42. ENGINEERING IN GREAT BRIT AIN. Engineering as a profession is only par tially organized in Great Britain. To under stand the present state of development a brief historical statement is necessary.
Historical— On the military side engineer in g is and has been thoroughly organized. For tification and the art of constructing defenses are probably as old as society. The Babylon ians, Greeks and Romans showed skill and originality in design and construction which has nowhere been surpassed. From the introduction of the catapult, ballista, and other engines of war amongst the Greeks and Romans mechani cal skill likewise received wide and steady de velopment.
Into Great Britain engineering was probably first introduced by the Roman invasion and then languished until William the Conqueror brought with him a large body of engineers who built the castles, fortresses and strongholds, and made the engines of war for defense and attack. A °chief engineer* supervised an organization of trained workmen in the 13th century, and offi cial records of the siege of Calais in 1347 gives a full list of the staff and also of that of the engineers' headquarters at the Tower of London in 1350. Sir Richard Lee was the most famous of the engineers who in the reign of Henry VIII built the English and French coast de fenses. Under Charles II a separate corps of engineers, commanded by a surveyor-general of the King's works, was established in Ireland.
As gunpowder, cannon and later muskets replaced catapult, arquebus and crossbow, me chanical skill and ingenuity made steady advance until at the present day the manufac ture of war implements and their invention and design have passed to a considerable extent into the hands of civilians. Military engineers are organized as the Corps of Royal Engineers with their headquarters at Chatham.
The artillery is organized in several corps, according as service in the fortress, field, mounted, or on foot, is required. Knowledge and training in a specialized branch of engineer ing is needed for these services.
Guns and military equipment are manufac tured at the Royal arsenal at Woolwich and at the Royal small arms factories at Enfield and Birmingham, under army control, and in vari ous factories belonging to civilian firms.
In the navy engineers have steadily in creased in importance as the construction of ships and their working depended more and more upon machinery until under the recently modified regulations it has been arranged that all naval officers whether navigating, gunnery, torpedo, or engineering shall for the first years of their training be educated together, speciali zation being left to the later years of their course. Engineer officers will therefore rank
with other officers of equal standing and be capable of executive command.
On the Civil Side.— The foundation of English civil engineering may be said to have been laid by Smeaton (1724-92). He was the son of an attorney, became a philosophical in strument maker, and subsequently devoted his attention to a study of windmills, canals (for which he made a tour of the low countries in 1754), and lighthouses. He reconstructed the Eddystone lighthouse in 1756. He was there fore °much consulted in regard to engineering projects, including river navigation, the drain age of the Fens, design of harbors, and the repair and construction of bridges.* Smeaton founded in 1771 the °Society of Civil Engineers,* the members of which dined together once a month during the parliamentary session and discussed subjects of professional interest. It still exists under the name of °The Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers.* No records of its discussions have been kept nor published but its foundation shows the earliest step in the direction of organizing the non-mil itary engineers into a profession in Great Britain.
Partly contemporary with Smeaton was James Watt (1735 to 1829). He was trained as a mathematical instrument maker, but was pre vented from practicing by the trade as not being fully qualified, and therefore he was granted three rooms in the University of Glasgow where he carried on experiments resulting in the cre ation of the modern steam engine out of the crude pumps of the Marquis of Worcester, New comen, Cawley and Savory. His improvements demanded for their perfect fulfillment mechan ical skill and workmanship far in advance of the work of the millwrights of his earlier youth. Out of the millwright he therefore created the manufacturing engineer, and did for the mechanical side of the profession what Smeaton had done for the constructive side, and like Smeaton on the constructive side Watt on the mechanical side was consulted as an authority of the first rank on all important matters.