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confer degrees of proficiency in such arenas as these ? Here lies the difficulty ; the -well-educated engineer has received two educations, the one in the cloister, the other abroad and on works. This double education cannot be acquired at an university; in short it can only be acquired by a many-sided man. I must say that I am for an uni versity education for the Engineer; let him there take a degree of proficiency in the theory of his profession, in drawing and in the use of surveying instruments; but so far his work is less than half done. With out doubt, the most important part of it remains, the study of works and practice thereon. It must be confessed it remains yet to be discovered how the precepts of the cloisters are to be given without clashing with what must ever be the mainstay of his knowledge, the precepts of nature acquired on works. It is well-known that Telford frequently expressed his contempt for the mere cloister engineer. On the other hand, George Stephenson has placed it on record that the great want of his life was the want of a liberal education, and that he in consequence took care that his son should have the best education to be gotten in England. We seethe result of this double education in Robert Stephenson, whose name stands proudly forth among the foremost of British Engineers, yet not more prominently than those of Watt, Telford, Brindley, Rennie, Chapman, Priestley, and Smeaton, self-made men; and of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who graduated in the famous Thames Tunnel, who, had he been consigned to the charge of the college don, would have for ever lost the golden opportunity of receiving those trumpet-tongued lessons with which rebellious nature so rudely instructed him beneath the river’s bed. In contemplating the usage in other professions, for the sake of comparison, the Engineer chief would do well to take a lesson from the potentates of the professions of law and surgery. The former constantly promotes and patronizes the debating society of the juniors, and often graces their meetings by his presence. Not unfrequently a judge may be found in the chair on the occasion of a stirring debate. As for the surgeon, he is not above visiting works in company with the rising crowd of students, the works of disease I exhibited on the hospital bed. It is an encouraging and cheering prospect that of some half-dozen of hospital surgeons, entering the bedrooms of a morning, each with a tail of aides and pupils, visiting each case, and prescri bing for it, while, at the same time, he explains its various aspects and treatment to his followers; in short to this profession must be paid the tribute, that in none other are the magnates so ready and willing to communicate their superior knowledge to juniors. It would seem a part of the ambition of the surgeon and physician to shine as expounders of the mysteries of their craft, both at the bedside and in the hospital theatre. The result of such a system is, that professional experience is perpetuated; it becomes for ever available for the benefit of the human race. If magnate Engineers took the same trouble and interest in the education of the juniors, we should not have heard so much from Mr. Fowler/in his last address to the Institute, about the feared incapacity of the English Engineer, and the possibility of his being outstripped in the struggle for existence, not to speak of the struggle for fame, by his continental cotemporary. Let the juniors take courage, notwithstanding. They are in the finest field in the world for the study of works, in England in general, in London in particular, and I know of no means whereby they can so well keep au courant of events as by joining this society, the salient objects of which is the visiting of great engineering works, and the reading and discussion of papers on the same afterwards. Here we have the counterpart of the law debating society. It might be well if, like the lawyers, we could occasionally boast of the presence of one ef our chiefs. It would, at least, give dignity to the occasion, and allow greater liberty to the subject in the ex pression of his views and opinions—too often chilled and fettered by the exactness of an aspiring president, ex officio, or by the noisy inter rogations of an engineer in embryo from the back row of seats. It is gratifying to find that the society flourishes, and that the adver sity which has befallen engineering in general does not seem to trouble it much, as is shown by its increasing numbers and a round balance to its credit at the bankers. Before dismissing this subject, it may be well to allude to the new arrangements of the Institute of Civil Engineers, whereby pupils of the members of the Institute are allowed the entrees of its lectures, library, the use of the theatre, &c., for their own purposes, for an annual payment of £2 2s each. This is a step in the right direction, but it does not go far enough: it is strikingly deficient in limiting admissions to pupils of members of the Institute. Fancy the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge limiting matricula tions to the friends of their own dons and graduates. This principle of exclusiveness, however permissible in a Pall Mall club, is one that cannot obtain in a great professional and scientific corporation without carrying serious difficulties in its train; and it will be absolutely necessary, if the Institute is to preserve its para mount position in the face of the competition that threatens it, as I am confident we all belonging to this society (some of whom are already enrolled as its associates) wish and hope it shall do, that it shall move in consonance with the spirit of the times. The Institute of Civil Engineers is now on its trial. An aspiring and aggressive association has started up which would fain draw som 0 of the teeth and clip the mane of the old Lion of Great George Street- It has lately petitioned the Queen for a charter of incorporation, which application has been opposed by the Institute of Civil Engineers, on the ground that it has always been the recognised representative body of the profession; that the incorporation of an association carrying a title having so close a resemblance to that of the Institute, the two corporations will be mixed together in the minds of the public and of foreigners, that the influence of the parent society will suffer in con sequence. We trust that in this struggle the old Institute will be successful. The state frequently refuses to permit the floating of a railway company which threatens injuriously to compete with an existing company whose capabilities are fully equal to the wants of its district. Is it not equally just that it shall deny its recognition to this new Engineer association, which would without doubt, to a considerable extent, damage the prestige, and otherwise check the use fulness of the long-established Institute of Civil Engineers ? If, not withstanding, the state shall adopt that which is sometimes called a liberal policy, and ignore the very proper petition of the institute, it is to be hoped its ambitious rival shall be induced to exchange for its present title one which shall prevent the possibility of its being mistaken during its continental promenades for that ancient, respectable, and renowned body, the institute of Civil Engineers—the sole and bona fide representative of the profession in England. Having then survived the ordeal, will it be too much to expect it to move in advance of its old position, to organize classes for juniors, which shall be open to all comers who can pass a certain preliminary examination, and on payment of certain fees. To afford facilities for visiting works, each visit to be directed by an engineer of position; to allow the use of its theatre to kindred societies on occasions when it shall not be required for purposes of its own, under certain restrictions and guarantees; and above all, to provide a building worthy of itself, which it had the opportunity of doing within the past twelve months, and which opportunity will, perhaps, be even now offered it. Such a consummation is to be desired, and would effectually quell factious opposition. Some persons may probably consider allusions such as these irrele vant in an annual address to a junior association. If, however, an an annual address is to be a reflex of the opinions and ideas commonly considered and expressed within the circle to which it is to be delivered, it is necessary that it shall not slur over such matters as are here touched. * * * * But we must now turn to other subjects. The Mont Cenis Railway is at last a fait accompli, adding additional feathers in the caps of Mr. Fell and Mr. Brunlees. It is likely to be something more than a pit alter to be used while the tunnel is in process of construction, though originally intended to be that alone. The idea now prevails that many passengers will prefer a 48 mile ride over the Cenis Pass in a railway train, through the novel landscape features of ice and glacier, to seven and a half miles shooting through the scarp of the mountain. Certainly the tourist will prefer the former mode, though it involve the inconve nience of a change of carriages and an extra couple of hours on the route; the habitue of the line will prefer the straight run through, that is if the ventilation be somewhat better than that of the Metro politan Railway; and if the same individual be not an old lady of asthmatic tendencies, or a good subject for asphyxia; merchandise too will take the shorter tunnel route. The -working parties in the tunnel are at present engaged on schist at the Italian end, and limestone at the French end, driving their head ings three ieet each end per day, against two feet when in the compact quartz rock. How soon they may shake hands is beyond the capacity of even Mr. Brunlees to say. 1875 is now the time appointed. The shortening of the route to India by this connection of the French and Swiss railways is of much importance to this country, especially to Anglo-Indian circles. The distance from London to Alexandria via Marseilles, that by which a large portion of the mails and passengers are now carried is 2532 miles; then via Brindisi, the route now pro posed, in 77 miles shorter in distance; and as it reduces the sea voyage nearly one-half, it offers a saving of 35 hours in time, of 39 hours via the Cenis pass Railway, and of 43 hours when the new tunnel shall be completed. Such inducements as these prospects afford ought and will be shortly taken advantage of. The French who now 'have a monopoly of that part of the journey from Calais to Malta (if not to Alexandria, naturally object to the transfer: but the force of circum stances must ultimately prevail, and the French will at Susa hand over the traffic to the Italians who will run it down the peninsula to the point of embarkation, Brindisi. * * * * The Suez Canal next claims our attention. It is now plain that its completion is within the bounds of possibility, though it is hard to believe that the investing public will continue to patronize such a vast scheme, with such remote expectations of completion as it promises. Mr. Siccama, one of the members of this society, visited it some two years since, and has given us an account of it in a paper read last year. The pith of his remarks was this, that out of 70,000,000 yards of excavation a total of 18,000,000 had already been removed. The 8