226 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 816 



ing must be substantially of the same 

 nature as that done in the undergraduate 

 classes of the Stevens Institute of Tech- 

 nology and many other engineering schools, 

 while engineering graduate study has come 

 to be accepted in engineering circles as 

 more advanced study of the sciences and 

 their relations than can be pursued under 

 limitations of time and subject matter per- 

 taining to teaching classes rather than in- 

 dividuals. Whatever objections may be 

 associated with the chosen name, "gradu- 

 ate school of engineering" for the par- 

 ticular work to be there done, it is an un- 

 doubted fact that the agitation accompany- 

 ing the reorganization of the engineering 

 courses of Harvard University and the es- 

 tablishment of the new school has been 

 serviceable to the cause of engineering edu- 

 cation. Even the chosen name has empha- 

 sized the effect by giving an impression of 

 the extent and depth required in an ade- 

 quate engineering education which has 

 never before been grasped by the Amer- 

 ican public. 



How many of you young men, students 

 of engineering, composing this audience 

 have reflected upon the meaning of the 

 profession which j^ou are intending to fol- 

 low, or of the duties which are associated 

 with it? How many of you have in mind 

 a clear-cut definition of the character of 

 the mental processes used by experienced 

 engineers in executing their duties 1 How 

 many of you have a clear recognition of the 

 distinctions of mind and method which 

 compose the differences between an engi- 

 neer and a well-educated mechanic of un- 

 usual skill? You miist reflect on all of 

 these points and come to adequate convic- 

 tions before you can become of the ablest 

 and most distinguished ranks of engineers. 

 These things can be organized in one's 

 mind only by the thoughtful reflection 

 which arouses the imagination. Thought- 



ful reflection is, to paraphrase Lowell, as 

 needful for the imagination as society is 

 wholesome for the character; and an engi- 

 neer's education can be scarcely begun 

 until he learns that an exact and truthful 

 imagination is one of his most important 

 professional possessions. 



France seems to be the only one of the 

 civilized nations in which the engineers are 

 given a full professional recognition. In 

 Great Britain the machinists at the bench 

 divide with the professional men the name 

 "engineer," and when a great machinists' 

 strike occurs the newspapers herald it with 

 large headlines as the "strike of the engi- 

 neers ' ' ; but who ever heard of professional 

 men on strike ? Many things occur as mat- 

 ters of commonplace in the average of 

 human life that are unthinkable as parts 

 of the lives of professional men. 



Personally, I do not sympathize with 

 requiring all young men who wish to enter 

 an engineering school to first spend three 

 or four years in obtaining a degree of 

 bachelor of arts. President David Starr 

 Jordan one time said in his apt way, "It 

 is the business of the college to give the 

 young man the secret of power. It should 

 train him to be efficient, self-reliant and 

 capable of team work to make the most of 

 his actual abilities in the conduct of life." 

 This applies equally to the engineering 

 school and the so-called liberal college, and 

 there is no exclusive hold on this important 

 business possessed bj^ either. If we must 

 contrast the two, it may be seriously en- 

 quired whether the engineering schools 

 have not in this respect usefully occupied 

 a position formerly occupied by the liberal 

 colleges but partially relinquished by them 

 with the general adoption of elective 

 courses of study unaccompanied by ade- 

 quate advice and guidance — compulsion, if 

 need be — which would lead the students to 

 choose their studies with logic and reason. 



