Mr. Melville's Lecture.

Engineer-in-Chief Melville of the United States Navy addressed a large audience in Sever 11 last evening. He spoke first upon the "Training of an Engineer," and afterwards gave an informal decription of the retreat to land upon the expedition of the Jeanette into the Arctic regions in 1879.

In the training given engineers, he said, there are far greater advantages now than thirty or forty years ago. Many problems that were then disputed are now settled facts. There are now thorough text-books on the subject of engineering, and schools with competent teachers.

Young engineers that have just received an education are wont to make the mistake of thinking that their theoretical knowledge of engineering gives them an entire control of the subject. Yet they are obliged at last to realize that no text-book can be comprehensive enough to cover all the problems of practical engineering.

A young engineer should never refuse an opportunity for gaining practical information. He should be thoroughly trained in the manual work of engineering, since a knowledge of the practical is necessary in making designs that will prove economical.

The profession of engineering demands a good knowledge of the English language, since an engineer is often called upon to express his ideas in public. He should be careful, too, to keep at least a reading knowledge of the foreign languages, since many works of science are not translated into English. Finally the engineer ought to acquire carefulness and confidence.

Mr. Melville then recounted informally his experiences in the Arctic regions. He is the only surviving officer of the ship Jeanette, that made its memorable expedition to the north in 1879. The ship was caught fast in the ice-floe and drifted north-west for twenty-two months. At the end of this time the ship was five hundred miles from Siberia, the nearest land, and was so badly crushed bp the ice that it had to be abandoned. The retreat to land was full of hardship. The men were weighted down with baggage, and progress over the uneven surface of the ice was slow and laborious. Two miles a day was all that could be made during the first part of the retreat. Food and water were scarce and gave out five days before the men reached land. The retreat was carried on in three divisions, of which the one under Engineer Melville's charge alone survived. He made the land at the delta of the Lena river in northern Siberia. For the last five days the journey had been made in the boat, without provisions of any kind. The bodies of the men were badly frozen. The party searched the coast about the mouth of the Lena thoroughly, but no trace of their missing comrades was found.