Solid Organic Materials: A Survey of the Characteristics of a New Class of Materials for Use in Engineering Available to Purchase

THE life of an engineer is largely a life spent in solving problems of a practical kind; and so his attitude to nature differs from that of the scientist. Confronted with a particular material an engineer will first ask in what way he can use its particular and special properties; whereas the scientist will want to know how those particular and special properties arise. But a good engineer must have knowledge of the scientist's conclusions, so I hope engineers will not think I am wasting time by trying to describe in these articles why wood behaves like wood and why rubber is “rubbery.” I have tried to keep the engineer's point of view in mind, and I have not attempted to give anything more than an outline of the reasons why a given material has its special and peculiar properties.