtt 

 he required to know. A favouritesayingof his was, " Nature can 

 be conr|uered, if we can but find out her weak side." 



We ihus see what are the qualities necessary \<i make a great 

 engineer. They are mechanical skill and experience, scientific 

 knowledge and capaciiy,i;real powers of observation an 1 original 

 invest igalion, energy, patience, and untiring perseverance. There 

 have been great engineers who have exhibited ceilain of these 

 qualities in a very high degree, l.ui none who possessed all 

 together in luch lull ineaoure and such harmonious blending 

 as we see in the caie of Watt. N > one man could otherwise, 

 in a lew years, have 1 ainfirmed so rude and imperfeci a machine 

 as the steam-engine was when Wall fii.si 1 jok hoi 1 of it into the 

 mo\\ perfect initiumenl that the working capabilities of the 

 time admitted. The proof of Watt's grcai power as a mechanic 

 and phil 'sopher combined are to he found in the fact that he 

 l>erfcctcd in lUch a thoit lime, wiiliin the limitations that were 



NO. I5M. VOL. 51] 



imposed by the quality of Ihem.nterials and the woikmen of the 

 day, the greatest work that has been performed by any engineer 

 of modern times. 



We often hear the question asked by anxious parents or 

 .ispiring youths: How can my son, or how c.in I, ,is the 

 ' case may bo, become an engineer or a nav.^l architect ? This 

 is sometime^ asked as though the making of an engineer or .i 

 naval .architect were perhaps a matter of three or four 

 j years' work in an office, combined with a certain 

 , amount of study of books, or attendance at lectures. There 

 i are few persons not belonging to one of the m.iny 

 branches of the engineering profession who know what this 

 question really means. Engineering — and when I say engineer- 

 ing, 1 include in the term shipbuilding and all other branches 

 of that grand profession, "whereby the great sources of power 

 in nature are converted, adapted, and applied for the use and 

 convenience of man " — engineering has of late become some- 

 1 what fashionable, and has attracted the notice of classes in the 

 community who at one time would have despised it as a base, 

 1 mechanic art, and turned their b.acks upon it. It has apparently 

 acquired the reputation of being a well-paid profession and of 

 being worth belonging to, in a money sense. To the general 

 body of inquirers who thus look to engineering as offering better 

 , financial prospectsihan the army or navy, than the law, medicine, 

 I or the Church — including some who think there might be a 

 I chance in that direction after failing to qualify for one of the 

 professions named — let me say that the prospects of success are 

 very remote unless he who enters upon it is gifted with 

 mechanical aptitude and skill, is willing to gain exjierience by 

 a long course of hard work, and at the same time has the 

 capacity, the taste, and the time for acquiring a sound knowledge 

 of the ma'.hematics and the physical sciences that relate to the 

 particular branch of engineering he may think of taking up. 

 Competition is now very keen in all departments of engineering, 

 and what prizes there m.iy be to strive for in them, can only fall 

 to those who are exceptionally gifted with know ledge, experience, 

 energy, and determinilion. An ordinary student or apprentice 

 who can only learn what some one teaches him, and h.is not 

 much faculty for imlcpendent observation, or for reflecting upon 

 and discovering the causes of the many things he sees going on 

 all around him, is never likely to be more than a subordinate in 

 the ranks of the profc.'^sion, a hewer of wood and a drawer of 

 water, for others who have greater power of acquiring know- 

 ledge, of thinking for themselves, of observing and investigating 

 closely and accurately the causes of defects and dilficuUics that 

 arise out of their work, and of devising the necessary means of 

 overcoming them. 



If poets "are born and not made," I am sure it is equally 

 the case with a great engineer like James Watt. His 

 wonderful mechanical skill and ingenuity were natural to 

 him, and were the means of determining the course his life 

 would take. But even with all that, it is quite clear he could 

 never have made his great discoveries and improvements 

 h.ad he not been a naturally gifted and diligent student, 

 and acquired all the knowledge that was obtain.ahle 

 at the lime of mathematics and natural philosophy. 

 It is true that scientific study alone cannot make 

 an engineer ; but with the example of such a great mechanic as 

 James Watt before us, it would be very presumptuous for any 

 to say of himself that his own practical knowledge and judg- 

 ment arc sulTicicnt to make him a fully-qualified engineer without 

 studying what others have said or done upon the subjects of his 

 work, or the physical laws that underlie the whole fabric of his 

 practice and ideas. I would be the last to encourage any young 

 mantosupposc that ashort course of sludy,oreven great progress 

 in mathematics and the physical sciences, «ould justify him in 

 thinking himself an engineer ; but I am at the same time per- 

 fectly sure that no one, however great his mechanical skill and 

 ability might be, could ever become an engineer in the liuc 

 sense of the term without following Watt's example of 

 studying, thinking, and diligently acquiring all the know- 

 ledge of nature and nature's laws he can obtain ; and 

 applying such knowledge to Ihe better understanding of 

 the principles which reUate to liis work, and upon which 

 the degree of success he may achieve in i' depends. 



One other remark with regard to James Watl. I have spoken of 

 the great benefits wc have dei ivcd in this country from Ihe appli- 

 caiion of his steanicnj;ine to ocean navigatiim I y drawing the 

 various parts of the world closer towards us, and converting the sea 

 into a bioad highway that uri'cs us to the different contincnit 



