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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 5,h . 



high grade shall be taken as an equivalent to an 

 •equal number of years of actual practise. 



AMEKICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING ENGINEERS. 



Constitution — Article II. — Members. 

 Sec. 3. The following classes of persons shall 

 be eligible for membership in the Institute, 

 namely: As Members, all professional mining engi- 

 neers, geologists, metallurgists or chemists, and 

 all persons practically engaged in mining, metal- 

 lurgy or metallurgical engineering. 



AMEEICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. 



Constitution — Memhership. 

 C 9. A Member shall be thirty years of age or 

 over. He must have been so connected with En- 

 gineering as to be competent, as a designer or as 

 a constructor, to take responsible charge of work 

 in his branch of Engineering, or he must have 

 served as a teacher of Engineering for more than 

 five years. 



AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS. 



Constitution — Article II. — Membership. 



2. A Member shall have been an Associate, and 

 at the time of his transfer to membership he shall 

 be not less than twenty-seven years of age, and 

 shall be: 



a. A Professional Electrical Engineer; or 



b. A Professor of Electrical Engineering; or 



c. A person who has done important original 

 work, of recognized value to electrical science. 



3. To be eligible to membership, as a profes- 

 sional Electrical Engineer, the applicant shall 

 have been in the active practise of his profession 

 for at least five years; he shall have had respons- 

 ible charge of work for at least two years, and 

 shall be qualified to design as well as direct elec- 

 trical engineering works. Graduation from a 

 School of Engineering of recognized standing shall 

 be considered the equivalent of one year's active 

 practise. 



4. To be eligible to membership as Professor of 

 Electrical Engineering, the applicant shall have 

 been in responsible charge of a course of Elec- 

 trical Engineering at a college or technical school 

 of recognized standing for a period of at least 

 two years. 



It will be seen that two of the societies 

 fix an age limit of thirty years, one twenty- 

 seven years and one fixes no limit ; one re- 

 quires professional practise of ten years, 

 one five years, two no time specified; three 



require professional competency in design- 

 ing as well as constructing or directing 

 engineering works, one requires the appli- 

 cant to be professionally or practically en- 

 gaged in the branch. 



In the case of the Mechanical Engineers 

 and the Civil Engineers the election is by 

 ballot of the membership at large after 

 approval by the executive board or council ; 

 in the case of the Mining Engineers and 

 Electrical Engineers, election is by direct 

 vote of the board of directors, in the latter 

 after submitting the names to the member- 

 ship at large, in the former without sub- 

 mission. In the Mining Engineers, Mechan- 

 ical Engineers and Electrical Engineers the 

 application is first passed upon by a board 

 of examiners and then by the executive 

 board or council; in the case of the Civil 

 Engineers by the board of directors directly 

 without action by an examining board. 

 The Electrical Engineers' constitution re- 

 quires that all members be first elected as 

 associates and then transferred by the 

 board. 



It will be seen from the above how dif- 

 ferent the requirements are for full mem- 

 bership in the several societies, and how 

 varied the procedure for election. It 

 would appear at first thought that the more 

 explicit the constitution in its exact defini- 

 tion of the conditions for membership the 

 easier it would be for the membership com- 

 mittee to act; but this is by no means 

 always the case, as it often prevents the 

 taking of a broad view of the candidate's 

 eligibility and is apt to exclude desirable 

 material on very technical grounds, al- 

 though on the other hand it is a protection 

 against loose interpretation of the require- 

 ments by careless examiners. There would 

 seem to be a better division of responsibility 

 and more direct control of the class of men 

 admitted to membership by giving wide 

 publicity to their candidacy and election 



