Apbil 24, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



645 



Joseph Henry, engineer by nature and 

 education, scientist of renown, perfected 

 the electromagnet, adapted it for signalling 

 purposes, and taught the world how to 

 operate it at a distance. The fruits of this 

 single application of eleetromagnetism, 

 brought to commercial perfection through 

 the efforts of the then derided Morse and 

 the brilliant Graham Bell, have twice revo- 

 lutionized the commerce of the world and 

 incalculably advanced its civilization. 



Through the brilliant and daring Erics- 

 son, one of those mighty acts of Providence 

 that sometimes occur in the guise of mir- 

 acles was wrought in Hampton Roads for 

 the preservation of independence and lib- 

 erty amongst the race. 



These examples from the last century are 

 sufficient to serve my purpose of illustra- 

 tion. The progress of the new century 

 bids fair to magnificently exceed the past. 



The engineers of the world may be 

 thought of in connection with three classes : 



The scientific followers after principles 

 and inventions. 



The plodding constructors and origin- 

 ators of structures. 



The engineering plungers and promoters. 



The first are to-day by far the greatest, 

 and their preeminence grows with each 

 application of new discoveries to the use 

 and convenience of man. But we must 

 not fail to give proper honor to the faith- 

 ful workers of the second class, M^ho 

 founded the profession and are yet its 

 mainstay ; or to lend due admiration to the 

 brilliancy and daring of the third class. 



In the first class are found such names 

 as Rankine, Lord Kelvin, Wernel" Siemens, 

 John Hopkinson and Joseph Henry, to 

 whom I have referred. In the second class 

 stand Telford, Stephenson, Gramme, Cor- 

 liss and many others of renown; while 

 James Watt stands as a link between them 

 and the first. The third class lists such 



men as the admiration-compelling Erics- 

 son, Bessemer, Holly and Morse. 



These men, who have so largely con- 

 tributed their part of blood to the living 

 strength of the industries, whom I have 

 selected to represent the past in engineer- 

 ing, are giants in beneficent influence upon 

 the growth of civilization and the develop- 

 ment of the wealth of the world. Their 

 lives will be felt until the name of the 

 nineteenth century is blotted from the 

 memory of man. Each has played his 

 part. The industry-promoting Bessemers 

 more immediately increase the wealth of 

 the world; the steady Telfords and Ste- 

 phensons contribute much to its permanent 

 comfort and convenience ; but the scientific 

 discoverers of principles and engineering 

 inventions appear to lend the most fai'- 

 reaching influence to the world and its 

 civilization. Let us see what foundation 

 of knowledge now exists upon which such 

 men may base their work. 



With all the effort of the centuries since 

 the days of Gilbert and of Bacon, when 

 the validity of experimentally proving 

 natural laws was firmly established, we 

 have really advanced but little towards the 

 heart of nature's secrets. The material 

 progress of the world depends largely upon 

 improvements in our methods of utilizing 

 what we now think of as three factors: 



1. The properties of material matter. 



2. The characteristics of energy. 



3. The characteristics of intellect as 

 found in organic life. 



We are yet profoundly ignorant of the 

 ultimate character of either matter, energy 

 or life. Experiments seem to indicate that 

 we may find the clue to the mystery of the 

 first two, but it is yet impossible to assert 

 whether, in our present state, we may reach 

 an entire understanding of their true char- 

 acter. Experimental investigations often 

 become increasingly difficult as we ap- 

 proach the goal of ultimate truth, and the 



