8 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 523. 



of difficultie.s, redoubts of prejudices, bat- 

 teries of tradition and in citadels of igno- 

 rance. Like the Japanese, the division com- 

 manders, looking well to their supplies of 

 amiiuuiiticn (?. e., correct theories) and 

 their daily rations (i. e., materials of con- 

 struction and shop practise), push forward 

 now at one point and now at another, cap- 

 turing hill after hill, now on the right, now 

 on the left, and now in the center. The 

 army of science never retreats; it forever 

 forces back the frontiers of darkness, and 

 solves problem after problem from the end- 

 less list of secrets with which the store- 

 houses of nature are filled. 



It is a glorious thing to belong to this 

 engineering army, to rejoice in its triumphs 

 atid to share in its rewards. Its success is 

 not accidental ; its triumphs are not matters 

 of chance. Engineering blood always tells. 

 Just as we train our best soldiers and sail- 

 ors at West Point and at Annapolis; and 

 as our appliances at military and naval 

 schools keep pace with the arts of war on 

 land and sea ; so owv schools of engineering, 

 if they are up-to-date institutions, keep 

 pace in the theories they teach and in the 

 laboratories they equip with the best en- 

 gineering practise. Every advance at the 

 front (to resume my simile) means an ad- 

 vance of all supplies and in the enlisting 

 and training of recruits. I am by profes- 

 sion a recruiting officer, and I am engaged 

 with my fellow officers in training and 

 equipping men for the firing line and the 

 front rank. That the new material we 

 send forward may be just what is wanted, 

 we must have information as to the prog- 

 ress making and the next points of attack. 

 In short, our schools of engineering must 

 know the lines of engineering progress. 



I am well aware that I shall not be able 

 to touch upon many of the important mat- 

 ters which my .subject is sure to bring up, 

 and I can not expect to take them in the 

 order of their importance. Probably no 



two of us would agree upon their relative 

 importance ; one 's environment has so much 

 to do wdth what lies just beyond his hori- 

 zon; so I doubt not you will supplement 

 my statement with most interesting and 

 valuable suggestions. 



THE UTILIZATION OF WASTE ENERGY. 



While much has been done and much 

 more is doing at waterfalls and river 

 rapids, large and small, the work of saving 

 the energy which now runs to w^aste has 

 but just begun. When the great water- 

 falls are utilized the rapids will re'main. 

 We are lost in wonder when we calculate 

 the possibilities. Measure the volumes 

 which rush over the 'Sault St. Marie,' as 

 the waters of Lake Superior drop to the 

 level of Lake Huron ; and then again put 

 your measuring rods into the vastly greater 

 voh;mes which plunge and rush from Lake 

 Erie to Lake Ontario; and still again 

 through the rapids of the St. Lawrence to 

 the sea level. At every vantage ground, 

 the work of utilization has begim and no 

 man now living will see that work stop. 

 Turn next to smaller streams and mountain 

 torrents— what fields open up to the hy- 

 draulic and electric engineers ! IMountain 

 reservoirs will serve the triple purpose of 

 preventing destructive floods, of saving the 

 energy for useful work and of aiding irri- 

 gation. At every count the doors open 

 wid(^ for the best of engineering i.'nterprise 

 and the best of engineers, hydraulic, me- 

 chanic, electric, irrigation, and the echo of 

 each department must be heard in the en- 

 gineering lecture-room and laboratory. The 

 electric transformer has made the transmi:-;- 

 sion of energy possible from mountain 

 slopes to far cities, and has unlocked be- 

 wildering amounts of energy at thousands 

 of points deemed hitherto inaccessible. No 

 one can see far into the future, but we all 

 easily see the dawn of a new era of energy 

 saving. The streets of this city may y 't 



