The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-03-17
Industrial Engineering Is the
Child of the Nineteenth Century.

This leads US to our last topic, for which
too little room has been left. Industrial en-
g1neering covers ~statical, hydraulic. me-
chanical and electrical engineering, and adds
q new branch which we may call chemical
engineering. This Is pre-eminently. a child
OF the Nineteenth Century. and is the con-
version of one thing into another by a
knowledge Of their chemical constituents,
When Dalton first applied mathematics to
chemistry and made 1t quantitative, he gave
the key which led to the discoveries of Cav
endish. Gay-Lussac. Berzelius. Liebig and
others. This new knowledge was not locked
up, but at once given to the world and made
use of. Its first application on a large scale
was made by Napoleon In encouraging the
manufacture of sugar from beets.
Inc new products were generally made
from what were called waste material, -,
we now have the manufacture of soda.
bleaching powders. aniline dyes and other
products OF the distillation of coal. also coal
oil from petroleum known fifty or sixty
years ago only as a horse medicine). acetv-
lene gas, celluloid, rubber goods in all fbe;-
numerous varieties. high explosives. cement
artlncial manures. artificial ice. beet sugar
and even beer may now be included.
through many ages the alchemists. grop-
Ing in the dark and in ignorance of natures
laws. wasted their time in trying to find
what they called the philosophers stone.
which they hoped would transform the baser
metals into gold.
II such a thing could he found it would
be a curse. as 1t would take away one OF
the most useful instruments we haye-a
fixed standard of value.
In a little over 100 years those working by
the light of science nave found the true
philosophers stone in modern chemistry.
The value of only a part of these new prod-
ucts exceeds the nominal value Of all the
gold in the world.
The value of our mechanical and cbemf-
cal products is great. but it is surpassed by
that OF food products. II these did not keen
pace with the increase Of population. the
theories Of Nautilus would be true. but he
never saw a modern reaper.
Tho steam pillow was invented I'm England
some fifty years since, hut the great use of
agricultural machinery dates from our Civil
war, when SO many men were taken from
agriculture. 1t became necessary to fill
their places with machinery. Without
tracing the steps which have led to it. we
may say that the comomn type is what is
called the 'binder." and is a machine
drawn chiefly by animals. and in some
cases by a field locomotive.
1t cuts. rakes and binds sheaves of grain
at one operation. Sometimes t%hrashing and
w~innowing machines are combined with it,
and the grain is delivered into bags ready
for the market.
Different machines are used for cutting
and binding corn, and for moving and rak-
ing hay. but the most important of all is
the grain-binder. The extent OF their use
may be known from the fact that rs COO tons
Of twine are used by these machines an
nually.
1t is estimated that there are in the
United States 100000 of these machines,
but as the harvest is earlier in the South,
there are probably not over 1000, 900 in use
at ono time. As each machine takes the
place OF sixteen men, this means that L.
000. 900 men are released from farming for
other pursuits.
The man with the hoe" has disappeared
from the real world, and is only TO be
found in the dreams Of poets.
It is fall 70 assume that a large part of
these 100000 men have gone into manu-
other pursuits. The use of Horticultural
thersfore: Il one explanation Of
of the worlds cotton and corn. one
Of its wheat, one-third Of its meat
and Iron. two-ffths Of its steel. and one
manufactured goods,
THo2A0 0012"