TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 747 



round mathematicians or physicists, still more exceptional men are both ; but for 

 ordinary folk the study of one side of mathematics or of a single branch of physics 

 is the work of a lifetime. The engineer is bound to know his own profession, by 

 hypothesis, and it is in itself no small matter. Yet in addition he must know- 

 some mathematics, some physics, some chemistry, even also some geology, if he is 

 to take any high rank in it. It is, therefore, surely in the very nature of things 

 impossible that he should be a great mathematician or a great physicist, or should 

 devote as much study to those most fascinating sciences as if they themselves 

 -were the work of his life. Therefore I beseech my friends of Section A to do 

 what they can to modify their natural attitude of superiority — even of contempt — 

 towards us, especially when we are students. The young engineer — I speak as a 

 member of the great majority of the ordinary kiud — would probably never have 

 chosen his profession if he had had special aptitude for mathematical work. 

 Having chosen it, he has to look at mathematics simply as a tool, a means to an 

 end, not an end in itself. I cannot myself see that this point of view is one dis- 

 respectful to the parent of all the sciences, and I am confirmed by the knowledge 

 that one or two of the greatest mathematicians in the country are of the same 

 opinion and have the courage to act on it — with infinitely beneficial results to the 

 young men they have to deal with. But I know that to mathematicians in 

 general — the physicists are not so bad — the very name of engineering student 

 is odious, indicating only a man who wilfully refuses to make mathematics 

 his ' first subject,' and who therefore deserves neither consideration nor quarter, 

 to whom it is privilege sufficient that he should be allowed to pick up 

 such crumbs as he can digest from a table prepared for his betters. I humbly 

 protest that we deserve better treatment. It is no doubt a great mis- 

 fortune to us that we cannot afl'ord to spend our training-time preparing for 

 examinations, and that we have been compelled to choose for our future a career 

 in which mathematics plays only a secondary part. It is our further misfortune 

 that we have to solve twenty real live problems, each demanding a real live 

 answer, for every single one which otherwise we would have worked out on paper. 

 Perhaps it is also our misfortune — or it may be only our thickheadedness — to 

 believe that in consequence of this we are quite able to judge for ourselves what 

 units it is most convenient for us to work in, what nomenclature satisfies our 

 requirements, and that we are as capable of getting our ' ff'a ' in their right places 

 as even some of our distinguished critics. But this is the end of the nineteenth 

 century : philanthropy fills our breasts. May not our misfortunes call out some 

 pity and not alone contempt .^ In spite of solemn warnings which I have lately 

 received in the Press against the monstrous idea that a presidential address should 

 contain any individual opinions, I venture to repeat here what I had lately an 

 opportunity of saying before a Royal Commission, that in cases where a university 

 or university college takes in hand the preparation of engineers (and I hope that 

 such cases will grow in number) they should provide for them special training in 

 mathematics, and probably also in physics, distinct from the general training in 

 these subjects most suitable for Degrees. I say this with the full knowledge that 

 I may be accused of wishing to degrade the purity of scientific work, and, at the 

 same "time, with the full knowledge that I have no such wish. On the contrary, 

 this special training is the only means by which the rank and file of us will ever 

 know any mathematics at all. And I can say from my own knowledge that, if 

 only we can be made what I may call mathematically articulate beings, we shall 

 bo able to repay the kindness by placing before the man of pure science problem 

 after problem of transcendent difficulty, of immense interest, and having no 

 single drawback -whatever except that its solution may really be * useful ; ' and, 

 after all, this need not be brought too prominently imder his notice. 



This digression has turned out a long one. I have only further to say that my 

 main object in this address has been to indicate, as well as I could, the general 

 attitude which the engineer must of necessity take up towards much of his work — 

 the point of view from which he must look at it. I shall be extremely glad if any- 

 thing which I have said should cause this attitude — this point of view — to be more 

 clearly kept in mind in the period of training than probably has been hitherto the 

 case. 



