Page:Lectures on Ten British Physicists of the Nineteenth Century.djvu/38

 the first president of the Institution of Engineers in Scotland, an organization of which he had been a principal promoter. Professor Rankine had by this time abundantly proved himself as a pathfinder in the undiscovered regions of science; he was now to prove himself as a roadmaker. His practice as an engineer had made him fully alive to the important difference between the crude results of theoretical reasoning from principles and the reduced formulas adapted to the data obtainable from observation or specification. No sooner was he settled in his chair, than he began the preparation of his celebrated series of engineering manuals. In 1857 appeared Applied Mechanics; in 1859 Steam-engine; in 1861 Civil Engineering; in 1869 Machinery and Mill Work; supplemented in 1866 by Useful Rules and Tables. These manuals have gone through many editions, and there is still a demand for them. Why this phenomenal success? Professor Tait answered, "Rankine was peculiarly happy in discriminating between those branches of engineering knowledge which grow from daily experience, and those which depend on unchangeable scientific principles. In his books he dealt almost exclusively with the latter, which may, and certainly will, be greatly extended, but so far as they have been established can never change Really original papers and monographs rapidly lose their interest and importance, except as historical landmarks, but Rankine's works will retain their value after this generation has passed away."

In 1859 the volunteer movement spread over Great Britain. In view of possible invasion of the country it was thought that the regular army and the militia ought to be supplemented by bodies of trained citizens; the motto was for defence, not defiance. The movement spread to the University of Glasgow, and Rankine, true to transmitted instincts, gave in his name. He was made captain, and rose to be senior major; but after serving for five years he was obliged to resign on account of the pressure of his professional duties and of the labor involved in the preparation of the manuals. In 1861 he was made president of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, and from the