SANITARY ENGINEERING AS A CAREER

Abstract

SANITARY engineering is a late development in the curricula of technical institutions. Like all other aspects ,of learning, engineering has gone through a process of evolution and differentiation. It is the function of colleges to adjust their curricula to the changing conditions of social life. The measure of college efficiency and educational effectiveness depends upon the accuracy with which our institutions of learning make the adjustment demanded by social changes. Provision for courses in sanitary engineering and the training of the sanitary engineer is a good illustration, both of the evolution of technical curricula in our colleges and the adaptability of our institutions to the needs of social life. Refinement of technique and specialization in the field of engineering have been going on for more than a hundred years. Civil engineering, for example, in 1824 was a vastly different thing from civil engineering of the present day. \Vith the growth of industrial society, the development of our cities, the astonishing products of inventive genius, the discoveries in the field of natural science, and the application of these discoveries in almost every field of human endeavor, have given a new meaning to engineering. Civil, mechanical, electrical, mining, and chemical engineers of today are, first of all. scientists. They are men who have based their special technical training upon the broad foundation of scientific fact. The broad training has given them great versatility and adaptability in the specialized fields in which they operate. It is not surprising, therefore, that be-