282 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



still further in debt to build houses to hold them, but we have always 

 had them when the head of a department told the government of the 

 school that they were necessary to the most efficient teaching of his 

 science." With a corporation acting on such a principle there could 

 be no failure. It is true that the faculty have stood unfalteringly, even 

 in the darkest days, for high scholarship; and equally true that the 

 school has been remarkably fortunate* in the character of the young 

 men who have sought its halls, but no faculty and no body of students 

 could have brought success with a corporation less broadminded and 

 courageous. Let me here add my tribute to the work which was done 

 by the late General Francis A. Walker, president of the Institute from 

 1881 till 1897. Probably no single person did more to secure the 

 success of the school than he. His great administrative ability, his 

 wide acquaintance, his accurate judgment of men, his magnificent 

 courage and his splendid enthusiasm, were factors in the development 

 of the school whose importance it is difficult to overestimate. 



General AValker was succeeded by President James M. Crafts, who 

 had been connected with the Institute for many years as professor of 

 chemistry, and under whose energetic administration the progress of 

 the Institute has been steadily continued. In fact, thanks to some 

 unexpected additions to the funds of the school, its material resources 

 and its equipment have been more enlarged and extended during the 

 past three years than in many years previous. Only a few months ago, 

 however, President Crafts, desiring to devote himself more uninter- 

 ruptedly to the pursuit of the science which first awakened his enthu- 

 siasm and i ji which he has attained such eminent distinction, both in 

 this country and abroad, decided to relinquish his office. The corpo- 

 ration has chosen as his successor, Dr. Henry S. Pritchett, for many 

 years professor of astronomy in Washington University, St. Louis, and 

 for the past few years superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey 

 at AVashington. A more fortunate selection could not have been made, 

 and the well-known scientific and administrative ability of Dr. Pritchett 

 will no doubt be the means not only of maintaining the present high 

 reputation of the school, but of extending and enlarging it. 



Unfortunately, the Institute is still unendowed in the sense that its 

 receipts from invested property constitute but a very small part of the 

 means required to carry on the school. To quote from one of President 

 Walker's reports, "No other institution of our size but has two, three 

 or four times the amount of wealth to draw upon which Ave possess. 

 It has only been exceeding good fortune, combined with extreme cour- 

 age, energy and self-devotion on the part of its trustees and teachers 

 that has more than once rescued the school from paralysis, if not from 

 extinction." In 1898-'99, the total expenditures of the school were 

 about $367,500, while the current receipts were about $317,500, showing 



