est Goldsmith's "Deserted Village:"

... "And still the wonder grew
That one small head could carry all he _ought to know_"

[Never lose sight of fact for the sake of rhyme.]

In general terms, his duties consist of:

1. Military surveys and explorations.

2. Boundary surveys.

3. Geodetic and hydrographic survey of the great lakes.

4. Building fortifications--both permanent works and temporary
or field works.

5. Constructing military roads.

6. Pontoniering or building military bridges, both with the
regular bridge trains and with improved materials.

7. The planning and directing of siege operations, either
offensive or defensive; sapping, mining, etc.

8. Providing, testing and planting torpedoes for harbor
defense when operating from shore stations.

9. Staff duty with general officers.

10. Improving rivers and harbors.

11. The building and repairing of lighthouses.

12. Various special duties as commissioner of District of
Columbia, superintendent military academy, commandant engineer
school, instructors at both of these schools, attaches to
several foreign legations, for the collection of military
information, etc.

It would, of course, exceed the proper limits of a single lecture to
go into the details of these many duties, but we may take only a
passing glance at most of them, and give more special attention to a
few that may involve some points of interest. Perhaps the most
interesting branch of the subject would be that of permanent
fortifications, or what amounts to almost the same thing in this
country, sea coast defenses. And here our trouble begins, for, while
civil engineers have constant experience to guide them, their roads,
bridges, and other structures being in constant use, the military
engineer has only now and then, at long intervals, a war or a siege of
sufficient extent to furnish data upon which he can safely plan or
build his structures. Imagine a civil engineer designing a bridge,
road, or a dam to meet some possible future demand, without having
seen such a structure used for twenty years or more, and you can form
some estimate of the delightful uncertainties that surround the
military engineer when called upon to design a modern fort. The
proving ground shows him that radical improvements are necessary, but
actual service conditions are almost entirely wanting, and such as we