Burial of the Conic Sections
The “Burial of the Conic Sections” was a tradition which celebrated the completion of a particularly difficult mathematics class that covered the geometric concept of “conic sections,” or sections of cones. The class marked the end of the mathematics curriculum, but “was the one with the greatest mortality rate in the College.” Taking the course was a requirement of Trinity College students, dating back to 1824 when the school was still called Washington College.
Begun by the Sophomore Class in 1846 (despite the fact that it was a Junior year course), the “secret ritual,” which over the years began to include the whole student body, took place at midnight at the end of first term. It was also referred to as the “Conflagratio Conicorum” or the “Concrematio Conicorum.”
While at first the ritual entailed tossing a textbook into a fire, it became more elaborate with each passing year. Participants wore white garments and masks, and carried torches and white cone bats. A casket containing “Conics” was carried in the front of a procession and a eulogy was delivered. Invitations were sent to the friends of the students, and on one particular occasion, it is estimated that around 300 or 400 spectators attended. By the 1850s, public announcements were posted and printed programs were provided.
In the 1860s, the Trinity curriculum altered the math course and renamed it “Analytical Geometry,” of which conic sections was one part. In turn, the ritual was re-dubbed the “Burning of Anna Lytics” and advertised as an all-night cremation and burial ceremony in 1863. By 1869, the ceremony was tamed down and made a public College event rather than a late-night outing. The public was invited and the ceremony, held in the rear of the College buildings, supposedly attracted over 1,000 attendants. Students played “music” on instruments, such as the fish horn, cowbell, dishpan, and “musical comb,” giving rise to the official musical group, the Calithumpian Band.
After the campus moved from downtown to Summit Street, the Trinity students of the 1880s and 1890s began to leave behind old traditions and establish new ones. Sometime in the 1880s, the “Burning of Anna Lytics” was forgotten, and an attempt to revive it (“Burning of Mechanics”) fell flat.
Sources
Trinity College in the Twentieth Century: A History (2000) by Peter and Anne Knapp, p. 19.
The History of Trinity College (1967) by Glenn Weaver, pp. 51, 108, 134, 151, 163, 224.
Trinity Tripod, 04/07/1916.
Statement of Washington College, 1824.