94 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol XIV. No. 342, 



after filtration through clean sand, is con- 

 veyed 30 or 40 miles through steel or 

 masonry conduits to covered reservoirs, 

 whence it is drawn as needed through cast- 

 iron pipes to the building where it is to be 

 used, and there distributed to all parts of 

 it, chilled nearly to the freezing point 

 •through one system of pipes or heated 

 nearly to the boiling point, through another 

 system. Another set of pipes carries steam, 

 which, passing through radiators, keeps the 

 ■temperature of the air throughout the 

 building at the proper standard for com- 

 fort. Sanitary conveniences are provided 

 everywhere, and all wastes are consumed 

 within the building by the surplus heat 

 generated, leaving only ashes to be re- 

 moved. Wires convey electric currents to 

 all points, so that the occupant of a room, 

 sitting at his desk, can by the touch of a 

 button ventilate his apartment, illuminate 

 it, call a messenger, be kept informed of 

 «very fluctuation in the markets, converse 

 with anybody who is not ' busy ' within 40 

 miles of where he sits, and if entirely ' up 

 to date ' can require his autograph and 

 portrait to be reproduced before his eyes 

 for identification. He dictates, his corre- 

 spondence and his memoranda, and ' takes 

 his pen in hand ' only to sign his name. 

 He need not leave his seat except to con- 

 sult the photograph hanging on his wall, 

 which shows to him the latest condition of 

 the mine, the railroad, the arid lands irri- 

 gated, the swamps reclaimed, the bridge in 

 progress, the steamship, the water-works, 

 the tunnel or the railroad, the dam, the filter 

 or the sewage works, the town, the machine, 

 the power plant or the manufacturing es- 

 tablishment in which he is most interested. 

 Entering the brilliantly lighted hallway 

 of this building, the air of which is kept in 

 circulation by the plunging up and down of 

 half a dozen elevators, the visitor is lifted 

 at a speed of 500 feet a minute, past floor 

 ^fter floor, crowded with the offices of finan- 



ciers, managers and promoters of traffic 

 and Qf trade, lawyers, chemists, contract- 

 ors, manufacturers, to the headquarters of 

 the controlling genius of the whole or- 

 ganism, the civil engineer. For he it is to 

 whom all the members of this microcosm 

 must apply for aid and advice in the suc- 

 cessful operation of their respective occu- 

 pations. It is not his to mechanically 

 transform elements into matter, or matter 

 into other forms, or to show how energy 

 may be produced, but to direct the applica- 

 tion of energy to the various forms of mat- 

 ter, original or produced, in such way as to 

 bring about the most satisfactory results in 

 the most speedy and economical manner. 



He has grown with the growth of the 

 nineteenth century, and is, so far as the re- 

 lations between man and matter are con- 

 cerned, its most striking product. And so, 

 while the definition given in the ' American 

 Edition of the Encyclopedia,' which ap- 

 peared at the beginning of the century, 

 that "civil engineers are a denomination 

 which comprises an order or profession of 

 persons highly respectable for their talents 

 and scientific attainments and eminently 

 useful under this appellation," is still true, 

 it is hardly probable that the compiler of 

 the Twentieth Century Encyclopedia will 

 be content to let it stand without further 

 explanation. 



But the end is not yet ; there are still 

 many problems of nature unsolved. The 

 experience of every day shows that there 

 are sources of power not yet fully developed, 

 and we cannot but say with the great poet : 



" I doubt not 4ilirough the ages one increasing purpose 

 runs, 

 And the thoughts of men are -widened Tfith the 

 processor the suns." j_ j^^^^^ -^_ ^^^^^^ 



THE BRITISH NATIONAL ANTARCTIC 

 EXPEDITION. 



De. George Murray, F.E.S., keeper of 

 the Department of Botany in the British 



