Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/451

 SCIENCE.

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��THE NEW MINING LABORATORY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY.

Before the era of railroads there was com- paratively little demand for tecbnicaily educated engineers ; and those who were classed aa such were either self-made men, or men who, after a college course, had studied engineering from s special lihing for the profession. This process of selection brought forward many of the best engineers the world has ever seen ;

��bent, and therefore follow their classmate's lead. The duty devolving upon the school is consequently to instruct to the best advantage the students of both classes in order that they m&y meet the world's demand. There isroom in the field of discovery and enterprise, not only for the Siemenses, the Beasemers, and the Ilolleys, but for an army of intelligent man- agers of works and their assistants. The student who hns it in him to become a Siemens or a Bessemer will educate himself, with the belj) of a sutuHjl. or wiihoiil it maybf : but the

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��but the time of preparation for work extended over a period of some six lo eight years. The almost incredibly rapid development of the railroad and of manufacturing and mining in- dustries has created, within the past twenty-five years, a demand for engineers which cannot be met by the comparatively alow methods of former years. In response to this demand, schools have sprung up, most of which aim to prei>are young men, by a four-years' course, to become engineers. As a natural result, there has been a rush of young men to these schools, in the expectation of finding lucrative positions open to them immediately ujxin graduation.

Perhaps one man in four selects a given course because he knows exactly what he wants to do. The other tliree have no special

��three-fourths of a given class who are to become a most important feature in the success of the works to which they go, must be aided to form a special bent for themselves.

The methods pursued in all the engineering courses of the Massachusetts institute of tech- nologj- for accomplishing the ahoi'e object are well illustrated in the department of mining engineering and raetallui^y, which has recently enlai^ed and refitted its laboratories. The plan is to assign the maximum amount of time possible in a four-years' course to the usual mental training for the profession, including the principles of chemistry, physics, mathe- matics, and modern languages, — all of them subjects best learned at school, — together with an amount of laboratory- work as small

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