400 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 298. 



Steam and Electrical Engineering. — Labor- 

 atories can be provided for tests of different 

 kinds of machinery, and for the experi- 

 mental investigation of problems of correct 

 design. Efficienty tests of outside plants 

 can be made. 



Mining Engineering. — Geological studies 

 of deposits of building stones, cement ma- 

 terials, clays, fuels and ores can be made, 

 and the qualities tested. 



Manufacturing. — Applications of science 

 to manufacturing and the comparative val- 

 ues of different processes can be studied, as 

 already mentioned. With the aid of sta- 

 tistics, political economy as related to 

 manufacturing, can be studied. 



Transportation. — Good roads and road ma- 

 terials in the State can be studied. Labor- 

 atories can be established, iitted for tests of 

 transportation machinery. The political 

 economy of transportation problems can be 

 studied. 



The author does not claim that any one 

 school should undertake all of the above 

 lines of work. On the contrary, the work 

 undertaken by any one school should be 

 restricted to what it can carry on for a long 

 period of time, and so extensively and 

 thoroughly that the results shall be con- 

 clusive. Particular schools would natur- 

 ally become authorities in particular lines, 

 and their work would not be duplicated by 

 others, although many lines of work would 

 need to be carried on by several schools, 

 because local conditions differ. 



As an illustration of a modest and im- 

 perfect beginning of such work, made under 

 many difficulties, the author would say 

 that at the school with which he is con- 

 nected the following lines of work are now 

 under way : 



The college has a sewage disposal plant 

 which purifies about 50,000 gallons per day. 

 Regular analyses in connection with this 

 plant are made, complete records are kept, 

 and investigations with the plant are under 



way. Special tests with smaller apparatus 

 are planned. The college has just co-oper- 

 ated with a neighboring city, securing and 

 publishing at the expense of the city the 

 preliminary data for the design of a purifi- 

 cation plant for 2,000,000 gallons of sewage 

 per day. The college proposes to examine 

 and report upon sewage disposal plants as 

 fast as they are installed in the State. In 

 connection with the clay interests of the 

 State quite a large number of plants have 

 been visited, samples of clay and brick 

 secured for tests, the clays and processes of 

 manufacture studied, and several thousand 

 tests are under way. Samples of new clay 

 deposits are frequently received, analyzed 

 and reported upon. An appropriation has 

 been made for starting a ceramic labora- 

 tory, modelled after the one at the Ohio 

 State University. A set of tests of the heat- 

 ing properties of the coals of the State is 

 under way. Tests of the building and 

 paving materials of the State are being 

 made, and extensive statistics of brick pav- 

 ing collected. Special investigations of 

 timely interest are taken up as opportunity 

 permits. It is proposed to extend this 

 work. 



It is obvious that if the extension of the 

 work of the modern technical school advo- 

 cated in this paper could be made to the ut- 

 most possible extent, the status of the tech- 

 nical school would be greatly changed from 

 what it now is. No longer could the schools 

 be considered as existing simply for the 

 benefit of its students. All practicing en- 

 gineers would equally consider it theirs, 

 and the great industrial and commercial 

 interests of the country would consider it 

 theirs. Such a technical school would be 

 one of the most potent agencies imaginable 

 for the betterment of the welfare of the 

 people, and for the progress of modern civ- 

 ilization. 



A. Maeston. 



Iowa State College. 



