thesis counting as 3, etc. About 80 per cent. of the regular students apply for the preliminary examinations, about three-fourths of these passing, and about one-half receiving diplomas.

A professor having some acquaintance with American institutions expressed the opinion that these directed their work and attention relatively more to the weaker students, and, in general, occupied themselves more with the personal welfare of students.

Of the foreign students, 113 came from AustroHungary, 59 from Russia, 56 from Italy, 40 from Germany, 33 from Holland, 28 from France, 26 from Roumania, 22 from Great Britain, 14 from America (North and South), etc. It is an eloquent testimony to the wise liberality of the Swiss Republic-neither great nor wealthy in comparison with many of these countries-that it furnishes so admirable an education to all comers at a nominal cost, with no thought of discrimination or direct return.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENTRANCE

REQUIREMENTS.

BY J. J. FLATHER, Chairman.

The aim of the committee for the past few years has been to obtain an expression of definition of subject so that recommendations might be made, looking to a greater uniformity in regard to accepted definition. With a few exceptions, this uniformity of definition for college entrance subjects has been accepted by various educational and scientific interests and substantial agreement has been reached with reference to mathematics, history and the languages, including English. It has been, however, impossible to agree upon definitions of requirement in the sciences, manual training and drawing.

While it is generally admitted that the requirements for physics and chemistry formulated by the Committee of Ten appointed by the National Educational Association a number of years ago are too extensive and should be reduced very materially, yet there seems to be a practical difficulty in determining what should be omitted.

An effort was made two years ago to have the National Societies interested in physics and chemistry formulate such a set of requirements and definitions, but at the time the societies did not care to undertake such a problem and the matter was dropped. However, it is the opinion of this committee that neither in physics nor chemistry as generally taught by the high schools of the country is the formulation lived up to; in fact there are very few such schools in a

position to teach the subjects as outlined by the committee of the N. E. A. Therefore it seems wise to reduce these requirements, and to this end expressions of opinion have been obtained from a number of teachers in these sciences, both in technical colleges and high schools; it is hoped that in the near future a resume of these will be presented to the members of the society for an expression of their opinion, from which a final report will be prepared.

Some few years ago a sub-committee from the Committee on Entrance Requirements was appointed to meet with a similar committee to be appointed by the N. E. A., but the latter association did not appoint the committee in sufficient time to have a conference as was anticipated, and no opportunity of a joint meeting has since been offered. It was hoped that a conference would be held during the past year at San Francisco, but the recent disaster has prevented the annual meeting of the N. E. A. this year, so the matter stands just as it was.

The same is true regarding manual training and drawing. Suggested formulations were sent to a number of men particularly interested in these subjects with a request for criticisms, but the opinions received were so varied and even antagonistic that no general formulations could be made. One of the national societies for manual training teachers formulated a set of definitions for shop work, which definitions were based entirely upon the time spent on the subject, but it seems that some general statement of what is to be taught in addition to the time limit should be given, and it is probable that the final report of the committee will include some such relation; that is, while the time spent on manual training

should be taken into account, yet the character of the work should also be considered, and when we speak of carpentry, or machine-shop work, we should have some definite idea as to what is meant by the subjects rather than simply a reference to the time spent. In some manual training schools, forging is taught by hammering out lead and foundry practice is taught by casting lead, but while this has a certain value in itself, it would hardly meet with the general approval of engineers. Therefore it seems better to state exactly what should be required in these subjects if they are to be accepted for entrance.

The question of definition for manual training subjects is complicated by the fact that many schools teach manual training so thoroughly that these subjects are accepted not only for entrance, but advanced credit is very frequently given. The question of advanced credit, however, is one which must be settled by each technical college individually, and the present aim is to obtain a substantial agreement as to what is meant by the various subdivisions of manual training as far as entrance credits are concerned. J. P. JACKSON,

MANSFIELD MERRIMAN,

C. D. MARX,

F. W. MCNAIR,

F. O. MARVIN,

J. C. NAGLE,

R. B. OWENS,

W. D. PENCE,

J. J. FLATHER, Chairman,

Committee.

TOPICAL DISCUSSION: WHAT MODIFICATIONS
IN ENGINEERING INSTRUCTION ARE

DEMANDED BY RECENT ADVANCE
IN PRACTICE?

PROFESSOR LANDRETH: The title calls for discussion on desired modifications in engineering instruction demanded by recent advance in practice. If the question were modified to the form "what modifications in engineering instruction are demanded by present professional requirements?" it would admit of a more definite and useful discussion.

"Recent practice" and "professional requirements" are not necessarily identical. Practice, like instruction is apt to lag behind professional requirements to a greater or less extent according to various factors, one of which is the character of engineering instruction itself.

It must be evident to everyone who keeps in touch on one hand with present professional demands and possibilities, and on the other with current instruction as inferred from the preparation shown by young engineers and from the typical engineering curriculum, that professional demands and possibilities strongly call for development of engineering training in two directions, viz., the development of the administrative faculty and the cultivation of the æsthetic sense and taste.

The increasing frequency with which engineers are now thrown into relations and situations calling for the exercise of executive and administrative functions, and the favorable possibilities open to engineers who possess such capacity in well-developed degree, make the question a pertinent one, whether the training at college or in the engineering school can be made more