MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. 259 



furnishing a supply. Manufacturers and leaders of industrial enter- 

 prise soon found that they could not afford to do without the services 

 of young men trained in scientific principles. In this way, by reversing 

 the usual law of supply and demand, these schools contributed power- 

 fully to advance the technical development of the country, far indeed 

 beyond the measure that may be inferred from the mere number of 

 their graduates. 



The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was chartered in 1861, 

 and first opened to students in 1865. Its claim to recognition as a 

 leader in the development of technical education may perhaps be 

 summarized as follows: It was the first school in the world to institute 

 laboratory instruction in physics and chemistry to students in large 

 classes as a part of the regular course of each candidate for a degree; 

 the first to equip a mining and metallurgical laboratory for the in- 

 struction of students by actual treatment of ores in large quantities; 

 the first to establish a laboratory for teaching the nature and uses 

 of steam, and a laboratory for testing the strength of materials of 

 construction in commercial sizes; and the first in America to establish 

 a department of architecture. Later still, it was the first school in 

 America to establish distinct and specialized courses of study in elec- 

 trical engineering, in sanitary engineering, in chemical engineering 

 and in naval architecture. 



The success of the school has been commensurate with its progres- 

 siveness. It stands to-day the largest, most complete school of its class 

 in the United States, and one of the largest in the world. The number 

 of its students is 1,176, the number of its teachers, including lecturers, 

 175. Excluding lecturers, the number of students per teacher is only 

 8.7, a ratio which is a good general index of the. character of the in- 

 struction. The students come from 40 States and Territories of the 

 Union and from 12 foreign countries. 



Before passing to a more detailed description of the work of its 

 various departments, some general characteristics of the school should 

 be mentioned. The first is the great variety of its courses and the 

 specialization of its instruction. It is a college of general technology, 

 embracing almost every branch of study which finds application in 

 the arts. There are thirteen distinct courses of study: Civil and 

 topographical engineering, mechanical engineering, mining engineer- 

 ing and metallurgy, architecture, chemistry, electrical engineering, 

 biology, physics, general studies, chemical engineering, sanitary en- 

 gineering, geology and naval architecture. These several departments 

 mutually support and reinforce each other, and allow a specialization 

 of the instruction which would be impossible in a smaller college with 

 a less numerous staff of instructors. Thus, at the Institute of Tech- 

 nology, there are not only professors of civil engineering and of 



