The Principles of Electric Circuits Applied to 

 Communication ^ 



By F. S. OSBORNE 



Synopsis: This paper discusses the method of presenting in the curricula 

 of engineering schools the fundamental electrical principles, emphasizing 

 the desirability of presenting 'them as far as practical in a general way and 

 of making clear the relations of specific applications, such as the relation 

 between circuit theory equations as applied to power systems and to tele- 

 phone systems, and the relation between ordinary circuit theory and the 

 generalized electromagnetic equations. An outline is given of some inter- 

 esting problems arising and results obtained in the application of electric 

 principles to telephone systems. 



ENGINEERING education shares with other forms of education 

 the general movement toward greater emphasis on the unity of 

 subject matter w^hich plays such an important part in the development 

 of modern educational methods. By the unity of subject matter I 

 refer to the aim to reduce as far as practicable the number of separate 

 compartments in which the educational subject matter is kept, and to 

 present this subject matter under a smaller number of broader headings. 

 Whereas the curriculum must be divided into a certain number of 

 different courses for administrative and practical reasons, I take it the 

 modern educational method is opposed to the presentation of these 

 courses as individual entities, separated from other subjects, but 

 insists rather that the curricular partitions be kept as low as possible 

 so that the student may appreciate as fully as possible the con- 

 tinuity of each subject with its neighbors, and may obtain a good 

 perspective of the close mutual relations of the different parts of the 

 educational material and realize their mutual dependence and the 

 large areas in which they are jointly applicable. 



The wisdom of this move is evident to men in the industries as well 

 as to educators. The tremendously rapid growth of fundamental 

 electrical science and of the electrical industries have both worked 

 rapidl}- in this direction. The time has long passed when it was at all 

 possible to cover both fundamental electrical science and its applica- 

 tions in a four year engineering course. I judge that the old question 

 "Is it more important to teach the fundamentals of electrical science 



1 Presented at Pittsburgh July 18, 1928, at the Summer School for Electrical 

 Engineering Teachers under the auspices of the Society for the Promotion of Engineer- 

 ing Education. 



The author expresses his appreciation of the assistance given him by Mr. C. O. 

 Gibbon, American Telephone and Telegraph Company, in the preparation of this 

 paper. 



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