The Workshop.

Otago Witness, Issue 1324, 14 April 1877, Page 3

The Workshop.

THE WORK OF THE ENGINEER.

At the opening of the Edinburgh University addresses were delivered by the respective professors. In the class of civil engineering, Prof. Fleming Jenkin made some remarks in regard to the aims of the profession, arid the spirit in which they should be pursued. He defined the work of the engineer as the application of science to the satisfaction of man's material wants, and claimed that every exact science— by which he. meant every science the results of which could be numerically expressed— required for its practical application the assistance of the engineer ; and if the historical sciences were less exclusively their own than those that deal with numbers, yet, wherever any science whatsoever was concerned with production or distribution, the engineer could not be repelled as an intruder. No man, he submitted, who loved exact knowledge, could fail to find scope for the exercise of his intellect ia the practice of the engineer, and that practice, moreover, was curiously suited to men of the most opposite temperament. Two conditions, and these only, were needed. The man must love hia work, and have ability to perform it. In answering the question, whether,, engineer may find ia the exercise ofihi's profession the solid pleasure of believing that he is working for the general good, Prof. Jenkin said ; "By our work we feed mankind, we clothe mankind, . we house mankind ; through our work' deserts are peopled, and old countries teem with new life. We promote wealth, which, in its simplest sense, is but well-being. Let who will look backward on a past golden age, enveloped by a haze permitting imagination to people its pastures with idyllic beings ; we face the .'present with, faith in a future moulded by. knowledge of the truth. If the husbandman does well, producing food, the engineer, doubling that food, does better. When the engineer cheapens cloth, he betters the condition of man more than if he halved his cloak with a beggar. * To cheapen I dwellings is better than to build an almshouse. I almost reluctantly speak of the more direct benefits ha confers by giving pure water, fresh air, and cleanliness to the dwellers in towns. The direct action, of the sanitary engineer is more visible, but is not really more beneficial than the work of all other branches of the profession. The man who, by a better form of bearing, diminishes friction, thereby cheapens production and clothes the^ poor. We miss the direct sense of alleviated suffering which must be the physician's chief reward, but yet our steamers fetch his drugs and our mills prepare them. The arts which are concerned in .the'production of beauty are all, save ,one, strangers to us, and even though the province of architecture is our natural heritage, we have failed to claim our right. Lastly, I believe that lam making no idle boast when I claim that if we, as engineers, labour diligently in our vocation, whether our opportunities be great or small, we shall not labour in vain."

Saw Mills. — The Steams Manufacturing Company have long been regarded as being at the head of this branch , of business, and their productions may be found in sawmills all over the country. The central object of interest in the whole saw-mill building, one which commands the attention of all the mill men, is a saw which cuts through a sixteen foot log in one and a half seconds of time, every revolution of the saw cutting in 10| inches. This is the highest speed ever before attained, and shows conclusively to what a high degree of perfection' they have brought their machinery. PAiNTiNa Gilt Paper.— We wished to paint, with water colours, a monogram on, gilt paper, but could not get the paint to lie, not even when mixed with gum ; it either scaled off, or was patchy. After trying various expedients, we scratched all over the surface of the monogram with a hard lead pencil, and we then found that the water colours could be easily painted on the surface. Their effect on the gold ground was very «great, and perhaps some of our "illuminating " readers may thank us for illuminating them with this " wrinkle." — Printers' Register.

French Polishing.— With a piece of, fine pumice-stone and water, pass regularly over the work with the grain, until the rising of the grain is down ; then with powdered Tripoli and boiled linseed oil polish the work to a bright face ; this will be a very superior polish, but it requires considerable time.

Cheap paint for rough woodwork or fences is made of six pounds of melted pitch, one pint of linseed oil, and one pound of brick-dust or yellow ochre. It is excellent, and will stand for years. The melting point of silver is 1280? Fahrenheit ; of gold 2890° : copper 2548° • lead 494 °j tin 442° j sodium IH Q ,