Industrial Research 



23 



tion in the exact sciences." '" By 1899 the Institute 

 had graduated nearly 2,000 men. 



Before tlie middle of the century the vast mineral 

 reso>n-ccs of the country had scarcely been touched, 

 and the need for trained men to discover and develop 

 thoin was great. At Columbia College, the efforts 

 of Professor Thomas Egleston, a graduate of Yale and 

 the ficole des mines in Paris, resulted in 1864 in the 

 organization of the School of Mines. Although Co- 

 lumbia College did not pledge itself to support the new 

 school, it did permit the use of some rooms in the college 

 buildings. George T. Strong, William E. Dodge, Jr., 

 and several others provided about $3,000 to equip the 

 laboratory. The members of the instructing staff, 

 consisting of Professor Egleston and a little later Pro- 

 fessors Charles F. Chandler and F. L. Vinton, were 

 appointed without salary, for they were expected to 

 gain their livelihood from fees.'^ 



Although originally intended to train mining engi- 

 neers, the school soon had on its staff men qualified to 

 teach in other fields, and the program of the school was 

 expanded to include civil engineering, applied chemistry, 

 sanitary engineering, geology, and architecture. A year 

 after its opening the School of Mines became a coordi- 

 nate branch of the college, and for some time brought to 

 it much of its fame." 



In Worcester, Mass., two men, Mr. John Boynton, a 

 merchant, and Mr. Ichabod Washburn, founder of the 

 Washburn and Mocn steel and wire manufactory, had 

 confided to the Reverend Seth Sweetser their desire 

 to contribute to the establishment of a school for train- 

 ing young men for industrial pursuits. A conference 

 with several other individuals interested in such a school 

 resulted in a united effort from which came the opening 

 of the Worcester Polyteclmic Institute in 1868. Dr. 

 Charles O. Thompson, its first president, is said to have 

 gained from a study, particularly of the Imperial 

 Technical School at Moscow and the Institute of 

 Technology at St. Petersburg, the idea of combining 

 lectures and the study of textbooks wnth practical 

 exercises in workshops where the student could learn 

 the construction and use of machines.^" 



Other businessmen active in the development of our 

 natural resources provided opportunities in their re- 

 spective localities for young men to get a practical 

 education. Asa Packer, tanner, carpenter, owner and 

 master of canal boats, mines, and railroads made it 

 possible to found Lehigh University. Edwin A.» 



" Life and letters of William Barton Rogers. See footnote 15, vol. 2. p. 223. 

 '* Resignation of Professor Chandler. Metatlurgicat and Chemuat Engineertng, 8, 

 66 (February 1910). 

 " See footnote 18. 

 "Scientific, technical and engineering education, p. 13. See footnote 10. 



Stevens, one of the earliest users of steam for water 

 transportation, provided by his will the original funds 

 for Stevens Institute at llobokcn. Before 1900 other 

 generous donors had provided for such institutions as 

 the Case School of Applied Science, at Cleveland; the 

 Rose Pol3'technic Institute at Terre Haute, Indiana; 

 Throop Polytechnic Institute, later to become the 

 California Institute of Technology; and the Armour 

 Institute of Technology at Chicago. 



The long-established colleges and universities could 

 not neglect the science and technology which was 

 spreading rapidly and affecting so markedly the devel- 

 opment of the country. The schools of science at 

 Harvard and Yale have already been mentioned. 

 Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton and 

 many other institutions added schools of science during 

 the nineteenth century even though "the student pre- 

 paring for an industrial profession was not considered 

 as of the same caste with the student preparing for a 

 'learned profession' " ^' 



A major event affecting the development of scientific 

 and technical education in the United States was the 

 act, proposed by Justin S. Morrill, of Vermont, and 

 passed by Congress in 1862, providing for the issuance 

 to every state of scrip for 30,000 acres of land for each 

 representative and each senator sent to Congress by 

 that state. The scrip was sold in the open market, 

 usually for low prices, and the proceeds spent particu- 

 larly to found or assist institutions in which subjects 

 relating to agriculture and the mechanic arts should be 

 leading branches of study. Classical and scientific 

 studies were not to be excluded , however, and the study 

 of military tactics was definitely included. Some states 

 gave their funds for the endowment of scientific and 

 industrial education in an existing institution; others 

 founded purety agricultural colleges; and still others 

 founded separate schools which have since grown into 

 great institutions. Purdue, Pennsjdvania State Col- 

 lege, the Universities of Illinois and Ohio are but a few 

 of those organized under the terms of the Morrill Act. 

 Andrew D. White, a vigorous proponent of the "new 

 education," pointed out the significance of this act in 

 1874, when he said: 



It was to provide fully for an industrial, scientific, and general 

 education suited to our land and time — an education in which 

 scientific and industrial studies should be Icnit into its very core, 

 while other studies should also be provided for.-^ 



Vast Natural Resources 



Although the amount of scientific knowledge was 

 increasing and more and more men were being taught 



" Scientific and industrial education in the United States, p. 171. See footnote 3. 

 " Scientific and Industrial education in the United States, p. 173. See footnote 3. 



