the work in the mechanical laboratory and about 250 in the electrical laboratory. These relative numbers will remain about the same next year, after which the registration will become equal in the two laboratories due to the change of course which was made about a year ago.

In order to give the undergraduates as much laboratory practice as possible in the time which they have at their command, a series of experiments have been selected which are arranged in groups. All of the experiments in any one group are selected so as to be as nearly as possible equal, in the point of preparation required, and are taught simultaneously during the laboratory period. The students performing the experiments work in groups of two or three, the members of each group working together during an entire term and being assigned as a unit. When the experiment is of such a nature as to require more observers than would be found in one group, two or more groups may be combined to give the requisite number.

Each group of students is required to work up completely and fully the data taken during their experiment. Each student is required to write a full report covering in detail a description of the apparatus, of the methods of making the test, of the results and conclusions, and is frequently required to compare his results with those given by various authors. The student is graded by the work he does in the experiment and by his report. In grading the report his attention is called to errors both in composition and numerical results by a single check mark which he must correct in a revised copy before his work on the experiment is finally accepted and marked.

In addition to the experiment and report, the students meet in class rooms once a week with one of their instructors and recite on the important points pertaining to the experiment in question.

For the three exercises, which are made up of (1) three hours of experimental work in the laboratory, (2) a recitation on the subject of the experiment, and (3) a written report, three hours of credit are given. Our experience has proved, however, that the amount of credit is too small in proportion to the work done since actual investigation shows that in order to do the laboratory work satisfactorily the student must put in from eleven to fourteen actual hours per week, the average being not far from twelve. In most studies it is deemed fair that a student should have one hour credit for three hours of actual work, whether it be a lecture or recitation, with two hours of preparation, or three hours spent in drafting or workshop. In accordance with that practice our students should receive about four hours credit for each laboratory exercise, but such an arrangement does not seem possible with the present crowded condition of the curriculum.

A considerable amount of research and investigation work is performed in the laboratory. This work is usually done either by graduate students or by those who have had the training of the undergraduate laboratory courses to which reference has been made in a general way. In the carrying out of some investigations the university has expended a considerable amount of money to provide suitable apparatus or materials to work with. The results of the investigation and research are generally fully recorded in the graduating theses.

Respecting theses, I would state that until the year

1906, they were compulsory for all members of the graduating class. During 1904-5, it was found im possible to provide the necessary facilities for the proper preparation of suitable thesis investigations for the large graduating class. On recommendation, the faculty therefore voted to permit the students to elect studies of a prescribed character having an equivalent amount of credit in place of theses. A result of this arrangement was that only about one third of the graduates of this year's class presented theses. For the second degree a thesis involving quite an extended investigation is required.

The "Announcement of Courses of Study" which has recently been printed by the university shows the arrangements of studies in the different courses which have recently been adopted and which have now been carried into effect. It will be noted that no language studies appear in the course. This is not due to the fact that the study of languages has been curtailed, but is due to the fact that we now require the English, two years of French and two years of German, or their equivalent, as stated in the pamphlet referred to, before the student can be admitted. Our experience leads us to believe that students will be better trained in languages provided they take them before entering rather than during their college course, although this again will depend upon circumstances and conditions. The raising of the standard of admission, as noted, has given time for more technical work than has heretofore been given. As a good portion of this work is along the line of laboratory instruction, we believe that our men will in the future be much better trained for the practical problems of engineering life than they have been in the past.

THE FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC AT ZURICH

FROM AN ADMINISTRATIVE

STANDPOINT.*

BY H. W. TYLER,

Professor of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The following notes are based on the official publications of the polytechnic, supplemented by personal observation and conference with members of its fac ulty. The writer is much indebted to their courtesy, and particularly to the patience with which they received and answered numerous questions. No attempt was made to gain any acquaintance with equipment or the general methods and subject-matter of instruction, the object being to acquire a correct general understanding of organization and administrative methods, and of relations with the local university, and some notion of points of resemblance to or difference from American technological schools.

ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION.

The Federal Polytechnic is designed to serve the needs of all Switzerland for technological education. The federal council (Bundesrat) is accordingly the ultimate authority, electing the school council and its president and vice-president. Its jurisdiction includes also electing (or removing) professors and teachers and fixing their salaries, granting leaves of absence and retirement allowances, presenting the budget of the school to the federal legislature, determining the acceptance of gifts and bequests.

*

Reprinted from the Technology Review, Vol. VIII., No. 2.

These (and certain other) functions are exercised in general at the instance of the school council, with the intervention of the head of the department of the interior, who has a voice in all meetings of the school council.

The school council (Schulrat) is the active governing body, and its president is the executive head of the institution. It has the initiative in matters above mentioned as determined by the federal council; it elects the director and his substitute, and other administrative officers, except heads of departments, whom it has the right to confirm. (Its former right to elect these has been yielded to the professors.) It fixes salaries within the limits of budget set by the federal council, grants leaves of absence on occasion, appoints or removes teachers (Privat Docenten), apportions aid to students, determines laboratory and other fees, exercises oversight over the collections, reports annually to the federal council.

Besides these functions it has also the following powers and duties, although its exercise of them is, to a considerable extent, merely confirmatory: The approval of the semester programs; the determination of the school calendar and of the hours of exercises; action on the more serious cases of discipline, either on appeal or in original jurisdiction; the approval of the outlines of particular courses presented by the departments; the decision as to diplomas and prizes (the polytechnic has not yet the right to give degrees, but expects to receive it soon); the decision as to admission of students; any other needful functions not specially prescribed.

In the discharge of these functions it is obliged to secure the advice of the faculty (Gesamtkonferenz)