Professor Charles H. Wing, who has charge of the department of Analytical and Organic Chemistry, during the temporary absence of Professor Crafts, says that "the room at the disposal of the department is not sufficient for instruction in Analytical Chemistry, many processes must be omitted for want of suitable arrangements for conducting them with safety, and the Professor has viewed with considerable apprehension certain operations, too important to be omitted, involving, for want of a proper room, some danger to the student and also to the building. But Analysis is the mechanical portion of Chemistry and were instruction to cease there, the student would, on graduating, have neither a knowledge of applied chemistry, nor any idea. even of the scientific methods of modern chemists, would only be qualified to do the drudgery, to be the 'hewer of wood and the drawer of water' to the chemist proper. The instruction should go farther than this; and the time now allotted in the revised course for laboratory work and the zeal displayed by the students now in this department will, in the opinion of the writer, render it possible to complete the necessary analytical work during the Third Year, leaving the remaining year to be devoted to the study of practical and scientific chemistry. Omitting any discussion of the wants of the department of applied chemistry, if the erection of the new Chemical Laboratory is to be delayed, there is an almost imperative demand for a building of one story, practically fire-proof, affording to the department of analytical and organic chemistry additional room say 30 x 50 feet, more if practicable, less if needs be, but at all events some room properly fitted for chemical research (and for such operations in analytical chemistry as should not be done in the present laboratories) ready to be occupied at the commencement of the next Collegiate year.

I also ask your attention to the able and interesting statement of Professor Ordway, as an important part of this presentation.

The Courses of Instruction. During the early part of the

year much time was devoted to a revision of the courses of in-

struction. It had become apparent not only that too much was

asked of the students in all the courses, but that the amount

required in the different ones was quite unequal, as was also

the work of the different years in the same course. These dif-

ficulties had grown gradually by the addition of new subjects,

and also by the desire of each Professor to make his own in-

struction as complete as possible. A new course in Metallurgy

was established for those who found the mathematics of the

Course in Mining too difficult, and preferred to devote more

time to the chemical side of their profession. To meet the

wants of the increasing number of students who do not wish

to take any of the strictly professional courses, two new ones,

one in Physics, and one in Philosophy, were added, and all

of them were made distinct from the beginning of the second

year, instead of the third, as heretofore. This extension of the

strictly professional studies over three full years will prove of

great advantage in all the courses. These revised courses

went into operation, with few exceptions, at the middle of the

year; and although a few more changes will from time to time

be found desirable, yet I think that they have substantially

solved the difficulties.

Graduation. The question is sometimes asked why so small
a proportion of each class graduates, and whether it is not
mainly owing to the fact that the courses are too difficult for
the average student?

To answer this question properly we should, in the first place,

deduct all special students, as is done in the above table. In

the second place, we should also deduct those who take all the

studies of the first year without the intention of graduating,

which is probably not less than twenty-five per cent. of each

entering class; but this allowance has not been made in com-

puting the percentages.

It is undoubtedly true that in the past, inadequate prepara-

tion, and an over crowding of the courses, have been efficient
causes; but they are no longer controling with the majority of
students. It quite frequently happens that a good student takes
a strong dislike to a particular subject, and prefers to give up his
degree rather than to continue it; and another supposes that
by dropping some subject, which he regards as not vital, he
will be able to do better in the remaining studies, a supposition
which is seldom realized. There is, however, a growing de-
sire on the part of students to graduate, and this, with better
preparation for admission, and a better adjustment of our
work, will from year to year increase the percentage of gradu-
ates in each class.

Theses. This is the first year in which the graduates have
presented their theses before the final examination, a change
which has been found feasible by the relief afforded in the re-
vised courses during the second half of the fourth year. The
general excellence of these theses, and the marked ability of
several of them, certainly justify the change. Your attention
is called to the abstracts on page 81 of this report.

Preparation for Admission. The High Schools and Acade-

mies of the country are, in general, becoming from year to

year, more distinctly schools of science and the modern lan-

guages, and whatever tends to improve them for the education.

of the large numbers whose school days end with graduation

from them, will the better adapt these schools to fit students

for admission to the Institute.

We still need a better preparation for admission to be able

to do well in four years what seems desirable: and I take this

opportunity to respectfully ask the attention of teachers who may

be called upon to prepare students for admission to the Institute,

to this subject. We now require "arithmetic (including the

metric system of weights and measures), and algebra through

equations of the second degree, plane and solid geometry,

French grammar through regular and irregular verbs,1 English

grammar and composition, rhetoric, (so much as is included in

the first part of Bain's Rhetoric, or its equivalent), and geog-

raphy. In general, the training given at the best High Schools,

Academies, and Classical Schools, will be a suitable preparation

for this school."

To make more clear what we still wish to accomplish in the

near future, I will also quote from the Catalogue the scheme of

our First Year's work.

We will refer to the subjects in the order given in the
scheme. In the mathematics, one-third of the time was spent
in a review of what was required for admission. This seemed
necessary on account of the inequality in the preparation of

1" The amount of French at present required is embraced in Part I. of Otto's Gram-

mar, and the first twenty-five pages of Bôcher's French Reader, or their equivalent."

le

different students. In the near future we must ask preparation in logarithms, and a few other subjects in algebra, and plane and spherical trigonometry, which will enable us to complete analytic geometry and calculus by the end of the second year, and thus give two full years for analytic mechanics and applications.

We are not likely to ask any preparation in chemistry for some time to come; and yet every secondary school should have a small and inexpensive chemical laboratory in which the elements of the subject should be thoroughly taught. With such aid we could make our general course in chemistry, which ends with the first year, much more complete.

The preparation in English is defective, not perhaps that the student is ignorant of the facts of history and literature, but because he has neither skill, nor ease, nor even accuracy in the use of the language. The remedy is not in the study of history and literature, but in the study of the structure of the language, and a constant application of the few general principles involved, until they become fixed in the memory and in the habit so firmly as never to be forgotten or disused. An occasional exercise in composition is not sufficient. An exercise in writing, in some form or other, should be the one never to be omitted for a single day, until, first, accuracy, and second, facility of expression, have been acquired. A ready use of the language should be made of the greatest aid in the study of all other subjects. What can be clearly expressed must be clearly thought, and no test is of so much value as a written examination.

In French the preparation was better than in the previous year, but upon the whole, not satisfactory. There will be a gain from year to year, and we wish to increase the amount until we can get about twice as much as is now required. This will enable us to complete the general course in this language at the end of our first year, and give proper time in the following years for German.