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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 713 



science and pure science approaching each 

 other at numerous points, so that it is in- 

 creasingiy difficult to distinguish any line 

 of demarcation between them. In this 

 change, science is not sacrificing any of its 

 strength nor compromising its ideals. It is 

 technology that is changing— that is be- 

 coming less empirical, more systematic, 

 more quantitative, more scientific. 



"With these well recognized changes in 

 applied science before us, what should be 

 our attitude toward the mathematical sci- 

 ence that is necessarily associated with 

 engineering education? What is tech- 

 nology really requiring of the basal sci- 

 ences? Judging the engineers by their 

 acts and not by their words, what is the 

 real demand that they are making of the 

 physicist, of the chemist or of the mathe- 

 matician? Is the demand to teach physics 

 or chemistry in this or that particular way, 

 or is the demand of a profounder and more 

 radical sort? The most superficial ob- 

 servation shows that the demand is of the 

 latter kind. The engineer in this twentieth 

 century is saying to the physicist, and 

 chemist, and mathematician: "Know more 

 science. Discover more facts in electricity 

 — in light — in all properties of matter. 

 Give to the world more men like Kelvin, 

 Hertz, Helmholtz. Fill the shelves with 

 ten times the knowledge we now have." 

 These words more truly express the real 

 pressure that engineers are putting upon 

 workers in pure science, than do the words 

 they have uttered in this discussion. As a 

 single example, note that the great elec- 

 trical and other manufacturing companies 

 are impatient at the rate at which pure 

 science grows, and large sums are spent by 

 them each year in the search for new 

 truth and in filling up the gaps in exist- 

 ing knowledge. 



The real demand of the engineer is not 

 for better instruments or tools with which 

 to do his work, nor is the demand for more 



difficult projects to test his skill, nor even 

 for more capital with which to construct 

 them. The real demand is for more 

 knowledge, more science, and for more of 

 the spirit of science in technology and in 

 technical education. I take as my text a 

 saying of Ostwald: "Science is the best 

 technology." If we teach a trade and not 

 a science the time is largely wasted. If 

 we teach dyeing and not chew 'stry, the 

 graduate is already out of date when he 

 begins his career, and he has not the funda- 

 mental principles wherewith to bring him- 

 self abreast of the times. I therefore re- 

 gard it of greatest importance that mathe- 

 matics be taught to engineering students 

 with real enthusiasm for the science itself. 

 It should be taught by men who themselves 

 are actively contributing to the growth of 

 mathematical science. The present spirit 

 of engineering science is such that no in- 

 structor in any of the basal sciences is 

 satisfactory who does not see that it is his 

 duty not only to teach what is old, but 

 to be interested in and to take an active 

 part in the development of what is new. 



I regard of secondary importance the 

 particular things we do in the mathe- 

 matical course in the engineering school. 

 Different instructors, equally successful, 

 will have different opinions. Various 

 changes and improvements have been tried 

 at various institutions. At the University 

 of Wisconsin we have made innovations 

 whenever we thought it best, but I regard 

 them all of secondary importance to the 

 first requirement of all, namely, that we 

 demand the right sort of teachers, and that 

 the teaching be done in the right sort of 

 scientific spirit. 



The only imperative requirement put 

 upon the mathematics in engineering 

 schools that does not rest as heavily upon 

 the mathematics of the ordinary college 

 course is the demand for compactness. It 

 is possible that there is some room in the 



