260 



SCIENCE. 



LN. S. Vol. IV. No. 87. 



and French literature. These opinions 

 have long been held, and furthermore it has 

 been recognized that engineering students 

 and graduates are often lacking in that 

 general culture which the world demands 

 as one of the conditions of success. Great 

 improvements have been made in the 

 methods of teaching English and modern 

 languages, and probably still greater ones 

 are yet to result. In the ideal engineering 

 colleges of the future perhaps these subjects 

 will be required for admission, as is now 

 done at least by one institution, but at 

 present they must generally be taught. 

 The main line of improvement to secure 

 better results will be, it seems to me, in 

 partially abandoning the idea of culture 

 and placing the instruction upon a more 

 utilitarian basis. If English be regarded 

 as a means to an end instead of linguistic 

 drill; if the aim of teaching French and 

 German be to read fluently the language of 

 to-day instead of laboriously to decipher 

 the meaning of the poets of centuries ago, 

 true zeal on the part of the student will 

 arise and a truer culture will result. 



At the close of the college course the stu- 

 dent presents a thesis showing his ability to 

 apply the principles and rules of engineer- 

 ing in the investigation or design of a 

 special problem. The tendency has been 

 strong to abandon subjects which involve 

 mere description or compilation, and to in- 

 sist upon those that will require the student 

 to exercise his own powers. Thus the 

 value of the work to the student has been 

 greatly increased, and the theses of each 

 class are a source of stimulus to the follow- 

 ing ones. Although the view held by some 

 that theses should be monographs setting 

 forth important conclusions of original in- 

 vestigations is one that can not in general 

 be realized, it is a gratification to note that 

 each year a few theses are produced which 

 are sufficiently valuable to warrant imme- 

 diate publication. 



The formation of engineering clubs among 

 students for the discussion of the details of 

 professional work is one of the most im- 

 portant tendencies of recent years, l^o 

 exercise is so valuable to a student as one 

 entirely originated and performed by him- 

 self, and the preparation of a paper which 

 is to be presented to and criticised by his 

 fellows ranks highest of all among such ex- 

 ercises. Eecently there has been forced 

 upon my notice a remarkable activity in 

 the three engineering clubs of a certain en- 

 gineering college, more than fifty papers 

 having been read discussed during the year 

 by a total of about three hundred and fifty 

 students, besides a number of others read 

 before the mathematical club. In meetings 

 of this kind the scientific and economic 

 questions under discussion in the engineer- 

 ing journals receive a detailed attention 

 which the professor in the class room often 

 finds it impossible to give, while the advan- 

 tage to students in expressing themselves 

 in debate is very great. 



Occasional lectures to classes by practic- 

 ing engineers have been introduced in many 

 institutions during the x^a-st decade, and 

 with uniformly good results. In engineer- 

 ing education there is no conflict between 

 theory and practice, and every professor 

 cordially welcomes distinguished engineers 

 to explain their great structures and 

 achievements to his classes. It is an in- 

 spiration to students to see and hear those 

 men who have so successfully applied sound 

 science to economic construction, and whose 

 influence has been uniformly to elevate the 

 standard of the profession. 



After four years of work the engineering 

 student receives his degree and is ready to 

 commence the actual work of life. What 

 the letters are that designate the degree is a 

 matter of small importance. Moreover, if 

 we examine the lists of the alumni who 

 graduated ten or fifteen years ago, the con- 

 viction arises that their particular course of 



