38 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 810 



bodies and public-service commissions, 

 thanks to such heroic leaders as Governor 

 Hughes, are now giving expert attention 

 to the solution of these economic problems 

 in cities, aided by the highest engineering 

 talent that good compensation can com- 

 mand. New York, Chicago and now Pitts- 

 burg are the subjects of study by such com- 

 missions, constituted either by private ap- 

 pointment or by legislative enactment. 

 The engineers studying these problems 

 must be clean-handed and honest to the 

 core. This kind of public service is in its 

 infancy, and the future is certain to fur- 

 nish more of it for competent and clean 

 engineers. 



I have sketched rapidly the salient char- 

 acteristics of the modern engineer required 

 for the larger problems of an age in which 

 industrial development proceeds with as- 

 tounding rapidity. It is too much to ex- 

 pect these qualities to be displayed in a 

 marked degree by young men just entering 

 upon a covirse of study leading to a degree 

 in engineering. It is not the mere posses- 

 sion of such qualities that ensures success, 

 but the marked development of them. 

 There are boys enough of sterling char- 

 acter, with originality, thoroughness, nerve 

 and resourcefulness in the directions in 

 which the interests of youth lie. It is the 

 office of the enthusiastic teacher to develop 

 the possibilities of a promising boy, to 

 stimulate the growth of those traits that 

 especially need nurture, and to encourage 

 the power of initiative and self-reliance. 

 And he shall have his reward. It comes 

 not in the way of pecuniary compensation, 

 but in that sweeter award of appreciation 

 and gratitude on the part of those whose 

 regard in after years counts for more than 

 mere passing popularity. No greater de- 

 light comes to the worthy teacher of large 

 experience than the success of those in 

 whom he has taken a personal interest, and 



for whom he has been able to open the door 

 of opportunity. 



It is pertinent now to touch on the style 

 of training best adapted to develop the 

 qualities that distinguish the eminent engi- 

 neer from his less fortunate fellows. What 

 shall be the philosophy of his treatment 

 educationally for the conservation of his 

 undeveloped resources and the reclamation 

 of his arid areas 1 These are serious issues 

 for thousands of ambitious students who 

 stand on the threshold of their young man- 

 hood. 



The recent trend of affairs has shown too 

 pronounced a tendency toward undue spe- 

 cialization in engineering practise. It is 

 not enough that instead of the two tradi- 

 tional divisions of engineers in olden times, 

 the civil and the military, there are now 

 in practise civil, mechanical, mining, hy- 

 draulic, electrical, telegraph, telephone, 

 sanitary, chemical, electrochemical and il- 

 luminating engineers, but the enthusiasts 

 in these several lines are insisting that 

 their specialties be assigned a seat in the 

 circle of the engineering curriculum. This 

 granted, the young collegian has either a 

 narrow training that reduces him to the 

 grade of an artisan, or the instruction 

 given him is so superficial that it never 

 strikes root and never reaches down to stir 

 his subconscious powers. It may be suffi- 

 cient for the practised eye of a Paulhan to 

 get a vivid impression of the salient fea- 

 tures of a landscape from the window of 

 a railway carriage to serve as a guide in 

 an aerial flight over the same region; but 

 the young engineer, who gets a flitting 

 view of the whole field of current engineer- 

 ing practise from the moving-picture show 

 of a lecture-room lantern screen will have 

 only a sorry preparation for sustained 

 flight when he attempts to rise by the 

 power of his own enginery. 



Instead of a panoramic view of engineer- 



