already received before the taking charge of the department by its present instructor.

The number of young women who have attended these classes during the past two years may be tabulated as follows:

The essays prepared by the sophomores and juniors as part of their work in the department, calling for synopses of subjects taken up in the lecture room during the course, and calling for some originality in matters pertaining to the adaptation of home work to circumstances and individual taste, have, with very few exceptions, shown such intelligence, good judgment, common sense and true womanliness, as promise much for the homes over which they may in the future preside.

The results of the laboratory practice in all the classes have been most satisfactory, showing interest, care, and many times culinary skill. These results have been brought about largely by the kindly interest taken in the department work, by the members of the faculty comprising the committee on courses of study, whereby a change in the course was made possible, and the generous action on the part of the board of trustees whereby the recom mendations on this subject from the committee on courses of study were adopted, and the further action of the board of trustees increasing the inadequate appropriation of $200 to $350, thus furnishing the means to make the work more practical and attractive than would otherwise have been possible.

REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY.

A. A. BENNETT, PROFESSOR.

Comparatively few changes have been made in the courses of study in this department during the last two years. New apparatus and improvements in the facilities for work, and in the rooms devoted to laboratory practice, cover the changes that have been made. Among the additional pieces of apparatus may be mentioned-apparatus for gas analysis, new balances, combustion apparatus, digestion oven, and many minor pieces of apparatus. As to methods of instruction the changes have been mainly to unite more closely the laboratory practice with the class room work. The laboratory practice is manual training, is sense training, and should be the highest mental training. The endeavor is to make this practice the means of making clear the statement of text or lecture. Experiments are not performed for the student, but by the student.

During the past biennial period students have done laboratory and recitation work in the following lines of study: General and theoretical chemistry; inorganic qualitative analysis, including the ordinary separations and identifications of elements and compounds; work on ores and minerals, and commercial manufactured compounds; quantitative analysis of pure and crude materials, the latter consisting of iron, copper, cobalt, etc., ores; preparation of organic and inorganic compounds, especially those of pharmaceutical interest; analysis of agricultural substances, such as butter, milk, ensilage and fodders; ultimate and proximate organic analysis.

The facilities and room may be summarized as follows: Apparatus and chemicals are sufficient for good work in nearly all branches of chemical study; room is furnished for one hundred students working at one time; water and gas are furnished at each table.

Graduates of this or other colleges are furnished facilities for advanced study in a variety of subjects.

Students not candidates for degrees will be admitted to the courses of study under conditions described in the last annual catalogue.

The expenses are made to barely cover the cost of chemicals and apparatus destroyed.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LIBRARIES

DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY SCIENCE AND TACTICS.

JAMES RUSH LINCOLN, PROFESSOR.

It is not intended to complete the education of the thorough soldier, but to fit young men for filling intelligently positions in the State troops as line officers and company instructors. The constant demand for men thus trained emphasizes the value of a thoroughly organized and well sustained military course. The chief advantages derived are the acquirement of a dignified carriage of the person, a gentlemanly deportment and a selfrespecting discipline, with habits of neatness, order, and punctuality. Opportunities are afforded each cadet for extending the studies in military science as desired, the College being provided with the necessary arms, accouterments, and outfits for drill and instruction in the infantry, artillery, and signal tactics, for which special classes will be formed. Lectures on military subjects are delivered throughout the course, and regular battalion drill and dress parade take place each Wednesday and Friday afternoon. All male students of the College, except such as may be excused by proper authority, are required to become members of the college battalion, and wear the prescribed uniform during military exercises.

In addition to the demand for cadet officers in the National Guard, in which our cadets have taken positions, and are looked upon with respect, and recognized as officers of knowledge and ability, a demand for military instructors for our schools and colleges has already taken two of the class of 1889, and they are performing their new duties in a very satisfactory manner. The ladies' company continues to do good work and give a healthful and pleasant exercise. Other colleges have followed our lead, and several companies of ladies are now regularly drilling.

Military training and discipline are becoming more generally recognized as desirable factors in education, and as a mental drill has worth, as it requires a quick action of the mind in the interpretation and execution of orders in military maneuvers. The volunteer work now done by students, in drill and class work, is on the increase; as well as the number in the two higher classes taking military instruction.

The graduating class of '89 numbered forty-five. Of this number eighteen were enrolled in the battalion.

It is to be regretted that more time cannot be given to military instruction in the class-room as well as upon the parade ground.

An armory is badly needed for the work of the department, bad weather necessarily greatly interfering with the work.

An armory and gymnasium combined would be of great use to the College, outside of its advantage to the military department, in furnishing an assembly room for the students in which games and sports could be engaged in which are very damaging to the other buildings and tend to disorderly conduct and noise.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LIBRARIES

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS, POLITICAL ECONOMY AND COMMERCIAL LAW.

E. W. STANTON, PROFESSOR.

MATHEMATICS.

Students entering the Freshman class are required to pass an examination in arithmetic and in algebra through equations of the first degree. They are then assigned for their mathematical work to one of the two divisions in algebra. The first of these divisions is composed of those who have thoroughly mastered arithmetic and have met the entrance requirements in regard to algebra; the second includes all students who obtain a high standing in the former study and pass the required examination in the latter, but who show a want of thoroughness in their algebraic knowledge. Particular attention is given in this study to the explanation of the cardinal principles, and the class drill is conducted with reference to fixing these principles in the minds of the student. Both of the regular Freshman divisions complete the subject in one term. During each of the past two years a third division has been formed for those who failed to pass the entrance examination in algebra. Students in this division developing marked ability have been allowed at the beginning of the second term to take up the regular work of the Freshman course leaving the remainder of the algebra to be passed by examination in the following spring; the others in the division have continued the study during the entire year, thus completing the subject. The division during both years has been under the charge of my assistant, Mr. E. A. Kirkpatrick. In the future, now that a preparatory department has been established, students not fully prepared in mathematics should commence their work here in the fall so as to take advantage of the instruction given in that department. No student will hereafter be admitted in the spring to the regular College courses who is not sufficiently prepared in mathematics to enable him by the commencement of the second term to enter upon and carry the full work of the Freshman class. In the second term of the Freshman year geometery is taken up. At the beginning of this study an earnest effort is made to bring the student to fully comprehend the meaning of a geometrical demonstration. He is warned against learning any proposition by rote; and in order that he may not fall into this error, he is, at the end of the first book, assigned original theorems, which he is required to