Part 14 (1/2)
Glossary of books on this subject; for those who desire to be more fully acquainted with the subjects of heredity and development.
Author.
MORGAN, T. H., ”Physical Basis of Heredity.”
EAST, E. M., and JONES, D. F., ”Inbreeding and Outbreeding,” etc.
PARKER, G. H., ”The Elementary Nervous System.”
HARVEY, E. N., ”The Nature of Animal Light.”
Appendix III. Engineering And Time-Binding
The Arts of Engineering, by their very nature, are derived from the work of dead men and destined to serve not only the present but the future.
They are freer than any other human activity from the errors of intermixing dimensions and from the fallacy of belief in individualistic accomplishment and pride. The simple steel structure of a bridge, familiar to us in every day life, is a clear reminder to us all of the arts of Hephaestus and the bound-up knowledge of countless generations of smiths and mechanics, metallurgists and chemists, mathematicians and builders, teachers and engineers who toiled for many thousands of years to make possible the riveted steel beams which are the elements of modern structure. These structures do not collapse unless the natural laws for their construction are transgressed; which seldom happens-for no one is entrusted with the work unless he has bound up in his knowledge the acc.u.mulated experience of the past; yet the transgressors of these natural laws are punished with all the severity of the common law. When a bridge is opened and tested, the written laws in some countries and the unwritten in others, and the pride and the sense of responsibility of the designer and builder of the bridge demand that he, the creator of the bridge, be the first to enter it and the last to leave it; and should the bridge collapse, he has to take the immediate consequences of his neglect of the time-binding laws.
Rarely are the affairs of engineering done with the entirely selfish motive of merely acquiring immediate selfish gain, for even when this could be traced-this unworthy thought disappears in the halo of the glory of the accomplishment. Mr. Eiffel did not erect his tower to haunt Paris with the sight of a steel skeleton towering over the city of daring thoughts. His tower stands to-day as a mechanical proof of mathematical formulas proving the possibility of erecting tall, self-supporting structures and thereby serving future humanity. The Time-binding capacity of humans creates and formulates new values for the service of mankind.
Again, no student of the Arts of Engineering could ever forget himself to the point of claiming his accomplishments, no matter how marvelous, all to himself. No wondrous discovery of modern electricity, not even the talking from one hemisphere to another, is rightly the accomplishment of any one man, for the origin of the discovery can be traced at least as far back as the days of that barefooted shepherd boy Magnus, who first observed the phenomena of magnetism.
In an attempt to trace and evaluate the time-binding faculties manifested in the Arts of Engineering, one is at once astonished, and bewildered, at the confusion and contradictions unrealized in the ma.s.s of evidence, and how pathetic and deplorable is the sight of hundreds of thousands of workers in the field of engineering toil and creation who unconsciously submit to the degradation, in silent consent, of seeing their marvelous collective achievements chained to s.p.a.ce-binding aims.
Upon the completion of this book I was astonished that there are such a small number of engineers who have the intuitive feeling of the greatness of the a.s.sets at their command and of the gravity of their liabilities concerning affairs of humanity. I was eager to have my book read and a.n.a.lysed by a few leading engineers. The late H. L. Gantt being no more with us, I then turned to Walter N. Polakov, Doctor of Engineering; Industrial Counselor; Chairman of Committee on Service and Information, Fuels Section, A.S.M.E., and Robert B. Wolf, Vice-President of A.S.M.E. In them I found, to the full, a very sympathetic understanding and my esteem grew as I became more intimately acquainted with the character of their work and their accomplishments. Both have done a most remarkable work in their respective lines. It will not be an exaggeration to say that their work, together with the work of the late H. L. Gantt and Charles P.
Steinmetz, may be considered as the first-to my knowledge-corner-stones of the science and art of Human Engineering, and form the first few volumes and writings for the New Library of the Manhood of Humanity. These books and pamphlets are based on facts a.n.a.lysed scientifically, marking the parting of the way of engineering thought from the past subjection to speculative fetishes.
Of all the pure and applied sciences, engineering alone has the distinction of being the first to have the _correct_ insight into the human problem. The task of engineers was to convert knowledge-brain work-”bound-up time”-into daily bread by means of conserving time and effort. This concept is naught else but the working out of the imperfect formulation of the time-binding principle. It was inevitable, therefore, that some engineers had already beaten the path in the right direction.
How straight and how far this sense of dimensionality has led some of them in their practical work may be seen from the work of Walter N. Polakov, in his _Mastering Power Production_, Engineering Magazine, N. Y., 1921.
”It was not my intention to compile a text book on power engineering; it was rather my care to avoid the treatment of any technical subject which could be found elsewhere in engineering literature; but I could not avoid trespa.s.sing in the adjoining fields of psychology and economics, for without familiarity with these sciences the mastery of power production is a futile attempt.
”I do not hold that the principles upon which the method is laid out are subject to choice or opinions, for they are based on facts. Yet work of this character cannot be complete, or examples may be illy chosen, for it deals with living and constantly reshaping relations and applies to things in process of development.
”If this work and its underlying idea will facilitate the solving of some of the problems now in the course of rapid evolution in our industrial relations, I shall feel that my own and my readers'
time have not been altogether lost.”
Indeed the readers' time will not be lost. This book gives an engineering, scientific-in the meantime practical-a.n.a.lysis of all human problems. It is a deep and practical treatise on all great questions concerning modern industrialism and so-called economic problems and is a foundation for a new scientific industrial philosophy. Another very clear outline of the _Principles of Industrial Philosophy_ was given by Mr. Polakov in his paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, December 7-10, 1920. Anyone who has anything to do with industrial or economic problems cannot afford to overlook the important and fundamental work in this book.
It is obvious that a scientific knowledge of facts, is of the greatest importance for anyone who cares to approach any problem in a serious way.
Statistics which are up-to-date are therefore of primary importance. I had the privilege of reading the ma.n.u.script of _Quo Vadis America_, the forthcoming book of Mr. Polakov, where a most valuable statistical picture of facts in modern America is given and the astonis.h.i.+ng conclusions which are to be drawn therefrom. I can only regret that in Europe we have not such a knowledge written down concerning European conditions. If more such books had been written and _read_ by the public, many crises and catastrophes would have been avoided.
The outstanding contribution of Mr. Robert B. Wolf to engineering was made in his study of physiology, biology, psychology and philosophy as applied to engineering.
”If anyone wishes to inquire into the forces which have led up to the individual development of mankind, he will find himself at once plunged into the realm of psychology and mental philosophy. I can heartily recommend such a course as immensely profitable and of practical value.