Electrical Engineering

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. A text-book in electrical engineering emanating from Union College may be the occasion of some surprise to those who have been conversant with the development Of the electrical course in that institution. The authors have, it is true', recorded their Objections to the use Of a prescribed text. These Objections still hold good. In brief, they are, first, that a prescribed text tends to take the life out Of the class room, whether the course be con ducted by lectures or recitations, and second, that it tends to take the life out Of the study by relieving the student Of responsibility of continued effort. At Union College the fundamental aim is that the student Shall first comprehend, and then create. Comprehension comes through directed effort. This, the student acquires readily in the laboratory, but in the class room, it is not SO easy. The recitation falls short because it deals with the individual rather than the class. The lecture fails when the student knows he can fall back upon the text-book. The fault, however, is not with the text-book itself, but with the use that is made Of it. Obviously, then, its proper use is as a means Of directing the student's effort toward comprehension. Indeed, it Should com pel effort, not in order to make up for an author's failure to ex press himself clearly, but in order that the ideas Shall sink in and make permanent impressions on the mind. The book Should, therefore, be SO constructed and used that it shall be an additional aid to the student in creating his own expression Of the ideas with which he is brought into contact in the lecture, the recitation and the laboratory. It is desirable that fundamental ideas shall become fixed and clear in the student's mind as soon as possible, thus leaving him in a position to exert his full mental effort on that which is more advanced.