August 19, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



227 



But we must also remember that a truly 

 influential man must know something of 

 literature, biography, history, art and 

 music. He must be a man of complete 

 living. "To prepare us for complete 

 'iving, " Herbert Spencer said in his inter- 

 esting book on education, "is the function 

 which education has to discharge; and the 

 only rational mode of judging of any edu- 

 cational course is to judge in what degree 

 it discharges such function." Spencer 

 also defines what he means by complete 

 living, and every able, reflecting man may 

 give a similar definition out of his own 

 consciousness and experience: An educa- 

 tion for complete living includes training 

 the faculties of self-preservation, the facul- 

 ties of self-support, the faculties of the 

 domestic life and proper parentage, the 

 faculties of good citizenship including in- 

 terest and activity in the betterment of our 

 political and social relations, the faculties 

 of properly enjoying one's leisure and 

 lending enjoyment to others. 



The study of science and its applications 

 as carried on in the atmosphere of our bet- 

 ter engineering schools may surely be made 

 an important stimulus to each of the pow- 

 ers and faculties which are required for 

 complete living. It has been asserted that 

 it lends itself more particularly to the 

 earlier and less disinterested ones ; but that 

 this is necessary I must deny. The pro- 

 fession of the engineer demands a creative 

 imagination cultivated to the sober clear 

 sight which sees things as they are, and 

 from which springs an appreciation of art, 

 literature and miTsie which rivals that pro- 

 duced in any other manner. But the phys- 

 ical sciences and their applications, even 

 when coupled with desirable dilettantism, 

 are not adequate to the requirements of 

 engineering in its broadest sense; and the 

 political and social sciences must be added 

 to the list. 



In this latter respect most of our engi- 

 neering curricula have been startlingly 

 deficient. I even lay the charge at the 

 door of yoiir own great institute; an insti- 

 tute which has instructed the spirit of 

 many who have become of the nation's 

 leading engineers. "Will you look through 

 that list of distinguished engineers and tell 

 me how many have become notable for 

 activities in the political and social affairs 

 of the nation ? We can count to your 

 credit your distinguished alumnus and 

 president and a few others of correspond- 

 ing public spirit, but they are few when 

 noted in comparison with the importance 

 of the engineer's work in civilization and 

 civic life and the important influence which 

 this institute has borne in American engi- 

 neering. Remember that the existence of 

 civilization as we know it, and to a large 

 degree its advancement, depend upon 

 transportation and intercommunication, 

 which are fundamentally engineering in- 

 dustries. Are the engineers then to allow 

 those important political and civic activi- 

 ties which cling around civilized life to fall 

 under the sole direction of others? 



It is an easy answer to say that the engi- 

 neers are too busy in working and directing 

 the economic advances of civilization to 

 afford attention to the way in which polit- 

 ical and civic activities are guided; but this 

 answer is inadequate. The lawyers, the 

 phj'sicians, the merchants are also busily 

 engaged in affairs of importance, in their 

 kind, and they might make a similar excuse 

 for abstaining from political and social 

 activity ; in which case, I think we must all 

 admit, our forms of government would 

 soon break down from want of adequately 

 trained and disinterested leaders. 



It seems to me, gentlemen, that this 

 rather general failure of the engineering 

 graduates to keep a wide-open eye on the 

 political activities of our land is a serious 



