Mathematical philosophy, a study of fate and freedom; lectures for educated laymen, by Cassius J. Keyser.

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 455
not? And if they do, what do they mean by "the mastering of natural forces"'? The questions are important and
sometime the philosophers of engineering must answer
them.
The most famous conception of engineering and, in
the judgment of many, the best one to be found in the
literature is almost a century old. It is due, I believe,
to the English engineer, Thomas Tredgold (I788-I829)
and is found in the charter of the Institution of Civil
Engineers (London, I828). Engineering is there called
an art-"the art of directing the great sources of power
in nature for the use and convenience of man, as the
means of production and of traffic in states, both for
external and internal trade, as applied in the construction
of roads, bridges, harbours, moles, breakwaters, and
lighthouses, and in the art of navigation by artificial
power for the purposes of commerce, and in the drainage
of cities and towns." The gist of the matter is in the first
eighteen words: the art of directing the great sources of
power in nature for the use and convenience of man. For
our purpose it will be well worth while to reflect upon
them a little. Though found in a charter for civil as
distinguished from military engineering, they apply no
better to what we today call civil engineering than to any
other of the numerous varieties into which, since the
words were written, engineering has branched; moreover,
they apply no better to a branch of engineering than to
Engineering itself, regarded as one great Enterprise, and
that is why it will repay us to reflect upon them.
In view of their date (I828) it is not strange that
they represent engineering as an "art" instead of a science,
as we call it today, or a science and art, as, I think, we
Qught tQ cgll it. But that is a trivial matter,