SEPTEMBER 1, 1899. ] 
great point in engineering education which, 
at any rate in some respects, makes 
it the best preliminary training for men 
who are to do scientific research work. A 
good engineer is necessarily an accurate 
man ; he is necessarily also a soberly think- 
ing man, and, thirdly, he must also possess 
a discriminating judgment, as the results 
which follow superficial reasoning or vision- 
ary planning are fatal to all engineering 
work. There are no studies which teach 
this lesson so strongly as the various pro- 
fessional engineering studies, and it seems 
to me, therefore, that one of the most essen- 
tial qualifications for doing thorough scien- 
tific work is obtained in a higher degree 
by engineering education than by any 
other training. It is true that the ordinary 
engineering student has but limited oppor- 
tunity to test his plans and computations 
in actual practice. But it must be re- 
membered that the student is always re- 
minded of the inevitable results of even 
one false step in the class-room, labo- 
ratory and draughting room, and that 
his work is controlled by men who are 
supposed to have had the- necessary ex- 
perience in practical life. That the actual 
practice of the engineering profession is the 
best teacher in this line need hardly be 
stated. The work of the engineering stu- 
dent in the draughting room, in the shop 
and in the laboratory fits him peculiarly for 
scientific research work, as he there gains 
the necessary dexterity of his hands, his 
powers of observation are being trained, 
and he learns to be accurate and neat. The 
only objection which perhaps might be 
raised against my contention is that the 
engineering courses of study are narrow 
in their nature, and consequently that 
the graduate of an engineering college will 
be a narrow man. It is true that in a cer- 
tain sense the course of study is narrow ; it 
does not include any classics, for instance ; 
nor does it include as much of the human- 
“SCIENCE. 285 
ities as is desirable. But, on the other hand, 
specialization has gone so far in the present 
day that I think I am correct when I state 
that, for instance, the ordinary classical 
course, with its excessive amount of Greek 
and Latin, is fully as narrow as the engi- 
neering course ; and as to the scientific col- 
lege course it is enough to say that there is 
no reason why it should be deemed less 
narrow than the engineering course, except 
for the fact that specialization has not been 
carried so far. The ideal engineering edu- 
cation is first an academic course, followed 
by two or three years’ work in the engi- 
neering college, and if such length of time 
of study is not deemed too much for the 
profession of a lawyer there is no reason 
why it should be too long for the engineer. 
A man educated as just indicated would 
certainly be better fitted for scientific re- 
search work than any other college graduate 
who had an equal amount of time for prep- 
aration but had taken no engineering work. 
That the engineer of the present day is 
doing a large amount of scientific research 
work does not need any proof, and because 
of his training I am of the opinion that his 
work is of a better quality than that of the 
ordinary scientific man; more reliance can 
be placed on it, as it necessarily has had to 
undergo a more severe test, both for accu- 
racy and soundness in conclusion, than if 
it had been done by a person who had not 
had the preliminary training of an engineer. 
To disprove this statement I suppose 
that some one might very likely mention 
the name of Kreidler, or perhaps even that 
of Kelley, but it is sufficient to state that 
these men are not, nor were they ever engi- 
neers, and it might also be pointed out 
that engineers are not responsible for 
any of the perpetual motions which, even in 
this enlightened day, seem to be as numer- 
ous as they ever were. 
In conclusion, I desire to repeat that we 
engineers, or semi-engineers, need to feel 
