130 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 
The history of discovery and invention constitutes, indeed, a relatively 
insignificant portion of ‘ history.” Too frequently does this consist 
almost exclusively of a recital of the political changes, the military achieve- 
ments, and the rise and fall of nations and peoples, and of the men who 
have had brief authority over them. Men and even nations pass and are 
forgotten, but knowledge begets knowledge and cannot be stayed, con- 
tinuing to expand at a rate which it seems that no past epoch can possibly 
rival, while it must be exceedingly doubtful whether the future will afford 
a parallel ; but a time will assuredly come when the achievements of men 
and matters of the present day will be appraised at their full value. 
It is, above all, an age of time-saving and labour-saving devices. If 
mechanical engineering is not to fail in its destiny, then its gift to mankind 
must be that of increased leisure. It must be admitted, however, that at 
present the ‘ load ’ is distributed very unevenly, nearly three millions of 
our people being unemployed, so that they must be carried on the shoulders 
of the rest. There can be no question that we are now moving so quickly 
that it often seems doubtful whether mankind can adapt itself to the 
rapidly changing conditions ; and there is thus even a tendency to ques- 
tion the advantage of science, and the value of progress, as factors in 
human happiness. It is as if conservative and unimaginative humanity, 
caught up by a sea of advancing and fast-accumulating knowledge, sorely 
buffeted by the waves it has created, is being carried into unknown waters, 
far from the lighthouses of past experience. 
In mechanical engineering the last few decades have witnessed almost 
incredible advances. We who live in these amazing times cannot appre- 
ciate the rate of change, and can comprehend only imperfectly the vastness 
of the new era. One may recollect that Francis Bacon, whom Sir Richard 
Gregory has designated as the great apostle of modern scientific method, 
‘aspired to take all knowledge for his province.’ It is a striking com- 
mentary upon the progress of science that engineering knowledge alone 
is now far beyond the scope of any one man, even though he were of the 
mental calibre of the great Lord Chancellor himself. 
It may be useful to look back over the past fifty years and consider the 
changes which that period has effected in the field of mechanical engineer- 
ing. ‘Turning first to electric power plant, we may note that, fifty years ago, 
there were no steam turbines, no Diesel engines, no petrol engines— 
indeed, no internal combustion engines of any kind other than gas engines. 
Again, while the electrical generation, transmission and application of 
power were then practically unknown, it is estimated that the world’s 
production of electrical energy to-day is of the order of 200,000 million 
units per annum. As recently as the year 1895 Lord Kelvin put forward 
the statement that he saw no reason why power stations of 100,000 h.p. 
under one roof should not be feasible in the future. This prediction, 
then regarded. as a fantastic dream, has been abundantly fulfilled, for the 
development of this power in one turbo-generator is now accomplished ; 
and here we may consider briefly the development of three very important 
contributions to mechanical science—namely, the steam turbine, the 
Diesel engine, and the centrifugal pump. 
The development of the steam turbine has taken place entirely during 
