The Life of Sir William Fairbairn, Bart., F.R.S., LL.D., D.C.L., &c. Partly Written by Himself

Abstract

THE art of Engineering is one by which above all others the influence of science upon the civilisation of the world has been proclaimed with the loudest voice. Astronomy may deal with far more tremendous mechanical problems and may have done more for establishing the exactness of scientific research. Chemistry may have done much for the amelioration of suffering, and have given to the world vast commercial enterprises. Geology and Metallurgy have told men where to find and how to use the wealth beneath their feet; and to Physics we owe the Electric Telegraph and a thousand things besides. But Engineering, combining all of them with much that is its own, goes out to the world and makes itself heard and known by every class. Millions who never heard of the Nautical Almanac see the feats of navigation and the power of ocean ships. The locomotive, diving under mountains or flying over valleys leaving civilisation in its track, preaches the power of steam to people who may never hear of the dynamical nature of heat. And the splendid machinery by which the commonest things of life are made testifies to the greatness and humanising influence of that art which, above every other, directs the great powers in Nature to the use and convenience of man.

The Life of Sir William Fairbairn, Bart., F.R.S., LL.D., D.C.L., &c. Partly Written by Himself.

Edited and Completed by William Pole, Member of Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers. (London: Longmans, 1877.)