DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 177 



KEPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL 



ECONOxMY. 



To the President: 



The followiug report of work in this department during the academic years 

 1881-2 is respectfully submitted : 



POLITICAL ECONOMY. 



Instruction in this subject is given in the spring term of the Senior year. 

 The daily recitations are constantly supplemented with familiar oral exposi- 

 tions of the topics in hand, with citations from and reference to standard 

 writers. The aim of tha instruction is to accomplish three purposes, which 

 may be brieily stated : first, to give a historical sketch of the development of 

 economic ideas ; second, to present the leading principles of the science in a 

 clear light through an examination of the phenomena of production, distri- 

 bution, and exchange ; third, to make a candid study of some of the more 

 prominent economic problems of the day, as Transportation, the Tariif, 

 Industrial Reform. In 1881 the course covered six weeks ; the text-book used 

 was Perry's "Introduction to Political Economy;" thirty students formed 

 the class. In tlie present year twelve weeks were given to the study; Chapin's 

 revision of ^Vayland was the text-book ; the class consisted of twenty-sevea 

 students. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



This course is given to Seniors and occupies six weeks of the spring term. 

 An attempt is made to secure not only a knowledge of the Constitution as it 

 is, but also a historical study of its leading principles as to their origin and 

 purpose. This involves a review of the salient points in our political history. 

 Cooley's "Principles of Constitutional Law'' has been used as a text-book. 

 la 1882 the class consisted of twenty-four members, several others taking 

 special examinations. The study has been transferred since 1881 from the 

 Department of Philosophy. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



A six weeks' course in this subject was given to the Seniors in 1881, with 

 Bascom's "Science of Duty" as a text-book. The study is no longer 

 included in this department. 



HISTORY. 



Throughout the first term of the Freshman year the study of ancient his- 

 tory is pursued. The course embraces a sketch of the ancient Oriental Mon- 

 archies, an outline of the history of Greece and Rome to the downfall of the 

 Western Empire, and the beginnings of the Middle Ages. Swinton's " Out- 

 lines of the World's History" has been used as the basis of instruction; but 

 constant references are made to larger works, and the habit of independent 

 study is fostered by the assignment of special topics to individual students. 

 These topics are in biography, mythology, and the manners and customs of 



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