September 27, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



393 



rather than Doctor of Philosophy. The dis- 

 cussion which followed showed a general 

 agreement with these views ; it also brought 

 out opinions that theses are of great edu- 

 cational value and that thej' should be pre- 

 pared by students with little or no assist- 

 ance from instructors. 



' Modified Eequirements for Students who 

 have taken full Liberal Courses,' by Pro- 

 fessor Ira IST. Hollis. This paper claimed 

 that, with a proper arrangement, a classical 

 graduate could complete an engineering 

 course in one or two years. The greatest 

 diflBculty in doing this seems to lie in the 

 fact that the teaching of mathematics in 

 liberal courses is conducted without refer- 

 ence to practical applications. 



'Graduate Study in Engineering Courses,' 

 by Professor William H. Burr, asserted 

 that the value of these graduate courses is 

 small compared with those in literary insti- 

 tutions. Four years of study in college is 

 sufficient for most men who intend to fol- 

 low the practice of engineering. 



' The Economic Element in Technical 

 Education,' by Professor L. S. Eandolph, 

 advocated the discussion of the commerical 

 side of engineei'ing problems, and the un- 

 desirability of making computations to an 

 unnecesssary degree of precision. A study 

 of questions of cOst is often of essential 

 importance, engineering being in fact the 

 art of economic construction. 



' Unsymmetrical Development of the var- 

 ious courses in Engineering Colleges,' by 

 Prof. F. E. Hutton, favored a strong execu- 

 tive control in order to prevent one depart- 

 ment from growing at the expense of others. 



' TheEngineer of the Twentieth Century,' 

 by Elmer L. Corthell, was a vigorous plea 

 for more thorough education on a broad 

 systematic plan . Technical education was 

 claimed to possess special advantages in 

 training the mind so as to render it capable 

 of being of most service to society and hu- 

 manity. The boys of to-day who are to be 



engineers of the twentieth century were ad- 

 vised to secure a broad, liberal education 

 before beginning the special study of en- 

 gineering. 



The afternoon of September 3d was de- 

 voted to a visit of inspection to the dam 

 under construction at Holyoke, and also in 

 observing the testing of turbines at the 

 works of the Holyoke Water Power Com- 

 pany. 



PAPERS ON SEPTEMBBE 4. 



On the morning of this day five papers on 

 courses in the physical sciences were pre- 

 sented. Professor C. L. Mees discussed 

 Physics, dwelling upon the importance of 

 precision of nomenclature and in the use of 

 units of measurement, also claiming that 

 dynamics should properly be a part of the 

 course in physics. Professor G. C. Corn- 

 stock treated of Astronomy, showing the 

 value of the precise training in observation 

 and computation to every engineer. Pro- 

 fessor E,. S. Woodward's paper on Me- 

 chanics dwelt on the fundamental defini- 

 tions and concepts, particularly those of 

 force, mass and acceleration. These papers 

 led to many interesting discussions by T. 

 C. Mendenhall, Wm. Kent, J. Galbraith 

 and others. 



A second class of papers treated of the 

 professional studies in engineering courses, 

 of the subjects and the time to be given to 

 each. Professor C. L. Crandall gave a tab- 

 ulation of these for the course in civil en- 

 gineering. Mr. C. C. Brown, city engineer of 

 Indianapolis, discussed a course in sanitary 

 engineering, claiming such specialization to 

 be highly advantageous. Professor Mans- 

 field Merriman, in discussing geodetic engi- 

 neering, exj)ressed his opposition to a 

 specialized four years' course in this sub- 

 ject, saying that the aim should be, not 

 training in a trade, but education, that is, 

 the development of the powers of the mind. 

 The discussion on these papers brought out 



