MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. 279 



associate professor, one assistant professor and four instructors. There 

 are offered ten distinct courses in English, eleven in modern languages, 

 eight in history and twenty in economics and statistics and in political 

 science. As already stated, it has been a fundamental principle in the 

 government of the school that all regular students should receive a not 

 inconsiderable amount of instruction in these subjects, but in addition 

 to the engineering and other technical courses, there is a so-called 

 course in general studies, designed to train young men for business 

 occupations, in which, besides thorough courses in chemistry, physics 

 and other sciences, a large amount of time is devoted to the general 

 studies which have been referred to. The late president of the Insti- 

 tute, General Walker, whose principal work, aside from that relating to 

 education, lay in the field of economics and statistics, took great interest 

 in the development of this general course, and to him, more than to 

 anybody else, is due its present high standard. Seventy-eight young 

 men have graduated from the department, and in many respects its 

 course of study offers advantages over the usual college course. 



Summer schools are maintained by the Institute in the departments 

 of civil engineering, mining engineering and architecture. That in 

 civil engineering affords continuous field practice in geodesy and 

 hydraulics during about a month. That in mining engineering affords 

 students an opportunity to visit mining or metallurgical works and to 

 become practically acquainted with the methods employed by actually 

 taking part in them. These summer schools in mining and metallurgy 

 have been held in all parts of the country, from Nova Scotia to Lake 

 Superior and Colorado. The summer school in architecture consists not 

 infrequently of a trip abroad, with detailed studies and sketches of 

 special types of architecture. 



The Institute also offers extended courses of free evening lectures, 

 of which twenty courses of twelve lectures each were given during the 

 past year. These courses, established by the trustee of the Lowell 

 Institute under the supervision of the Institute, correspond to one 

 portion of President Eogers's original plan, and are fully appreciated 

 by young men who cannot afford the time for a complete and consecu- 

 tive education. The trustee of the Lowell Institute also established 

 in 1872, and has maintained ever since, a special school of practical 

 design, under the supervision of the Institute, in which young men and 

 women are given free instruction in the art of making patterns for 

 prints, ginghams, silks, laces, paper hangings, carpets, etc.; the object 

 being to fit them to engage in the textile industries especially, but also 

 in other branches of manufacture in which taste in form and color is 

 an essential element for success. 



Mention may be made here of the fact that all work at the Institute 

 is open to women on the same terms as to men. As early as 1867, 



