Engineering responsibility

Few fields of study are more fruitful of results and lead to more genuine progress than a study of t h e causes of failures. Such studies may be unpleasant and disagreeable, they may at times be even disheartening, but the man who would make substantial advances must heed the lessons which his failures teach. It is true that valuable information can be obtained likewise from a study of materials which have given successful service. And, ofttimes, when attacking a new problem, a comparison of the properties and characteristics of those parts of a structure which have behaved well in service with the characteristics and properties of those which have failed in the same service, is a most satisfactory method of approach. And yet, it is doubtful whether the study of failures does not give the more positive information. Faraday, who spent his life in experiment, used to say that he learned more from his failures than he did from his successes. And it is not difficult to see why this should be so. When an experiment or a construction has proved successful we are naturally most interested in t h e result, and do not usually spend time and thought and study over the details which have led to our success. On the other hand, if our experiment or construction is a failure, the cause of the failure is immediately sought for, every detail is questioned, and it is this study of the details which broadens our knowledge. Quite in line with Faraday´s statement is the rather more homely phrase, with which you all are doubtless familiar, and which we remember to have seen somewhere in engineering literature, that “the scrap heap is the place to learn.”