William John Macquorn Rankine

is one of the characteristics of a Practical Man

A prompt and sound judgment

when a doubtful point arises, for the solution of which either experimental data are wanting, or mathematical methods are not sufficiently advanced, it is the duty of philosophic minds not to dispute about the probability of conflicting …

In treating of the practical application of scientific principles, an algebraical formula should only be employed when its shortness and simplicity are such as to render it a clearer expression of a proposition or rule than common language …

[T]he symbols of algebra, when employed in abstruse and complex theoretical investigations, constitute a sort of thought-saving machine, by whose aid a person skilled in its use can solve problems respecting quantities, and dispense with …

Sir John Herschel's "Outlines of Astronomy"—[is] a work in which one of the most profound mathematicians in the world has succeeded admirably in divesting of all mathematical intricacy the explanation of the principles of that natural …

simplicity is of the importance:—and... the more thoroughly a scientific man has studied higher mathematics, the more fully does he become aware of this truth—and... the better qualified does he become to free the exposition and …

The ascertainment and illustration of truth are the objects; and structures and machines are looked upon merely as natural bodies are; namely, as furnishing experimental data for the ascertaining of principles and examples for their …

In this branch of study exactness is an essential feature; and mathematical difficulties must not be shrunk from when the nature of the subject leads to them.

The objects of instruction in purely scientific mechanics and physics are, first, to produce in the student that improvement of the understanding which results from the cultivation of natural knowledge, and that elevation of mind which …

Mechanical knowledge may... be distinguished into three kinds; purely scientific knowledge, purely practical knowledge, and that intermediate kind of knowledge which relates to the application of scientific principles to practical …

now tends to become more generally diffused.

application of scientific principles to practical purposes

show a decided tendency to decline

caused by the fallacy of an incompatibility between theory and practice

The most absurd of all their delusions commonly called the , or to speak more accurately, the inexhaustible source of power—is, in various forms, the subject of several patents in each year.

are destitute of that knowledge of scientific principles which is requisite to prevent their being misled by their own ingenuity.

Another evil, and one of the worst which arises from the separation of theoretical and practical knowledge, is the fact that a large number of persons

that must inevitably cause their destruction within a limited number of years.

in which the faults of an unscientific design have been so far counteracted by massive strength, good materials, and careful workmanship, that a temporary stability has been produced, but which contain within themselves sources of weakness

a class of structures fraught with much greater evils exist in great abundance throughout the country

With respect to those works which, from unscientific design, give way during or immediately after their erection, I shall say little; for with all their evils, they add to our experimental knowledge, and convey a lesson, though a costly …

[O]f that scientifically practical skill which produces the greatest effect with the least possible expenditure of material and work, the instances are comparatively rare.

is still occasionally to be traced. This it is which opposes the mutual communication of ideas between men of science and men of practice