marvellously small per cent. of those who start remain to finish.
Before the days of evening and correspondence schools many men studied alone, poring over books, in the course of many years acquiring enough knowledge of the essentials of engineering science to get along well. It is a solitary way and not to be preferred to the well-organized methods by class or through correspondence. Many, however, prefer to study alone, and to the end of time there will be those who would rather buy a book and be self-tutored in spite of the easier and better ways. For the men who insist upon being self-tutored the following courses are offered, the writer vouching that he knows a number who have achieved considerable success by home study.
The main difficulty in studying alone lies in knowing just what books to buy, many expensive trials being made. Few men know how to advise a young fellow in the purchase of books for self study, and, as a rule, most men will advise books away above the comprehension of the inquirer, because of his insufficient grounding in the rudiments. The self-tutored man finds plenty of books dealing with the particular specialty in which he is interested, but runs afoul of the mathematics plentifully besprinkled over the pages.
The first thing required is that the student be expert in common fractions, decimal fractions, ratio and proportion. The best way to study these
