DEPARTMENT OF PRACTICAL MILITARY ENGINEERING.

FOURTH, THIRD, SECOND AND FIRST CLASSES.

Cadets of the fourth class receive an elementary course in theoretical surveying during the month of February.

During the summer encampment, cadets of the third class receive practical instruction in the use and adjustment of surveying instruments and in surveying methods. In this course they apply in the field what has been taught them in their theoretical course of the preceding spring. The course includes tie line surveys, made by use of the tape or chain alone, surveys made with the compass and with the transit, and running differential level circuits.

Cadets of the second class receive, during the fall drill season, instruction in visual signaling, using the flag and the heliograph for sending and receiving messages. They are also taught to set up and adjust the heliograph and the acetylene lantern. During the spring period, this class is instructed in the field methods of electrical communication, and is given practice in establishing and using buzzer lines under, as nearly as possible, service conditions. The course also comprises setting up and operating field wireless telegraph outfits.

During the summer encampment, cadets of the first class are instructed in building pile, trestle, and pontoon bridges, in improvising methods of crossing streams, in making road sketches, both mounted and dismounted, and in combined position sketching. During the fall course, this class is given instruction in the construction and operation of appliances used in field engineering, in the erection of spar and trestle bridges, and in the use of explosives in military demolitions. The spring course is devoted to field fortification work, including the construction of trenches, revetments, obstacles, bomb proofs, and gun pits; posting and distribution of working parties in the construction of saps, trenches, parallels, and approaches; and tracing and profiling siege works.

TEXT BOOK.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE.