ADDRESS 



OF 



SIR JOHN HAWKSHAW, C.E., RR.S., F.G.S., 



PRESIDENT. 



Gextlemen, — 

 To those on whom the British Associatiou confers the honour of presiding 

 over its meetings, the choice of a subject presents some difficulty. 



The Presidents of Sections, at each annual meeting, give an account of 

 ■what is new in their respective departments; and essay's on science in 

 general, though desirable and interesting in the earlier years of the Associa- 

 tion, would be less ajipropriatc to-daj\ 



Past Presidents have already discoursed on many subjects, on things 

 organic and inorganic, on the mind and on things perhaps beyond the reach 

 of mind ; and I have arrived at the conclusion that liumblcr themes will not 

 be out of place on this occasion. 



I propose in this Address to say something of a profession to which mj' 

 lifetime has been devoted — a theme which cannot perhaps be expected to 

 stand as high in your estimation as in my own, and I may have some 

 difficulty in making it interesting ; but I have chosen it because it is a subject 

 I ought to understand better than any other. I propose to say something on 

 its origin, its work, and kindred topics. 



Eapid as has been the growth of knowledge and skill as aijplied to the art 

 of the engineer during the last century, wc must, if we -would trace its origin, 

 seek far back among the earliest evidences of civilization. 



In early times, when settled communities were few and isolated, the 

 opportimities for the interchange of knowledge were scanty or wanting 

 altogether. Often the slowly accumulated results of the experience of the 

 wisest heads and the most skilful hands of a community were lost on its 

 downfall. Inventions of one period were lost and found again. Many a 

 patient investigator has puzzled his brain in trying to solve a problem which 

 had yielded to a more fortunate labourer in the same field some centuries 

 before. 



