Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-04-22
DR.. WILLIAM 8. WADsWoRTH
On Human Enaineerina

THERE are few more important topics
L for the public or for the medical pro-
fession than human engineering, according
to DR.. William s. WadswOrth coroner's
physician of the City of Philadelphia.
ITO one long deeply interested In the
subject" said DR.: Wadsworth. lit Is Il
great joy to find that at last it is safe to
engineering has had sort Of existence for
n very long time, and has had more or less
actual recognition by some OF the great lead
ers of thought and action. but only very
recently has it had sufficient popular recog-
milton to make 1t n topic for public discus
sion. One finds that the term still creates
surprise In the average audience.
"As an organic whole, human engineer
ing scarcely exists: only in more or less
isolated fragments has it attained fall ex-
istence and adequate recognition. We are
familiar with such fragments as the various
health movements, preventive medicine
safety first, child saving. reconstruction,
State medicine and public health, crimi.
nOlogy and eugenics.
The Case Of Electricity
"a few years ago We had no electrical
engineers. There were tclegraphcrs. bell
hangers. signal men. clectrOpaters, ana at
times students specialized in electro physics
or electro HISTOLOGY. Many OF us can dis
tinctly recall how out of these and the new.
born electric fields Of light. power. telephone
and the thousand applications of electSiclty
in home. public service and industry gradu-
ally came engineering. SO also can we re,
call the more gradual growth OF chemical
engineering. Slower 1t naturally was, be-
cause it required much more study to under
stand the significance of the difficult chemi-
cal problems than to put together rev
wires, couple up the batteries OF the motor
and presto-an electrician.
$50 it must be proportionatcly slower for
the greater. might we'll say the greatest. OF
nil subjects, the human science TO reach
such a stage of popular preparedness that It.
NAV become truly human engineering. But
inst as the various minor phases OF electric
knowledge and practice became co-ordinatcd
because of the fundamental principles upon
which all branches or phases rested, so Will
the many phases OF science and practice
where human beings are concerned be
brought together and persons will be trained
and consulted with regard to the funda-
mental principles and TO the various appli-
cations.
1.-The fundamental principle Of /pure air
az n Dart of respiration finds its application
in the home, streets, factories and schools
among other places. 1t Is not to be called
yentilating engineering, but belongs to the
respiratory phase of human engineering.
Definite knowledge Required
"There are several other fundamental
phases where equally fundamental princi-
OlpS QDply, DuL the uTl Vi tucsc
depends upon well grounded knowledge
of the science of physiology. But 1t requires
an added sOmething-the trained power of
anplying such knowledge to attain definite
ends This power constitutes an art, and
all engineering is a composite OF the scien-
tfic knowledge and the art OF applying such
knowledge wisely and to the attainment OF
an end.
"As is well known, all engineers fail if
they ignore some important part OF their
subject. So the human engineering will be
no exception, and, in fact, It's progress has
been rendered more slow because of the more
or less spasmOdic attempts to use some frag-
,nent of the science and art for the whole.
Child saving, social uplft, prison reform,
pure food and all the other attempts have
failed to achieve adequate results just for
this reason, and the time Is passing when
the awakened world will much longer sub
nit to such partial, incomplete guidance.
"When ! was young cOlleglan our
political economy regarded human beings as
simply to be bought and sold in the labor
market. nor would the scholastic pedagogues
cOndescend to facts or sane cOnsdcrat ions
of the human machines they so supcrcill
ously considered. Their psychology being
even more crude, 1t Is small wonder that they
failed to recognize or advance those princi-
ples which must alone come by rigid human
engineering.
Greatest Of All Machines
'Some Of their descendants haye Improved,
Smk ~ hna l00R nlnNA AAana1 IA l00k Ia nnNk