Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Transit Yearbook (Troy, NY)

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and that is where the men who thought that they were up to the limit deceived them- selves but not Prof. Crockett. ' We bought our Machine Construction books and once more communed with our old friend Warren under the guidance of Prof. Thompson. We did not recite every day for fear we would get through the book too soon. This course was so much easier than Descriptive that most of our mistakes were -the result of drawing the hgures too quickly. During this course we had some practical work in the north drawing room under Prof. Chill- man. It was very monotonous for Prof. Chillman to come up day after day and not have to answer any questions, so he at last got out his hardest plates. Even then the time hung so heavy on his hands that it was only by the untiring efforts of our best singers and story- tellers that we kept him from getting homesick. Roads and Pavements, under Prof. Raymond, took our attention next. It is a com- mon saying among professors that they learn something during each course, and it will be safe to say that Prof. Raymond heard many new theories. One of our men who has had K' extensive experience in road-building, and who often walks out alone to inspect existing pavements and those under construction, gave some new and startling information concern- ing asphalt pavements, but we were unable to learn how much of it Prof. Raymond accepted as facts. Some of us thought when we hnished the study of Geography in the grammar school that we knew a whole lot about the earth. When we began that most delightful of courses, Geodesy, we came to the conclusion that there was something more to learn. The course was short, but there was a great deal in it. Prof. Raymond remarked real innocently at the beginning of our Sophomore Surveying that 'tHe did not care much for Mathe- matics, but he was interested enough when it came to Geodesy. Fifteen dollars cash was the initiation fee to the Laboratory course in the Qualita- tive Analysis. We went through our little book noting reactions and precipitates and then started in on unknowns They really were unknowns to us, and we tried to persuade George that they were to him when we lost something or found substances the original liquid did not contain. WVho did not get wet? It is not known who holds the record for the largest number of test-tubes. It sometimes required the contents of a number 4 beaker or a 5-lb. paper bag to dampen the ardor of some of the water 31

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History of '00 O FORM a connected history of the class of 1900 it would be necessary to take it up where the historian of last year stopped when THE TRANSIT was issued. It would take too :much space to relate the adventures of our men during the summer, so we must begin with the beginning of the present year. Two years of association give many opportu- nities for forming friendships, as was shown by the way in which we greeted each other in September. The first question was, 'L Where is the survey to be ? We soon found a notice which put our minds at ,rest for the time. In this survey we departed somewhat from the custom of former classes and allowed Prof. Cary to take us to Schuylerville, as he knew the way. We did not own the town, as our predecessors said they did, but surveyed it to see if it were worth owning. The two weeks we spent there passed quickly, and from the high school standpoint some of our men held quite a heavy mortgage on the town. The survey will be described in another part of this volume. WVhen the work at Schuylerville was ended we came back to Troy to the great delight of the belt chasers, who had lived in constant fear of being arrested for kidnapping on Broadway in Schuylerville. A hydrographical survey of the I-Iudson, near the Iron Works, was next in order. This survey, together with rating a current-meter and measuring the discharge of the Hudson near Vlfaterford, completed our practice work and we returned to the mental gymnastics in store for us. Two of the boys played off sick and said they had the measles. Prof. McGiffert began to unveil the great and mysterious Integral Calculus. To those of us who had never recited to him, Prof. McGiffert was a perpetual wonder and delight until the cards came-out for the first week, and then it was really hard to say anything but T 1 - -. After Prof. Crockett got through with us we came to the conclusion that we must have learned something under Mc. or the last part of the course would not have been so easy. Integration between limits, is so easy if you only get the limits right, 30

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throwers. Sophomores and Freshmen were our delight, and many an unsuspecting one went out with his pockets filled with water. It always seemed strange to us why it should be so, but Prof. Mason always insisted that you could get better ventilation by opening the windows on the Eighth street side from the top than from the bottom. Who is there who does not involuntarily start at the cry of pretty girl ? Prof. Anderson seemed quite anxious to make our acquaintance in the Electrical Department. We had not met Prof, Anderson, but we knew that he would like usf In the course in Electricity and Magnetism Prof. Anderson tried to break some records, that is ideal records, which we did by Hnishing one week ahead of time. Then we did a week's work in Dynamo Construction to make our work lighter next year. Many new and plausible theories were advanced and so well defended that Prof. Anderson had hard work in adhering to the accepted theories. About this time we were introduced by our genial Director to the works of a Scotch engineer named Rankine. As days went by our respect for the Director and Rankine grew apace. Rankine had everything figured out so nicely and the Director knew not only that but also a great deal more. Then we had the -satisfaction of carrying the red book by which the juniors are known to the people of Troyl We spent more time in Interrogation than we did in Topics. Prof. Lawson seemed to keep us under a sort of spell so that we always falmostj rushed. We never do things by halves at the Institute, so on top of this work came an hour and a half of map drawing each day. Anyohe who has drawn maps or even made titles under Prof. Cary knows how t'pilly they must be made. There were several lively discussions about certain maps not being clean, but the question was settled beyond a doubt when the spongerubber went on at the finish. There was a grand rush for the railroad at the end of the last recitation before the Christmas vacation. This vacation took our minds but not our hands from our work, for most of us had maps to finish. On the 2nd of january we greeted each other again and settled down to the work of Reviews and Examinations. These did not seem so hard, and the class made a creditable showing in Mclean cards.', The week's vacation after card-day passed only too quickly, and we were again at work. We continued the work in Mechanics and Chemistry and took up 32