May 18, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



767 



be thrown from the boiler along with the steam. 

 On removing the retarders the priming disap- 

 peared, and on replacing them it was again pres- 

 ent. It therefore appeared that the retarders 

 caused the priming, and it remains to explain 

 how this could be so. 



It seems evident that the priming was caused 

 through a lack of proper circulation in the boiler. 

 Without the retarders the tubes near the center 

 of the boiler were hotter than those near the side 

 and caused an upward current of water at the 

 center of the boiler, and a downward current 

 at the sides, and the circulation was a brisk and 

 definite one. With the retarders, however, all 

 the tubes were at the same temperature and there 

 was no tendency to produce a definite circulation 

 so that the water was quiescent for a time, and 

 after storing a certain amount of heat, it would 

 foam up and some of it would be thrown from 

 the boiler. 



A paper by Paul C. Nugent, professor 

 of civil engineering, Syracuse University, 

 Syracuse, N. Y., on 'The Dual Degree for 

 Engineering Courses' was read by the 

 secretary. 



In the College of Liberal Arts of Syra- 

 cuse University, the best students are 

 graduated with 'honors' of one of three 

 grades. It has been suggested to adopt the 

 practise in the college of applied science. 

 Its object is to reward merit and to stimu- 

 late the student to more strenuous efforts 

 to gain a high standing in his class, and to 

 thus result in graduating a better class of 

 men. The first purpose is in a measure 

 fulfilled. It is doubtful whether the sec- 

 ond is accomplished at all. 



He reviews the two systems for granting 

 degrees now in use in engineering colleges, 

 namely, granting the engineering degree 

 at the end of a four years' course, and sec- 

 ondly granting the degree of bachelor of 

 science at the end of the undergraduate 

 course, and the full engineering degree on 

 the completion of a year or more of post- 

 graduate work, or two or three years of 

 practical work and on presentation of a 

 thesis. He is strongly in favor of grant- 

 ing the full engineering degree at the end 



of the four years, and claims that engi- 

 neering can be taught just as practically 

 and just as professionally as is medicine, 

 and that the engineering graduate is as 

 much entitled to the professional degree as 

 the medical graduate is to the medical de- 

 gree and the title of ' doctor. ' 



The author then suggests a fourth plan : 



At the end of the regular four-year course, let 

 two degrees be granted, the B.S. being given to 

 those who have passed in all required subjects, 

 but have failed to attain a certain set grade for 

 all the work of the last three years. This plan 

 places the engineering degree on a higher plane 

 than that occupied by the baccalaureate. It is 

 thought that many students who would not care 

 whether they graduated with ' honors ' or not 

 would redouble their efforts when it came to 

 graduating as an ' engineer.' Another result 

 would be that almost every engineering graduate 

 would be a man to whom his college could point 

 with confidence and pride. The B.S. men might 

 be permitted to return for a year to obtain the 

 full degree. The dominant thought of all such 

 work should be quality and not so much the 

 teaching of new things as the better teaching and 

 more thorough teaching of the old: it should aim 

 to produce better reasoning powers and general 

 ability in the student, and failing that, the full 

 degree should never be granted. 



The paper received considerable discus- 

 sion and elicited much opposition. Engi- 

 neering professors, as a rule, seem to be 

 quite well satisfied with the present prac- 

 tise of their respective institutions. 



A paper by Mr. FuUerton L. Waldo, of 

 New York, N. Y., was next presented on 

 ' Panama : A Discussion of the Present Con- 

 ditions and the Prospects.' The paper is 

 true to its title, discusses the various re- 

 ports of the present conditions, gives ex- 

 amples of these conditions, shows why they 

 are so, and then bears worthy tribute to 

 the character, integrity and engineering 

 ability of the canal commissioner, the late 

 George S. Morison. 



Mr. Morison insisted that we must take two 

 years to clean up the mess left by the French, to 

 burn the hovels, to drain the swamps, to petrolize 



