54 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute 



them to learn more anfl teach better, and paVtly for the benefit of the 

 students, by giving them the opportunity of gain^n^ habits of research, 

 eepecially for such as have aptitujdes or inclinations in that direction. 



The ordinary technical college course, leading to a bachelor's degree 

 in engineering or applied science, lasts four years, and is usually of such 

 a nature that there is very little room for options or studies deemed uli% 

 essential thereto. Nearly all the courses of study are prescribed from 

 beginning to end. It is therefore generally admitted that, except per- 

 haps for the experimlental work pertainir^ to a bachelor's thesis, there 

 can be very little opportunity for a student to undertake research duHng 

 the usual four years of required stuldy. Moreover, the majority of 

 students in the technical colleges, ajid working for a degree in applied 

 scielice, are more interested in the fields of design, construction, opera- 

 tion, administration or buisiness iin production, than in research or 

 investigation. The men w;ho have aptitude for research are relatively 

 few, and it would certainly be unfortunate for industry if all the young 

 men sought to take up investigation, to the detriment of all the other 

 important activities of life. It is cpn.sequeri^tly desirable that those 

 studenf:s who desire to take up injJustrial research as an occupation, and 

 who manifest an aptitude for investigation, as, for example, by doing 

 some very creditably experirrilehtal thesis work, should be given an addi- 

 tional year of post baccalaureate research study at their college, an,(d 

 preferably under the direction of the department in which their bachelor's 

 degree was taken. This extra year of work should be encouraged by 

 industrial fellowships, to relieve the financial burden on the student, 

 and should lead to a master's degree. Such students are preferably to 

 be graded as research assistants. The young men graduating in this 

 way are likely to become valuable to the industries in carrying on 

 industrial research; because they have not only formed habits of study 

 at college sufficiently strpng to win the bachelor's degree, but they have 

 probably also formed habits of research sufficiently strong to win a 

 master's degree in that direction. 



The directed research work that these research assistants can do , in 

 their year of laboratory duty, is excellent material for the advance of 

 applied science in some particular field in which the college is interested. 



It is firmly believed by the writer, and the belief is shared by many 

 teachers of his acquaintance, that the industries will find it very much 

 to their advantage in establishing fellowships or endowment for the 

 extra fifth year of post baccalaureate research work above outlined. 

 The advantage to the industries is twofold. First, a suitable supply of 

 young graduates is secured, who are specially adapted and trained for 

 industrial research, and second, the researches carried on by these men 



