connected with this latter company he served in various responsible capacities in New York, Pittsburg and Atlanta. Professor Heller resigned from the service of the American Bridge Co. in the latter part of 1901, and was looking for a suitable place to locate a cement factory when he accepted the call to his Alma Mater as Professor of Structural Engineering in April, 1902. He brought to his work at the university unusual qualifications. Deeply interested in the theory of his subject, he was eminently qualified from the practical standpoint to teach structural engineering. He had served in each capacity from subordinate to chief, and not less valuable was his experience in the executive offices of the larger company, where the amount of business transacted forced one to a quick appreciation of method and essentials. Among his professional brethren, Professor Heller gained no wide acquaintance. He devoted himself exclusively to his work and was seldom seen at social functions. Never of robust health, and naturally of a studious and retiring disposition, his declining strength forced him still further into seclusion. By some fatal chance his earlier physicians failed to diagnose his trouble. He was treated for a year or more for a supposed case of intestinal indigestion, visiting Colorado during the summer of 1905 in hopes of receiving some benefit, but getting none. He carried on his class-work until long after he should have given up all effort. When his fatal malady was diagnosed as advanced bronchial tuberculosis, the news came to him as a complete surprise, and with grief he laid down his unfinished labors. Upon confirmation of the diagnosis he saw clearly his hopeless condition and wished to die quickly. He passed away on February 20, 1906, only thirty-two days after he had given up his college classes. In Professor Heller's death the engineering and teaching professions sustained a distinct loss. He was esteemed alike by those who served over or under him, in college and out. He was painstaking and thorough himself and he expected no less from his students. This did not make him popular with any who might be inclined to shirk, but it won for him the high esteem of those whose opinion was worth having. If college students are better qualified as alumni to judge the value of their training, then the worth of Professor Heller as an instructor is attested by the pleasure with which his former students called on him when they came to the city. His interest in their welfare was undoubted. In addition to his college work he contributed a few articles to the technical journals, and at the time of his death was writing a treatise on structures. The first portion of this, entitled "Stresses in Structures and the Accompanying Deformations," although not yet formally published, was printed and is in use as a text-book. Professor Heller also acted in the capacity of consulting engineer to a number of corporations. He was a man of convictions and looked with serene confidence to a better future world. Throughout his life he had been a consistent Christian, and he faced forward with the steady gaze of a clear faith. His body was taken for burial to his native town. Services were from the Central Lutheran Church, of which he had been a member since early youth. C. E. SHERMAN. GEORGE WASHINGTON ATHERTON. George W. Atherton, LL.D., President of The Pennsylvania State College, died on July 24, 1906, at his home in State College, Pa., in his seventieth year. In his death the cause of education suffered an inestimable loss. Especially in the development of that new departure in education, provided for by the establishment of the land-grant institutions, his magnificent abilities and indefatigable devotion were of distinguished service. Keen intellect, unbending will, wisdom, tact and discretion, untiring devotion to duty, high ideals of honor, largeness of heart and charity, winning and gracious personality at once dignified and persuasive qualities eminently distinctive of Dr. Atherton, the scholar, the man, the gentleman-combined to give him a rare power and strength in the organization of enterprises and in the control of men and affairs. George Washington Atherton was born on June 20, 1837, at Boxford, Mass. At twelve years of age, upon the death of his father, he became self-supporting and assisted in caring for his mother and two sisters, at first by working in a cotton mill and later by farm work and teaching. By his unaided efforts, he made his way through Philips Exeter Academy, and in 1860 entered Yale University in the sophomore class. After his graduation in 1863, he responded to the call to arms and served throughout the Civil War with undaunted courage and efficiency. Before his discharge on account of illness he had achieved an honorable record and was promoted to a captaincy. His marriage to Frances D. W. Washburn had occurred in December of 1863. After leaving the army, be became instructor in the Albany Boys' Academy. From this position he was called to a professorship in St. John's College, Annapolis, Md. In 1868, he accepted a chair in the Illinois Industrial University (now the University of Illinois) and here first became interested in that practical type of education which was destined to so immediate and rapid a growth in importance in this country. During his connection with this institution, Dr. Atherton's relations with its first president and organizer, Dr. Gregory, were of the most happy nature and became firmly established in a life-long friendship. In the following year he was called to the chair of political economy, then newly established, at Rutger's College, New Jersey. He retained this position throughout the fourteen years which passed before his election to the presidency of the Pennsylvania State College. During this period he studied law and was admitted to the New Jersey bar, and at the same time manifested an active and serviceable interest in all public affairs. In 1873, he was a member of the Board of Visitors to the U. S. Naval Academy. In 1875, he was appointed by President Grant on the commission to investigate the charges of corruption at the Red Cloud Indian Agency. In 1878, was chairman of a commission of revision of the state system of taxation. In 1873, as the result of much thought upon the subject of higher education for the industrial classes with special reference to the provisions of the Morrill Act of 1862, he prepared an exhaustive paper under the title "The Relation of the General Government to Education," and presented it before the National Educational Association. In 1882, after what would seem to have been a life of preparation of peculiar fitness, Dr. Atherton became president of Pennsylvania's Land Grant College. The people of the state, lacking appreciation of the significance to them of an institution of this character, were at this time either indifferent or unfriendly in their attitude toward it, and its condition was one of disorganization and neglect. All of Dr. Atherton's well-known fund of courage and strength of purpose were required to enable him to face this new problem with the enthusiasm and never-failing optimism necessary to its successful solution. He was an indefatigable and tireless worker, continually spending himself to the point of physical exhaustion, wherever his interests were enlisted. His colossal labors in the service of The Pennsylvania State College were early rewarded by a change in public sentiment toward the institution, and by an almost phenomenal expansion in every direction during the twentyfour years of his administration. Seemingly unsurmountable difficulties were met and overcome with indomitable courage and energy, and The Pennsylvania State College came to be ranked with similar technical institutions of earlier and more favored development. Throughout this period he did not fail to respond to the calls of public duty, and in 1887 accepted an appointment to the chairmanship of a commission to inquire into the practicability of introducing manual training into the public school system. His comprehensive report upon this subject is regarded as authoritative in both Europe and America. By those who were associated with him for many years in national legislation relating to the land-grant colleges, the name of Dr. George W. Atherton is recognized as pre-eminent among the inspired pioneers who so generously devoted themselves to the development of the "liberal and practical education for the industrial classes" which has effected so fruitful a revolution in the educational methods of the age. LOUIS E. REBER. INDEX. Abbott, F. B., Discussion.. .5, 207 Address, Annual, of the President, by C. L. Crandall. THE GRADU- Allen, C. F., Discussion....2, 3, 4, 5, 31, 89, 136, 138, 197, 212, 220, 230 Architecture, Books on.. Atherton, George Washington, Obituary of.. Auditing Committee for Treasurer's Report.. Auditing Committee's Report.. Automobiles, Books on... Jones, Jr...... .xlviii 77 292 1 8 67 BENEFIT OF PHILOSOPHY TO THE ENGINEERING STUDENT, by B. Biography, Books on.. Books for Electrical Engineers, Reference.. BOOKS FOR LIBRARIES, REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TECHNICAL, by C. F. Burgess.. Brackett, B. B., Discussion.. Burgess, C. F., Discussion.. .2, 35 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON TECHNICAL BOOKS FOR LIBRARIES. 2, 35 Caldwell, F. C., Discussion.. FRAUD IN EXAMINATIONS. Carpenter, R. C., Discussion.. .3, 4, 123, 182, 193 WORK IN THE MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 5, 234 CHEMICAL ENGINEER, TRAINING OF, by H. P. Talbot.. 2, 22 Chemistry, Books on... 69 Civil Engineering, Books on.. Clark, J. J., THE CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL-ITS RELATION TO TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND SOME OF ITS RESULTS. Committee, Auditing of Treasurer's Report. 72 .6, 271 1, 8 |