January 6, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



11 



both gas and electricity coming from the 

 gas works and power plants at the mouths 

 of the coal mines in Illinois. What an era 

 of cleanliness and comfort this presages ! 

 This era of cleanliness will be* brought 

 about by the engineers. Hence engineer- 

 ing education must see to it that engineer- 

 ing students are prepared for their high 

 mission. The proposed 'Million Club' of 

 St. Louis bears no comparison with a pos- 

 sible 'Clear Sky Club.' The former pro- 

 poses to seduce 250,000 non-resident smoke- 

 makers into joining the 750,000 smoke- 

 makers already resident in St. Louis, there- 

 by making smoke enough to shut out the 

 sun entirely (they almost did it during a 

 whole week last November) . The ' Clear- 

 Sky Club, ' on the other hand, will propose 

 to eliminate all smokers by sending coal- 

 burning power plants to the mines, thereby 

 leaving the city so clean and beautiful that 

 250,000 lovers of pure air, clear skies and 

 godliness will seek homes among us of their 

 own accord. The elimination of smoke, 

 soot and ashes will make St. Louis abso- 

 lutely bright and clean, and similar im- 

 provements here would go far towards pro- 

 ducing the same beneficial results in the 

 city of Philadelphia. Already our cities 

 have, or are making arrangements for, an 

 abundant supply of pure water. This has 

 been and still is a great branch of engineer- 

 ing, and it deserves an important place in 

 our schools of engineering. We must next 

 provide pure air and a clear sky. 



These steps forward involve no very 

 great addition to our engineering knowl- 

 edge, but they give opportunity for engi- 

 neering enterprises, and they show^ most 

 clearly how essential cooperation is in such 

 work. Large power plants and extensive 

 gas works require much private capital, 

 unless we fly to the extreme of public 

 ownership. The economic construction of 

 large power plants and gas plants ; the lay- 

 ing of pipe lines and an unprecedented 



amount of electric cables, all or nearly all 

 underground, constitute a great field and 

 furnish great engineering opportunity. 



THK PURIFICATION OF RIVERS. 



We have nearly reached the limit in 

 river pollution. The public welfare will 

 soon make an imperative demand for a 

 halt. A great city like Chicago shall no 

 longer load with poison a little stream like 

 the Illinois, nor foully pollute a great river 

 like the Mississippi. Let me frankly ad- 

 mit that even the city of St. Louis shall 

 not forever dump and pour its refuse into 

 the Mississippi River. 



When the national government takes up 

 the function of guarding every stream 

 from pollution (and no state government 

 can deal effectively with the problem) we 

 shall have a great extension of the sphere 

 of sanitary engineering. The recent dis- 

 coveries by Dr. George T. Moore, of the , 

 Department of Agriculture, suggest the 

 possibility of purifying a polluted stream 

 so as to make it not only clear and sweet, 

 but absolutely free from algae and all harm- 

 ful bacilli. The proper disposition of 

 house drainage and the refuse of factories 

 is already a live engineering problem in 

 Europe, and American engineers must no 

 longer neglect it. The study of diseases 

 and their prevention is forcing its way 

 into engineering schools, as preliminary to 

 extensive engineering practise. Whatever 

 form the solution of the problem may take, 

 it will involve both chemical and hydraulic 

 engineering, and the fundamental prin- 

 ciples of both must be carefully laid in our 

 schools. 



TUBULAR CONSTRUCTIONS. 



In the near future we are likely to make 

 great progress in the construction of rolling 

 stock and moving machinery, as well as in 

 the construction of bridges and buildings. 



The adoption of electricity by railroads 

 for all kinds of traffic will result, in the 

 first place, in the disappearance of the 



