DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS.

President Eliot's annual report, resently made public,--in addition to his discussion of the requirements to be maintained for a bachelor's degree, of the plan of athletics in the University life and of other general questions--contains the reports of the different departments of the University and the President's comments on the salient points suggested by them. These form an interesting commentary on the departments reviewed.

The Law School.

The President calls attention to the first table in the report of the Dean of the Law School, which demonstrates an interesting fact connected with the requirement of a degree in arts or science for admission to a professional school. Thirty years ago the number of colleges represented among the students of the Law School was twenty-five. In the year under review it was ninety-two, the increase in the number of colleges represented having very nearly kept pace with the increase in the number of colleges represented having very nearly kept pace with the increase in the number of students.

The cost of the proposed addition to Austin Hall proved to be so high that the Corporation and the Law Faculty agreed that it was expedient to postpone the erection of the building. There is room in the northern wing of the building, formerly occupied by the Lawrence Scientific School, to store the accessions to the Law Library for, perhaps, four years. Meantime the annual surplus of the School can be accumulated to cover the extra cost of the new building.

The Graduate School.

In commenting on Dean Wright's report on the Graduate School, the President refers to the table of colleges and universities which sent students to the School in 1901-02, with a statement of the degrees these students brought from the various institutions. The two degrees which are brought in considerable numbers are the A.B., and the A.M., the former numbering 294 and the latter 148 out of 215. Table 15 in the Dean's report gives interesting statistics in regard to applicants for fellowships and scholarships. Of the applicants who failed to obtain aid nearly half did not appear at the University in the subsequent year.

The Dean advocates the erection of a graduates quadrangle or hall which should provide a sufficient number of chambers for two or three hundred students and their instructors, with a large common room, reading rooms, a dining hall, and other apartments for the use of societies and clubs. The President states that such a quadrangle would doubtless increase very much the attractiveness and usefulness of the Graduate School.

The Medical School.

In reviewing the report of the Medical School, the President calls attention to the important change made last June by the Faculty of Medicine. This change provided that beginning with the class entering the Medical School in the fall of 1902, the fourth year shall be elective without any restriction. All the instructors in the Medical School, who have been brought into intimate contact with the classes that have entered under the new requirement--that all men entering must possess a degree in arts--agree that the improvement in the quality of these classes completely justifies the action of the Faculty.

Another important experiment is progressing favorably at the Medical School, namely--the reduction in the number of subjects pursued simultaneously by the individual student, and the increase in the amount of time devoted to each subject.

The Dental School.

The Faculty of Medicine, by the advice of the Administrative Board of the Dental School, took important action during the year, providing for raising the entrance requirements of the Dental School to the same standard as those of Harvard College and the Lawrence Scientific School. The new requirements will take effect in June, 1904.

The year's accounts of the Dental School show a deficit of $5,345.53 instead of the habitual surplus of preceding years. This was due in part to a reduction in the number of students, and in part to a reduction of fees at the infirmary. It emphasizes the fact that the School needs and deserves an endowment.

Additions to the Museums.

Several paragraphs are devoted to the various museums, some of which have entered new buildings or increased the facilities of their former quarters. The Fogg Art Museum has received valuable additions including objects of Ancient Greek and Egyptian Art and a number of examples of Turner's work. President Eliot adds: "Although the Fogg Art Museum was only finished in 1895, it is already time that the problem of enlarging it should be carefully studied, particularly with a view to obtaining ample, well lighted wall space for the exhibition of paintings and drawings.

Radcliffe College.

The two important events that President Eliot calls attention to in regard to Radcliffe College are the opening of Bertram Hall, and the conferring of the first Radcliffe degrees of Doctor of Philosophy. The death rate among the graduates of Radcliffe is very low, the first death among the 415 women who have graduated between June, 1883, and June, 1901, occurring in 1902. The fact is emphasized that Radcliffe College affords admirable opportunities for benefactors, in the form of buildings or endowments, on the part of those who wish to promote the higher education of women.

Union Not Self-Supporting.

In regard to the Harvard Union it is pointed out that the membership during its first year was not large enough to support it properly. The Union could not pay the moderate ground-rent to the University, nor lay aside a proper sum to cover depreciation. A sufficient number of new members, active and life, is needed to produce in all an additional sum of $5000 a year.

Estimate for New Library.

Commenting on the report of the Librarian, President Eliot mentions the work of the Committee appointed to study the needs of the Library. The Committee found that a building which would fairly meet these needs would cost about $750,000. An endowment to meet the cost of administration and service in such a building would also be needed. The accessions of the year to the library in Gore Hall were 14,017 besides 17,679 pamphlets.

Methods of Instruction.

President Eliot calls attention to the fact that there exist five different methods of instruction in the large elementary courses in English, French, and German, history, government, economics, philosophy, and geology. In the language courses a good small-section method has been worked out. In history and government a lecture method is used; but the classes are also divided into sections. In philosophy two parallel courses are given three professors, one assistant professor and one assistant taking part in them. In economics three instructors and two assistants gave Economics 1 to 432 students in the year under review. In the half-course, Geology 4, one professor with two assistants gave instruction to 451 students. It is certain that all five of these methods have plain advantages, and that the Faculty has learned something from each one of these experiments. The Faculty has appointed a committee to consider, among other things, whether the methods of instruction in large elementary courses can be improved.