Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/95

ENGINEER AND ENGINEERING. 79 works, surveys for reservoir sites for irrigation, and other work having little or no direct relation to the military arm of the Government. On the ul her hand, nearh all classes of engineers in civil life enter the Government service under i or navy engineers, hut without receiving military commissions or lilies unless engaged in actual war. Thus il appears that the historic use of the terms 'civil' and 'military' engineer is rapidly dis- appearing. Curiously enough, with the enlarge- ment of the field of the traditional civil engineer there has been a strong tendency to narrow what falls within thai title from an inclusion of every- thing not military to what remains after the Be specialties are placed in classes by themselves. As opposed to this tendency some go so far as to class all engineering as either civil or mechanical, the first having to do with fixed structures and I he latter with 1 hose that move, either as a whole or in some of their parts. Thus the railway track would come within civil, hut the locomo- tives and cars within mechanical engineering. Another tendency is to group engineers in accord- ance with the industrial or governmental winks with which they are connected, regardless of the specialties involved. This has already been noted in mentioning army and navy engineers, to which examples may be added municipal engineers, the number and professional standing of which are increasing with the development of municipal life and ideals. Industrial engineers are engaged in various large manufacturing establishments re- quiring mechanical, electrical, chemical, or civil engineering service. Sanitary engineering also has assumed individual prominence, including matters of pure water-supply, the disposal of wastes, and other engineering for the protection of the public health. Still other divisions of engineering, such as designing, constructing, and consulting practice, may he made, to which may be added engineering superintendence of works in operation, and a large and growing amount of expert evidence in connection with litigation, ar- bitrations, and appraisals. The consulting engi- neering specialist is achieving a well-merited prominence among professional men. Engineering plans may he carried out by con- tract, or directly by the city, company, or indi- vidual concerned, hut in every ease a competent engineer is essential, and generally one or more assistants and inspectors are required, the num- ber running into the hundreds on important work. Contractors are generally employed, particularly for works of magnitude. The education and training of the majority of the best modern engineers comes first in the technical schools and next in actual work in some subordinate position. The best of these schools aim to give a thorough grounding in mathe- matics, the development and use of heat, elec- tricity, and other forms of power; the strength of the various materials used in construct ion, the stability of masonry and framed structures; chemistry, physics, and bacteriology as related to engineering. Some part of the engineering course is generally spent in practical work, in the machine-shop or field. Facility in free-hand and mechanical draughting, plain but rapid let- tering, photography, the use of engineering and other scientific instruments, the taking of notes, tabularand graphic presentation of statistical in- formation, and. above all, a quick and sure grasp of the relation of things, are essential to a first- ENGINEER CORPS. class engineer, 'the ideal plan would he for the prospective engineer in pursue the soeallei! academic course before taking up trictlj profi sional studies i M the engineering course, but tin- is not always feasible, important aids to the student and the practicing engineer alike an the various periodicals devoted to engineering ami allied subjects, including I lie proceedings m engineering societies. Membership in the lattei is of great advantage. In America there a re national or international societies devoted, re spec! ively, to civil, mechanical, electrical, mining, water- works, heating and ventilating, and munici pal engineering, besides hosts of state and more local engineering societies. There is also a so- ciety of naval engineers and architects. Other countries likewise have their engineering so- cieties, the oldest of which probably is the British Institution of Civil Engineers, founded in 1818 and now having a large membership of various grades scattered all over the world. In many engineering works there is an oppor- tunity to combine the artistic with the utili- tarian, and where the training of the engineer has not fitted him to do this the cooperation of the architect may he secured with advantage. See Engineeiu.no. Military; Engineer i Engineers, Corps of; etc. ENGINEER CORPS, kor. United States Navy. The first step toward the organization of an engineer corps of J .he United States Navy was taken by the appointment of Mr. (.'. 11. Haswell as chief engineer of the Fulton. His appoint ment bore the date of July 2, 1836. For some years after this, engineer officers were appointed by the commanding officer of a ship, and could be dismissed at his pleasure. The real establish- ment of the engineer corps as a part of tli€ navy was first provided for by an act of Congress approved August 31, 1842. Under this act chief engineers were commissioned and the a-sisi ants warranted. The same act provided for the appointment of a 'skillful and scientific engi- neer-in-chief; provided a uniform; established the grades of chief engineer, and first, second, and third assistant engineers, and their rates of pay; and in every sense made the new corps a pari of the navy. By the act of March 3, 1845, the appointment of engineer officers was taken from the Secretary of the Navy and made by the President, 'by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,' as in the case of other officers of the army and navy. From this time, the corps gradually increased with the demands of the ser- vice, until the needs of the navy during the Civil War brought the Engineer Corps in January. 1805, up to a total of 2277, consisting of 474 regulars and ISO:? volunteers. The Bureau of Steam Engineering was established by an act of July 5. 1862. An act of Congress, approved July 4, 1864, passed in response to a petition of the Engineer Corps, established a course of instruction for ca- det engineers at the Naval Academy, although prior to and even for some years after this act, appointments and promotions had all been made after an examination. The first, cadet engineers entered the Naval Academy in 1866, and two graduated in 1868. Then the course was dropped until 1871, when the regular course of two years was established. This was changed to a four year-' course in 1874, which was continued until the act of August 5,