172 Transactions of the American Institute. 



daily sends the report of one, or more discoveries, to stimulate the 

 minds of some of the millions whom it reaches, to the consideration 

 of the same, or some corresponding line of thoughts. In all of these 

 communions, the cruder thoughts of each person are cast into the 

 crucible with those of a thousand other minds, by which errors are 

 eliminated and useful suggestions generated and the grand discoveries 

 to which I have alluded to are produced. The profession of engineer- 

 ing is peculiarly the exponent of this modern development. Its 

 definition is " The acquisition of that species of knowledge whereby 

 the great sources of power in nature are converted, adapted, and 

 applied for the use and convenience of man." * 



Under this definition is embraced the civil and military engineer, 

 the architect and mechanician, the closet theorist, and the practical 

 workman, Nevertheless, there is a broad distinction between the one 

 who designs and plans an elaborate machine, and him, who with no 

 ecientific knowledge, merely constructs it, and him who with no 

 requirement of either mechanism or science, is merely employed to 

 direct its movement, and yet in common conversation the term 

 " Engineer " is indifferently applied to each. I shall presently lay 

 before you at greater length, the effect of the great discoveries and 

 applications made by this profession upon modern progress, and in 

 this place will merely name, the locomotive and its railway, the steam 

 engine and its applications, the hugh masses of metal and their mani- 

 pulations, the workshops and their great tools, modern ordnance and 

 armor, naval construction, telegraphy, bridges, canals, water sup- 

 plies, harbors, etc. The mere mention of these, is sufficient to give 

 you an idea of the broad field which is covered by my subject, and 

 why, as stated at the beginning, I have been compelled to condense 

 and omit so much. Under these circumstances, I have considered it 

 better to direct my remarks to the most important branch of the 

 profession (civil engineering), with such incidental allusions to the 

 others as may be necessary. The term " modern " will require some 

 comparisons with that of ancient engineering, and I will give very 

 briefly a few of the leading points in the history of the profession so 

 as to define the " modern age." 



Ancient Engineering, 

 Referring to Divine history we find that the first mechanician (an 

 antediluvian) was " an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron," 



• NoTB.— This l8 thR motto of the Institution of Civil Engineer* of London, and U embodied In their 

 eerUQcates of membersUip. 



