Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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additions have been made at the Institute. The mechanical laboratory building and the power laboratory, which were being built at the time of his appointment, were equipped under his direction. Practically a new faculty and corps of instructors have been selected, and they, joined to his untiring energy and tact, have raised the Institute to its present high standard. It is with sincere regret that we learn of the President’s inability to continue his splendid work. For now that our long years draw to a close, we begin to appreciate more than ever his efforts in our behalf. We know that Dr. Mendenhall has been thoroughly in sympathy with us, and has not been blind to the fact that it takes courage as well as ability to complete the courses that the Institute offers. He has our best wishes for a speedy return and complete restoration to health, and may fresh honors await him. 12

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a system of weather-signals for display on railroad trains. This system became general throughout the United States and Canada, and was continued for a number of years. Dr. Mendenhall is a believer in good roads, and much of the splendid work in that direction during the past few years in Massachusetts has been under his supervision. He was appointed to the State Highway Commission by the late Gov. Roger Wolcott, and was chairman of the commission until his resigna¬ tion in 1900. Dr. Mendenhall has filled a number of important positions in national public life. In 1891 he became a member of the Behring Sea Commission, which had to solve many difficult problems. From 1892 to 1894 he was engaged in the United States and Great Britain boundary survey. A result of these labors has been a number of articles in leading magazines on the Alaskan boundary, treating the questions involved with authority. In this connection it may be interesting to note that one of the rivers in Alaska, not far from the recently discovered gold-fields, has been named after Dr. Mendenhall. Dr. Mendenhall is connected with numerous scientific onran- izations. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Metrological Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Engineers, and the American Antiquarian Society. As a lecturer, Dr. Mendenhall is most entertaining, and is widely known and much sought after. His favorite subjects are: “Future Sources of Power” and “Weighing of the Earth.” During the past year, however, he has found it impossible to accept many invitations to lecture, owing to failing health; and it is owing to this continued poor health that he was obliged, in December, 1900, to lay down the duties of President of the Institute, and resign that office which he has so ably and efficiently filled during the past seven years. During his Presidency many important and wise changes and

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PROFESSORS JOHN E. SINCLAIR, PH, D,, Professor of Higher Mathematics. ROFESSOR Sinclair was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1858. The following year he spent in teaching at Adrian, Mich., and from 1859 to 1863 he was a tutor at Washington University, St. Louis. During the next six years he was Professor of Mathematics in the Chandler department of Dartmouth College, from which place he came to the Institute in 1868 to occupy a similar position. Professor Sinclair received the degree of A. M. from Washington University in 1863, and from Dartmouth in 1879. Hi s alma mater further honored him in 1883 by bestow¬ ing upon him the degree Ph. D. In the class-room Professor Sinclair is noted for his stock of homely illustrations and expressions, which rarely fail to carry their point. U. WALDO CUTLER, S. B., Professor of Modern Languages. Professor Cutler is an alumnus of the Institute, being a member of the class of ’ 74 - He began teaching at Brimfield, Mass., in the Hitchcock high school. He next went to Holliston, where he introduced drawing into the public schools. In 1877 he came to Tech as Assistant Professor of Modern Languages, and is now at the head of that department. He spent from 1878 to 1881 abroad in Germany, where he pursued a course of study. He also spent a year at Johns Hopkins University. With these exceptions he has been at the Institute ever since. 13