ENGINEERS, MILITARY. The earliest history of the military engineer is the history of primeval warfare, when every man was a fighter and every fighter to some extent an engineer. Primitive efforts were restricted to the provision of artificial pro tection for the person and machines for hurling destruction at the enemy. To these activities were added road and bridge building. With the invention of gunpowder came the era of great fortresses and the rise of the technical expert, to whom the great scientific discoveries of the 19th century brought ever increasing responsibilities; so that, in modern armies, there is scarcely a problem of civil, mechanical or electrical engineering with which the military engineer may not be called upon to grap ple. The cost of providing separately for each branch of engineer ing is prohibitive; and in European armies, with compulsory serv ice and well-marked military frontiers, the tendency has been to confine the engineers to their traditional functions of fortification and siege-craft, depending on the civil departments for such technical services as might be required. To the voluntary service army of Great Britain, such a system is unsuitable, and the need for a corps of all-round engineers has been recognized. Men of all engineering trades are included in its ranks, while the officers after receiving a general scientific education, are liable to serve in any unit of the corps and, by means of periodical changes of employment, are ensured wide practical experience. As history always repeats itself, so the present mechanical era seems likely to reproduce a state in which every soldier will again be, in some wise and of necessity, an engineer.