July 26, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



125 



culture. Not merely the conventional 

 bearing of polite society, though this has 

 its value. This alone is but a husk which 

 must cover the real kernel, refined and 

 gentle feeling ; and such feeling is the re- 

 sult of moral and intellectual convictions. 

 Manners, then, are not to be taught from 

 a text or by lecture ; they rather follow 

 as a consequence from the whole course of 

 training and are crude or refined, just as 

 the character of the instruction makes 

 them. The teacher's personality has very 

 much to do with this matter. If he is of 

 coarse grain, of domineering or selfish dis- 

 position, his influence will not tend toward 

 the production of true gentlemen. 



And now for the real question — does engi- 

 neering education tend to produce culture ? 

 According to old standards, when men 

 limited culture chiefly to a knowledge of 

 language, literature and philosophy, the 

 reply would be in the negative. However, 

 standards are not the thing itself, only 

 methods of measurement ; moreover, stand- 

 ards change. Science has modified and is 

 still changing the ideas of culture that men 

 hold, and this evolution makes it all the 

 more difficult to find a common ground 

 upon which all can stand when consider- 

 ing things concerning it. This much is 

 clear, however, that no one existing course 

 of educational training has a monopoly of 

 cultural methods ; nor will the completion 

 of any college course necessarilj'- secure its 

 attainment because of its personal quality. 

 Further, culture is the result of a life, and 

 the most that can be expected of a college 

 course is to open the students' eyes to its 

 real worth, to start them rightly with cer- 

 tain leanings and aptitudes, and furnish 

 them with the means of a continuous 

 growth toward its maturity. 



It is maintained that an engineering 

 course can tend in this direction, and that 

 in some of our best colleges, under the 

 instruction of people themselves cultured, 



it does so tend to-day. Our best engineer- 

 ing courses are stiffer and more exacting 

 both as to time and efibrt than those in the 

 college of arts, and the resulting acquisition 

 of mental power and the abilit3'^ to focus it 

 proportionately greater. 



The fixed course with its correlated parts 

 and the certain definite end to be strived 

 for are advantageous. The training is a 

 continuous testing and trying of the truth 

 of knowledge, and teaches the student to 

 ask ' why ' and to reflect. He gains respect 

 for nature's laws, and learns that his pro- 

 fessional success will depend on his ability 

 to work in harmony with her. He gathers 

 a fair degree of knowledge of himself, his 

 strong points as well as his limitations. 

 He acquires a habit of thought and action 

 that leads to further growth. He learns 

 how to adapt means to an end, and within 

 what limits of precision to work that it may 

 be reached with economy. In short, he be- 

 comes a trained and educated man, cultured 

 to a certain degree, but with limitations.; 

 just as the arts student who has specialized 

 to a like degree in language and litera- 

 ture, with little of science training, becomes 

 cultured, but also with limitations. Let 

 the latter retain his A.B. On the other 

 hand, let it be recognized that the engineer- 

 ing B.S. stands for culture as well, of equal 

 worth and value, though of different kind. 



As between the two specialists, I think 

 the advantage lies with the engineering 

 graduate as being on the whole, better 

 equipped for a life of useful service and one 

 that will possess the greater capacity for 

 further development. 



As one looks forward ten or twenty years 

 and attempts from present tendencies to 

 forecast the work and social standing of 

 engineers, he must see that the profession 

 will be doing a larger work and exerting 

 a greater influence. 



Further, that an engineering training will 

 be more and more recognized as the one best 



