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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1058 



Science, and with a greatly increased in- 

 terest in all scientific studies. He became 

 at once the trusted adviser of the board 

 of trustees in their endeavors to increase 

 and improve the instruction in scientific 

 subjects, and he was influential with the 

 faculty in all matters connected with the 

 development of the curriculum. 



The physical laboratory as he found it 

 had no equipment for research, and but 

 little for demonstration. He felt it was his 

 duty to devote himself to the improvement 

 of the equipment, and to the organization 

 of courses of lectures and laboratory in- 

 struction. As new apparatus came in he 

 would put it together and test it, and when 

 new apparatus was wanted which could be 

 better made than purchased, he would con- 

 struct it with his own hands. He was very 

 skillful in all mechanical work, and much 

 of the apparatus which he made is still in 

 use. 



At the same time he gave himself with 

 entire devotion to his labors as a teacher. 

 He thoroughly believed that physics should 

 form an essential part of every student's 

 course of study, and realized that if this 

 were the case the course in physics should 

 not be confined to the dry details of the 

 subject, but should rather present the phi- 

 losophy of nature. Owing to the breadth 

 of his education, and to his unlimited in- 

 terest in all scientific and philosophical 

 questions, he was able to illuminate his 

 subject with illustrations drawn from other 

 sciences, and from the practical applica- 

 tions of science in the arts. His courses of 

 lectures were not only instructive, but in- 

 spiring, and many of his students remem- 

 ber him with affection and respect as the 

 most stimulating influence in their intel- 

 lectual life. 



Professor Brackett's interests were 

 strongly excited by the development of 

 electrical science, and of its applications 



to the comfort and convenience of life. He 

 was acquainted with many of the great in- 

 ventors by whom those applications have 

 been made, and he became connected with 

 some of their principal achievements as an 

 expert adviser. He was occupied for sev- 

 eral years as an expert, both in the labora- 

 tory and in the courts, with the questions 

 arising in the contest concerning the in- 

 vention of the telephone. He was thus led 

 to give instruction in the engineering side 

 of electrical science, and ultimately in 1889 

 to undertake the development of a school 

 of electrical engineering. The course in 

 this school, as he planned it, is designed 

 for graduates, or for others already prop- 

 erly qualified by a sufficient knowledge of 

 mathematics, physics and chemistry. One 

 of its principal features is the emphasis 

 laid upon the advanced study of general 

 electrical science. His aim was to give his 

 students a thorough general knowledge of 

 their science, so that after a short experi- 

 ence in the practise of their profession 

 they might qualify for positions in which 

 scientific knowledge is particularly needed. 

 Although, as he appreciated would be the 

 case, the membership of this school has 

 never been large, many of those who have 

 gone out from it have justified the plan on 

 which it was organized by rapidly attain- 

 ing important places in the profession of 

 electrical engineering. 



Professor Brackett was for many years 

 a member of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, and in 1886 

 was vice-president of section B. He was 

 also a member of the American Philosoph- 

 ical Society. His knowledge of medicine 

 and his general interest in the public wel- 

 fare led to his appointment as a member of 

 the State Board of Health of New Jersey. 

 He served as president of this board for 

 ten years. He was also for many years a 

 member of the sanitary committee of 



