Prerequisites: Courses A, C, D.

Astronomy.-Course D: Spherical and practical astronomy. First semester [3]. Course E: Theoretical astronomy. Second semester [2].

These courses enter into a more detailed study of certain departments of practical and theoretical astronomy, and require a working knowledge of the calculus. They must, therefore, presuppose mathematical courses A and B. During the first semester the students use the meridian circle, making and reducing their own observations. They predict occultations and observe them. In the second semester practice is transferred to the equatorial telescope. The order and character of practical work through the year, however, must frequently vary according to the positions of celestial objects of study. Theoretical astronomy is generally treated under the form of comet's orbit.

Course F: The solar spectrum. Second semester [2].

This course in the study of the sun will introduce the student to the principles underlying our knowledge of the constitution of the celestial bodies as revealed by the spectroscope. It does not presuppose the course in general astronomy, but an ordinary knowledge of the solar system is desirable.

Physics.-Course D: Practical physics; experimental work in physical measurements and electricity with lectures and collateral reading. First semester [3]. Course E: Practical physics; experimental work in light with lectures and collateral reading. Second semester [3].

Chemistry.—Course D: Organic chemistry. First semester [3]. Two lectures and three hours of laboratory work per week. Open to those who have completed Course B.

Course E: Sanitary chemistry. Second semester [3]. One lecture and six bours' laboratory work per week. Chemistry of air and water in their relation to health, water supply and purification, ventilation, food adulteration, and legal standards of purity. Open to those who have completed courses C and D.

Course F: History of chemical theory. Second semester [2]. Open to those who have completed Course D.

Geology.-Course D: An advanced course, either in petrography or in paleontological and stratigraphical geology, with practice in field work. First semester [2]. Course E: Advanced geology. Either a continuation of Course C, or, for those who have not pursued Course C, a similar course. Second semester [2].

Biology.-Course C: General Zoology. First semester [3]. Three lectures and four hours laboratory work weekly. Open to those who have had Course B. This gives the student a systematic knowledge of the animal kingdom, attention being paid chiefly to the classification, development, and homologies of invertebrates.

Course D: Embryology. Second semester [3]. Three lectures, four hours' laboratory work weekly. Open to those who have had Course B.

Thorough work on the embryology of the chick is followed by a brief compara tive study of the development of the vertebrates. The usual method of making and studying sections of the chick is supplemented by models in clay made by the students to illustrate the more important stages in development.

Course E: Higher biology. Second semester [1]: Open to those who have taken Courses C and D.

This course begins with a history of the development of the biological sciences with special reference to the growth of the evolution theory. Some of the leading questions of biology, such as natural selection, evolution, heredity, are discussed in the lectures.

Course F: Current biological literature. First and second semesters [1]. Open to seniors who have had Course B and are taking Courses C and D.

The class meets weekly throughout the year. The aim of the course is to give

the student familiarity with current biological literature, practice in bibliography, and in the presentation and discussion of papers.

Course G: Comparative anatomy or histology. Second semester [2].

Three

to four hours' laboratory work a week. Open to those who have had course B. This course is intended to give a comparative knowledge of the structure of the various organs of vertebrates. Those who wish to study medicine will have an opportunity to do special work in comparative osteology. This course may alternate with a course in histology.

History.—Course D: American constitutional history. First semester [4].

This course is open to students who have had at least three courses in history. The course is intended to offer opportunity for critical study of the origin and development of the American Constitution. The specific lines of work along which the general subject is studied vary from year to year. The class is divided into small sections, thus affording opportunity for constant discussion of facts and principles and the individual study of special topics.

Course E: American and English constitutional history. Second semester [3]. This course is open to students who have completed Course D.

The course completes the work of Course D, and includes a comparative study of the existing political institutions of America and England.

Course F: Nineteenth century history. First semester [2].

This course is open to students who have completed Course B and Course C. The object of the course is to study the different political conditions in Western Europe as they have been developed from the French Revolution. The special subjects considered include the growth of republican ideas in France, the unification of Italy, the establishment of the German Empire, and the revolutionary movements of 1830 and 1848. Special topics for individual study are taken up by each member of the class and pursued throughout the semester. Course G: Comparative politics. Second semester [2].

This course is open to those who have completed Course F.

The work comprises a study of different theories in regard to the origin and functions of the State, with an examination of the application of these theories in the different forms of modern federal government. The specific questions considered vary from year to year.

During the year 1895-96 and subsequently the required work in history will be a course of three hours a week throughout the sophomore year in general European history.

Economics.-Course D: Railroad transportation, trusts, and the relation of the State to monopolies. First semester [2]. Must be preceded by A.

Laissez-faire, the argument for and against, and substitutes proposed for this precept; definition and classification of monopolies; transportation prior to the railway, development of the railway system, results of improved transportation and communication, railway organization and accounts, competition, combination, discrimination, rates, railroad policy of different countries and of this country before 1887, constitutional and legal limitation of the legislative power in controlling transportation agencies, proposed solutions of the railway problem, including State ownership, the interstate commerce law and its results; the development, organization, advantages, and dangers of trusts, antitrust legislation; municipal ownership of waterworks, gas works, electric-lighting plants and street railways; conclusion as to the proper treatment of monopolies.

Course E: (a) The labor problem; its origin and attempts toward its solution; (b) Socialism. Second semester [3]. Open to those having had A.

The chief topics considered will be the historical basis of the labor problem in the economic development of the last hundred years; the progress and present condition of the working classes; their complaints and claims; history and aims of workingmen's combinations; conciliation and arbitration; cooperation; profit

sharing; different views as to the proper relation of the State to industry; factory and other legislation; history of socialism, its present strength, critical study of the proposals of the different schools of socialists; principles of social reform. Course F: Social science. First semester [2]. Open only to seniors who have taken A.

Sociological bearings of natural selection, heredity, environment, free will; physical, physiological, psychological, moral, and social causes of abnormality; statistics of the causes of pauperism, history of the English poor laws; principles that should direct charity; private relief, charity organization, public relief, almshouses, old age pensions and workingmen's insurance; relief for the unemployed, including labor colonies and the tramp problem; dependent children; relief of the sick; insanity; statistics of the causes of crime; criminal anthropology; prevention of crime; principles that should govern the treatment of offenders; delinquent children; reformatories; prison methods, cumulative sentence; the family and divorce. Visits have been made to various charitable and correctional institutions, of which there is a considerable variety within easy access of the college. The formal and informal lectures by those in charge of the institutions visited have been very instructive.

Course G: Economic seminary. Second semester [2]. This course will be offered only when desired by several properly prepared students. A prerequisite for admission is the completion with success of at least three courses in economics. If not previously taken, Course E must be elected contemporaneously with the seminary.

Art.-Course C [2]: First semester.

Painting: Classic and Byzantine painting, Renaissance painting, Giotto, Fra Angelico, Masaccio, Leonardo, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Titian, Veronese, Durer, Rubens, Rembrandt, Velasquez, Murillo, Poussin, David, Millet, Hogarth, Reynolds, Benjamin West.

Music.-Course C: Counterpoint. Exercises in adding one, two, three, four, or more voices in simple counterpoint to given or original cantus fermi. Also the principles employed in writing double counterpoint, canon, and fugue. First semester [2].

Course D: History. It is the aim in this course to study, under the following headings, the outlines of musical progress from the time of the most ancient Oriental civilization to the present. Oriental and ancient music; the first ten centuries of Christian music; from Guido to the fourteenth century; epoch of the Netherlanders; the rise of dramatic music; the beginning of oratorio; instrumental music from the sixteenth to the nineteen century; general development of Italian, French, and German opera; of the oratorio, cantata, passion music, and sacred music. First semester [2].

Course E: History of dramatic music. The Greek drama; its rise and decline. Invention of the opera or rediscovery of dramatic music by the Florentine Camerati, and its progressive development into the music drama of Richard Wagner. History and synopsis of operas representative of the various schools-Neapolitan, French, Italian-German, national German, and cosmopolitan. To be illustrated at the piano forte. Second semester [2].

Course F: History of sacred music. Second semester [2]. Liturgical music and musical instruments of ancient peoples; music of the early Christians; of the Roman, Greek, and Protestant church. History and analysis of the forms employed in modern worship music, namely: The recitative, aria, chant, canticle, anthem, motette, chorus, familiar hymn tunes and Gospel hymns, cantata, oratorio, passion music, and mass. History and analysis of one or more of the standard oratorios (the Creation, the Messiah, Elijah, St. Paul, etc.), and of organ music and miscellaneous solo forms suitable for purposes of worship.

Courses E and F are exchangeable. Students electing both may count but one toward the degree.

The College Chorus meets once a week and offers class training in the principles and practice of vocal music, namely: Notation, time, accent, dynamics, tone production, articulation, and expression.

GRADUATE COURSES.

Courses of advanced study will be arranged by the various departments of the college for graduates of colleges who may prove to the faculty their ability to profit by them. The student will have the advantage of study with the instructor and of a general direction in her investigations.

Graduate courses of study, under the direction of the heads of the different departments of instruction, will be arranged for such resident graduates as wish to take examinations for the second degree in arts (A. M.).

DEGREES.

Students who have completed the regular course will receive the first or baccalaureate degree in arts (A. B.).

No person will be admitted to the college as a candidate for the degree of bachelor of arts after the beginning of the first semester of the senior year.

The second degree in arts (A. M.) may be conferred upon bachelors of arts of this or any other approved college who have pursued a course of advanced nonprofessional study. The required period of residence is one year, but graduates

of this college studying in absentia must employ at least two years to complete the same amount of work. Nonresidents must submit their proposed courses of study to the faculty not later than November 1 of the year preceding that in which the degree is to be taken. The candidate must pass examinations on the course of study arranged and present an acceptable thesis. The title of the thesis must be presented to the faculty as early as possible and not later than January 1 of the year in which the degree is conferred. A fair copy of the thesis should be sent to the president's office not later than May 1 of the same year.

The degree of doctor of philosophy (Ph. D.) will not be conferred by the college at present. In the estimation of the trustees and faculty the requirements for this degree can not be met properly where there is not special provision made for extended graduate work, such as can not be offered by institutions without a university equipment.

COLLEGE BUILDINGS AND PROPERTY.

Since the college opened with its two buildings-the main hall and the observatory-various others have grown up about it. The museum, erected in 1866; the laboratory, erected in 1880, the gift of John Guy Vassar and Matthew Vassar, jr.; the conservatory, dating from 1886; the alumnæ gymnasium of 1889, and Strong Hall, a dormitory built in 1893, testify to the growth and prosperity of the college. All, especially the observatory and the laboratory as well as the gymnasium, are furnished with excellent apparatus for their respective purposes. A valuable art collection is found in the museum, part of which is the gift of Matthew Vassar, who purchased from the Rev. Elias Magoon, D. D., of Albany, more than 400 pictures in oil and water colors.

No separate library building is in existence, the present library of about 22,000 volumes occupying a large room in the main building. The total college property amounts to $1,921,518.

PROFESSOR MITCHELL.

No history of Vassar would be complete without mention of her famous professor, Miss Mitchell.

Maria Mitchell was born at Nantucket on August 1, 1818. Her parents were Quakers. As a child she assisted her father in astronomical work. She studied with him and in one of the Nantucket schools until her eighteenth year, when she became librarian in the Athenæum Library in her native town. Here she found ample opportunity for pursuing her studies, astronomy being the chief. She carried on practical work with the theoretical and discovered several new comets. In October, 1847, she discovered one that had not been seen before. On this her fame rests.

After a sojourn in Europe, where she became acquainted with Sir John Herschel, Sir George Airy, Leverrier, Humboldt, and some of the leading astronomers of Italy, she resumed her work as librarian in Nantucket. In 1865 she was appointed to the professorship of astronomy in Vassar, a position which she occupied until 1888.

The strength and simplicity of her character and the inspiration of her class work left an impress not to be forgotten on all students who came in contact with her. She died in June, 1889.

VASSAR'S PRESIDENTS.

The first acting president of the college was the Rev. John II. Raymond, LL. D., whose death in 1878 left the chair vacant. It was filled by the Rev. Samuel L. Caldwell, who held it until 1887 and then resigned. An interregnum of a year followed, during which time the Rev. James Ryland Kendrick assumed the position of president pro tempore. In 1886 Dr. James W. Taylor was elected to the office, which he still holds.

DR. RAYMOND.

To no one is Vassar more deeply indebted for her success and for her persistent effort to uphold a high standard of scholarship than to her first president. Taking up the work, as he did, at its very beginning, he found himself confronted by the old problem, how to bring order out of chaos? He was to decide on the organization of the college, collect a faculty, and, hardest of all, convince the girls gathered from seminaries far and near of the value of sound systematic training. No further recognition is needed of the steadfastness, breadth of mind, and sound scholarship of Vassar's first president than his success in realizing his ideal for the college. "My idea is not at all the one at first proposed," he wrote, "to make the school an omnium gatherum of ages, studying on all plans, but to make an earnest effort at organizing a liberal education for women, taking students at a