Echols in Europe

NB. These are raw research notes.

Folder: Echols, Charles Patton. 1868-1940. USMA 1881. report on European Military Education.

The folder contains one item, a black binder hinged at the top Labeled "Colonel Echols' / Report of Visits to Foreign Schools / A N D / Recommendations resulting."

Stuck in the front is a letter from Bessell of 2 September 1959 sending this to the librarian "since it has historic value." It has been in his possession since he became department head. Echols wrote it in 1905 [sic]. It is mimeographed or something like that.

P. 1.

The first page is addressed to Adjutant, U. S. Military Academy" and dated in ink "Nov 25, 1906."

He received instructions to prepare this report in a letter from The Military Secretary's Office in DC June 26, 1905.

Sailed from NY on July 20, 1905 for Paris. For one month pursued a course in French Language and Literature at the Alliance Française. 50 lessons at the Berlitz School of Languages followed, and four and one-half months in Paris with a private tutor in the French Language.

"For one month lectures were attended in mathematics, mechanics, construction and descriptive geometry at the Beaux Arts. During 3 1/2 months lectures in various branches of mathematics (algebra, analytics and calculus) were attended at the University of Paris where I matriculated as a student."

Schools visited:

Jan and Feb 1906: 4 Civil Lycees in Paris and two leading military schools of France.

Feb and March: 2 civil schools in Rome and 4 military schools in Italy. (Private lessons were had in Italian).

April: 7 military schools in Austria. (Private lessons were had in German).

April and May: 1 civil technical college and 3 military schools in Germany.

May: the Polytechnic School in Paris a second time.

May and June: 5 civil schools and 5 military schools in England.

P. 2.

He begins with France where he visited "L'École Speciale Militaire de St. Cyr for the training of aspirants for the cavalry and infantry, and L'Éole Polytechnique for the training of aspirants for the engineers and artillery."

P. 5

"The subjects are almost without exception studied from pamphlets written by the military instructors (all Army officers) at the school. These pamphlets [word written in in ink] are in the hands of the cadets as texts. One hour lectures are delivered by the instructor 3 times per week and each cadet is questioned at least once a week in a room alone with the instructor or one of his associates." This is at St. Cyr.

Exams for EP cover much more ground than for St. Cyr. "It suffices to say that this class demands in variety of information a more extensive knowledge of mathematics and descriptive geometry than graduation in these subjects at present calls for from a member of the 1st section at West Point. This I can certify to from an examination of the programme [sic]of the "Special Class" and also from having observed the pupils at their recitation at the lycées."

"The graduate who has mastered the course should have a powerful command of analysis and an excellent knowledge of what can be accomplished in that field in the past and of what can be done by using past discoveries."

P. [page numbers are too high up in the gutter to read and I am not counting pages.]

Italy.

"The sections are composed of from 20 to 40 cadets and the method followed in mathematics is for the instructor to give a short talk or series of explanations at the blackboard, asking questions from time to time to hold the attention; then to send one student at at time to work out a principle or solve a problem and explain the process as he writes his work on the board. The general style is the same as at the French school."

Peano is mentioned but it is not clear if he met him. "I was kindly furnished by Professor Burali-Forti with a complete set of books and pamphlets giving the theory of the subject." This seems to be about projective analytical geometry.

Austria.

There are 19 cadet schools in Austria and Hungary. He visited 7: Vienna (2), Weisskirchen (2), Hainburg, Vienna-Neustadt, and Modling.

At one school "A lecture or explanation begins the hour and the student takes notes (but not verbatim notes); then one pupil at a time recites, solving a problem or making a demonstration under the assistance of the professor who questions the whole class on any involved point. Problems are assigned with each lesson with must be solved and handed in in note books."

At the Cavalry School at Moravian Weisskirchen "A recitation in Mathematics was devoted to a lecture from a very instructive model --- a right cone with its two tangent spheres and the tangent planes to the latter cutting out conic sections from the cones." This sounds like the Dandelin model but the description is not very clear. But the instructor did use the model.

The numerical computations were made with the slide rule.

Germany.

Throughout this document there are detailed lists of the subjects discussed.

England.

Visited all five schools: Sandhurst, RMA at Woolwich, Chatham, Ordnance College at Woolwich, Camberley. Math I at Woolwich uses the slide rule.

P. 61 He mentions The Shop and says the descriptions are so good "that the entire place had an air of familiarity. So he has read it! The Professor of Mathematics and Mechanics is a civilian as are also his young assistants.

He visited preparatory schools at Cheltenham, Harrow, Eton, and Rugby.

In Europe the graduates of the schools are equally well prepared, but not in the US. "It has become evident that the acceptance of certificates from public schools is unsatisfactory since it does not produce the qualified candidates . . . the authorities of the Military Academy should come in touch with the numerous entrance examination boards which are now largely spread over the country and which send out sets of examinations papers twice every year." He mentions 4 by name.

"The examination in elementary algebra and plane geometry should be exacting enough to admit of those subjects being dropped from the course in mathematics of the Academy." "Logarithms of numbers" are already demanded of candidates of the Naval Academy. This is a nice statement, but of course, he did not get his way. Except in Germany the amount of mathematics required of officers in Engineers and Artillery is higher than for those in Cavalry and Infantry. There is general acceptance of the fact that the former should follow a primarily scientific track. "The conclusion seems to be that the range covered by the upper course in mathematics at West Point is not too great for the proper training of officers of Engineers, Ordnance and Artillery; that its value may be enhanced by a more thorough training in the subjects of differential equations at the expense, if need be, of some other subject."

If entrance examinations guarantee proficency in plane geometry and algebra through progressions then can drop them at WP and begin with algebra, solid geometry and trigonometry. Then in December of the plebe year split into two tracks, Engineer-Artillery and Cavalry-Infantry. This will require 340 lessons.

Should be a brief course in surveying preceding the encampment during the third summer. 18 hours.

No text in English that combines the teaching of mathematics and mechanics.

"Attention has been called to the general use of the slide-rule in computation. It seems advisable that time be found in the course in mathematics to resume the instruction in the theory and use of the slide-rule which was once taught in conjunction with the course in surveying and is now taken up in the course of Ordnance and Gunnery. It could be best added to the course in trigonometry of the 4th Class year, its use to continue throughout the next three years." Would like to use tables of centesimal logarithms published by the French Government.

"The criticism can be made of our Academy that the instructors are not trained teachers. This is a disadvantage. The advantages of this detail system, however, are well recognized and there is no disposition to give them up; we must, however, expect to take more time than others in covering specified ground. We should also be furnished with those of our graduates most fitted to excel in this work and, in order to guarantee their better training, I believe that new instructors in the Department of Mathematics and Mechanics should be detailed to the Academy in the month of January to follow for six months a preliminary course in mathematics and mechanics and attend the recitations conducted under the experienced instructors." In languages they should go to Europe for six months.

Should cultivate the habit of "talking and writing at the blackboard at the same time" because then "the pupil becomes an open book to the instructor who can instantly apply his corrections when needed."

For officers in the scientific branches "A well organized school of this nature in some educational center, such as Boston, where the services of eminent professors and lectures of the civil institutions would be available for the non-military subjects, together with the use of their technical laboratories, would add immeasurably to the efficiency of the Engineer, Ordnance and Artillery Corps of our service and incidentally furnish excellent material for instructors in this institution with broadened views of their subject matter."

This is quite an interesting report. It is amazing how little his suggestions were followed.