III. THE METHOD OF INSTRUCTION IN THE MECHANIC ARTS.

The following statement is extracted from the account given by Director Della-Vos, of the exhibit of the Moscow school at Philadelphia in 1876, and again substantially the same at the Paris Exposition in 1878:

"In 1868 the school council considered it indispensable, in order to secure the systematical teaching of elementary practical work, as well as for the more convenient supervision of the pupils while practically employed, to separate entirely the school workshops from the mechanical works in which the orders from private individuals are executed, admitting pupils to the latter only when they have perfectly acquired the principles of practical labor.

"By the separation alone of the school workshops from the mechanical works, the principal aim was, however, far from being attained. It was found necessary to work out such a method of teaching the elementary principles of mechanical art as, firstly, should demand the least possible length of time for their acquirement; secondly, should increase the facility of the supervision of the gradationary employment of the pupils; thirdly, should impart to the study itself of practical work the character of a sound, systematical acquirement of knowledge; and fourthly, and lastly, as should facilitate the demonstration of the progress of every pupil at every stated time. Everybody is well aware that the successful study of any art whatsoever, freehand or linear drawing, music, singing, painting, etc., is only attainable when the first attempts at any of them are strictly subject to the laws of gradation and successiveness, when every student adheres to a definite method or school, surmounting, little by little and by certain degrees, the difficulties to be encountered.

"All those arts, which we have just named possess a method of study which has been well worked out and defined, because, since they have long constituted a part of the education of the well-instructed classes of people, they could not but become subject to scientific analysis, could not but become the objects of investigation, with a view of defining those conditions which might render the study of them as easy and regulated as possible.

1 Elected honorary member, Sept. 11, 1878.

"If we except the attempts made in France in the year 1867 by the celebrated and learned mechanical engineer, A. Cler, to form a collection of models for the practical study of the principal methods of forging and welding iron and steel, as well as the chief parts of joiners' work, and this with a purely demonstrative aim, no one, as far as we are aware, has hitherto been actively engaged in the working-out of this question in its application to the study of hand labor in workshops. To the Imperial Technical School belongs the initiative in the introduction of a systematical method of teaching the arts of turning, carpentering, fitting, and forging.

“To the knowledge and experience in these specialties of the gentlemen intrusted with the management of the school workshops, and to their warm sympathy in the matter of practical education, we are indebted for the drawing-up of the programme of systematical instruction in the mechanical arts, its introduction in the year 1868 into the workshops, and also for the preparation of the necessary auxiliaries to study. In the year 1870, at the exhibition of manufactures at St. Petersburg, the school exhibited its methods of teaching mechanical arts, and from that time they have been introduced into all the technical schools of Russia.

"And now (1878) we present our system of instruction, not as a project, but as an accomplished fact, confirmed by the long experience of ten years of success in its results."

IV. THE SCHOOL

(1) Wood-Turning. - Course I. turning, thirteen samples or models. details and machines, thirty models.

WORKSHOPS.

For instruction in wood-
Course II. Patterns of

(2) Joinery. A course of twenty-five models for instruction in joinery and pattern-making.

(3) Forging.-Models (seventy-nine) for teaching the manipulations.

(4) Metal-Turning. - First course, thirty-eight samples or models. Second course, twenty-one models.

(5) Fitting.-Course I. Time for study, two hundred and forty hours on twenty-eight models. Course II. Time for study, two hundred and forty hours on twenty-three models. Course III. Time for study, two hundred and forty hours on twenty-four models. This shop is also fitted with benches, instruments, and apparatus for marking and lining the parts of machines to be worked.

(6) Models for the Practical Study of the Construction of Cutting Instruments. - I. Fourteen models of drills and countersinks increased to six times the ordinary size.

II. Eight models of the cutting parts of files increased to twenty-four times the ordinary size.

III. Ten models of screw-cutting tools increased to six times the ordinary size.

The importance of these models for teaching the theory of these tools is obvious.

It will be noticed that the course in fitting contains seventyfive models and seven hundred and twenty hours. It is found that one student cannot work the whole series in the given time, and the following system is adopted for the engineering students: Each student works one-third of the models; but he is held responsible for the remaining two-thirds by studying the work of the two who are on his right and left. When either of the three receives instruction, the other two must attend. In this way all are held responsible for the manner of working and the method of solution of each piece.

The students in the section of praticiens, on the other hand, must each work out the entire series.

With this account of one of the most thoroughly equipped and comprehensive schools for mechanic art and mechanical engineering education in the world, I pass to the

ROYAL MECHANIC ART SCHOOL

IN KOMOTAU, BOHEMIA.

This school opened Oct. 26, 1874, under the direction of Professor Theodore Reuter, who, after an inspection of the various methods of shop instruction in use in Europe, adopted that of the Moscow school, giving credit to Director Della-Vos. No manufacturing works are connected with the school. Its simple aim is to educate skilled mechanics in the best and quickest way, and with such theoretical knowledge as the mechanic needs in addition to manual skill. The front portion of the school-building, only half of which is shown in the cut, is used for the theoretical instruction, and the three portions extending at right angles in the rear contain the shops. These were at first equipped for forty-eight students; but additional facilities have been furnished from time to time to meet the increasing number of students. The minimum age for admission is fourteen years; but all ages up to twenty-six years are found in the school. The course is two years, and the student is occupied nine hours per day, — from eight to twelve M. in the

study and drawing rooms, and from one to six P.M. in the shops. The shop-work holds the first consideration, as the quality of this work is the test by which the public is to determine the value of the practical instruction. The theoretical subjects and the methods of teaching them are determined solely by the student's needs as a skilled mechanic. The following is the course of study:

First Year's Course of Shop - Work.-1. Carpentry and joinery, thirty hours per week for sixteen weeks. 2. Wood-turning, thirty hours per week for twelve weeks. 3. Hand-tool work in metals, thirty hours per week for twelve weeks. In this course the typical forms in locksmithery are used as models, preparatory to a course in application during the second year. The student changes his shop-work every four weeks.

First Year's Course of Theoretical Studies. -1. Linear drawing and the elements of projections, ten hours per week. 2. Freehand drawing, four hours per week. 3. Round-hand writing, one hour per week, winter term. 4. Arithmetic, five hours per week in winter, and two hours in summer. 5. Geometry, three hours per week in summer. 6. Physics, one hour per week. 7. Machine theory, two hours per week. 8. Simple book-keeping and business-papers.

In all of these subjects only the simplest elements are taught in a plain and thorough way.

Second Year's Course of ShopWork.-1. Forging, thirty hours per week for eight weeks, two hundred and forty hours. 2. Foundery-work, thirty hours per week for eight weeks. 3. Ironturning, thirty hours per week for twelve weeks. 4. Locksmithery, an applied course of thirty hours per week of twelve weeks.

Besides the prescribed work in this course, each industrious student can make one or more complete machines. This little

DRILLING-MACHINE.

drilling-machine is not given as a fair specimen, but because I happened to have a photograph of it. In this extra work he