Guide to West Point, and the U.S. Military Academy Part 4

Candidates must be able to read with facility from any book, giving the proper intonation and pauses, and to write portions that are read aloud for that purpose, spelling the words, and punctuating the sentences properly.

In ARITHMETIC they must be able to perform with facility examples under the four ground rules, and hence must be familiar with the tables of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division; and must be able to perform examples in reduction and vulgar fractions, such as:--

Add 2/3 to 3/4; subtract 2/5 from 5/6.

Multiply 3/4 by 7/8; divide 2/5 by 3/8.

Add together two hundred and thirty-four thousandths (.234), twenty-six thousandths (.026), and three thousandths (.003).

Subtract one hundred and sixty-one ten thousandths (.0161) from twenty-five hundredths (.25).

Multiply or divide twenty-six hundredths (.26) by sixteen thousandths (.016).

They must also be able to change vulgar fractions into decimal fractions, and _vice versa_, with examples like the following:--

Change 15/16 into a decimal fraction of the same value.

Change one hundred and two thousandths (.102) into a vulgar fraction of the same value.

In Simple and Compound Proportion, examples of various kinds will be given, and candidates will be expected to understand the principles of the rules which they follow.

In ENGLISH GRAMMAR candidates will be required to exhibit a familiarity with the nine parts of speech and the rules in relation thereto, and must be able to pa.r.s.e any ordinary sentence which may be given them, and generally they must understand those portions of the subject usually taught in the higher academies and schools throughout the country, comprehended under the heads of Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody.

In DESCRIPTIVE GEOGRAPHY they are to name, locate, and describe the natural grand and political divisions of the earth, and be able to delineate any one of the States or Territories of the American Union, with its princ.i.p.al cities, rivers, lakes, seaports, and mountains.

In HISTORY they must be able to name the periods of the discovery and settlement of the North American continent, of the rise and progress of the United States, and of the successive wars and political administrations through which the country has pa.s.sed.

COURSE OF STUDY

AND

BOOKS USED AT THE MILITARY ACADEMY.

[Books marked thus * are for Reference.]

FIRST YEAR--FOURTH CLa.s.s.

DEPARTMENT. TEXT BOOKS, AND BOOKS OF REFERENCE.

{ Davies' Bourdon's Algebra.

Mathematics. { Davies' Legendre's Geometry and Trigonometry.

{ Church's Descriptive Geometry.

{ Bolmar's Levizac's Grammar, and Verb Book.

French { Agnel's Tabular System.

Language. { Berard's Lecons Francaises.

{ *Spier's and Surenne's Dictionary.

Tactics of Artillery { Practical Instruction in the Schools of the and Infantry. { Soldier, Company, and Battalion.

{ Practical Instruction in Artillery.

Use of Small Arms { Instruction in Fencing and Bayonet Exercise.

SECOND YEAR--THIRD CLa.s.s.

DEPARTMENT. TEXT BOOKS, AND BOOKS OF REFERENCE.

{ Church's Descriptive Geometry, with its { application to Spherical Projections.

Mathematics. { Church's Shades, Shadows, and Perspective.

{ Davies' Surveying.

{ Church's a.n.a.lytical Geometry.

{ Church's Calculus.

{ Bolmar's Levizac's Grammar and Verb Book.

{ Berard's Lecons Francaises. Chapsal's Lecons French { et Modeles de Literature Francaise.

Language. { Agnel's Tabular System. Rowan's Morceaux { Choises des Auteurs Modernes.

{ *Spier's and Surenne's Dictionary.

{ Josse's Grammar. Morale's Progressive Reader.

Spanish. { Ollendorf's Oral Method applied to the { Spanish application by Velasquez and Simonne.

{ *Seoane's Neuman and Barretti's Dictionary.

Drawing. { Topography, &c.

Tactics of Infantry { Practical Instruction in the Schools of the Artillery, { Soldier, Company, and Battalion.

and Cavalry. { Practical Instruction in Artillery and { Cavalry.

THIRD YEAR--SECOND CLa.s.s.

DEPARTMENT. TEXT BOOKS, AND BOOKS OF REFERENCE.

Natural and { Bartlett's Mechanics.

Experimental { Bartlett's Acoustics and Optics.

Philosophy. { Bartlett's Astronomy.

Chemistry. { Fowne's Chemistry. Chemical Physics from { Miller.

Drawing. { Landscape. Pencil and Colors.

{ United States Tactics for Garrison, Siege, and Tactics--Artillery, { Field Artillery. United States Tactics for Cavalry, { Infantry. Practical Instruction in the Schools and Infantry. { of the Soldier, Company, and Battalion.

{ Practical Instruction in Artillery and Cavalry.

FOURTH YEAR--FIRST CLa.s.s.