and they are for the present omitted.

The course of instruction in this branch of engineering, at the Stevens
Institute of Technology, is supplemented by "Inspection Tours," which
are undertaken by the graduating class toward the close of the last
year, under the guidance of their instructors, in which expeditions they
make the round of the leading shops in the country, within a radius of
several hundred miles, often, and thus get an idea of what is meant by
real business, and obtain some notion of the extent of the field of work
into which they are about to enter, as well as of the importance of
that work and the standing of their profession among the others of the
learned professions with which that of engineering has now come to be
classed.

At the close of the course of instruction, as originally proposed, and
as now carried out, the student prepares a "graduating thesis," in which
he is expected to show good evidence that he has profited well by the
opportunities which have been given him to secure a good professional
education. These theses are papers of, usually, considerable extent, and
are written upon subjects chosen by the student himself, either with or
without consultation with the instructor. The most valuable of
these productions are those which present the results of original
investigations of problems arising in practice or scientific research
in lines bearing upon the work of the engineer. In many cases, the
work thus done has been found to be of very great value, supplying
information greatly needed in certain departments, and which had
previously been entirely wanting, or only partially and unsatisfactorily
given by authorities. Other theses of great value present a systematic
outline of existing knowledge of some subject which had never before
been brought into useful form, or made in any way accessible to the