Apbil V2, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



401 



their example has been followed in a way 

 that demonstrates more completely than 

 anything else could that a popular demand 

 exists for engineering instruction. 



Civil engineering came into the Univer- 

 sity of Michigan in 1853, with the late Dr. 

 Alexander Winchell, as an adjunct of 

 Physics. It had an independent instructor 

 in 1857 in the pei-son of Professor De Yolson 

 Wood, who is well known in the profession 

 at the present day. Mining engineering 

 followed in 1875. Mechanical engineering 

 was introduced by a professor detailed fi-om 

 the U. S. Na\-y Department in 1881. Finally 

 the course in electrical engineering was be- 

 gun in 1889. The success of this last course 

 has more than justified its introduction, as 

 the roster of students in it alreadj- exceeds 

 that of either of the older engineering 

 courses. This gi-owth is attributable to the 

 popular interest in the subject. 



The engineering courses are primarily 

 professional as distinguished fi-om the liter- 

 ary curriculum. They lay the foundation 

 in theory and a moderate amount of prac- 

 tice for distinguished careers in a private 

 professional capacity and at the same time 

 in the service of the State. A large portion 

 of the graduates of American technical 

 schools have been very successful in their 

 professional career. The presence of a con- 

 . siderable body of trained engineers, dis- 

 tributed throughout the country, has had a 

 marked influence on the number and char- 

 acter of the public improvements made. If 

 a great commonwealth is justified in main- 

 taining an institution of higher learning be- 

 cause of the public weal, as I fuUj' believe 

 it is, then the maintenance of schools of en- 

 gineering is approved by considerations of 

 high public interest. 



From an educational point of view, the 

 courses in engineering furnish a thorough 

 and by no means naiTOw intellectual train- 

 ing. The rigid discipline in pure and ap- 

 plied mathematics, the courses in physics 



and chemistrj , the attention given to 

 modern languages, are all additional to the 

 special insti-uction in engineering studies ; 

 and while they serve as a foundation for 

 them their value as a means of intellectual 

 culture are just as great as if they were pur- 

 sued for this purpose alone. An eminent 

 scholar, Professor Ritter of Germany, has 

 recently testified to the success of technical 

 education in the United States and says 

 that the Americans have outdone Europeans 

 in this regard. The theoretical side of the 

 technical branches Professor Ritter believes 

 to be less solid here than in Germany ; but 

 against tliis defect he sets the " trulj' grand 

 achievements in engineering and machine 

 construction in the United States." In the 

 normal gro\\^h of our engineering courses 

 thej- will gradually be strengthened on the 

 theoretical side. At the same time we can 

 not guard too carefully against the crowd- 

 ing out of that amount of practice obtain- 

 able from a well-equipped engineering 

 laboratory and such tests of actual mar 

 chinery as may be accessible. The highest 

 justification of the American plan of engi- 

 neering schools is to be found in the prom- 

 inent part taken by comparatively recent 

 graduates in the most difficult undertakings 

 of engineering practice. 



In the provision for science and engi- 

 neering, indicated by the dedication of the 

 Hale Scientific Building, the Universitv' of 

 Colorado is following the best examples of 

 American education. It has made a noble 

 beginning in the cultivation of science, the 

 augurj' we may be permitted to hope of a 

 brilliant future. A wide world of discovery 

 yet remains. The remark of an eminent 

 physicist that the future discoveries of phys- 

 ical science are to be looked for in the 

 sixth place of decimals is rendered rather 

 ludicrous by the recent discover}- of 'Argon," 

 a new constituent of the atmosphere, com- 

 posing about two per cent, of its weight. If 

 the air we breathe can funiish a new and al- 



