572 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF EDUCATION. 
geometry, descriptive geometry, and the differential and integral calculus 
are an absolute necessity for our prospective engineer; and differential 
equations is very desirable. The special work to be done in each of 
these subjects is a matter of judgment with the one who lays out the 
course. 
The student should acquire the ability to use his mathematics as a tool, 
aot only for making computations, but also for drawing necessary conclu- 
sions of the kinds that apply to his engineering work ; and this last is the 
‘eature that is most frequently lacking in the mathematical instruction 
given to engineering students. 
An important matter to be attended to throughout the engineering 
course 1s that the student should be taught to distinguish between the 
mathematics of his work and the assumptions made at the beginning or 
in the course of the work of the proposition he is dealing with. The 
student is too prone not to draw this distinction, and to consider things 
shat are pure assumptions as being the deductions of the pure mathe- 
matics, and hence as conclusively proved. Such a course is fraught with 
danger and leads to all sorts of errors, often very serious. In order to 
avoid it, the student must be taught to think. 
The other fundamental science which I have mentioned is physics. 
Practically, a course in physics is the suitable preparation for a proper 
understanding of the scientific principles of most of the engineering work 
with which the student will come in contact. Mechanics, light, sound, 
heat, and electricity are all matters that concern the profession of the 
engineer so intimately that he cannot afford to neglect a careful study of 
their first principles. 
A certain amount of work in the physical laboratory is of great impor- 
tance for the student, since it teaches him how to ask questions of nature 
and how to obtain correct answers ; in other words, how to make careful 
and accurate experiments. It is true that the greater part of the experi- 
mental work of the engineer will have to be performed on a considerably 
larger scale than that of the physical laboratory ; but, on the other hand, 
some of his most important and delicate work involves the doing of just 
such experimental work as he is taught to perform in a well-organized and 
well-equipped physical laboratory. 
Next, as to chemistry. I cannot claim for it a similar position of funda- 
mental importance in the engineering part of an engineering course that 
oelongs to mathematics and physics. Nevertheless, a certain amount of 
chemical knowledge is of great importance to all engineers ; but when 
this amount has been acquired, although a further knowledge would be 
useful, it is not one of the most important things. Chemistry, however, 
when given in the freshman year, fulfills another important function ; 
viz.: it introduces the student at the very threshold of his course to a 
character of scientific work that obliges him to think. and to think in