840 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. 857 



instruction to utilize successfully such of 

 the newly acquired knowledge as it is possi- 

 ble to include must often be the result of 

 gradually accumulated experience, it is 

 plain that rapid and frequent alterations 

 are both unwise and unprofitable. Such 

 advances in scientific knowledge as, for ex- 

 ample, those relating to wireless teleg- 

 raphy, the turbine engine, or aeroplanes, 

 which are of such immediate significance 

 as to seem to imperatively demand a place 

 in our courses of instruction, can not be 

 allowed to displace other older topics of 

 permanent importance, and in many 

 cases these later developments of science 

 are based upon abstruse principles, the 

 proper teaching of which, in turn, demands 

 much time. 



The educational problem has, moreover, 

 been rendered more difficult of solution by 

 the concomitant increase in the number of 

 men to be educated. It is no longer pos- 

 sible to give to the undergraduate that 

 measure of personal attention from a ma- 

 ture teacher, of strong personality, which 

 characterized successful teaching in the 

 young manhood of our fathers, and re- 

 sulted in the production of what may be 

 termed "hand-made engineers." And, 

 again, the increased ease with which our 

 young men can now obtain educational ad- 

 vantages is sending to our schools a much 

 larger proportion of students who, while 

 they are earnest to a high degree and con- 

 stitute a most desirable class of pupils, 

 have not descended through generations of 

 ancestors with scholarly or scientific in- 

 stincts, and have not been surrounded by 

 an atmosphere which is at all closely in 

 harmony with that of the lecture room or 

 laboratory. That most of these young men 

 meet with success is the more to their 

 credit; that some others meet with 

 only measurable success in the scien- 

 tific professions, and that distinct limita- 



tions, both professional and social, mani- 

 fest themselves in the post-graduate de- 

 velopment of some, is not surprising; but 

 the cause is often mistakenly ascribed 

 to faulty educational methods when in 

 truth it is far more a question of raw ma- 

 terial than of manufacturing process. 



The product of the engineering schools 

 has not escaped the universal demand 

 that all products should advance in quality 

 without increase in cost, which, in this in- 

 stance, means with little or no increase in 

 time expenditure. One needs only to re- 

 view the conditions of the last quarter-cen- 

 tury to realize that an extraordinary 

 change has taken place in the position of 

 the engineer in the community. None of 

 the older professions have been called upon 

 to face such kaleidoscopic conditions and 

 it is not strange that there should be a 

 dearth of men immediately adapted to 

 meet the altered situation, or that many 

 should be found to be partially lacking in 

 the extremely composite training which 

 would lead to complete command of the 

 field. It may not be irrelevant to ask 

 whether the so-called learned professions, 

 so long regarded as superior to the engi- 

 neering professions, would have fared 

 distinctly better under a like extreme test. 



The wholly successful engineer of the 

 day (I do not speak now of the recent 

 graduate) must be a man possessing a 

 capacity for logical, quick and exact 

 thought; a detailed knowledge of some 

 portion and a broad knowledge of the 

 whole of his professional field; and be 

 master of a certain amount of the tech- 

 nique of his profession. He must have the 

 ability to select and guide competent and 

 trustworthy associates and to obtain from 

 them loyal and willing service. He must 

 be strong in his sympathies and generous 

 in his public services, and while quick to 

 enlist desired interest in his enterprises he 



