ese articles discuss general engineering education, and
give a little attention to mining engineering education.

18. Since the preceding was written there has appeared a little book,
the reading of which would be of great value to all engineering
students, entitled _How to Study_, by George Fillmore Swain, LL.D.,
Professor of Civil Engineering in Harvard University and in the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New
York City, 1917. 5 x 7-1/2 inches, paper, 63 pages, 25 cents.

XXVI

THE TEACHING OF MECHANICAL DRAWING

=Mechanical drawing a mode of expression=

Drawing is a mode of expression and is therefore a form of language.
As applied in the engineering field drawing is mechanical in character
and is used principally for the purpose of conveying information
relative to the construction of machines and structures. It seems
logical that the methods employed and the standards adopted in the
teaching of engineering drawing should be based on an analysis of
conditions found in the engineering world. In the best engineering
practice the technical standards of drawing are high, so high in fact
that they may be used as an ideal toward which to work in the
classroom. Examples of good draftsmanship selected from practice may
well serve to furnish standards for classroom work, both in technique
and methods of representation.

=Mechanical drawing disciplinary as well as practical in value=

Engineering drawing demands intellectual power quite as much as it
does skill of hand. The draftsman in conceiving and planning his
design visualizes his problem, makes calculations for it, and
graphically represents the results upon the drafting board. The
development of the details of his design makes it necessary that he be
a trained observer of forms. Since new designs frequently involve
modifications of old forms, in his efforts to recall old forms and
create new ones, he develops visual memory. If the requirements of a
successful draftsman or designer be taken as typical, it is evident
that the young engineer must develop, in addition to a technical
knowledge of the subject, and a certain degree of skill of hand, a
habit of quick and accurate observation and the ability to perceive
and retain mental images of forms.

Modern methods of instruction recognize both the motor and mental
factors involved in the production of engineering drawings. It is the
aim of the drawing courses in engineer