THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION FIFTY YEARS HENCE. DR. J. A. L. WADDELL WEATHER CONTROLS OVER THE FIGHTING DURING THE SPRING OF 1918. EVOLUTION BY MUTATION. PROFESSOR T. H. MORGAN PLANNING A RESEARCH LABORATORY FOR AN INDUSTRY. Dr. C. E. K. MEES 54 THE ROMANTIC ASPECT OF NUMBERS. PROFESSOR S. E. SLOCUM Presentation of the Franklin Medal to Signor Marconi and Dr. Mendenhall; The Solar Eclipse of June 8; The Conservation of Platinum; Scientific Items Barber's First Course in General Science By FREDERICK D. BARBER, Professor of Physics in the Illinois State Nor- A recent notable endorsement of this book occurred in Minneapolis. A Committee on General Science, representing each High School in the city, was asked to outline a course in Science for first year High School. After making the outline they considered the textbook situation. In this regard, the Committee reports as follows: "We feel that, in Science, a book for first year High School use should be simple in language, should begin without presupposing too much knowledge on the part of the student, should have an abundance of good pictures and pler of material to choo e from. Barber's First Course in General Science seems to us to bes. meet these requirements and in addition it suggests materials for home experiments requiring no unusual apparatús, and requires no scientific measurements during the course. We recommend its adoption." Other Interesting Opinions on the Book Follow: SCHOOL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS:-It is one of the very best books on general science that have ever been published. The biological as well as the physical side of the subject is treated with great fairness. There is more material in the text than can be well used in one year's work on the subject. This is, however, a good fault, as it gives the instructor a wide range of subjects. The book is written in a style which will at once command not only the attention of the teacher, but that of the pupil as well. It is interesting from cover to cover. Many new and ingenious features are presented. The drawings and halftones have been selected for the purpose of illustrating points in the text, as well as for the purpose of attracting the pupil and holding his attention. There are 375 of these illustrations. There is no end to the good things which might be said concerning this volume, and the advice of the writer to any school board about to adopt a text in general science is to become thoroughly familiar with this book before making a final decision. WALTER BARR, Keokuk, Iowa:-Today when I showed Barber's Science to the manager and department heads of the Mississippi River Power Co., including probably the best engineers of America possible to assemble accidentally as a group, the exclamation around the table was: "If we only could have had a book like this when we were in school." Something similar in my own mind caused me to determine to give the book to my own son altho he is in only the eighth grade. G. M. WILSON, Iowa State College:-I have not been particularly favorable to the general science idea, but I am satisfied now that this was due to the kind of texts which came to my attention and the way it happened to be handled in places where I had knowledge of its teaching. I am satisfied that Professor Barber, in this volume, has the work started on the right idea. It is meant to be useful, practical material closely connected with explanation of every day affairs. It seems to me an unusual contribution along this line. It will mean, of course, that others will follow, and that we may hope to have general science work put on such a practical basis that it will win a permanent place in the schools. Henry Holt and Company NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO IT LIBRARY Sever fund THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY JULY, 1918 THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION FIFTY YEARS HENCE II By Dr. J. A. L. WADDELL, D.Sc., D.E., LL.D. NEW YORK CITY T takes a bold man to endeavor to foretell what changes will occur in engineering during the next fifty years; nevertheless the speaker will make the attempt for the purpose of pointing out a few of the salient possibilities, some of which are easily within reach and should be attained as quickly as possible, while others may, by some engineers, be deemed chimerical. It must be remembered, though, that that highly imaginative French author, Jules Verne, in some of his wildest flights of fancy, was merely foretelling actual occurrences which are to-day so common as to cause no comment. The speaker has concluded that the most effective way for him to make these various prognostications is by means of an imaginary annual address of the retiring president of the American Academy of Engineers in the year 1968; and he hopes that he will be pardoned for having, when so doing, assumed that the said retiring president is his own grandson and namesake. Such an assumption can certainly do the youngster no harm; but, on the contrary, it may serve him as an incentive to endeavor, should he choose some line of engineering as his life's work. RETROSPECT ANNUAL ADDRESS OF J. A. L. WADDELL, 2d, Retiring President of the American Academy of Engineers, Washington, D. C., March 10, 1968 Gentlemen: As retiring president of the American Academy of Engineers in this sixty-eighth year of the twentieth century, at a meeting held specially to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the Academy, I have deemed it to be eminently appropriate and fitting to choose as the subject of my address THE PROGRESS OF THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION DURING THE PAST HALF-CENTURY In dealing with this subject it has been my aim not only to record the advancement of the engineering profession as a whole, and in detail that of its numerous divisions and subdivisions, but also to indicate the influence which our Academy has had on that development. As one looks back upon the history of this and other countries since the close of the Great War some forty-eight years ago, he can not help being struck by the immense influence which at every turn engineering has had upon the world's reconstruction and its subsequent development. Almost every step of importance that has been taken was initiated and carried out by engineers; and American technicists in every line have been the ruling spirits in all matters bearing upon the welfare of the nations, taking the lead over the engineers of all the other nationalities, in so far as progress is concerned. The reason for this is that the Great War not only killed off the flower of the European engineers, but also caused most of the European technical schools practically to close their doors, while the United States took the wise precaution of keeping the attendance at such institutions as nearly as possible up to the normal. Of course, the said attendance, immediately after the entrance of our country into the titanic struggle in 1917, was materially decreased by the volunteering into the service of a large proportion of the upper classmen and a smaller proportion of the lower classmen from all of our institutions of learning and especially from the engineering departments of the universities and from the technical and the trade schools; but by the earnest effort of the members of our closely affiliated organization, The Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, backed by strong pressure from the Administration at Washington, the attendance in the freshman classes of these institutions was at once actually increased a little above normal, and the next year was materially augmented. The result of this wise movement was that as soon as peace was declared and the necessity for world-reconstruction became evident, American |