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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol.. XXIII. No. 577. 



presenting a subject in what he considers 

 a way that all must understand, there 

 will be many, possibly the majority of the 

 class, that have failed to grasp his reason- 

 ing. Men's minds work differently, and 

 the path taken to arrive at the under- 

 standing of a problem will vary, so that 

 unless a subject is presented in several 

 ways the explanation given by a professor 

 may fail to fall into the line of thought of ' 

 many of his students, and he will be dis- 

 appointed in the results obtained. 



It is a fact, however, that there are 

 many professors who have had little or 

 no outside experience. This often occurs 

 where a young man enters the profession 

 of teaching directly after his graduation, 

 and is placed in such a position that it is 

 impossible for him to undertake any prac- 

 tical work. Such a professor may make the 

 best sort of a tutor, and may be most suc- 

 cessful in imparting the fundamentals of 

 a subject, but when it comes to being put 

 in charge of a practical engineering depart- 

 ment, it is here that his lack of experience 

 will be very much felt. In a certain sense 

 it is unfair for a head professor to secure 

 the services of a recent graduate and keep 

 him continually at teaching so as not to 

 allow him to gain outside experience. 

 Much thought has been put on this phase 

 of the problem. Mr. Walter C. Kerr, in 

 connection with his work as a trustee of 

 Cornell University, has been in favor of the 

 plan that a professor be thrown upon his 

 own resources and be compelled to work in 

 the practical field one year out of seven. 

 This might appear all right from a business 

 standpoint of the college involved, but how 

 about older professors who have worked 

 long in the teaching line," and have not had 

 the necessary outside experience to qualify 

 them for taking a position in the practical 

 field? It might be very inconvenient for 

 such a professor to have to accept a nominal 

 salary in order to gain experience, but this 



certainly would follow if he had been so 

 loaded down with teaching that he was 

 given no opportunity to work at the prac- 

 tical side of his profession. On the other 

 hand, if a professor through hard work 

 and diligence has obtained experience in 

 the outside field, while he is a teacher, and 

 is forced, at the end of seven years, to enter 

 the practical field, it is very probable that 

 his success therein may be such that he 

 could not be tempted back to teaching. 



From the foundation of the Stevens In- 

 stitute to the present time, the professors 

 have been encouraged to do practical work. 

 At all times this work has been done on 

 their own responsibility, that is the insti- 

 tute was not responsible for any of the re- 

 ports given out. On the other hand, it has 

 been well appreciated that should er- 

 roneous or undignified reports be made it 

 would reflect discredit on the institute, and 

 great care has been taken that this should 

 not occur. In 1894 the late Dr. Morton, 

 who as you all know was the first president 

 of the institute, established what he called 

 the department of tests, the aims of which 

 he described as follows : 



It is part of the institute's policy to make its 

 laboratories and workshops the center of such 

 experimental investigations as \yill be of direct 

 commercial importance to the mechanical engi- 

 neering profession, and likewise contribute to the 

 same valuable technical information by which the 

 knowledge of facts and principles which constitute 

 the foundation of that profession may be en- 

 larged. It is also part of the same policy to have 

 its professors so in touch with the most advanced 

 practise as to enable them to embody, in their 

 courses of instruction, the best results of applied 

 science in engineering practise. 



A department of tests has, therefore, been or- 

 ganized to undertake measurements of the per- 

 formance of steam-engines and other motors, and 

 of the efficiency of boilers, refrigerating machines 

 and mechanisms generally, including electrical and 

 hydraulic apparatus, also to make tests of 

 strength of materials, and to make various chem- 

 ical and physical investigations, for the general 

 public. Such work is assigned by the president 

 to the member of the faculty best fitted to sue- 



