be furnished at or near the school, to be under the inspection and control of the faculty, at a small expense. No charge is made for the use of public rooms, library, chemical and philosophical apparatus, tools of the workshop, or the cabinet. And each student will attend the daily lectures of the Professors, free of charges. A student of strict prudence, may pay all his expenses for the 42 weeks in each year, at this branch, with $120, as follows: Tuition $21: board $63: fuel and lights $10: washing and lodging $10: text books $6: amusement apparatus, $10.

As this circular may fall into the hands of some, who have not read the new code of by-laws, passed April 3d, 1826, and the legislative act of incorporation, passed March 21st, 1826, it may be advisable to state as follows:

The Rensselaer School was founded by the Honorable Stephen Van Rensselaer, solely for the purpose of affording an opportunity to the farmer, the mechanic, the clergyman, the lawyer, the physician, the merchant, and in short, to the man of business or of leisure, of any calling whatever,. to become practically scientific. Though the branches which are not taught here, are held in high estimation, it is believed that a school attempting every thing, makes proficients in nothing. The Rensselaer School, therefore, is limited to an EXPERIMENTAL COURSE in the NATURAL SCIENCES. The studies of the preparation branch are extended no farther than is necessary, as auxiliaries to the experimental course.

The FALL TERM commences on the third Wednesday in July, and continues 15 weeks.

The WINTER TERM commences on the third Wednesday in November, and continues 12 weeks.

The SPRING TERM commences on the first Wednesday in March, and continues until the last Wednesday in June: which is the day of the annual commencement. EXPENSES. All the same as in the preparation branch, with the addition of double the charge for tuition in the fall and spring terms, on account of the great additional labor required for teaching the student to perform with his own hands about sixteen hundred experiments in chemistry and natural philosophy. But students who have gone through a course in the preparation branch with success, will not be required to attend the winter term. This will reduce the necessary expenses to about $95 for the whole experimental course.

Many unsuccessful attempts have been made to render science amusing to the youthful mind. They have generally proved very unprofitable, by diverting the attention of the student from literary pursuits, and by creating an attachment to useless, and often demoralizing sports. By the plan adopted at this school, the objections to scholastic amusements are effectually obviated; and it will appear by this circular, that those have been selected, which will give due exercise to both body and mind. The muscular powers of the body will be called into action, and their forces will be directed by mental ingenuity, until the student becomes familiar with the most important scientific manipulations, and particularly with those which will be most useful in the common concerns of life.

The Rensselaerean scheme for communicating scientific knowledge had never been attempted on either continent, until it was instituted at this school, two years ago. Many indeed mistook it, at first, for Fellenberg's method; but its great superiority has now been satisfactorily tested by its effects. As the experimental school, as well as the preparation branch, were founded solely for the public benefit by its disinterested patron, it is the particular desire of the trustees, that its excellences should be understood and imitated at other schools, as set forth in a former circular. Like other useful inventions, much expense was required for making the first experiment. Fortunately for science, the trial has been fairly made at the expense of many thousands, advanced by a single indi

vidual. Now it may be followed, in its chief advantages, by every school district; while the parent school at Troy will prepare competent teachers.

By order of the Trustees.

SAMUEL BLATCHFORD, President.

Rensselaer School, Troy, (N. Y.) Sept. 14, 1826.

OFFICERS OF THE SCHOOL.

PATRON,

Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer, with the power to appoint all Examiners.

TRUSTEES,

Surveyor Gen. S. De Witt and Prof. T. R. Beck, of Albany-Hon. J. D. Dickinson and Hon. R. P. Hart, of Troy-Rev. Dr. Blatchford and E. Parmelee, Esquire, of Lansingburgh-Hon. G. Van Schoonhoven and Hon. J. Cramer, of Waterford.

FACULTY,

Rev. S. Blatchford, President,-A. Eaton, Sen. Prof.-L. C. Beck, Jun. Prof.

AUXILIARY OFFICERS,

Dr. Moses Hale, Sec'ry.-Mr. H. N. Lockwood, Treas.-T. Dwight Eaton, Monitor and Libra rian.-Asahel Gilbert, Steward.-Cyrus A. Lockwood, Esquire, Acting Steward.

AMOS EATON.

A slight digression is necessary to give a short account of one whose remarkable powers as a teacher of science insured its early success. Amos Eaton, the first senior professor, was born at Chatham, N. Y., in 1776. He gave evidence at an early age of superior ability and aptitude in the acquirement of scientific knowledge. At the age of 16, with homemade instruments, he had become a practical surveyor, and in 1799 graduated at Williams College with a high reputation for his scientific attainments. Although he at first studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1802, he never lost his interest in natural sciences, and abandoning his profession went to Yale College in 1815 to more thoroughly fit himself for scientific pursuits. He had given in 1810 a course of popular lectures on botany, and in 1817 returned to Williamstown to give lectures to volunteer classes in botany, mineralogy, and geology. Giving evidence here of his value as a teacher, and of his remarkable power of exciting the interest and enthusiasm of students, he determined to deliver a series of popular lectures throughout New England and other States. This was done with great success. According to Prof. Albert Hopkins he was one of the first to popularize science in the Northern States. In 1820 he was appointed professor of natural history in the Medical College at Castleton, Vt., and in this and the following year made, under the patronage of Stephen Van Rensselaer, geological and agricultural surveys of Albany and Rensselaer counties in the State of New York. There was thus acquired a knowledge of his capabilities which secured his appointment as senior professor in the Rensselaer Institute. He left the imprint of genius upon this school, and died at Troy in 1842.

He was not only an able teacher, but a scientific investigator and explorer as well. His practical work and writings attest this. His first work, a treatise on botany, was published in 1810, and his last, on geology, in 1841. He wrote on botany, zoology, chemistry, geology, and surveying. The different editions of his various books amount in all to about 40 publications.1

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICAL ARTS ESTABLISHED.

By an act of the legislature passed in 1832 the name of the institution was changed from the Rensselaer School to the Rensselaer Institute, and in 1833 by the same authority the trustees were empowered to establish a department of mathematical arts for the purpose of giving instruction in engineering and technology.

From its inception to this time the institution has been a school of natural science, its graduates receiving the degree A. B. (r. s.).

A consideration of the condition of the country and of the state of scientific knowledge as applied to the constructive arts toward the beginning of the century shows why this was the case. At the time of the foundation of the school it could hardly be said that there were in this country any engineers other than military engineers. But few miles of canal had been built, the Erie canal having been begun in 1817. There were no railroads, the first one having been opened in 1830. The term civil engineer had hardly been coined. The inclusion, therefore, among the duties of the senior professor, in the first triennial catalogue, published in 1828, of lectures on civil engineering is significant of the broad and enlightened views of the founder and officers of instruction.

The foundation of the department of mathematical arts resulted in the establishment of a course in civil engineering, and eight members of the class of 1835 received the degree of civil engineer (C. E.). This was the first class in civil engineering graduated in any Englishspeaking country. There follows a copy of a notice dated October 14, 1835, in which the curriculum of the engineer corps is set forth. It is interesting not only because it is the first prospectus of a school of civil engineering ever issued in English, but because it adds to our information of the state of applied science in this country at that date. A more striking indication than this notice of the advancement, during the last sixty years, in the application of scientific knowledge to the development of the constructive arts can hardly be given. This is especially the case with those parts of it relating to the conferring of degrees, where it is stated that the degree of civil engineer is conferred on candidates of 17 years or upward, and that one year is sufficient for obtaining the degree. Also that graduates of colleges may succeed in obtaining it by close application during 'See Nason's Biographical Record of the Officers and Graduates of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Durfee's History of Williams College.