May 7, 1903] 



NATURE 



19 



Expressed briefly, there are 4378 students of all kinds 

 and 402 members of the teaching staff. 



A distinguishing characteristic of the Berlin Technical 

 High School is the right maintained by the students to 

 choose their own courses of study. This freedom is common 

 to German universities, and it follows that the educational 

 authorities can only suggest courses of study, leaving the 

 students free to follow their suggestions completely, or 

 partially, or not at all. Nevertheless, very complete and 

 elaborate courses have been arranged, and as a rule are 

 followed by the students. 



There is no attempt to teach workshop practice. Labor- 

 atory teaching is confined to the engine laboratory and the 

 electrical laboratory, with a little practice in testing 

 materials at the neighbouring Government testing establish- 

 ment (Konigliche mechanische-technische Versuchanstalt). 



The most striking feature of the course is the relatively 

 large amount of time devoted to machine construction, in- 

 cluding machine drawing, graphic statics, descriptive geo- 

 metry, and the lectures connected with the various forms 

 •of machines, in which exercises in the drawing office are 

 given. Prof. Riedler, who is at the head of this depart- 

 ment, carries on a large engineering practice in the build- 

 ing, employing between twenty and thirty draughtsmen. 

 The majority of these men take part in teaching the sub- 

 ject, so that mechanical drawing and machine design are 

 taught by practical draughtsmen engaged for the greater 

 part of their time in actual designing. No better method 

 than this could be devised, because to all intents and pur- 

 poses the students are working under actual drawing-office 

 conditions. 



A student passing through this course has a large amount 

 of drawing-office practice of an advanced character, but 

 very little practical work. Whether this kind of training 

 is the best is a matter of opinion, but Prof. Dalby thinks a 

 course which makes less claim on the students' time for 

 college work and allows more for practical work would, on 

 the average, in the long run produce better engineers. 



S-jjitzerland. — The Polytechnic at Zurich is a State insti- 

 tution designed to give a specialised training in industrial 

 subjects. The course lasts four years. Students are ad- 

 mitted by examination at eighteen years of age. A 

 " maturity certificate " from a Swiss school is taken in lieu 

 of an examination, or a student may be e.xcused part of 

 the entrance examination by presenting certain school 

 certificates. During 1901-2, there were 181 Swiss students 

 of civil engineering, 230 studying mechanical engineering, 

 and 49 taking up architecture, and in addition 249 foreigners 

 in the same departments. 



The lectures and exercises as announced in the programme 

 of the several departments are obligatory on the student. 

 In each department, however, the students are allowed a 

 choice in the third year. Once having chosen, they are 

 obliged to follow the plan selected. As at Berlin, no 

 attempt is made to teach workshop practice, but the bulk 

 of the time is given to drawing-office work. 



General Remarks. — In all the courses described, a 



<ommon scientific basis in the first two years develops into 



i'lely divergent and specialised branches in the remainder 



the course. It should be understood that both in the 



ites and on the Continent many of the specialised lectures 



given by men in the full practice of their profession, 



1 who are not regular members of the teaching staff. 



lie best courses in this country are arranged on practically 



(he same basis, but the longest being three years, there 



i^ no time to develop the instruction into the specialised 



Iran'^hes of engineering. 



There is an essential difference in the method of training 

 in .America and Germany. In America the course of in- 

 struction is very exactly laid down, and the student is com- 

 ixlled to follow it step by step. Slight variations are 

 i>f rmitted in the form of options, to use their term, in the 

 ' tor periods of the course. The student gets his degree 

 in the gradually accumulating results of terminal and 

 -•clonal examinations, ending finally with a thesis. 

 In Germany the students of their great technical high 

 iiools enjoy the freedom peculiar to the university system 

 that country. No student is compelled to take any special 

 urse. For his convenience definite courses are arranged 

 id laid down in the school calendar, but the sequence of 

 lures therein stated is not binding. The courses are 

 NO. 1749, VOL. 68] 



only recommendations, and students may follow them or 

 not as they please. At Zurich the course is partly pre- 

 scribed, partly selected. 



The following table gives a good idea of the nature of 

 the engineering courses in the three countries, the subjects 

 studied, and the relative importance attached to each. 



The Percentage Number of Hours' Instruction given in 

 Various Mechanical Engineering Courses. 



Massa- 

 chusetts 

 Insti- 

 tute. 



Berlin 

 Tech- 

 nical 

 High 

 School. 



Zurich 

 Poly- 

 technic. 



Mathematics . 



Physics .... 



Chemistry 



Applied Mechanics . 



Mechanism 



Steam-Engine, including 



Thermodynamics . 

 Mechanical Drawing'^ 

 Electrical Engineering 

 Commercial Subjects 

 Workshops 



French .... 

 German .... 

 English .... 

 Engineering Laboratories 



Approximate Hours . 

 Distributed over 



US 



6-8 



17 

 22 5 



8-0 



4-1 

 310 



3'4 ; 



8-0 I 

 Nil I 



192 

 6-0 

 30 



19-5 



8-0 

 39*3 



JO 



Nil 



3000 

 i Four 

 lYears. 



lOJ loo-o I loo-o 

 3000 I 4000 4000 

 Four I Three | Three 

 Years. Years. Years. 



The fourth year of the continental courses is not in- 

 cluded, because it is so cut up with examination work. It 

 must not be forgotten, however, that an American student 

 actually receives 3000 hours' instruction ; a German or 

 Swiss student is only recommended to attend courses aggre- 

 gating 4000 hours. Actually he may work just as many 

 hours as he chooses. In brief, the American courses are 

 more practical in character, they include more laboratory 

 training than is recommended in the German course, and 

 devote a large proportion of the course to the teaching of 

 handicraft skill. In Charlottenburg and Zurich no attempt 

 is made to teach handicraft skill, and the bulk of the train- 

 ing is given in the drawing-office, though in addition a 

 considerable amount of time may be given to engine 

 testing. 



One thing is certain, the American, German, and Swiss 

 student starts his course with a far better education on 

 which to build than is the case with us. Much time is 

 wasted at colleges here on teaching things which should 

 have been taught at school. Prof. Dalby believes that the 

 great defect of the British system of training engineers 

 is the want of coordination between the colleges and the 

 employers. If the employers will concern themselves with 

 the question, he feels sure their attitude will speedily change. 



The general opinion seemed to be that a course arranged 

 so that the winter months are spent at college and the 

 summer months in the works is a desirable one, and one 

 from which good results may be expected. Such an arrange- 

 ment obviously cannot be worked without the cooperation 

 of the employers. This alternating system must not be' 

 regarded as experimental. Our Admiralty have had some- 

 thing very similar in operation for forty years, and the 

 system has produced a famous roll of chief constructors. 

 The Scottish universities lend themselves to the system, and 

 Glasgow students in engineering consistently study in the 

 winter and work in the summer. 



1 Includes Mechanism. 



" Includes Freehand, Machine Drawing and the lectures connected with 

 Machine Design. 



3 Laboratory courses are taken in addition,, but it is difficult to estimate 

 how much is recommended. 



