Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-07-27

eHects IN promoting efnclency OF LABOR. In
truth scientific education is an element insepara-
Bile from the highest degree of prosperity, COM
fort, and happiness in Christian communities.
1t is that which is best adapted to the wants OF
the people. II finds its peculiar and appropriate
applications in all the various employments in
which they are engaged. 1t furnishes the intel
lectual food which best promotes their health.
full enjoyment of life. 1t is at the same time, a
source of occupation and delight. 1t brings
them into contact with the wonderful works Of
creation through all the senses and intellectual
faculties; and we may enumerate among the
chief merits of the applications of science to the
business affairs of life, the peculiar adaptation
Of scientific education to every class Of the hat
man race, its cheating peaceful influences IN
dlldVing passions, and promoting good lOill
through the hedithfH occupations aOhich ii
affords to both body dndinind.
Can you imagine such an event as mob,
such as that which lately threatened New York
city, if each individual mind were stored with a
knowledge of the beautiful and unvaryng
works and laws of the creation2 You will not
find people who are devoted to scientific study,
and the intellectual recreation which it brings,
seeking their pastmes in knocking their nearest
neighbors on the head with iron bars and brick
bats. But to the glory of Him who has opened
such an unlimited field for the education of the
most humble as well as the more fortunate, it
may be said that in proportion to the diffusion
of a true knowledge of science and nature
among the people, carrying with itas it does, a
love of truth, of justice, and of charity, the oc-
currence of scenes of domestice violenceis made
improbable.
The benefits of the applications of science to
ordinary business affairs is more directly felt
and perceived in the labors of another class to
whom are entrusted still higher duties. The
work Of professional men, the civil engineers,
the mechanical or dynamic engineers, the
chemist, the metallurgiSts, the biologists; and,
in general, that class who, having received the
proper training and preparation, are called upon
for advice and counsel in the establishment Of
industrial enterprises, such as the manufac-
tnre of fabrics, the construction aud use of ma
chinery, the opening of mines, the utilization of
steam and water power.
In all these industries, the first employment
of capital mnst be in certain amount of per-
manent construction and preparation. The
solid foundations must be laid on which all sub
sequent operations must depend.
Capital-(not necessarily the capitalist for
the owners of capital are often among the best
instructed of our scientific men)-but capital
must always blindly and helplessly place itself
at the mercy of those who plan and devise
means for its employment. If these means are
based on insecure or inadequate foundations, or
if they are misapplied, capital is sacrificed or
wasted. 1t is the province of the scientific pro-
fessional man to protect and rescue
capital from such calamities. The en-
gineer or chemist, or mining geologist
is familiar with all the detailed principles and
appliances of his profession. He clearly per-
ceiyes the end to be attained, and in the choice
of means selects those which are most favOra-
BILE to economy and efficiency. He is well aware
that upon his judgment depend not only the
safety and successful employment of the outlay,
but the efficiency OF the labors of hundreds, per-
haps thousands of men. His work differs from
that of the artisan or the mechanician, in being
exclusively, from first to last, the employment
II.
ing, in estimating and reasoning. The tools of
the skilled workman are mechanical, and
material in their nature, and while his
efficiency is increased by the intelligence with
which he guides and governs their use, yet his
occupation is principally an art The tools of
the professional man, on the other hand, are
simply the pen and drawing board, the tables,
principles and formula of his mathematical
the balances and chemical reagents
of his professional practice-appliances which
can only be employed through intellectual
effort.
The most noticeable feature of industrial
science is the employment of the two great
sources of power in nature-steam and water
power-in place of the less efficient energy of
the muscular power of men and animals, and
the construction and use of machinery to trans
form these sources of power into useful specific
work.
1t is here the engineer finds his appropriate
employment. He must estimate the work to be
accomplished and adapt the most direct and eff
cient machinery to the results to be attained; or
it may be that, the power being limited, he must
adapt the work to the power. He must decide
upon the machinery TO be employed, the strength
of the parts, the modes of transmitting motion
and force, and of regulating and distributing
the power. Ii is in this work that mathemati-
cal theoTemS, the laws of mechanics, of physics
and of chemistry, are Indispensable. He must
understand the principles on which the econom-
ical employment of power is based, the laws by
which the exact relations between the forces and
the motions produced may be estimated, the
laws of heat in its action on bodies, the laws of
friction, the strength and durability of materi-
ais; and to all of these he must be able to give
expression in mathematical language, and illus
trate the results by graphic representations.
If the history of business undertakings in this
country could be truly and honestly written, we
should be surprised to learn how many instances
of failure, often accompanied by the entire ruin
of those interested, have been caused by mat
tention to the most simple laws of natural sci
ence. The chemist, or geolOgist, is often called
upon for advice in mining enterprises, only aft
er such failures have demonstrated the necessity
for their services. Many millions of capital
have been wasted in mining operations in this
country which might have been saved by a
comparatively trifing expenditure for the edu-
cation and employment of thorough chemists
and biologists.
The "short road to fortune" has too often
been found to terminate in abrupt pricipces
over which have tumbled machinery, capital
and regulations, irrecoverably lost, through a
want of knowledge, or the decetful representa-
tons of spectators. This "shOrt road to for
tune which holds out its gittering prospects, is
unfortunately constantly crowded with travellers,
and there are always along this road, as on other
paths of life, men standing ready to entice these
impatient travellers into the Vanity Fairs. But
these men are fast being driven into obscurity
by those who bear the credentials of our scien-
tiic institutions, on which are written, though
perhaps not in visible characters, the two
words which are always to be found associated,
science and truth.
The historical record would also exhibit, on
the other hand, the valuable results of well di-
rected scientific attainments. 1t is only necessary
to look around upon the magnificent structures
devoted to industrial work which everywhere,
especially here in New England, give evidence
of prosperity, to perceive the fruits of the appi-
cations of science in multiplying labor, econ
omzing time and materials, and producing the
most bene6cent results in promoting private
happiness and public good.
These results are not, it is true, solely and
directly due to scientific training in public in
situations, but they are due to the increase and
diffusion of scientific knowledge. Our most
successful manufacturers and business men are
often the best scientific observers, and in their
management and control of their affairs, they
lose no opportunity for making use of scientific
Improvements and discoveries Every year in
PRODUCES new and more efficient machinery, or
new methods and devices for facilitating labor
the result of thoughtful study, or the expert
ences of others, in the accomplishment of special
purposes, and in proportion TO these advances
in the industrial arts, the necessity for schools
OF instruction increases. For the problems of
the past are not those which the young gradu-
ates of to-day will be called upon TO solve again.
They will encounter new questions as full of
Importance and as difficult as those of the past,
demanding full knowledge of what has been
done, with increased preparation for the future
Even now, as the numbers of young men who
are thoroughly trained in our scientific institu-
tons increase, the value of their efficient SER
vices is becoming known and appreciated, and
we find them in our smelling works, rolling
mills, machinery establishments and factories
constantly employed in the discussion OF ques-
tons which arise in daily practice.
The value of the application of scientific
methods and principles is especially marked also
in the account which these methods take of
small influences. 1t is a common saving that
great aecumulatiOns are but the aggregates of
small elements. Great achievements in bust
ness, marked success in life, great works accom-
plished are generally the results of strict atten-
ton to small things, to daily and hourly details,
small savings, and the judicious employment of
every moment OF time and every scrap of mate
rial. Scientific methods give to all these small
influences their true and appropriate values, and
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