August 28, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



257 



There has been and now is a strong ten- 

 dency toward a reduction in the length of 

 the college year. While formerly forty or 

 forty- two weeks were regarded as essential, 

 the process has gone on until now some col- 

 leges have but thirty or thirty-two weeks, a 

 reduction of nearly twenty-five per cent, 

 having been effected in twenty-five years. 

 Undoubtedly the long vacation is utilized 

 to great advantage by the majority of stu- 

 dents in actual work, yet the fact remains 

 that it is not good business economy to allow 

 the buildings and plant of a college to lie 

 idle for so large a part of the year. It is 

 perhaps possible that in the future the sum- 

 mer schools may be so developed that the 

 work will be practically continuous through- 

 out the year, thus giving to students the 

 option of completing the course either in 

 three or four years. 



The report of the committee on require- 

 ments for admission, which will be pre- 

 sented later in the session, sets forth many 

 facts which show the tendencies now exist- 

 ing. Almost without exception a higher 

 standard is demanded, both that students 

 may enter with better mental training and 

 that more time may be available in the 

 course for technical subjects. While the 

 general line of advance is toward an in- 

 crease in mathematics and in modern lan- 

 guages, there is also found, particularly in 

 the central states, a demand for broader 

 training in science. It has already been 

 pointed out that our early engineering- 

 schools were strong in scientific training, 

 and that the tendency has been to replace 

 this by industrial applications. If the re- 

 quirements for admission can be extended 

 to include the elements of chemistry and 

 physics, with some botany or zoology, the 

 engineering student will enter with broader 

 views, a keener power of observation and 

 a scientific spirit that will greatly increase 

 his chances for success in technical studies. 

 The general increase in requirements for ad- 



mission tends to raise the average age of the 

 student. It is now usually the case, owing 

 to the greater length of time needed in pre- 

 paratory work, that the average age of the 

 classical student is one year higher than 

 that of the engineering student ; or the 

 former has had one more year of training 

 than the latter. One more year of training 

 means much as an element for success ; one 

 more year in age means an increase in 

 judgment which is of the highest impor- 

 tance for a proper appreciation of the work 

 of the course. The older men in a class 

 usually do the best if not the most brilliant 

 work, and after graduation their progress 

 is the most satisfactory. It thus appears 

 that all tendencies that raise the age of 

 entrance are most important ones and de- 

 serve hearty encouragement. 



Having now considered some of the gen- 

 eral elements and tendencies in engineer- 

 ing education it will be well to take up the 

 program of studies, especially in regard to 

 those subjects that are common to all tech- 

 nical courses. The three volumes of the 

 Transactions of this Society contain many 

 carefully prepared papers and interesting 

 discussions which enter into questions of 

 detail concerning nearly all topics in the 

 curriculum. Here, however, can only be 

 noted briefly the main lines of development 

 and the indications for future progress. 



Mathematics is undoubtedly the most 

 important subject in all courses of engineer- 

 ing study, and it has been demanded for 

 years that it be taught with great thorough- 

 ness. This demand has been not more 

 completely in the independent engineering 

 colleges than in the engineering courses 

 of the universities. Much, however, re- 

 mains to be done in this direction, and 

 probably it cannot be satisfactorily accom- 

 plished until a change in method has been 

 effected. The fundamental element in the 

 change of method must be, it seems to me, 

 in a partial abolition of the formal logic of 



