DR. RICHARD MACLAURIN.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 695, 21 December 1909, Page 7

DR. RICHARD MACLAURIN.

■ IN,AMERICAN MAGAZINE. Dr. Richard Maclauriu' who left tho professorial chair of mathematics at the Victoria, University m 1003 for tho head of the Depaitment of Physics ,at Columbia, and who wnce then has been appointed president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the subject of an article and an illustration in the Novomber number of Musey*s magazine. Tho Massachusetts Institute is one of the famous colleges of the United States. It is entering upon a new era and great thince are expected of it. ' President Maclaurin is referred to in l the Rrticlo as "a man of exceptional ability and noted achievements, though not yet past forty years of age." Ho is ono who readily masters details, not a mero thorough scholar, but a ehrewd, tactful, and canny administrator. He is already facing great problems, such as tho selection of a new and suitable site for tho institution, the need of an adequate endowment, and thn increased cost of improved methods'of instruction. Tne article goes on p say that the new president is also working to develop the social lifo of tho institute and to umto technical education with education for culture. Already £25,000 has been 0De n Mw, building, and alumni are contributing .£BOOO annually. The now institute, which will probably be erected near Boston, ia being planned fifty years .ahead, and in the next five years or so, it is expected that it will bo housed in a now tract of thirty or forty acres, with now buildings and a new and wider lifo under Dr. Maclaurin In the, course of an interview recardinc tho teaching of culture and sciontino and technical trunang, Dr. Maclaurin made an interesting observation. "The usual practice" ' \i said, "is to devote the earliest part of a student's life to so-called culture, and to postpone his scientific and technical treinine to a later stage. This artificial arrangement 13 thoroughly irrational. . If any separation he really required, it would seem more reasonable first to train the young mind in scientific irothods, and to leave tho assimilation of real culture to a later period, when ho has a broader outlook and a better knowledge of '"on and affaire. This is the educational principle Mtelying tho training at tho Massachusetts Institute of Technology,"