The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1902-07-17
TER, MINNESOTA, THURSDAY. JULY II, 1902.

equaling Egypt in lifting devices, they
understood better the properties of
water, and laid the foundation of the
hydraulic systems now in use.
Greece next received the heritage of
the ages, and beautified and improved
all she received. Under her wondrous
touch the clumsy architecture of her
predecessors softened into the lines of
her matchless temples, and the pom
drous columns of Egypt became Doric,
Ionic, or Corinthian, to suit the de-
mands of the structures which they
ornamented. In her work the beauti-
full so much predominated that we
sometimes forget that she built the
greatest fleets which up to that time
had sailed the seas.
And now we come to Rome, which,
splendidly material, was content to
borrow her beauty from others, while
she far surpa sed her predecessors in
engineering feats and added the arch
to their architectures. The Rome of
today still receives her water supply
from the aqueducts Of the early repub-
lie, and the modern Italian travels roads
builded by hands which crumbled into
dust more than twenty centuries ago;
and Caesar, altho he had never heard of
technical school, constructed military
bridges with all the ability of a Roberts
or Kitchener, and to the great grief
of his foes and all succeeding genera
tions of Latin students.
After the coming of James Watt and
his teakettle, the changes came thick
and fast He opened to the world
possibilities whose end is not yet, and
Stevenson and Fulton, by applying his
invention to the locomotive and Steam
boat, gave the world vast improve
ments over all previous methods of
transportation; and it seems the end
has not yet been reached, for we have
Edison and Santos-D -Dumont still to hear
from.
The engineer is more in evidence as
the world advances. He warns us,
lights us, provides the machinery with
which our food and clothing are made,
turns the ocean into dry land with his
wonderful ships and the air into q
great medium of communication
among men.
Let us consider the requirements for a
successful present day mech ,nical engi-
neer. 1t has been said that many good
farmer has been turned into poor law
yer and that numbers of men with all the
qualifications for becoming leading le-
gal lights are still plodding away on the
farm. This doesn't hold good in
engineering, for if the student has not
natural aptitude for machinery he
will quit in despair before the first half
Of his freshman year. The course of
studies for this branch are pretty lnuch
alike in the different universities and
technical schools, it being four year
course consisting of: Thermodynamics
of gases, satured vapors and super
heated steam, theoretical study of
the steam engine, gas engine and other
heat motors and prime movers, and
the injector, condenser, refrigerating
machinery, boilers, pumps and hydrau-
lie machinery are studied in detail. OF
course it is understood that the student
must be well up in mathematics, ply
sical and mechanical drawing.
While the course also gives the stu
dent fair working knowledge of. the
more practical side, it would be better
to first serve three or four years i'm
good machine shop or the same time
around power station where the
young man would get his practice; he
can learn his theory of the business
later.
Taking the improvements made in
machinery in the past twenty years,
we can say with McAndrews in his
hymn by Kpling::
ssThe auld fleet engineer
That started as boiler-whelp when steam and
he we're low,
mind the time we used to serve broken pipe
wi tow.
Ten pound was all the pressure then-ehl chi
man wa drive;
An here. our worlin' gauges give one hunder'
ffty-hye!
We're creepin on VII each new rig-less weight
an larger power:
There'll be the loco-boiler next an thirty knots
an hour!
Thirty an more. What ha' seen since ocean
steam began
Leaves me no doot for the machine: but what
about the man?"