ENGINEER AND ENGINEERING. Engineering, the business of the engineer, is the art of designing and superintending the execution of works of a constructive character, such as roads, railways, bridges, canals, harbors, docks, works for supplying water to towns, drainage and sewerage works, mining machinery, and the working of metals.
It may be divided into two kinds—civil and military. The military engineer is an offi cer in the service of government, whose duties are principally to construct fortifications, to make surveys for warlike purposes, to facilitate the passage of an army by the Con struction of roads and bridges; in short, to execute all engineering works of a military nature; but he is also, especially in this country, called upon to undertake many works which more properly belong to the business of the civil engineer, such as the survey of the country—called the ordnance survey—the inspection of public works, and, in short, all the duties of a government engineer.
The civil engineering profession is subdivided into several sections, according to the special nature of the employment of its members. The railway engineer projects and superintends the execution of railways and all the works in connection with them, such as the alteration of roads and streams, the construction of viaducts, bridges, cuttings, and embankments. The hydraulic engineer constructs the works connected with the. supply of water to towns, the filtering of water, its collection in reservoirs, and its dis tribution through a town or district; the irrigation and drainage of tracts of country; the protection of low lands from inundation, and the use of water as a motive-power. The dock and harbor engineer has the management of all works connected with the sea or navigable waters, such as the construction of piers, breakwaters, docks, harbors, and light-houses. The mechanical engineer is principally concerned in the manufac ture of machinery, the working of metals, the construction of ships, steamers, cannon, and all the various structures in which the metals bear a prominent part. Then there is the mining engineer, who discovers minerals and manages mines; there are engineers who are specially engaged in the drainage of towns, and many other less prominent divisions of the profession.
In all engineering works,' the contractor takes a very important part; he executes the works from the designs, and under the direction and superintendence of the engineer, and on his ability and good management the success of undertakings very materially depends.
The engineering works of antiquity are both numerous and prominent, many of them remaining while all other traces of their constructors have been swept away. The most notable of the works belonging to very remote antiquity are the harbors of the Phenicians, the palaces and sewerage of Nimroud, and the pyramids of Egypt; next in order come the harbors of ancient Greece, the bridge of boats across the Dar danelles, made by Xerxes, to transport his immense army into Europe, and his canal across the isthmus of the peninsula of mount Athos. The buildings of ancient Rome
next claim attention—its theaters, temples, baths, and aqueducts, sonic of which car ried water from distances of more than 50 m. into Rome; its roads, bridges, and drainage-works vie in extent and magnificence with the most celebrated works of modern times.
From that period down to the commencement of the 18th c., the most exten sive works executed are the 'canals, embankments, and other hydraulic constructions used by the Dutch for the purposes of inland navigation, and to protect their low lands from the sea; the canals of North Italy, the cathedrals and fortifications of medimval Europe.
Civil engineering, as a distinct profession, may be said to have originated, in Eng land, about the middle of the last century; since that time, the improvements in the steam-engine by James Watt, its subsequent application to the railway system by George Stephenson, and its use in navigation, have given a great impulse to commerce and civilization; which, in their turn, have created the necessity for the numerous and magnificent engineering works of modern times; such the innumerable railways, roads, and canals that intersect this and foreign countries; the bridges, water-works, docks, harbors, and vessels that facilitate our commerce and increase our comfort and prosperity. Among the most remarkable of these works may be mentioned the tubular bridges of the St. Lawrence and Menai strait, the Niagara railway suspension bridge, and the electric telegraph system, which covers this country and the seas and countries of Europe, and may, at some future time, connect us with the continents of America, Australia, and India. Among the more celebrated British engineers are the Stephen sons, the Rennies, the Brunels, Telford, Smeaton, and Locke.
The education of those who would rise to eminence in the profession, must embrace a fair knowledge of pure mathematics and of the mixed sciences of natural philosophy, such as mechanics, hydrostatics, hydraulics, and optics. They should acquire a know ledge of the principles of prOjections, and should aim at being good draughtsmen and rapid and accurate arithmeticians.
Engineering is represented in this country by several institutions and societies, the principal of which is the London institution of civil engineers, established in 1818, "for facilitating the acquirement of professional knowledge, and for promoting mechan ical philosophy;" there are also many schools and colleges throughout the kingdom in which engineering is made a special study.
In conclusion, it may be said that every day opens fresh fields to engineering science and labor; and that as the first beginnings of the art are lost in the obscurity of remote antiquity, so we see no termination to its usefulness and necessity.
The more important operations involved in engineering are treated of under such heads as BRIDGES, CANALS, AQUEDUCTS, EMBANKMENT, TUBULAR BRIDGE, ROADS AND ROAD-MAKING, RAILWAYS, RIVER, SUSPENSION BRIDGES, etc.