I EL RUNKLE 2-I9O2 jflDemortal H. W. TYLER Reprinted from tfu TECHNOLOGY Revikw, Vol. IV., No. 3 BOSTON ;%^'^:*w J Geo. H. Ellis Co., Printers, 272 Congress Street £*> ♦ £'% o v , c~ ♦ a\ % <& > 0v ^ ■ ' 2I 5; l8 77> 194. It will be borne in mind that the panic of 1873 caused a general falling off in college attendance. President Runkle was confronted at the outset by the pressure of over-rapid growth, then by discouraging decline. The more notable events of the Runkle presidency were : the futile negotiations, already referred to, with Harvard University for a union ; the establishment of the laboratories of mining engineering and metallurgy ; the introduction of shop instruction and the foundation of the School of Mechanic Arts; the development of professional summer schools in the field ; the beginnings of an engineer- ing laboratory ; the increased efficiency of military instruc- tion and the summer encampment at Philadelphia in 1876 ; the erection of a gymnasium, including a lunch-room ; the admission of women as students. The printed records for this period, 1 871-1877, are particularly complete, the President's Reports including also extended departmental reports ; and from these in their order the following notes are mainly taken. Some of the *5 expressions, now time-honored, have in their original con- text a surprising freshness in the obvious novelty of the ideas presented. In 1872 announcement is made of the first field excur- sion for students in Civil Engineering, with the statement, " We hope to do this summer for bridge construction what was done in the last for Mining Engineering and Metal- lurgy." In the previous year, President Runkle had conducted an expedition to Colorado and Utah for the observation of mines and mining processes. The party consisted of five professors and fifteen students. Much valuable informa- tion and important contributions of ore were received. It was during this excursion, while observing the wrecks of fortunes strown all over the territories, that the thought occurred to us that much of this waste was due to a want of practical skill joined with scientific knowledge, and that the opportunity for experimenting upon comparatively large quantities of ores must be furnished to our students during their course, as a part of their laboratory work. After disbanding the party I visited San Francisco, and had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of some skilful practical metallurgists, who were making the examination of ores a specialty, and had built up laboratories for ore- dressing, on about the scale we needed. But the processes were detached, and no attempt was made to represent the best forms and kinds of machinery in use at that time in California for the reduction of gold and silver ores. . . . The furnaces in the Metallurgical laboratory were de- signed by Professor Ordway and built under his direction, while the Mining laboratory has reached its present state of progress almost entirely through the ability, practical skill, and untiring energy of Professor Richards. Thus, what was a conviction has become a practical reality. Announcement is made of the intention of Mr. John i6 Amory Lowell, trustee of the Lowell Institute, to establish courses of instruction in Designing, as applied to the Indus- trial Arts. It is stated that, if the new class is likely to exceed one hundred, it will involve the necessity of considering the erection of a new building. This first President's Re- port closes with a brief statement of the resources of the Institute up to that time, showing cash gifts received to the amount of nearly $600,000, the chief benefactors being William J. Walker and Ralph Huntington. The name of the former was given to the professorship afterwards held by Dr. Runkle, that of the latter to the "great hall " of the Rogers Building. In June, 1871, it had been Voted, That the Corporation will hereafter confer the degree of Bachelor of Science in the department of , instead of graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the department of , as heretofore. To establish advanced courses of study, and to confer the degree of Doctor of Science. In the departmental reports of 1872 it is stated that the chemical laboratory covered 4,000 square feet ; the mining laboratories, 2,000 square feet ; the physical laboratory, 3,500 ; and the drawing-rooms, 8,500. (The present chemi- cal laboratories occupy some 30,000 square feet.) The Report for 1873 mentions the success of an applica- tion to the legislature for additional land * on the Back Bay, and the more complete equipment of the mining and metallurgical laboratories. The preliminary announcement of the Lowell School of Design is quoted, and reference is made to the appointment of Lieutenant Zalinski, and of * A trapezoidal lot at the junction of Boylston Street and Huntington Avenue. i7 Professor Whitaker as Professor Watson's successor as head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The President states that he has " asked Professor Whitaker to suggest such a laboratory as will best aid in the education of mechanical engineers, and particularly in the solution of those experimental problems which lie at the foundation of all safe theory or practice." He expresses the earnest wish that the Corporation will authorize the establishment of this laboratory at as early a day as possible. The ex- pectation is stated that the elements of mechanical and free- hand drawing may be required for admission at a time not far distant. The statistics for these years indicate a notably high proportion of Massachusetts students, usually about five- sixths of the whole. In December, 1872, solid geometry and the rudiments of French were added to the requirements for admission, and the fee was advanced to $200 a year. The use of the large hall was granted to Trinity Church for a place of worship. As to English, Professor Atkinson's successive reports are interesting and instructive. For example, in 1873 he says what is in great measure true in 1902 : — Practically a large majority of our regular students have to crowd four-and-a-half to five years' mathematical and scientific work into four years ; and this leaves but a small amount of mental energy to be devoted to studies not strictly professional. There is one, and only one remedy for this difficulty, and that is a better preparation ; and that not more, or even so much in English and mathematical as in elementary scientific study. In consequence of the very defective condition of school instruction in science in this country, our students have practically to begin the study of the very rudiments of physics, chemistry and the different i8 branches of natural history at the age of sixteen or seven- teen, a period of life at which, if our schools were per- fectly organized, these elements would all have been acquired. Lieutenant Zalinski's report of the same year contains an urgent recommendation for the construction of a drill-hall and gymnasium, and refers to the beneficial effect of the trial of a student by a court-martial composed of his fellow- students for " disobedience of orders " and for " conduct unbecoming a gentleman." In 1873 the attendance of students declined sharply, in consequence of the occurrence of a general financial crisis at the same time with advances in the tuition fee and in entrance requirements. Nevertheless, the Report for 1874 does not fail to reiterate the need of additional space and of the development of new lines of work. Announcement is made of the differentiation of courses at the beginning of the second year, and of the establishment of new courses in metallurgy, in physics, and in philosophy. It is stated that graduates have for the first time been able to present their theses before the final examinations — instead of at some indefinite later date. Undeterred by diminished numbers, the President urges the further advance of en- trance requirements to include more algebra, and plane and spherical trigonometry, and emphasizes the need of laboratory instruction in elementary chemistry in every secondary school. As to English, — An occasional exercise in composition is not sufficient. An exercise in writing, in some form or other, should be the one never to be omitted for a single day, until, first, accuracy, and second, facility of expression have been acquired. i9 The erection is reported of * an excellent building, 155 feet long by 50 feet in width, and one story in height, covered with corrugated iron and a slated roof, containing a light and well venti- lated drill-hall, with ample space for gun-racks, wardrobes for uniforms, and boxes for those who use the gymnasium. Where the health of one student is injured simply by over study, the health of many is injured by want of exer- cise, or other preventable causes, while over study is usu- ally the only cause assigned. It is true that each class hears an excellent course of lectures on Physiology and Hy- giene, but it is to be feared that too few make a personal application of what is taught them, and thus fail to gain what this instruction is mainly intended to impart. I am deeply impressed with the conviction that a radical change in this department is necessary, and that the laboratory system is quite as important in this as in other departments of the school. To make the instruction of the greatest value to each student it must be applied practically in each case ; and while I am not now prepared to advocate a compulsory system of gymnastics, I am satisfied that incal- culable good would come from a more personal application of the instruction, with opportunities for systematic exer- cise, under the direction, not of a mere gymnast, but of a physician who had made this application a matter of special study. If our students lived in dormitories, as at most colleges, or so- near each other that their spare time could be spent in out-door athletic sports, the case would be somewhat different ; but there is probably hardly another school in the country where the students are so thoroughly scattered, and such exercise had, if at all, at so great disadvantage. Our only remedy therefore, in addition to what is offered by the drill to only a portion of our students, is a gymnasium. We have also availed ourselves of the opportunity which the drill-hall has afforded us to establish, by way of ex- periment, a lunch-room^ where professors and students and 20 their friends can get a well-cooked and well-served dinner or lunch, as desired, at a very reasonable cost ; so reason- able as to induce those who have depended upon a cold lunch to do so no longer. In these improvements, President Runkle depended much on the energy and zeal of Lieutenant Zalinski. The analogy of all this wise solicitude for the welfare of students is singularly prophetic of our present days, when realization seems not distant. It is not strange that the Walker Me- morial has enlisted the warmest interest of Professor Runkle and Captain Zalinski. In the same year a beginning had been made of an en- gineering laboratory. Professor Nichols's report refers to certain chemical investigations in the service of the State which have since had so notable a development. The Report for 1875 contains for the first time a list of the 126 alumni with present residence and occupation, " furnishing the best evidence of the estimation in which the work of the school is held by the public." The Report for 1876 is largely occupied with matters connected with the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, in particular the Institute encampment and the exhibit of the Russian system of workshop instruction. Of the former, Lieutenant Zalinski's report gives an extended ac- count. The party started June 8, numbering more than 370, — "Corporation, Faculty, graduates, former students, students and friends of members of the Institute," — with a few ladies. The University of Pennsylvania had granted the use of its campus for Camp W. B. Rogers, the State of Massachusetts loaned the necessary camping outfit, and many courtesies were extended by residents of Philadelphia. In establishing regulations for, and enforcing the disci- pline of the camp, it was the aim to have the minimum re- 21 striction and military work consistent with maintaining good order and securing the proper sanitary conditions necessary for the health and comfort of all. . . . The conduct of the students was exceptionally good and the subject of general commendation. The party returned to Boston June 23. President Runkle says, — The organization which had been found necessary for properly carrying on the instruction of the department, was found sufficient to maintain order and cohesion in a much larger body, and the Institute, as well as all the members of the party, owe a debt of gratitude to Lieutenant Zalinski for the energy and efficiency with which the whole affair was conducted. A great quantity of material was collected at the close of the exhibition as the nucleus for the Industrial Museum included in the original plan of the Institute. The most important result of President Runkle's visit to Philadelphia was his quick and enthusiastic appreciation of the exhibit of Russian methods of shop instruction, and of their potential advantage to the Institute in particular, and to American education in general. Within present lim- its the course of events can only be briefly indicated. In a special communication to the Corporation of the Institute, after recalling the experience in laboratory instruction of the Institute and other colleges, he savs : — We went to Philadelphia, therefore, earnestly seeking for light in this as well as in all other directions, and this special report is now made to ask your attention to a fundamental, and, as I think, complete solution of this most important problem of practical mechanism for engi- neers. The question is simply this — Can a system of shop-work instruction be devised of sufficient range and 22 quality, which will not consume more time than ought to be spared from the indispensable studies ? This question has been answered triumphantly in the affirmative, and the answer comes from Russia. In all constructions a certain limited number of typical forms are found, these forms being more or less modified, to adapt them to special constructions. These forms will also fall into groups each to be w r orked out in a certain way and with special tools. If, then, the student can be taught to work out these forms, each in the best way, and with the tools best adapted to the work, he will be far advanced in the skill which will make him available and useful in construction. The ideas involved in the system are, first, to entirely separate the instruction shops from the construction shops ; second, to do each kind of work in its own shop ; third, to equip each shop with as many places and sets of tools, and thus accommodate as many pupils as a teacher can instruct at the same time ; and, fourth, to graduate the samples to be made in each shop according to some scale, that of difficulty being probably the best in practice. In short, in these preliminary instruction shops the arts, which find their applications in construction, are systematically taught. In the light of the experience which Russia brings us, not only in the form of a proposed system, but proved by several years of experience in more than a single school, it seems to me that the duty of the Institute is plain. We should, without delay, complete our course in Mechanical Engineering by adding a series of instruction shops, which I earnestly recommend. The whole matter turns upon getting the proper rooms. It is already clear that there are no other difficulties which cannot readily be sur- mounted. The special report includes also the recommendation of the establishment of a two years' course in practical mechan- ism, which was afterwards carried out in the School of Me- chanic Arts. 23 In August, 1876, the Corporation authorized the erec- tion of a temporary building for shopwork and advanced chemistry, covering 7,500 square feet. The funds required were contributed in part by the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, in part by the Women's Educational Association with a view to securing opportunities for women students. The Russian government authorized the dupli- cation of its Philadelphia exhibit for the Institute. The material was received the next year, and the following votes passed by the Corporation : — Resolved, That the Corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology takes this opportunity to cordially congratulate His Imperial Highness, Prince Pierre d'Oldenbourg, that, at the Im- perial Technical School of Moscow, education in the Mechanic Arts has been for the first time based upon philosophical and purely educational grounds, fully justifying for it the title of the u Russian system." Resolved, That this Corporation hereby tenders its grateful thanks to His Imperial Highness for his most valuable gift, with the as- surance that these models will be of the greatest aid in promoting Mechanic Art education not only in the school of this Institute, but in all similar schools throughout the United States. The Report includes a review of much interest by Profes- sor Pickering of his ten years' work in the Department of Physics, concluding : — I cannot close this report without an acknowledgment of the aid I have received from you, Mr. President, in bringing our Laboratory into its present state of efficiency. Your confidence in its success from the very beginning, your encouragement and enthusiasm regarding its extension, and the interest you have shown in every detail, have helped, more than we have realized, to such success as we have at- tained. . . . 2 4 With hopes that the next decade may witness as great advances as that which is just completed, I remain, Very respectfully yours, Edward C. Pickering, Thayer Professor of Physics. The final Report (1877) contains an interesting analysis of student registration for the thirteen years. The proportion of special students was far larger than now, amounting in the final year to nearly 60 per cent. The proportion of the number of graduates to the number in the correspond- ing entering class varied after the first year from 16 per cent, to 47 per cent. The entering classes showed great fluctuations, the figures for the years 1872-76 being 115, 6S y 36,66,36. The Report concludes : — In conclusion, I will say that as a whole the school has never been in a state of higher efficiency than at the present time. Our great and pressing need is additional funds ; and without immediate relief, we must either discontinue some of the departments, or cut down the salaries already too small, or more probably both. The fee for those tak- ing the full course is $200 per annum, and it is clearly out of the question to think of increasing the income by raising the tuition. It is even now far beyond the means of many deserving students. The value of the Institute as an agency in developing and diversifying the industries of the State can only be maintained by increasing its funds. I cannot think that the large sums which have already been contributed toward the establishment of our school, and particularly the large educational facilities and experience gathered together, shall be allowed to fail of the highest results for the want of additional means. This proved to be a valedictory. 2 5 The severe financial difficulties of the Institute are but dimly reflected in these Reports. As early as 1874 Presi- dent Runkle writes Professor Rogers of the Corporation's earnest wish to reduce expenses ; and questions of this kind continued to prove painfully insistent as years passed and attendance and resources diminished, or increased but meagrely. If the President's optimism helped him to endure the strain, it did not relieve him from most em- barrassing consequences, and must at times have made it difficult if not impossible for him to avoid arousing expecta- tions only too certain to be ultimately disappointed. In October, 1877, he writes to Professor Rogers: — For the present year a reduction of salaries will be im- perative ; and it will also be equally imperative for us to reduce our teaching expenses for the future by consolidating professorships and putting the work in fewer hands. It is this or bankruptcy, if we do not get at once from some source a large increase of our invested funds. ... I am not at all discouraged as to the future of the Institute, but I do deeply feel for all who must suffer for the Institute's sake. In the spring of 1878 an appeal for State aid was re- fused. May 3 1 the President communicated to Professor Rogers his intention to resign his office, and a week later addressed the following letter to the Corporation : — Boston, June 7, 1878. Gentlemen, — I have had the honor of serving the Institute of Technology as President of this Corporation for the past ten years. The time has come when I feel it my duty to resign this office, which I now respectfully beg to do, my resignatibn to take effect at the close of the present year. I intend to remain a member of the Corporation, and wish to retain the professorship with which you honored me at the opening of the school. 26 In resigning the Presidency, I wish to express my grateful thanks for the opportunity you have given me to identify myself in some small degree with the well-earned fame which the Institute enjoys in maintaining one of the leading, if not the leading technical school in this country. If permitted to retain my connection with the Institute, my earnest wish is that I may be able to serve it more efficiently in the future than I have been able to do in the past. Again, thanking you for the cordial support you have always given me in all educational measures, I ask you now to accept my resignation without ceremony and without delay. Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, J. D. Runkle. On the same day Professor Rogers wrote to the Cor- poration : — Gentlemen, — As it is out of my power to be with you to-day, and as I understand from President Runkle that he wishes his resignation to be accepted without delay, I beg to say to you that I cannot let him relinquish the position which he has filled so long and so disinterestedly without expressing my sense of the great value of his services to the Institute. Few persons know the labours and perplexities which have been involved in carrying for- ward the plan of the Institute to its present widely expanded activ- ity, but all who have marked its progress will, I am sure, agree with me in a most grateful recognition of the unflagging devotion to its welfare which President Runkle has always shown, and will be assured that his zealous and disinterested labours as President of the Institute must always have an honoured place in its history. Believe me, yours faithfully, William B. Rogers. Dr. Runkle was granted a year's leave of absence, afterwards extended to two. Professor Rogers accepted re- election, pending the appointment of another President, on 2 7 condition that the Corporation raise $100,000 to add to the funds of the Institute. July 13 he wrote to Professor Runkle : — . . . And now, dear friend, with a full heart I must bid you good-by. We have known each other and have worked together so long, and, may I not say, so affectionately, that any professions of regard from me would be out of place. I can only say, in part- ing with you for a time, that I shall think of you with the old re- gard, wishing for you all the rest and the enjoyment which you have so richly earned by your untiring labours, and hoping that, after a not too protracted stay abroad, you may come back to your friends with renewed health, and with undiminished, if not aug- mented zeal, in the educational work to which you have devoted yourself. Yours faithfully, William B. Rogers. In 1880, Dr. Runkle returned with renewed health and strength. His storm-and-stress period was ended, and two fruitful years in Europe had now intervened. Still young at fifty-eight, he was to enjoy a delightful home life with the care and education of his young children, useful and honored citizenship in a suburban town, year after year of inspiring teaching, leadership in the broadening of sec- ondary education along the lines he had earnestly followed since 1876. Discussions of priority are seldom profitable, and are often at fault for lack of accurate definition. In the pres- ent instance no question of origination is involved. It had been President Runkle's merit to be the first to appreciate the American need of mechanic arts instruction based on principles already successfully applied in Russia. He was primarily interested in it as an invaluable addition to exist- ing engineering courses, but he also saw clearly its great 28 potential significance for general secondary education, and so far as possible under pressure of other needs, demon- strated this by the inauguration of the School of Mechanic Arts, already referred to, in which boys of high-school age were offered a two years' course, including mathematics, English, French, history, mechanical and free-hand draw- ing, and shopwork. His visit to Europe enabled him to make a study of Continental schools of similar purpose ; and the results of this study are embodied in a paper pre- sented to the Society of Arts in April, 1881, on "Tech- nical and Industrial Education Abroad," in an extended contribution to the Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education for 1880-81, and in a " Report on Industrial Education" in 1884. His matured convictions of the latter date are embodied in the following resolutions : — First. The single aim of our public education should be the physical, mental, and moral training of the young, by all suitable means and agencies ; and no study or discipline which is not adapted to these ends for all pupils should be introduced into our public schools and supported at the public expense. Second. While the training of the mental faculties must always be the first and distinct aim of all education, still this training is most effective when all the senses are most fully brought into play as factors in the general process. Third. We believe that hand instruction, no matter of what kind, if adapted to the age of the pupil and properly conducted, can be made disciplinary, and a valuable ad- junct to the purely literary studies. Fourth. We believe that a hand study, requiring not more on the average than one hour per day, can be introduced into our public schools without impairing the educational value of the studies now taught, and with no abridgment of the time now devoted to them which will not come through better methods of teaching, or on other grounds. 20 Fifth. We believe that a workshop, as part of the appa- ratus of a public school, is as desirable as a science labora- tory is to the technical school or college. Sixth. It is the deliberate opinion of this Association that the time has come when hand work should be taught to the proper extent in all our public schools, both be- cause of its educational value, and because the social and industrial conditions have so changed as to make such teaching necessarv. Others have taken a more directly prominent share in the introduction and extension of mechanic arts or manual training in primary and secondary schools, but the actual experiment initiated by President Runkle in Boston had in its time wide influence and imitation. In Brookline, Dr. Runkle was long an active member of the school committee, and a modern school-house bears his name. As a teacher of mathematics, Professor Runkle found his highest usefulness and most congenial vocation, — a vocation to be happily continued for not less than twenty- one years. The present writer may be permitted to recall the beginnings of an acquaintance which he has had the good fortune to enjoy from the beginning of this period. He remembers as from yesterday the (to his immature view) venerable but robust figure, the somewhat straggling locks of gray with a tawny tinge, the stimulating, luminous, unconventional exposition, the quick, incisive questioning, the surprising blackboard drawing, the inimitable touches of the confidential or the monitory, the constant substratum of uplifting earnestness and dignity. None of his students could fail to acquire admiring affection : very few could withstand the incentive to work. Which of them will not recall such characteristic expressions as this, " Now, gentle- men, I am going to show you one of the most beautiful and interesting things you ever came across ?" 3° In 1880, Professors Runkle and Osborne were the en- tire mathematical staff, and nearly every student came in contact with both. As years have passed, this has greatly changed ; and in recent times only a fraction of the students in calculus have met in 22 Rogers. Professor Runkle's place in the affections of the alumni has been none the less secure, and to no representative of the school have they extended more cordial invitations or more enthusiastic greetings. As a teacher, Dr. Runkle maintained his inter- est and zeal in a remarkable degree. In the class-room he renewed his youth. His teaching became the most vital part of his life. Until the summer of 1901 he had done full work. In the fall, feeling somewhat doubtful of his strength, he was relieved at his own request. An oppor- tunity arising for substitute work, he was more than willing to fill it, even expressing the idea that he had made a mistake in giving up. But his earlier judgment had been well founded. His strength soon proved unequal to the task, and he was afterwards able to be at the Institute but rarely. As a member of the Corporation and the Faculty, — and either position may prove easily embarrassing for an ex- President, — Dr. Runkle's position has been unique and his relations with his colleagues during these twenty-one years have been most fortunate. Always ready and glad to place his own experience and best judgment unre- servedly at the service of his associates, his attitude has never been critical, even in implication. He frequently presided at Faculty meetings, and was long a member of the Faculty Committee on Scholarships, — a place in keep- ing with his unceasing interest in student welfare. As senior member of the mathematical staff, his relations with his younger associates have been not merely friendly, 3 1 but almost paternal. In the early years the department had been too small to need formal organization. After it became larger, he was disposed to leave much initiative to his juniors ; and any progressive tendencies of theirs never failed to receive his prompt appreciation and encourage- ment. He expressed his interest in the department by donating to it his own valuable collection, and was not a little pleased at the action of the Corporation in giving to the enlarged library his own name. Near the end of the past school year the following letter was addressed to Professor Runkle by his colleagues of the Faculty : — Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, May 31, 190a. Dear Professor Runkle, — In recognition of your recent appoint- ment as professor emeritus, we desire as your colleagues in the Faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to tender an expression of our high regard. We remember with grateful appreciation your eminent services to the Institute from its foundation, and your warm personal interest in your students and your associates. We trust that it may be agreeable to you, at such time as you may prefer, to give us the great pleasure of meeting us at a dinner at the Technology Club. This pleasure was unfortunately not to be realized. Professor Runkle was a man of much intellectual quick- ness and strength, of ardent, but in later years serene, tem- perament, of warm and generous affections, ot cordial unaffected courtesy, in all the relations of life a sincere and loyal gentleman. Throughout his early and middle life he was a pioneer, first in the struggle for his own education and that of his brothers, next in the establishment and con- tinuance of a much-needed but, as it turned out, premature 3^ mathematical journal, then and for many years in the de- velopment of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the introduction of education in the mechanic arts. In all these undertakings his insight and courage were in- valuable. He made President Rogers' plans for the Insti- tute his own. He held steadfastly to its fundamental ideals, and, taking account of his scanty resources, made remarkable progress toward their fulfilment. The main changes he initiated have been abundantly justified by time, and he has lived to see their fulfilment. His students have been his lifelong friends, and some have had the good fortune to renew the friendship through their sons. In his declining years he has enjoyed the abundant fruition of many hopes. He has been able to continue the work he loved nearly to the end, which has come as we may believe he would have chosen. His name and memory are now added to those traditions which con- stitute what is permanent in the Institute of Technology. H. W. Tyler, '84. A t>^ *°^ ^ OCT. 68 ^.^ N. MANCHESTER. INDIANA