It is a very interesting question, why was this great development
of material prosperity delayed so late? Why did it wait until the
nineteenth century, and then all at once increase with such rapid
strides?
It was not until modern times that the reign of law was greatly
extended, and men were insured the product of their labors.
Then came the union of scientists, inventors, and engineers.
So long as these three classes worked separately but little was done.
There was an antagonism between them. Ancient writers went so far as
to say that the invention of the arch and of the potter’s wheel were
beneath the dignity of a philosopher.
One of the first great men to take a different view was Francis Bacon.
Macaulay, in his famous essay, quotes him as saying: “Philosophy is the
relief of man’s estate, and the endowment of the human race with new
powers; increasing their pleasures and mitigating their sufferings.”
These noble words seem to anticipate the famous definition of civil
engineering, embodied by Telford in the charter of the British
Institution of Civil Engineers: “Engineering is the art of controlling
the great powers of nature for the use and convenience of man.”
The seed sown by Bacon was long in producing fruit. Until the laws of
nature were better known, there could be no practical application of
them. Towards the end of the eighteenth century a great intellectual
revival took place. In literature appeared Voltaire, Rousseau, Kant,
Hume, and Goethe. In pure science there came Laplace, Cavendish,
Lavoisier, Linnæus, Berzelius, Priestley, Count Rumford, James Watt,
and Dr. Franklin. The last three were among the earliest to bring
about a union of pure and applied science. Franklin immediately applied
his discovery that frictional electricity and lightning were the same
to the protection of buildings by lightning-rods. Count Rumford (whose
experiments on the conversion of power into heat led to the discovery
of the conservatism of energy) spent a long life in contriving useful
inventions.
James Watt, one of the few men who have united in themselves knowledge
of abstract science, great inventive faculties, and rare mechanical
skill, changed the steam-engine from a worthless rattletrap into
the most useful machine ever invented by man. To do this he first
discovered the science of thermodynamics, then invented the necessary
appliances, and finally constructed them with his own hands. He was a
very exceptional man. At the beginning of the nineteenth century there
were few engineers who had received any scientific education. Most of
them worked by their constructive instincts, like beavers, or from
experience only. It took a lifetime to educate such an engineer, and
few became eminent until they were old men.
Now there is in the profession a great army of young men, most of them
graduates of technical schools, good mathematicians, and well versed
in the art of experimenting. The experiments of undergraduates on
cements, concrete, the flow of water, the impact of metals, and the
steam-engine, have added much to the general stock of knowledge.
One of the present causes of progress is that all discoveries are
published at once in technical journals and in the daily press. The
publication of descriptive indexes of all scientific and engineering
articles as fast as they appear is another modern contrivance.
Formerly scientific discoveries were concealed by cryptograms, printed
in a dead language, and hidden in the archives of learned societies.
Even so late as 1821 Oersted published his discovery of the uniformity
of electricity and magnetism in Latin.
Engineering works could have been designed and useful inventions
made, but they could not have been carried out without combination.
Corporate organization collects the small savings of many into great
sums through savings-banks, life insurance companies, etc., and uses
this concentrated capital to construct the vast works of our days.
This could not continue unless fair dividends were paid. Everything
now has to be designed so as to pay. Time, labor, and material must
be saved, and he ranks highest who can best do this. Invention has
been encouraged by liberal patent laws, which secure to the inventor
property in his ideas at a moderate cost.
Combination, organization, and scientific discovery, inventive ability,
and engineering skill are now united.
It may be said that we have gathered together all the inventions of
the nineteenth century and called them works of engineering. This
is not so. Engineering covers much more than invention. It includes
all works of sufficient size and intricacy to require men trained in
the knowledge of the physical conditions which govern the mechanical
application of the laws of nature. First comes scientific discovery,
then invention, and lastly engineering. Faraday and Henry discovered
the electrical laws which led to the invention of the dynamo, which
was perfected by many minds. Engineering built such works as those at
Niagara Falls to make it useful.
An ignorant man may invent a safety-pin, but he cannot build the
Brooklyn Bridge.
The engineer-in-chief commands an army of experts, as without
specialization little can be done. His is the comprehensive design, for
which he alone is responsible.
Such is the evolution of engineering, which began as a craft and has
ended as a profession.
In past times, civilization depended upon military engineering.
Warriors at first used only the weapons of the hand. Then came military
engineering, applied both to attack and defence, and culminating in the
invention of gunpowder. The civilization of to-day depends greatly upon
civil engineering, as we have tried to show. It has changed the face
of the world and brought all men nearer together. It has improved the
condition of man by sanitary appliances and lowering the cost of food.
It has shown that through machinery the workman is better educated,
and his wages are increased, while the profits of capital increase
also. It has made representative government possible over vast areas of
territory, and is democratizing the world.
Thoughtful persons have asked, will this new civilization last, or will
it go the way of its predecessors? Surely the answer is: all depends
on good government, on the stability of law, order, and justice,
protecting the rights of all classes. It will continue to grow with the
growth of good government, prosper with its prosperity, and perish with
its decay.