Civil Engineering Through the Ages

[4], 159, [1] pages, plus stiff card covers. Illustrations. Inscribed on the title page to "a faithful worker in the vineyard of the Military Engineer" by the author. Captain Charles J. Merdinger, Civil Engineer Corps, U. S. Navy, was Public Works Officer at Naval Support Activity, Da Nang in 1967-68, and currently commands the Western Division, Naval Facilities Engineering Command at San Francisco, California. A 1941 graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, he served aboard the USS Nevada (BB-36) and USS Alabama (BB-60) during World War II. Later he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and, as a Rhodes Scholar, a doctorate from Oxford University. He has held design, construction, public works, research, and educational posts-including a tour as Commanding Officer and Director of the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory. The challenge of building the first master jet air station in the Navy, at Miramar, California, was his task during the years 1954-56. His most important research/academic post was as head of the English, History, and Government Department at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he also taught. Captain Merdinger is the author of a book, Civil Engineering Through the Ages, and has contributed articles on education, construction, administration, and history to many periodicals and has been invited to contribute an article on viaducts to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. In June, 1970, Captain Merdinger became President of Washington College, Chestertown, Maryland. Topics covered include: civil engineering, construction materials, Surveying instruments and techniques, Surveying--Polaris and the Meridian, Roads, Bridges, Canals, tunnels, Water Supply, Sewerage, Hydraulics and Waterfront Structures and Railroads. The content of this compilation was copyrighted by the Society of American Military Engineers and were reprinted by permission. The articles appeared in various issues during 1952 through 1962. This work is a partial approach to the history of technology through the medium of a historical survey of Civil Engineering, the parent from which all branches of the engineering profession stem. In 1952, the year in which the American Society of Civil Engineers celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding, The Military Engineer began publishing the articles on the historical development of civil engineering which have now been reproduced to form this text. Published at varying intervals over the decade following the Centennial of Engineering, each of these articles was designed to stand alone, to give a sense of continuity from earliest times to the present in one special area of civil engineering such as roads, bridges, or canals. Now assembled under on cover, they are loosely bound together by the first chapter and by the fact that each one falls within the province of the profession of civil engineering. Only fragments of the entire story are here; it is hoped that the assembling of these sections will provide a stimulus and point of departure for additional research, historical and physical, in this field of engineering which has played such an important part in shaping our modern world. Presumed First Edition, First printing of this compilation.…