Lafayette College, an institution of learning at Easton, Pa., chartered in 1826. Situated in the great mining and manufacturing region of Pennsylvania, the college has special facilities for affording a scientific and industrial education. Besides the usual classical course, there is a general course in science, and the following special courses of four years each: 1, engineering, civil, topographical, and mechanical; 2, mining engineering and metallurgy; 3, chemistry. The "working sections " afford opportunities for combining theoretical instruction with practical operations in road and mining engineering, metallurgy and mineralogy, and chemistry. Postgraduate courses are also provided. Of the several college buildings, the most imposing is Pardee hall, completed in 1873, for the use of the Pardee scientific department, through the munificence of Mr. Ario Pardee of Hazleton, Pa., whose gifts to the college amount to nearly $500,000. It is constructed of Trenton brown stone, with trimmings of light Ohio sandstone, and consists of a central building five stories high, 53 ft. front and 86 ft. deep, and a wing on each side 61 by 31 ft., four stories high; the whole terminating in two cross wings 42 ft. front and 84 ft. deep, making the front of the entire structure 256 ft.

In 1874 there were 280 students and 28 instructors, of whom 16 were professors and 3 assistant professors. The college has valuable collections and apparatus, and a library of 8,200 volumes.