President's Report
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KASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. t PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR THE Year ending" Sept. 30, 1875, BOSTON: PRESS Or A. A. KINGMAN, I8'/6. ~i~ 1~i i MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR THE Year ending Sept. 30~ 1875. BOSTON : PRESS OF A. A. KINGMAN. 1876. , , , ~ ', Extracts from Acts of the General Court of Jl,[assachusetts, in relation to he Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Act of Incorporation. "William B. Rogers [and others named], their associates and successors, are hereby made a body corporate, by the name of the M.~SSA- CHUSliTTS INSTITUTEOF T~CHNOLOGY, for the purpose of instituting and maintaining a Society of Arts, a Museum of Arts, and a School of Industrial Science, and aiding generally, by suitable means, the advancement, development, and practical appli- cation of sciences in connection with arts, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce." Chapter 183, Acts and ~e~oZves of 1861. Grant of Public Lands. "When the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shall have been duly organized, located, and established, ...... there shall be appropriated and paid to its treasurer, each year, on the warrant of the Governor, for ~i~ ~ its endowment, support, and maintenance, one third part of the annual interest or Income which may be received from the fund created under and by virtue of the 130th chapter of the Acts of the 37th Congress~ at the second session thereof, approved July 2, 1862 [giving Public Lands to the States in aid of instruction in Agriculture, the Mechanic Arts, and Military Science and Tactics] ...... Said Institute of Technology, in addition to the objects set forth in its Act of Incorporation [as above quoted], shall provide for instruction in military tactics." Chapter 186, Acts and _Resolvesof 1863. Power to canfer Degrees. "The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is hereby authorized and empowered to award and confer degrees appropriate to the several courses of study pursued in said Institution, on such conditinns as are usually pre- scribed in universities and colleges in the United States, and according to such tests of :iii I~ proficiency as shah best promote the interests of sound education in this Common~ Ii wealth." Chapter 247, Acts and Resolves cf 1868. ....... ._. ...... : ....... :......................................... ~!!i ~: CONTENTS. President's Report ....... vii Secretary's Report ....... xvii Graduates in 1875 ....... , , .r~X .... Department of Philosophy ..... ~ ~ ( Department of English and History . ~ 7 .I Department of Modern Languages .... Department of Military Science and Tactics . ~:~ _.~ The Lowell Course of Practical Design . 34 The First Year's Course in Free Itand Drawing . 36 The First Year Mechanical Drawing . 39 Department of Descriptive Geometry, Stereotomy, and Drawing 44 The Instruction in Physiology and Itygienc, and Zoology 49 The Instruction in Physical Geology and Geography . The Course in Pal~eontology ....... 51 The Department of Geology ....... 54 58 Bridge and Roof Construction ....... 65 Theoretical and Applied Mechanics ...... 72 Department of Mechanical Engineering ..... Department of Chemistry ....... 76 78 "The Course in Mining Engineering ...... 81 Mining Exped_~tion to Nova Scotia ...... 88 Lowell Free Courses for 1874-75 ...... 94 Abstracts of Theses preseWeed by Graduates of 1874-75. I05 Fall River Water Works, by Samuel E. Allen . 105 Lattice Girder Bridge, by H. K. Burrison .... 109 Lattice Girder Bridge, by C. A. Church .... 107 Salem Water Works, by F,'ank S. Dodge. 107 The Iron Bowstring Girder over the Charles River at WaRham~ by Edgar S. Dorr ......... 108 Tunnelling, by Edward A. W. Hammatt ..... 109 Brookline Water Works, by Edward A. Handy . 110 The Holyoke Dam, by Wm. F. Huntington .... 111 The Lawrence Dam, by W. F. Sargent ..... 112 iill I vi On the Coefficient of Expansion of Dry Saturated Steam in an unjacketed cylinder, by James H. Head ..... 114 The Construction of Gear Teeth, by Thomas Hibbard . 115 The Crank as a Means of converting Reciprocal into Circular ?2 Motion, by J. Austin Knapp ...... 117 Governors, by Wilfred Lewis ....... 118 Cylinder Condensation, by Thomas D. Plympton . 120 :i: i? Steam Pumps, by F. T. Sargent .... 121 Locomotives, by J. B. Stanwood ...... 123 :i)! ; :ii Salt, by Moses D. Burnet ....... 125 Tile Stamps of Lake Superior compared, by C. W. Goodale 125 Burleigh Tunnel Ore, Colorado, by B. A. Oxnard . 125 Working of ~,n Ore of Silver and Lead, from Newbury, Mass., by Win. IL Shockley ...... 134 Treatment of a Silver Ore, from Silver Islet, Wood's Location, Lake Superior, by H. L. J. Warren ..... 139 Designs for the buildings for a City Water Works, by Amos J. i Boyden ........ 140 Anthracene Pressings, by Leonard P. Kinnicutt . 142 R~port of a Series of Experiments with a Holtz Machine, by ~. J. Mixter ...... 143 The Empire of Austria, by Win. A. Prentiss . 144 The Department of Architecture . 145 Architectural Problems ..... 151 Appendix ............ 159 Corporation for 1875-76 . , .... 159 -. ~i ~ Committees to Visit and Inspect the several Departments of the School .......... 160 ,i Officers of Instruction ....... 162" Conditions of Admission ........ 164 Regular Courses of Instruction ....... 165 Architectural Departmeut--Books . , . 175 " " Photographs ..... 179 l& 6& Drawings, Prints, and Lithographs 181 Casts, . ..... 185 l~ 66 Stained Glass . .~\... 185 :i Tiles, Terra Cotta, Models, etc. 196 Alumni of the Institute 20O Members of the Society of Arts. 2O6 Preparation for Admission . 210 List of Lowell Courses . Q B I O D 216 Plans of Floors of Institute Building 219 | PRESIDENT'S REPORT. b To the Corporation of the Institute :- Your attention is respectfully invited to the following reports and matters relating to tlle various departments of the Insti- tute for tile current year, the tenth since the establishment of the School. The only changes in tlle corps of Instruction during the year have been the resignations of S. Edward Warren, C. E., Pro- fessor of Descriptive Geometry, Stereotomy and Drawing, and Edward K. Clark, S. B., Instructor in Mechanical Drawing. Instructor William E. Hoyt has been given charge of the 160 Stereotomy, Instructor Wells of the Descriptive Geometry, and 162~ 164 Assistants Francis T. Sargent and J. Austin Knapp, of the 165 Mechanical Drawing in the department of Mechanical Engi- 175 neering. 179 181 Attendance. The whole number of students in attendance 185 for the year 1874~-75, was 288 ; a decrease of 22 from the pre- 185 ceding year. Of the 73 applicants for admission to thin'first 196 year, at both the June and September examinations, 29 passed 200 206 without conditions at an average of 73 per cent.; 26 passed 210 with conditions at an average of 51 per cent.; and 18 failed to 216 pass. Based on the mathematics alone these averages were 81 219 and 60 per cent. Of those admitted 15 did not join the class. (vii) ili/'~ ~i~ii! eeo /i:~ i:~i !i~~ Ylll ,:!~i~'~ ~i~i!i These reductions left a class of 40 new men, and one repeating~ 86 of whom were regular students, and 5 special. It will be i!~i' noticed that 25 per cent. of the af)plicants failed to pass, and that over 25 per cent. of those who passed did not join the class, ilii i mainly on account of the continue;d hard times, as was after- ,~ ~! wards ascertained. Sixteen new students entered the second : 'iiil~ year, 8 without, and 8 with conditions. The average age of ': ~ ilii the class entering the first year was 17 years and 10 months. ,ii' i: Preparation for Admission. The suggestions made on pp. 210-215 are respectfully submitted to teachers by the Faculty, 'i (: in order to make the work of preparation as definite as pos- sible. The poorest preparation has u~ually been upon what ~i i ~ii are properly the grammar school studies. It is not overlooked that public policy usually demands that the High School must accept such preparation as the Grammar Schools can furnish, and should not therefore be held wholly responsible for these ~:i~ :~' i ~'~ studies. Still it is hoped that the High Schools may be able to remedy the defect, il~ part, by requiring a careful revision during the early part of their course of such portions of the subjects as have been pointed out. Moreover, it cannot be denied that a large proportion of the High Schools continue to maintain classical departments for the purpose of fitting stu- dents for admission to College at a cost altogether dispropor- tionate to the end gained. ]t would be far more economical for each town to support the few students who enter College 2 iI from its High School, at a good classical school, and thus save :i ~:: ill the time and energies of the best teachers for other subjects of growing importance, as the modern languages, mechanical and free-hand drawing, chemistry and physics with laboratory prac- tice,"~tnd such elements of :Natural History as the teachers of each school may be best fitted to give ; and if', in addition to the above Changes, Latin could be rationally studied for about two years as part of the required course for graduation,tthese schools would be vastly more useful to the large numbers whose education ends here, and would also be better able to prepare : ix stude~ts For admission to scientific and technical, schools, and that without in the least departing fi'om their legitimate work. Much of the work now done in our first year should be done in these schools, and could be, if the changes indicated were made, without much increasing the average age at which stu- dents now enter the Institute. The gain to the High Schools as well as to us can hardly be over-estimated. _Degrees. One hundred and twenty-slx students have com- pleted prescribed courses of study, and degrees have been given in years and departments as follows:-- 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 Total.