Columbia University School of Engineering - Yearbook (New York, NY)

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The 1934 COLUMBIA ENGINEER 3lI1 a jar urner uf the wurlh CHARLES P. EER KEY NE DAY in the early summer of l922, after traversing the desert stretches of Central Asia for a thousand miles on the old Tartar trails in the native land of Genghis Kahn. within the borders of the prov- ince of Sain Noin in Mongolia, We members of the Central Asiatic Expedition came to a lone mountain. Its appearance arrested our attention at once. It was neither very lofty nor particularly beautiful, but its sharp-edged form and black crown and talus slopes hang- i ing like a drapery gave sharp contrast with the lighter and smoother slopes below, and a certain majesty that stirred our interest and led to closer inspection. That it was unusual and must have a special history was evident at once, but that it held mystery also we were yet to learn. Later we found that this was a very ancient natural shrine. To this mountain, generation after generation of men have come. not as we had come incidentally, but as pil- grims and worshippers and as inquirers into its hidden mysteries. Wfe were in the presence of one of the natural wonders of their world-the sacred mountain of Sain Noin. At the foot of the mountain stands a shrine guarded by a high priest of Buddha, a Da Lama, a descendant of the Khans or princes of Sain Noin. carrying in his blood the pride of centuries of authority and privilege. And only a few yards from the lama's yurt ran a sparkling spring, the waters of which, hot as the hand can bear, issue from beneath a Buddhist shrine. These are the far-famed healing waters of Sain Noin, credited for ages with miraculous properties, probably indicating connection with supernatural powers, such as these people believe reside in the depths of the earth. Otherwise, why should the waters be hot when the surrounding ground is frozen, and why do they heal the ills of men when there is no physician? Here is mystery. Here the course of nature is reversed. Here is a spot where the natural and supernatural merge. It is a holy spot. Doubtless this mountain has looked down on many a savage scene as the sacred rites of primitive peoples were performed, and some of the super- stitions of that early time still linger. Wfhen we asked permission to inspect the spring, to make a map. and to unravel the geologic story, the guardian of the place readily consented, but warned us that we must not kill anything on this ground. The place lost none of its charm because it happened to Ht our purpose to study it as a locality of Northern Mongolia. In due course we learned that a hot spring issued from the rock at the base of the mountain. A great fault fracture cleaves its way through the ground here, and on one side a great block of the crust of the earth has dropped down-we judged more than a thousand feet-so that the two sides of the fault do not match at all. CC07lfi7L1l8d on page 482 Forty

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The 1934 COLUJWBIA ENGINEER ultimate value of the idea becomes more iirmly rooted as obstacles are over- come in the early work. Great is the faith required to induce the heavier expenditures which are finally needed to establish the process on an industrial basis. In due course of time the first production begins. The early sales, although perhaps not prohtable, gradually change the direction of the indebt- edness curve. As production goes into greater and greater volume, and is thus more eeconomically effected, this development account is taken out of the red. If the process has been well studied and if it is well adapted to its time, it should have a productive and prosperous life. The devotion of the earlier stages of human life to education is in effect an investment of this type. just as the great development projects of industry require a heavy investment of time and money before they reach the productive stage, so the life that is to be most fruitful must be developed broadly and comprehensively. It is a challenge to any instructor to make an effective contribution to such development. On Alumni Day this year, Presi- dent Butler set forth in a living picture examples of those on the staff who have, through the force of their personalities, meant so much in the life of the University. Theirs has been a powerful influence in the building of per- sonality in others. Growth does not end with g'raduation. If it did, the investment would be a heavy loss. New values become dominant when an industrial process goes into production. In the same manner at the time of graduation, which may be considered the point where economic return begins, the problems of the engineer change in nature to meet his new environment. Since human life covers much more than purely economic values, it would be folly to predict the character of a graduate's growth curve. Each one will set it to units of his own choosing-units which to him represent the real values. The rapidity with which that curve rises will depend entirely upon how effectively the many phases of life are coordinated to function harmoniously in the direction chosen. The very title of former President VVoodrow W'ilson's book, Whe1i a Man Comes to Himself, implies the same thing, and its contents reveal in how many diverse ways this goal may be attained. cC07Lff7l1lEd on page 595 ROTARY FILTER IN CHEQUICJI. ENGI.VEERl.VG LABORATORY Tl11'r1y-:zine

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The 1934 COLUMBIA ENGINEER Memorial jllllinute fur ijerufessur Zahn 39. Muretruft N j'ANU.rxRY twenty-sixth last, our valued colleague and friend, John Harold Morecroft, passed away at Pasadena, California. Desiring to record in its minutes a tribute to Professor Morecroftls excep- tional abilities, an appreciation of his quarter century of service to Columbia, and an expression of our sense of loss in the passing of a tried and valued friend and associate, the Faculty of Engineering hereby instructs its Secretary to record in the minutes of the faculty the following memorial, and to forward a copy to Professor Morecroft's family. Born in Staffordshire, England, September nineteenth, l88l, John H. Morecroft came to th-is country as a boy and settled in Syracuse, New York. Here he attended Syracuse University, graduating with the degree of Elec- trical Engineer in 1904, and, later, returning to his Alma Mater as Instructor in Civil and Electrical Engineering. Professor Morecroft's first contact with Columbia occurred in 1907 when he began studying problems of electrical circuits and communication under Professor Pupin. A year later he became a University scholar and, in 1909, he entered the department of Electrical Engineering as an instructor. His unusual abilities were quickly recognized and his advancement was rapid. He was immediately recommended for an Assistant Professorship, became an Associate Professor in 1914 and Professor of Electrical Engineering in 1923. During the entire quarter century of Professor lNlorecroft's service to Columbia his chief interest was in the field of alternating current circuits and in the development of radio communication. His keenly analytical mind and his experimental abilities placed him in the forefront in the development of radio science. During the Viforld War he served first in the United States and later in the Allied Navies, as an expert consultant on submarine defense. He became President of the Institute of Radio Engineers and was a member of many committees of that organization and of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. To the outside world John Harold Morecroft will be remembered as the author of important texts in the electrical Held. His books on electrical circuits and machinery, written jointly with Professor I-Iehre, are used in our own classes and at many other schools. His Principles of Radio Com- munication is recognized the world over as an authoritative work, and reached its third edition last year. The results of his experimental researches are embodied in his books on 'tExperimental Radio Engineering. on Radio Communication, and on Electron Tubes. To his many friends and colleagues at Columbia, however, Professor Morecroft's passing recalls those sterling qualities of character and personality which endeared him to the Columbia men of his generation. We record his Cctlllflillllfd 011 page 58D Forty-olze