86 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 786 



is more extensive than that of any of the 

 three so-called learned professions, and 

 that the different branches of the profes- 

 sion differ from each other to such an ex- 

 tent as in some cases to have little in com- 

 mon, except a knowledge of the general 

 principles of physics, chemistry, mechan- 

 ics and other sciences. The profession of 

 the physician, it is true, is divided into 

 many specialties, but while the throat 

 specialist deals with the throat, and the 

 stomach specialist with the stomach, they 

 are all dealing with the human body, in 

 which all the parts and functions are 

 closely interconnected ; but even within the 

 field of what is termed civil engineering, 

 the railroad engineer and the irrigation 

 engineer, or the railroad engineer and the 

 architectural engineer, have little in com- 

 mon. Assuredly Tredgold was right when 

 he said that the bounds of the profession 

 are unlimited. 



The work of the engineer as applied to 

 any contemplated project consists essen- 

 tially of four parts: first, to ascertain 

 whether anything should be done, and if 

 so, what should be done ; second, to design 

 and formulate the means to be employed 

 in doing it ; third, to select the proper ma- 

 terials ; and, fourth, to carry on the actual 

 work into execution. As the engineer's 

 problem is to adapt the materials, the 

 forces, the sources of power in nature to 

 the use and convenience of man, it is clear 

 that in order to fulfil his calling to the 

 highest extent, the engineer should be sci- 

 entifically trained, that he should be 

 familiar with the fundamental principles 

 which govern natural phenomena. Differ- 

 ent branches of science are required in 

 varying degrees in the different branches 

 of the profession, but every engineer 

 should know, and know thoroughly, the 

 fundamental principles of chemistry, phys- 

 ics, mathematics and mechanics. The 



engineer should be possessed of the true 

 scientific spirit, loving the study of science 

 for its own sake as well as for its applica- 

 tions and trained to seek always the truth, 

 the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 

 But the work of the engineer deals not with 

 science for its own sake, but with its appli- 

 cations to the practical affairs of men. 

 The engineer must, therefore, be above all 

 a practical man. He must not be a pure 

 theorist, a dreamer, a visionary. He must 

 see in his mathematical formute a mean- 

 ing, and not a simple accumulation of let- 

 ters. The engineer, then, must not only be 

 a scientific man but he must be first and 

 foremost a practical man. And on the 

 whole, the latter is more important than 

 the former, although it is in the proper 

 combination of the two that the greatest 

 excellence will result. 



The engineer, unlike the true scientist or 

 mathematician, does not work in his lab- 

 oratory or his study; his work is with the 

 affairs of men. Engineering is more than 

 half business, and the successful engineer, 

 therefore, must be to a considerable extent 

 a iusiness man and a financier. As al- 

 ready remarked, the most important prob- 

 lem, and the first he has to solve, is 

 whether anything should be done in a 

 given case, and if so, what 1 The engineer 

 must not build a fine bridge with costly 

 peculiarities, difficult to execute, for the 

 sake of leaving a monument behind him. 

 He must continually remember that engi- 

 neering is not simply adapting the forces 

 of nature to the use of man, but that it is 

 adapting them economically and properly. 

 More important than the question Jiow a 

 bridge shall be built is the question 

 whether it shall be built. More important 

 than the question how a railroad shall be 

 located is the question ivhether it shall be 

 located and where it shall be located. The 

 decision of these questions requires finan- 



