154 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIII. No. i 



order to avoid unnecessary duplication, this com- 

 mittee voted to turn over all the results of its 

 own inquiry in this field to the larger commission, 

 to be worked up in accordance with the general 

 scheme adopted by that commission, and to be 

 incorporated in their report. This material is 

 therefore not included in the present report. 



Aside from the collection of data. Professor 

 Huntington's committee decided that the most 

 important need at the present time is a series of 

 synoptical text-books, which shall present : ( 1 ) 

 the fundamental principles of the science, in com- 

 pact form, and (2) a classified and graded col- 

 lection of problems (which would naturally be 

 subject to continual change and expansion). It 

 is their hope that the Minneapolis report, which 

 is confined to the first part of the desired text- 

 book, will stimulate throughout the country prac- 

 tical contributions toward the second. 



Copies of these syllabi were distributed among 

 the hundred or more engineers, physicists and 

 mathematicians who Joined in a good fellowship 

 dinner on the evening preceding the presentation 

 of the report. Additional copies may be had upon 

 request from the chairman. The following quota- 

 tions from the preface will indicate its scope and 

 purpose : 



" The object of this report is to present a 

 synopsis of those fundamental principles and 

 methods of mathematics which, in the opinion of 

 the committee, should constitute the minimum 

 mathematical equipment of the student of engi- 

 neering. 



" It is hoped that this report may be service- 

 able in two ways: first, to the teacher, as an 

 indication of where the emphasis should be laid; 

 and secondly, to the student, as a syllabus of 

 facts and methods which are to be his working 

 tools. It does not include data for which the 

 student would properly refer to an engineer's 

 hand-book; it includes rather just those things 

 for which he ought never to be obliged to refer 

 to any book — the things which he should have 

 constantly at his fingers' ends. 



" The teacher of mathematics should see to it 

 that at least these facts are perfectly familiar to 

 all his students, so that the professor of engineer- 

 ing may presuppose, with confidence, at least this 

 much mathematical knowledge on the part of his 

 students. On the other hand, if the professor of 

 engineering needs to use, at any point, more ad- 

 vanced mathematical methods than those here 

 mentioned, he should be careful to explain them 

 to his class. 



" The defects in the mathematical training of 

 the student of engineering appear to be largely 

 in knowledge and grasp of fundamental prin^ 

 ciples, and the constant effort of the teacher 

 should be to ground the student thoroughly in 

 these fundamentals, which are too often lost sight 

 of in a mass of details. 



" The committee has not found it possible to 

 propose a detailed course of study. The order 

 in which these topics should be taken up must be 

 left largely to the discretion of the individual 

 teacher. The committee is firmly of the opinion, 

 however, that whatever order is adopted, the 

 principal part of the course should be problems 

 worked by the students, and that all these prob- 

 lems should be solved on the basis of a small 

 number of fundamental principles and methods, 

 such as are here suggested." 



The report was freely discussed and frankly 

 criticized by a large number of speakers, inclu- 

 ding the following: Professors E. J. Wilczynski, 

 University of Chicago; A. G. Hall, University of 

 Michigan; E. H. Conistock, School of Mines of 

 the University of Minnesota; G. A. Miller, Uni- 

 versity of Illinois; A. E. Haynes, College of Engi- 

 neering of the University of Minnesota; E. F. 

 Nichols, president of Dartmouth College; T. F. 

 Holgate, dean of Northwestern University; Alex- 

 ander Ziwet, University of Michigan; E. R. 

 Maurer, College of Engineering of the University 

 of Wisconsin; Henry Crew, department of phys- 

 ios of Northwestern University; H. E. Slaught, 

 University of Chicago; B. L. Newkirk, Univer- 

 sity of Minnesota; E. F. Chandler, University of 

 North Dakota; J. J. Flather, head of mechanical 

 engineering. University of Minnesota, and L. li^. 

 Dickson, University of Chicago, chairman of the 

 meeting. Also numerous discussions in writing 

 were received by the chairman or through the 

 secretary, including one from President R. S. 

 Woodward, of the Carnegie Institution of Wash- 

 ington, one from Professor A. E. Haynes, of the 

 University of Minnesota, and one from William 

 Kent, president of the Technical Literature Com- 

 pany of New York. 



The discussion finally led to the following 

 resolution, which was unanimously adopted: 



Resolved, that this body tenders hearty thanks 

 to Professor Huntington for the great interest 

 which he has shown in this work and the untiring 

 service which he has given to it; that we com- 

 mend the work of the entire committee for the 

 preparation of a report which it is believed must 

 operate for betterment along the lines of its 



