TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 749 



If we look back at the greatest names among the engineers and inventors of the 

 latter part of the eighteenth century and the first half of this, we find that tho 

 majority were brought up in pursuits quite distinct from the work of their after 

 lives, and by which they have become so familiar to us. There were scarcely any 

 means whatever, beyond the original thought and dogged perseverance of the 

 worker, by which those men could attain the knowledge they used with such 

 effect. Men of no less exceptional parts are among us now, but the whole environ- 

 ment of their early work has changed. We have given to the exceptional man a 

 starting-point of knowledge which, wisely used, lifts him as high above our heads 

 as of old, but we have given to the average man a comparatively easy means of 

 attaining the same knowledge. We cannot ensure the wise use of that linowledge, 

 but we can at least endeavour to impart it in such a manner that the sense of 

 right proportion shall be acquired and maintained. Wo have made it more 

 difficult to distinguish between the exceptional and the commonplace — between 

 the gold and the silver, if not between the silver and the brass ; let us be careful, 

 so far as early guidance can control it, that the knowledge imparted to the average 

 mind gives to that mind a fair start concerning the relations, undivided and 

 indivisible, between true theory and sound practice. 



Having myself passed as an ordinary apprentice through workshops of 

 mechanical engineering in the old days when working hours were longer than 

 they now are — from six in the morning till six in the evening, and that, too, on the 

 banks of the Clyde, where no special indulgence was given to what was sometimes 

 called the ' gentleman apprentice,' and feeling convinced, as I still do, of the 

 immense and permanent advantage derived from that experience, I shall not be 

 judged to underrate its value in the case of others who have yet to choose the 

 details of the career by which they expect to gain a place in the profession or 

 business of an engineer. 



On the other hand, as a student thirty-four years ago under the late Professor 

 Macquorn Eankine and the present Lord Kelvin, I shall not be prone to under- 

 estimate the advantages of academical training in its proper application to the 

 profession to which I am proud to belong. 



In the pursuit of that profession it has fallen to my lot to observe the training 

 as engineers of many younger men — men of variously constituted minds, but one 

 and all bent on learning some portion of ' the art of directing the great sources of 

 power in nature for the use and convenience of man,' words wisely chosen, sixty- 

 nine years ago, and set out as the object of the profession in the Royal Charter of 

 the Institution of Civil Engineers. It is a noble object, this direction of the great 

 forces of nature for the use and conve7iience of man ; it is an ambitious object, and 

 one which I venture to think demands for its right performance the best energies 

 of well-balanced minds working upon a store of knowledge which nothing but years 

 ■of untiring study and observation can give. Yet tliere is no hesitation shown to 

 enter the lists. The number of candidates is appalling. ' In the old country, at 

 least, there certainly is not work for all, but when one points this out, anxious 

 parents only reply that the difficulty is as great in connection with any other 

 profession. Whether this be so or not I cannot judge, but I am persuaded that of 

 those who do enter the business or profession of the engineer, the enormous majority 

 are not born engineers, and cannot, in the nature of things, hope for success unless 

 they take advantage of the best facilities open to them — the best facilities ; 

 here is the difficidty : from the multitude of facilities how are we to choose ? 



Do not suppose that I think the training of the born engineer should not be 

 controlled. He will stand head and shoulders above the rest of us whatever we 

 may do with him ; but in order that his exceptional parts may not wreck him as 

 an engineer, and in order that his energies may be rightly directed at the start, 

 he, too, should have the advantages of that systematic training which to his less 

 gifted brethren is becoming more and more absolutely essential to success. 



At the time I began practice the large majority of young engineers were left 

 entirely to their own devices so far as the attainment of any scientific knowledge 

 was concerned. As pupils or apprentices, articled or not, they entered an engineer's 

 works or office ; for a certain number of years they had the run of the place and 



