ROBERT HENRY THURSTON. 847 



seemed most timel\^ Sibley College as now organized, and as thus 

 expressing- the purposes of Professor Thurston so far as he was able 

 to realize them, comprises a general line of undergraduate work cov- 

 ering the foundations and the broad middle ground of mechani- 

 cal engineering work, together with three departments in which is 

 given the essential characteristic instruction related to three special 

 fields of engineering practice — namely, electrical engineering, marine 

 engineering and naval architecture, and railway mechanical engineer- 

 ing. Many other special branches had long been in the programme, 

 but the necessary limitations of space and funds have so far pre- 

 vented the extension of the development beyond the extent specified. 



Throughout the eighteen years of his work in Cornell his own 

 teaching was in the subject of thermod}' namics and steam engineering 

 and in the economics of power generation and of manufacturing estab- 

 lishments. In the first subject a required course was given for two- 

 thirds of the 3'ear, while in the latter two elective courses were given 

 during the remaining one-third. 



His policy regarding organization was distinctively generous in 

 relation to the various heads of department. He believed in giving 

 to each liead of department a large measure of independent initiative 

 and in holding him responsible for results. Rarely did his supervision 

 extend to an}' control over details of internal department administra- 

 tion, and thus each head was left to work out his own problems 

 in accordance with his special environment and to administer his 

 department in detail as he might judge best. 



In addition to his regular work in the university. Professor Thurs- 

 ton found time while at Cornell to serve on several important boar4s, 

 among them the New York State commissions on voting machines and 

 on the selection of a firearm for the National Guard, and the United 

 States connnissions on postal-pneumatic service and on safe and vault 

 construction. 



He also made during these years his most important contributions 

 to the literature of engineering, and in particular wrote his exhaustive 

 works on the steam engine and steam boiler. 



In addition to his books. Professor Thurston prepared and pul)lished 

 a vast number of papers on a wide range of engineering subjects. His 

 papers on the materials of engineering and on thermodynamics and 

 steam engineering are especially numerous and important, and nuich 

 of his best thought and efiort has gone into the preparation of these 

 monographs and shorter publications. 



A list of his larger works, written both at Stevens Institute and at 

 Cornell, shows that his activities maybe grouped under three difi'erent 

 heads. The first one of these is made up of works on the materials of 

 engineering, the second of works on the steam engine and the steam 



