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22,rd December^ 189] 



Engineering Section. 



Inaugural Address by the President, Walter H. Wilson, Esq., 



RECENT ADVANCES IN MECHANICAL SCIENCE. 



Mr. Wilson said: — It has been, I think wisely, considered 

 advisable to make a special section, in connection with the 

 Natural History and Philosophical Society, for Engineering, 

 which, I understand, will include both civil and mechanical 

 engineering. Many years ago, I should say from 25 to 30, there 

 was an Engineering Society started in Belfast. The number of 

 members was not large, and they were all young men. We 

 had a room in Castle Place, and regular meetings. Mr. 

 Macassey, of Waterworks celebrity, was one of its leading mem- 

 bers. I think its collapse was partly due to the fact that we 

 were all rather young, and that older men then in the various 

 branches of the profession and business in Belfast rather looked 

 down on our efforts. We had papers and discussions, some very 

 animated ones, but it came to an untimely end. At the present 

 time, however, things are somewhat different, and I see every 

 hope of such a Society prospering, forming as it does a part of 

 the Natural History and Philosophical Society. It is a great 

 pleasure to me to think that there have been some 70 names 

 already put down of those who are willing to join. I would 

 dearly hope that we may find that the ranks of the section may 

 be much recruited from the members of the staff, and the pupils 

 or apprentices at present engaged in the various establishments 

 connected with the engineering professions in the city. 



The chief characteristic of more recent times as affecting 

 engineering work is the development of commerce and all that 

 this means, but I will content myself with commenting only on 



