592 
UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY AT WEST POINT. 
2nd Class, 3rd Year. 
Mathematics—Elements of Analytical Mechanics. 
Physics—Sound and Light, Heat, Electricity, and Magnetism. 
Other Sciences—Astronomy, Chemistry, Eclectic Physiology, Mineralogy, 
Petrography, and Elements of Geology. 
Drawing—Freehand, Landscape in black and white, Constructive and 
Architectural. 
Tactics—All arms. The service of Heavy Artillery. 
1st Class, 4th Year. 
Engineering—Civil and Military, Field and Permanent Fortification, 
Siege Operations, and Stereotomy. 
The Elements of the Art of War. 
Ordnance and Gunnery. 
Spanish. 
International, Constitutional, and Military Law. 
Outlines of the World’s History. 
Historical Geography. 
Practical—Astronomy, Surveying, Reconnaissance, Field Telegraphy, 
Ballistics, and Pyrotechnics. 
Periodical Examinations. 
The examinations of tlie several classes are held half-yearly in 
January and June. At the former new cadets are given standing in 
the 4th Class according to merit. The June examinations are the 
most important, as the removes take place after them, and the Graduat¬ 
ing Class get their commissions. After both examinations cadets 
found deficient in conduct or studies are discharged from the Academy. 
The examiners are taken entirely from the Academy staff. They con¬ 
sist of the Professors, the Commandant, and one or two Instructors. 
They are formed into two Committees and divide the work of examina¬ 
tion between them. The examinations are partly written and partly 
oral, but chiefly the latter—even in such subjects as mathematics ! 
Here the practice the cadets acquire at “ Recitation 33 stands them in 
good stead. The examinations are very thorough. 
The Board oe Visitors. 
The Academy is inspected every year at the time of the June 
examinations by a Board of Visitors. This body consists of 12 mem¬ 
bers, seven of whom are appointed by the President of the United 
States, two by the President of the Senate, and three by the Speaker 
of the House of Representatives. The Board is largely composed of 
distinguished persons of nearly all professions, including men of high 
position in the Government, Presidents and Professors in the most 
prominent educational institutions, military officers, Doctors of Divinity, 
Doctors of Medicine, and others. They appear to make an exhaustive 
examination of the Academy and everything connected with it, and, 
with this object in view, the Board spends the best part of a fortnight 
at West Point, the members putting up in the hotel there. They are 
present on “ Graduating Day” (our “Duke's Day") when there is a 
big ceremony, and one of the Board addresses the Graduating Class. 
In order to inquire into things as closely as possible, and to distribute 
its work, the Board goes into some half-a-dozen Sub-Committees which 
