together with attention to other laws of health, can that listlessness and dullness and inefficiency which is so hostile to good scholarship and so common among students, be overcome."'"

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The following are mentioned as some of the results of the system of required physical exercise which was adopted a short time after the publication of the above mentioned report.

"1st. There has been a decided improvement in the very countenances and general physique of the students. Instead of the pale, sickly and sallow complexion once very commonly seen, with an occasional lean, care-worn and haggard look, we now witness very generally, fresh, ruddy and healthy countenances, indicative of a higher degree of vitality, and thus the vital currents, enriched by nutrition and oxygen, have a free and equal circulation throughout the whole system.

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"2d. In the use of the limbs and the body,—in the physical movements and conduct of students generally, there has been, we think, decided improvement.

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"5th. A comparison of the present health of students with what it was ten or fifteen years ago, shows a surprising improvement. It is rare now for any student to break down suddenly in his health, or to be compelled to leave college on this account. In 1855-6-7 and 8 such cases were common, as may be seen by referring to the statements of President Stearns in the opening of this paper; and the truth of the statements is moreover confirmed by others personally conversant here for twenty or thirty years. As no record was formerly kept of the amount of sickness from year to year, or of the number of students leaving college on account of illness, no exact comparison on these points in figures can be instituted. But the experience and observation of those who have been on the ground a long time must bear decided testimony to a greatly improved state of health among the students over that of former times; and as for those who once were members of the Institution, and return here on public occasions, they cannot fail to see a great improvement in this respect.

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"7th. But the most marked evidence of improved health is found in the diminished sickness of every class each year after entering college.

In a table giving the amount of sickness arranged by classes, it seems there has been for these eight years on an average more than three times as much sickness in the Freshman Class as in the Senior Class. It may be said that the students upon first entering college do not know so well how to take care of themselves as they do in the third and fourth years; or that some students who come here feeble and sickly, leave the Institution early, so that the vigorous and more healthy alone remain. This may account in part for the change, but only for a small part of it. For some students who now enter college with slender constitutions encounter considerable sickness the first year, but afterwards improve in health, and in the third and fourth years are comparatively well. And the number now leaving college during the first and second years, on account of ill-health, is very small. Then again, if we compare the sickness or health of a class all the way through college now, with that of one ten or fifteen years ago, a surprising difference will be found; if the sickness did not then increase or keep up through the whole course, it certainly did not diminlsh so much in the second and third years and almost entirely cease in the fourth, as is the case now.

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"There is still another very important consideration, viz.: has the standard of scholarship in college been raised by means of gymnastics? As the system of marking, or mode of exhibiting this standard was changed a few years since, an exact comparison in figures cannot here be instituted; but it is the decided opinion of the Registrar, (the College Officer who has charge of these statistics,) that there 'has been an elevation of rank within the past few years.' It may be that some individuals in a class formerly reached as high scholarship as any now do; but the aggregate scholarship of a whole class, we are confident, is higher now than it once was, and, to say the least, is much easier obtained, with fewer hours of study, and less loss of health and life. * "Said President Felton to the writer, shortly before his decease, referring to the gymnastics at Amherst which he had just witnessed: 'Such a system of physical exercises thoroughly understood and applied by the members of Harvard University, would aid me in the matter of discipline in that Institution more than anything else.' We are here authorized to state, that the faculty of Amherst College have found great assistance in government from this source; that since

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the introduction of this department, the cases requiring discipline have been far less numerous, and more easily managed, than formerly."

Having quoted some of the most essential portions of this admirably written report, wherein the opinions of the governing authorities of the college have been cited, I submit, likewise, a letter written by the students, viz;

"TESTIMONY IN FAVOR OF THE GYMNASIUM.

"AMHERST COLLEGE, June 14th, 1865.

"The class of 1865, having completed its studies in Amherst College, desires to express its high appreciation of the physical culture which it has received under the direction of Prof. Hitchcock. As this class is the first one in College which has enjoyed through its whole course this physical training, some expression of opinion seems quite proper. There have been ninety-two different students connected with the class, fifty-five of which now graduate; eight have died,—two with consumption, and six in the army from wounds or disease. There is no one of the graduating class but could pass a complete examination for life insurance or admission into the United States Army. From a thorough trial of four years' course of training, we can fairly judge of the system here adopted. Our exercises have been conducted in a well-furnished gymnasium, and always under the direction of the Professor in this department. We have found the required attendance a part of the system not at all objectionable, and, what at first in the exercise was a little embarrassing or unpleasant, soon became a positive pleasure. The simultaneous participation of many persons in the same exercises has contributed a lively zest to them, when otherwise they would have proved dull and uninteresting. These exercises have been so varied in character as to be adapted both to the strongest and the weakest student, conducing alike to health, strength and grace of action. The half-hour required for exercise has proved the golden mean between length and brevity of time for this purpose, and has never been considered lost by us, as our health at the close of our college course testifies to the inestimable value of this training. We are confident, if this matter of exercise had been left a voluntary thing, many of our class, who are now strong and healthy, would have yielded to the diseases incident to student life,

while others, who were weak and slender boys on entering college, are now strong and vigorous men. Cases of protracted illness have been almost unknown among us, and large numbers in the class have not been detained by illness from a single college duty. Believing that a strong body is the best bulwark to a sound mindthat strong muscles and well-developed limbs are powerful aids to the brain,and being indebted very much for these results in our case to the physical training we have received in Amherst College,

we give this voluntary testimony to the value of the system of gymnastics here adopted."

“E. P. FROST,

Consideration of these statements and facts, as also that of others which the already too great length of this report prevents me from mentioning, have convinced me of the great importance of adopting similar measures at the Institute of Technology. Whilst the suggestions herein embodied are foreign to my province as military instructor, I felt impelled to make them from my interest in the welfare of the Institute and a deep seated conviction that the adoption of a system of obligatory physical exercises would eventually enhance its efficiency and reputation, inasmuch as its graduates would leave it with unimpaired, nay improved health, instead of being physically weakened by their labors. They would be more certain to live long enough to reflect credit upon their Alma-Mater.

Respectfully submitted,

E. L. ZALINSKI,

1st Lieut., 5th U. S. Art'y.

REPORT UPON THE LOWELL COURSE OF

PRACTICAL DESIGN, FOR 1874-75.

President J. D. Runkle:

SIR:- The success of this Department (Practical Design for textile fabrics) has been most flattering during the three years of its existence, terminating in May 1875.

It is provided with all the requisite facilities and novelties necessary for the study of Practical Design. Samples of carpets, oil cloths, silks, laces, cachemeres, shawls, paper hangings, per· cales, muslins, prints, cretonnes, etc., are received every year, anticipating current styles. Under these favorable auspices, fifteen students have now graduated, eleven of whom have secured situations in different manufactories in the New England States. We have had during the year two public exhibitions of pupils' work, one at Horticultural Hall, Boston, and the other at Lowell, which proved highly gratifying to visitors, and the manufacturers especially.

The advanced pupils have the privilege during each season. of showing their designs to manufacturers and frequently succeed in disposing of their patterns. The amount received by students for their designs, in oil cloth and prints, has reached about three hundred dollars. The following is a list of the graduates from this Department, who have received the certificate of proficiency.