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ENGINEERING AS A VOCATION

machinery; and machines required in the repair of machinery. The mechanical engineer also prepares specifications for such equipment as the railway may have made to order or purchases under contract.

Bridge engineelång is practically a distinct profession, for many companies are engaged exclusively in the design and erection of bridges for railways and highways.

Structural engineering is also a distinct profession for few important buildings are erected to-day without steel or reinforced concrete framework and floor systems.

Numbers of men trained as engineers go into surveying work, but not so many that it is right to say "A civil engineer is nothing but a surveyor," as so many illy-informed or mendacious mechanical and electrical engineers remark to parents who make inquiries with reference to selecting careers for their sons. Some surveyors work for the government and are employed in making accurate surveys for the purpose of marking national boundaries, determining the size and shape of the earth, topographical surveys as a basis for the development of sections of a country, etc. Some engineers go into private practice and specialize on surveys for determining land lines, settling property disputes, setting grades for ditches, for drainage or irrigation, etc. Others work all their lives for railways and other corporations, running instru-