ration, the collection and storage of water, and its impurities, the practical construction of waterworks, including reservoir embankments, waste weirs, partition walls, conduits, distributing systems, and the various methods of filtering. The delivery of water by pumps is here touched upon, though this matter is more thoroughly treated in the course on the steam engine. The theory and efficiency of the various forms of water wheels are investigated, and the students are instructed with regard to the different kinds of turbines, with their draft tubes, diffusers, and governors.

Students are required to measure the flow of adjacent streams by means of weirs, and thus practically to find the discharge. Practice in the measurement of the velocity of streams by means of current meters and floats is also given, and models of valves, motors, practical working turbines, etc., add value to the instruction.

The subject of aerodynamics is also taken up in this course, and the flow of air through orifices, and in pipes, blowing engines, the relations between the velocity and the pressure of the wind, anemometers, windmills, etc., are studied.

SEWERAGE SYSTEMS.

The design of sewerage systems is taken up in the fourth year. A comparison of the cost and efficiency of the different systems is made and the conditions under which each should be used explained. The various methods of sewage disposal are exemplified and their efficiency discussed. The effect of the surface slope and magnitude of area drained in connection with the maximum rainfall is considered, and main and branch sewers for the separate and combined systems are proportioned and their cost determined. The materials of construction, foundations required, methods of laying, and descriptions of details, such as branches, manholes, catch basins, etc., are also given.

STEAM ENGINEERING.

The course in steam engineering is given during the last term of the fourth year. It consists of a series of lectures by a well-known consulting mechanical engineer. The properties of steam are first elaborated and afterwards the details and construction of the various engines and boilers in ordinary use considered. The strength of their parts is calculated and their general operation explained. The course also includes pumping machinery. The lectures are illustrated by drawings, photographs, and handbooks, and books of reference are used for consultation. Each student makes a general design for a locomotive, pumping, marine, or other form of engine, though detailed drawings are not expected. He is also required to take indicator's diagrams from some engine and determine from them its power. Examinations of various forms of steam engines in the vicinity are also made under the direction of the instructor.

THESES.

A thesis on some technical subject must be written by each student during each summer vacation.

A graduating thesis, which must be either a review of, or a design for, a machine, structure, plant, system, or process belonging to a department of scientific or practical technics, is also required.

The annual register of the institute for 1893 contains the following clauses in relation to the conferring of degrees:

DEGREES.

The institute will confer the degree of civil engineer, or of bachelor of science upon all its future graduates who shall have completed the courses leading to such degrees, or to either of them.

The conditions of conferring the degree are as follows:

1. The candidate must have sustained a satisfactory examination in all the studies of the course in civil engineering or in that leading to the degree of bachelor of science.

2. His thesis must have been approved by the faculty.

3. He must have paid all dues to the institute.

4. He must be of good moral character.

BUILDINGS AND PROPERTY.

The institute has at present six buildings in use for purposes of instruction-the main building, the Winslow Laboratory, the Ranken House, the astronomical observatory, the gymnasium, and the alumni building.

The main building is 115 feet in length, 50 feet in breadth, and four stories in height. It contains lecture and recitation rooms, drawing rooms, and the laboratories of the department of physics. The main hall of the institution, where the reading of theses takes place, is also in this building.

The Winslow Laboratory is 77 feet long, 45 feet wide, and three stories high. It is devoted to the department of chemistry. The first story contains rooms for quantitative analysis and special investigations, and also the furnaces for the work in assaying. The second story contains the general laboratory for qualitative analysis and rooms for chemical balances and for the instructor in charge. The third story contains the general lecture hall, a recitation room, a room for the apparatus used in the lectures on general chemistry, and an office for the use of the instructors in the department. In this room there is a carefully selected special chemical library.

The William Proudfit Observatory is an astronomical observatory consisting of a central part 40 feet square, with north, south, and east wings. It is 70 feet long and 60 feet in depth. It is well equipped with instruments for use in engineering instruction, con

taining a transit instrument, chronometer, chronograph, clocks, and sextant.

The Ranken House is 40 feet square and two stories in height. It is used as a mechanical laboratory, and contains machines for the testing of the various metals and of cement, stone, wood, etc.

The gymnasium is 80 feet long, 44 feet wide, and two stories high. The first story contains bowling alleys, sponge and shower baths, a dressing room, and a reception room. The whole of the second story, 30 feet in height, is taken up by the gymnasium proper, which has a gallery with a racing track, and is fitted up with the best patterns of Dr. Sargent's gymnastic apparatus.

The alumni building is about 50 feet square and three stories in height. It is fireproof throughout, having concrete floors and brick partition walls. The first floor contains the library, a room for the trustees and the transaction of general executive business and one for the office of the director. The second and third floors contain the geological, mineralogical, and general natural history collections. There is also a lecture room for the professor of geology on the second floor.

THE LIBRARY.

The library, located on the first floor of the new fireproof alumni building, is strictly technical in its character. It consists of about 5,000 volumes and a large number of pamphlets and maps, and contains many valuable scientific works, including the publications of foreign and American societies, and bound volumes of various technical journals. The professional library of the late Alexander L. Holley was bequeathed by him to the institution and forms a part of its collection. The books and pamphlets are accessible to all members of the institute, and the reading room attached contains the current numbers of all the more valuable scientific publications of this and other countries.

The institution possesses valuable collections of drawings, models, instruments, and machines for purposes of illustration and instruction in its various departments. The total value of its property is estimated at $350,000.

ence.

ITS GRADUATES.

The importance of this institution in the educational history of the country is well known. This is due not only to the methods of instruction and the high standard of scholarship required, but also to the splendid work of its graduates as engineers and teachers of sciIn a pamphlet published in 1892, entitled A Partial Record of the Work of Graduates of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, are given the names of 33 presidents, 121 vice-presidents, managers, and superintendents, and 69 chief engineers of railroad companies, steel and iron works, bridge companies, waterworks, electric companies, mining companies, sewerage systems, canals, etc., who have graduated