At present the department of physics and electrical engineering, under the head of Prof. Charles R. Cross, has an active teaching force of one professor, four assistant professors, six instructors and three assistants, a total of fourteen. In addition to these, there are twelve lecturers on special topics, including many men eminent in their profession. The Rogers laboratories occupy sixteen rooms in the Walker Building, including two lecture-rooms and ten laboratories. As in the case of the chemical department, these laboratories are highly specialized. There is a laboratory for general physics, one for electrical measurements, two rooms devoted to a laboratory for electrical engineering, containing two distinct power plants driven by steam engines of 100 and 150 horse-power, with a large number of dynamo machines, transformers and a great variety of other apparatus arranged for purposes of instruction, the mere enumeration of which would occupy several pages. Moreover, a lighting and power plant in the new building on Trinity Place is available for experiments and instruction. Besides these, there are rooms for photometry, for heat measurements, for acoustics, for optics and for photography. In fact, probably no department of the Institute is more fully equipped than this, the wealth of apparatus being so great that the casual visitor is confused by the network of wires and machinery which surround him.
The interdependent and harmonious work of the various departments of the Institute is shown in the development of special lecture and laboratory courses, and is in marked contrast to the policy of departmental isolation sometimes practiced. Thus, in 1889, two new courses of instruction were established by the physical department in response to the demand of the department of mining; namely, the course in heat measurements, including measurements of high temperatures, the determination of the calorific power of fuels, etc., and a course on the applications of electro-metallurgy to chemical analysis, the reduction of ores and similar problems. The equipment of calorimeters, pyrometers, etc., in the heat laboratory is said to be so large as to permit a more complete examination of the efficiency of fuels than has hitherto been possible anywhere.
Smelting Furnace in John Cummings Laboratory of Mining and Metallurgy.
Perhaps the greatest innovation made by the Institute in the early days was in establishing a laboratory for the teaching of mining and metallurgy. Previous to 1871 metallurgical work was done in the chemical laboratories, but in that year the mining and metallurgical laboratory was put into operation through the efforts of President Runkle, Professor Richards and Professor Ordway. Prior to this date, there were assaying or metallurgical laboratories at the École des Mines at Paris, the Royal School of Mines in London, the German Mining Schools at Freiberg and Clausthal and Berlin, and also in several technical schools in this country. The German mining schools were situated beside smelting works, but the plants could not often be used for experiments by professors or students in a way to alter the usual method of running. In all these laboratories, however, the apparatus was designed to treat quantities of ore not exceeding a few ounces for each test. The Institute laboratories were the first in the world which were designed for the treatment of ores in economical quantities of from five hundred pounds to three tons, and used entirely for purposes of instruction. They are now known as the John Cummings laboratories, in memory of one who for many years was treasurer of the Institute and one of its most devoted friends. They now occupy the entire basement of the Rogers Building, and include laboratories for milling, concentrating and smelting ores, as well as for testing them by assay and by blowpipe. The development of these laboratories from the small beginnings of 1871 has been mainly due to the efforts of Prof. R. H. Richards, past president of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, whose contributions on methods of ore dressing are well known to mining engineers. The staff of this department also includes Prof. H. O. Hofman, well known for his researches in metallurgy.
Three Stamp Mill in Mining Laboratory.
Mention should here be made of the department of geology, which is under the direction of Professors Niles, Crosby and Barton, and which now occupies commodious quarters comprising the greater part of a floor in the Henry L. Pierce Building. The collections of this department number many thousands, and are supplemented by those of the Society of Natural History, which are available for purposes of instruction. As would be expected in a school of applied science, the economic aspects of geology are kept closely in view, and the work is adapted to the particular object to be attained. The student in architecture, for instance, receives a course in geology in which the study of building stones is a prominent feature.
An engineering laboratory formed part of the original scheme of President Rogers, although he included it under the head of physics and did not anticipate the importance which has since attached to it. Such a laboratory, especially devoted to engineering, was established on a small scale in 1874, through the efforts of Professor Whitaker. An engine for experimental purposes was presented to the institute by Mr. G. B. Dixwell, and this, with other apparatus, constituted what is believed to have been the first engineering laboratory in the world for the regular instruction of classes. For lack of funds and space, it was not much developed until 1882, but since that time it has been brought to a high state of efficiency. To-day the engineering laboratories, as they are called, which include laboratories of steam engineering, hydraulics, for the testing of materials and a room containing cotton machinery, occupy a floor space of 21,380 square feet on the two lower floors of the Engineering and Pierce Buildings. In addition to this, there are workshops which will be referred to again. It would be tedious to enumerate the great variety of apparatus to be found in these laboratories, but a few important points may be mentioned. In the steam laboratory a 150 horse-power triple-expansion Corliss engine, the first of its kind of practical size ever arranged for experimental purposes, was purchased in 1890 and is regularly used for testing purposes. A second engine of 225 horse-power was added two years ago, transferring its power through a rope drive. Besides these two large engines, there are a number of smaller ones for experimental purposes and the study of valve setting, and, in addition, there are gas engines, hot-air engines and other apparatus. There is also a collection of cotton machinery sufficient to make clear to the student the mechanism of the various machines.
