Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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the Sophomore year. If Prof. Duff cracks a joke, you may be abso¬ lutely certain that it is unintentional, and we are sure that our occasional uproarious appreciation of amusing points in his dis¬ course jarred on the gentle¬ man’s usual patience. When he carefully added a few drops of water to a solution in an already full beaker and innocently informed us that he “sometimes got a drop too much,” we were quite alone in appreciating the humor of the situation. But a scientist he is, down to the smallest frac¬ tion of a milligram which he He, too, had his difficulties in satisfactorily performing experiments on the lecture table, and often “the crudity of the apparatus,” “the meteor¬ ological conditions,” or the “unreliability of the action” made it necessary for us to ' assume the truth of his state¬ ments. However, we soon got used to assuming things in Phy¬ sics, even our answers, and after a month had passed we were sufficiently grounded in the subject to overlook the failure of experimental work to bear out the theory. These lectures in Physics were a blessing to some, as they afforded the only opportunity for sleep during Jr 29

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f - Tech he spent his time travel¬ ing from coast to coast. In this way he has worked in every city, tackled every kind of a job, and become acquaint¬ ed with every engineer on the face of the earth to-day. Thus qualified he has entered our portals to tell us of things that are. When we first came to the Institute, “Prof” was an en¬ thusiastic bicyclist and not unlike Silas Marner he would ‘gallup’ off on his mechanical horse with his coat tail in a horizontal plane and his elbows flapping in the wind. How¬ ever, since then “Joe” Phelon has converted him into an ardent follower of the four- wheel buggy. “Prof” has two indoor sports which he delights in, especially as a winter pastime. One is in kidding “Doc ” Bonnet and the other one is in telling “Joe” Phelon funny stories. “Doc” and “Joe” have daily reserved seats in “Profs” office, which they occupy from 3 to 6.30 p. m. He is a worker, and surely knows how to get the work out of others. He believes in getting results regardless of consequences, if he thinks himself in the right; and in this respect he is like Nero, of ancient Rome, who, unable to convince the people that the city should be rebuilt, said, “To Hell with the people. I will rebuild the city if I have to burn it down.” It is doubtful if “Prof” can be ap¬ proached on the Hill as an instructor. NE other gentleman with whom every man in the Institute comes into more or less intimate contact is A. Wilmer Duff, D. Sc., Professor of Physics. Another scientist of the first water, he is one of the few men on the Hill who wanders about unnicknamed and un¬ moved by the occasional storms of enthusiasm or protest that sweep and eddy about the School. Always the same, and calmly caressing his chin and cheek, he can be found in his sanctum, delving into the recent theories of Physics. 28

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■ A observes in his calculations, and the mere fact that his subject happens to be a “sticker,” is nothing against the well-educated, thorough gentleman who taught us what little we know about the laws and principles underlying natural phenomena. FTER hearing the name of £ Pigg ” no man who has been on the Hill over a week has to be told who is the owner of this dignified title. We have been unable to trace out the history of this cognomen, but assume that it was given to William when a child on ac¬ count of his carnivorous appe¬ tite. Piggy is somewhat of a walker and has a chart all drawn out of the places to which he has been. He claims that this keeps him in con¬ dition, and that he has n’t an ounce of fat on him, but we are all from Missouri. We did n’t run into this massive body until our Senior vear; at this time we met him as a class in Mechanics where he personally demonstrated to us that force equals mass times acceleration. As a graduate of the Institute, Piggy seems to be a little too jealous of his position, hence the nights of worry before the spring exams. Nevertheless all those he lets by admit that he is a good old scout and can hammer some knowledge into the thickest of us. A QUIET, unobtrusive individual, who carefully places his pedal extremities, with toes together, at an angle of 45 degrees, and glances at you over the top of his glasses. That in a few words is the first impression you get of “Dingtoe.” We had little opportunity to meet this distinguished personage until the terrible claws of Kinematics closed upon us. As we entered his sanctum we were at once put at ease by his kindly appearance, but as soon as the first monthly marks arrived we found we had been completely deceived. Ding has been appointed chairman of the Freshman Committee, and while the choice is doubtless a wise one we congratulate ourselves that it was not in 30 A