October 4, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



451 



quite as far as he is likely to advance in an 

 ordinary year of work. * * * Including 

 tlie year of his entrance, a student has four 

 summers at his disposal before attaining his 

 bachelor's degree. By giving up six weeks 

 of each of three vacations he may win all 

 the time required for the elementary science 

 courses which are to be expected of the en- 

 gineer." The latter part of the paper is 

 devoted to the requirements of engineers 

 who wish to be fitted for any one of the 

 several branches of the profession, and con- 

 siders in turn mechanical, electrical, marine; 

 hydraulic, topographical and mining en- 

 gineering, for each of which it is necessaiy 

 that work in particular sciences should be 

 carried to a higher plane. Professor Shaler 

 considers it "an open question as to 

 whether our science schools are not going 

 too far in the effort to acquaint their stu- 

 dents with the details of the several de- 

 partments of engineering. * * * It is 

 Kkely that in the end our schools will 

 confess a limitation in their work and 

 win firm ground by acknowledging that 

 their province is to give the student a 

 thorough education in the original sense 

 of the word, supplying him with a large 

 theoretical outfit, leaving the technique of 

 his occupation to the time he begins work 

 in a particular employment." Another 

 argument for this point of view is that the 

 education of an engineer differs from that 

 of candidates for other professions. The 

 classics and much else studied with the sole 

 object of culture are perforce omitted. Pro- 

 fessor Shaler says: " While I fully believe 

 that natural science can do an excellent 

 part in the civilizing process, it cannot do 

 this if the teaching be devoted to immediate 

 ends. The work must be done in the large, 

 truly academic way; it must take the subject 

 for itself, and not as a mere means to a profes- 

 sional resiilt." The article concludes with 

 a plea for the addition of one year to the 

 curriculum of the technical schools: " While 



the way to a profession through the path of 

 the college may be held to be too long, that 

 through the technical school is clearly too 

 short for the needs of the work their grad- 

 uates have to do." The extra year, besides 

 making it much easier to add a fitting 

 amount of natural science to the curriculum 

 of the engineer, would also be a decided 

 gain in the opportunities for studying Eng- 

 lish, French and German, and would admit 

 of a more advantageoiis distribution of pro- 

 fessional studies than can be accomplished 

 under the present system. 



Peofessoe C. L. Doolittle writes that 

 the Univei'sity of Pennsj'lvania has begun 

 the erection of an Astronomical Observa- 

 tory, the purpose being to furnish facilities 

 for instruction in astronomy and for original 

 research. The site is five miles west of the 

 present Universitj^ buildings, being two 

 miles beyond the citj' limits. The principal 

 instruments are an 18-inch Equatorial, with 

 Spectroscope, a Meridian Circle and a 

 Zenith Telescope, each of 4 inches aperture. 

 The optical parts are by Bi-ashear, the in- 

 strumental by AVarner & Swasej\ As the 

 Observatory Library is for the most part a 

 thing of the future, any publications relat- 

 ing to astronomy or allied subjects which 

 may be sent will be very acceptable. At 

 present the Observatory has nothing to 

 offer in exchange, but hopes to have at a 

 future time. Contributions may be sent to 

 The Flower Observatory, University of 

 Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. 



Me. O. H. Tittmann, assistant in the 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey, has been ap- 

 pointed delegate from the United States to 

 the International Geodetic Association that 

 meets in Berlin on the 30th inst. , and sailed 

 from New Yoi'k on the 17th. 



Peofessoe Eenst Eittee, whose appoint- 

 ment as assistant professor of mathematics 



