82 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTUEJE. 



allowed, no additions to teaching force would be required because of 

 the extra work brought upon the Department. This agreement has been 

 carried out, and without serious inconvenience to members of the De- 

 partment. It is true that excessive requirements have been made of 

 nearly all teachers in the Department; and we can, in justice, no longer 

 be asked to furnish a good deal of a valuable product for nothing. If 

 a proper amount and kind of instruction in civil engineering subjects 

 is to be given, a commensurate allowance must be made in teaching 

 force and some additions provided in equipment. The special appro- 

 priation of 11,080.00 just made by the State Board of Agi4culture for 

 new instruments is noted with pleasure, as is also the authorization of 

 a new instructor in civil engineering. 



The total expenditure by the Department during the year for all 

 purposes has been |947.49, of which |133.00 was turned in for special 

 examinations. The inventory of Department property, including instru- 

 mental equipment, class-room and office furniture, observatory apparatus^ 

 and tools, shows an aggregate of |5,610.95 on June 30, 1904, as against 

 15,321.86 last year. 



Respectfully submitted, 



H. K. VEDDER, 

 Professor of Mathematics and Civil Engineering. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 

 June 30, 1904. 



DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, 



To the President: 



I herewith submit my report for the year ending June 30, 1904. 



On my accession to the position on the first of April, I found the 

 work in Physics being very creditably carried on by Messrs. Holbrook, 

 Curtis and Peters, although they were laboring under many disadvan- 

 tages. Since my arrival, I have taught two classes and have been getting 

 acquainted with the needs of the Department and the equipment. That 

 the Physics Department needs a new building, has been stated by my 

 predecessors, and is recognized by everyone. I find a fairly good equip- 

 ment of lecture apparatus, but the equipment for the laboratory work 

 of the students is very meager indeed. It is very embarrassing to have 

 students come from well equipped high schools and undertake to per- 

 form experiments with apparatus considerably inferior to what they 

 have been used to. The Board has shown very liberal spirit in providing 

 for new apparatus for the coming year, at which I am very much pleased. 

 We shall endeavor by fall to select a new text-book which will be better 

 adapted to the needs of the students which we have, and this, with a 

 few changes which we hope to make during the summer, will enable 

 us to improve the facilities quite a little, although we cannot hope for 

 anything like satisfactory improvement until we come into our inheri- 

 tance of a new building. 



My immediate predecessor urged that the Department should have a 



