Januaby 21, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



eial and business ability of a high order, 

 combined with a clear insight into the 

 practical relations of things. The railroad 

 engineer must study the manufacturing 

 and economic conditions affecting a coun- 

 try through which a proposed railroad is 

 to pass; he must consider the traffic on ex- 

 isting roads through that country, the 

 relative importance of the cities, whether 

 there is a possibility of increasing the 

 agricultural or manufacturing product, 

 whether the road should run in a compara- 

 tively straight line between two large towns 

 or whether it should be diverted a number 

 of miles in order to tap a smaller town or 

 whether that smaller town should be 

 reached by a branch from the main line; 

 and many similar questions. It is clear 

 that Tredgold 's definition is faulty because 

 it does not emphasize economy. 



It is also evident that the engineer 

 should have the large view. He has the 

 opportunity to worse than waste the money 

 of his employers. The engineer who con- 

 centrates his whole attention on details of 

 construction may be a good subordinate — 

 and even good subordinates are rare — but 

 he will lack the essentials of the highest 

 success. 



Even after the construction of works is 

 entered upon, the duties of the engineer 

 will largely relate to business. He draws 

 up the contracts for the work, estimates 

 each month how much has been completed, 

 certifies payments to the contractor, settles 

 disputes, and in general attends to all the 

 business, except legal matters, connected 

 with the carrying out of the enterprise. 

 He must be an organizer, and must know 

 how large a force is necessary to superin- 

 tend the work, and how to dispose it to the 

 best advantage and with the greatest econ- 

 omy. It is evident, also, and this is ex- 

 tremely important, that the engineer must 

 be a student of men— not a recluse, but a 



man among men ; and upon his social qual- 

 ities, upon his ability to get on taetfuUy 

 with other men and his power of impress- 

 ing his ideas upon others, will his success 

 largely depend. 



One of the most important functions of 

 the engineer is to be able to determine the 

 proper materials to use in his work, to 

 know how to obtain them, and to know how- 

 to assure himself that he has obtained them. 

 This function includes a wide range of' 

 scientific and practical knowledge. He- 

 must not only know the mechanical, chem- 

 ical and physical properties of materials,, 

 such as building stones, timber, steel, iron,, 

 cement, paint, asphalt, etc., but he must 

 know what particular material is best 

 adapted to the particular work he has td 

 do, and how to test it and so make sure that, 

 the desired qualities are obtained. Prob- 

 ably more engineering failures have been 

 due to faults of material than to any other 

 defect, although it is a common mistake of 

 students to suppose that the work of the 

 engineer is largely the designing of works 

 by the use of mathematical formulae. 



It is evident from the foregoing that not 

 only is the profession of the engineer a 

 wide and varied one, but that it requires 

 varied qualifications, and demands pre- 

 eminently an all-round man. It must not 

 be forgotten, however, that without the 

 scientific training, or at least the scientific 

 spirit, the engineer will not attain the high- 

 est success. It is also evident that the 

 thoroughly trained and capable engineer 

 will find many opportunities to make him- 

 self useful in scientific as well as in admin- 

 istrative positions. He will also find many 

 opportunities for doing general public 

 service to the state or nation. Different 

 men have different ideals of success, but 

 the highest ideal is the one which most in- 

 volves the idea of public service. We have 

 heard a great deal about our natural re- 



