%' •• i- » NT <^^°^ > %'^.'*/ V'3?\/ ^^^•^'^o A^^ 1.^ -^^ . S • • > •<^'!i. ^ > « o „ ^^ i>V* « • • ^ '#*'. .,4 c>. A I ^^ t^ ^< [ Whole Number . UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION. CIRCULAE, or INEORMATIOISr NO. 3, 1900. CONTRIBUTIONS TO AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. EDITED BY HERBERT B. ADAMS. No. 28. HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK. BY SIDNEY SHERWOOD, Ph. D., Associate Professor of Political Economy in Johns Hopkins Urviversily. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTINa OFFICE. 1900. [ Whole Number 264 UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION. CIRCTJLAR OF INFORMATION NO. 3, 1900. CONTRIBUTIONS TO AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. EDITED BY HERBERT B. ADAMS. No. 28. HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE STATE OE NEW YORK. BY SIDNEY^ SHEKWOOD, Ph. D., Associate Professor of Political Economy in Johns Hopkins University. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1900. n, m e, • - Mil LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Wasliington, D. C, July 2, 1900. Sir : I have the honor to transmit for publication the twenty-eighth number in the series of Contributions to American Educational His- tory, edited by Prof. H. B. Adams. The present volume deals with the University of the State of New York and was prepared by Prof. Sidney Sherwood, of Johns Hopkins University, a native of the State and a graduate of Princeton University, who had the assistance of a num- ber of teachers and officers connected with the various institutions described. Part I of this monograph deals with the origin, history, and present organization of the University of the State of New York, which is an executive and not a teaching body, and hence unlike any other American educational institution. This part has been pre- pared by Professor Sherwood in person, whose official connection with a university and whose careful and scholarly methods well fit him for the task. After the University itself has been described, come a series of chapters dealing with the institutions comprised within it. These chapters have been prepared generally by persons connected with those institutions. A chaiDter is devoted also to women's col- leges, one to professional and technical schools, while an appendix containing an account of the original development of the common schools, by Dr. Andrew S. Draper, is added. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. T. Harris, Commissioner. Hon. E. A. Hitchcock, Secretary of the Interior. CONTENTS Page. Author's preface _ 23 Part I. — University of the State of New York; Origin, History, AND Present Organization. Introduction 31 New York a leader in innovation.. 33 Plan and scope of the work 32 Chapter 1 . Outline of the Present System of Education in New York . 34 Private schools 34 State educational systems 34 Department of public instruction or common-school system _ 34 School districts ... 34 Union free-school districts , 35 School commissioners 35 City public schools 35 State superintendent of public instruction 35 Chief executive powers of the State superintendent 35 Uniform examinations ... 36 Teachers' institutes 36 Academic teachers' classes 36 Normal schools . 37 Judicial powers of the State superintendent . 38 The superintendent of public instruction and the uni- versity 39 University of the State of New York, or the system of higher education 39 University act of 1889 39 The university in form a private corporation 40 The university in fact a State bureau of higher educa- tion . . ._ 41 State control of the university. 42 Summary. State educational policy 43 Chapter 2. The Pounding op the University 44 Higher education in colonial times _ 44 King's College 46 New York at the close of the Revolution 48 Legislation of 1784 48 Actof May 1, 1784 52 Amendatory act of November 26, 1784 54 Legislation, a compromise of parties 56 5 6 COI^TEFTS. Chapter 2. The Founding of the University — Continued. Page. Legislation of 1787..... 57 Predominance of Columbia College 57 Opposition to the Columbia monopoly 59 Struggle over the new law - . . - 60 Attempt of Columbia to reorganize the university 61 Popular attempt at reorganization 64 L'Hommedieu's bill and Hamilton's bill not the same _ . 68 Consolidation and compromise 73 Act of April 13, 1787 76 Hamilton or L'Hommedieu? 80 Chapters. An Era op Educational Revolution 81 University of the State of New York a revolution 81 The revolutionary idea not English 82 Contrast between the university and the English univer- sities - . 83 The revolutionary idea in New York before 1784 84 -An era of educational revolution in America, 1776-1789 88 Georgia 88 North Carolina _ _ 88 Pennsylvania 89 Massachusetts 89 Virginia ... _ 89 Political revolution and educational revolution 90 The educational revolution in Europe .._ 91 France the nursery of the educational revolution 92 Debt of New York to France .. 96 The American State University 99 Chapter 4. A Century of University Work 100 University extension 102 The university's opportunity 105 A school for graduate work ... 105 An academy for the training of civil officers 107 General education in economics and politics 109 Bibliography Ill Appendix : Text of university laws, ordinances, and by-laws ._ 113 Part II. — The Institutions Comprised in the University. Chapter 5. Universities and Colleges foe Men, Including Those also Admitting Women. 1. Columbia University (1754), by Frank R. Hathaway.. 133 King's College, 1754-1784 133 Lottery act of 1746 133 Appointment of Dr. Samuel Johnson as president. 133 First-entrance examinations . 134 Charter of King's College (Columbia) 1754... 134 Incorporators 134 Sectarian disputes 135 College seal 135 First building, 1756 136 First commencement, June, 1758 136 Appointment of Prof. Myles Cooper, 1762 137 Resignation of President Johnson, 1763 .. 138 CONTENTS. 7 Chapter 5. Universities and Colleges for Men, etc.— Continued. page. 1. Columbia University, etc. — Continued. Professor Cooper made president 1,38 Establishment of a medical department, 1767 _ 138 President Cooper forced to leave by the revolu- tionary sentiment 138 Rev. Benjamin Moore, president j:)ro tempore 138 College building used as a hospital, 1776 138 President Cooper's account of the college 139 Founding of Columbia College, 1784-1787 139 Reorganization, under the regents of the univer- sity, as Columbia College, 1784 139 Failure of plan for divinity and law faculties _ 140 The faculties of arts and medicine 141 The new charter of 1787 141 The early presidencies, 1787-1849: Presidency of William Samuel Johnson 142 Grant of State lands, 1790 142 Further State aid, 1793 143 Chancellor Kent's law lectures 143 Presidency of the Rev. Charles H. Wharton, 1801. 145 Presidency of the Rt. Rev. Benjamm Moore, 1801 _ 145 Incorporation of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1807 145 The Elgin botanic garden 145 Question of removal of site 146 Gift of land by the State 146 Curriculum in 1810 147 Presidency of the Rev. William Harris, 1811 148 Changes in the faculty 148 Higher requirements for admission 148 Professor McVickar's course in political econ- omy .. 149 Chancellor Kent's reappointment 149 Presidency of Judge William Alex. Duer, 1830. _. . 150 • Liberalization of the course 150 Presidency of Nathaniel F. Moore, 1842 150 Administration of President King, 1849-1864: Presidency of Charles King 151 Removal of the college to Forty-ninth street, 1857 151 Curriculum in 1857 152 Plan for a university course of study 153 Francis Lieber, professor of history and polit- ical science ._. 153 Founding of the law school 155 Teaching of Professor D wight .... 155 College of Physicians and Surgeons adopted by Columbia, 1860 156 Resolutions on resignation of President King. 157 Administration of President F. A. P. Barnard, 1864-1888: State of the college at his accession 157 Life and services of Professor McVickar. . _ 158 Founding of the school of mines 158 Prof. John S. Newberry 159 8 CONTENTS. Chapter 5. Universities and Colleges for Meit, etc. — Continued. Page. 1. Columbia University, etc. — Continued. Administration of President Barnard, etc. — Continued. Development and enlargement of the courses _ 160 Department of mathematics . 161 Work of Professors Davies and Peck 161 Prof . Ogden N. Rood 161 Department of Greek and Latin _ - 162 Work of Professor Anthon 1 68 The elective system 163 Post-graduate work 163 Reorganization of the law school 164 New professorship in school of mines 164 Changes in the school of arts 165 Development of the post-graduate scheme _ . _ . 166 Establishment and development of the school of political science ... .. 166 Expansion of the university system 168 Removal of the law school . 169 Course lengthened to three years 169 Thelibrary 170 The herbaria . - 172 Cabinets and collections 173 The Vanderbilt gifts . 174 Death of Dr. Short 175 Resignation of President Barnard, 1888 176 State of the college in 1889 176 Administration of Dr. Drisler 177 School of electrical engineering . . 177 Accession of President Seth Low, 1890 178 Administration of President Low, 1890, by Sidney Sher- wood 179 Organization at President Low's accession ... 180 The present organization - 181 University council _.. 181 Administrative organization 182 New faculties established 182 Educational organization 183 Work of the several faculties 183 School of arts in college proper 183 School of law 183 College of Physicians and Surgeons 185 School of mines _.... 185 School of political science 185 School of philosophy Ic 6 School of pure science 187 University press . _ 187 Statistics of university.-. 188 The new site and buildings 190 President Low"s gift 190 Columbia University and New York City _ 191 Bibliography .- - . 194 2. Union University, 1795. By Robert C. Alexander. Petition of 1779 and first charter 198 CONTENTS. 9 Chapter 5. Universities and Colleges for Men, etc. — Continued. ' page. 2. Union University, etc. — Continued. Petition of 1783 .._ _ 199 * Academy in Schenectady, 1785 _. 200 Academic charter, 1793 201 Petition for college charter, 1794 201 Charter of Union College, 1795 201 Academy merged in college __ 201 Presidency of John Blair Smith, D. D. , 1795-1799 . 202 Regents' report on the college, 1797 203 Presidency of Jonathan Edwards, D. D. , 1799-1801 . 204 Presidency of Jonathan Maxcy, D. D. , 1801-1804 . _ 204 Accession of the Rev. Eliphalet Nott to the presi- dency, 1804 204 Thelottery 205 Purchase of new college grounds . . 206 New buildings 206 Lottery of 1814 207 Financial difficulties 207 Charges against Dr. Nott . 208 Vindication... 209 Growth and fame of the college 209 Semicentennial, 1845 209 Dr. Nott's semicentennial as president, 1854 , . . 210 Appointment of Dr. L. P. Hickoli as vice-president. 210 Effect of the civil war 210 Dealhof Dr. Nott, 1866 ., 210 Presidency of Dr. Hickok, 1866-1868 210 Presidency of Charles A. Aiken. D. D.. 1868-1870 . 310 Presidency of Dr. Eliphalet Nott Potter, 1870-1884. 310 Acting presidency of Judge J. S. Landon, 1884-1888. 310 Presidency of Harrison E. Webster, LL. D., 1888- 1894 210 Educational influence of Union: Distinguished professors ... ... 211 First to put scientific course on level with classi- cal. 211 Optional system 211 Secret fraternities 212 The presidents. 213 Buildings and grounds ._. 213 Trus -ees 316 Faculty. 316 Alumni 817 Courses of study 217 Scholarships 231 Honors _ 221 Incorporation of Union University, 1873 225 Services of Presiden t Webster 226 Accession of President Andrew V. V. Raymond, D.D.,1894 ._ 336 Centennial celebration, 1895 , .. 337 Bibliography 828 10 CONTENTS. Chapter 5. Universities and Colleges for Men, etc. — Continued. Page. 3. Hamilton College, 1812 _.__ 239 Hamilton Oneida Academy, 1794. 229 Samuel Kirkland, founder of the academy 231 Founding of the college . -. 233 Presidents of the college: Dr. Azel Backus, 1812 _. 234 Dr. Henry Davis, 1817 235 Dr. SerenoE. Dwight, 1838 235 Dr. Joseph Penney, 1835 235 Dr. Simeon North, 1839 235 Dr. Samuel Ware Fisher, 1858 235 Dr. Samuel Gilman Brown, 1867 236 Dr. Henry Darling, 1881 . 236 Dr. Melancthon Woolsey Stryker, 1893 236 Courses of instruction 236 Scientific collections 237 Grounds and buildings 238 Library . 240 Honors _. 241 Law school of Hamilton College 241 Summary of alumni 242 Bibliography 242 4. Hobart College, 1825 . 243 Grant of Trinity Church to Fairfield Academy . . . 243 Grant transferred to Geneva Academy 243 Charter of Geneva College, 1825 243 Presidency of Dr. Jasper Adams, 1826 244 Presidency of Dr. Richard S. Mason, 1 828 244 Medical school established, 1834 244 Presidency of Dr. Benjamin Hale, 1886 244 Trinity Church increases endowment, 1851 245 Name changed to Hobart Free College, 1851 245 Presidency of Dr. Abner Jackson, 1858 345 Name changed to Hobart College 245 Dr. W. D. Wilson, acting president, 1867 245 Presidency of Dr. James Kent Stone, 1868 345 Presidency of Dr. James Rankine, 1869 . . 245 Presidency of Dr. M. Van Rensselaer, 1871 245 Presidency of Dr. W. S. Perry, 1876 245 Presidency of Dr. R. G. Hinsdale, 1876 345 Prof. H. L. Smith, acting president, 1888 845 Presidency of Dr. E. N. Potter, 1884 345 Presidency of the Rev. G. E. Jones, 1897 245 Notable teachers -.. 246 Development of classical course 346 Development of the English or scientific course 247 Statistics of alumni ^ . - 248 General Myer and the United States Weather Bureau -. -- --- 249 Other distinguished alumni 250 Bibliography 250 5. New York^Tniversity, 1831 258 First plan for the university, 1829 253 CONTENTS. 11 Chapter 5. Universities and Colleges for Men, etc. — Continued. page. 5. New York University — Continued. Meeting of citizens to consider the plan 353 Appointment of standing committee 255 Competition of Columbia College for status as the city university 256 Failure of union with Columbia 257 First fund subscribed 258 Incorporators 258 Albert Gallatin, first president of the council, 1830 --- 259 His plan for a college without other languages than the English 260 Convention called by Chancellor Mathews in Octo- ber, 1830 -.- 261 Plan of organization ... 262 Early poverty and failure of the graduate school. 263 Morse's first telegram 264 Draper's invention of photography. 264 The school of law, 1835 264 The school of medicine, 1836 265 Dissension and resignation of Chancellor Mathews, 1839... 265 Theodore Frelinghuysen. chancellor, 1839-1850 266 Gardiner Spring, D.D., chancellor ad interim, 1850- 1852 266 Isaac Ferris, D. D.. LL. D. , chancellor, 1852-1870. . 266 Scientific and technological courses 266 Howard Crosby, D.D., LL.D., chancellor, 1870-1881 266 Debt ; abandonment of col lege work suggested _ 266 JohnHall, D.D., chancellor adinterim, 1881-1884^. 267 Dr. Henry Mitchell MacCracken's chancellorship, 1884 267 Reorganization of college work 267 Opening of the graduate school, 1886 268 School of pedagogy, 1890 268 The women's advisory committee 270 Reorganization of the law school, 1891 . 270 Reorganization of the medical school, 1891 271 Removal to University Heights 272 New scholarships . ... 275 Group system 276 Progress in the several schools 276 Bibliography 278 6. Colgate University, 1846 278 The Baptist Education Society of the State of New York, 1817 278 Hamilton Literary and Theological Seminary, 1820 _ 279 Charter of Madison University, 1846 280 Struggle with the ' ' Rochester " party 280 Presidency of Dr. N. Kendrick, 1836-1848 280 Presidency of Dr. Stephen W. Taylor, 1851 280 Presidency of Dr. Eaton, 1856 280 12 CONTENTS. Chapter 5. Universities and Colleges for Men, etc.— Contintied. 6. Colgate University — Continued. Page. Presidency of Dr. Ebenezer Dodge, 1868 281 "Jubilee "fund of $135,000_-. 281 The Colgate gifts and others 281 Connection with the preparatory school and the theological seminary . . 281 Library and laboratory equipment 282 Death of President Dodge, 1890 _ .. . 282 State of university, 1890 282 Change of name to Colgate, 1890 283 Gift of $1,000,000 by James B. Colgate 284 Statistics of alumni 284 Dean Andrevs^s and President Smith 284 University extension department 284 Bibliography 285 I. University of Buffalo, 1846... 285 8. St. Johns College, Fordham, 1846 _.. 285 9. University of Rochester, 1851 286 Charter and organization 286 Contest with Madison University 286 Important eveuts in the history of the University ofRochester. 289 1853. Presidency of Dr. Anderson ....._ 289 1861. Charter made perpetual .. - 290 1880. Increase of endowment 290 1882. Changes in curriculum. .... 290 Presidency of Dr. D. J. Hill, 1888 291 Aims and methods of instruction 291 Requirements for bachelors' degrees ... 292 Eclectic students 292 Preparation for professional study _ 293 University extension department 293 Property 295 Students 296 Bibliography _ _ ._ 297 10. College of the City of New York, 1854: The Free Academy, 1846 .- 298 Dr. Horace Webster, principal, 1848 298 Incorporated, 1854 .. .„ 299 Chartered as a college, 1866 299 Gen. Alexander S. Webb, president, 1869 293 Courses of study 299 Classical 299 Scientific 299 Mechanical 299 Development 300 Library 300 Attendance. 301 Newsite 301 Faculty 301 Bibliography. 302 II. St. Lawrence University, 1856: Charter and organization 302 List of presidents 303 CONTENTS. 13 Chapter 5. Universities and Colleges for Men, etc. — Continued. Page. 11. St. Lawrence University — Continued. The theological school - 303 Academic department - 304 Faculty ..-. - 305 Curriculum 305 Library and buildings - 306 State aid and private gifts 307 Statement of property. 308 Graduates. 309 Bibliography 310 12. Alfred University, 1857: Alfred Academy and the university 311 Charter 311 President Kenyon , 1857 311 President J. Allen, 1866 311 Courses of instruction 312 Degrees conferred by the university 312 Statistics of instructors, students, and prop- erty 312 Buildings..,- 312 President Arthur E. Main 312 Bibliography 313 13. St. Stephen's College, 1860: Aims of the college 313 Alumni and students 313 Buildings and library _ 314 14. College of St. Francis Xavier, 1861: First and second charters 314 Courses ._- 314 Presidents 314 Statistics 315 15. Manhattan College, 1863: Its history 315 Its distinguished men , 315 16. Robert College of Constantinople, 1864 317 17. Syrian Protestant College, Beirut, 1864 317 18. Cornell University, 1865: I. — The Federal Land Grant and the People's College. The Federal land grant 318 The People's College 319 Acceptance of the scrip by the State 319 Bestowal upon the People's College 320 Loss of scrip by People's College 322 II. — The Founding of Cornell University. The founders 828 A year of preparation 824 Legislature of 1864 324 Mr. Cornell's first proposal 324 The struggle in the legislature of 1865 325 Mr. Cornell's final proposal 825 Passage of the charter 326 14 CONTENTS. Chapter 5. Universities and Colleges for Men, etc. — Continued. Page. Cornell University— Continued. The university charter 339 How ifc was framed . , 329 The corporate name 329 The location of the university 330 General provisions -... 330 The trustees . ._ .-. -.- 331 Origin of the idea of Cornell University --. 333 III. — The Building of the University. Preliminary matters — site and buildings 334 The plan of organization 336 The choice of a president ..-. .-- 338 The selection of a faculty 339 President White's work in Europe 341 IV. — The Opening of the University. The inauguration ceremonies -., 343 Thefirstyear 344 V. — The Endowments op the University. Ezra Cornell and the land-grant endowment 345 Management of the grant by the State 346 First purchase of scrip by Mr. Cornell 346 Legislation of 1866 347 Second purchase by Mr. Cornell 347 Management of the scrip by Mr. Cornell 348 Attacks upon Mr. Cornell ... 349 Transfer of the lands to the university 352 Results of Mr. Cornell's undertaking . . 353 The land scrip fund 354 Additional Federal endowments 355 New York State endowments . ._ 356 Private endowments 357 Summary of endowments and gifts _ 360 VI.— The Departments, Colleges, and Faculties of the University. Courses of study 362 The academic courses in arts and sciences. 362 The technical and professional courses 364 Graduate courses 365 Requirements for admission to courses 366 The faculties -. 370 The prof essors .. 371 Academic department 371 Technical and professional departments 377 VII. — The Students of the University. Number of students 383 Admission of women students .. . 385 Provisions for the accommodation of students 386 CONTEISTTS. 15 Chapter 5. Universities and Colleges for Men, etc. — Continued. Pag*. Cornell University — Continued, Self-support by students 388 Fellowship and scholarships 391 College societies ._. _ 393 Student publications 393 Student athletics -. _.. 394 Government of students 395 VIII.— Through Three Administrations. The administration of President White 396 Educational growth 397 Material growth . 399 Religious f eatures_ 4.00 The McGraw-Fishe will contest 403 Other features of the administration . _ _ _ . . 405 . Resignation of President White 406 The administration of President Adams . 408 The election of Charles Kendall Adams 408 Reorganization of departments 408 Moditication of courses of study 409 Material growth 410 Increase in attendance 411 Increase of the faculty . 413 Other features ...„ 412 Resignation of President Adams 414 The present administration of President Schurman 415 Bibliography. 421 19. Syracuse University. 1870: Genesee College, 1851, and Geneva Medical College, 1834 426 Charter of Syracuse University 423 Curriculum of the college of liberal arts 426 Curriculum of the medical college 426 Curriculum of the college of fine arts . . . _ . 427 The higher degrees 428 Government of the university.- 429 Buildings... . 429 Libraries and scientific collections 430 Property, 431 Faculty 431 Bibliography 431 20. St. John's College (Brooklyn) , 1871 432 21. St. Bonaventure's College, 1875 432 22. Canisius College, 1883 433 23. Niagara University, 1883: Seminary of Our Lady of the Angels .., 433 Law school 433 Medical school 433 Statistics of students, teachers, and property 433 24. St. Francis College, 1884: Founding and charter , 433 Course of study 434 Library 434 16 COKTENTS. Chapter 5. Universities and Colleges for Men, etc. — Continued. Page. 35. Polyteclinic Institute of Brooklyn, 1890: Foundation _ . 435 Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute, 1854 _._ 435 College charter, 1890 435 Departments 435 Institute. ._. 435 Academic department 435 President Cochran 436 26. Keuka College, 1890 436 27. Protestant College at Sao Paulo , 1 891 436 28. Christian College in China, 1893 436 29. Adelphi College, 1896 436 Chapter 6. Universities and Colleges for Women. First efforts toward higher education of women in New York State 437 Mrs. Emma Willard and the Troy Female Seminary 437 1. Elmira College, 1855: The first real college for women 438 Motives for its establishment - _ 438 First steps toward its organization _ _ . 439 Auburn Female University 439 Removal to Elmira, 1853 439 Charter of Emira Female College, 1855 440 Early gifts to the college . _ . 440 Presidency of Dr. Cowles, 1855 440 Presidency of Dr. Phraner, 1889 , 441 Presidency of Dr. Van Norden, 1889 441 Statistics,. 441 Courses of study 442 Preparatory department 443 Art and music 443 Funds, buildings, etc ... 443 Chang3 of name to Elmira College, 1890 444 Presidency of Dr. Green, 1893 444 2. Ingham University, 1857 444 Collegiate charter revoked by regents ... 444 3. Vassar College, 1861: How it came into being 446 The founder's life 447 His interest in education 447 His death 447 Thecharter 448 Board of trustees 448 Mr. Vassar"s subsequent bequests 448 The first president, Professor Jewett . 448 The college building 448 Organization 449 The college opened 450 Lions in the way .-. .-- 450 The first prospectus - - 450 First classes - - - 451 Preparatory department - 451 CONTENTS. 17 Chapter 6. Universities and Colleges for Women, etc.— Continued. Page. 3. Vassar College — Continued. Permanent course of study 451 Original curriculum _ _ 451 Present curriculr.m, 1894-85 452 Candidates for admission .__ 453 Admission to advanced standing . . 454 Courses and methods of instruction 455 Summary of courses. .. . 455 Description of the courses, by subjects, for fresh- man and senior years 455 Graduate courses . . 463 Degrees-.- -.. 463 College buildings 463 Prof. xMaria Mitc'.iell 464 Vassar 's presidents . 464 Presidency of Dr. Raymond, 1864-1878 464 Bi bliograpliy .... 465 . 4. Drew Seminary and Female College, 1866: Collegiate charter surrendered, 1895 466 5. Rutgers Female College, 1867: The instittite, 1838 466 The college, 1867 466 Instructors and students 467 Charter surrendered, 1895 ..... _ 467 6. Wells College, 1868: Founding . . 467 Buildings 468 Presidents of the college 468 Benefactors .- 469 Courses of study 469 Additional facts .. 469 Presidency of William Everett Waters, Ph. D., 1894. 469 7. Claverack College, 1889: Historical sketch - . 470 Buildings and grounds 470 Design 470 Courses of study 471 Collegiate charter revoked. . . , _ . 471 8. Barnard College, 1839: ' ' The Columbia courses for women " 471 Charter of Barnard College and early organization _ . 472 Academic statement ... 473 Po'.icy and relation to Columbia. ._. 473 Faculty of philosophy 473 Faculty of political science 473 Faculty of pure science. 474 Degrees 474 Chapter 7. Professional and Technical Schools. Reasons for not giving detailed account . 476 List of professional and technical schools 477 The Teachers' College: Histor)^ and purpose .. 480 Courses of study - 480 3176 2 18 CONTENTS. Chapter 7. Professional and Technical Schools— Contintied. Page. The Teachers' College — Continued. Introductory courses and terms of admission 481 School of observation and practice 481 Alliance with Columbia University 481 Public opening of the new buildings 481 Growth and financial status 482 Aims in future development . 482 Incorporation with Columbia University 483 Bibliography 483 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1826: Foundation 484 Aim of the school 484 Opening of the school . 484 First prospectus 484 Amos Eaton 487 Department of mathematical arts 488 First civil engineering prospectus 489 Death of Amos Eaton 491 Reorganization of the school . 491 Name " Rensselaer Polytechnic School " adopted 491 Methods of instruction . . 492 Presidents and directors 492 Requirements for admission . . , 493 Number and length of terms 493 Courses of instruction 493 Civil engineering 494 Natural science 494 Mathematics and astronomy ... 495 Descriptive geometry and stereotomy . _ 495 Chemistry 495 Mineralogy, geology, and metallurgy 496 Physics 496 Surveying 497 Geodesy 497 Highway engineering 497 Railroad engineering .. . _ 498 Summer courses 498 Toxiographical drawing 498 Rational mechanics 499 Structures .. 499 Resistance of materials 499 Bridges and roofs 500 Hydraulics and hydraulic motors 500 Sewerage systems .. . 501 Steam engineering 501 Theses 502 Degrees . . , . . - - 502 Buildings and property 502 Library and apparatus ... .- 503 Number and distribution of graduates 503 Instructors and students 504 Bibliography 504 CONTENTS. ' 19 Chapter 7. Professional and Technical Schools— Continued. Page. Popular colleges and summer schools 505 Bibliography 505 Cooper Union. , 505 Chautauqua University 505 Pratt Institute ... 505 Chapter 8. Secondary Schools Comprised in the University: General statements 506 Academies and high schools 506 Number of students 507 List of academies 507 Location by counties of the institutions of the university 510 APPENDIX. 1. Origin and development of the New York common-school system. 512 Intellectual advancement of the people of New York 513 Common schools promote general intelligence 514 Qualities of first Dutch immigrants 514 The Dutch establish free schools 515 Common schools imported from Holland .., 516 Latin schools at New Amsterdam 516 English Government opposed to common schools 517 Revival of learning at close of the Revolution 518 Regents propose elementary schools 519 Gospel and school lands 519 First statute for an elementary school, 1791 . . 520 First general statute encouraging elementary schools, 1795 520 Public School Society of New York City .... 521 Growth of the system 522 The rate bill 522 What has promoted the growth of the common-school system. 523 State support .. - 523 Extent and manner of supervision 524 Eminent superintendents 525 Necessary authority - 526 Professional training of teachers _ _ .. 526 Teachers' classes • ... 527 Teachers' institutes 527 Normal schools 527 Uniform examinations : 528 Voluntary associations: " Society of Associated Teachers," New York City, 1794 529 Other local associations 530 First State convention of teachers 530 Other State conventions , 532 Permanent organization of "The State Teachers' Association," 1845 532 Other associations 533 Influence of the associations _ .., .". 533 Small matters .._... 534 New York leading the nation 534 20 CONTENTS. 1. Origin and development of the New York common -school system — Cont'd. Page. Appendix (with tables) : System of supervision... 536 State superintendents ... . ... 536 New York State Teachers' Association 537 Commissioners and Superintendents' Association 588 Council of Superintendents - . 538 Conferences of Associated Academic Principals 538 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Columbia University: Page. The New Library ,_. - 168 The Library (first floor) , 172 The Library (third floor) 172 University Hall — • 182 Plan of the New Site ... 190 Sche:merhorn Hall 192 View from Barnard Hall .-. --- 194 Hamilton College: Kirkland Cottage... --- - 230 Hamilton Oneida Academy - 230 Eobart Col.ege: Hobart College - - 244 Gymnasium, Observatory, and Library . 246 New York University: Old University, Washington square, 1831-1894 254 Law School Library, Washington square 264 New University, Washington square, law and pedagogy . . 268 Library, University Heights . 274 Hall of Languages, University Heights. ._ 276 Colgate University: East and West Colleges 278 Library 282 Library, grand staircase. _. - 284 Chemical Laboratory ... 284 University of Rochester: Anderson Hall. 288 .Reynolds Memorial Laboratory ... 294 St. Lawrence University: College Hall .- 304 Interior of Library _ 304 Cornell University: Campus, looking north .-.. 318 Sage College. Women "s Dormitory 358 Lincoln Hall, civil engineering and architecture 364 Franklin Hall, physics 374 Morse Hall, chemistry 376 Sibley College, mechanical and electrical engineering and mechanic arts. 380 President White Library of History and Political Science. . . 382 Armory and Grymnasium. 394 Sage Chapel and Memorial Chapel 402 University Library -.- .-. 404 Reading Room of University Library 408 21 22 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. Elmira College: Pape. Elmira College and the college grounds ... 438 Observatory Hall and Phi Mu Parlor 442 Vassar College: Main Building and Thompson Library . 446 TheLake - 446 StrongHall 448 Observatory 450 Museum *. . 450 Alumnae Gymnasium . . — 464 Laboratorj', physics and chemistry . 464 Teachers' College: Main Building and Mechanic Arts Building _. .. 480 In the library and a sewing lesson 482 Wood carving ..- - 482 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute , - 484 Main Building 488 Chemical Laboratory. .. . 494 A stronomical Observatory __. 496 Gymnasium . .- - 503 Location of institutions. Map 182 PREFACE. This rexDort is not designed as a complete, detailed history of edu- cation in New York State, for that would have made the work exces- sively voluminous. The aim is rather to point out the most impor- tant features of the educational development of the State and upon these to lay the larger emphasis. Accordingly the primary-school system has been for the most part excluded from consideration, an exclusion easy of accomiDlishment owing to the earlier establish- ment in New York of the administrative system of higher education and to the fact that the "common-school" system, when established, was placed under a separate administrative control. The peculiar dual administration of education in New York is one of its distinctive characteristics. The historic ' ' University of the State of New York" was founded in 1784, immediately upon the achievement of independence from Great Britain. It was in realitj^ the State bureau of education, although in form a private corporation. While it was thus an administrative arm of the State government, it included at the same time within its corporate existence all the char- tered teaching institutions of the State of academic and k. .llegiate grade. The common-school system of New York was put on a permanent basis by the establishment of the State department of public instruc- tion in 1854. This, however, was not the beginning of a system of primary schools, but rather the culmination of a long historic prog- ress, having its origin in the order of the States- General of Holland in 1621, that a tax should be laid upon the inhabitants and house- holders of New Netherland for the support of a school. The develop- ment of the system from this germ until the final adoption in 1867 of the ]3rinciple of schools absolutely free to all and supported by gen- eral taxation is outlined in an admirable address delivered before the New York State Teachers' Association in 1890 by Dr. Andrew S. Draper, then superintendent of public instruction in the State of New York.^ The influence of the English colonial administration was toward ecclesiastical control of education and unfavorable to the pro- motion of popular primary schools. A new current toward State control and popular education came ' See appendix where this address is reprinted. 23 24 FKEFACE. from France in the second half of the eighteenth century, and pre- vented ecclesiastical and aristocratic dominance in the establishment of the "university" in 1784 and 1787. The regents of the university became themselves interested in popular education, and upon their initiative "An act for the encouragement of schools" was passed in 1795, which appropriated 1100,000 a year for five years for the purpose of establishing common schools. The law required each township (called "town" in ISTew York) to raise by tax half as much as it received from the State. The act also provided for elective town commissioners of schools and for the organization of school districts with elective trustees. This system of town supervision was con- tinued till 1856. The general supervision was not put in the hands of the university, and in fact there was no State supervision until 1812, when a law provided for the appointment of a State superintendent of common schools. From 1821 to 1854 the duties of this office were attached to the office of the secretary of state, and since that time have devolved upon the State superintendent of public instruction. There has been supervision also since 1841 by county commissioners, except during the interim 1847-1856, and b}^ city officers since 1851 . In a word, the common schools of New York have had a separate develop- ment from the schools of higher grade, and the separate ideas prevail- ing from the beginning in regard to the relation of the State toward these two grades of education have resulted in the establishDient of two distinct organizations for the administration of the two grades. Our concern is with the higher education. The ' ' university " is not a teaching institution. It is a branch of the State administration — in fact, a State bureau of education, but with certain large legislative powers. It is also, in another aspect, the aggregate of the teaching institutions of secondary and higher grade. This unique character of the uni- versity is one of the chief points of interest in the educational history of the State, and it has accordinglj;^ been described in considerable detail. A much mooted question has been as to the part which Alex- ander Hamilton played in the founding of the university. Tradition has long made him the father of this educational system. The writer has tried to reach the real truth of this matter, and thinks he has established the fact that Hamilton had a large share in the final shap- ing of the system so far as the provisions for university or college education in New York City are concerned, but that the provisions for academies and colleges throughout the State — the care of local educational interests — are chiefly due to Ezra L'Hommedieu. It is clear, moreover, that in the original university law of May, 1784, with the supplementary act of November in the same year, there is no appearance of the activity of either of these rival parents of the uni- versity. In the definitive reorganization of 1787 they were both active and leadei'S in the attempt to secure the passage of riA^al bills. This rivalry ended in compromise, and it can not be truthfully claimed PREFACE. 25 that either Hamilton or L'Hommedieu was the author of the educa- tional system, which took on many of its permanent features in the earlier legislation with which neither of these men was connected. Another interesting feature of the s^^stem is the influence of Euro- pean ideas. The revolt against clerical control of education, which was so marked a feature of the liberal movement in France in the second half of the eighteenth century, and with which were associated the ideas of State control and of the centralization of the educational sj^stem, was enacted into the New York university law of 1787. The development of higher education in New York is notable for the lack of any university or college of reallj'^ dominating control or prominence throughout the State, such as Harvard, Yale, and Prince- ton in the neighboring States. Had it not been for the simultaneous growth of Cornell University during these later j^ears, Columbia might now hold such a position, but her rejuvenescence came too late to secure unrivaled leadership. There was, however, in the earlier years a marked excellence in several of the smaller colleges. The earlier half of the history of Union College would honor any country in the world, and in the number of able and distinguished graduates Hamil- ton College holds an enviable place. In some respects the achievements of the university have fallen below its promise. Unfortunatelj^ the movement for common schools developed independently, and, as elsewhere in the New World, the vital interest of the people was in primary education. If the control of the common schools had been committed to the regents, there can be little doubt that a symmetrical sj^stem of education from the low- est to the highest grades, with unified administration and oversight, would have resulted early in the century; that a quicker life would have been infused into the higher education, and that much of the damning influence of ' ' politics " would have been kept out of the com- mon-school system. The regents serve without pay, and are appointed by tha legislature in the same manner as the Senators of the United States. The board has in consequence been always composed of men of the highest character and attainment, while the role played by pol- itics has been exceedingly small. The board began under the first law with the actual control of the internal affairs of the colleges. They were really trustees for all the educational institutions in the university. The law of 1787 gave to the separate colleges their own trustees and their autonomy, while leaving to the regents the jpower of granting new charters, of oversight, and of directing the general educational polic}^ The most justifiable charge against the conduct of the regents is that of apathy. It was not until recent times that they fully appreciated the possibilities of the power they possessed or were seized with real ambition to use it. This was due, in my opinion, chiefly to the fact already spoken of, that the time was not ripe for large and vigorous activity in the organization of higher education. 26 PEEFACE. Cut off as they were from the strong undercurrents of the educational movement that resulted in the common-school system, they were simply forced to wait till the need for a comprehensive organization of higher education became imperative. With the growth of true university teaching in America this great State sj^stem of higher edu- cation has awakened to the activities for which it was designed. The university, however, accomplished many important things. It began the agitation for common schools which resulted in the law of 1795. In 1833 it arranged for teachers' classes in academies, which was one of the earliest attempts toward normal schools in this country. In the granting of charters to academies and colleges the regents have endeavored to set a high standard of attainment and financial equipment and to thwart attempts to obtain special legislative char- ters by weak institutions. In 1864 they instituted general examina- tion in the academies as a basis for the apportionment of State funds. This system has steadily raised the standard of work in the academies and brought it nearer to uniformity. The yearly reports of the regents to the legislature are comprehensive and detailed statistics of all the colleges and academies in the State, and have done much to keep up the standard of equipment and work in the teaching institu- tions. Since 1863 an annual educational convention, called the "con- vocation," has been held at Albany, in which the teaching institutions of the university are represented, in which educational topics are discussed and policies formulated. The regents have likewise in- augurated a system of university-extension lectures and of local and traveling libraries, which bring wider educational facilities within reach of many people unable to attend an academy or college. In their care of the State library and of the State Museum of Natural History, as well as in certain scientific inquiries undertaken by them, the regents have performed valuable services for the State. One of the most nota- ble, as well as latest, achievements of the university has been the enforcement of high standards of professional training. This has been effected not only by their power of regulation of the terms upon which charters shall be given to institutions and upon which degrees shall be conferred, but also by the prescribing of examinations which candidates for the right to practice law and medicine must pass. In this thej^ are leading conspicuously in a much-needed reform. There has always been jealousy on the part of some of the teaching institutions of the large powers of regulation and oversight in the hands of the regents, but wisdom on the part of the regents and atten- tion to their own particular needs by the colleges have prevented serious clashing "in the open." There has likewise been friction at times between the two branches of educational administration — the university and the department of public instruction — and at times the life of the university has been in danger. It is not unnatural that certain elements in the political life of the State should want to bring PREi^ACE. 27 the higher educational system tinder more direct political influence, and the department of public instruction has been at times willing to absorb the functions of the university. These difficulties have, how- ever, lately tended to disappear, and a powerful movement is on foot which promises to bring organic harmony into the whole educational system of the State. The sketches of the various colleges and universities comprised in the university have been in most instances prepared under the author- ization of the institutions themselves. No attempt has been made to give the history of the academies, and, unfortunately, it is not possible here to give an adequate account of the admirable work accomplished by these institutions of secondary education. Not merely the incor- porated academies upon private foundation, but the high schools and the academic departments of union schools have furnished excellent opportunities throughout the State for the work preliminary to the college. It has likewise not been feasible to attempt in this volume an account of the multitude of special institutions in law, medicine, theology, and in the mechanic and technical arts which have carried on their work, many of them in the front rank of institutions of their class. A list of such institutions will be found in a special chapter. There is another class of institutions which the writer has ignored — popular colleges, such as Chautauqua University, Cooper Institute, and the like. These are listed in a special chapter, with references to their bibliography. If exception be made of the unique administrative organization of higher education in New York — the universitj^ itself — it may perhaps be said that the greatest contributions of the State to education are in the field of the common schools rather than of higher education. I refer in this connection to the enthusiastic, but not greatly exagger- ated, summary of the work of New York in primary-school education in Superintendent Draper's address.^ The present activity of the university is well described in the fol- lowing official statement: UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. Object. — The object of the university as defined by law is to encour- age and promote education in advance of the common elementary branches. Its field includes not only the work of academies, colleges, universities, professional and technical schools, but also educational work connected with libraries, museums, university-extension courses, and similar agencies. The university is a supervisory and administrative, not a teaching ' See Appendix. 28 PKEFACE. institution. It is a State department and at the same time a federa- tion of more than 800 institutions of higher and secondary education. Government. — The university is governed and all its corporate powers exercised by 19 elective regents and by the governor, lieutenant- governor, secretary of state, and superintendent of public instruction, who are ex officio regents. Regents are elected in the same manner as United States Senators; they are unsalaried, and are the only publiq officers in New York chosen for life. The elective officers are a chancellor and a vice-chancellor, wh( serve without salary, and a secretary. The secretary is the executive and financial officer, is under official bonds for 110,000, is responsible for the safe-keeping and proiDcr use of the university seal and of th< books, records, and other property in charge of the regents, and foi the proper administration and discipline of its various offices an departments. Poioers and duties. — Besides many other important powers an^ duties, the regents have power to incorporate and to alter or revoke the charters of universities, colleges, academies, libraries, museums or other educational institutions ; to distribute to them funds granted by the State for their use; to inspect their workings and requir^ annual reports under oath of their presiding officers; to establish examinations as to attainments in learning, and confer on successful candidates suitable certificates, diplomas, and degrees, and to confer honorary degrees. They apportion annually an academic fund of about $250,000, part for buying books and apparatus for academies and high schools rais- ing an equal amount for the same purpose, $100 to each nonsectarian secondary school in good standing, and the remainder on the basis of i attendance and the results of instruction as shown by satisfactory I completion of prescribed courses for which the regents' examinations^! afford the official test. The regents also expend annually $25,000 for the benefit of free public libraries. Regents' meetings. — The annual meeting is held the third Thursday in December, and other meetings are held as often as business requires. An executive committee of nine regents is elected at the annual meeting to act for the board in the intervals between its meet- inirs, except that it can not grant, alter, suspend, or revoke charters or grant honorar}^ degrees. Convocation. — ^The university convocation of the regents and the officers of institutions in the university, for consideration of subjects -, of mutual interest, has been held annually since 1863 in the senate ' chamber in Albany. It meets Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday after the fourth Friday in June. Though primarily a New York meeting, nearly all questions dis- cussed are of equal interest outside the State. Its reputation as one of the important higher educational meetings of the country has in the PEEFACE. 29 past few years drawn to it many eminent educators not residents of New York, who are most cordially welcomed and share fully in all discussions. It elects each year a council of five to represent it in intervals between meetings. Its proceedings, issued annually, are of great value in all educational libraries. DEPARTMENTS. 1. Admimstrative {regents' office). — Including incorporation, super- vision, inspection, reports, legislation, finances, and all other work not assigned to another department. Duplicate division. — This is a State clearing house, to which any institution in the university may send books or apparatus which it no longer requires, and select from it in return an ecj[ual value suited to its locality and needs. 2. Examination. — Including preacademic, law, medical, dental, and veterinary student; academic, higher, law, medical, dental, veteri- nary, library, extension, and any other examinations conducted by ' the regents, and also credentials or degrees conferred on examination. The examinations are conducted as the best lever for securing bet- ter work from teachers and more systematic and continuous study from students, and as the best means of detecting and eliminating inefficient teachers or methods. They cover 140 subjects, and required last year 1,045,950 question papers (exclusive of bound volumes), and are held the week ending the last Friday in January and March and the third Friday in June, in the 602 academies and high schools in the university and also at various central points where there are 10 or more candidates. 3. Extension. — Including summer, vacation, evening, and corre- spondence schools and other forms of extension teaching, lecture courses, study clubs, reading circles, and other agencies for the pro- motion and wider extension of opportunities and facilities for educa- tion, specially for those unable to attend the usual teaching institu- tions. Public libraries division. — To promote the general library interests of the State, which through it apportions and expends $25,000 a year for the benefit of free public libraries. Under its charge are the traveling libraries for lending to local libraries or to communities not yet having permanent libraries. The most important factor of the extension movement is provision of the best reading for all citizens by means of traveling, home, and capitol libraries, and annotated lists through the public libraries division. 4-. State library. — Including general, law, medical, and education libraries, library school, bibliographic publications, lending books to students, and similar library interests. 30 PREFACE. Library school. — The law authorizes the State library to give instruction and assistance in organizing and administering libraries. Students receive from the State library staff, in return for services rendered to the librarj'- during their two years' course, careful train- ing in library economy, bibliography, cataloguing, classification, and other duties of professional librarianship. 5. State museum. — Including all scientific specimens and collections, works of art, objects of historic interest, and similar property appro- priate to a general museum, if owned by the State and not placed in other custody by a specific law; also the research department, carried on by the State geologist and paleontologist, botanist, and entomolo- gist, and all similar scientific interests of the university." Sidney Shervv^ood, Johns Hopkins University. PART I. UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK; ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND PRESENT ORGANIZATION.^ By Sidney Sherwood, Ph. D. , Associate Professor of Political Economy, Johns Hopkins University. INTRODUCTION. The system of higher education in New York is one of great interest to the students of State educational institutions. It has the interest of age and of historic incident, for it is closely connected with the whole development of the State. The distinguished men who aided in found- ing it, and their distinguished successors in its control, give to its his- tory that interest which springs from association with conspicuous personality. But it is the greatness of the work achieved by this system in the development of the educational life of the State which chiefly entitles it to be studied. And yet the boundaries of the Com- monwealth do not bound the historic or the practical importance of the university. The American colonies were profoundly influenced during the latter half of the eighteenth century by the new educational ideas with which revolutionary France conquered the nineteenth century. The New York system shows abundant traces of this influence, and itself has become a source of an influence which has spread to the Pacific on the one hand and back to Europe on the other, ' ABBREVIATIOISrS. New York (State) — University. Re- Reg. rep't [followed by number of re- gents' report, port and year in parentheses; e. g., Reg. rep't, 103 (1889)]. /New York (State) — University. Pro- Conv, proc. ceedings of the university convoca- tion. New York (State) — University. His- Hist, record, torical and statistical record, by F. B. Hough. New York (State) — Public instruction, Sup't's rep't [followed by number of re- superintendent of. Annual reports. port and year in parentheses] . New York legislative papers. N. Y. leg. papers, 31 32 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. New York a leader in innovation. — New York has always been a leader among the States in the practical methods and organization of progressive change, whether in politics, in finance, in commerce, in law, or in education. The commercial adroitness and activity of the city were strongly marked even under the Dutch regime. The plan for securing paper money issues by national banks was carried to Wash- ington by Secretary Chase, from New York, where it had been in operation for a quarter of a century. Nearly every movement toward the organization of a new political party in the United States has had its source and center in New York. From Aaron Burr to the present time New York has been the pivot around which revolved the political destiny of aspirants to high office in the nation. Nowhere else has the spoils system in politics, this nineteenth century survival of the old Teutonic comitatus, received so splendid an illustration of its efficiency as a machine for party control as in New York. Not even to Massachusetts does New York yield place in the num- ber and value of her legal reforms, whether in substantive law or in procedure. In the abolition of feudal tenures, of the old cumbersome methods of conveyance of real property, and in the simplification of pleadings and procedure New York has led the way. But these are only instances. Within thirty years England has introduced two most beneficent innovations in her law, viz, the abolition of separate chan- cery courts and of the disabilities of married women in regard to the ownership of property and the conduct of business. New York antici- pated England more than twenty years in these reforms. In the codi- fication of law, also, New York has given the impulse which is gradu- ally transforming the legal systems of this country. "Innovation," says Henry Adams, speaking of the early years of this century, ' ' was the most useful purpose which New York could serve in human interest, and never was a city better fitted for its work."^ Plan and scope of the ivork. — The commercial and political impor- tance of the city tends to overshadow the achievements of the Com- monwealth in other fields of activity. The University of the State of New York is an innovation in educational organization which deserves to be better known. It is the aim of the writer to make this system better known. He has attempted, by a careful outline of the organ- ization and work of this universitj^, to show what this State is doing for the higher education of its people, and what has been the influ- ence of its system and its activity upon the progress of higher educa- tion in other States and countries. The University of the State of New York, comprising, as it does, all the chartered colleges and sec- ondary schools in the State, is an institution unique in its organiza- tion and in its methods of work. The writer believes that he has thrown new light upon the beginning of the university and has shown 'Adams, Henry B. History of the United States of America, v. 1, p. 113. INTRODUCTION. 33 its international origin. It was but one result of a great movement in educational reform which in the latter part of the eigliteenth cen- tury swept over continental Europe and America. He has at the same time pointed out the particular causes which led New York to work out her peculiar system, a system admirably adapted to the needs of the State, and a model which has suggested many reforms bej^ond the boundaries of the Commonwealth. The Empire State has no prouder or juster claim to greatness than her imperial university. The period from the organization of the university (1784-87) until the beginning of its later increased activity with the law of 1889 has been very hurriedly passed over. This period has been treated fully and ably in a publication jDrepared under the auspices of the regents of the university, at the time of their centennial celebration in 1884' — a work to which the writer is greatly indebted for its valuable collec- tions of facts and the suggestiveness of its historical comments. The later activity of the university has been more fuUj^ treated in this monograx^h. The revision and codification of the laws relating to the university in 1889, and the extension of its powers thereunder, as well as the present plans and prospects of the university, have been carefully studied by the writer, who has made some suggestions as to a further extension of the work of higher education by the uni- versity. In April, 1892, a new university law was enacted, the purpose of which was to revise and consolidate the laws relating to the univer- sity. It has also revised the general legislation relating to the colleges. It thus covers a wider field than the law of 1889, and might well be called a "code of higher education." It repeals the most of former laws relating to higher education. It stands thus as the compact embodiment of that historic evolution which the writer has attempted to trace in this narrative. As such it has seemed best to print it in full as an appendix. This volume thus serves as an historic introduction to the law of 1892, which must be the starting point of all new developments. The structure, powers, and methods of the university itself remain substantially unaltered. The analysis of the law of 1889 which the writer has given will there- fore be intelligible to the reader of the law of 1892, and will in turn help to make clear the scope and meaning of the latest law. There are two features in the law of 1892 which clearly show the newer spirit of progress in this old historic university. One is the remarkable emphasis given to libraries as an agency in higher education; the other is the incorporation of university extension as a regular and permanent department of the university work. ^N. Y. (State) — University. Historical and statistical record, 1784-1884, by Franklin B. Hough; with an introductory sketch by David Murray. Ph. D., LL. D., secretary of the regents, Albany, 1885. 3176 3 34 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOKE. CHAPTER 1. OUTLINE OF THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN NEW YORK, New York has a system of education which is complex and without theoretic unity — a system, in fact, without system. In its practical working, however, there is a real unity. Like the English constitution it is the result of historic growth, and the practical gifts of the people have made possible the harmonious, efficient management of what would seem like an ill-contrived machine, were it the contrivance of a single mind or a single legislature. Private schools. — The State exercises no monopoly of education. While every college, academy, and private school is in a very impor- tant sense a State institution, yet there has always existed complete freedom of instruction. Splendid work has been done by a multitude of unchartered institutions, unaided by public money, subject to no visitation or control by public authority. It is, however, a settled policy of the State that all chartered institutions of learning shall be considered as parts of the State system, and while allowed virtually complete self-government in internal administration, shall yet be held accountable to the State for the proper performance of their duties. With the strictly private schools the present inquiry has no concern. State educational systems. — There are two distinct, coordinated systems of public education in New York, occupying different fields, organized uj)on different plans, working in great part without refer- ence to each other, and yet in a few points vitally connected. It will be seen later on how this anomalous dual system originated. At pres- ent a clear statement of the constitution and scope of each is needed to render plain the lines of this historic inquiry. 1. Department of Public Instruction, or Common-School System. For purposes of primary instruction the State is divided into 112 ^ school-commissioner districts. All cities except Kingston are excluded from this division. These districts are subdivided into school districts, the number varying according to the needs of each locality. The cities, with the above exception, and a few incorporated villages have school organizations established by special statutes, under the supervision of local superintendents.^ School districts. — The school district is the smallest territorial divi- sion of the State. The qualified voters of the school district elect at district meetings one or three trustees, who are the " local executive officers empowered to carry out the mandates of the district meetings." They have to report annually to the district meeting and to the school 1 In 1884. 2 Sup'f s rep't, SOtli (1884), p. 5. PRESENT SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. 35 commissioners. The district meeting elects a clerk, collector, and a librarian. This system secures thus the most minute local self- government in the matter of the primary schools. Union free school districts. — Under a general law passed in 1853 school districts are authorized to combine into "union free school districts" and to establish graded schools, to be maintained by a gen- eral tax. These schools are under the management of elective boards of education with similar powers to those of district trustees. They report to the school commissioners. This plan has been generally adopted in villages, thereby securing a higher grade of education. These union free schools are important as being the main point of contact between the two sj^stems of public instruction. School commissioners. — The electors of each school commissioner's district elect triennially, at a general election, a school commissioner. This officer lays out and regulates the boundaries between school dis- tricts, apportions the public money allotted to his district by the State superintendent, and in general exercises a constant and minute supervision over all matters relating to the school districts within his jurisdiction. School commissioners have advisory powers with school district trustees and in some few matters compulsory powers. They examine and license teachers within their districts, and examine and recommend candidates for appointment as students in the normal schools. They are required to make annual reports to the State superintendent ' ' containing a complete abstract of all the material facts, statistical and financial, required and^ contained in all the trustees' reports to the commissioners," as well as observations and suggestions on their own part or in response to special inquiries from the superintendent. City puhlic schools. — "The city public schools and those in some of the incorporated villages having a population of not less than 5,000 are managed by local boards of education under special statutes." In some cities and villages these schools are under the supervision, not of school commissioners, but of special local superintendents, who report both to the local boards and to the State superintendent. State superintendent ofpiiblic instruction. — This educational division and organization of the State has no vital relation to the political system of the county and township subdivision. Territorially and personallj^ this educational system is independent and complete in itself. The minute local self-government in the school districts is counterbalanced by the centralization of power in the State super- intendent of public instruction. This State oificer is intrusted with powers of a character almost autocratic. He is elected by the joint ballots of the senate and'assembly, and holds office for three years. This office has existed since 1854, when the department of public iStip"t's rep't, 30th (1884), p. 8. 36 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. instruction was organized upon its present basis. ^ Besides appointing the working force in his own bureau, ' ' he makes appointments of State pupils to the institution for the instruction of the deaf and dumb and the blind, upon the certificates of the proper local officers, . . . and has charge of all the Indian schools upon the several Indian reservations^ and appoints their superintendents. He appor- tions and distributes the public money appropriated by the legislature for the support of schools," amounting to more than $4,000,000 annually. " He compiles the abstracts of the reports from all the school districts in the State reported to him by the school commis- sioners, and the matters reported to him by city superintendents, boards of education of incorporated villages organized by special statutes providing for local supervision, and reports annually to the legislature." He has general supervision over all the agencies for the training of teachers. The system for the training of public school teachers is, in theory, a complete one. There are: Uniform examinations. Academic teachers classes. Teachers' institutes. Normal schools." Uniform examinations for teachers' certificates. — While teachers' licenses are issued upon examination by school commissioners and other local officers, such licenses are valid only within the district of such examining officer. State certificates are issued only upon exami- nations conducted by examiners appointed by the State superintend- ent, who also, "with the assistance of the regular corps of institute instructors, prepares the examination questions to be used in such examinations. " ^ He also regulates the grades of the certificates issued by school commissioners. Tea.chers'' institutes. — These popular training classes are held annu- SkWy in each school commission district and are attended by a total of about 20,000 teachers. The usual length of the session is one week. The State superintendent has the control of these institutes, appoint- ing the regular and special instructors and directing the work. Teachers'' classes in academies. — The act above referred to, which authorized the consolidation of several school districts into "union free school districts," also authorized the establishment in these union schools of "academic departments." These academic departments were regarded as of equal grade with the academies which were under the supervision of the university, and hence, being a part of the system 'Laws of 1854, ch. 97. Sup't's rep't, 30th (18S4), pp. 5-58. Sup'fs rep't, ;Wd (1886), pp. 5-72. These two reports taken together give a valuable account of the organization and working of the department of public instruction. •-'Sup'fs rep't, 30th (1884), p. 11. •'There is also in New York City a "College for the training of teachers," but this is a part of the university and is connected only with higher education. " Sup't's rep't, 32d (1886) , p. 9. PEESENT SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. 37 of secondary instruction, were made subject to the visitation and con- trol, not of the State superintendent, but of the regents of the univer- sity. In 1834 the regents were authorized to establish in the academies classes for the training of teachers, which classes have been main- tained ever since in academies, and also since 1877 in the academic departments of union schools. In 1888 there were 3,258 pupils in these classes who attended over ten weeks, and 2,676 who completed the full course of sixteen weeks. They are regarded as "about the only instrumentality for training teachers for our ungraded schools." ^ By a law passed April 15, 1889,^ " the powers and duties conferred and imposed upon the regents of the university by ' previous acts ' relative to the instruction of classes in academies and union schools in the science and practice of common-school teaching are herebj" trans- ferred to the superintendent of public instruction." This law was the result of some deliberation on the part of the regents and the associa- tion of academic principals, and was passed upon being recommended by the regents in their report to the legislature.^ Its object was to bring under a single management all the instrumentalities for the preparation of common-school teachers. This transfer included the management of the annual appropriation of $30,000 for maintaining the teachers' classes. In 1890 the annual appropriation was increased to $60,000.* Normal scJiools. — There are now 1 1 of these State schools. The oldest of these, the Albany State normal school, was founded in 1844, and placed under the joint management of the sujDerintendent of common schools (since 1854, the superintendent of public instruction) and the regents of the university. ' ' The local management of the latter school (the Albany State normal school) is vested in an executive committee consisting of five members, of whom the State superintendent is one, and the other four are appointed by the joint action of the State super- intendent and the regents of the university."^ On March 13, 1890, the regents made this school "the New York State Normal College," and its work has been reorganized upon a higher basis, instructing only advanced pupils and being exclusively a normal training school,^ whose graduates receive the degree of bachelor of pedagogy. The other ten State normal schools are entireU under the direction of the State superintendent. They are governed by local boards appointed by him, and he also appoints the teachers in these schools upon nomination by the local boards. The normal schools, besides ' Reg. rep't, 103 (1889), p. 821. 2 Laws of 1889, ch. 137. ■' Reg. rep't, 103 (1889), p. 27, 268. ■> Laws of 1890, ch. 170. ■'Sup't's rep't. 82d (1886), p. 7. •^ Draper, Andrew S. Origin and development of the New York common school system. — An address delivered before the New York State Teachers' Association at Saratoga Springs, July 8, 1890. 38 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. the normal departments in which the technical training of teachers is carried on, undertake also a general instruction of an academic char- acter, which has been rather a hindrance than a benefit to the devel- opment of the normal training. The State superintendent " appoints, on the recommendation of school commissioners and city superin- tendents of schools, the pupils in the normal department of the several State normal schools, subject to a preliminary entrance examination by the faculties of such schools." ^ These schools report to the State superintendent, and each local board is " subject to his general supervision and direction in all things pertaining to the school." This hurried sketch of the chief powers of the superintendent of public instruction shows a remarkable centralization in the hands of the single head of the State department of public instruction. While school trustees, school commissionei's, city superintendents, and boards of education are elective and local taxation is voted in the various districts, yet all these local officers are under the super- vision of the State superintendent and the State money is distrib- uted by him. To these executive powers are added an extraordinary judicial power which makes the centralizing tendency effective and complete. . Judicial poiuers of the State superintendent of public instruction. — The State superintendent is the final arbiter in all disputes concern- ing school matters. Not only has he an advisory power which is systematically and laboriously exercised "through the medium of correspondence by mail, or through oral conferences between the superintendent or his deputy and school officers, teachers, parents, and others coming to the department from various parts of the State," ^ but he acts as a court of final appeal with power to enforce his decision. "Any person feeling himself aggrieved in consequence of any decision made " by school district meetings, school commis- sioners, supervisors, district trustees, and other officers in regard to any matter under the school laws ' ' may appeal to the superintendent of public instruction." Thus the very sanctum of local self-govern- ment, the district meeting, is invaded by the central authority of the State. The superintendent in this capacity establishes rules of prac- tice, issues injunctions, and makes all necessary orders. Councils are heard before him. Th6 questions involved on their appeal touch all branches of the civil law, of the State constitutional law, real estate law, the law of contracts, the law of wills, and the like. Hence there is conferred upon the superintendent an aj^pellate judicial authority coordinate with that of the court of appeals in some respects, for the law declares that "his decision shall be final and conclusive, and not subject to question or review in any place or court whatever."^ ' Sup't's rep't, 32d (1886) , p. 7. - Ibid. pp. 12-13. ^ Laws of 1864. PEESENT SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. 39 And this clesj)otic judicial authority has the amplest means of enforcing its decisions. The superintendent has — ' ' First, the power to compel the assessment and collection of taxes in a school district to pay proper demands against the district. Second, the power to remove from office any school trustee, or mem- ber of a board of education of a union free school district, or other school officer, for anj^ willful violation or neglect of duty under the school statutes, or for willfully disobeying any decision, order, or regu- lation of the superintendent."^ This extreme centralization in the system of primary instruction has worked undeniably well. How- ever democratic in her political philosophy New York may be, the histor}^ of her common schools as well as of her university shows that she has imperialist instincts. The Empire State is not a mere name of fancy. ^ Siqjerintendent of public instruction and the university. — It has already been seen how in the control of the ' ' New York State normal college," and of the academic departments of union free schools, the department of public instruction and the university are brought into direct and organic cooperation. There are other points of contact between the s^^stems of higher and of primary instruction. The State superintendent is, ex officio, a regent of the university, a trustee of Cornell Universitj^ and of Syracuse University. 2. The University of the State of New York, or the System of Higher Education. University act of 1889. — In the year 1889 ^ the legislature of New York passed a law entitled "An act to revise and consolidate the laws relating to the university of the State of New York." This act in the words of the regents* "consolidates 50 pages of laws which have grown up during the past century pertaining to the regents' department, into a single clear laAV of only 7 pages. Besides codifying the old laws, the ncAV act has defined and enlarged the powers of the university, and has put new safeguards and restrictions on the exercise of those powers." An analysis of this law will give 'Sup't's rep't, 32d (1886), p. 13. ^ The policy of State support and State control of the common school system has been on the whole very efficient. The address of Superintendent Draper, above referred to, contains an admirable statement of what has been done by New York in these matters. In the year 1889-90 over §17.000,000 were raised by State and local taxation for the common schools. Local authorities can exercise the right of eminent domain in the acquisition of school sites. State supervision began in 1812, when the office of " State superintendent of common schools " was created. From 1821 to 1854 the secretary of state performed the duties of this office. Supervision by district or county officers has existed from 1841 to the present time, excepting the years between 1847 and 1856. From 1795 till 1856 there was also supervision by township officers. ^Lawsof 1889, ch. 529. 4Reg. rep't, 103 (1889), p. 30. 40 HISTORY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. the best understanding of the organization and work of the university. It is difficult to place this university in any known category of institu- tions. In its origin it had the form of an English educational corpo- ration; but upon it were ingrafted the powers and functions of a modern State department of education. It was the first successful realization, in practical form, of the plans of the French parliamen- tarians and encyclopedists for a system of education unified and har- monized under State control. It was not a full realization. It was at first a rude machine. But it worked, and a century of use and improvement has perfected it. Its original character it still retains. It is in form a private corporation, but with no private privileges. Its private activities are for public ends. Its duties and responsibili- ties are chiefly those of a bureau of State administration. It is a State department of higher education, organized under the form of a private corporation. Tlie university in form a private corporation. — "The university shall consist of all the institutions of academic and higher education which are now or may hereafter be incorporated in this State, together with the State library and State museum, and such other libraries, museums or other institutions for higher education as may, in con- formity with the ordinances of the regents, after official inspection, be admitted to the university." ^ From this section of the university act it might seem that the uni- versitj^ was simply a system of federated colleges like Oxford or Cambridge, with the colleges, however, scattered throughout the State instead of being collected in the same town. It is the relation of the system to the State which makes the vital difference. The whole vast system is constituted an arm of State government. Besides the State library and State museum, there are in the university 649 institutions.^ These are 549 academies, high schools, and academic departments, and 100 colleges and professional schools, viz, 22 col- leges of arts and science for men, 6 for women, and 4 for men and women, 7 law schools, 15 medical schools, 13 theological schools, 4 schools of pedagogy, and 29 other institutions. The last item includes schools of technolog}^, pharmacy, dentistry, music, etc. The term ' ' college " is defined in the act to ' ' include all institutions of higher education which are authorized to confer degrees," and the term "academy" to "include high schools, academic departments of union schools, and all other schools for higher education which are not authorized to confer degrees. " The university therefore embraces all incorporated institutions for higher and secondary instruction in the State. The department of public instruction, on the other hand, embraces in its system all schools for primary instruction and for the technical training of primary school teachers. The original corporate name of the university was "The Regents of ^Laws of 1889, chapter 529. '^ Status June 30, 1896. \ PKESENT SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN KEW YORK. 41 the University of the State of New York." The act of 1889 changed this name to "University of the State of New York" and conferred upon the university the usual general powers of a corporation. The government of the university is vested in 19 elective regents, and the governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, and super- intendent of public instruction, who are regents ex officio. The regents elect their own officers, a chancellor, a vice-chancellor, who serve with- out salary, and a secretary, who is also the ' ' financial officer of the university." The college''s and academies composing the university have no representation in the governing board. Indeed, it is provided that "no person shall be at the same time a regent of the university and a trustee, president, principal, or any other officer of any institu- tion belonging to the university."^ The government of the university is imperial, not federative. This differentiates it at once and completely from the English universities. A truer English analogy would be in the government which Great Britain exercises over her colonies. They are parts of the Empire. They govern themselves, but they have no voice in the government of the whole. The university has many of the powers of an ordinary educational corporation. The regents are authorized to confer honorarj^ degrees, to establish examinations and grant diplomas and degrees thereon, and "to maintain lectures connected with higher education." They "have power to adopt all needed resolutions, rules, by-laws, and ordi- nances for the accomplishment of the trusts reposed in them." They may hold and buy, or sell, both lands and chattels. All their cor- porate powers are, however, public trusts. The university in fact a State bureau of higher education. — The object of the university is declared to be "to encourage and promote academic and higher education by means of the several institutions composing the university, to visit and inspect the same, to distribute to them such funds as the State may appropriate for their use, and to perform such other duties as may be intrusted to it." The regents have entire control of the State library and the State museum. They are charged with the "preparation, loublication, and distribution " of various State publications and with the apportion- ment of public money to the academies. They are required "to estab- lish in the academies of the university examinations in such studies as the regents shall prescribe as furnishing a suitable standard of ' This provision is violated by the fact that the governor and lieutenant-governor of the State and the superintendent of public instruction are made ex officio mem- bers at once of the board of regents and of the board of trustees of Cornell Uni- versity, although the old law is not so stringent in its vs^ording as the above. The real intent of the law is not violated, which was to exclude private influence of particular colleges. A State officer might well be expected to look at matters from the State and not the college standpoint. (Amended subsequently, prohibiting such officer from becoming an elective regent. ) 42 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. graduation from the academies, and of admission to the colleges of the State," and they have organized among the academies a far more extensive system of examinations than they are required to maintain. Medical students, unless college graduates, must take a regents' examination before beginning study at a medical school.^ The same rule holds in case of law students. The regents are further required to appoint boards of examiners in medicine to examine candidates for a State license to practice medicine. It is specially in the field of academic examinations that the regents have advanced the interests of higher education during the last thirty years. The supervisory powers of the university are vast and stringent. "The regents shall, by themselves or their committees or officers, have full power to examine into the condition and operations of every institution in the university, and shall inspect the same, and require of each an annual report, verified by the oath of its presiding officer and including such particulars as may be prescribed by the regents, who shall annually report to the legislature on all departments of the university." Thus, while the various colleges and academies have no voice in the management of the university, the university has absolute power, in the name of the State, to inspect and to report to the legis- lature on all the affairs of these institutions. It is, however, in regard to the incorporation of colleges and acad- emies that the public character of the university is most clearly seen. The regents have power to ' ' incorporate any college, academy, library, museum, or other educational institution under such name, with such number of trustees or other managers, and with such powers and privileges, and subject to such limitations and restrictions, in all respects, as may be prescribed by the said regents in conformity to the laws of this State." The regents may also suspend the charter of any institution for failure to report or other violation of law. Further, "the said regents ma}^ at any time for sufficient cause, and by an instrument under their common seal, to be recorded in their office, alter, amend, or repeal tl:^e charter of anj^ college, academy, or other institution subject to their visitation." The university is thus made coordinate with the legislature itself. It would seem that the State had so far abdicated its sovereignty, were the university not in fact a part of the State government. State control of the university. — The constitution of the board of regents secures its control by the State. The life which vitalizes the corporation is the power of the people in their legislature. It has been seen that the governor of the State, the lieutenant-governor, the secretary of state, and the superintenent of public instruction are regents ex officio. The remaining 19 regents are elective, but there is no cooptative perpetuation in the university. "In the case of 1 Laws of 1889, chapter 468. PRESENT SYSTEM OF EDUCATION" IN NEW YOKK. 43 the death, resiguatioii, or removal from the State of any elective regent, his successor shall be chosen by the legislature in. the manner provided by law for the election of Senators in Congress, except that the election may take place at any time during the session of the leg- islatiire as it may determine." State control is further insured by the fact that while the officers of the board of regents are elected by the regents, yet "each officer so elected shall, before entering on his duties, take and file with the secretar}^ of state the oath required of State officers." It is also provided that if any regent absent himself from the meet- ings for a year without satisfactory^ excuse the fact shall be reported to the legislature and a new regent elected in his place. The annual rei^ort which the regents are obliged to make is another important feature in State control. It is a master stroke in the policy of State control that the regents are to serve without pay. A regular State department with its sal- aried officers would be more easily brought under the control of a political party. It was keen political insight which led the au- thors of this scheme thus to compel into this high service of the State the worthiest talent in the State. None but a citizen of worth and public spirit would accept a j)Osition of grave responsibility and important duty when only honor is to be gained. And honor is not certain, for they hold their position at the pleasure of the legislature. The policy is not a democratic one, but it has proved entirely suc- cessful; the legislature has uniformly chosen men of high character and wide reputation. They could have no motive to do otherwise when there were no "spoils" in the office. No suspicion of political corruption has ever touched the activity of the board of regents. The}^ have been men chosen from among the foremost citizens of the State. It is interesting to note that Prussia is adopting in municipal administration this policy of gratuitous service by the citizens, but with this difference, characteristic of the Prussian state, that such service is there compulsory. It is one merit of this peculiar constitution of the Tiuiversit}^ that to each separate college and academy is left its own charter, with all the stimulus of private gain and ambition, no mean stimulus in a social regime where individualism is the dominant principle of activity, while the work of harmonizing this multitude of virtuallj^ independent institutions, of inspecting their action, of promoting plans of improvement, and of bringing the whole into organic rela- tion to the State is performed by a few men whose very acceptance of the office proves their breadth of mind and zeal for the common good. Summary. State educational poacy . — From the foregoing sketch it has become apparent that in New York the activit}' of the State is vital in every 44 HISTOET OF HIGHEE EDUCATIOlSr IN NEW YOEK. department and branch of educational enterprise. The points in the State system whicli are most notewortliy are these : 1. The State system is not a monopoly. There exists perfect free- dom for private educational enterprise, individual or associate, lay or clerical. 2. A public-school system for primary instruction, supported entirely by local or general taxation and State funds, and designed for the free use of all children under compulsory attendance laws. This system is organized upon a special territorial subdivision of the State, distinct in the main from the political subdivision, and all its parts five subordinated to the authority of a single head elected by the leg- islature — the State superintendent of public instruction. The extra- ordinary judicial power of final decision upon appeal conferred upon this officer makes the central authoritj^ of the State supreme in the regulation of even the smallest affairs and in the remotest home of local self-government. An extensive system of agencies for the train- ing of teachers for the primary schools is also maintained under the control of this department. 3. A system of secondarj^ and higher education in which all colleges and academies having State charters are made parts of a vast corpo- ration called the "University of the State of New York," in the gov- ernment of which, however, they have no voice. Although for the most part these institutions are private foundations and are main- tained by private funds, they are subject absolutely to the visitation of the university, which has the power of life and death over these bodies corporate. The universitj^ in spite of its form as a private corporation, is in fact a State bureau of administration, exercising the sovereign authority of the State over the colleges and academies, while leaving to them the largest liberty for self-government in their internal affairs. 4. In both systems the policy is to secure the largest possible bene- fit, consistent with State control, from individual initiative and local pride. Of the $17,000,000 paid for common schools in the year 1889-00, 113,000,000 were raised by local taxation, and $4,000,000 only were the product of State taxation and State funds. The highest edu- cational service rendered in the State, viz, the work of the regents, is a service rendered gratuitously. New York is imperial in her educa- tional methods, but the imperialism is half-feudal in its type, volun- tary service by the people in return for the paternal supremacy of the State. CHAPTER 2. THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVEESITY. Higher Education in Colonial Times. Little was done for the advancement of higher education in the New Netherlands. The policy of the Dutch in the matter of i3opuJar schools THE FOUNDma OF THE UNIVERSITY. 45 for elementary instruction was carried to the New World, and from the very beginning the Dutch settlers took care to jprovide public primarj^ schools. In 1638 it was proj)Osed, in certain articles for the coloniza- tion and trade of the New Netherlands, that " Each householder and inhabitant shall bear such tax and public charge as shall hereafter be considered proper for the maintenance of clergymen, comforters for the sick, schoolmasters, and such like necessary officers."^ There had been schools even before this. And later, in 1659, "Alexander Carolus Curtius, before a professor in Lithuania," was engaged by the directors of the West India Company and sent out to open a Latin school. '^ The English occupation in 1664, however, put an end to this school, which appears to have been the only academy in New Amsterdam. Under the English regime Latin schools were encouraged. As dur- ing the Dutch rule, licenses from both civil and ecclesiastical author- ities were necessary for the establishment of private schools. In 1702 the legislature framed "An act for encouragement of a grammar free school in the city of New York,"^ but no permanent foundation was made under this act. The act contemplated the establishment of a public school supported by taxation, "for the education and instruc- tion of youth and male children of such parents as are of French and Dutch extraction, as well as of the English." The schoolmaster was to be chosen by the common council of the city, and " ly censed and approved b3^ the Right Hon. the bishop of London, or the governor or commander in chief " of the province. Lord Cornbury, then gov- ernor, urged the matter, and the "English society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts " became interested in the plan. This society was formed in 1701, and adopted a vigorous missionary policy in the colonies, spurred on by antagonism to the efforts of the Jesuits. Under Governor Dongan the Jesuits had actually established a Latin school in New York in 1688. In educational affairs the aim of this society was to strengthen and extend the influence of the English Church, and the schools of the colony fell virtuallj^ under the control of this propagandist corporation. They sent out missionaries and schoolmasters and organized schools throughout the province, which they in part supported. In their attempts to convert the Iroquois, likewise, they showed great zeal. "The maintenance of a learned and orthodox clergy abroad " was declared to be "the principal," although "not the only intent of this corjDoration," and their standing orders in regard to schoolmasters show that they believed firmly in the dominance of the established church in education. The ecclesiastical bias, thus intensified in the schools of the colony, is important as helping to explain the contro- versies of the latter half of the centurj^ ^ Pratt's Annals (see Conv. proc. 1868, p. 160). 2i|3id_^ 1869, p. 144. ^Ibid., 1868, p. 177. 46 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. In 1733 aiiotlier attempt was made to establish a school under public authority. "An act to encourage a public school in the city of New York for teaching- Latin, Greek, and mathematics,"^ passed in that year, provided for an institution thoroughly civil in its scope and gov- ernment. The education sought was secular rather than religious. The public good, not the advantage of the church, was the object in view. The school was to be under the visitation of the "justices of the supreme court, the rector of Trinity Church, and the mayor, recorder, and aldermen of the city of New York," who could remove the schoolmaster for cause and appoint a successor. This board of visitation is probably the prototype of the ex officio membership of the board of governors of King's College and of the board of regents. Provision was made for partial public support of the school, and for the instruction, free of tuition, of 20 young men recommended from the different counties by certain public officers in those counties. This last provision shows a remarkable grasp, for that time, of the meaning and functions of a State school. It was the beginning of the policy, consummated in the establishment of the University, of an educational institution which should be identified in its operation with the whole life of the State. King's College. — The idea of a college seems to have lurked in both these schemes for a public grammar school, namely, the acts of 1702 and of 1732. But it was not till 1746 that public action was really taken in regard to the founding of a college. In that year the legislature passed "An act for raising the sum of £2,250 by a public lottery, for this colony, for the advancement of learning and toward the founding a college within the same." This was the beginning of King's, afterwards Columbia College. It is not necessary here to tell the story of the founding of King's College. It has been often told, and there is nothing new to add. There was a fierce controversy over the charter. One party desired a royal charter ; the other a charter from the colonial legislature. The royalist party prevailed and the charter Avas granted by King George II in 1754. In this controversy is seen that revolt against absolutism in church and state which was gathering strength both in America and in France at this time. The principles or tendencies of the conservative party were a church foundation aided by the state; an education in which the church standards should be the gauge of truth; the maintenance of the authority of the English King; a corporate organization in which the Church of England should control. It was a party of English sym- pathies, of aristocratic tendencies, of intuitional and scholastic knowl- edge, of ecclesiastical supremacy. The other party were learning a new philosophy. They favored knowledge, positive and practical. They wanted freedom and self-government in the church and in the state ; and separation of church from state. They wanted an educa- Pratt's Annals (see Conv. proc. 1869, p. 186). THE FOUNDING- OF THE UNIVEKSITY. 47 tion that fitted men for service in the state, that was identified with state life and controlled by the people in their civil capacity. It was the party that later had French sympathies, the popular party moved by the spirit of the American Revolution. William Livingston, whose influence we shall notice later on, was the life of this popular opposition to the royal charter. The American or poi^ular party won some advantages. Several public officials of the colony were made ex officio members of the board of governors. The ex officio governors of the college were the Archbishop of Canterbury, the first lord commissioner for trade and plantations, the governor and lieutenant-governor of the province, the eldest councillor, the judges of the supreme court of judicature, the secretary and the attorney- general, the speaker of the general assembly, the treasurer, the mayor of New York, the rector of Trinity Church, and one minister of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, of the Lutheran Church, of the French Church, and of the Presbyterian Church, respectively, and the president of the college. The charter was, in a measure, a compro- mise. William Livingston was put on the board of governors. Trinity Church offered land for the site of the college on condition that the president should belong to the Church of England. Livingston and his party opposed this measure and opposed also the giving of public funds to an institution dominated bj" the church. The opposition succeeded so far that in 1756 the lottery money was divided equally between the college and the city.^ Work was immediately organized by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson, who came from Connecticut and who had refused the presidency of Franklin's new academy at Philadelphia, which afterwards developed into the University of Pennsylvania. The college was aided financially bj^ the King and "many of the nobil- ity and gentry in the j)arent country," by the Society for the Propa- gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and by "several public-spirited gentlemen in America and elsewhere," to quote from an account of the college attributed to its second president. Dr. Myles Cooper.^ This account continues: "By means of these and other benefactions the governors of the college have been able to extend their plan of education almost as diffusely as any college in Europe.'"^ There was also a grammar school annexed to the college. It is thus seen that the European universities had an influence on the development of the cur- riculum, and the training given by this college fitted some of the ablest men in the colonies for their work in the Revolution and the subse- quent political development of the country. The scientific spirit was early awakened, and a medical school was established as early as 1767. The college was broken up b}'^ the Revolution and the occupation of New York by the British. ' MS. History of Columbia College, by Frank R. Hathaway. ■' President 1763-1775. ^ Quoted in Hist, record, p. 119. 48 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. Netc York at the close of the Revolution. — On the 25th (\&y of Novem- ber, 1783, the British evacuated the city of New York, and the State constitution, adopted in 1777 at Kingston, pushed its jurisdiction to the sea. The population of the State at this time was about a quarter of a million, of whom perhaps one-tenth counted their residence in New York Cit}-, while Long Island numbered some 30,000 inhabitants. The rest of the inhabitants were scattered along the whole course of the valley of the Hudson, although from Albany to the Champlain region the settlements were sparse. Westward from Albany, Schen- ectady was the last important town. No substantial effort had yet been made to people the vast stretch of forest westward and northward from this narrow fringe of the Hudson River Valley. But the expedi- tion of Sullivan had broken the power of the Six Nations, and the State began a liberal policy of laud grants which soon started a great wave of white settlement through the fertile Mohawk plain, which had become famous as the home of the Iroquois Federation. But this meant future greatness onlj^ New York was but a middle State in importance, as in position, at the close of the war. New York and Albany were the only large cities. The territory of the State was a wilderness possessed by Indians. There were no efficient educational institutions. A few private and parish schools, a few academies, King's College, defunct^such was the condition of education in 1783. The State had an aristocracy, but an aristocracy without caste. Cosmopolitan in origin, this aristocracy could not be homogeneous in sentiment. It rested upon birth, upon wealth, uijon talent. Dutch and English, Huguenot and German, Welsh and Irish and Scotch were the national strains of blood in the first families. Alexander Hamilton, the Scotch Huguenot from the West Indies, parvenu though he was, had ennobled himself through his genius and conspicuous services. He married into one of the old Dutch families, the Schuylers, and became a leader in society as he was in politics. Intellectually, the chief distinction of New York was in her jurists. The bar of New York, containing, as it did, Hamilton, John Jay, Chancellor Livingston, James Duane, Aaron Burr, Richard Morris, Egbert Benson, and many others little less famous in that day, would yield to no other State its claim to precedence. And these men were trained, by the experience of the Revolution, to deal with all the questions of political organization and government. They established constitutions, framed laws, adapted the old order to new exigencies, were quick in expedients of policy. They were at once lawyers and judges, politicians and statesmen. The lawyers of New York were the leaders in the State, and, as a body, aristocratic in their preferences. Legislation of 178J{.. — It was natural that under such circumstances there should be an effort on the part of the leading men to revive the college, and thus provide means of higher education for the young men of the upper classes. But the general policy of the colony had THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVEESITY. 49 been like that of England, to leave educational matters to private enterprise. It is surprising, therefore, to find that the very first move- ment was for the establishment of a State university and a State sys- tem of education. In January, 1784, two months after the British left New York, Gov- ernor George Clinton sent his message to the legislature, in which is found the first public expression of the need of better educational institutions. His words are these : "Neglect of the education of youth is among the evils consequent on war. Perhaps there is scarce any- thing more worthy your attention than the revival and encouragement of seminaries of learning."^ This recommendation received prompt attention in both senate and assembly. The assembly appointed Robert Harpur, formerly a pro- fessor in King's College, and two other members, a committee, directed to prepare and bring in a bill "for the establishment of seminaries of learning and schools for the education of youth. "^ In the senate James Duane was made chairman of a "committee for seminaries of learning." Nearlj^ a month later, on February 19, Mr. Duane pre- sented a bill entitled "An act for establishing a university within this State." It is much to be regretted that nothing can be found throw- ing light upon the origin of this idea of a university. Nor is it known what were the provisions of this bill. Both the governor, George Clinton, and James Duane had been governors of King's College. After this bill was brought in, it seems to have occurred to the friends of the college that here was a good chance to revive that insti- tution. A petition to the legislature was presented in the senate on March 30, which shows clearly that there was a strong attemj)t, not only to revive the college, but to make it paramount in the new system which the bill of Mr. Duane had provided for. The petition recited the charter of the college, the death or departure of the majority of the governors, and "that many parts of the said charter are incon- sistent with that liberality and that civil and religious freedom which our present happy constitution points out," and urges "that an alter- ation of that charter in such points as well as an extension of the privileges of the said college so as to render it the mother of an uni- versity to be established within this State would tend to diffuse knowl- edge and extend literature throughout this State." Here is the germ of the whole subsequent policy. The new idea of civil and religious freedom as expressed in the constitution should be inwrought in the new educational system. The victories of the Revolution should be secured. And here emerges that consciousness of greatness, that dream of future empire, which characterized the great minds of the Revolution. What Washington and Jefferson thought in national ' Senate journal, 1784, p. 6. - Nothing further appears to have been done in the assembly. The senate car- ried the matter through. 3176 4 50 HISTOKY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. outline, George Clinton, the uncompromising champion of his State, thought in the narrower outline of his State. There must be a system of education that would meet the demands of the future growth of the State. But these men who had the interests of the State at heart were guardians also of the old college. Naturally, therefore, they sought to render their alma mater "the mother of an university" which was to "diffuse knowledge and extend literature throughout the State." This petition was dated March 24, 1784, and signed by the following " governors of the college commonly called King's College" — George Clinton, Richard Morris, James Duane, Gerard Bancker, Egbert Ben- son, J. H. Livingston, Samuel Provoost, John Rodgers, John Morin Scott, Leonard Lispenard, John Livingston, William Walton, and Samuel Bayard, jr.^ This petition was referred by the senate to the committee of the whole, "to be taken into consideration with the bill for establishing a university within this State." This prompt, strong action on the part of the friends of the college captured the movement which had been started to establish a university, as appears from an entry in the senate journal April 16, 1784, to the effect that Mr. Williams, from the committee of the whole, reported "that they had gone through the bill, made several amendments, and altered the title in words fol- lowing, viz: 'An act for granting certain privileges to the college heretofore called King's College, for altering the name and charter thereof, and erecting an university within this State.'" Three days later this amended bill, with altered title, was passed by the senate ; April 21 the assembly concurred ; May 1 the council of revision approved it, and it became law. The chief justice who sent down the message of approval from the council of revision was Richard Morris, whose name appears second in the list of the peti- tioners above. Thus George Clinton, the governor, Richard Morris, chief justice, and James Duane, chairman of the senate committee on the bill, were all governors of King's College and signed the petition. Robert Harpur, chairman of the assembly committee, had been a pro- fessor in King's College. Besides this, the secretary of state was John Morin Scott, the State treasurer was Gerard Bancker, and the attorney-general was Egbert Benson, all signers of the petition. No bill could have been passed, probably, under such circumstances which did not strongly recognize the claims of King's College. If there was to be a State system of education, the college ^yould naturally wish to control in that system. The places of influence in the legis- lature and the chief State offices were held by friends of the old college. Any movement to set up a State university which might destroy the influence of this corporation would have been useless. The above petition to the legislature was virtually a i^etition by the governors of the college to themselves. These men, filled with the 'Conv. proc. (1875), p. 199. THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVEESITY. 51 spirit of English conservatism, wonM have no faith in radical innova- ition such as that proposed in France at this time. -But, as Iteen j lawyers and politicians, they saw that the benefit of the new ideas of j State education could be secured by an adaptation of the old cor- porate organization, in which the power of their college could still be dominant. The scope of the new university should be coextensive with the boundaries of the State ; its structure expansive to meet the future expansion of the State. It should be secured from all danger of clerical control; it should be the child of the State, and under the control of the State, while yet depending mainly on private funds for its support. While the college should not comprise all the new uni- versity, yet the old property of that institution should be preserved to it, and its influence, for all that they could see, would continue dominant in the new regime. It was a striking instance of that con- structive revolution in which New York has proved herself a worthy daughter of England. Revolution by destruction was never suited to English character, and the prevailing character of the influential men in New York was English. But the law of May 1, 1784, was a compromise. The opposition, which began as far back as 1702, against the domination of the church in education, which showed more strongly in the academy scheme of 1732, with its free students from the counties, and which had grown into an aggressive and threatening spirit of secularization in the con- troversy over King's College charter, had been vastly strengthened and extended by the Revolution. The idea of State education, with civil, not ecclesiastical, ends in view, had become widespread. It is hard to draw the party lines in the struggle which evidently took place over this legislation. The information to be had is very meager. There were several elements of antagonism, but in all the spirit was the same. It was the warfare between the jprinciple of authority and the principle of freedom. The new State idea opposed the old church idea. The country districts opposed a monopoly by the city of educa- tional advantages. The power of British sympathy was strong, and met by the growing sympathy with France. Against the innovation of a State system which might diminish the importance of the old college, that corporation, strongly intrenched in the places of power, raised a determined front. But the contention was not crystallized. A man like Governor Clinton or Mayor Duane would be in sympathy both with the State movement and the college movement. Alexander Hamilton would protest vigorously against religious tests and church domination, yet he would rather have centralization in the hands of the old corporation than a new State university governed by the counties; and his sympathies were English and aristocratic rather than French and democratic. In the main, of course, the tendency would be to a fusion of the church party, the college party, and the aristocratic or English party on the one hand, and of the State 52 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. party, the equal rights or popular party, and the French party on the other. And the conservative elements were largely successful in the legislation of 1784. As the university was constituted by the act of May 1, 1784, and the amendment of November 26, 1784, a body of men who were virtually trustees of Columbia College were made auto- crats in the whole educational system of the State, while the funds that had belonged to the old college were restricted to the needs of the new college, and not of the university as a whole. The very title of the act shows the predominance of Columbia. The personnel of the board points the same way. The desire of Columbia College to become the ' ' mother of a university " was thus gratified by a legislative license. Act of May 1, 1784^ — 1. "All the rights, privileges, and immuni- ties" of the old corporation of King's College were vested in "the regents of the University of the State of New York." 2. The regents are divided into five classes : (o) Perpetual regents, or regents ex ofiQcio, namely, the governor, lieutenant-governor, president of the senate, speaker of the assembly, mayor of New York, mayor of Albany, attorney-general, and secretary of state. (b) County regents. There were 12 counties in the State, and two regents from each county were appointed. (c) Clerical regents. ' ' The clergy of the respective leligious denom- inations in this State" were to choose "one of their body to be a regent in the said university; and in case of death or resignation, to choose and appoint another in the same manner." This language leaving it doubtful whether each denomination was to have a repre- sentative upon the board of regents, or all the denominations collect- ively were to have but one, the amendatory act of November 26, 1784, provided that "the clergy of each respective religious denomi- tion" should "elect one of each of their respective bodies." 1 (d) Founder's regents. Provision was made for the admission into the university, upon the application of the founder, of any college or school ' ' founded by any person or persons, or any body politic or corporate," and by them endowed "with an estate, real or personal, of the yearly value of 1,000 bushels of wheat." Upon admission the endowment was to be vested in the regents and ' ' applied accord- ing to the intention of the donor," and the founders and their heirs or successors were to be entitled forever to send a representative, "who, together with the president (if the estate is applied to the use of the college)," should be regents. (e) College representative regents. The fellows, professors, and tutors of the respective colleges were made "regents of the said university ex officio, and capable of voting in every case relative ^Laws, seventh session, ch. 51; Pratt's Annals (see Conv. proc. 1875, p. 203). THE FOtTNDlNG OF TfiF UNIVEESITl'. 53 only to the respective college to which they shall belong, excej)ting in such cases wherein they shall, respectivel}'^, be personally concerned or interested." o. The succession of regents was to be kept up by appointment "by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the council of appointment," in such manner as to keep up the representation of counties. This applied only to the county regents. The manner of succession in the other classes has been already given. 4. The regents were to elect their own officers, namely, chancellor, vice-chancellor, treasurer, and secretary. 5. "The regents of the said university, or a majority of them," were empowered "to make ordinances and by-laws for the govern- ment of the several colleges which may or shall comj)ose the said university." This power included the appointment and removal of presidents, professors, tutors, fellows, pupils, and servants of the colleges, the fixing of salaries of officers and servants, and the man- agement of the estates of the colleges. There were some limitations upon the exercise of these powers: (a) ' ' No professor shall be in any wise whatsoever accounted ineli- gible for or by reason of any religious tenet or tenets that he may or shall profess, or be compelled by any by-law or otherwise to take any religious test oath whatsoever." (b) The property vested in the regents which had belonged to King's College was to be "applied solely to the use of the said col- lege," now first called Columbia College. All property vested in the regents subject to a particular use was to be applied strictly according to such use. 6. The regents were empowered to hold " estates, real and personal, to the annual amount of 40,000 bushels of wheat" to use for the gen- eral objects of the university, namely, "the further promotion of learning and the extension of literature." 7. The regents were "empowered to found schools and colleges in any part of this State " and to endow them ; ' ' every such school or college being at all times to be deemed a part of the university, and as such subject to the control and direction of the said regents " and to their visitation. 8. The degree of "bachelor of arts" was to be granted by the presidents of the respective colleges, but to the regents was given the power "to grant to any of the students of the said university, or to any person or persons thought worthy thereof, all such degrees, as well in divinity, philosophy, civil and municipal laws, as in every other art, science, and faculty whatsoever, as are or may be conferred by all or any of the universities in Europe." 9. "Any religious body or society of men" was allotN^ed to endow a professorship in divinity in the university. 10. "Nothing in this act contained shall be construed to deprive 54 HISTOKY OF HIGHER EDUCATI03S' IN NEW YORK. any person or persons of the right to erect such schools or colleges as to him or them maj^seem proper, independent of the said university." Amendatory act of November 26, 178Jf.} — The act of May 1 was evidently not satisfactory to the Columbia men. The board of regents were powerful, but that power Avas dangerous unless it could be con- trolled by Columbia influence. As the board was constituted, the college had secured a meager representation. Of the eight ' ' perpetual regents," four — namely. Governor Clinton, Mayor Duane, Attorney- General Benson, and Secretary Scott — were former governors of the college and signers of the i)etition. The provision for college repre- sentation in the board of regents by the presidents, fellows, professors, and tutors would secure control to Columbia onl^^ so long as Colum- bia men outnumbered the others, and these college representatives could vote only in matters pertaining to the college. Of the 24 county regents, 2 only, Henry B. Livingston and Robert Harpur, representatives of New York City and County, were to be relied on as Columbia men. It took a majority of the regents to make a quorum. Upon such a basis Columbia had small chance to rule even in the conduct of her own affairs. The very appointment of her own professors would be in the hands largely of the county members of the board, and the records of the regents show that few professors were elected till, by the amendment in the act of November 26, 1784, Columbia had filled the board with her own men. The clergy, too, were dissatisfied with the ambiguity of the law as to their representa- tion. A movement for a change in the law was soon begun. The regents immediately organized. Almost their only task was the care of Columbia College. They arranged for courses of instruc- tion, took charge of the finances of the college, made some attempts to procure professors, and admitted a few students, first among whom was De Witt Clinton, nephew of Governor Clinton, and afterwards himself governor of the State. The regents captured young Clinton as he was on his way to enter Princeton. But the business dragged. It was hard to get a quorum, so many of the members lived in the country counties. Governor Clinton, in his message to the legislature which convened in October, recom- mended an amendment. The matter was immediately taken up by the assembly and a bill reported by a committee of three, who were regents. They were all from outside counties, however, and from the fact that the bill never went beyond the committee of the whole, it seems probable that it Avas not satisfactory to the Columbia men. This conjecture is further supported by the fact that Mr. Duane in the senate, as he had done in case of the original act, brought in a bill to amend this act, which bill was supported by a "representation for the present condition of Columbia College. " ^ 'Laws of 1784; Pratt's Annals (see Conv. proc. 1875, p. 321). •Sen. Jour, Nov. 19, 1784; Pratt's Annals (see Conv. proc. 1875, p. 218). THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVERSITY. 55 In the debate upon this bill it was proposed that £2,552 should be advanced by the State to the regents for the use of Columbia College. This Avas opposed by Mr. Yates, a country member, who x)roposed £1,000 instead, and upon the failure of Mr. Yates's proposition another country member moved that an advance of funds be made bj^ the State to "trustees of different congregations on the frontiers of the State, to enable them to rebuild their churches and for the establishment of schools among them." It was clear that Columbia grasped too much to suit the country members. The assembly concurred in the bill with some amendments. The bill finally passed November 26, 1784. This amendatory act has its chief significance in the personnel of the new regents appointed by it. Thirty-three additional regents were appointed. Of these, 20 were from New York City. The remain- ing 13 were scattered throughout the other counties. The draft of this bill, which was moved by Mr. Duane, had proposed only the 20 New York members. Doubtless the 13 country members were put in to quiet the opi^osition of the popular party. These 20 men from New York were John Jay, Samuel Prevost, John II. Livingston, John Rodgers, John Mason, John Ganoe, John Daniel Gros, Johann Ch. Kunze, Joseph De la Plain, Gershom Seixas, Alexander Hamilton, John Lawrence, John Rutherford, Morgan Lewis, Leonard Lispenard, John Cochran, Charles McKnight, Thomas Jones, Malachi Treat, and Nicholas Romain. They were all good Columbia men. Four of them had signed the petition spoken of above, as governors of King's College. John Jay was a graduate of Columbia, and Alexander Hamilton had been a student there. Six or more of them were shortly afterwards elected professors in the college, and when the act of 1787 gave Columbia a separate board of trustees, all of these 20 men were made such trustees except John Jay and John Rodgers, who remained regents. This amendment, therefore, destroyed the former equality of county repre- sentation in the board of regents. There were henceforth 57 county regents instead of 24. Of these 57, New York had 22, Albany had 5, and each of the 10 other counties had 3. The amendment further provided that the chancellor, vice-chan- cellor, or senior regent in appointment could call a meeting with only eight other members. Nine members were thus made a quorum instead of the majority formerly required. The popular party, how- ever, succeeded in getting in a j)roviso that a meeting to be legal must be announced in a newspaper for at least two weeks previously. The amendment in regard to the representation of the clergy has been already noticed. It was provided that the regents should meet annually at the same time and place with the legislature, and ' ' that at every such meeting the acts and proceedings of the regents of the said university shall be reported and examined." This language is somewhat ambiguous, but 56 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. it does uot seem to have been intended that the regents slionld report to the legislature. The first report to the legislature of which any evidence appears is after the new law of 1787. The legislation a compromise of parties.- — 1. The college or corpora- tion party accomplished the following results in this legislation of 1784: a. "An act for establishing an university within this State" became "An act for granting certain privileges to the college heretofore called King's College for altering the name and charter thereof, and erecting an university within this State." The arrangement of the provisions of the act, as well as the provi- sions themselves, show that, as indicated by the change of title, the college party made this act, as amended, a measure primarily for the benefit of the college and secondarily only for the benefit of the State as a whole. The college was to be the source of learning for the whole State. It is even made to appear, by the following extract from the preamble to the bill, that the movement for a university was started by the college. These are the words: "And whereas the remaining governors of the said college, desirous to render the same extensively useful, have prayed that the said college may be erected into a uni- versity, and that such other alterations may be made in the charter or letter of incorporation above recited as may render them more con- formable to the liberal principles of the constitution of this State; be it therefore enacted, etc." The fact, however, was that the movement for a university began before any action by the college. &. The form of a corporation similar to that of King's College was retained, with added powers. In the charter of King's College tlie chief State officers were governors, ex officio, of the corporation, as by this law they were made "perpetual regents." This single board of regents were virtually trustees of all the col- leges in the State; charged with the whole administration and disci- pline of these colleges. This would give Columbia autocratic control of the whole State system if they could secure control of the board of regents. c. By the amendatory act of November, Columbia succeeded in obtaining this control of the board. Columbia had at least twenty- two men on the board, all residents of New York City, and therefore easily convened, while only nine members were necessary for a quorum. Further, the provision that new county regents were to be appointed by the governor and council of appointment was an aristocratic meas- ure that might easily be of aid to Columbia, especially since the seat of the State government was at New York, and the college could always hope to exercise a strong social influence there. d. The property which had belonged to King's College was still kept for the use of that institution, and the sum of £2,552 was advanced by the State to the regents for the use of the college. 2. The church influence was greatly weakened. THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVEESITY. 57 a. The churches lost the ex officio regents which, in the oi-iginal draft,^ it was proposed to give them, following the analogy of the ex officio clerical representation in the board of governors of King's Col- lege. They gained a full equivalent for this loss, however, in the pro- vision for an elective clerical representation. This was a liberal advance, inasmuch as any sect could now be represented. h. In the provision against test oaths for professors a great blow was struck at clerical domination. c. The full freedom to all denominations to establish professorships in divinity marks the triumph of liberal principles. 3. The party which might be called the State Univei-sity party, or the popular party, secured some considerable gains. a. They added the mayor of Albany to the ex officio regents and secured increased county representation on the board. 5. The succession of the county members was put indirectly in the hands of the people and was made a State matter. c. They abolished religious tests. d. They had given form, however imperfectly, to the new idea of State control in education. They had created an organization which in some measure was vitalized by the life of the State, and which brought the power of the people in their political capacity to bear upon the instruction of the young. Conservatism and the power of corporate interests were still too great to allow thoroughgoing change; but the change was radical so far as it went. Further change was inevitable and not long delayed. Legislation of 1787. Predominance of Columbia College. — Columbia had captured the board of regents and for three years controlled their action. In the amendment of November, 1784, it was provided that the next meeting of the regents should follow directly upon the rising of the legislature, without the necessity of a published notice. It resulted from this that four daj^s after the passing of the bill there was a meeting at which only Columbia men were present. Before the amendment of November it was very hard to get a quorum for any purpose. There was only one regular meeting of the board from May to November, 1784. At this meeting officers were elected and committees appointed, and these carried on the w^ork of the regents.^ The organization of work in the college was naturally the most urgent business of the board, and the friends of Columbia felt especially hampered. It was not surprising that they sought a reorganization of the board. It is chiefly the fact of their filling the board with Columbia men which ^N. Y. leg. papers (ms.).No. 374; Pratt's Annals (see Conv. proc. 1875, p. 204). '^Minutes of the regents from 1784 to 1787. These are kept among the records of Columbia College. They were printed in Pratt's Annals (see Conv. proc. 1875, pp. 209-263). 58 HISTORY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. shows the positive animus of the change. In reading the minutes of the meetings of the regents and their committees, both before and after the amendatory law of November, 1784, one can not escape the conviction that the activity of the board was narrow and directed almost exclusively to the interests of the college. The only action taken before November looking toward a broader conception of their )iuty was the sending of one of the regents, Colonel Clarkson, of Kings Countj^, to France and the Netherlands ' ' in order to solicit and receive benefactions for the use of the said universitj''."^ And Colonel Clark- son was also engaged with the mission of purchasing "such a philo- sophical apparatus for Columbia College as Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Jefferson, ministers of the United States, will advise and his collections will admit." This last clause gives away the whole scheme. The money was to be raised " for the use of said university," but that use was to get a working plant for Columbia. They also attempted to get up a correspondence with certain gentlemen in Ireland with a view to raise subscriptions there ' ' for the use of the university of this State." It is not recorded that any Irish money found its way to New York. Perhaps even at that time the current of subscriptions flowed the other way. After the amendment of November, few of the non-Columbia men attended, and they but rarely. Until the next annual meeting no notice of meetings was necessary, and the outside members, were evidently discouraged. Nearly half the board were Columbia men. They lived at New York, and it was almost impossible for enough State men to attend to show much strength against the college influence. The great State system of education which had been projected threatened to become only a revival of the metropolitan college. The work, narrow as it was, was vigorously pushed. The finances of the college were investigated, professors were elected, largely from among the new members of the board, and an elaborate plan of education was prepared by an able committee, two members of which were Mr. Duane and Alexander Hamilton.^ Everything possible was done to put the college upon a firm foundation and make it a strong and worthy institution. But for a long time nothing was done looking to the establishment of a broader system. The State was ignored, except as Columbia might furnish the higher education needed in the State. The aristocratic feeling was still dominant, as might have been expected in a body containing such men as Hamilton, Duane, and Jay, of avowed British sympathies, and many others interested chiefly in the maintenance of the prestige of the old corporation. With the meeting of the legislature, however, early in 1785, many country members of the board came in. Their presence was recognized at the meeting on February 15, 1785, by the appointment of Ezra L'Hom- ^ Regents' minutes, June 4, 1784 (see Conv. proc. 1875, p. 214). ^Regents' minutes, Dec. 9 and 14, 1784 (see Conv. proc. 1875, p. 225). THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVERSITY. 59 medieu upon a committee "directed to inquire for a fit person to fill the offices of president, professor of moral philosophy, and mathe- matics in Columbia College." Hamilton and Duane, together with four others besides L'Hommedieu, were members of this committee, who were also to devise means of raising a salary for the president.^ Mr. L'Hommedieu was a member of the original board of regents from Suffolk Countj^, and was to all appearance the leader of the popular party. There has arisen a controversy as to whether Hamilton or L'Hommedieu was the author of the act of 1787. This matter will be discussed later on. The board did not meet again until the 4th of April. The above committee reported. ISTeither Hamilton nor L'Hommedieu was pres- ent. The report recommended an address to the public, to solicit voluntary subscriptions to enable the college to carry out its plans, and "that proper persons in each county throughout the State be applied to and requested i^ersonally to solicit subscriptions for this purpose and that an application be made to the legislature to grant them an aid by a tax on marriage licenses or any other mode they may think proper."^ The thought of the Columbia men may have been right, that the revival of the college was the one thing needful at that time for the State, but there was a different feeling elsewhere. Opposition to the Columbia monopoly. — We have already seen the opposition, from the country members of the legislature, to an advance of State funds to the college. There are other indications of dissat- isfaction. On February 25, 1785, Aaron Burr in the assembly brought in a bill entitled "An act for the encouragement of literature."^ Although this bill never got beyond the second reading, it goes to show that the need of further effort for the advancement of learning was recognized. It was expressly admitted by a committee of the regents themselves, which we shall presentlj^ notice more fully, that the act of November, 1784, " placing the rights of ever}^ college in the hands of a few individuals," "excited jealousy and dissatisfaction when the interests of literature require that all should be united."* At the next annual meeting,^ when several country members were present, an important step was taken. A committee was appointed "to consider of ways and means of promoting literature throughout the State." The members of the committee were Dr. Livingston, Dr. Rogers, Mr. Mason, General Schuyler," Mr. Peter W, Yates, Brockholst Livingston, General Morris, Mr. Wisner, Mr. Haring, 'Regents' minutes, Feb. 15, 1785 (see Conv. proc. 1875, p. 233). ^Regents' minutes, Apr. 4, 1785 (see Conv. proc. 1875, p. 286). ^Assembly jour. 1785, p. 52. ''Regents' minutes, Feb, 16, 1787 (see Conv. proc. 1875, p. 253). ^Regents' minutes, Feb. 28, 1786 (see Conv. proc. 1875, p. 243). ^General Schuyler was not appointed regent until 1787. In what capacity he acted here is not known. 60 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. James Livingston, Mr. Jolin, Mr. Dongan, Mr. Clarkson, Mr. Town- send, Mr. L'Hommedieu, and Mr. Williams. The committee represented in its membership the different districts of the State. It was appointed npon motion of Dr. Livingston, him- self a professor in Columbia. It can not be determined whether this move was made to quiet the popular party with a show of activity in the interest of the State at large, or whether it was a genuine endeavor to broaden the scope of the work done by the regents. Whatever the motive, nothing seems to have been done bj^ the committee. The non- Columbia men were greatly in the majority in this committee, and their failure to see this opportunity, at least to propose some plan to make the university a reality, can not be well explained. Lack of unity among so large a committee would be a plausible suggestion. At any rate they accomplished nothing, and the board went on in its old way, regulating the affairs of the college. Another matter merits notice before taking up the work accom- plished in 1787. In the senate on March 15, 1786, "A memorial of Andrew Law, of the city of New York, praying for an exclusive right of printing sundry new tunes of psalmody, was read and committed to Mr. Stoutenburgh, Mr. Williams, and Mr. L'Hommedieu."^ They brought in a bill entitled "An act granting to authors of literary per- formances the exclusive right of printing and vending their works." This bill, after various amendments in senate and assembly,^ was finally passed under the title "An act to promote literature."^ It is in effect a copyright law, but has a "rider" permitting the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Flatbush, King's County, to sell certain lands "for the express purpose of erecting an academy in the said county." This was the beginning of Erasmus Hall, the first academy incorporated by the regents. It is important as showing how, outside of the board of regents, independent efforts were being made to promote education. It also identifies Mr. L'Hommedieu with the academy movement. It was this activity for academies outside of New York City that first made head against the predominance of Columbia, and from the beginning Mr. L'Hommedieu was the fore- most champion of these academies. Struggle over the new law. — From April 24, 1786, until January 31, 1787, the regents did not meet. It is evident from the facts recited above that, outside of the circle of the friends of Columbia College, there was dissatisfaction with the neglect by the regents of the gen- eral educational interests of the State. The annual meeting, which was always held during the session of the legislature, was near, and at this meeting many of the country members of the regents might be expected to attend. Columbia men seem either to have become dis- 1 Senate jour., 1786, Mar. 15. ■^ Assembly Jour., 1786, pp. 132-167; Senate jour., 1786, p. 77. 3 Laws 1786, ch. 54. THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVEESITY. 61 satisfied with tlie present arrangements for the government of their college or to have feared a legislative attempt at reconstruction in the interests of the State at large which might work injury to the col- lege. This meeting of January 31 was of Columbia men almost exclusively. A committee was appointed, which shows that they recognized that the objects of the university had not been attained, and that there was need of prompt action to guard the interests of the college in any change which might be made. The record runs: Resolved, That a committee be appointed to take into consideration the present state of the university and to report as soon as possible the measures necessary to be adopted to carry into effect the views of the legislature with respect to the same, and particularly with respect to Columbia College, and that Mr. Mayor,' Mr. Jay, Dr. Rogers, Dr. Mason, Dr. Livingston, General Clarkson, Mr. Gros, and Mr. Hamilton be a committee for that purpose.'^ In the evening of February 8 there was another meeting, at which the only action taken was to hear the report of this committee. Dr. Rogers reported progress and asked leave to sit again. This was granted and they adjourned to meet on the evening of February 15. On this very day, Februarj' 8, another movement for the establish- ment of an academy was begun in the senate. It was a petition of Samuel Buell, who was a regent, Nathaniel Gardiner, and David Mul- ford "in behalf of themselves and others, founders of an academy at East Hampton, in Suffolk County."^ This was in L'Hommedieu's own county, and the matter was referred to him with three other senators from the southern district, Treadwell, Stoutenburgh, and Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt was also a regent. L'Hommedieu and Stout- enburgh had been instrumental in passing the "Act to promote litera- ture " described above, which also provided for the establishment of an academy at Flatbush, in Kings Count}^ likewise in the southern district. Mr. Williams, who was a regent, had also been associated with L'Hommedieu and Stoutenbui\gh in the matter of the Flatbush academy, and he becomes prominent afterwards in association with L'Hommedieu in the struggle over the reorganization of the univer- sity. The East Hampton academy spoken of in the above petition was the second academy incorporated by the regents after their reor- ganization, and was called Clinton Academy. Attempt of Columbia to reorganize the university . — The lines of opposing parties in the struggle can now be indicated with some cer- tainty. At the convening of the legislature in 1787 the friends of Columbia in the board of regents appointed a committee, upon which were James Duane, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton, to devise means to make effectual the intention of the legislature in the acts of ' Mr. Duane. -Regents' minutes, January 31, 1787 (see Conv. proc, 1875, pp. 250, 251, Pratt's Annals). 2 Senate Jour., February 8, 1787, 62 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. 1784, " particularly with respect to Columbia College." There were no greater names in the State tlian these three names. Duane and Jay, particularly the latter, had been the framers of the State consti- tution of 1777. In this constitution and in their earlier work in the Continental Congress they had shown themselves slow to break with Great Britain, conservative in temper, and aristocratic in sentiment. With Hamilton, they were at this time stemming the tide of popular indignation against the Tories. They were all by nature and legal training conservative and aristocratic. They were Columbia men and would be apt to think first of the college in any system of instruction. But they were also public-spirited and broad-minded men and had the interests of the people at heart. They were admirably fitted for the work of constructive statesmanship, and the Revolution had given them more liberal and progressive ideas. However, they were not truly democratic in spirit. A system of education in which the power should move from the college center at New York outward to the State would be more congenial to them than a system in which the power should move directly from the people. Hamilton was a member of the assemblj^ where during these very months he led a gallant fight against Governor Clinton upon the subject of granting the Federal Congress a permanent revenue. Hamilton exerted every power to induce this concession to the central Government, but failed. He suc- ceeded, however, in securing the appointment of delegates from New York to the constitutional convention which met in May, 1787. Robert Yates and John Lansing, jr., were Hamilton's colleagues upon this delegation. These men were strong partisans of the governor, and Lansing, also a member of the assembly, opposed Hamilton upon educational as well as political matters. The opposition of Clinton, Yates, and Lansing to Hamilton in regard to the ratification of the Federal Con- stitution need not be recounted here. In that famous struggle Duane and Jay and Hamilton acted as a unit. But Hamilton's views were known to favor a far greater degree of centralization than that in the Constitution, while Duane and Jay were not so extreme in their dis- trust of popular power. Hamilton had been earnest in his attention to the interests of Cokimbia since his appointment as a regent, serv- ing on very many of the important committees and frequently attend- ing meetings of the regents. February 15, 1787, the regents met. The date is wrongly given as Thursday, February 16, in the records. Thursday was the loth, and this date is supported by a subsequent reference in the records. The legislature was already in session. There was quite a large attend- ance of the regents at this meeting. Richard Varick, speaker of tlie assembly, presided. Duane, Rogers, Livingston, and Mason, of the committee upon the "state of the universitj^," Avere present. Plamil- ton, Jay, and the remaining members were absent. Fortunately, the THE FOUNDING OE^ THE UNIVEESITY. 63 report of the committee is spread upon the minutes. It is presented "by order of tlie committee, Jas. Duane, chairman." An analysis of this remarkable report is necessary in order to appreciate some of the provisions of the subsequent legislation. Three subjects are consid- ered — the university, academies, and public elementarj^ schools. 1. The university. Thej' recommena amendment of the former acts in the fol- lowing particulars: a. Changes in "point of form" are needed in regard to filling vacancies in the offices of chancellor and vice-chancellor, in the manner of calling and adjourning meetings, in regard to the annual meetings and the presiding regents, in the absence of official regents. {by Changes '"in the substance of its constitution" are necessary in order "to render the university beneficial according to the liberal views of the legislature." They recommend "that each respective college ought to be intrusted to a distinct corporation with competent powers and privileges, under such subordination to the regents as shall be thought wise and salutary." The reasons are that: 1. While "the regents are the only body corporate" in whom "not only the funds, but the government and direccion of every college are exclusively vested," due care can not be given to each institution, owing to the "dispersed situation" of the regents. 2. The "remedy adopted by the second act was to reduce the quorum to a small number, but thus placing the rights of every college in the hands of a few indi- viduals, your committee have reason to believe, excited jealousy and dissatisfac- tion when the interests of literature require that all should be united." 2. "Academies for the instruction of youth in the languages and useful knowl- edge." These should receive "liberal protection and encouragement" — a. By incorporation, which would secure their property and remove the dis- advantages arising from their "establishment by private benevolences." b. By a "permanent superintendence " which " would greatly contribute to the introduction of able teachers, and the preservation of the morals of the students as well as their progress in learning." 3. Public elementary schools. " But before your committee conclude they feel themselves bound in faithfulness to add that the erecting public schools for teach- ing reading, writing, and arithmetic is an object of very great importance, which ought not to be left to the discretion of private men, but be promoted by public authority. Of so much knowledge no citizen ought to be destitute, and yet it is a reflection as true as it is painful that but too many of our youth are brought up in utter ignorance." A draft of a bill was presented which appears to have applied only to the university and the academies. It is a misfortune that this draft can not be found. It would throw a great light uj)on the question of the authorship of the act of 1787. The committee recom- mended laying the matter before the legislature and their report and the proposed bill were put into the hands of Mr. Varick to present to the legislature. Mr. Varick, being speaker of the assembly, evidently turned the matter over to Hamilton, for the next morning, February 16, Hamilton presented a bill in the assembly entitled "An act to rende]' more effectual an act entitled 'An act for granting certain privileges to the college heretofore called King's College, for altering the name and charter thereof, and erecting an university within this 64 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATIOIST IN NEW YORK. State.' "^ The next day this bill was read the second time and com- mitted to committee of the whole. ^ Hamilton seems never to have been able to push his bill further. It may be that the Clintonian opposition to Hamilton was making itself felt even in the matter of educational reform, and that the Columbia men thought their plan more likely to succeed by attempting to capture the independent movement for a new university law then in progress in the senate under the leadership of Ezra L'Hommedieu. It can not be discovered what was Clinton's position in this matter. Shortly after the board had been filled by Columbia men by the amendatory law, Clinton had resigned the chancellorship. This was in April, 1785, and he seems to have attended only two of the meetings of the board until its reorganization after the law of April, 1787. An examination of the Clinton papers (MS.) at the State library at Albany fails to give any clue to his views upon the university. From the catholic tone of his first message to the legislature, from his known democratic opinions, from his magnifying the importance of the State, from his political opposition to Hamilton, from his refusal to mix in the afi'airs of the university while it was under the domination of the Columbia party, and from the fact that he was again made chancellor upon the reor- ganization in 1787 upon a truly State basis, it may well be supposed that he represented the State or popular side in this struggle, at least after the antagonism became pronounced. Popular attempt at reorganization. — It has alreadj^ been seen that two attempts were made to erect academies on Long Island, one at Flatbush, the other at East Hampton. The assembly journal shows that a petition of Jesse Woodhull and others was presented in 1785, for a law enabling them to raise £200 by lottery to finish an academy at Goshen, Orange County.^ During this time also a plan was formed of founding a college at Schenectady, in which Dr. John H. Livingston was interested. He was the regent who had moved for a committee to devise means for promoting literature throughout the State, and, although a professor in Columbia, was not a narrow par- tisan of that institution. He became the principal of Erasmus Hall shortly after it was incorporated. We find indications that there was a call for new educational institutions in every part of the State. Ai early as 1779 an application was made to the assembly for an act enabling "the trustees of the freeholders and commonalty of the town of Kingston to erect a college or university in the said town." The matter was referred to a committee consisting of Mr. Schoonmaker, 'Assembly Jour., 1787, p. 53. - It is surprising that Pratt's Annals, which purport to give accurate transcripts of the minutes of the legislative journals touching this legislation, and which the writer, on a careful reading of the journals, has failed to find defective in any other material point, should have omitted altogether this entry concerning Ham- ilton's bill. ^Assembly Jour., Jan. 31, 1785, p. 7. 11 THE FOUNDING OB^ THE UNIVEESITY. 65 Mr. L'llommedieu, and Mr. Palmer, to which four other members were added, James Gordon of Albany County, Thomas Tread well of Suffolk County, Egbert Benson of Dutchess County, and Robert Harpur of New York County. ^ This committee had also in charge a petition from John Cuyler and 542 inhabitants of Albany and Tryon counties, and from Thomas Clark and 131 others of Charlotte County, for a college at Schenectady. A bill was prepared and also a charter for this college at Schenectady, which was to be called Clinton College. This charter is preserved among the Clinton papers (No. 3467).^ These petitions were presented in August, 1779, but nothing further came of them at that time. They show the local need of schools in different parts of the State and the membership of the committee is important in this inquiry. Ezra L'Hommedieu is seen to have been thus early inter- ested in the educational affairs of the State. Egbert Benson and Robert Harpur were regents, and Thomas Treadwell was a member with L'Hommedieu of the senate cominittee appointed February 8, 1787, upon the petition in behalf of an academy at East Hampton. While the committee of the regents were preparing the bill which was, in all probability, the bill presented by Hamilton to the assembly on February 16, Ezra L'Hommedieu and his colleagues, Treadwell, Stoutenburgh, and Vanderbilt, were laboring upon a bill for the same end. Hamilton's bill was swamped in committee of the whole on February 17. On February 27 the senate journal contains the fol- lowing entry: Mr. L'Hommedieti, from the committee to whom was referred the petition of Samuel Buell, Nathaniel Gardiner, and David Mulford for the incorporation of an academy at East Hampton and for other purposes, reported that in the opinion of the committee it will be proper that a bill should be ordered to be brought in, for erecting an university and for granting privileges to colleges and academies within this State, and for repealing the acts therein mentioned, which report he read in his place and delivered the same in at the table, where it was again read, and agreed to by the senate. Whereupon. Ordered, That Mr. L'Hommedieu prepare and bring in a bill for that purpose. Mr. L'Hommedieu, according to order, brought in the said bill, which was read the first time and ordered a second reading. Samuel Buell was a regent, and knew that the university was in- tended to found and govern academies. Why should these petitioners come to the legislature for a separate charter when they might have the benefits of becoming a part of the university? It seems plain that they were afraid of the board of regents. They preferred incorpora- tion in which they could control their own funds to placing their property in the hands of this board of omnibus trustees, controlled heretofore by a set of men working chiefly in the interests of one institution. The report of the committee of the regents quoted above shows the prick of a guilty conscience on the part of the Columbia ' Hist. Record, p. 357. ^ Ibid., pp. 144-357. 3176 5 66 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. ring of control. And from the recommendations of that committee and the independent movement now started for the separate incorpo- ration of academies it becomes evident that regents and nonregents alike recognized the need of reform and agreed npon the direction that reform should take. L'Hommedieu seized the opportunity offered by this petition to prepare a measure reorganizing the univer- sity upon a broader basis. He became the champion of the interests of the State as a whole, of the popular and antimonopoly spirit, of a widely spead education that should serve local interests while unified in a State system of the academies against Columbia College. It is proper here to say a word about this man. He, was a descend- ant of Benjamin L'Hommedieu, a Huguenot, who came to New York from Rochelle after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and settled at Southhold, Long Island. Ezra L'Hommedieu was born at this place in 1734. He was a graduate of Yale in the class of 1754, after which he traveled in France and continued his studies there. He practiced law in New York City after his return, and during the Revolution became prominent. From 1775-1778 he was a member of the New York provincial congress and took part in the formation of the State constitution. He was then a member of the New York assembly until 1784, when he became State senator, which ofi&ce he held, with the exception of the year 1793, from 1781 till 1809. For seven years, between 1779 and 1788, he was a delegate to the Continental Congress. He was also a member of the council of revision in New York State for several years, and for one year of the council of appointment. A Federalist at first, he finally went over to the Republicans in 1797. When, on the presentation of the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions in the senate, Mr. King moved a resolution to the effect that the con- stitutionality of acts of Congress was a question for the judiciary and not for the legislature, L'Hommedieu opposed the resolution.^ He was a regent from the founding of the university until he died, in 1811. The Clinton papers for 1783 contain many interesting letters which passed between Governor Clinton and L'Hommedieu, at that time a delegate to the Continental Congress. The following letter from Clinton to L'Hommedieu gives a good glimpse of several of the persons connected with this inquiry. On July 6, 1783, L'Hommedieu writes from Middletown, N. Y., to Governor Clinton, at Poughkeep- sie, asking him as to the attendance of Gen. John Morin Scott and James Duane at the Congress in Philadelphia, and stating the great disadvantages in his being away from home at that time. Governor Clinton replies from Poughkeepsie, July 10, 1783: Dear Sir: I am favored with yours of the 6th instant. Mr. Duane left this place for Congress yesterday morning. General Scott is indisposed, and there is no hope of his attending. He informs me he has written you so. Hamilton is all impatience to be released. His lady hourly expects him home. She is young and > Hammond, J. B. History of Political Parties in the State of New York, v. i. , p. 125. THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVERSITY. 67 ought not to be disappointed. Congress have passed, and the prest. forwarded me, a second resolution pressing an immediate representation of the different States as a matter at this juncture of the utmost importance, and a representation of this State depends altogether upon your attendance. The sooner the better. It is as uncertain as ever when the British will leave New York, etc' It is refreshing to see the governor's solicitude about Hamilton and his lady in view of the bitter antagonism that developed later. This letter shows something of the esteem in which L'Hommedieu was held. An engraving at the State library, which has been ]3rinted in the docu- mentary history of New York, shows L'Hommedieu to have had a head of classic shape, with clear-cut features, and vivacious, intelligent expression. He looks like an able and resolute man. L'Hommedieu families still live on Long Island. The pronunciation of their name has degenerated into "Lommidoo." L'Hommedieu's bill on the next day, February 28, was sent to the committee of the whole. On March 1 Mr. Stoutenburgh reported prog- ress and leave to sit again was granted. This performance was repeated on March 6, 7, and 8. Evidently there was a struggle in progress on the bill. The regents meanwhile, after the failure of Hamilton's bill in the assembly, were quiet. There is no record of anj^ meeting on February 22, the day to which an adjournment was taken. On the meeting of March 1 no action was taken upon the reorganization of the university. In the evening of March 8, the day on which leave to sit again was granted in the senate upon L'Hommedieu's bill, a meeting of the regents was held with a comparatively large attendance. Hamilton, Dnane, and Jay were there. With a few exceptions all who attended were Columbia men. This meeting was the turning point in the his- tory of that legislation. The Columbia men had seen the need of compromise. Their policy was shrewd and effective. They deter- mined to capture the independent movement in the person of Mr, L'Hommedieu himself. They^ — Resolved, That a committee of six members of the regency be appointed to con- sider of the most proper means for procuring an act of the legislature for amend- ing the charter of the university, either in conformity to the bill directed to be presented by the resolution of the board of the loth of February last or with such alterations as may be found necessary, and that they report to the regency at the next meeting, and that the speaker of the assembly, the mayor of New York, Colonel Hamilton, Mr. Williams, Mr. L'Hommedieu, and Mr. Jay be a committee for that purpose. Neither the speaker of the assembly (Richard Varick) nor L'Hom- medieu were present at that meeting. The Columbia attempt at reor- ganization had failed in a committee of the whole in the assembly, in spite of the leadership of Hamilton. The attempt of the academy or State party to reconstruct the university, under the leadership of L'Hommedieu, was threatened with defeat in committee of the whole 1 Clinton Papers. No. 5119. 68 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. in the senate. It is probable that botli parties were willing to com- promise. It is certain that the keen political tact and quick energy of the Columbia men made compromise and consolidation a fact accomplished. L'Hommedieu attended the next meeting of the regents, held onl}^ four days afterwards, the first time that he had attended since April 10, 1786. The speaker of the assembl}^ was also present. The committee reported progress and asked leave to sit again. U Hommedieu' s hill and Hamilton's hill not the same. — It will be remembered that on February 15 the committee of the regents reported a draft of a bill, and that on February 16 Hamilton presented a bill to the assembly. L'Hommedieu's bill was not presented to the senate until February 27. The question naturally arises, Was L'Hommedieu's bill after all the same bill which the regents' committee had prepared and which Hamilton had laid before the assembly? It appears upon the clearest evidence that these bills were not the same. 1. The facts already detailed show an antagonism between the Columbia men in control of the board on the one hand, and the non- Columbia regents and nonregents on the other. 2. L'Hommedieu had not attended the meetings of the regents for nearly a year. He was a Yale man and would naturall}^ have no special interest in Columbia. He was a countrj^man and would be inclined to attach more importance to the academies and the general needs of the State education than to the management of Columbia college. 3. The titles of the acts indicate a difference. a. The original university bill proposed in 1784 was entitled, before it was captured by the King's College interest, "An act for establish- ing a university within this State." h. After its capture and as passed May 1, 1784, this bill was entitled "An act for granting certain privileges to the college heretofore called King's College, for altering the name and charter thereof, and erect- ing a university within this State." e. The amendatory act of November 26, 1784, simply amended by the above title. d. The assembly journal, date of April 13, 1785, shows that John Lawrence (a regent) brought in a bill entitled "An act to amend and explain two certain acts therein mentioned relative to the universitj^ within this State." Nothing is known of this bill, which never went beyond its first reading, and it is introduced here only for the sake of completeness. e. Hamilton's bill was introduced in the assembly February 16, 1787. The movement in the board of regents, with which Hamilton was con- cerned and which resulted in the presentation in the assembly of Hamilton's bill, confessedly had for its primary object the bettering of the condition of Columbia College. It was not until after L'Hom- medieu's activity began, upon the petition of the East Hampton Acad- THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVEESITY. 69 emj^, that Hamilton's committee appeared to have considered the academies and schools. The title of Hamilton's bill as introduced into the assembly indicates well the spirit in which it was conceived. "An act to render more effectual an act entitled 'An act for gran ting- certain privileges to the college heretofore called King's College, for altering the name and charter thereof , and erecting a university within this State. '"1 / L'Hommedieu's bill was proposed in senate February 27, 1787. The title of this bill shows at once the reversion to the earlier anti- Columbian idea of a truly state university, and the catholic scope of the system proposed. The title runs, "An act for erecting an uni- versity and for granting privileges to colleges and academies within this State, and for repealing the acts therein mentioned." L'Homme- dieu was for repealing and building anew upon a broader foundation; Hamilton would render more effectual the existing acts. 4. The manuscript drafts of L'Hommedieu's bill show the plainest evidence of his independent action. Among a collection of manuscripts in the State library, called "New York legislative papers," are several drafts of the bill which finally became the law of April 13, 1787, establishing the university. No. 382 in this collection is the draft of the bill introduced in the senate February 27. It is in two parts which fit together, but there are breaks in it. The first half is indorsed with the title, as given above, in the same handwriting as the body of the draft. Below the title it is indorsed, "In senate 27th Feb., 1787, read 1st time." This hand- writing appears also in the indorsement of the subsequent drafts, and seems to be that of the clerk of the senate. The second part is indorsed with the title, and the following words, "In senate 27th Feb., 1787, read 1st time; 28th, read second time and committed." This whole indorsement is in the same handwriting. No. 383 of this col- lection is a complete draft of this bill, and is indorsed, still in the handwriting of the clerk of the senate, with the title and these words : "In senate 27th Feb., 1787, read 1st time; 28th, read second time and committed." These indorsements correspond with the entries in the senate journal for February 27 and 28. No. 388 is the engrossed draft of this bill referred to in the senate journal of the dates March 19 and 20, and need not be considered here. The handwriting of the drafts Nos. 382 and 383 is the same through- out. A careful comparison of this handwriting with that of Mr. L'Hommedieu, as appearing in many letters from him to Governor Clinton in 1783, contained in the collection of Clinton papers above referred to,^ establishes beyond doubt that these drafts are in L'Hom- medieu's handwriting. The bill, then introduced into the senate on Februarj^ 27, and read the second time on February 28, was the work 'Assembly journal, 1787, p. 53. = See Clinton papers 5157, 5165, 5166, 5193 5205, 5214, 5228. 70 HISTOEY OP HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. of L'Hommedieu's committee, and was in the handwriting of L'Hom- medieu. It is not necessary to go into great detail to show that this bill was not the bill of the regents' committee proposed eleven days earlier in the assemblj^ by Hamilton. If the draft of the assembly bill conld be found, the matter would be much easier, but this draft can not be unearthed. Not only are the senate drafts in L'Homme- dieu's handwriting, but they are not fair copies, as they would be if taken from the Hamilton bill. They are filled with erasures, interlin- eations, verbal changes, transpositions, and marginal additions and suggestions. They show tentative and gradual construction. And then, to make the matter more certain, at one place in the margin appears this note, like everything else, in L'Hommedieu's handwriting, "Take this clause from the other bill." At one other place appears a similar note, ' ' Take in the clause of the assembly bill. " These facts are enough to show that while L'Hommedieu had the assembly bill in mind and used it in the recasting of his own bill, yet his work was independent and different. If further evidence is needed it is ready at hand in the character of L'Hommedieu's scheme. The first draft does not seem complete, but coincides in the main with the second, which is, however, fuller. A complete state system is proposed, consisting of theuniversity corporation over all; colleges, with which Columbia is coordinated, having each a separate charter; incorporated academies, and schools. With the exception of schools, which are only mentioned, provisions are made with considerable minuteness for the government of these different institutions, all of which are made parts of the universitj^ The language of the law of May 1, 1784, is followed wherever practicable. It must be granted that upon this statement the bill resembles the scheme outlined in the report of the regents' committee. But even upon this showing it might be urged that it was quite as likely that the regents' committee took their ideas of furthering the academies from L'Hommedieu, who had been considering the matter a week before the report of the com- mittee, as that L'Hommedieu took his bill from that of the regents' committee. And since reform had become necessary, it might well be that there was no difference of opinion as to the general character of the reform. But a few of the provisions of L'Hommedieu's proposed law show most positively that he was urging the reform from a stand- point entirelj^ different from that of the Hamilton committee. 1. L'Hommedieu's bill provides, "And no president or professor of the said Columbia College, or any other college or academy recognized by this act, shall be a trustee or governor of such college or academy, nor shall any such governor or president or professor be a regent of the university.'" In the second draft (No. 383) "tutor" is added to this prescribed list. At the meeting of the regents on February 15, when the report of their committee was "approved and confirmed," and the ' N. Y. leg. papers, No. 382. THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVERSITY. 71 draft of the bill was directed to be laid before the legislature, there were present twenty-one members. Of these, seven at least were actual professors in Columbia at that time. Eight others were made trus- tees of Columbia under the new law, and among those eight were Mr. Duane himself, Robert Harpur, a former professor of Columbia, and Dr. Cochran, who had been proffered a professorship and declined. There were only five of the twenty-one present who were not presumably friends of Columbia. Many of these fifteen had been made regents when the board was packed in the interest of Columbia by the amend- ment of November, 1784. It is not reasonable to suppose that at such a meeting a law would be recommended containing a provision so destructive of Columbia rule in the board of Columbia trustees. This influence of the faculty of Columbia in the board of regents seems to have excited the special hostility of the non-Columbia men. 2. L'Hommedieu's bill provides for an annual visitation of the academies by a committee of regents, ' ' to inquire into the state and progress of literature therein, and to confer the degree of bachelor of arts on such students of such academies as they shall judge deserving of the same, or to direct that such degrees be conferred on such stu- dents by the president of any college subject to their visitation."^ It can not be supposed that the Columbia men would propose such com- pulsion upon their power to confer degrees. 3. The first draft of L'Hommedieu's bill proposes that the "said Columbia College shall be subject to the visitation of the regents of the university, or a committee from them, who may, as often as the regents shall judge necessary, examine into the funds of the said col- lege, the mode of education, and the progress in literature made by the students, as well as of the learning, abilities, and conduct of the different professors and tutors. " ^ This is the clause which is marked in the margin, "Take this clause from the other bill." In the second draft, which was read the following day in the senate, this clause is somewhat toned down. It reads: " It shall and may be lawful to and for such visitors to inspect ano examine into the state of literature and the progress of the stu- dents in any of the said colleges, and into the discipline, government, management, laws, and statutes thereof, and the execution of the same, and into the university funds, securities, receipts, expenditures, books of accounts, and vouchers appertaining thereto, in order that a just report thereof may be made to the regents of the said university and by +jhem be laid before the legislature when it shall be found necessary."^ Again it can not be supposed that the Columbia men would have proposed such subordination on the part of their college to the regents. It looks as if L'Hommedieu had softened the rigor of his first proposal to better suit the temper of the assembly bill. 1 N. Y. leg. papers, No. 382. '^N. Y. leg. papers, No. 383. 72 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. 4. L'Hommedieu's first draft gives the regents a veto upon the "ordinances and by-laws'' made by the governors of Columbia "for the government of Columbia College and for the management of (its) estate." In L'Hommedieu's second draft the same power is given the regents. This is then erased, and the following is interlined (after the powers of the trustees of the various colleges to make ordinances and by-laws is stated) : ' ' Provided also, that the trustees of the colleges above mentioned respectively lay before the regents of the said uni- versity from time to time the plan or system proposed to be adopted for the education of the pupils and students in each of the said col- leges, respectively, in order that the same may be revised and exam- ined by the said regents, and by them be altered and confirmed as they shall judge proper." These powers in the regents do not seem like suggestions from Columbia. The milder veto power in the second draft may well have been a politic concession by L'Hommedieu to the Columbia infiuence. 5. L'Hommedieu's bill provides that the succession of trustees for Columbia shall be kept up by legislative appointment. This it is impossible to think of as emanating from the Columbia men. In his first draft he proposed for Columbia trustees the same plan as that pro- vided in the law of May 1, 1784, for the succession of regents, namely, appointment by the governor and council of appointment. This was then erased and a blank left for the manner of appointment. In the second draft he proposed at first the filling of vacancies by election "by a majority of the said trustees." This was erased and appoint- ment by the legislature substituted. This provision for the govern- ment appointment of trustees is applied in L'Hommedieu's bill to other colleges in the State. All colleges were thus to be State institu- tions. This is the more remarkable since he proposes to put the acad- emies upon a different footing, succession of academic trustees to be by cooptation. He was the champion of the academies, and wanted them self-governing, subject only to such supervision as would be for their benefit and encouragement. The power of colleges he proposed to restrain through more rigid control by the regents and through legislation renewal of trustees. A comparison of L'Hommedieu's drafts with the bill actually passed shows that his provisions for academies were substantially incorpo- rated in the law, while in the part of his plan which touched Columbia and the colleges generally he was not nearly so successful. The conclusion based upon the foregoing considerations, as to the separate character of these two bills, is strengthened and confirmed by the history of this legislation subsequent to the appointment of the committee of regents March 8, 1787, with a view to consolidate the opposing forces and push through a compromise measure. If the L'Hommedieu bill were the same bill as that proposed by the regents' committee, the resolution by the regents on March 8 would not have THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVEESITY. 73 spoken of " procuring an act of the legislature for amending the char- ter of the university, either in conformity to the bill directed to be presented by the resolution of the board of the 15th of February last, or with such alterations as may be found necessary." They would have said "in conformit}^ to the bill now before the senate," or used some equivalent phrase. The difference and the controversy are everywhere apparent. The compromise effected between the two parties remains to be considered. Consolidation and compromise. — The regents made a strong and politic move in the appointment of their committee on March 8. They made the speaker of the assembly chairman of the committee. They secured the attendance of John Jay at that meeting, a rare advantage. He had attended only three meetings before this since his appointment on February 28, 1786. He accepted a place upon the committee. It would seem from his being appointed regent under the new law, when nearly all of his coappointees of 1784 were made trustees of Columbia, as if he finally had come to act rather against than in favor of Columbia. L'Hommedieu, the leader of the opposi- tion to Columbia in the senate, accepted a place upon the committee and attended the subsequent meetings. This committee was one of great ability. It contained Duane, Hamilton, and Jay. L'Homme- dieu was a man of ability and prominence, as is shown by his constant activity on important committees in the senate, as well asby the various offices held by him. Of Varick and Williams not so much is known. The meeting of March 12 has already been noticed. On March 15 the regents met again. The committee were all there except Jay. The other members present were mainly Columbia men. "Colonel Ham- ilton," from this committee, "reported a bill to be laid before the leg- islature." It was debated paragraph by paragraph. L'Hommedieu r.ioved to strike out the name of George Clinton from the list of Columbia trustees. The motion was lost, Hamilton and L'Homme- dieu, however, both voting in the affirmative. It was also proposed to leave out of the regency the governor and lieutenant-governor, but this was lost. In the final law Clinton is not the trustee of Columbia. The draft of the engrossed bill shows that, as introduced, it con- tained Clinton's name, which was afterwards erased. It was proba- bly struck out in the legislature. The bill and amendments were then adopted by the regents. The effect of this consolidation of opposing ideas upon the course of legislation appears instantly. Since March 8, L'Hommedieu's bill had lain in committee of the whole. Four days after this agreement between the Columbia party and the academy part}^, on March 19, in the senate, "Mr. Stoutenburgh, from the com- mittee of the whole," reported that they had gone through the bill, made amendments thereto, altered the title in the words following, viz, ' ' An act to institute a university within this State and for other purposes therein mentioned, and agreed to the same." The senate 74 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. agreed to the bill and amendments and ordered the amended bill to be engrossed. The next day, March 20, the bill was passed by the senate. It is the draft of this engrossed bill which is preserved in the New York legislative papers as No. 388. The agreement between L'Hommedien and the Columbia party seems to have quieted all oppo- sition in the senate. The compromise bill was now not the measure of a party, but the regents' bill. The assembly made some amend- ments in committee of the whole which were immediately concurred in by the assembly and the amendments ordered to be engrossed.^ The bill encountered opposition now from Hamilton's political oppo- nent, Mr. Lansing, a partisan of Clinton. On March 24 the Journal shows that Lansing moved to recommit the bill to committee of the whole. Hamilton opposed this motion. Colonel Hamilton hoped that the House would not recommit the bill. There was no doubt, he said, but the legislature possessed the right to give this power. There were frequent examples of the kind in Great Britain where this power had been granted. No disadvantage, he said, could arise from it; on the contrary, many would be the benefits. He therefore wished the bill might be finished, as no doubt existed with him of the power and the propriety of the legislature granting those privileges which were mentioned in the bill.^ It is not known what were the powers and the privileges thus defended by Hamilton. They may have been the power of incorporating col- leges, which encountered opposition later. Lansing's motion was car- ried and the bill recommitted. A week later two clauses of the bill were reported for consideration by the house. In 1786 a law had been passed appropriating one lot in every township of land "to be applied by the legislature for promoting literature in this State." A clause in the university bill proposed that letters patent for such lots should be granted to the regents. On Lansing's motion this clause was rejected. The other clause was the one empowering the regents, on application, to incorporate colleges upon certain conditions. Lan- sing moved to reject this clause. His motion was carried, Hamilton voting in the negative.^ On April 6 it was reported to the House that in the committee the speaker of the assembly had moved to reconsider this last rejected clause and the committee of the whole had voted for the clause on reconsideration, Hamilton supporting. The regents' committee thus stood firm in the assembly. Hamilton gave the bill his steady sup- port. The bill as amended in committee was agreed to by the assembly on April 6 and the amendments engrossed. On April 10 the assembly journal has an entry which shows a neat stroke of diplomacy on the part of Columbia and the regents. It was moved that the house "adjourn until the afternoon, that the members may have an oppor- 1 Assembly jour., March 20, 21, 22, and 23. ' Hamilton, Alexander. Works; ed. by H. C. Lodge, v. 6, p. 575. =* Assembly jour., March 31, 1787. THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVERSI""Y. 75 tunity to attend the commencement of the students in Columbia Col- le.^e, agreeable to a request of the regents of the university to the legislature." The motion called forth debate, but adjournment was voted — 34 to 17. This may have been mere courtesy. The regents met in the assembly chamber. But coming just at this time when the success of the bill was not assured, the courtesj^ may have had another motive. The next day the assembly passed the bill and amendments. The senate concurred in the amendments April 12, and on April 13 the council of revision sent down its approval bj^ message of Chief Justice Richard Morris, and the bill became law. The timely concessions of Columbia had assured the safety of the measure. The consolidation of both parties, making the regents a unit, had enabled them to secure a law far more satisfactory upon the whole than the old one and one which in its essential features has remained unchanged. Until 1889 there was no thoroughgoing reconstruction of the system, and this law of 1889 was more a codification of the old law than a change in the constitution of the university. From the meager facts reported it seems that the popular house had some jealousj^of the university and feared to put such large powers into the hands of a corporation. But the animus of Lansing's opposition may have been only the Clintonian hostility to Hamilton, for the burning question in the New York legis- lature then was not reform of the constitution of the State university, but the larger question of a reform in the Constitution of the United States. Governor Clinton was mighty in the assemblj^ and stood strongly for his State against anj^ greater control by the Federal Government. Hamilton, on the other hand, believed heartily in the centralization of power in the hands of a strong and capable few. And as he strove for the subordination of the States to the rule of the central Federal Government, so in the State system of education he seems to have striven for the strong mastery of the cultured and able coterie of Columbia men over the undeveloped and self-asserting tnstitutions throughout the State. And as the disintegrating power of State rights showed such irrepressible life that he was compelled to compromise his ideal in the national Constitution, and consent to far greater local power in the States than he believed in; so in the university, to iDreserve the union he was obliged to compromise, to yield up the paramount influence of the capable institution at New York, then the political as well as the intellectual center of the State, and to allow the local academies a measure of self-government which was opposed to his political ideas. But once committed to the com- promise he was the staunch champion of the new university as of the new Federal Constitution. It was not the least mark of Hamilton's greatness that, imperious and ambitious as he was, he was yet capable of forgetting egoism in the presence of the supreme need of society. The founding of the University of the State of New York becomes thus a little part of that vaster movement which consolidated the Union of the States in the Federal Constitution, 76 HISTOEY OF HIGHEK EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. Act of April 13, 1787.— This act is fav superior to L'Hommedieu's drafts in point of form. There is a definiteness, a precision of com- pact utterance, and a simplicity which are wanting- in his drafts. The topical order is substantially the same. That the changes were the result of the conferences of parties in the regents there can be no doubt. In the act as well as in the draft of the engrossed bill (No. 388) the preamble alone makes this clear. In L'Hommedieu's drafts there was no preamble, and nowhere any reference to any desire for change on the part of the regents. He began abruptly after the title, "Be it enacted," etc., "That there shall be, and hereby is, instituted a university within this State." The act as well as the draft (No. 388) | begins with a recital of the two laws of 1784 instituting the univer- sity, and proceeds: "And whereas from the representations of the regents of the said university it appears that there are defects in the constitution o^ said university," etc. Elsewhere similar reference is made to the Initiative of the regents. They must appear as united in desiring reform. And that the reform was not alone the earlier meas- ure of Hamilton appears from the title as well as the preamble. Hamilton's bill was entitled "An act to render more effectual an act," etc., giving the title of the law of 1784. The preamble of this act reads, that whereas several amendatory acts of a law lead to confu- sion, "Wherefore, to the end that the constitution of one the said university may be properly amended and appear entire in law, it will be expedient to delineate and establish the same in this and repeal all former acts relative thereto. Be it enacted,'''' etc. This was pre- cisely the programme of L'Hommedieu. The language is largely that of L'Hommedieu and the provisions respecting academies are in the main the same as L'Hommedieu's. The greatest difference between this act and L'Hommedieu's drafts is in regard to Columbia and the colleges. A short analysis of this act will be useful. 1. Instead of the prolix title of Hamilton's bill and the clumsy title of L'Hommedieu's bill, the act has the concise title: "An act to insti- tute a university within this State, and for other purposes theiein mentioned." 2. The preamble, as indicated, shows its compromise character. 3. The University. a Its corporate name is "The Regents of the University of the State of New York." b There are 21 regents, of whom 2 only, the governor and lieu- tenant-governor, are regents ex officio. The regents appointed are John Rodgers, Egbert Benson, Philip Schuyler, Ezra L'Hommedieu, Nathan Carr, Peter Sylvester, John Jay, Dirck Romeyn, James Livingston, Ebenezer Russell, Lewis Mor- ris, Matthew Clarkson, Benjamin Moore, Eliardus Westerlo, Andrew King, William Lynn, Johnathan G. Tomkins, John M'Donald, and Frederick William De Steuben. THE FOUNDING 0¥ THE UNIVEESITY. 77 c Vacancies are to be filled by tlie legislature in the manner in which delegates to Congress are appointed. It will be remembered that this was in the days of the Continental Congress. The regents therefore stood as the representatives of the State as a whole, and not of any particular section. The same idea is now maintained in their election in the same manner as Senators of the United States. This provision does not appear in L'Hommedieu's draft and may well have been a centralizing amendment of Hamilton. d Various provisions are made as to the election of officers, calling and conduct of meetings, etc. e The general powers of the corporation as to holding of property, etc., are substantially those under the former law. / The regents are ' ' authorized and required to visit and inspect all the colleges, academies, and schools which are or may be established in this State," to make ordinances and by-laws, and to appoint presi- dents of colleges and principals of academies if the respective institu- tions fail to do this for an entire year. g The}^ are empowered to confer all degrees above bachelor or mas- ter of arts which are " usually granted by any university or college in Europe." h They may apply their funds at their own discretion, except in case of grants made to them charged with an express use. 4. Colleges. a The regents are authorized to incorporate colleges upon applica- tion b}'' citizens or bodies corporate wishing to found colleges under such conditions as they approve; but such corporations are to have the same corporate rights as Columbia College. b Columbia College. (1) The original charter of 1754 is confirmed with certain changes — "No persons shall be trustees of the same in virtue of any offices, char- acter, and descriptions Avhatsoever. " L'Hommedieu had proposed the mayor and recorder of New York as ex officio trustees. (2) The present trustees are James Duane, Samuel Provost, John H. Livingston, Richard Varick, Alexander Hamilton, John Mason, James Wilson, John Gano, Brockholst Livingston, Robert Harpur, John Daniel Gross, Johann Christoff Kunze, Walter Livingston, Lewis A. Scott, Joseph Delaplaine, Leonard Lispenard, Abraham Beach, John Lawrence, John Rutherford, Morgan Lewis, John Cochran, Gershom Seixas, Charles McKnight, Thomas Jones, Malachi Treat, Samuel Bard, Nicholas Romein, Benjamin Kissam, and Ebenezer Crossby. Thus all the faithful Columbia men who had come to her rescue in November, 1784, and had stood by her in the board of regents, attend- ing faithfully the meetings, were rewarded. To make room for the new friends they had gained they appointed 29 on the first board. It was to be reduced to 24, and kept at that figure. 78 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATIOISr IIS" NEW YOEK. (3) The property and other rights of King's College under the old charter are to be retained. 5. Academies. a Upon application hy founders or benefactors of academies in any cities or counties of the State the regents are empowered upon certain conditions to incorporate such academies. In fact, they are compelled to grant such charters if the conditions are complied with and "they conceive such academy calculated for the promotion of literature." b Such incorporated academies are granted the usual corporate powers, their annual income, however, being restricted to the "value of 4,000 bushels of wheat." c The trustees of the academies are empowered at lawful meetings, according to detailed regulations, to "appoint and remove officers, teachers, etc. , fix their salaries, and make by-laws for the government of the academies. d Vacancies in the boards of trustees are to be filled by cooptation. e The regents are to be visitors of such academies. /Scholars of academies, upon due examination by the president and professors of any college under the visitation of the regents, who shall be found competent are to be admitted to such college. But this privilege is granted only upon condition that the plan of education in such academies is approved by the regents. g Academies that are suf&ciently advanced may be erected into colleges by the regents. 6. General provisions. a. There shall be no religious tests for presidents or professors. Z). No professor or tutor in any college or academy shall be a trustee of that institution, and no president or principal, being a trustee, shall have a vote as to his own salary. c. No "trustee, president, principal, tutor, fellow, or other officer of any college or academy [shall] be a regent of the university." The regent of the New York University is thus seen to be abso- lutely different in character to the regent in English universities. As a corollary to this prohibition the law provides that if any college or academy trustee is elected a regent, or vice versa, such person shall make election which position he wishes to occupy. 7. The two former acts are repealed. The result of this law was twofold. Theoreticallj^ it lessened the rigor of State control of the system by emancipating the colleges from the actual government of the regents. Practically, it widened the scope of this State control by emancipating the regents from any tendency to monopoly of influence. The university immediately began a wide-reaching activity in the incorporation of academies and colleges. L'Hommedieu's plan of having all the colleges directly dependent THE FOUNDINa OF THE UNIVEESITY. 79 upon the State by having their trustees appointed by the legislature was defeated. It was a bold plan and a grand one. But the love of self-government was too strong to allow so radical an innovation. And L'Hommedieu himself seems to have been vindictive rather than magnanimous in his proposal; for his same plan left to trustees of academies the right of filling vacancies in their boards. He was the champion of the academies. His proijosals concerning these institu- tions were mainl}^ enacted into law. He was apparently a champion in general of local interests. As first proposed, his scheme would have had a judge of the court of common pleas in every county and the mayor of every city in the list of regents ex officio. And in the matter of higher education he was the champion of direct political control. Colleges should have on their boards of trustees the mayors of the cities or the first judge of the counties where these colleges were situ- ated, the rest of the board to be made up by governmental appoint- ment. As the price of carrying through his measures in regard to the academies, he had to concede almost complete autonomy to Columbia, except in the matter of an official inspection by the regents. The regulations in regard to Columbia must necessarily be the model for future colleges. The idea, then, of a system of colleges in direct organic connection with the political system of the State was lost through the narrow zeal of the Columbia men for their college on the one hand and the equally narrow zeal of the academy men on the other. But the compromise was a distinct gain, and after a century of quiet and, if desultorj^, still efficient activity, this great organiza- tion stands to-day stronger and more active than ever before, and seemingly upon the eve of wider and more splendid achievements. The law of 1787 constituted the university upon substantially the same basis as that upon which it i*ests to-day. One effect of the change should be noticed. The idea of countj^ representation upon the board of regents was entirely lost. The regents became the agent of the State — an organ of centralized administration. But this was in a measure offset by the change in the manner of appointment. Instead of appointment by the governor and his council of appoint- ment, the regents were now appointed by the legislature, thus giving a far more popular character to their election. This was probably a concession to the assembly; for there existed in that body, as evinced by Mr. Lansing's opposition, a jealousy of a corporation endowed with such high prerogatives as the board of regents. The personnel of the new board of regents should also be remarked. The old Columbia men, including Hamilton and Duane, were made trustees of Columbia, and ended their connection with this State establishment. When it is remembered that this scheme was arranged in the compromise committee of the regents, it will serve as strong evidence of the party preference of these men in this struggle. While Hamilton and Duane thus remained with the college, Jay and Rodgers, 80 HISTORY OE^ HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. of the Columbia appointees of November, 1784, went over to the new board of regents. There is no surprise at seeing L'Hommedieu still among the regents. The most notable accessions to the board of regents were Philip Schiiyler, Hamilton's father-in-law, and De Steu- ben, the sturdy German baron of Revolutionary fame. Hamilton or UHommedieu ? — For a century it has been assumed that Alexander Hamilton was the founder of the university. The shadow of his great name has lent a cherished dignity to the corpora- tion. J. C. Hamilton calls it "a bold effort of his genius," in his life of Alexander Hamilton. The regents themselves have ever loved to give currency to the tradition. If not Hamilton, who? So great an institution must have had a great father, and hence this corporate filia nullius has claimed descent from the prolific brain of Hamilton. What is the source of this tradition? The published works of Hamil- ton give no clew. They contain nothing of importance touching the university or educational matters in general. Mr. Lodge, printing the title of this act in a list of writings attributed formerly to Hamil- ton, comments thus: "Mr. Proctor, the editor of the forthcoming- edition of Hammond's Political History of New York, has, I think, shown conclusively that the act was the work of Ezra L'Hommedieu." ^ It was the writer's good fortune to meet Mr. Proctor, the secretary of the New York State Bar Association, at Albany, whose courtesy and valuable suggestions are here gratefully acknowledged. Mr. Proctor stated his arguments to the writer, who also read what had been printed by Mr. Proctor upon the matter. From the work already done by the writer, he was inclined to be more skeptical than Mr. Lodge as to the conclusiveness of Mr. Proctor's proof. The mat- ter seemed to demand a more extended and minute research than had been yet given to it. From the facts already detailed, but one con- clusion can be reached. The university is not the work of any one man. Whether the whole course of legislation be considered, or only the act of 1787, still it can not be said that any one man has even con- ceived the whole idea. There is only one man whose activity from first to last was constant in the construction and reconstruction of the university, and that man is neither Hamilton nor L'Hommedieu, but James Duane, the mayor of New York. He introduced the origi- nal bill into the senate in 1784, which was afterwards altered in the interest of Columbia. He was an infiuential regent from the start, and unceasing in his activity. He introduced in the senate the amendatory bill of November, 1784. He was chairman of the com- mittee which, on February 15, 1787, reported a plan of amendment, and he was a member of the final compromise committee of the regents of March 8, 1787. It is not, however, intended here to claim for Duane the whole honor of founding the university. These facts render it impossible, likewise, to attribute this honor chiefly either to Hamilton ' Hamilton, Alexander. Works, ed. by H. C. Lodge, v. 9, p. 582. Aisr ERA OF EDUCATIONAL REVOLUTION. 81 or to L'Hommedieu, neither of whom had any connection with the earliest founding, and who have been shown to be merely coworkers with Duane and Jay, and others, in the final reconstruction. At the same time it seems only just to say that, upon the final reorganization, the man who stands out most conspicuously for the broader educational ideas which have become dominant in this century is not Alexander Hamilton, but Ezra L'Hommedieu. Hamilton has been half deified, but we are not bidden to render even unto God the things that are Cesar's. The university of 1787 was a structure reared by many hands. ^ CHAPTER 3. AN ERA OF EDUCATIONAL REVOLUTION. Tlie University of tlie State of New York a revolution. — This survey of the period from the close of the war in 1783, until the definitive establishment of the system of education in New York by the act of 1787, has made very evident the presence of a new spirit and new ideas in the matter of education. The old college had been, in its form and in its activity, an English educational corporation, serving private interests, controlled by private parties, distinctly under ecclesi- astical influence, looking to the State only as a means of obtaining occasional pecuniary aid, or extension of privilege, with no conscious- ness of identification with the political life of the State, or of duties toward the State. For the rest, private academies, elementary parish schools, or chance schools conducted by private masters, professional training acquired on the old plan of educational master and appren- tice; such was the condition. New York in 1784 would well exemplify the ideal of Herbert Spencer and his laissez-faire disciples. Indi- vidual initiative has no rival as a principle of educational enterprise. The State did not venture to usurp private " rights." Between 1783 and 1787 there was a revolution. An attempt on the part of King's College to capture a movement for the establishment of a university, and thus to revive the old corporation with greater immunities and franchises than before, was met by a popular opposi- tion to corporate encroachment, which ended in leaving to Colui^Ma only its own charter, with its government thereunder subject to the inspection and partial control of the State. While the acts of 1784 were primarily in the interest of Columbia, and only secondarily in ^ There is an interesting memoir of James Duane in the Documentary History of New York, vol. 4, p. 1 J61. It can not be supposed that a man of Duanes ability would have been a tool in the hands of others in all his activity regarding the university. There may, very probably, exist among the papers of Duane, if they have been preserved, evidence of the writer's conjecture that to him a large measure of credit is due for the establishment of the university. 3176 6 82 HISTORY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. the interest of the State, yet the movement toward the wider idea steadily grew until, in the act of 1787, the order of procedure was reversed. The university henceforth overshadowed the college and the system became a truly State system, of which Columbia was merely a part. The policy of the ecclesiasts, to emasculate freedom of thought and to retain direction of education by test oaths and regulations as to the creed of professors and teachers, was likewise defeated by positive legislative provision. ISTot only in these special practical matters had the new idea of popular political rights and duties in education become strong and aggressive, but an idea had impressed itself upon the imagination of the people, of a great educational system, coextensive with the politi- cal organization of the State, energized and controlled by the State, to be used for the good of the State. And this idea had taken form in an organization, which, while it was nominally a private corpora- tion, had yet no private interests to serve, which was so constituted that its controlling members must always be among the foremost men in the State, and whose "franchises, immunities, and privileges" were simply the most important functions of a State department of education, and these it was obliged to perform by being made account- able to the legislature which created it. With all this radical inno- vation, the State claimed no monojjoly of education. Complete free- dom was left to private individuals to establish schools and colleges independent of the State system. Chairs of divinity of any sect could be freely established in the colleges subject to State control. The principles of State education in New York were, that there should be a State system, that all who asked the benefits of the State S3^stem must submit to State control, and that the State regulations should be such as to permit and to secure the highest possible freedom to individual enterprise, both within and without the State system. Conservative as the founders of the university were by instinct and by tradition, they had yet grasped firmly the principle of the right and duty of State control in educational affairs. While to their con- servatism is due the corporate form of the institution, and the fact that it actually included in its scope onlj^ the higher and secondary schools, yet it was not many years before the more democratic idea of primary schools for the whole people developed into a fixed policy of the State, and became realized in the State department of public instruction already described. The revolutionary idea not English. — To one who recognizes con- tinuity^ in the institutional life of a people, the question naturally suggests itself, "Whence came these new ideas?" It is plain that they were not English in origin. The corporate form of the system, many details of its government, the leaning to clerical influence — these characteristics may well be considered Eng- AN ERA OF EDUCATIONAL EEVOLUTION. 83 lisli. But the adaptation of the machinery to its un-English uses, the new motive power and directive energy and, above all, the idea of a symmetrical State system, freed from ecclesiastical influence — these were all foreign to the English character. The conservatism in the change was English. The progressive elements came from other sources. If any proof of this proposition is needed, it is readily furnished bj'^ the Contrast between the University and the English universities. — It is commonly said that Oxford and Cambridge furnished the models for the University of the State of New York. Oxford and Cambridge were groups of colleges associated in one great whole, called the uni- versity. Such it is true was also the University of the State of New York, and there can be little doubt that the English university organ- ization was the structural idea at the basis of the New York plan. But beyond this there is no real analogy. All the colleges of the Eng- lish university were situated in one town. The natural application of the English idea to New York at that time would have been to establish a university at New York City, where alone there was much demand for colleges, leaving to the future the development of similar institu- tions in other parts of the State. Again, the English university was a great self-governing institution with jurisdiction and legislative con- trol over territory; it was a corporation such as a chartered town, it had feudal immunities, it was a regnum in regno. The New York university, although a corporation with chartered rights, was yet a branch of the State government, created by the legislature, its mem- bership maintained by the legislature, accountable to the legislature. If some special administrative committee of the privy council in Eng- land had been granted a corporate form, its duties and responsibili- ties remaining the same as before — ^this would have furnished an analogy to the university in New York. "It had duties, not rights, in relation to the State. "^ And this unique State department was adapted with such prophetic skill to the future growth of the State, that from 1787 until the present day it has expanded naturally, with- out essential change, to meet every need of the State, and has become the inspiration of somewhat similar systems in other States and coun- tries. In this character of practical adjustment to new needs, it may be granted, the English spirit is indeed apparent. Again, federation is the principle of union in the English university system. Mr. Bryce, in an appendix to his work on the American Com- monwealth, draws a remarkable parallel between the federative sys- tem of English university government before their late reconstruction, and the government of the Federal Union of the United States. But federation did not describe at all the government of the New York colleges in the universit}^ They were not represented in the board of ^ Buisson, M. L'enseignement superieur aux Etats-unis. (Revue Interna- tionale de l'enseignement, Oct. 15, 1886.) 84 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. regents. They governed themselves except for the supervision of the university, and this sujjervision was the authority of the State pro- ceeding outward from its center. The mild government which is exer- cised by the regents is imperial in its character. New York created a new personage under the name of "regent." This term seems to have been first used in the old University of Paris. It signified a master, who by his very character of master was quali- fied to teach. The name passed over to the English universities. A rule grew up that onlj^ those masters actually teaching the " regents," as distinguished from the nonregents, should have a right to vote in certain university assemblies. In the Oxford convocation and the Cambridge senate both regents and nonregents voted. The regent then combined the functions of teaching and governing. At Oxford by the Laudian Statutes of 1636, the government was practically put into the hands of the heads of colleges, and the colleges likewise in Cambridge acquired a larger control. New York seized the old officer and name and put them to a new use. The regents became the gov- erning and not the teaching body. The teaching and governing func- tions became entirely distinct. This use of " regent " has been copied by Michigan, and generally by the State universities in the West. Revolutionary idea in New Yorh before 178 J/.. — If the new revolu- tionary ideas wrought out in the founding of the university are not of direct English origin, they were at least partly indigenous to New York soil, and indirectlj^ English. We have seen the idea of State education struggling to the light in the laws of 1702 and 1732 for the establishment of grammar schools. But it is specially in connection with the founding of King's College that the new idea came most strongly into view. The many nationalities and religious sects in the colony tended to produce jealousy of any domination by a particular national or sectional element. "An act for vesting in trustees the sum of £3,443 18s., raised by way of lottery, for erecting a college within this colony," ^ passed November 25, 1751, appointed ten trustees for the fund. The mem- bers of the Church of England predominated, however, and- Trinity Church x3roposed to grant the college the use of land for its buildings. William Livingston, a Presbyterian and a graduate of Yale, a cultured and able lawyer, a writer of sprightly verse and vigorous prose, after- wards governor of New Jersey, led a determined crusade against the plan of procuring a royal charter for the college. He was afraid of the influence of the English Church, since that church so largely con- trolled the movement. His articles, published in the Independent Reflector ^ in 1753, speak with all the fervor and passion of the French writers of that period about the divinity of " reason" and the curse of ecclesiasticism. This William Livingston was spoken of by Presi- ' Pratt's Annals (see Conv. proc, 1873, p. 191). ^ These are printed in Pratt's Annals (see Conv. proc, 1873, pp. 194-234). AN ERA OF EDUCATIONAL REVOLUTION. 85 dent Timothy Dwight as a man of most versatile ability. He was nicknamed the " Don Quixote of the Jerseys." He was delegate from New Jersey to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Henry Brock- hoist Livingston, one of the regents, was his son, and John Jay mar- ried his eldest daughter. He was a cousin of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston. The germ of the whole modern reform in education is contained in his arguments. This brilliant man represents at once the movement for jDositive knowledge of practical value, and for civil as against ecclesiastical control in education. "This, therefore, I will venture to lay down for a capital maxim, that unless the education we propose be calculated to render our youth better members of society and use- ful to the public in proportion to its expense we had better be without it." Education, he claims, "is to improve their (the youth) hearts and understandings, to infuse a public spirit and love of their coun- try, to inspire them with the principles of honor and probity, with a fervent zeal for liberty and a diffusive benevolence for mankind, and, in a word, to make them the more extensively serviceable to the Com- monwealth." ^ He refers to Plato, Aristotle, and Lycurgus as making " the education of youth the principal and most essential duty of the magistrate." It is thus to the old Hellenistic spirit that the modern world is ultimately indebted for the new education, an education which strives to be free from traditional bondage of every sort, w^liich is organized upon state rather than church foundations, and which seeks a knowledge practical rather than scholastic. It is interesting to compare Livingston's words with what Montes- quieu has said : "Political virtue, or virtue proper in a republic." writes Montesquieu, " is the love of country and of equality. It is in a republican government that the whole power of education is needed, for all depends upon the establishment of this polit- ical virtue, this love of the laws and of the country, this love which demands an habitual preferment of the public weal to one's own interest, and which is the source of all special virtues, for they are all nothing but this preferment.""^ And the Frenchman, like the American, mounts to Greek sources for his doctrine. Livingston has harsh words for the old colleges. "Freedom of thought rarely penetrates those contracted mansions of systematical learning." They are the source of "those voluminous compositions and that learned lumber of gloomy pedants which has so long infested and corrupted the world." ^ The proposed college, he claims, is to be a " public academy," and "a public academy is or ought to be a mere civil institution, and can not with any tolerable propriety be monopo- lized by Sbny religious sect." His plan for the charter and govern- ' Independent Reflector, No. 13, March 23, 1753. '^ Esprit des lois, v. 4, ch. 5. ^Independent Reflector, No. 17. 86 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. ment of the proposed college contains several provisions which, while ignored in King's College as established; were triumphant in the organization of the university. Several features of his plan resemble strongly the French schemes of the next decade, which we shall pres- ently notice. 1. He argues against a royal charter as being subject to the caprice of one man's will to change or repeal. 2. "Societies have an indisputable right to direct the education of their youthful members." He bases this proposition upon the social nature of man and the obligations of civil government. " Sensible of this," says he, "was the Spartan lawgiver, who claimed the education of the Lacedaemonian youth as the inalienable right of the Common- wealth." 3. He claims that, therefore, the "legislatures are the lawful guard- ians" of the college, and that it should be incorporated by "act of assembly" and "be under the inspection of the civil authority." He urges that private contributions will be inadequate to erect a univer- sity which would "arrive at any considerable degree of grandeur or utility. The expense attending the first erection and continual sup- port of so great a work requires the united aid of the public." If thus supported by the public, it ought to be created and superintended by the legislature. 4. The advantages from such an institution are general and for the public good, and should be the public care. He asks: "Are the rise of arts, the improvement of husbandry, the increase of trade, the advancement of knowledge in law, physic, morality, policy, and the rules of justice, and civil government subjects beneath the attention of our legislature ? " 5. He claims that the public control would prevent both domination by anj^ sect or party and corruption in the officials, and that larger private donations may be expected than if the college were under royal control. 6. He would have no establishment of any particular religious pro- fession in the college. No Protestant was to be disqualified on account of his religious persuasion from sustaining any office in the college. There was to be no chair of divinity. 7. "All the trustees are to be nominated, appointed, and incorporated by the act, and whenever an avoidance among them shall happen the same [shall] be reported by the corporation to the next sessions of assembly and such vacancy supplied by legislative act." The gov- ernor, the council, and the general assembly are all to concur in these elections. 8. The election and deposition of the president by the trustees are to require legislative confirmation to be valid. "By this means the president, who will have the supreme superintendency of the educa- tion of our youth, will be kept in a continual and ultimate dependence upon the public." AN EKA OF EDUCATIONAL EEVOLUTION. 87 9. The by-laws made by the president and trustees are also to require legislative approval to be valid. 10. He would have the "act of incorporation contain as many rules and directions for the government of the college as can be foreseen to be necessary." The object of this is to preserve the "guardianship of the legislature " and prevent " arbitrary domination in the college." He would give inferior officers and students an action at law for every injurj^ against their rights. Here is seen the spirit of the American Revolution — the resistance to arbitrary power, the passion for self-government. 11. He proposes the establishing by act of legislature of "two gov- ernment schools in every county," their "guardians" to be annually elected by the people of the countj^ and the expense of their main- tenance to be a county charge. This is one of the most remarkable features of his scheme. He conceives it to be necessary in order to secure the success of the college. They would be accessible to the young men in everj^ part of the colony and would become feeding schools for the college. But it is their public character which most draws our attention. He was a century in advance of the legislature of his State in his ideas, nor have we, indeed, yet advanced so far as his plan. Unless his plan for the college is carried out, he fears it may ' ' prove a perpetual spring of public misery; a cage, as the Scripture speaks, of every unclean bird; the nursery of bigotry and superstition; an engine of persecution, slavery, and oppression; a fountain whose putrid and infectious streams will overflow the land and poison all our enjoyments." After developing his ]3lan he issued, in No. 22 of the Independent Reflector, an address to the "inhabitants of the province" full of grandiose invocation to the "genius of liberty," the "awful name of reason," and the "spirit of patriotism." "When shall we have one interest," he exclaims, "and that interest the common good?" He is fearful lest "this precious and never-to-be-surrendered equality will be destroyed." He pleads: "Let us, therefore, strive to have the col- lege founded on an ample, a generous, an universal plan. Let not the seat of literature, the abode of the muses, and the nurse of science be transformed into a cloister of bigots, an habitation of superstition, a nursery of ghostly tyranny, a school of rabbinical jargon." "The legislature alone should have the direction of so important an estab- lishment," he continues. "In their hands it is safer — incomparably safer — than in those of a party who will instantly discern a thirst for dominion and lord it over the rest." His proposals and his address were in vain. The college received the royal charter. But the his- tory which we have traced of the attempt to found the university thirty years later was a fulfillment of his prophecy. It was the "thirst for dominion " of this same corporation which nearly succeeded in wreck- ing the movement for a university upon a broad civil foundation. I 88 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOBK. The fervid language of Livingston grates upon our ears to-day, but the chief practical features of his plan won a triumph in the final establishment of the university. The controversy over the founding of King's College foreshadowed the later controversy over the found- ing of the university. It is impossible not to conjecture that the founders of the university studied the plans of Governor Livingston. Era of educational revolution in America, 1776-1789. — But the current of revolution in education which produced the universitj^ in New York had wider sources than the broadsides of the versatile gov- ernor of New Jersey. It needs but a glance at the history of the United States from the Declaration of Independence till the organi- zation of the Federal Government to show as complete a revolution in educational ideas and plans as in political institutions. Everywhere throughout the new States, even during the turmoil and struggle of the war and the equally momentous turmoil and struggle of the reconstruction period, we see the new consciousness of political freedom and self-government expressing itself in efforts toward a - system of education free from the domination of old traditions, polit- ical and ecclesiastical. Nowhere is this tendency more apparent than in the provisions of some of the new State constitutions. Georgia. — The constitution of Georgia adopted in 1777 provides that "schools shall be erected in each county and supported at the general expense of the State, as the legislature shall hereafter point out."^ This was followed up by the legislature, which passed in 1783 an act authorizing the governor to grant 1,000 acres of vacant land for the establishment of free county schools.^ The message of the governor of Georgia to the legislature in July, 1783, urging the establishment of seminaries of learning suggests a doubt as to the originality of Governor Clinton in his similar message of January, 1784. The University of Georgia, founded in 1785, with its general supervision over the literary interests of the State and including within its organization all the public schools of the State,^ may well have been suggested by the plan of the New York Univer- sity. The same liberal spirit in religious matters is evident here. North Carolina. — The constitution of North Carolina adopted in 1776 renders all clergymen incapable of sitting in any branch of the State legislature and forbids any established church. It provides: "That a school or schools shall be established by the legislature for the convenient instruction of youth, with such salaries to the masters, paid by the public, as may enable them to instruct at low prices; and all useful learning shall be (h\\y encouraged or promoted in one or more universities."* In 1789 the University of North Carolina was ' Poore's charters, 1 : 383. "^ Jones, C. E. Education in Georgia (see Bureau of Education, circular of infor- mation No. 4, 1888). 3 Jones. C. E. Education in Georgia, pp. 40-43. ■* Poore's charters, 2 : 1413-1414. AN EEA OF EDUOATIOKAL EEVOLUTIOIS". 89 established. Its trustees are appointees of the government. In its incorporation the duty of the State to provide for the education of the young is recognized. North Carolina had made many attempts to establish semipublic schools before the Revolution.^ Pennsylvania. — The Pennsjdvania constitution of 1776,^ adopted a few months earlier than that of North Carolina, contains, verbatim, the same provision in regard to the establishment of schools and uni- versities, except that a more direct political idea is seen in the fact that these schools are to be "in each county." Pennsylvania from the beginning has recognized to some extent the State idea in educa- tion. This idea is contained in Penu's charter. Penn himself dis- played some activity in this direction, and his grammar school founded in 1689 was a quasi public institution. Benjamin Franklin in 1749 propounded a scheme for an academy with a system of elementary schools. This led to the establishment, a few years later, of an academy, which soon became a college, and grew eventually into the University of Pennsylvania. This institution was founded in 1779, in the very midst of the war.^ After the war the State activity in education greatly increased. Massachusetts. — Massachusetts was a Puritan protest against the domination of the church. The Plymouth colony brought ideas of public schools from Holland. The board of overseers of Harvard College was practically a public board of control. In fact it had some resemblance to the first board of regents in New York, except that it had control only over the single foundation, whereas the New York idea contemplated an organized system of educational institutions throughout the entire State. The educational revolution in Massa- chusetts may be said to have begun with the very founding of the colonies. Virginia. — The most notable of all these plans for an educational revolution was that of Thomas Jefferson. In 1776, as he tells in his autobiography, he conceived the idea that the whole code of Virginia must be reviewed and adapted " to our republican form of govern- ment. " He proposed a bill to revise the laws and was appointed on a committee, with four others, charged with this duty. In 1779 they presented their plan to the general assembly. Four bills especiallj^ were regarded by Jeiferson "as forming a system by which every fiber would be eradicated of ancient or future aristocracy; and a foundation laid for a government truly republican." These four bills were: For the repeal of the laws of entail; for the abolition of primo- geniture; for establishing religious freedom, and for a general sys- ' Smith. C. L. History of education in North Carolina (see Bureau of Educa- tion, circular of information No. 2, 1888). ^Poore's charters, 2, 1547. ^Blackmar, F. W. History of Federal and State aid to higher education {see Bureau of Education, circular of information No. 1, 1890). 90 HISTOEY OF HIGHEK EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. tern of education. This last measure was the work of Jefferson him- self. His "systematical plan of general education" is described by him as being proposed in three bills: "(1) Elementary schools for all children generally, rich and poor; (2) Colleges for a middle degree of instruction, calculated for the common purposes of life, and such as would be desirable for all who were in easy circumstances, and (3) an ultimate grade for teaching the sciences generally, and in their highest degree." There was to be a subdivision of the State into "hundreds or wards," in each of which should be an elementary school. He provided also for another subdivision into 24 districts, with a college in each. William and Mary College was to be enlarged in its scope and made into a university. The schools were to be supported by tax. Popular opposition to William and Mary College, which was a Church of England institution, defeated Jefferson's first plan, and thus delayed the educational progress of the State several genera- tions. But the plan stands as one of the greatest ideas of this philo- sophical statesman. It bears comparison with the plans of Turgot and his predecessors, with those of Mirabeau, Talleyrand, Condorcet, and Napoleon, and with the great system of New York which Jeffer- son himself pointed to in 1820 as putting to shame his tardy State. ^ Jefferson likewise dreamed, as did Washington, of a national univer- sity, which should stand for the united people and represent the national life. Political revolution and educational revolution. — It is significant that the same man who strove to disestablish the English Church in Virginia proposed also this great plan for public education. There is a real connection between these facts. Enough has been said to show how general among the colonies was the new idea of state education accompanying the political revolution. In the colo- nies, as in Europe, education had been regarded as the peculiar care of the church. It was the concern of the state only as the church was allied to the state. Nothing shows more clearly than the early educational enterprises in Virginia how the whole spring and scope of education was religious, ecclesiastical. It was such motives as the "training of the youth in piety and virtue," the providing of a "seminary of ministers of the gospel," the "educating of infidel children in the true knowledge of God," which led the colonists ' An exhaustive account of Jefferson's activity in the development of State edu- cation is given by Dr. H. B. Adams in two of the monographs published by the Bureau of Education: "The College of William and Mary," circular No. 1, 1887; and '• Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia," circular No. 1, 1888. A collection of documents relating to public education in Virginia was published at Richmond in 1817. This book contains Jefferson's first bill of 1779, which pro- vided for elementary schools and colleges or grammar schools. It also has a letter from Jefferson to Peter Carr, written in 1814, detailing a similar plan. The volume has various other important documents relating to this subject. AN ERA OF EDUCATIONAL REVOLUTION. 91 generally to establish schools. Before the middle of the eighteenth century few and feeble were the steps taken in America toward that fair old Platonic ideal of an education by the state and for the state. It was the revival in the latter half of the last century of the Greek state-idea, as against the Romish church-idea, which has led to the educational systems of our day. Against the idea of authority is opposed the idea of liberty. But the Americans did not discover or invent liberty. While in the essay of John Locke on education he does not advocate state activity, yet there is latent in the sensational psychology which he represents the spirit of freedom of thought, and hence the spirit of war against ecclesiastical control. A church may perhaps dictate a man's intuitions, but no church can dictate the impressions which things make upon sense. Revolt against ecclesi- asticism would naturally lead in educational matters to a substitu- tion of the state for the church. There is another reason why, upon acquiring independence, the American States founded public schools. Colonial governments founded on charters were in the nature of corporations. Some of these charters provided for the establishment of schools and churches. With the growth of colonial independence, with the transition from the consciousness of a corporate existence and activity to the con- sciousness of a political sovereignty, the idea of state education would be a natural one. The care of education, which had been a duty imposed upon the corporation by the royal charter, became with •the growth of self-government a right, no less than a duty, in the state. This explains the appearance in some of the colonies of insti- tutions partly supported and partly controlled by the colony. With complete independence would come the thought of complete state education. And here again it is necessary to pay tribute to John Locke. The English philosophy of political freedom, so well repre- sented in him, had taken deep root in all the colonies. His second essay on government, in which he defended the revolution of 1688, contains much of the very language of the Declaration of Independ- ence and of other political writings in the colonies, assertive of their civil and religious rights. Locke, indeed, went further than they. His attempted defense of private property, as resting on the rights of labor, is the very basis of the socialistic philosophy of this century. Educational revolution in Europe. — But the direct influence upon the colonists of the philosophy of Locke can not account for the whole revolt, for its depth and its intensity, and especially for the idealistic element; the dream of empire, the symmetry of plan, the centralizing tendencj^ The educational development in New York, and generally throughout the States, has been toward centralization, not federation, as a principle of union. If we turn our eyes to con- tinental Europe during this period, we shall see that the educational revolution was not merely American, but international. Frederick 92 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. the Great was planning a systematic and centralized organization of education for the Prussian state, which he had been laboriously building up during his long reign from 1740 to 1786. Even Cath- erine of Russia was devising a new university for her realm. In Austria, Maria Theresa had well-nigh wrested the schools from the control of the church and had expelled the Jesuits. She began the reforms which her son, Joseph II, wrought out during that very decade which saw the establishment of the University of the State of New York. This idealistic and revolutionary ruler established between 1780 and 1790 an ideal organization of education — a grada- tion of state institutions, rising from elementary schools in the small- est districts, through gymnasia and lyceums, to the university. There were, besides, normal and industrial schools, and a thorough system of state inspection.^ France, the nursery of the educational revolutio7i. — It is not, how- ever, to Prussia or to Austria that we must look for the inspiration of the new educational ideas, but to France, to idealistic France, fco the France of the encyclopedia and the revolution. The three essen- tial ideas in nineteenth oentury education are: Freedom of thought, state control, and a centralized form of organization. It is Athens and Sparta and Rome brought back. It is to the French philosophers of the last century that we owe this Greek revival, and it is to French administration that we owe the revival of the imperial organization of old Rome. It was the methods of French absolutism which taught the early Prussian rulers the philosophy of centralization, and per- haps the highest justification of Frederick's title of " Great" was his capacity to appropriate and assimilate French ideas and French cul- ture. Stein was a disciple of Turgot. Joseph of Austria was an ardent follower of the French encyclopedists. His adviser in educa- tional matters, Gottfried von Swieten, by whose aid his reforms were planned, was steeped in the new French philosophy. Catherine of Russia applied to Diderot, the creator of the encyclopedia, for a plan for her j)roposed university. This plan, written in 1774, contains in outline the features of the reformed education.^ The mediaeval University of Paris was the model and parent of the chief universities in Germany and Great Britain. From the begin- ning this university was undemocratic, with a tendency to centrali- zation. But this spirit of centralization grew more rapidly in Paris than in Germany, England, or Scotland.^ The edict of Blois in 1579, proposed an organization into one system of all the universities of France — an idea which became realized in Napoleon's University of France in 1808. In England, on the contrary, the colleges grew to 'Schmid. Encyclopsedie des Erziehungswesens, art. Maria Theresa, Joseph II, Oesterreich. -Diderot. Oeuvres completes (Tourneaux, 1876-77), vol. 2 and 3. 3 Encyclopaedia Britannica, art. University (MuUinger). Ji AN ERA OF EDUCATIONAL REVOLUTION. 93 govern the university.^ Before the colonization of America, the gov- ernment of the English university was largely decentralized. But France strove to apply to education, as to all parts of the social organization, the imperial idea of Rome. It is, however, in the secularization of learning and the revival of state education that France has achieved the most signal triumph. In 17(32 the Jesuits, who had previously controlled education, were expelled. B'rom this time until Napoleon established his new uni- versity in 1808 it was a period of ferment and revolution in educa- tional matters. The educational revolution in France preceded the political revolution. La Chalotais was one of the chief promoters of the expulsion of the Jesuits. The following year he addressed to the parliament a memo- rial, entitled, "Essay on national education or a plan of study for youth." It was translated into Dutch, Russian, and German, and gained a wide popularity. The system he urged was one of thorough, all round training for practical ends. The state ought to give to each person that education which was best suited to him. Men would be trained to become able servants of the state. "The children of the state ought to be taught by the state." A civil education should be substituted for the ecclesiastical education they had abolished. He goes back to Greece and Rome for his ideas. ^ Rolland d'Erceville was president of the parliament which expelled the Jesuits. He was a persistent enemy of the order and earnest in his efforts to build up a new national system. His report to the par- liament of Paris in 1768 contains a memorable plan for a national system of education. His great idea was to have the teaching bodies, the colleges, subject to the visitation and control, not of the bishops and clergy, as heretofore, but of a "bureau of correspondence," which was to be a branch of the secular government. The idea was precisely that which found practical form in the organization of the University of the State of New York. Both these men were followers of Rousseau, who exalted nature as the great teacher. "Natural liberty," "natural rights," were the watchwords of the party. Did- erot and the encyclopedists generally were of the same school of thought. It was a great revolt of the human mind against the prin- ciple of arbitrary authority — a revolt that extended to ever^^ depart- ment of man's activity. The natural sciences, positive knowledge, were exalted as against scholastic dogmatism. It was the theory of freedom and equality in the state, of religious tolerance, of sense as the source of knowledge. Again we turn to Locke as the immediate 'Hamilton, Sir William. Essays. University and colleges. Printed in part in Barnard's American Journal of Education, vol. 24, p. 409. -The writer regrets that he has not been able to see this work, nor the report of Rolland to be next mentioned. He has relied on Buisson's Dictionaire de peda- gogie, and other acconnts of these two writers. 94 HISTORY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. source of this movement. It was Locke who inspired Rousseau. But France was more priest-ridden than England and carried the doctrines to a feverish culmination. Conspicuous amid the crowd of writers who tried to bring order out of the chaos into which education in France had been thrown, stands Turgot, the great minister of state, who, while true to the new ideas, yet tried to revolutionize without destruction. It is interesting to contrast the educational theories of Adam Smith and Turgot, personal friends, and alike in much of their economic theory. Smith in 1776 published his Wealth of Nations, in which he advocates private enterprise as the one principle of education, except that he would have governmental activity to some extent in the pri- mary schools. In 1775 Turgot addressed to the King a Memorial on Provincial and Local Government. ^ In this work Turgot sought to show a way of rescue from the disasters that were threatening the nation. He finds the cause of the evil in the lack of order and of union in the social organization. The feeling of a common interest must be made evident. "Individuals must be attached to their fam- ilies, families to their villages or cities, the cities or villages to their arrondissements, the arrondissements to the provinces, and the prov- inces to the state." The means by which he proposes to bring about this social harmony is a national system of education. There should be a "Council of national instruction," which should have control over all "the academies, the universities, the colleges, and the pri- mary schools." It is a plan as socialistic in its character as that of Adam Smith is individualistic. These two men represent well the national differences in educational theory at that time. We can not here pursue this subject further. When the Revolution came, the question of education was one of the most prominent in the legislative bodies. Mirabeau, Talleyrand, and Condorcet and others presented reports and plans upon the subject of a national education. Ever since 1762 France had been flooded with writings upon the organiza- tion of education. The attempt by the civil authority to manage the schools failed for want of competent instructors, and the clergy par- tially regained control. In the drastic demolition of the Revolution the old university and existing schools were swept away. There was chaos until the admin- istrative genius of Napoleon created the University of France, the resurrection of the old imperial methods, but more symmetrical and scientific. The plans, multitudinous as they were from 1762 to 1808, were substantially of one type, a centralized organization, a graded system of instruction, primary schools in every commune for all chil- dren, lyceums in the larger divisions, colleges in the departments, a ^Turgot. Memoire an Roi, sur les municipalities, sur la hierarchie qu'on poTirrait etablir entre elles, et sur les services que le gouvernement en pourrait tirer. (^See his Oeuvres. Paris, 1884, Vol. '^j p. 502. ) A-N ERA OF EDUCATIONAL REVOLUTIOISr. 95 great university at Paris, a hierarchy of secular teachers to replace the hierarchy of the teaching orders. The state was to be the "all in all" of the sj'^stem. Education was to be universal, compulsory, and gratuitous. This educational despotism was taught with fervor by the revolutionists. Nothing is more striking in this great mass of writings than the revival of Greek ideas of education. The education is to be com- plete — physical, mental, and in the political virtues. It is an educa- tion for the state. In the reaction against clericalism the state is enthroned. Society takes the place of the church ; nature, the place of God. It is Greek through and through. Rousseau and others consciously follow^ Plato. In one plan it is even j^roposed to revive the Spartan training. We have seen how Franklin and William Livingston and Jefferson had planned in the same way. It was a period of general emancipation. No doubt it was partly spontaneous in Germany, in Austria, and in America, as well as in France. But new ideas fly far and fast. They do not respect national boundaries. The educational revolution of the last century was but a part of the same awakening to new life which found expression in political revo- lution and in the growth of science. It was the dawning of the new age, the second and the greater renaissance, the return of the nine- teenth century to classic Greece. And while the spirit was at work elsewhere, it was in the France of the latter half of the eighteenth century that we find the real nursery of the new educational ideas and systems. Thence they were transplanted into Prussia and Aus- tria, and, in this generation, into England. If Italy was the home of the earlier revival of learning, this later stream of humanism flowed from France. In Italy, where the renaissance began, the organization of univer- sities was democratic and the learning was secular. The University of Paris, centralized in its government and theological in its teach- ing, became conservative and obstructive to progress; and in the eighteenth century it was a democratic and secular impulse which wrought the later renaissance in France. But this new movement was a revolt, not against organization, but against the controlling forces. The French republican dreamers constructed systems of cen- tralized education. The nineteenth century thus learns from France a new doctrine in government — -an imperial organization, energized by popular freedom; a centralized administration, exercised by the people themselves; an imperial democracj^ Universitj^ and state alike are learning this doctrine. An organization truly democratic is anarchy. An imperial organization, with the imperium in the hands of the people, makes democracj'^ a reality.^ It is popular to-day to attribute the new education to Prussia, since ' Some of the Western States are carrying this doctrine farther tha,n New York, and the regents of the university are elected directly by the people. 96 HISTOKY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IIST ]SrEW YORK. but yesterday Prussia has humiliated France. Biit Prussia did not establish her State system till 1794, after the French plans had been spread throughout Europe and America, and after State systems of education had been actually established in America. There is scarcely a feature in the educational reforms of this century which was not planned and proposed in revolutionary France. It must be frankly admitted that Germany has built and consolidated her sys- tems upon such firm foundations that they are now models for the world. But ii is France whose ideas are here wrought into German life. This second Greece has led her captives captive, like the first. The German Empire, like a second Rome, has despoiled her intellec- tual benefactor. Upon cultured France has been laid the vicarious punishment for the barbaric dullness of Teutonic Europe. It is the French intellect which in art, in the scientific spirit, in political phi- losophy, in progressive thought, has saved European civilization to the world. Debt of New York to France. — The two great Americans most con- spicuously in sympathy with the French philosophy of their day, Franklin and Jefferson, both had planned sjvstems of education quite after the French pattern. The constitution of New York, promul- gated in 1777, solemn and formal document that it is, in the language with which it forbids to priests and clergy civil and military office and declares for freedom of thought in religious matters, shows the mixture of French Jacobinism in the thought of the new state. The first regents turned instinctively to France for aid. French sympathy and French alliance brought to America more than soldiers and money. Against absolutist Jesuitical France spreading from Canada the colonies fought side by side with England in the seven years war. But the defeat of absolutist Jesuitical France by external foes was followed by the defeat of the absolutist Jesuitical element within France by the rising spirit of democracy. And this spirit the New World shared with France. It was the gift of the English revolution of 1688 to them both. And from the close of the seven years war there was a growing interchange of thought and fraternal feeling between France and America. From the similarity between the French 5)lans for national education and the plans and systems of the States after our rebellion against England, there can be no doubt that the French schemes had been studied in America. The war had brought into close contact the leading men of every State. There was quick exchange of ideas upon questions of public policy. Franklin and Cad- wallader Golden, the colonial governor of New York, corresponded upon educational matters. John Jay returned from Paris to New York in the summer of 1784. He and Franklin had been close com- panions at Passy. Jay wrote from Paris that he thought his country- men had too high an estimate of institutions in France, and advised the education of American youth in America. After his return he ATT ERA OF EDUCATIONAL EEVOLUTIOIST. 97 took a conspicuous part in the reorganization of the university, and. eventually went over to the more democratic party in that struggle. The new universitj^ was undeniably broader, more dominated by the new spirit, more truly a state institution than had been the university of 1784. In the constitutional convention of 1787 plans for a national university were mooted. These facts are but instances of those phe- nomena, occurring at the same time both in France and in America, which bj' their evident similarity create the strongest presumption of a reciiDrocal influence of the two countries upon each other in the progress of educational reform. And the weight of evidence goes to show that before the formation of our national government in 1789, the source of the new ideas was French, rather than American ; while, after the outbreak of the French revolution in 1789, the current runs from America to France. That New York is greatly indebted to France for the idealistic element in her university, there is one point of evidence which comes near to definite proof. The Chevalier Quesnay de Beaurepaire, a grandson of the great French economist Quesnay, after a year of service in the American army, left the army in 1778 on account of ill-health and took up the occupation of teaching. He became acquainted with the chief men in America. He was a true Frenchman, filled with the large revolutionary ideals of that age, and conceived a plan for a great academy at Richmond, which should overstep the national boundaries and make science and learning international. Dr. Adams, in his monograph on Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia, has described this project so vividly and so fully that it is not necessary here to enlarge upon it. It was called ' ' The Academy of Science and Letters of the United States of America," and was to be at Richmond. The "academy" consisted of the president, six councilors, a treasurer, secretary, and assistant secretary, a vice- president agent for European shareholders, the professors, teachers, and chief artists, 25 resident associates and 75 foreign associates. The academy at Richmond was to found similar academies at Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, the members of these academies to be members likewise of the academy at Richmond. The president, offi- cers, and councilors formed the "council of administration," which had charge of the actual working of the schools. A ' ' committee of correspondence " was formed at Paris, which was charged with the international work of the academy, such as correspondence with for- eign societies. The corner stone of the academy building was laid at Richmond June 24, 1786. Previously to this the founder had visited nearly every part of the ' country, endeavoring to interest the most prominent men of the different States in his scheme. A letter written by Mrs. Bache, the daughter of Franklin, to her father, then in Paris, showed the spirit in which the project was regarded. The letter is dated at Philadelphia, February 27, 1783. Mrs. Bache says: "With 3176 7 98 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. tMs letter you will receive a project^ for a French academy which is going to be erected here. The plan is a very extensive one and will be a great honor both to its projector and to America. If it can be carried out, it will not interfere in the least with the work of the col- leges, but will be designed to complete the education of young men after they have left the college." She urges Dr. Franklin to secure pecuniary aid, if possible, for "money alone is wanting." Between this date and the founding of the academy in 1786, Ques- nay visited New York. Whether his visit occurred before or after the university acts of 1784 can not be determined. The probability is that it was after that date, so short was the time between the evacuation of New York by the British and this legislation. He gives in the volume just quoted from, the history of which is told by Dr. Adams, the list of the men at New York whose approval and support he gained. They are Governor Clinton, Mayor Duane, Gen- eral Baron de Steuben ("the first in this State to adopt my project"), General Cortland (a son of the lieutenant-governor, regent ex officio), Colonel Bland, Dr. Cochran, the families Livingston, Hoifman, Hallet, and some others. The men whom this Frenchman impressed with his great scheme — his "Universal academy," as he thinks it might be called — are the very men who were then considering and debating the problem of a comprehensive system of education for the State. It is no longer a wonder that these reformers of education in New York formed large ideals. The quickening influences of the French imagination, which always overleaps its power of accomplishment, had only a benefi- cent and fruitful action upon the conservative and practical leaders in New York. It is significant that among the regents of the university, as reorganized in 1787 upon its broader and truly State basis, the name of Baron de Steuben appears. Unfortunately it seems impossible to trace what influence this man, the first in New York to approve the plan of Quesnay, had upon the legislation of 1787. Quesnay's project was not a cracked-brain scheme. It was indorsed by the Royal Acad- emy of Sciences at Paris. The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculp- ture used these words of approval : ' ' We admire the active constancy of M. le Chevalier Quesnay for this establishment. And no less do we admire the zeal of the United States of America in forming the project. This zeal is a eulogy upon the intellect, the character, and the great views of that republic, which, since its birth, has shown itself so interesting in all respects."^ Among the councilors of the committee of correspondence is found the name of Fourcroy, who became the adviser of Napoleon in the establishment of his univer- sity. Condorcet, whose plan for a national system of education con- ' Quesnay de Beaurepau-e, chevalier. Memoire, statuts et prospectus, concer- nant L'Academie des sciences et beaux-arts des Etats-Unis de TAmerique, etablie a Richemond. Paris, 1788. 2 Memoire, p. 14. AN ERA OF EDUCATIOlSrAL EEVOLUTIOlSr. 99 tains nearly every measure of reform which the world has since adopted, was one of the foreign associates, as were likewise Lafayette, Jefferson (then minister at Paris), and Luzerne, the French minister at New York to whom the regents had applied for aid. Quesnaj^ does not seem to have been able to secure Hamilton's approval. But many American names of the highest eminence honor his plan. And this close relation between the thinkers of France and America bore fruit in the influence which American institutions have exercised upon France. The similarity which Napoleon's university of 1808 bore to the New York University of 1787 may not be a mere coincidence when it is seen that Condorcet and Fourcroy were thus early aware of what was being done in America for education. And Talleyrand's intimacy with Hamilton on his visit to America may not have been without effect upon the reconstruction of French education . If France may claim to have given to New York the ideal of a symmetrical State system of secular learning. New York may claim to have given to France the practical form of such a system, in its all-inclusive uni- versity corporation. The American State university . — The survey of the historical origin of the New York University is now complete. It was the work of no one man, of no one tendency. The whole of the colonial history of New York is a history of the growth of ideas and institutions which led to the establishment of the university. The Dutch brought the idea of free public schools for elementary teaching, but it was the idea of joint clerical and civil control. The higher learning was fos- tered after the English gained control. The French Huguenot refugees brought a spirit which readily united with the democratic elements among the Dutch and English. By the beginning of the eighteenth cen- tury the secular spirit was already opposing the spirit of the propagandist society, and the seeds of revolution were scattered throughout the colony by the English revolution and the writings of John Locke. The Whig and Tory struggle was known in New York as in England. In 1702, and again in 1732, attempts were made toward a civil educational institution, and in 1753 Livingston waged a fierce war against ecclesi- astical and royalist domination in the proposed college. Already the political and educational revolutions were begun. At the same time the psychology and political philosophy of Locke were awakening the voices of the same twofold revolution in France, and the French philosophers flooded the world with the doctrine of the new civil edu- cation. While France was debating. New York was acting. The French ideas of secular education, of State control, of centralized administration. New York seized firmly. But, trained in English law, the New York leaders did not care so much for symmetrj^ and ideal completeness as for an organization which would conserve what was good in the past and would expand to meet the needs of the future. The French plans lost sight of the individual. Their system would 100 HISTOEY OF HIUHEK EDUCATION IN NEW YOKK. have been socialistic. But individualism was dominant in New York. It was not until 1867 that the people of New York gave in finally to the idea of compulsory, universal, gratuitous instruction in the primary schools. This had been decreed by France in 1791. The Universitj^ of the State of New York was a skillful compromise between the new and the old ideas. It conserved to the full advan- tages of individual initiative, while yet extending the benefits of sys- tem, of harmony, of coworking in the various members of the educa- tional bod}^ and of organic connection with State life. It was neither English nor French. It was the American university, and as such its idea has largely given the impetus to the development of State educa- tional systems in the West. Wherever the "State university" is governed by a body of regents who have no teaching functions and who are appointed by the political authority and are accountable to the people in their political capacity there is found the influence of this unique invention, "the University of the State of New York." CHAPTER 4. A CENTURY OF UNIVERSITY WORK. It is not the purpose of this sketch to trace the history of the university since its founding. But the present work would be incom- plete without some further reference than was contained in the first chapter to the actual achievements and activitj^ of this institution. There has been scarcely any educational reform in the State of which the university has not been the promoter. It was the agitation of the university for common schools which started the movement that resulted in establishing the State system of primary instruction. In the training of teachers the regents have been specially active. Teachers' classes in academies were instituted by them in 1833, one of the earliest attempts toward normal schools in this country. In the incorporation of colleges and academies the university has endeavored by requiring a high standard of attainment and financial equipment to keep up the level of the higher education. They have finally been given, by the law of 1892, exclusive power of granting charters to educational institutions in order to prevent weak institutions from getting legislative charters. In the distribution of public funds to the academies they were led in 1864 to devise a method of general examination in the academies upon the basis of which the funds would be apportioned. Since that time the standard of work in the academies has become higher and more nearly uniform. The system, although defective in some par- ticulars, has been a very efiicient one, and is carried further at present than ever before. The direct activity of the university upon the colleges has been A CENTUEY OP UNIVEESITY WOEK. 101 limited. In the law of 1787 Columbia won for herself and for all future colleges almost complete independence, and as yet there has been no marked tendency to give more vigorous control to the univer- sity. The university has conducted vainous scientific enterprises for the State, chief among which was the determination of the boundaries between New York and Pennsylvania, and between New York and New Jersey; the organization and care of the State museum of natural history, and the conduct and publication of observations in meteor- ology. Its care of the State library and publication of historical works have already been noticed. In nothing has the activity of the university been more beneficial than in the publication of its yearly reports. Since 1787 an annual report of the work of the colleges and academies has been regularly made to the legislature. "In 1835 the condition of colleges and acade- mies began to be published in greater detail, and from this time we may begin to date the series of educational statistics which illustrate so fully the history of the colleges and academies of New York, and in which this State stands alone." ^ The one hundred and second report (1887-88), for example, is a volume of nearly 1,000 pages, con- taining carefully prepared abstracts and tabular abridgments of the reports of all the colleges and academies in the State. These results give information upon courses of instruction, text-books, faculty, rinancial resources, apparatus, and libraries — in a word, upon all matters connected with the different institutions. Besides these reports the regents' report contains the laws and ordinances relating to the university and a full account of the proceedings of the convo- cation. The convocation is an institution of unique type. It was formed in 1863. It is composed of the regents, together with "all instructors in colleges, normal schools, academies, and higher departments of public schools that are subject to the visitation of the regents, and the trustees of all such institutions," ^ and representatives of the New York State Teachers' Association. Its objects are, by an annual ses- sion at the State capitol, to secure better mutual acquaintance, an interchange of opinion ujjon educational questions, greater harmony through the adoption of common rules, and thus to advance the standard of education throughout the State, and "to exert a direct influence upon the people and the legislature of the State, personally and through the press, so as to secure such an appreciation of a thorough system of education, together with such pecuniary aid and legislative enactments as will place the institutions here represented in a position worthy of the population and resources of the State. "^ It is a sort of sanctified lobby, justified by the sacredness of its cause. 1 Hist, record, p. 71. ^ Conv. proc. 1869, p. 6. ^ Conv. proc. 1869, p. 9. 102 HISTOEY OF HIGHEK EDUCATION IN NEW TOEK. Tlie discussions carried on at these sessions are of the utmost impor- tance in the educational work of the State. It is the only place where the various individual interests of the separate institutions can be represented. And while it has no authoritative voice, yet its efficient force in determining the policy of the regents and in affecting legis- lative opinion has been very great. Its proceedings are published, and among them are papers upon educational topics by the very highest authorities in New York and other States. It is growing in efficiency and in importance. The topics discussed are not merely the educational problems of New York State, but of the nation and of the world. The personnel of those who take part in the convoca- tion, likewise, makes it rather a national than a State institution. It is one of the important annual educational conventions held in the United States, and merits well the name of the "Congress of higher education," conferred by Chancellor Curtis. Univeesity Extension. The university has never undertaken the work of teaching. And wisely so. The educational needs of the State during this century have been mainly just in those lines where there has been most activ- ity, in the common schools and the academies. This was work which there was no need for the university to undertake directly. It is one of the greatest merits of the organization that it has been only the directive power of forces that spring from individual initiative. With the teaching done by the colleges the university has had no reason to vie. The many colleges in the State have, in the main, given opportunity to all who wished a higher education than the academies could give. But the advancing educational standards of this generation have created a new need. Both in England and in America it is coming to be the recognized duty of the colleges to extend their facilities as far as possible to those persons who can not come to the colleges. The university has been quick to acknowledge this duty. By the law of 1899, "the field of the university has also been extended to include the chartering not only of high schools, academies, and colleges, but also of libraries, museums, summer schools, correspondence schools, permanent lecture .courses, and all other institutions for promoting higher education,"^ and to "main- tain lectures connected with higher education in this State. "^ In the address just quoted from, Mr. Dewey has shown how admirably adapted is the system of organization of the university for this work as it is being done in England. He has already organized a successful library school at the State library. He proposes the formation of a great educational library and museum at the regents' office, with ^ Dewey, Melvil. Extension of the University of the State of New York (see Conv. proc, 1889, p. 73). "University act, 1889 A CENTUEY OF UNIVEBSITY WORK. 103 sp'^cialists upon its staff, who shall be ready to give advice and direc- tion to the schools and libraries of the State. He proposes a real extension of the work done in all its departments. It is a part of his plan that the State library and State museum, which are parts of the university, should form the central institution of multidinous local libraries and museums to be established throughout the State in organic relation to the university. In connection with these local libraries and museums he would establish university extension lec- tureships similar to those of England. His ideal is the democracy of learning, a higher education brought within the reach of all. The scheme is full of promise for the future. Already several important steps have been taken toward its accomplishment. In July, 1889, the regents passed the following resolution: Resolved, That the regents recognize as an important feature of the work the extension of university learning and culture to those who are unable to take the regular course in a college or university. They then appointed a committee on university extension to report at the next annual meeting. At the convocation of 1890 a committee of representatives of the colleges and universities of the State was appointed to confer with the regents. Presidents Adams of Cornell, Low of Columbia, Hill of Rochester, Webster of Union, and Taylor of Vassar constituted this committee. In their report to the regents in February, 1891, they use this language: Resolved, That in the judgment of this committee the time has come when the best interests of higher education in this State demand that the regents should undertake the establishment and supervision of a State system of university exten- sion, including not only lectures, but such conferences, examinations, and certifi- cates of work done as experience may have proved to be desirable and practicable. Resolved, That in order to maintain a high standard of instruction it is essen- tial that the regents work through the representatives of the universities and col- leges of the State as a committee having charge of the details of instruction and examination. The regents thereupon took immediate action. They made their committee on university extension a standing committee, and provided for a permanent successor to the committee of colleges by the estab- lishment of a university-extension council composed of representatives of the colles'es. They also resolved to ask aid of the legislature. Their appeal was promptly and generously met by an appropriation of $10,000 for the use of the university in promoting university exten- sion in the State of Xew York.^ In June, 1891, the regents' standing committee made a valuable report, from which the following extracts are made as showing the aim and scope of the work undertaken : In the conception of your committee, university extension, as contemplated by the regents of the university, means extension to the people at large, adults as well as youths, of the best obtainable opportunities for education, 1 Laws, 1891, ch. 303. 104 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. In execution of the authority heretofore given them to begin and carry on the work of university extension, your committee design, among other things, to prepare and issue, from time to time, circulars, bulletins, syllabuses, suggested courses of reading and study, and plans for local organizations therefor; to ascer- tain the fitness of and accredit teachers and lectiirers who desire to engage in the work of university extension, and aid localities, organizations, and associations in selecting suitable instructors: to procure and keep on hand, by piirchase or by printing and reprinting, original and other matter of educational value in con- nection with the development and execution of the system of university extension, and to circula^te the same, gratuitously or otherwise; and to provide for apparatus and collection of books and specimens, to be loaned or otherwise furnished from time to time to localities, organizations, or associations in this State engaged in educational work — using therefor also any of the properly available books, speci- mens, apparatus, or other i^roperty of the university. Carefully fostered and wisely developed, university extension will well round out and complete in the State of New York an educational system whose influence may reach all of the people. For those who can avail themselves thereof our common schools, our academies and high schools, and our colleges, universities, and technical schools will cover the whole field of human learning; while the university- extension department will leave none beyond the possibility of such enlightenment as is needful for human welfare and happiness, as well as for good citizenship. To meet the demands of tlie new enterprise, the regents at the same time greatly enlarged their system of examinations and regulations for the granting of certificates and diplomas. This machinery for the extension of university teaching has already been put in operation. Successful courses of lectures have been given and organized centers established for the permanent car- rying on of this work. Progress is likely to be slow. True to its traditions the university has confined itself to stimulating and fos- tering individual local ambition. No part of the State appropriation is allowed to be used in payment of lecturers' fees or other expenses of a local course of lectures. The money of the State is for administra- tive purposes only which shall further the general scheme. Local benefits must be gained by the enterprise, both moral and financial, of the locality. It is too early to predict the eventual success or failure of this experiment. But the success of the movement in England, and of similar work done by various organizations in this country, indicates that the times are ripe for such an educational movement. The unique organization of the university would seem to have been spe- cially designed for this work. The London and the Victoria univer- sities are copying some features of the New York University to better enable them to meet new educational needs. The men who founded this imperial university "builded better than they knew." Looking at the peculiar organization of education in New York, it seems as if success were largely dependent on cordial and wise coop- eration between the university and the colleges. If they do not work together the cause is lost in the State of New York. In the university A CElTTUBy OF UNIVERSITY WORK. 105 council the colleges obtain a qualified representative in the manage- ment of this department of the regents' work. The colleges wisely insist that the standards of higher education shall not be lowered. The moral force of college opinion should maintain in university- extension work the high standard of collegiate attainment. If the colleges hold aloof the work will necessarily be of a lower type. It is a great opportunity of the colleges to spread their efiPective influence into every corner of the State, and make themselves more than ever an essential element in the life of the people. The time has come when knowledge must be democratic. It is the dutj' of the colleges, as the conservators of knowledge, to see that in this growing democracy of learning the standards are not lowered. The University's Opportunity. There are, however, other educational needs of the American people which it may become the proud destiny of the University of the State of New York to satisfy. University extension is merely a new method of teaching. It does not solve the question as to what shall be taught. In American education there are these defects : In the first place, there are not sufficient facilities for original and deep research — the pursuit of truth for its own sake. Secondly, there are no schools designed to train persons for the public civil service. Thirdly, the general education of the people in the principles of political economy and of civil government is not recognized as the duty of the State. It lies within the grasp of the regents of the University of the State of New York to immortalize themselves by taking the lead in these educational reforms. 1. School for graduate worTc. — For the prosecution of original research the university possesses signal advantages. The massive State capitol which towers above the city of Albany, and upon which New York has lavished her millions, has been declared by the late Professor Greeman, of Oxford, to be the finest specimen of American architecture. The library of the State, now housed in this building, is a rich mine of historical material, the resources of which are not adequately used — not even adequately known. As the writer was carrying on research there in the summer of 1890 he was oppressed with the sense of the failure of the people of the State to utilize these treasures of learning. The law library is probably unsurpassed in the United States, yet is practically little used. The general library with its 160,000 volumes, its vast collections of manu- scripts and documents, is scarcely visited except by the passing trav- eler. The legislative and executive collections of documents are in requisition during the sessions of the legislature, but are otherwise virtually useless. The idea impressed itself upon the writer that in the university itself, the history of which he was writing, existed the 106 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. very organization which could develop into its wider usefulness these libraries under its control. Here is an opportunity for this great university to advance the inter- ests of the highest learning, to utilize these unused materials, to offer to students the best advantages for original research, and to make the university itself a more powerful and efficient body than it has ever been. The law of 1889 gives the university express power to maintain lectures connected with higher education in the State. The State capitol is such a university building as exists nowhere else in the world. In Albany is centralized the whole administration of the State. The executive offices are all located there. The legislature and the court of appeals sit there. Except in the national capital no such collection of material for the study of history, economics, statis- tics, finance, and the science of administration exists in the United States. It would need merely the establishment of a few professor- ships, under the direct management of the university, to. develop in a few years a graduate school of economic, historic, and political science unsurpassed in the world. The graduates of the colleges in the State or from other States could here pursue a regular course of study for higher degrees. A school for the higher and philosophical study of the law has become a cry- ing need of the times. With a few additions to the library of author- ities upon Roman and Teutonic systems of law to supplement the magnificent collection of works upon American and English law already upon the shelves, the study of historic and comparative juris- prudence could be carried on by those students who wish to learn more than the i)ractical business of law. Students in economic and political subjects would have for their use not merely the statistics and collected information of the various State departments, but would likewise see the practical workings of those departments. Besides the offices of the governor, secretary of state, controller, and treasurer, there are the offices of the railroad commissioners, canal commission- ers, the bank department, the insurance department. State census, land office. State agricultural society, forestry commission, Indian affairs, bureau of labor statistics. State boards of health and charities, of arbitration, of factory inspection, and several others. The legis- lature itself would be a practical school of political science. Every facility is at hand for research in every department of political science and political economy. No other university would have so admirable an equipment. In historical science likewise the material is at hand. It was the original design of the university to confer the higher degrees. With the work done by academies and colleges the univer- sity would not interfere. But in this field of original research lies the proper direction of the activity of the university. This corporation, with its historic dignity, thus would become in truth the head and crown of the educational system in the State. It would strengthen, A CENTURY OF UNIVEKSITY WOEK. 107 not rival, the work of the colleges. The spirit of research has seized our American universities. In the past twenty yeai's they have leaped a long way forward toward the standard of the best European insti- tutions. But more schools for graduate work are needed. The older colleges, hardened and gnarled by the process of historic growth, can not quickly and easily be adapted to meet the new demands. The University of the State of New York, in the lines of its organization and the method of its government, was predestined at its birth for this higher work. Leaving undergraduate training to existing colleges, its hands would be free for encouragement of the most advanced scholarship. New York iu the old university, of which she is justly proud, has an institution which could shortly lead all the universities of America in this special type of learning. 2. An acade'my for tlie training of civil officers. — The need of a purer and more efficient civil service is everywhere recognized. That the best way to accomplish this end is by means of proper training schools is an idea likewise common to many minds. Washington, in the same sentences in which he recommended the establishment of the West Point Military Academy for the training of army officers, urged the necessity of a national university, one of the chief aims of which would be training in the science of government. Mr. Casper T. Hop- kins, in a thoughtful and suggestive pamphlet, recently published in San Francisco with the title, "Shall we educate our politicians? " even goes so far as to urge the necessity of a special education and training for our legislators. He would have special schools of "statecraft," with the degrees of bachelor, master, and doctor of statecraft. For the main thesis of his pamphlet, that a higher type of politician can be expected only as the result of special training, he presents a series of able arguments supported by telling facts. Prof. H. B. Adams, in his monograph on the College of William and Mary, has made some admirable suggestions in regard to a "civil academy at Washington." By adapting to New York conditions some of the proposals of Pro- fessor Adams, it will become clear that New York has all the machin- ery needed for what he calls "the promotion of the higher political education in practical ways." He says: "A civil academy for the training of representative American youth would be as great a boon to the American people as the military and naval academies have already proved." He speaks of New York as uniting two systems of appointment of students, "the West Point plan of taking student appointees from Congressional districts and the Cornell University plan of student appointments for merit." He recommends that such "student appointees or Government fellows" should be under the direction of an educational commission, which should have in charge the government of the academy. New York already possesses such a 108 HISTORY OF HIGHEE EDUCATIOlSr IN NEW YOEK. commission iu the regents of the nniversit}^ ' ' A few lecture rooms and a working library would suffice. The students should be instructed in physical, historic, and economic geography; in political, constitu- tional, and diplomatic history; in the modern languages; and in all branches of x^olitical science, including political economy, statistics, forestry, administration, international law, comparative methods of legislation, and comparative politics. Instruction should be given in class sections (as at West Point) and in public lectures by Govern- ment experts and university specialists, who might be engaged from time to time from different institutions for such services." It is inter- esting to note that this ' ' merit " system of appointments is an old one in IsTew York. In the law of 1732 for the establishment of "a public school in the city of ISTew York," already described, there is a provi- sion that the schoolmaster shall teach, free of tuition, "the number of 20 youths. " They are to be recommended in a certain proportion from the various counties of the colony. " For the cities and counties of New York and Albany, by the respective mayors, recorders, and aldermen thereof, and for the several counties by the justices of the peace at the general sessions to be held for those counties respectively." In the recommendations it was to be certified that "they have been well instructed in reading and writing of English. "^ By a judicious revival of this principle a body of picked young men from every part of the State could be trained at Albany under the direction of the State university to enter into the high civil service of the State ; and New York could then not only secure a better civil service in her own departments, but her trained specialists would find their way into every department of the civil service in the other States and in the national civil service as well. It would be another instance of the leadership of New York among the States. In this academy it would be necessary for the university to do work of collegiate grade. No private college could maintain the required discipline. The students must be made to feel that civil service is no less a duty to the State than army service. A military discipline would have to be enforced, and the direct authority of the State alone could do this. But the very special character of the academy and the necessarily limited number of students who could have the privilege of attendance would prevent any interference with the work of the colleges. This school would fill a place which the colleges do not fill in any sense. It is the duty of the State to attract to its service the best talent of the State and to train that talent to the service of the State. This is specially necessary at this time when so much of the best intellect of the country is allured into the employ of gigantic private corporations. The State ought not to hold out enormous pecuniary reward to tempt talent to public ofiice. But it is within the power of the State to create a sentiment which shall place the honor of the public service above ^ Pratt's Annals (see Conv. proc. 1869, p. 187). A CENTURY OF UNIVERSITY WORK. 109 mere pecuniary reward. A civil ' ' West Point " would do much toward this end. 3. Oeneral education in economics andpolitics. — The scholarly studj^ of political economy and of the principles of civil government is essential to a really successful professional or business career. When one considers that political issues have become in these later years mainly economic, the importance of a general education of the people in the scientific aspects of their industrial life becomes clear. It is necessary that our legislators and our executive and judicial officers shall understand the effects upon industry, of changes in governmental policj^, and that they shall be impressed with the im- portance of having the economic welfare of the people always before them as the goal of their activity. It is necessary that professional and business men shall understand the relations between the indus- trial life of the people and the laws and policy of the Government. They must be prepared to bring the force of their opinion to bear upon the public opinion of the country in the face of proposed legis- lation. For the safe conduct of their business likewise it is essential that they should grasp the scientific principles of their business as well as its practical rules. Again, it is superlatively necessary that ur people generally should learn something of this economic science which is becoming in our industrial age the great science. Our rulers are chosen from the body of our people by the people themselves. Unless the whole people are trained in economic and political science, how can intelli- gent elections or intelligent legislation be had? Industry is vastly more important than war to-day. If this country is to achieve the progress it is capable of, the first thing necessary is a right economic policy wisely chosen and firmly pursued. In the omnipresence of the elective system of government this can never be accomplished with- out the general education of the people in the principles of economic science and of civil government. The University of the State of New York has a magnificent oppor- tunity to further this end. The graduate school and the civil academy above spoken of would be great aids in this work. They would reach directly, however, only limited classes. To make their work elfective along these lines they must adopt the policy of propagating every- where the idea of this general political education. They might spe- cifically do this in two ways. First, they might encourage the estab- lishment in all the colleges and academies of the State of schools or departments devoted to economic and political science. They might even make this one of the conditions for the admission of new insti- tutions into the university. Secondly, they might, in their university extension work, make economic and political education the most prom- inent and important work. This is specially demanded of a State 110 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. university. Its duty is toward the State. The industries of the people are tlie life of the State. In the plan of university extension adopted by the university lies a most efficient means of promoting in every part of the State better knowledge of economic and political science and of stimulating the ambition of the people to know more of these subjects. It would likewise become a great agency in find- ing and leading out into a public career the special talent that might lie hidden in remote corners of the State for lack of opportunity to develop. For work along the three lines thus pointed out the adaptation of the University of the State of New York is apparent. Its libraries; its museum ; its facilities for jjublieation ; its coordination of graded institutions, ramifying into every part of the State; the eminence and dignity of its regents ; its central bureau, so efficiently organized ; its powers, entirely adequate for the maintenance of its lectureships, for examination and conferring of degrees; its university extension methods, so successfully inaugurated; its convocation, bringing to a focus at the center of government the educated public opinion of the State ; its close organic relation to the legislature — these are all characteristics fitting the university to undertake this task. The graduate work could begin immediately in several departments. For example — 1. A graduate school in history and political science, including jurisprudehce in its various branches, international law, Roman law, comparative jurisprudence. 2. A graduate school in economics. Besides the theory of eco- nomics, public finance, agriculture, forestry, meteorology, banking, insurance, railroads and canals, and other like subjects could be investigated in their economic aspects. 3. An advanced school in pedagogics and library straining. The State Normal College could be affiliated, and, together with the State library, made the basis of this school. 4. A school for advanced scientific work in connection with the State museum, and by proper affiliation with the best scientific and technical schools in the State. The object of these schools should be research. From them should come learned experts, who could become professors and writers in their specialties. The civil academy, having for its object the training of men and women for intelligent civil service, would have the same facilities at its command. The university, besides founding professorships, could obtain for special lectures in both these schools eminent professors in the colleges of the State and the specialists in the State departments. Only graduates of the colleges, of the civil academ}^ and others who should pass satisfactory examinations set by the regents should be admitted to the graduate school. The university should there under- A CENTURY OF UNIVERSITY WORK. Ill take only the most advanced work. Graduates of the colleges, instead of going to Europe to carry on their researches, would prefer to come to Albany, where they would be more likely to have the opportunity of entering the employ of American universities and of their State or the National Government. The whole country would look to the Uni- versity of the State of New York for its trained specialists, whether as teachers or as civil officers. The high degrees conferred by the uni- versity could be made the most honorable of any in these United States. In the one institution of the university would be realized the most hopeful ideas in American education to-day — the Johns Hopkins University idea of the highest learning, the West Point idea of spe- cial training for the public service, and the idea of emphasizing eco- nomics and political science as studies of the first importance in a general education, and the university extension idea of making avail- able to all classes of the people all the facilities of the higher educa- tion. The university itself would become a true academy of science and letters, with international influence and a world-wide fame; and perhaps at some time not far distant the Government of the United States, again learning from New York, would carry this innovation to the capital of the nation and thus fulfill the dream of Washington. • BIBLIOGRAPHY. 1. New York (State) Senate and Assembly. Journals, specially for the years 1784-1787. These have been carefully gone over by Daniel J. Pratt, a former assistant secretary of the regents, and extracts made of nearly all entries relating to the founding of the univer- sity. These extracts are printed in Pratt's Annals. Mr. Pratt has omitted very few things of importance. 2. New York (State) Legislature. Acts May 1, 1784; November 26, 1784; April 13, 1787; and Laws of 1889, chapter 529. To be found in various forms, notably the first three in the Historical and Statistical Rec- ord, and the last in the One hundred and third Regents' Report. 3. New York Legislative Papers. Nos. 382, 383, 385, and 388. These have been described in the body of this work. 4. Pratt, Daniel J. Annals of public education in the State of New York, from 1626 to 1746. Albany, 1872. Published in a separate volume, but also in the University Convocation proceedings for the years 1868, 1869, 1872, 1873, 1875, 1883. This is a most valuable " collection of the official acts and historical records relating to public education " in New York. The first part cov- ers the Dutch period, from 1626 to 1664, and is preceded by an excellent account of the sources. The second part covers the period from 1664 to 1746, or the English colonial period, down to the movement for founding King's College. The third part is "Legislative grants and fran- chises enacted for the benefit of academies," and extends from 1786 to 1873. The fourth part relates to the founding of King's College, extending from 1784 to 1787. The sixth part begins at 1787 and gives the proceedings of the regents and legislative action in behalf of literature. It stops with 1790. 5. New York (Statej University. Minutes of the regents, from 1784 to 1787. Printed in Part V of Pratt's Annals. The original records are kept by Columbia College. A copy is held by the regents. 112 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. 6. New York (State) University. Annual report, 1827 to date. There are 105 annual reports. These have not been greatly serviceable for the period covered by this monograph, except for the act of 1889. 7. New York (State), Public Instruction, Superintendent of. Annual report, 1855 to date. The report of 1890 was the thirty-sixth. The reports for 1884 and 1886 have been used in the sketch of the system of primary schools. 8. Hough, Franklin B. Historical and statistical record of the University of New York during the century from 1784 to 1884, with an introductory sketch by David Murray, Ph. D., secretary of the board of regents. Albany, 1885. Chadbourne, Paul Ansel, and Moore, W. B. State of New York; the public service of the State of New York. Boston, 1882. A work in three huge quarto volumes. Volume 3 has an extended account of the educa- tional systems of New York. 10. United States. — Education, Bureaa of.— -Monographs. Notably those by Dr. Adams on "William and Mary College" and on " Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia" — that of Dr. Blackmar on "Federal and State Aid to Higher Education," and those on "Georgia," by C. E. Jones, and "North Carolina," by Dr. Smith. 11. Turcot, Anne Robert Jacques. Oeuvres, volume 2. Paris, 1884. 12. BuissoN, Ferdinand Edouard. Dictionaire de pedagogie. 13. SCHMID. Encyclopadie des Erziehungswesens. 14. QuESNAY DE Beaurepaire, Chevalier. Memoire. status et prospectus, con- cernani I'Academie des sciences et beaux-arts des Etats Unis de L'Amerique, etablie a Richemond. Paris, 1788. 15. Sundry documents on the subject of a system of public education for the State of Virginia. Richmond, 1817. 16. SiCARD, Abbe. History of education from 1762 to 1808 in France (see Le corre- spondant, new series, Nos. 79, 82, 84, 86, 87, and 88). 17. Draper, Andrew S. Origin and development of the New York common- school system, Albany, 1890. 18. Curtis, Chancellor George William. The University of the State of New York; an address delivered at the university convocation. Albany, 1890. (Regents' bulletin. No. 2, 1890.) 19. Howard, Prof. George E. Evolution of the university; annual address before the alumni association of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln, Nebr., 1890. APPENDIX. State Constitution, Article 9. i 1. Common schools. — The legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a system of free common schools, wherein all the children of this State may be educated. 2. Higher education.— The corporation created in the year 1784, imder the name of the regents of the University of the State of New York, is hereby continued under the name of the University of the State of New York. It shall be governed and its corporate powers, which may be increased, modified, or diminished by the legislature, shall be exercised by not less than nine regents. 3. Educational funds. — The capital of the common-school fund, the capital of the literature fund, and the capital of the United States deposit fund shall be respectively preserved inviolate. The revenue of the said common-school fund shall be applied to the support of common schools, the revenue of the said litera- A CENTUEY OF UNIVEESITY WOKK. 113 ture fund shall be applied to the support of academies, and the sum of $25,000 of the revenues of the United States deposit fund shall each year be appropriated to and make part of the capital of the said common-school fund. 4. Restriction of subsidies. — Neither the State nor any subdivision thereof shall use its property or credit or any public money, or authorize or permit either to be used, directly or indirectly, in aid or maintenance, other than for examina- tion or inspection, of any school or institution of learning wholly or in part under the control or direction of any religious denomination or in which any denomi- national tenet or doctrine is taught. (See also ordinance 4, page 466.) University Law. [Laws of New York, 1892, chapter 378, as amended to June, 1897. j AN" ACT to revise and consolidate the laws relating to the University of the State of New York. The people of the State of Netv York, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as folloios: 1 Short title. § 34 Powers of trustees of institutions 2 Definitions. in the university. 3 Corporate name and objects. 1 Number and quorum. 4 Regents. 2 Executive committee. 5 Officers. 3 Meetings and seniority. 6 Meetings and absences. 4 Vacancies and elections. 7 Quorum and executive committee. 5 Property holding. 8 Authority of regents to take testi- 6 Control of property. mony. 7 Officers and emnloyees. 9 By-laws, ordinances, and rules. 8 Removals and suspensions. 10 Departments and their govern- 9 Degrees and credPutiaJs. ment. 10 Rules. 11 General examinations, credentials, 35 Public and free librari^ '^l'd mu- and degrees. seums. 12 Academic examinations. 36 Establishment. 13 Admission and fees. 37 Subsidies. 14 Extension of educational facilities. 38 Taxes. 15 State library; how constituted. 39 Trustees. 16 Manuscripts and records "on file." 40 Incorporation. 17 Use. 41 Reports. 18 Book appropriations. 42 Use. 19 Duplicate department. 43 Injuries of property. 20 Transfers from State officers. 44 Detention. 21 Other libraries owned by the State. 45 Transfer of libraries. 22 State museum; how constituted. 46 Local neglect. 23 Collections made by the staff. 47 Loans of books from the State. 24 Institutions in the university. 48 Advice and instruction from State 25 Visitation and reports. library officers. 26 Apportionment of State money. 49 Use of fees and fines. 27 Charters. 50 Apportionment of public libra*" ' 28 Provisional charters. money. 29 Change of name or charter. 51 Abolition. 30 Dissolution and rechartering. 52 Laws repealed. 31 Suspension of operations. 53 Saving clause. 32 Conditions of incorporation. 54 Construction. 33 Prohibitions. 3176- 8 55 To take effect. 114 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDFCATIOlSr IW NEW YOEK.. § 1. Short title: This chapter shall be known as the university law. § 2. Definitions: As nsed in this chapter — 1. Academies are incorporated schools for Instruction in higher branches of education, but not authorized to confer degrees, and such high schools, academic departments in union schools, and similar unincorporated schools as are admitted by the regents to the university as of academic grade. 2. The term college includes universities and other institutions for higher edu- cation authorized to confer degrees. 3. University means University of the State of New York. 4. Regents means board of regents of the University of the State of New York. 5. State superintendent means State superintendent of public instruction. ' 6. Higher education means education in advance of common elementary branches, and includes the work of academies, colleges, universities, professional and technical schools, and educational work connected with libraries, museums, university extension courses, and similar agencies. 7. The term trustees includes directors, managers, or other similar members of the governing board of an educational institution. § 3. Corporate name and objects: The corporation created in 1784 under the name of Regents of the University of the State of New York shall continue and be known as the University of the State of New York. Its objects shall be to encourage and promote higher education, to visit and inspect its several institu- tions and departments, to distribute to or expend or administer for them such propertj^ and funds as the State may appropriate therefor or as the university may own or hold in trust or otherwise, and to perform such other duties as may be intrusted to it. (See also constitution, art. 9, § 2.) § 4. Regents: The university shall be governed and all its corporate powers exercised by 19 elective regents, and by the governor, lieutenant-governor, secre- retary of state, and superintendent of public instruction, who shall be ex officio regents. In case of the death, resignation, refusal to act, or removal from the State of any elective regent, his successor shall be chosen by the legislature in the manner provided by law for the election of Senators in Congress, except that the election maj take place at such time during the session of the legislature as it may determine. No person shall be at the same time an elective regent of the university and a trustee, president, principal, or any other officer of any institu- tion belonging to the university. (Must be at least nine regents. See constitution, art. 9, § 2.) § 5. Officers: The elective officers of the university shall be a chancellor and a vice-chancellor who shall serve without salary, a secretary, and such other officers as are deemed necessary by the regents, all of whom shall be chosen by ballot by the regents and shall hold office during their pleasure; but no election, removal, or change of salary of an elective officer shall be made by less than 10 votes in favor thereof. Each regent and each elective officer shall, before entering on his duties, take and file with the secretary of state the oath of office required of State officers. The chancellor shall preside at all convocations and at all meetings of the regents, confer all degrees which they shall authorize, and fix the time and place of all special meetings. In his absence or inability to act the vice-chancellor, or if he be also absent, the senior regent present shall perform all the duties and have all the powers of the chancellor. (See also by-laws 8, p. 482, for power to appoint committees, delegates, etc.) The secretary shall be responsible for the safe-keeping and proper use of the university seal and of the books, records, and other property in charge of the regents, and for the proper administration and discipline of its various offices and A CENTURY OF UNIVEESITY WORK. 115 departments, and shall give an nndertaking, to be approved by and filed with the State comptroller, in the stim of $10,000 for the faithful discharge of his duties. He may appoint, subject to the confirmation of the chancellor, a deputy to exercise temporarily any specified powers of the secretary in his absence. (Form, time and place of filing, and effect of failure to file official path, see pub- lic officers' law, 1892, §§ 10, 13, 15, 20. See also by-law 9, p. 483, for duties as executive officer.) § 6. Meetings and absences: In addition to the annual meetings for which the time and place shall be fixed by ordinance of the regents, the chancellor shall call a meeting as often as the business of the university shall require, or on written request of any five regents; and at least 10 days' notice of every meeting shall be mailed to the usual address of each regent. If any regent shall fail to attend three consecutive' meetings, without written excuse accepted as satisfactory by the regents not later than the third consecutive meeting from which he has been absent, he shall be deemed to have resigned, and the regents shall promptly rejjort the vacancy to the legislature, which shall fill it as provided in § 4. (Ordinance 69, p. 481, fixes the annual meeting on the third Thursday of December.) § 7. Quorum and executive committee: Ten regents attending shall be a quorum for the transaction of business, but the regents may elect an executive committee of not less than seven, which in the intervals between their meetings may transact such business of the regents as they may authorize, except to grant, alter, suspend, or revoke charters, or to grant honorary degrees. (See also by-law 3, p. 482, for powers of executive committee.) § 8. Authority of regents to take testimony: The regents, or any committee thereof, may take testimony or hear proofs in any manner relating to their official duties, or in any matter which they may lawfully investigate. (Code of civil procedure, §§ 843, 854-59, in connection with this section, author- izes regents or any committee thereof to issue subpenas, administer oaths, and compel attendance of witnesses. ) § 9. By-laws, ordinances, and rules: The regents may, as they deem advisable in conformity to law, make, alter, suspend, or repeal any by-laws, ordinances, rules, and resolutions for the accomplishment of the trusts reposed in them, but no such by-law, ordinance, or rule shall modify in any degree the freedom of the govern- ing body of any seminary for the training of priests or clergymen to determine and regulate the entire course of religious, doctrinal, or theological instruction to be given in such institution. No by-law, ordinance, or rule by which more than a majority vote shall be required for any specified action by the regents shall be amended, suspended, or repealed by a smaller vote than that required for action thereunder. [As amended by laws of 1895, ch. 577.] (See also by-law 29, p. 487, for method of amending or repealing.) § 10. Departments and their government: The State library and State museum shall be departments of the university, and the regents may establish such other departments as they deem necessary to discharge the duties imposed on them by law. All tmiversity departments shall be under exclusive control of the regents, who shall have all powers of trustees thereof, inchiding authority to appoint all needed officers and employees; to fix their titles, duties, salaries, and terms of service; to make all needed regulations, and to buy, sell, exchange, or receive by will, gift, or on deposit articles or collections properly pertaining thereto; to main- tain lectures connected with higher education in this State, and to lend to or deposit permanently with other institutions books, specimens, or other articles in their custody which because of being duplicates or for other reasons will in the judgment of the regents be more useful in said institutions than if retained in the original collections at Albany. 116 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. (For administration of State museum, see § 22, p. 409, This section supersedes the clause of laws of 1873, ch. 643, which placed hall of museum in joint charge of regents and State agricultural society. See also by-law 2, p. 481, on departments and committees.) §11. General examinations, credentials, and degrees: The regents may confer' by diploma under their seal such honorary degrees as they may deem proper, and may establish examinations as to attainments in learning, and may award and confer suitable certificates, diplomas, and degrees on persons who satisfactorily meet the requirements prescribed. (See also by-laws 36-28, pp. 486-87; ordinances 46-66, pp. 476-80.) §12, Academic examinations: The regents shall establish in the academies of the university examinations in studies furnishing a suitable standard of gradua- tion from academies and of admission to colleges, and certificates or diplomas shall be conferred by the regents on students who satisfactorily pass such exami- nations. § 13, Admission and fees: Any person shall be admitted to these examinations wiio shall conform to the rules and pay the fees prescribed by the regents, and said fees shall not exceed one dollar for each academic branch, or five dollars for each higher branch in which the candidate is examined; and all fees received may be used by the regents for expenses of examinations. (See also ordinance 49, p. 476, for rules about admission.) § 14. Extension of educational facilities: The regents may cooperate with other agencies in bringing within the reach of the people at large increased educational opportunities and facilities by stimulating interest, recommending methods, des- ignating suitable teachers and lecturers, lending necessary books and apparatus, conducting examinations, and granting credentials and otherwise aiding such work. No money appropriated by the State for this work shall be expended in paying for services or expenses of teachers or lecturers. § 15, State library, how constituted: All books, pamphlets, manuscripts, records, archives, and maps, and all other property appropriate to a general library, if owned by the State and not placed in other custody by law, shall be in charge of the regents and constitute the State library. § 16. Manuscripts and records ' on file ' : Manuscript or printed papers of the legislature, usually termed 'on file.' and which shall have been on file more than five years in custody of the senate and assembly clerks, and all public records of the State not placed in other custody by a specific law, shall be part of the State library, and shall be kept in rooms assigned and suitably arranged for that pur- pose by the trustees of the capitol. The regents shall cause such papers and records to be so classified and arranged that they can be easily found. No paper or record shall be removed from such files except on a resolution of the senate and assembly withdrawing them for a temporary purpose, and, in case of such removal, a description of the paper or record and the name of the person removing the same shall be entered in a book provided for that purpose, with the date of its delivery and return. § 17, Use: The State library shall be kept open not less than eight hours every week day in the year, and members of the legislature, judges of the court of appeals, justices of the supreme court, and heads of State departments may bor- row from the library books for use in Albany, but shall be subject to such restric- tions and penalties as may be prescribed by the regents for the safety or greater usefulness of the library. Others shall be entitled to use or borrow books from the library only on such conditions as the regents shall prescribe. (Laws of 1891, ch. 377, § 1, makes the first appropriation for the State medical library and § 2 embodies the conditions of the gift by the Albany Medical College of its library, as follows: A CENTUKY OF UNIVEESITY WOKK. 117 § 3. The said medical library shall be a part of the New York State library under the same government and regulations, and shall be open for consultation to every citizen of the State at all hours when the State law library is open, and shall be available for borrowing books to every accredited physician residing in the State of New York who shall conform to the riiles made by the regents for insur- ing proper protection and the largest usefulness to the people of the said medical library. ) § 18. Book appropriation: The treasurer shall pay annually to the regents, on warrant of the comptroller, $15,000 for books, serials, and binding for the State library. § 19. Duplicate department: The regents shall have charge of the preparation, publication, and distribution, Avhether by sale, exchange, or gift, of the colonial history, natural history, and all other State publications not otherwise assigned by law. To guard against waste or destruction of State publications, and to pro- vide for completion of sets to be permanently preserved in American and foreign libraries, the regents shall maintain a duplicate department to which each State department, bureau, board, or commission shall send not less than five copies of each of its publications when issued, and. after completing its distribution, any remaining copies which it no longer requires. The above, with any other publi- cations not needed in the State library, shall be the duplicate department, and rules for sale, exchange, or distribution from it shall be fixed by the regents, who shall use all receipts from such exchanges or sales for exj)enses and for increas- ing the State library. The State printer shall furnish to this duplicate department, immediately after its printing, as many copies of each publication printed at State expense as the regents shall certify to be necessary to enable them to supply one copy to each library which shall conform to the rules established by the regents as to preservation and making available for public reference, and shall be regis- tered by the regents as properly entitled to such publication. In case the officer to whom the edition of any publication is to be delivered shall notify the State printers in writing, and before printing, that the edition provided will be insuffi- cient for his use if the library copies are deducted, there shall be printed as many extra copies as he shall require not exceeding the number delivered for library use. (As amended by laws of 1895, ch. 859, § 1.) (Legislative law, 1892, § 46-47, provides 230 copies of journals and documents for incorporated colleges and universities in New York and for literary and scien- tific exchanges made by the regents, and two copies of journals, documents, and bills for State library. See also by-law 16, p. 485.) § 20. Transfers from State officers: The librarian of any library owned by the State, or the officer in charge of any State department, bureau, board, commission, or other office, may, with the approval of the regents, transfer to the permanent custody of the State library or museum any books, papers, maps, manuscripts, specimens, or other articles which, because of being duplicates or for other reasons, will, in his judgment, be more useful to the State in the State library or museum than if retained in his keeping. § 21. Other libraries owned by the State: The report of the State library to the legislature shall include a statement of the total number of volumes or pamphlets, the number added during the year, with a summary of operations and conditions, and any needed recommendation for safety or usefulness for each of the other libra- ries owned by the State, the custodian of which shall furnish such information or facilities for inspection as the regents may require for making this report. Each of these libraries shall be under the sole control now provided by law, but for the annual report of the total number of books owned by or bought each year by the State, it shall be considered as a branch of the State library and shall be entitled 118 HISTOKY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. to any facilities for exchange of duplicates, interlibrary loans, or other privileges properly accorded to a branch. (For report of State library, see g 25.) § 22. State museum, how constituted: All scientific specimens and collections, works of art, objects of historic 'interest, and similar property appropriate to a general museum, if owned by the State and not placed in other custody by a spe- cific law, shall constitute the State museum, and one of its officers shall annually inspect all such property not kept in the State museum rooms, and the annual report of the museum to the legislature shall include summaries of such property, with its location, and any needed recommendations as to its safety or usefulness. Unless otherwise provided by law, the State museum shall include the work of the State geologist and paleontologist, the State botanist, and the State entomolo- gist, who, with their assistants, shall be included in the scientific staff of the State museum. (As amended by laws of 1896, ch. 493, § 1; § 2 is not general, but refers solely to present State geologist.) (For general control of museum see § 10 and note. Location of museum, scientific staff, etc., L. 1883, ch. 355; L. 1845, ch. 179, § 2, reads: § 2. The executive committee of the New York State Agricultural Society may have the free use of said cabinets of natural history and all the specimens therein deposited, at any and all times, for such purpose as such committee shall desire, subject to the direction and regulations of the regents of the university: Provided, That such committee shall not remove said cabinets or any of the specimens therein deposited from the rooms in which they shall be deposited by the regents of the university. See also by-laws 19-20, pp. 485-86, museum exchanges and duplicate specimens.) § 23. Collections made by the staff: Any scientific collection made by a member of the museum staff during his term of office shall, unless otherwise authorized by resolution of the regents, belong to the State and form part of the State museum. § 24. Institutions in the university: The institutions of the tmiversity shall include all institutions of higher education which are now or may hereafter be incorporated in this State, and such other libraries, museums, or other institutions for higher education as may, in conformity with the ordinances of the regents, after official inspection, be admitted to or incorporated by the university. The regents may exclude from such membership any institution failing to comply with law or with any ordinance or rule of the university. (See also Consolidated School Laio, 1894, tit. 8, § 26, p. 425, on academic depart- ments of union schools; tit. 13, § 7, on libraries, p. 435; and ordinances 1-3, pp. 465-66, on incorporation and admission; 8-9, pp. 467-68, on limited charters and stock or business corporations; 13-14, pp. 468-69, on academies and grading; 22, p. 471, on delinquent and dormant institutions; 23, p. 471, on special requirements in English. ) § 25. Visitation and reports: The regents or their committees or officers shall visit, examine into, and inspect the condition and operations of every institution and department in the university, and require of each an annual report verified by oath of its presiding officer, and giving information concerning trustees, faculty, students, instruction, equipment, methods, and operations, with such other infor- mation and in such form as may be prescribed by the regents, who shall annually report to the legislature the condition of the university and of each of its institutions and departments, with any further information or recommendations which they shall deem it desirable to submit; and such parts of their report as they shall deem necessary for use in advance of the annual volume may be printed by the State printer as bulletins. For refusal or continued neglect on the part of any institu- tion in the university to make the report required by this section, or for violation of any law, the regents may suspend the charter or any of the rights and privileges of such institution. A CENTURY OF UNIVEESITY WORK. 119 (Academic departments of union free schools are subject to the visitation and control of regents as to their educational work, Consolidated School Law, 1894, tit. 8, § 26-27, pp. 425-26. This section supersedes provision as to visitation in L. 1882. ch. 367, g 27. See also g 41, p. 417, and ordinances 19-22, pp. 470-71, on reports; by-law 25, p. 486, requiring annual inspection.) § 26. Apportionment of State money: The treasurer shall pay annually, on war- rant of the comptroller, $12,000 from the income of the literature fund, $34,000 from the income of the United States deposit fund, and $60,000 from the general fund, according to an apportionment to be made for the benefit of the academies of the university by the regents, in accordance with their rules and authenticated by their seal, provided that the said $60,000 from the general fund shall be used only for academic departments of union schools, and that no academy shall share in such apportionment unless the regents shall be satisfied by personal inspection by one of their officers, the necessary expenses of which inspection may be paid out of said money, that it has suitable provision for buildings, furniture, apparatus, library, and collections, and has complied with all their requirements, and pro- vided that books, apparatus, scientific collections, or other educational equipment furnished by the State or bought with money appoi'tioned from State funds shall be subject to return to the regents whenever the charter of the school shall be revoked or it shall discontinue its educational operations. (Capital of literature and United States deposit funds must be kept inviolate; revenue of the literature fund must be applied to support of academies; no State funds to be paid to any institution of learning " wholly or in part under the con- trol or direction of any religious denomination or in which any denominational tenet or doctrine is taught,' Constitution, art. 9, § 3-4, p. 401; L. 1873, ch. 642, §7. Literature fund, and how invested, R. S., pt. 1, ch. 9, tit. 3, § 1-2. L. 1895, ch. 341, provides for an additional $100 to each school of academic grade and for increasing the fund each year to keep pace with growth in number of schools and students. This now requires over $250,000 annually. Establishment and regula- tion of academic departments of union schools. Consolidated school laic, 1894, ch. 556, tit. 8, g 15, subg 10; tit. 8, §§ 26-27, 35, pp. 425-427. Other details as to such expenditures, laws of 1873, ch, 642. See also laws of 1895, ch. 341, § 2, p. 427, and ordinances 30-41, pp. 472-475, regu- lating grants of money by regents.) § 27. Charters: The regents may, by an instrument under their seal and recorded in their office, incorporate any university, college, academy, library, museum, or other institution or association for the promotion of science, literature, art, history, or other department of knowledge, under such name, with such number of trus- tees or other managers, and with such powers, privileges, and duties, and subject to such limitations and restrictions in all respects as the regents may prescribe in conformity to law. (As amended by laws of 1895, ch. 859, § 2.) (See also Constitution, art. 8, § 1, p. 421; ilenibership corj^orations law, 1895, ch. 559, § 30, p. 421, which repeals all powers to incorporate scientific, literary, and similar institutions or associations except by the regents under this section ; and ordinances 1-2, p. 465, on charters; 8, p. 467; 10, p. 468; 24, p. 471, withholding charters after vote; 55, p. 478, limitation on granting degrees. An academy incorporated for the promotion of literature and authorized to edu- cate males and females, may establish separate departments for each, and, under laws of 1840, ch. 318, and laws of 1841, ch. 261, take and hold real estate in trust, to be used for the benefit of either department. Adams v. Perry, N. Y. 43: 487.) § 28. Provisional charters: On evidence satisfactory to the regents that the con- ditions for an absolute charter will be met within a prescribed time, they may grant a provisional charter which shall be replaced by an absolute charter when the conditions have been fully met; otherwise, after the specified time, on notice 120 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. from the regents to this effect, the provisional charter shall terminate and become void and shall be surrendered to the regents. No such provisional charter shall ' give power to confer degrees. (Ordinance 32, p. 473, forbids grants from academic fund.) § 29. Change of name of charter: The regents may, at any time, for sufficient cause, by an instrument under their seal and recordea in their office, change the name, or alter, suspend, or revoke the charter or incorporation of any institution which they might incorporate under >^ 27, if subject to their visitation or chartered or incorporated by the regents or under a general law; provided, that, unless on imanimous request of the trustees of the institution, no name shall be changed and no charter shall be altered, nor shall any rights or privileges thereunder be suspended or repealed by the regents till they have mailed to the usual address of every trustee of the institution concerned at least 30 days' notice of a hearing, when any objections to the proposed change will be considered, and till ordered by vote at a meeting of the regents for which the notices have specified that action is to be taken on the proposed change. (As amended by laws of 1895, ch. 859, § 3.) (For change of name by court see Code of Civil Procedure, §§ 2411-2418.) § 30. Dissolution and rechartering: Under like restrictions the regents may dis- solve any such educational corporation, whether with or without a capital stock, and whether incorporated by the regents or under a general or by a special law, and make such disposition of the property of such corporation remaining after payment of its debts and liabilities as the regents Shall deem just and equitable and best promoting piiblic interests. The regents may also, after a similar hear- ing, issue to any such educational corporation a new charter which shall take the place in all respects of that under which it has been operating. (Procedure for dissolution of incorporated academies having capital stock, L. 1889, ch. 25, pp. 423-425. Certain educational corporations excepted from code provisions for dissolution, Code of Civil Procedure, g§ 1804, 2431.) § 31. Suspension of operations: If any institution in the university shall discon- tinue its educational operations without cause satisfactory to the regents, it shall surrender its charter to them, subject, however, to restoration whenever arrange- ments satisfactory to the regents are made for resuming its work. (See also ordinances 11, p. 468, on suspension because of leasing without written approval of regents; 19, p. 470, on reports; 22, p. 471, on delinquents.) § 32. Conditions of incorporation: No institution shall be given power to confer degrees in this State unless it shall have resources of at least $500,000; and no institution for higher education shall be incorporated without suitable provision, approved by the regents, for buildings, furniture, educational equipment, and proper maintenance. No institution shall institute or have any faculty or depart- ment of higher education in any place or be given power to confer any degree not specifically authorized by its charter; and no institution of higher education shall be incorporated under the provisions of any general act authorizing the forma- tion of a corporation without grant of a special charter on individual application, and no corporation shall, under authority of any general act, extend its business to include establishing or carrying on any such institutions. (See also ordinances 2, p. 465, on incorporation; 55, p. 478, limiting degree-con- ferring powers. ) § 33. Prohibitions: No individual, association, or corporation not holding univer- sity or college degree- conferring powers by special charter from the legislature of this State or from the regents, shall confer any degrees, nor after Janviary 1, 1893, shall transact business under, or in any way assume the name university or college, till it shall have received from the regents, under their seal, written permission to use such name, and no such permission shall be granted by the regents, except on favorable report after personal inspection of the institution by an officer of the university. No person shall buy, sell, or fraudulently or illegally make or alter. A CENTUEY OF UNIVERSITY WORK. 121 give, issue, or obtain any diploma, certificate, or other instrument purporting to confer any literary, scientific, professional, or other degree, or to constitute any license, or to certify to the completion in whole or in part of any course of stiidy in any university, college, academy, or other educational institution. No diploma or degree shall be conferred in this State except by a regularly organized institu- tion of learning registered by the regents as not violating any requirement of law or of the university ordinances, nor shall any person with intent to deceive, falsely represent himself to have received any such degree or credential, nor shall any person append to his name any letters in the same form registered by the regents as entitled to the protection accorded to university degrees, unless he shall have received from a duly authorized institution the degree for which the letters are registered. Counterfeiting, or falsely or without authority making or altering in a material respect, any such credential issued under seal shall be a felony, and personating another by attempting to take an examination in his name or procur- ing any person thus falsely to personate another, or otherwise attempting to secure the record of having passed such examination in violation of the university ordi- nances, or any other violation of this section shall be~a misdemeanor; and any person who aids or abets another, or advertises or offers himself to violate the provisions of this section, shall be liable to the same penalties. (As amended by laws of 1895, ch. 859, §4.) (See also ordinances 5-6, pp. 466-467, defining the word "college ; " 21, p. 471, on violations of the university law; 52, p. 477, all credentials subject to cancellation for cause; 58, p. 478, for list of degrees protected by this section.) § 34. Powers of trustees of institutions in the university: The trustees of every corporation created for educational purposes and subject to visitation by the regents, unless otherwise provided by law or by its charter, may — 1. Number and quorum: Fix the number of trustees which shall not exceed 25," nor be less than five. If any institution has more than five trustees, the body that elects, by a two-thirds vote after notice of the proposed action in the call for a meeting, may reduce the number to not less than five by abolishing the office of any trustee which is vacant and filing in the regents' office a certified copy of the action. A majority of the whole number shall be a quorum. 2. Executive committee: Elect an executive committee of not less than seven, who, in intervals between meetings of the trustees, may transact such business of the corporation as the trustees may authorize, except to grant degrees or to make removals from office. 3. Meetings and seniority: Meet on their own adjournment or when required by their by-laws, and as often as they shall be summoned by their chairman, or in his absence by the senior trustee, on written request of three trustees. Seniority shall be according to the order in which the trustees are named in the charter or subse- quently elected. Notice of the time and place of every meeting shall be mailed not less than five nor more than 10 days before the meeting to the usual address of every trustee. 4. Vacancies and elections: Fill any vacancy occurring in the office of any trustee by electing another for the unexpired term. The office of any trustee shall become vacant on his death, resignation, refusal to act, removal from office, expira- tion of his term, or any other cause specified in the charter. If any trustee shall fail to attend three consecutive meetings without written excuse accepted as satis- factory by the trustees not later than the third consecutive meeting from which he has been absent, he shall be deemed to have resigned, and the vacancy shall be filled. Any vacancy in the office of trustee continuing for more than one year, or any vacancy reducing the number of trustees to less than two-thirds of the full number may be filled by the regents. No person shall be ineligible as a trustee by reason of sex. 122 HISTOEY OP HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. (Salaried officers, otlier than executive or flBancial, ineligible as trustees, see ordinance 16, p. 470. ) 5. Property holding: Take and hold by gift, grant, devise, or bequest in their own right or in trust for any purpose comprised in the objects of the corporation, such additional real and personal property beyond such as shall be authorized by their^charter or by special or general statue, as the regents shall authorize within one year after the delivery of the instrument or probate of the will, giving, grant- ing, devising, or bequeathing such property and such authority given by the regents shall make any such gift, grant, devise, or bequest operative cind valid in law. (Enlargement of limitations upon amount of property that membership educa- tional corporations may hold, general corporation law, 1892, § 12, p. 422; laws of 1889, ch. 191. As to property holding generally, see general corporation law, 1892, §10-14.) 6. Control of property: Buy, sell, mortgage, let, and otherwise use and dispose of its property as they shall deem for the best interests of the institution ; and also to lend or deposit, or to receive as a gift, or on loan or deposit, literary, scientific, or other articles, collections, or property pertaining to their work; and such gifts, loans, or deposits may be made to or with the university or any of its institutions by any person, or by legal vote of any board of trustees, corporation, association, or school district, and any such transfer of property, if approved by the regents, shall, during its continuance, transfer responsibility therefor to the institution receiving it, which shall also be entitled to receive any money, books, or other property from the State or other sources to which said corporation, association, or district would have been entitled but for such transfer. (Incorporated college raay maintain waterworks system, L. 1895, ch. 630.) 7. Officers and emj)loyees: Appoint and fix the salaries of such officers and em- ployees as they shall deem necessary, who, unless employed under special contract, shall hold their offices during the pleasure of the trustees; but no trustee shall receive compensation as such. (See also ordinances 16-18.) 8. Removals and suspensions: Remove or suspend from office by vote of a majority of the entire board any trustee, officer, or employee engaged under special contract, on examination and due proof of the truth of a written com- plaint by any trustee, of misconduct, incapacity, or neglect of duty; provided that at least one week's previous notice of the proposed action shall have been given to the accused and to each trustee. 9. Degrees and credentials: Grant such degrees and honors as are specifically authorized by their charter, and in testimony thereof give suitable certificates and diplomas under their seal ; and every certificate and diploma so granted shall entitle the conferee to all privileges and immunities, which by usage or statute are allowed for similar diplomas of corresponding grade granted by any institu- tion of learning. (See also ordinances 54-58, 60, 61, 63.) 10. Rules: Make all by-laws, ordinances, and rules necessary and proper for the purpose of the institution and not inconsistent with law or any ordinance or rule of the univei'sity; but no ordinance or rule by which more than a majority vote shall be required for any specified action by the trustees shall be amended, sus- pended, or repealed by a smaller vote than that required for action thereunder. (Power to make by-laws, general corporation law, 1892, § 11, 29.) § 35. Public and free libraries and museums: All provisions of sections 35 to 51 shall apply equally to libraries, museums, and to combined libraries and museums, and the word library shall be construed to include reference and circulating libraries and reading rooms. (See also general municipal law, 1892, § 24, as amended by laws of 1896, ch. 576. A CENTUEY OF UNIVEESITY WOEK!. 123 f^ 36. Establishment: By majorit}' vote at any election any city, village, town, school district, or other body authorized to levy and collect taxes, or by vote of its common council, or by action of a board of estimate and apportionment, or other proper authority, any city, or by vote of its trustees, any village, may establish and maintain a free public library, with or without branches, either by itself or in connection with any other body authorized to maintain such library. When- ever 25 taxpayers shall so petition the question of providing library facilities shall be voted on at the next election or meeting at which taxes may be voted, provided that due public notice shall have been given of the proposed action. (As amended by laws of 1895, ch. 859, § 5.) (Establishment of free public library by town, city, or village, 'general munici- pal law, § 24. ) § 37. Subsidies: By similar vote money may be granted toward the support of libraries not owned by the public but maintained for its welfare and free use; provided that such libraries shall be subject to the inspection of the regents and registered by them as maintaining a proper standard, that the regents shall cer- tify what number of the books circulated are of such a character as to merit a grant of public money, and that the amount granted yearly to libraries on the basis of circulation shall not exceed 10 cents for each volume of the circulation thus certified by the regents. (Laws of 1886, ch. 666, and laws 1887, ch. 313, authorizing local subsidies to libraries, were repealed by the membership corporation law, 1895, ch. 559. This section now contains the only provision of law for subsidies to libraries. See also ordinance 67.) g 38. Taxes: Taxes in addition to those otherwise authorized may be voted by any authority named in § 36 and for any purpose specified in sections 36 and 37, and shall, unless otherwise directed by such vote, be considered as annual appro- priations therefor till changed by further vote, and shall be levied and collected yearly, or as directed, as are other general taxes; and all money received from taxes or other sources for such library shall be kept as a separate library fund and expended only under direction of the library trustees on properly authenticated vouchers. § 39. Trustees: Such libraries shall be managed by trustees who shall have all the powers of trustees of other educational institutions of the university as defined in this act; provided, unless otherwise specified in the charter, that the number of trustees shall be five; that they shall be elected by the legal voters, except that in cities they shall be appointed by the mayor, with the consent of the common coun- cil, from citizens of recognized fitness for such position; that the first trustees determine by lot whose term of office shall expire each year, and that a new trustee shall be elected or appointed annually to serve for five years. § 40. Incorporation: Within one month after taking office, the first board of trus- tees shall apply to the regents for a charter in accordance with, the vote establish- ing the library. (See also ordinance 7, for property minimum. ) § 41. Reports: Every library or museum which receives State aid or enjoys any exemption from taxation or other privilege not usually accorded to business cor- porations shall make the report required by § 25 of this act, and such report shall relieve the institution from making any report now required by statute or charter to be made to the legislature, or to any department, court, or other authority of the State. These reports shall be summarized and transmitted to the legislature by the regents with the annual reports of the State library and State museum. (See also ordinance 19.) § 42. Use: Every library established under § 36 of this act shall be forever free to the inhabitants of the locality which establishes it, subject always to rules of the 124 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. library trustees, who shall have authority to exclude any person who wilfully vio- lates such rules; and the trustees may, under such conditions as they think expe- dient, extend the privileges of the library to persons living outside such locality. * (As amended by laws of 1895, ch. 859, § 6.) § 43. Injuries to property: Whoever intentionally injures, defaces, or destroys any property belonging to or deposited in any incorporated library, reading room, museum, or other educational institution, shall be punished by imprisonment in a State prison for not more than three years, or in a county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than $500, or by both such fine and imprisonment. (To like effect, Penal Code, pp. 647-648.) § 44. Detention: Whoever wilfully detains any book, newspaper, magazine, pamphlet, manuscript, or other property belonging to any public or incorporated library, reading room, museum, or other educational institution, for 30 days after notice in writing to return the same, given after the expiration of the time which by the rules of such institution such article or other property may be kept, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one nor more than $25, or by imprisonment in the jail not exceeding six months, and the said notice shall bear on its face a copy of this section. § 45. Transfer of libraries: Any corporation, association, school district or com- bination of districts may, by legal vote duly approved by the regents, transfer the ownership and control of its library, with all its appurtenances, to any public library in the university, and thereafter said public library shall be entitled to receive any money, books, or other property from the State or other sources to which said corporation, association, or district would have been entitled but for such transfer, and the trustees or body making the transfer shall thereafter be relieved of all responsibility pertaining to property thus transferred. (See also ordinance 68.) g 46. Local neglect: If the local authorities of any library supported wholly or in part by State money, fail to provide for the safety and public usefulness of its books, the regents shall in writing notify the trustees of said library what is neces- sary to meet the State's requirements, and on such notice all its rights to further grants of money or books from the State shall be suspended until the regents certify that the requirements have been met; and if said trustees shall refuse or neglect to comply with such requirements within 60 days after service of such notice, the regents may remove them from office, and thereafter all books and other library property wholly or in part paid for from State money shall be under the full and direct control of the regents who, as shall seem best for public interests, may appoint new trustees to carry on the library, or may store it or distribute its books to other libraries. § 47. Loans of books from State: Under such rules as the regents may prescribe, they may lend from the State library, duplicate department, or from books speci- ally given or bought for this purpose, selections of books for a limited time to any public library in this State under visitation of the regents, or to any community not yet having established such library, but which has conformed to the condi- tions required for such loans. § 48. Advice and instruction from State library officers: The trustees or libra- rian or any citizen interested in any public library in this State shall be entitled to ask from the officers of the State library any needed advice or instruction as to library building, furniture and equipment, government and service, rules for readers, selecting, buying, cataloguing, shelving, lending books, or any other matter pertaining to the establishment, reorganization, or administration of a public library. The regents may provide for giving such advice and instruction either personally or through printed matter and correspondence, either by the State library staff or by a library commission of competent experts appointed by the regents to serve without salary. The regents may, on, request, select or buy A CENTUEY OF UNIVERSITY WORK. 125 books, or furnish' instead of money apportioned, or may make exchanges or loans through the duplicate department of the State library. Such assistance shall be free to residents of this State as far as practicable, but the regents may, in their discretion, charge a proper fee to nonresidents or for assistance of a personal nature or for other reason not properly an expense to the State, but which raay be authorized for the accommodation of iisers of the library. g 49. Use of fees and fines: The regents may use receipts from fees, fines, gifts from private sources, or sale of regents' bulletins and similar printed matter, for buying books or for any other proper expenses of carrying on their work. (By-law 16 requires report to legislature of all receipts and payments.) § 50. Apportionment of public library money: Such sum as shall have been appropriated by the legislature as public library money shall be paid annually by the treasurer, on the warrant of the comptroller, from the income of the United States deposit fund, according to an apportionment to be made for the benefit of free libraries by the regents in accordance with their rules and authenticated by their seal; provided that none of this money shall be spent for books except those approved or selected and furnished by the regents: that no locality shall share in the apportionment unless it shall raise and use for the same purpose not less than an equal amount from taxation or other local sources; that for any part of the apportionment not payable directly to the library trustees the regents shall file with the comptroller proper vouchers showing that it has been spent in accord- ance with law exclusively for books for free libraries or for proper expenses incurred for their benefit; and that books paid for by the State shall be subject to return to the regents whenever the library shall neglect or refuse to conform to the ordinances under which it secured them. (See also ordinances 37-45 for rules governing these grants.) § 51. Abolition: Any library established by public vote or action of school authorities, or under § 36 of this act, may be abolished only by a majority vote at a regular annual election, ratified by a majority vote at the next annual election. If any such library is abolished its property shall be used first to return to the regents, for the benefit of other public libraries in that locality, the equivalent of such sums as it may have received from the State or from other sources as gifts for public use. After such return any remaining property may be used as directed in the vote abolishing the library, but if the entire library property does not exceed in value the amount of such gifts it may be transferred to the regents for public use, and the trustees shall thereupon be freed from further responsibility. No abolition of a public library shall be lawful till the regents grant a certificate that its assets have been properly distributed and its abolition completed in accordance with law. (As amended by laws of 1895, ch. 859, § 7.) § 52. Laws repealed: Of the laws enumerated in the schedule hereto annexed that portion specified in the last column is repealed. § 53. Saving clause: The repeal of a law or any part of it by this act shall not affect or impair any act done or right accruing, accrued or acquired, or liability, penalty, forfeiture, or punishment incurred prior to such repeal, under or by virtue of any law so repealed, but the same may be asserted, enforced, prosecuted, or inflicted as fully and to the same extent as if such law had not been repealed; and all actions and proceedings, civil or criminal, commenced under or by virtue of the laws so repealed and pending at the time of such repeal, may be prosecuted and defended to final effect in the same manner as they might under the laws then existing, unless it shall be otherwise specially provided by law. (Similar and other saving clauses, statutory construction: law, 1892, § 31-33.) § 54. Construction: The provisions of this act, so far as they are substantially the same as those of the laws herein repealed, shall be construed as a continuation 1 So in the original, 126 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATIOlSr IN NEW YORK. of such la'vvs, modified or amended according to the language employed in this act, and not as ne'w enactments. Repeals in this act shall not revive any law repealed by any la-w hereby repealed, but shall include all laws amendatory of the laws^ hereby repealed. References in laws not repealed to provisions of law incorpor- ated in this chapter and repealed sha,ll be construed as applying to the provisions so incorporated. Nothing in this act shall be construed to repeal any provision of the criminal or penal code. § 55. To take effect: This act shall take effect immediately. SCHEDULE OF LAWS REPEALED. Laws of — Chapter. Section. Laws of— Chapter. Section. - Rev. laws of 1813 59 5, tit. 3.. 9, tit. 8.. 15, tit. 1.. 307 276 8 140- 34 123_ 142 237 226 315 245 246 381 143 149 85 254 255 - 179 85 132 190- 212.. 262 372 :.. 175 266 360 396 536.. 544 All. 5. 6,7,8. All. All. All. 3,4. 2. 3. 3,3. 1. 8,9. All. 1,3. 1,2. All. 3. All. 1,3, 4, .5, 6. 1,4. 1,2,3. 1,3,5,6,7. 1,3. 1,3. 1,2,3,4,5. 1. 1,3. 3,3. All. 1,2, 3, 4, .5. All. 1,2,3. All. ],3. All. 1853 1853 366 184 80 91-. _ 50 410 471 168 54 355 527 _. 81.- 395 426 518 697 179 774 60__ 51 557 711.- 746 643- 176 373.- 133 163 _ 389 514 120 -- 679 493 652 539 1. All. 1. 1,2. All. 1,2. 1,2,3. 1.2,3. All. 1,2,3. All. 1,2. 1,2,3. 1. 1,3. All. 1,2. All. . 1,2. All. 1,2,3,4,5. Rev. Stat., pt.l 1854.. 1855 1815 . 1855. 1818 1855 1832 1855 1834 18.56--.. 1835 1856- 1857 , . 1835 1836 . . .. 18.57 1838 -- 1858 -- 1839 ---- 1859. __ 1859 1860 .... 1839 . .... 1840 1840 — 1840 1865 1868 1869 1843 - 1843 . . 1870 1843 1870---- 1844 - .--- 1870--- 1871 1844 1,3,3. 1845 1872- 1,3,3,4,5. 1845 1873 4. 1846 1875 - --- All. 1847 1875 - All. 1847 1876 1,2. 1848 - . . 1877 All. 1848 - 1879... All. i 1. All. All. All. 1849 1880 -. .:.. 1849 1881 1850 1881.... _.. 1886 1887 1851 1851 All. 1851 1889 All. PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL TRAINING AND EXAMINATIONS. Practice of Law. [Lawsof 189.5, ch. 946.] § 57. Rules, how changed: The rules established by the court of appeals, touch- ing the admission of attorneys and counselors to practice in the courts of record of the State, shall not be changed or amended, except by a majority of the judges of that court. A copy of each amendment to such rules must, within five days after it is adopted, be filed in the office of the secretary of state, who must trans- mit a printed copy thereof to the clerk of each county, and to the presiding justice of the appellate division of the supreme court, in each judicial department, and also cause the same to be published in the next ensuing volume of the session laws. LAW STUDENT EXAMINATIONS. [Rules 5 and 6 of the court of appeals, adopted October 22, 1894; to take effect January 1, 1895.] The university is responsible only for the preliminary general education of law students. The full rules for admission of attorneys to the bar may be obtained of the clerk of the court of appeals, capitol, Albany, N. Y. Rule 5, § 3. Applicants who are not graduates of a college or university or mem- bers of the bar as above described, shall, before entering upon the clerkship or II A CENTUEY OF UNIVEESITY WOKK. 127 attendance at a law school herein prescribed, or within one year thereafter, have passed an examination conducted under the authority and in accordance with the ordinances and rules of the University of the State of New York, in English com- position, advanced English, first year Latin, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, United States and English history, civics and economics, or in their substantial equiva- lents as defined by the rules of the university, and shall have filed a certificate of such fact signed by the secretary of the university with the clerk of the court of appeals, whose duty it shall be to return to the person named therein a certified copy of the same showing the date of such filing. The regents may accept as the equivalent of and substitute for the examination in this rule prescribed either, first, a certificate properly authenticated, of having successfully completed a full year's course of study in any ' college or university; second, a certificate properly authenticated,- of having satisfactorily completed a three years' course of study in any institution registered ^ by the regents as maintaining a satisfactory aca- demic standard; or, third, a regents' diploma.^ The regents' certificate above ' The regents count forty weeks as a full academic year. If the candidate has passed successfully in a registered institution all the examinations for a full year's work, the question of actual attendance is not raised. ^ The court and the regents both refuse to recognize as a college or a university an institution which, though taking the name, in reality does work of a lower grade. Colleges of medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, business colleges, and all simi- lar professional and technical schools are not registered as colleges. Bj^ college is understood an institution which requires for admission four years of academic or high school preparation in addition to the preacademic or grammar school studies, and which gives four full years of college instruction as a condition of graduation. Institutions with courses equivalent to three j^ears of college work are sometimes registered when they require four full years of academic preparation, as are other institutions that admit after three years of preparation but that require a mini- mum of four years of college work. In all cases the total of academic and college work must be not less than seven years in advance of grammar school studies, or the institution can not be registered as giving a full college course. The court also refuses to recognize as "study in a college," work in an academic or lower department conducted and supervised by a college. To be accepted as an equiva- lent by the regents the work must be of college grade. ^Besides the institutions of higher education in the State of New York inspected by the regents, institutions in other States and countries are registered on reliable information that the minimum standard is fully met. If credentials are offered from any institution not yet registered (or rejected as below the regis- tration standard) the necessary investigation will be made as promptly as pos- sible and the candidate notified whether the credentials can be accepted. The frequent changes in organization and standards, and the practical difficulties of recording the grade of work outside regularly organized institutions, have made necessary the rule that candidates instructed by private tutors or in unregistered private schools, however excellent, can not be excused from taking the examina- tions by presenting certificates similar to those accepted from regularly organized and registered institutions. *The term "regents' diploma" refers not alone to the classical, English, and academic diplomas which bear that specific name, but to all graduating creden- tials, whether called certificates or diplomas, which certify from the university to the completion of a full academic course. As some candidates prefer to pass examinations in the higher branches more recently studied rather than in more elementary subjects in which they have become rusty, they are allowed to select from the entire list of over 70 studies in which the regents examine, provided that the total academic counts equal a full course. i 128 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. prescribed shall be deemed to take effect as of the date of the completion of the regents' examination, as the same shall appear upon said certificate. PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. [Public health law, 1893, ch. 661, art. 8, as amended to June, 1897.] Definitions as used in this article: University means University of the State of New York. Regents means board of regents of the University of the State of New York. Board means a board of medical examiners of the State of New York. Medical examiner means a member of the board of medical examiners of the State of New Y^'ork. Medical school means any medical school, college, or department of a university, registered by the regents as maintaining a proper medical standard and as legally incorporated. Medicine means medicine and surgery. Physician means physician and surgeon. § 140. Qualifications: No person shall practice medicine after September 1, 1891, ■unless previously registered and legally authorized or unless licensed by the regents and registered as required by this article; nor shall any person practice medicine who has ever been convicted of a felony by any court, or whose authority to practice is suspended or revoked by the regents on recommendation of a State board. § 141. State boards of medical examiners: There shall continue to be three sepa- rate State boards of medical examiners of seven members each, each of whom shall hold ofiSce for three years from Aiigust 1 of the year in which appointed. One board shall represent the Medical Society of the State of New York, one the Homeopathic Medical Society of the State of New York, and one the Eclectic Medical Society of the State of New York. Each of these three societies shall at each annual meeting nominate twice the number of examiners to be appointed in that year on the board representing it. The names of such nominees shall be annually transmitted under seal by the president and secretary, prior to May 1, to the regents, who shall, prior to August 1, appoint from such lists the examiners required to fill any vacancies that will occur from expiration of term on August 1. Any other vacancy, however occurring, shall likewise be filled by the regents for the unexpired term. Each nominee before appointment shall furnish to the regents proof that he has received the degree of doctor of medicine from some registered medical school and that he has legally practiced medicine in this State for at least five years. If no nominees are legally before them from a society the regents may appoint from members in good standing of such society without restriction. The regents may remove any examiner for misconduct, incapacity, or neglect of duty. [ (See also ordinance 47. ) §142. Certificate of appointment; oath; powers; Every medical examiner shall receive a certificate of appointment from the regents, and before beginning his j term of office shall file with the secretary of state the constitutional oath of office. ' Each board, or any committee thereof, raay take testimony and proofs concerning ji all matters within its jurisdiction. Each board may, subject to the regents' 1 approval, make all by-laws and rules not inconsistent with law needed in per- forming its duty; but no by-law or rule by which more than a majority vote is required for any specified action by the board shall be amended, suspended, or repealed by a smaller vote than that required for action thereunder. § 145. Admission to examination: The regents shall admit to examination any andidate who pays a fee of $25 and submits satisfactory evidences, verified by oath, if required, that he — II A CENTURY OF UNIVERSITY WORK. 129 1. Is more than 21 years of age. 2. Is of good moral character. 3. Has the general education required preliminary to receiving the degree of baclielor or doctor of medicine in this State. 4. Has studied medicine not less than four full school years of at least nine months each, including four satisfactory courses of at least six months each in four dif- ferent calendar years in a medical school registered as maintaining at the time a satisfactory standard. New York medical schools and New York medical stu- dents shall not be discriminated against by the registration of any medical school out of the State whose minimum graduation standard is less than that fixed bj- statute for New York medical schools. The regents may, in their discretion, accept as the equivalent for any part of the third and fourth requirement, evidence of five or more years' reputable practice, provided that such substitution be speci- fied in the license. 5. Has either received the degree of bachelor or doctor of medicine from some registered medical school, or a diploma or license conferring full right to practice medicine in some foreign country. The degree of bachelor or doctor of medicine shall not be conferred in this State before the candidate has filed with the institu- tion conferring it the certificate of the regents that before beginning the first annual medical course counted toward the degree unless matriculated conditionally as hereinafter specified (three years before the date of the degree), he had either graduated from a registered college or satisfactorily completed a full course in a registered academy or high school ; or had a preliminary education considered and accepted by the regents as fully equivalent; or held a regents' medical student cer- tificate, granted before this act took effect; or had passed regents" examinations- as hereinafter provided. A medical school may matriculate conditionally a stu- dent deficient in not more than one year's academic work or 12 counts of the pre- liminary education requirement, provided the name and deficiency of each student so matriculated be filed at the regents' office within three months after matricula- tion, and that the deficiency be made up before the student begins the second anniial medical course counted toward the degree. NOTES ON THE LAW AS TO ADMISSION. The regents will accept as fully equivalent to the required academic course any one of the following: a. A certificate of having successfully completed at least one full year's course of study in the collegiate department of any college or university, registered by the regents as maintaining a satisfactory standard. h. A certificate of having passed in a registered institution examinations equiva- lent to the full collegiate course of the freshman year or to a completed academic course. (Three full academic years of satisfactory work may be accepted as a high- school course till August 1, 1896, when four full academic years will be required.) c. Regents' passcards for any 48 academic counts or any regenfs diploma. d. A certificate of graduation from any registered gymnasium in Germany, Austria, or Russia. e. A certificate of the successful completion of a course of five years in a regis- tered Italian ginnasio and three years in a liceo. /. The bachelor's degree in arts or science, or substantial equivalents from any registered institution in France or Spain. g. Any credential from a registered institution or from the government in any State or country which represents the completion of a course of study equivalent to graduation from a registered New York high school or academy or from a registered Prussian gymnasium. 3176 9 130 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION" IN NEW YORK. § 146. Questions: Each board shall submit to the regents, as required, lists of suitable questions for thorough examination in anatomy, physiology and hygiene, chemistry, surgery, obstetrics, pathology and diagnosis, and therapeutics, includ- ing practice and materia medica. From these lists the regents shall prepare question papers for all these subjects, which at any examination shall be the same for all candidates, except that in therapeutics, practice, and materia medica all the questions submitted to any candidate shall be chosen from those prepared by the board selected by that candidate, and shall be in harmony with the tenets of that school as determined by its State board of medical examiners. § 147. Examinations and reports: Examinations for license shall be given in at least four convenient places in this State and at least four times annually, in accordance with the regents' rules, and shall be exclusively in writing and in English. Each examination shall be conducted by a regent's examiner, who shall not ba one of the medical examiners. At the close of each examination the regent's examiner in charge shall deliver the questions and answer papers to the board selected by each candidate or to its duly authorized committee, and such board, without unnecessary delay, shall examine and mark the answers and trans- mit to the regents an official report, signed by its president and secretary, stating the standing of each candidate in each branch, his general average, and whether the board recommends that a license be granted. Sach report shall include the questions and answers, and shall be filed in the public records of the university. If a candidate fails on first examination he may, after not less than six months' further study, have a second examination without fee. If the failure is from illness or other cause satisfactory to the regents, they may waive the required six months' study. § 148. Licenses: On receiving from a State board an official report that an appli- cant has successfully passed the examinations and is recommended for license, the regents shall issue to him, if in their judgment he is duly qualified therefor, a license to practise medicine. Every license shall be issued by the university under seal, and shall be signed by each acting medical examiner of the board selected and by the officer of the university who approved the credential which admitted the candidate to examination, and shall state that the licensee has given satis- factory evidence of fitness as to age, character, preliminary and medical educa- tion, and all other matters required by law, ar^d that after full examination he has been found properly qualified to practise. Applicants examined and licensed by other State examining boards registered by the regents as maintaining stand- ards not lower than those provided by this article, and applicants who matricu- lated in a New York State medical school before June 5, 1890, and who receive the degree M. D. from a registered medical school before August 1, 1895, may, without further examination, on payment of $10 to the regents and on submitting such evidence as they may require, receive from them an indorsement of their licenses or diplomas conferring all rights and privileges of a regent's license issued after examination. If any person whose registration is not legal because of some error, misunder- standing, or unintentional omission shall submit satisfactory proof that he had all requirements prescribed by law at the time of his imperfect registration and was entitled to be legally registered, he may, on unanimous recommendation of a State board of medical examiners, receive from the regents under seal a certifi- cate of the facts, which may be registered by any county clerk, and shall make valid the previous imperfect registration. Before any license is issued it shall be numbered and recorded in a book kept in the regents' office, and its number shall be noted in the license. This record shall be open to public inspection, and in all legal proceedings shall have the same weight as evidence that is given to a record of conveyance of land. A CENTURY OF UNIVERSITY WORK. 131 § 153. Penalties and their collection: Any person who, not being then lawfully authorized to practise medicine within this State and so registered according to law, shall practise medicine within this State without lawful registration or in violation of any provision of this article; and any person who shall buy, sell, or fraudulently obtain any medical diploma, license, record, or registration, or who shall aid or abet such buying, selling, or fraudulently obtaining, or who shall prac- tise medicine under cover of any medical diploma, license, record, or registration illegally obtained, or signed or issued unlawfully or under fraudulent representa- tions or mistake of fact in a material regard, or who, after conviction of a felony, shall attempt to practise medicine, or shall so practise; and any person who shall append the letters M. D. to his or her name, or shall assume or advertise the title of doctor (or any title which shall show or tend to show that the person assuming or advertising the same is a practitioner of any of the branches of medicine) in such a manner as to convey the impression that he or she is a legal practitioner of medi- cine or of any of its branches without having legally received the medical degree, or without having received a license which constituted at the time an authority to practise medicine under the laws of this State then in force, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than $250 or imprisonment for six months for the first offense, and on conviction of any subsequent offense by a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment for not less than one year, or by both fine and imprisonment. Any person who shall practise medicine under a false or assumed name, or who shall falsely personate another practitioner of a like or different name, shall be guilty of a felony. When any prosecution under this article is made on the complaint of any incorporated medical society of the State or any county medical society of such county entitled to representation in a State society, the fines when collected shall be paid to the society making the complaint, and any excess of the amount of fines so paid over the expense incurred by the said society in enforcing the medical laws of this State shall be paid at the end of the year to the country treasurer. (As amended by laws of 1895, ch. 398.) Practice op Dentistry. [Public health law, 1893, ch. 661, art. 9, as amended to June, 1897.] The practice of dentistry and of veterinary medicine likewise require the license of the board of regents after due examination, (See public health law, 1893, chap. 661.) ; lf.-."V^' t4^1 4f ir/__^ I - -W -7f|ify~z/i\i «!,1- . t Jfb fl < ^ A a 3 a ■I ^ ■^ g5 7 7 7 53 4 ° 6 u &5 g III 1"!^ - - PART II. THE INSTITUTIONS COMPRISED IN THE UNIVERSITY. CHAPTER 5. UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES FOR MEN, INCLUDING THOSE ALSO ADMITTING WOMEN. Columbia University, Seth Low, LL. D., President— Columbia College— Faculty of law— College of Physicians and Surgeons— Faculty of applied science— Faculty of political science— Facility of philosophy— Faculty of pure science— Teachers' College— Barnard College. ^ 1, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. By Frank R. Hathaway, A. M. King's. College 1754-1784. On the 31st day of October, 1754, King George II granted a charter to "King's College in the city of New York," "for the education and instruction of youth in the liberal arts and sciences." This charter was the outcome of years of effort on the part of those interested in the welfare of the colony, but in so short a sketch it is not necessarj^ to go back further than the first measure, an act of the assembly passed in 1746, by which it was provided that moneys should be raised by public lottery "for the encouragement of learning." Under this and subsequent acts the sum of £3,433 18s. was raised, and in 1751 this fund was vested in a board of trustees, ten in number, of whom one was a Presbyterian, two belonged to the Dutch Reformed Chuch, and the remaining seven to the Church of England, some of them being vestrymen of Trinity Church. The fact that so large a proportion of the trustees belonged to the Church of England led to fears among the colonists lest the college should become a church institution, and when the plan of obtaining a royal charter became known a very bitter opposition arose. It was led by Mr. William Livingston and represented the American as against the English sentiment. He began in March, 1753, to publish in the Independent Reflector "Remarks on our intended college," in which he claimed that it should be founded by an act of assembly, not by royal charter. In the fall of this year, in the face of the opposition. Rev. Dr. Samuel .Johnson, of Connecticut, was invited to be president of the new institution at a salary of £250, with Mr. Chauncey Whittlesey 183 134 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. as an assistant, at £200 — not very great inducements, surely, but all that the college could afford at that time. Later on Dr. Johnson was enabled to increase his income, being appointed by the vestry of Trinity Church an "assistant minister" of that parish, with a salary of £150. Moving to New York in the spring. Dr. Johnson commenced his labors immediately, but he did not formally accept the position until after the granting of the charter in October. At a meeting of the trustees on the 16th of May a draft of the pro- posed charter was read and formally opposed by Mr. Livingston, but in spite of his efforts the trustees proceeded with their application, and in expectation of success advertised their entrance examinations for the 17th of July. On that day, in the vestry room of the school- house belonging to Trinity Church, the following eight men were examined for admission to the college: Samuel Yerplank, Robert Bayard, Samuel Provost, Thomas Marston, Henry Cruger, and Joshua Bloomer. Three months later the charter was granted, and appointed — The most Reverend Father in God, Thomas, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being; The Right Honorable Dunk, Earl of Halifax, first Lord Commissioner for Trade and Plantations for the time being; our now Lieutenant-Governor and Commander in Chief of our Province of New York, and the Governor or Commander in Chief of our said Province for the time being; tlie eldest Councilor of our said Province now and for the time being; the Judges of our Supreme Court of Judicature of our said Province now and for the time being; the Secretary of our said Province now and for the time being; the Attorney-General of our said Province now and for the time being: the Speaker of the General Assembly of our said Province now and for the time being; the Treasurer of our said Province now and for the time being; the Mayor of our said City of New York now and for the time being; the Rector of Trinity Church in our said City now and for the time being; the Senior Min- ister of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in our said City now and for the time being; the Minister of the ancient Lutheran Church in our said City now and for the time being; the Minister of the French Church in our said City now and for the time being; the Minister of the Presbyterian Congregation in our said City for the time being; the President of the said College appointed by these Presents, and the President of the said College for the time being; and Archibald Kennedy, Joseph Murray, Josiali Martin, Paul Richard, Henry Cruger, William Walton. John Watts, Henry Beekman, Philip Ver Plank, Frederick Philipse, Joseph Robinson, John Cruger, Oliver De Lancey, James Livingston, Esqtiires, Benjamin Nicoll, William Livingston, Joseph Read, Nathaniel Marston, Joseph Haynes. John Livingston, Abraham Lodge, David Clarkson, Leonard Lispenard, and James De Lancey the Younger, Gentlemen, to be the present Governors of the said College; And made them " a Body politick and Corporate," capable of hold- ing land, suing, and being sued. At a meeting held on the 7th of May, 1755, the charter was formally presented by the lieutenant-governor, Mr. James De Lancey, and the legal oath was administered to the governors by Mr. Horsmanden, a judge of the supreme court. At their «iext meeting, held a week later, the board of governors of the college, being now organized and COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 135 authorized by law to hold property, Trinitj'- Church carried out the original plan and presented them with a piece of property west of Broadway between Barclay and Murray streets, facing- on Church street and extending to the North River, the same being a portion of the King's farm, which it was believed had been vested in the church as well for the encouragement of learning as of religion. This gift was on condition that — the president of the said college for the time being shal forever hereafter be a member of and in communion with the Church of England. This conditional clause greatly increased the opposition to the charter. Mr. Livingston looked upon the college as a sectarian school, and objected strenuously to using for the support of any church insti- tution moneys collected by the State. This was the popular side of the cause, and in December, 1756, it became in a measure successful; for the moneys collected by public lottery were then divided between the college and the "mayor and commonality of the city of New York."i An interesting episode in this controversy took place at the first meeting of the governors. The Rev. Mr. Ritzema, senior minister of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, in an address upon the sub- ject expressed a wish that some plan could be "fallen upon" to con- trovert the charge of sectarianism. He suggested that a chair in divinity be founded in the college and be filled by a minister of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. The governors immediately acquiesced, and a committee was appointed to arrange for the altering of the charter, and at a subsequent meeting an addition to the charter was read providing for "a professor in divinity according to the Doc- trine, Discipline, and Worship established by the Synod of Dort." This proved merely a sop to Cerberus, for the chair so created was never occupied. On the 3d of June, 1755, the governors adopted a seal, of which the following is a description, copied literallj^ from the minutes : The device of the College Seal, — The College is represented by a Lady sitting in a Throne or Chair of State, with Severall Children at her Knees to represent the Pupils, with I Peter II. , 1, 2, 7 v., under them to express the Temper with which they should apply Themselves to seek for True Wisdom. The words are, Where- fore laying aside all Malice and all Guile, and Hypocrises and Envies and Evil Speakings, as New-born Babes desire the Sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby, &c. One of them She takes by the hand with her left hand express- ing her benevolent design of Conducting them to true Wisdom and Virtue. To which purpose She holds open to them a Book in her right hand in which is [inj Greek letters AOFIA ZflNTA, the living or lively Oracles, which is the Epithet that St. Stephen gives to the Holy Scriptures — Acts. 7:38. Out of her Mouth over her left Shoulder goes a Label with these words in Hebrew Letters ORI-EL, God is my light; alluding to Ps. 37 : 1. expressing her Acknowledgment of God the Father of Lights, as the Fountain of all that Light, both Natural and Revealed with which She proposes to enlighten or instruct her Children or Pupils; whereof ' The division gave to each corporation the sum of £3,382. 136 HTSTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IT^ NEW YORK. the Sun rising under the Label is the Emblem or Hieroglyphic, alluding to that expression Mai. IV, 2.. The Sun of Righteousness arising with healing in his ; Wings. Over her head is Jehovah in a Glory, the Beams coming triangularly to ,; a Point near her bead, with these words around her for her motto, In Liimine Tuo Videbimus Lumen — In thy light shall we see light Ps. 36 : 9. On the Edge around are engraved in Capitals, Sigillum Collegii Reg. Nov. Ebor. in America — The Seal of King's College at New York in America. During the first two years of its existence the college was without a home, but after a length}^ discussion of the subject a plan was adopted and Sir Charles Hardy, then governor of the province, laid the first stone on the 23d of August, 1756. When the old college building was torn down, in 1857, this stone, which contains a suitable inscription, was carefully preserved and built into the wall of the present chapel. Another relic of the colonial days is a weather-beaten copper crown. This emblem of royalty used to surmount the cupola of the building in College place, and has lately been given a prominent position in the new library- building. A traveler who visited New York in 1760 says : The college, when finished, will be exceedingly handsome. It is to be built on three sides of a quadrangle, fronting Hudson's or North River, and will be the most beautifully situated of any college, I believe, in the world.' When the second class was admitted to the college it became neces- sary for Dr. Johnson to have an assistant. His son, Mr. William Johnson, was accordingly appointed in the place of Mr. Whittlesey, who, on account of poor health, had never entered upon the duties of that position. After about a year Mr. William Johnson went abroad to take orders, and Mr. Leonard Cutting was appointed to fill his place. In November, 1756, the smallpox broke out in the city and Dr. Johnson left the college to the care of Mr. Cutting and took refuge in the country. The work of the three classes proved too much for Mr. Cutting, and the governors procured Mr. Tread well and appointed him professor of mathematics and natural philosophy, and provided him wath "an apparatus of instruments for teaching experimental philosophy in the college." Mr. Tread well was expected also to teach Latin and Greek to the two younger classes. A committee was ap- pointed from the governors to visit the College during the absence of Dr. Johnson, and even after his return the committee was continued for some years as a visiting committee to look after the general wel- fare of the College. The president returned to the city in March, 1758, and at a meeting held May 9, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Barclay, Mr. Ritzema, Mr. Weygand, Mr. Carlo, Colonel Martin, Mr. Nicoll, and Mr. John Livingston were appointed a committee to arrange for a commencement. The first commencement of King's College was according^ held on the 21st of ' Travels through the Middle Settlements in North America in the years 1759- 1760, with observations u :on the state of the Colonies. By Rev. Andrew Burnaby, A. M., Vicar of Greenwich. T. Payne, London, 1765, quarto edition, p. 61. COLUMBIA UNIVEESITY. 137 June, 1758, and the degree of A. B. was conferred on eight men, twelve more receiving the degree of A. M. The following year no commence- ment was held, two men, however, received the degree of A. B. In the spring of 1760, the partially completed buildings having been occupied, a procession of the governors, ofi&cers, instructors, and stu- dents formed on the college green and marched from there to St. George's Chapel, where the third annual commencement was held. Writing at this time Dr. Burnaby said: At present the state of it [the college] is far from being flourishing or as good as might be wished. Its fund does not exceed £10,000 currency and there is a great scarcity of professors. A commencement was held, nevertheless, this sum- mer (1760) and seven' gentlemen too c degrees. There are in it at this time about twenty-four students. The president, Dr. Johnson, is a very worthy man. but rather too far advanced in life to have the direction of so young an institution. The late Dr. Bristow left to this college a fine library, of which they are in daily expectation. Dr. Johnson was instructed to order these books delivered to a London agent and to request him to insure them and have them "shipt." He did so, but it was a long while before the books were received and even then there seems to have been a mistake by which some of them were lost. The work of finding new instructors was a difficult one, and in Feb- ruary, 1760, a committee was appointed to write to the Archbishop of Canterbury requesting him to procure two competent men and author- izing him to offer £150 for one and £80 for the other, the salar}^ to begin at the time of embarkation. At the opening of the next terra the chair in mathematics and natural philosophj^, left vacant by the death of Mr. Treadwell, was filled by the appointment of Mr. Robert Harpur, but it was some time longer before the trustees succeeded in finding the second instructor for whom they had been looking, not, in fact, until November, 1762, when the Rev. Myles Cooper was made a fellow of the college and professor of moral x)hilosoph3^ His salary was fixed at £150, and for this he was expected, in addition to instruct- ing his own classes, to assist the president, whose duties had been to give instruction in Creek, logic, metaphysics, and ethics. On the 25th of March, 1761, it was— Ordered, That Mr. Edward Willett be appointed steward of King"s College dur- ing pleasure, to provide such of the students as have an inclination to diet with him upon such terms as shall be agreed upon between them, and that he have the use of two rooms and a kitchen in the college, and such part of the garden as the President and he shall agree upon, he causing the students" rooms to be kept clean and the beds made. Also that the students breakfast, ditie, and sup together in the college hall, but that they be allowed no meat at suppers. At the fall meeting in 1761 a committee was appointed to level the college grounds, plant trees, and build a fence and porter's lodge, and we learn from a paper left by President Cooper that the lodge ' The college catalogue gives only six names. 138 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 11^ NEW YORK. gate was closed summer nigMs at 10 o'clock and winter nights at 9, and the names of all who came in after these hours were reported to the president. On the 1st of March, 1763, Dr. Johnson resigned, and Mr. Cooper occupied his place until the 12th of April, when he was formally elected to the position of president at a salary of £270. In the fall President Cooper's salary was increased to £400, and at the same meeting letters were received from the agents who had been collecting monej^ abroad, authorizing the college to draw £5,000. The first commencement under the administration of President Cooper took place May 17, 1763, when two students received the degree of A. B. and seven alumni of the college that of A. M. ESTABLISHMENT OF A MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. In August, 1767, the governors received letters from Drs. Samuel Clossey, Peter Middleton, John Jones, James Smith, Samuel Bard, and John V. B. Tennent suggesting the establishment of a medical department in the college and offering their services as lecturers during the winter. Their offer was accepted, and the appointments were made as follows: Dr. Clossey, lecturer in anatomy; Dr. Middle- ton, in physiology and pathology; Dr. Bard, in the theory and practice of "phj^sick;" Dr. Jones, in the theorj^ of "chirurgery," with a course of lectures on the human body; Dr. Smith, in chemistry; Dr. Tennent, in materia medica and midwifery. From this unpretentious begin- ning, as will hereafter be seen, grew one of the finest and best equipped medical schools in the world. In 1773 Rev. John Vardill was appointed professor of natural law, and soon after of history and languages. He was the first alumnus of the College who received an appointment as instructor in the Col- lege. Under Dr. Cooper the College was prosperous, but he was a royalist and got himself into ill repute by writing political papers. Finally his house was entered by a mob and he was forced to flee for his life. Escaping from the grounds, he wandered along the shore of the river until near morning, when he took refuge in the house of his friend Mr. Stuyvesent, and soon after sailed for England. The stu- dents, led by Alexander Hamilton, showed that although the College was English in religion, it was not, as it had been called, "a hotbed of royalism." May 16, the Rev. Benjamin Moore, an alumnus of the College, was appointed president pro tem. On the 6th of April, 1776, the Committee of Safety ordered the buildings to be gotten ready to receive troops, and accordingly the books and apparatus were stored, the rooms were converted into hos- pital wards, and for eight years the College had but a slumbering existence. We are indebted to a paper, said to have been written by President COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 139 Cooper, for some valuable information concerning the College and its management. Speaking of the institution, he says: Herein are taught by proper masters and professors, who are chosen by the gov- ernors and president, divinity, natural law, physic, logic, ethics, metaphysics, mathematics, natural philosophy, astronomy, geography, history, chronology, rhetoric. Hebrew, Greek. Latin, modern languages, the belles-lettres, and what- ever else of literature may tend to accomplish the pupils as scholars and gentlemen. To the college is also annexed a grammar school for the due preparation of those who propose to complete their education with the arts and sciences. All students but those in med;cine are obliged to lodge and diet in the college unless they are particularly exempted by the governors or president. . . . Visitations by the governors are quarterly, at which times premiums of books, silver medals, etc., are adjudged to the most deserving. POUNDING OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE, 1784-1787. UNDER THE REGENTS. Very little is known of the history of the College during the years of the war ; in fact, it had little history. The College Record remarks : The turbulence and confusion which prevail in every part of the country effec- tually suppress every literary pursuit. It would seem, however, that some instruction continued to be given under the auspices of King's College, though not within its walls, for we find in its matricula the names of William Walton and James De Lancey Walton, entered in the year 1777; and the governors appear to have met occasionally after this, for there exists a certified copy of minutes of a meeting on the 17th of May, 1781. These are the only indications, faint as they are, which have been discovered of the existence of the College during a period of eight years — from the spring of 1776 to that of 1784 — except that it afterwards appears from the minutes of the trustees of Columbia College on the 28th of March, 1788, that Mr. Moore, the pres- ident ad interim, occupied during a part of this period a house furnished by Mr. Lispenard for the use of the officers and students of the College when the College edifice was converted into an hospital. ' With its president gone, its instructors scattered, its books and instruments stored or lost, the College had sunk to a veiy low ebb, and legislative aid had become a necessity. On the 25th of Novem- ber, 1783, the British evacuated New York, and six months later, on the 1st of May, 1784, in response to a strong appeal from Governor George Clinton, the legislature passed "An act for granting certain privileges to the college heretofore called King's College for altering the name and charter thereof, and erecting an university within this State. "^ By this act the rights, privileges, and immunities of the College were vested in a body called the "Regents of the University of the State of New York," which was to consist of the governor, lieu- tenant-governor, president of the senate, speaker of the assembly, mayors of New York and Albany, the attorney -general and the secre- tary of State ex officio, and twenty-four gentlemen appointed by ^ Moore's Historical Sketch, p. 64. ^Laws of the State of New York, seventh session, ch. 51. 140 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. name, among whom were Mr. Henry Brockholst Livingston, the son of the gentleman who, thirty j^ears before, had so bitterly opposed the royal charter, and Mr. Robert Harpur, who had been connected with the royal institution as professor of mathematics. Further, the clergy of the respective religious denominations were empowered to meet and elect a regent to represent them in the University. To this body was given all powers and responsibilities respecting the college heretofore known as King's College. They were to hold the property, appoint the president and professors, and attend to the general man- agement, but it was especially enacted that no religious test oath should be required and that "no professor shall be in anywise what- soever accounted ineligible for or by reason of ^.Tiy religious tenet or tenets that he may or shall profess." The last clause of the act changed the name from King's to Columbia College. m The first act of this board of regents after organization was the appointment of several committees, one "to demand and receive from the late corporation of the college called King's College " wliat- ever property it had held, and others charged with the repairs of the college edifice, the preparing of by-laws, the engaging of proper instructors, etc. One of the first instructors engaged was the Rev. John Peter Tetard, who was appointed professor of the French lan- guage. A committee of the regents, consisting of the chancellor. Governor George Clinton; the vice-chancellor, Hon. Pierre Van Cort- landt; the secretary, Mr. Robert Harpur; the maj^or of New York, and the newly appointed Professor Tetard, was chosen to conduct all examinations, and the first man to appear before them was De Witt 1 Clinton, who entered the junior class. From this time, so long as the College remained in the care of the regents, all examinations were j conducted by such committees. The regents appear to have been very zealous in their efforts to make the college the nucleus of a great universitj'-. With this view the}^ applied themselves diligentl}^ to obtain subscriptions of money toward the maintenance of the college, and making large calculations probably on the success of these, they resolved December 14, 1784, to organize the four faculties of arts, divinity, medicine, and law, mak- ing the first to comprise seven professorships, the second to consist of such as might be established b3^ the different religious societies within the State pursuant to the act instituting the university, the third to be composed of seven professors, and the last of three. Besides all which there were to be nine extra professors, a president, a secre- tary, and a librarian. All this magnificent scheme was adopted when the entire income from the real and personal property of the college did not exceed the sum of £1,200.' Naturally this elaborate plan was not carried out. No president was appointed, and of the four faculties proposed those in divinity ' Historical Sketch, p. 68. COLUMBIA UNIVEBSITY. 141 and law were not created. The other two, howevei% were quite com- plete, the faculty of arts comprising professors in Greek and Latin, French, German, oriental languages, rhetoric and logic, natural phi- losophy and astronomy, natural history and chemistry, and a tutor in mathematics who was afterward made professor. The candidate for admission under this faculty was required to be able "to render into English Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War, the four orations of Cicero against Catiline, the first four books of Virgil's ^Eneid, and the Gospels from the Greek." He was also required "to explain the government and connection of the words and to turn English into grammatical Latin." The requirements in mathematics were simply the first four rules of arithmetic with the rule of three. ^ The faculty of medicine was very well equipped with Drs. Bard, Kissam, McKnight, Romaine, and Crosby, teaching chemistry, medi- cine, anatomy and surgerj^, ]3ractrice and obstetrics. Discipline was maintained by means of fines, a system which has been entirely abandoned in institutions of this kind. Instead of one long summer vacation, our predecessors had their resting periods scattered through the year. There were two vacations- of six weeks each, the first beginning immediately after commence- ment and the second after the examination in October. THE NEW CHARTER. The board of regents was composed of a large number of gentlemen from different parts of the State, and three years' experience under its government proved that the college could not be successful if its educational as well as financial administration were placed in so scat- tered a bodj^ No one appreciated this fact better than the regents themselves, and a movement for reform, led by two of their number, Alexander Hamilton and Ezra L'Hommedieu, began in the winter of 1786-87. A committee was appointed to submit to the legislature a scheme for reorganization, and as a result there was passed on the 13th of April, 1787, "An act to institute an university within this State, and for other purposes herein mentioned." ^ By this act a char- ter was granted to Columbia College similar to the old royal charter, liaving only a change of name and such alterations as "s^ere made nec- essary by the change of the National Government. A number of gentlemen from the board of regents were chosen to form a board of trustees for the college, and Columbia became independent of the State university, subject only to visitation and general supervision. It was provided that the board of trustees should consist of 24 gentle- men; that it should be perpetuated by cooptation, and that "no per- sons should be trustees in virtue of any offices, characters, or descrip- iStatiites, 1785. ^Laws of the State of New York, tenth session, chap. 82. 142 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. tions whatever," thus ridding the board of any political bias. The entire government, educational and financial, and the choice of all college officers was committed to this board. The first meeting of the trustees of Columbia College was held on Tuesday, the 8th of May, 1787, and Mr. Brockholst Livingston was reappointed treasurer and Mr. Robert Harpur clerk. The by-laws which had been established b}^ the I'egents were adopted in so far as they were not repugnant to the new constitution of the college. The Early Presidencies, 1787-1849. At their third meeting the trustees elected William Samuel John- son, LL. D., the son of the first president of King's College, to be the first president of Columbia College. His assistants were, in the school of arts. Professors Cochran and Kemp, and in the school of medicine, Drs. Kissam, McKnight, and Crosby. Under the regents no academic dress had been worn either by stu- dents or professors, but an early resolution of the trustees "recom- mended to the president and professors of the college to wear gowns." ^ This was seconded by a petition of the students, and the following resolution was adopted b}^ the trustees : Resolved, That for the present such of the students as choose to wear gowns be, and they are hereby, permitted to wear them.- The college at this time was in a very trying situation. Of the 39 students, but 5 boarded in the college. The yearlj^ income of the institution was only about £1,300, and legislative aid had become a necessity. In 1790 the report of the regents to the legislature was accompanied by a petition from the trustees of Columbia College for pecuniary assistance. These communications were submitted to a joint committee, and on the 4th of March, through Mr. Duane, they reported themselves as "unanimously of the opinion that the rents and profits of the land belonging to this State at Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and Fort George, on Lake George, and also the island near the city of New York, commonly called Governor's Island, together with the sum of £1,000, ought to be vested in the regents of the university, to enable them to supply the wants of the said college and the respective academies and to answer the ends of their institu- tion."^ The substance of this report was embodied in a bill which passed on the 31st of the same month.* That this gift was appreciated is shown by the report of the regents for the following year: The provision for the promotion of sound learning and true philosophy which was made by the legislature at their last session has been faithfully applied to ' Resolutions of the Trustees (published 1868), p. 155. ■' Ibid, p. 9. 3 Senate Journal, 1790, p. 24; Assembly Journal, p. 51. ■^Laws of the State of New York, thirteenth session, chap. 38. COLUMBIA UNIVEKSITY. 143 effect the important object for which their liberality was exerted. Although the sum granted is not altogether adequate to the exigencies of the seminaries under our inspection, it will in a great degree relieve their more immediate and pressing necessities, and so far answer the generous intentions of the legislature by pro- curing a mathematical and philosophical apparatus of which even Columbia Col- lege is almost entirely destitute. The money has been distributed in such a manner as we conceived would prove most subservient to the promotion of litera- ture. One moiety of it has been given to Columbia College, and the remainder is to be divided among the four academies which were incorporated before our last report. ' The next report stated that purchases of apparatus had been made, but added that the library and apparatus were still very defective, and that the funds were not sufficient to enable the trustees to estab- lish several very important professorships and to erect a convenient hall for public exhibitions and for other necessary purposes.^ On the 11th of April, 1792, the legislature gave further aid to the college by the passage of an act directing the treasurer to pay to the trustees the sum of £1,500 for the purpose of enlarging the library, the sum of £200 for a chemical apparatus, the sum of £1,200 for the purpose of building a wall to support the grounds of the college, made necessary by the lowering of the grade of the street, and, further, the sum of £5,000 for the purpose of erecting a hall and an additional wing to the college, pursuant to the original plan of the institution.^ The same act provided for the payment of £750 per annum for five years, and by a subsequent act this was extended two years longer.* Encouraged by this liberality, the trustees made many important changes during this year. Acting on the suggestion of the medical society of the State, and in* concert with the regents cf the university, they improved the organization of the medical school by the creation of the office of dean of the faculty. To this position they elected Dr. Samuel Bard, who had been professor of the theory and practice of medicine in King's College, and who had more recently held, first, the professorship of chemistry, and then that of natural philosophy and astronomy, during the administration of the regents. The new fac- ulty consisted of Drs. Bailey, Post, Rodgers, Hamersley, Smith, NicoU, and Kissam, whose assiduity and skill carried out the noble design of the founders, so that in 1793 the regents were able to report "that now a complete course of medical instruction is annually delivered in the college," and the school, which at present consists of 37 students, is daily increasing. In the following year an important step was taken in the election of Mr. James Kent to a professorship in law. For five years he deliv- ered courses of lectures intended to fit young men for practice at the bar. Twenty-five years later he resumed the work as Dr. Kent and has since become widely known as the great Chancellor Kent. 1 Senate Journal, 1791, p. 34; Assembly Journal, p. 51. •' Senate Journal, 1792, p. 29. ^ Laws of the State of New York, fifteenth session, chap. 69. ■^Ibid., nineteenth session, chap. 57. 144 HISTORY OB" HIOHEE EDUCATION IN NEW TOEK. The creation of tlie chair in law was followed by the institution of a professorship in humanity, and a regular course of lectures was planned ' ' designed generally ' to explain and elucidate ancient learn- ing and to facilitate the acquisition of liberal knowledge.' "^ The report for this j^ear contains some interesting facts which' throw a good deal of light on the condition of the college in those early times and also give an idea of the value of scholastic abilities in the last part of the eighteenth century. The annual revenue arising from the estate belonging to Columbia College exclusive of some bonds which are not at present productive amounts to fifteen hundred and thirty-five pounds and is appropriated as follows— to the President £450, to the Professor of Natural Philosophy £350, to the Professor of the Greek and Latin Languages £300, to the Professor of Geography and Moral Philosophy £150, to the Secretary of the Board £50, to the Porter and ^lessenger £52, to the Treasurer £30 and there remain for repairs and contingent expenses £153. The President and Professors of the Faculty of Arts receive besides these fixed salaries from every student that attends them £3 per annum. The sum of £1500 granted by the Legislature for such additional professorships as might be established in the college has been appropriated as follows: — to the Professor of Chemistry and Agricu ture £300, to the Professor of Oriental Languages £100, to the Professor of the French Tongug £150, to the Pro'^essor of Law £200 and £50 are yet unappro- priated None of the professors of the medical faculty have any stated salary. '■' * * What they receive from the students is not by any means an adequate compensa- tion for their labor and services,^ In 1799 the trustees asked the legislature for a continuation of the £750 annuity which thej^ had been receiving since 1792. This having been refused, it became necessary to reduce the number of professor- ships. Those in oriental languages, French, and law were discontin- ued. The duty of teaching rhetoric and belles-lettres, logic, and moral philosophy devolved upon the president; mathematics and natural philosophy were united under one professor, and with this Columbia entered upon one of the most trying periods of her existence. The number of students in 1800 was only 94, and on the 16th of July Dr. Johnson resigned the presidency. For thirteen years Dr. John- son had administered the affairs of the college with skill and vigor. He was an educated Christian gentleman of rare ability and great literary attainments. Under the new National Government he was the first Senator from his native State, and held Ms ofS.ce so long as Congress sat in JSTew York, but on its removal to Philadelphia he resigned this honorable position that he might remain faithful to the college. The vacancy created by his resignation as president of Columbia was one not easily filled. The senior professor was empow- ered to preside at the ensuing commencement, and it was not until the 25th of May, 1801, that the trustees decided upon a successor. 'Assembly Journal, 1795, p. 85., Report of the Regents concerning Columbia College. This chair does not appear in the catalogue. ^Assembly journal, 1798, p. 321. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 145 The Rev. Charles H. Wharton, S. T. D., of Philadelphia, was elected, and on the 3d of August he signified by letter his willingness to accept the of6.ce. On the 11th of December following he resigned after a term of less than five months. In its extremity the college turned to the Right Rev. Benjamin Moore, who had served it under the royal regime and had temporarily filled the president's chair during the war. Dr. Moore was at this time bishop of the diocese and his duties were too numerous to admit of his giving anj^ instruction in the college. He Avas therefore relieved of all professorial duties and charged simply with "the general superintendence of the institution. " To the important chair thus left vacant, including moral jDhilosophy, logic, rhetoric, and belles- lettres, the Rev. Dr. Bowden was elected with all but £100 of the salary formerly given to the president. The annual reports show that the number of students was continually increasing, but the trustees had a constant struggle to meet their expenses, and the buildings were falling into decay. COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. In spite of the favorable report of the regents, showing the medical department of the college to be "on a respectable footing, although the professors receive no pecimiary emolument from the State and the corporation of the college is unable to afford them any," the Medical Society of the County of New York sent a memorial to the legislature in 1807 requesting that they be incorporated as a college to "promote medical knowledge," and asked that they be placed under the direc- tion, inspection, and patronage of the regents of the university. In response to this, within a month, the members of the society, number- ing 139, were duly incorporated as "The College of Physicians and Surgeons in the City of New York." The first faculty of this school was headed by Dr. Nicholas Romayne and Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, both formerly lecturers in Columbia. The prime movers in the new institution were thus men who had been intimately connected with ihe medical department of the college, and the necessity of starting a new school and separating it from Columbia does not appear. In 1811 Dr. Bard, formerly dean of the medical department of Columbia, was elected to the presidency of the new college; and in 1813, through the influence of Dr. David Hosack, the medical lectures of Columbia College were transferred to the new institution. Some years before this Dr. Hosack had established a botanic garden for the iDurpose of raising plants for the illustration of his lectures. Finding the garden too expensive for private maintenance he proposed to transfer its ownership to the State for public instruction in botany and materia medica. This proposal was finally agreed to, and "The Elgin Botanic Garden " was purchased by an act of the legislature and 3176 10 146 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. assigned to the keeping of the regents of the university. They placed it under the care of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, "to be by them kept in a state of preservation and in a condition fit for all medical purposes, free of expense." This the new institution soon found itself unable to do, and the property proving a burden to them they returned it to the regents, who in turn granted it to the trustees of Columbia College upon condition that the college establishment should be removed to that location within twelve years. QUESTION OF SITE. A number of times during its history there had been propositions for the removal of the college to some less populous district, and this constant uncertainty had deterred the trustees from making any alterations in the buildings. In 1817 the regents requested that the trustees of the college consolidate the college property and funds with those of a new institution to which a charter had been granted under the name of Washington College, and for which Staten Island had been chosen as a site. This proposition excited a great deal of inter- est and led to a thorough investigation of the subject. It was referred to a committee of five of New York's most able men — Rich- ard Harrison, Rufus King, Brockholst Livingston, Bishop Hobart, and William Johnson. After mature deliberation this committee m^ade a report in which they stated that they deemed it the duty of the trustees not to accede to the proposal of the regents. The discussion of this subject was of great benefit to the college, for as soon as they had answered the proposition in the negative they became satisfied with their situation and decided to repair the build- ings and make the college what it should be where it was. A plan was accordingly agreed upon, and a committee appointed to carry it into effect. Two wings, each fifty feet square and each containing two houses for professors, were added to the extremities of the original edifice, and of this older building, which underwent very extensive alterations, one-fourth being reserved as a dwell- ing house, the residue was so arranged as to furnish a chapel, a library, and all the required recitation rooms. While these improvements were being made the trustees, presenting the facts to the legislature, stated that it would incur needless expense to move the college while the present buildings could be so easily made tenantable, and appealed to them to have the conditions on which they had received the Botanic Garden repealed. This request was granted by an act of February 19, 1819, and the trustees became unconditional owners of the tract of land now included between Fifth and Sixth avenues, extending from Forty-seventh to Fifty-first streets, an exceedingly valuable leasehold property, in comparison with which the sum of $10,000, granted at the same time, seems but a pittance. 1 COLUMBIA UNIVEESITY. 147 This tract of land was the only considerable gift the college ever received from the legislature.^ CURRICULUM IN 1810. On the 22d of June, 1809, upon the recommendation of a committee consisting of Mr. Rufus King and the Reverend Doctors Mason, Abeel, Hobart, and Miller a regulation was adopted raising the requirements for admission very much higher than ever before, and in the follow- ing February a new course of studies and system of discipline were arranged in accordance with the new statute. To the requirements for admission, as stated above, were added several more Orations of Cicero, more of Virgil's ^'Eneid, Dalzel's Collectanea Minora, the first two books of Xenophon's Cyropsedia, and the first two books of Homer's Iliad. The requirements in math- ematics were raised. The candidate was required to "be well versed in the first four rules of arithmetic, the rule of three, direct and inverse, and decimal and vulgar fractions. " The course of study was made to include, in the freshman year, Cicero's Letters to Atticus, Sallust entire, Horace's Satires, Dalzel's Collectanea Majora, Xenophon's Memorabilia, Kent's Lucian, double translation, Latin verse, Roman antiquities, Euclid's Elements, geography, English grammar and reading, English composition and declamation. The sophomore class read Virgil's Georgics, Livy, the Odes and Epistles of Horace, Demosthenes, Homer, and Herodotus. They con- tinued double translation and Latin composition in prose and verse, also Roman antiquities, and began Greek antiquities. In mathematics they took up plane trigonometry and its applications, and algebra. They studied geography, elements of rhetoric, English composition, and declamation in English* and Latin. In the junior class under the professor of languages were read Cicero on Oratory, Terence, Quintilian, Longinus, and Sophocles. The class also reviewed Horace, Greek and Latin antiquities, continued double translation, and took up Greek composition in prose and verse. Eng- lish composition was continued with criticism and the student was required to declaim pieces of his own composition. History and chronology were added to geography, and in mathematics spherical trigonometry and conic sections were taken up. The important studies of this year were natural philosophy and the elements of ethics. In the senior year to a continuation and review of the subjects formerly pursued were added astronomy, fiuctions, analysis of intel- lectual powers, principles of reasoning, and law of nature and nations. ^ This statement is not strictly accurate, as the college received in 1770 a grant of 24,000 acres of land " in the new county of Gloucester, in the Province of New York." This land, however, was included in the '• New Hampshire Grants," and was lost to the college. The State made no compensation, unless the subsequent grant of the Botanic Garden can be considered such. 148 HISTOKY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. President Harris. In May, 1811, Bishop Moore, having seen the college thus reorgan- ized and its standard of education raised, resigned the presidency in order to make room for some one who would have it in his power to devote himself wholly to the college. On the 17th of June following the Rev. William Harris, S. T. D., rector of St. Mark's Church, was elected president, and the Rev. John M. Mason, S. T. D., was chosen to fill the newly created office of provost. This office, which was in fact a sort of vice-presidency coupled with the duty of instructing the seniors in the classics, only existed a few years. When Dr. Mason resigned, in 1816, on account of ill-health, the trustees determined that the powers and duties formerly connected with it should devolve upon the president and the classical professor. During the administration of President Harris the college met with two serious losses in the death of Drs, Kemp and Bowden. Dr. Kemp had for twenty-eight years been a faithful worker in the mathematical department. Having begun as a tutor, he soon rose to the professor- ship, and eventually had the instruction in natural history added to his cares. At his death Dr. Kemp's books were purchased by the col- lege, and made a valuable addition to the library. Dr. Bowden, who had bt?en appointed at the accession of President Moore, had for six- teen years ably filled the chair in moral philosophy, logic, rhetoric, and belles-lettres. To the vacancies caused by these two deaths were elected, respectively, Mr. Robert Adrian and the Rev. John McVicar. In February, 1820, Dr. Wilson, after a long and faithful service of the college in the professorship of the Greek and Latin languages, found himself obliged by increasing infirmities to resign his office, and the trustees in consideration of his "faithful and eminently use- ful services during eight and twenty years" granted him a liberal annuity for life. Mr. Nathaniel F. Moore, who had three years before been appointed adjunct professor, was elected to the chair, and Mr. Charles Anthon was appointed in his place as assistant. A further change in the staff of instruction was made by a division of the pro- fessorship of mathematics and natural philosophy into a professorship of mathematics and astronomy and a professorship of natural and experimental philosophy and chemistry. Of these the former was left to the charge of Dr. Adrian, who held it until 1825, when Henry J. Anderson, M. D., was elected upon the recommendation of the retir- ing professor. The latter was filled by the election of Mr. James Renwick, an alumnus of Columbia, and the college now for the first time saw most of her offices filled by her own alumni. Professors McVicar, Moore, Anthon, and Renwick having all been reared within her walls. In 1821 the requirements for admission were again raised a little, the most important addition being algebra, including simple equa- tions. The value of instruction depends more on the i)rofessor than COLUMBIA UNiVEKSITY. 149 on the books used or the subjects studied, and with the divided chair the department of mathematics and natural philosophy- offered a very comprehensive course. The influence of the man was shown also in Dr. McVicai^'s department, for in spite of the multifarious duties imposed upon him he added intellectual philosophy and political economy to the senior course, doing the extra work for the love of the subjects and without additional recompense. He was in fact one of the first men in America to give instruction in the subject of political economy. Two years after this extension of the curriculum the Hon. James Kent was reappointed to the professorship in law, wliicli he had resigned a quarter of a century before after having held it five j^ears. The present appointment of this accomplished jurist gave rise to a course of lectures at the college which proved the germ of his learned Commentaries, and was consequently attended with results which, while they reflect honor on the college, are of inestimable value to the science of jurisprudence and to the whole legal profession. In the fall of 1829 President Harris died, after a term of office extend- ing over eighteen years during which he had witnessed many impor- tant changes both in the curriculum and in the personnel. A succes- sor to Dr. Harris was found in the person of Hon. William Alexander Duer, LL. D., judge of the supreme court, who was called to the pres- idency of the college during the following winter. President Duer was born in Rhinebeck, IST. Y., on the 8th of September, 1780. He was the son of William Duer, of Devonshire, England, and grandson of William Alexander, a claimant of the Scottish earldom of Stirling. In 1814 he was elected to the New York State assembly, and while a member of that body served as chairman of the committee on col- leges and academies. His service on this committee no doubt greatly increased his fitness for the position to which Columbia called him. LIBERALIZATION OF THE COURSE. Owing to the agitation of a plan for the establishment of a rival institution, the trustees made an effort to increase the usefulness of the college. They tried to render the benefits of education more generally accessible to the community by making extensive additions and modifications in the system of instruction. The cui-riculum in existence at the time was kept entire and was called the "full course," and in addition a " scientific and literary course" was established for the benefit of special students. The statutes adopted by the trustees in May, 1836, introduced several provisions by which both these courses were further enlarged, and the "literary and scientific course" in particular defined and materially extended with the view of rendering it a complete system of instruction for young men designed for civil or military engineers, architects, superintendents of manufactories of all kinds, or for mercantile or nautical pursuits. 150 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. To carry out these plans the trustees appropriated $10,000 for the purchase of the requisite books and apparatus. The requirements for admission were that the student should have a grammatical knowledge of the French language and "the mathemat- ical and geographical knowedge required for admission into the fresh- man class " of the ' ' full course. " Besides the subjects formerly taught, instruction was now offered in the ''full course" in surveying, level- ing and navigation, elementary chemistry, heat, electricity, galvanism, magnetism, optics, practical astronomj^, nautical astronomy, miner- alogy, geology, calculus, mechanics, physical astronomy, principles of civil and military architecture, and civil engineering. Lectures were also given on constitutional jurisprudence and outlines of international law, and Dr. McVicar offered a course in the evidences of natural and revealed religion. There were also professorships in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Hebrew. In the "literary and scientific course " practical work was offered in chemistry, examination and assay of earthy minerals, ores, and metals, the elements of perspective, the use of water colors, topographical drawing, drawing in civil archi- tecture, of machines and instruments used in the mechanic arts, of the structures used in inland navigation, of the carriages and engines employed on railroads, and in naval architecture. Chapter XIV of the statutes provided for a course of public lectures open to all per- sons who might choose to attend, the fees of admission to be fixed by the respective lecturers. At the same time a number of free scholar- ships were established and their patronage distributed among the important corporations, institutions, and religious denominations in the city, thus removing any foundations for the accusation of secta- rianism which had so often been thrust upon the institution. In May, 1842, President Duer, having long suffered from a painful illness, found himself obliged to offer his resignation. The trustees regretfully released him from his duties and he retired to private life at his country seat in Morristown, IST. J. The lectures on constitu- tional jurisprudence of the United States which he delivered during his administration were afterwards published and gained a consider- able reputation in their day. During the summer the vacancy was filled by the election of Nathan- iel F. Moore, LL. D. A graduate of Columbia in 1802, Dr. Moore had already served as professor of Greek and Latin, and later in the capacity of librarian, and was well acquainted with the needs and possibilities of the college. The scientific and literary course, which after a trial of thirteen years had proved unsuccessful, was abolished by the new statutes now drawn up, but the " full course" was further extended, and in fact included most of the subjects offered under the old regime. One important change in these statutes was the placing of the German language in the regular undergraduate course. ■ COLUMBIA UNIVEESITY. 151 By the generosity of Frederick Gebhard, esq., a chair was endowed under the title of "The Gebhard Professorship of the German Lan- guage and Literature." In December, 1844, Mr. J. W. S. Hows was appointed professor of elocution. Upon his retirement in 1857 instruction in this art ceased. In 1847 Chancellor Kent died. This was a severe loss not only to the college, but to the legal profession. Mr. William Betts, A. M. , an alumnus and a trustee of the college, was elected in his stead, and in the following winter delivered a course of lectures on interna- tional law. The law lectures, however, seem to have been intermit- tent; they led to no degree, and for a number of years prior to 1858 there was no systematic instruction in law given in any public insti- tution in New York City. Administration of President King, 1849-1864. In July, 1849, Dr. Moore resigned the presidency. On the 7th of November of the same year Charles King, esq., was elected his suc- cessor. Dr. King was the second son of the Hon. Rufus King, who had for eighteen years served the college as a member of the board of trustees. He was educated at Harrow, England, and at Paris. In 1813 he had been elected a member of the legislature of New York, and was engaged in the publication of a conservative newspaper, the New York American. From 1827 to 1845 he was the sole editor, but in that year he left the American to become associate editor of the Courier and Enquirer, which position he held until he was chosen to the presidency of the college, when he ' ' gave himself heartily to the duties of his new office, advancing the interests of the college in every way by his scholarship, energy, and wise management." In 1854 an order of emeritus professors was instituted for the pur- pose of appropriately acknowledging the services of those professors who had devoted themselves to the college for twenty years or more, and Dr. Renwick was made the first emeritus professor. "These gentlemen were to be without salaries or stated duties, but were to have certain privileges and honors, the principal of which were these : Each of them was to have the right of nominating to one free scholar- ship to be called by his name, of delivering an annual lecture in the college, and of sitting with the faculty on public occasions. His por- trait also was to be j)ainted at the expense of the college and hung in the library or in some proper room in the college buildings." THE REMOVAL OP THE COLLEGE. The rapid growth of the city and the falling in of the lease of the Botanic Garden directed the attention of the trustees, early in 1850, to the consideration of the disposition of that portion of their prop- erty. It had for many years brought in but a trifling revenue, wholly inadequate to meet even the expenses in which it had involved the 152 HISTOEY OF HKIHER EDUCATIOlSr IN NEW YORK. college, and now it seemed about to make still more formidable demands upon lier resources for taxes, assessments, and the cost of regulating the lots. The whole subject of the disposition of this property was one of extreme delicacy and difficulty, and occupied the attention of the trustees for nearly two years, when it was finally leased. The college edifice was again becoming inadequate to the needs of the institution; a remodeling of the course had become necessarj^, and the best plans could not be carried out in the buildings as they were. They consisted of "dwelling houses for the president and three professors ; of a building occupied as the grammar school of the college, and of the chapel, library, and recitation rooms, the whole constituting the range of buildings in Park place between Church street and College place. Their value may be estimated according to their present use at $50,000, but the ground on which they stand may be estimated at 1500,000." ^ The noise of commerce was fast drawing in around the college, and attached as many were to the old situation, it became evident that they must move away from the halls which through years of labor they had learned to love. The new site was under considera- tion for a number of years, and it was not until 1857 that it was finally chosen and the college moved to the block between Forty- ninth and Fiftieth streets and Madison and Fourth avenues. The buildings on this block were those formerly occupied by the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb and were chosen partially because they could be occupied immediately at comparativelj^ small expense.^ The cost of this property was $75,366.10,^ and in altering and refit- ting the buildings and regulating, grading, and fencing the grounds the college spent 138,969.91 more. Meanwhile they sold the old col- lege property for 1596,650, "and the college green is transformed into streets lined with costly warehouses." CURRICULUM IN" 1857. The college had now succeeded in finding new and comfortable quarters, and it remained to carry out the rest of the plan and re- arrange and liberalize the course. The committee which had been appointed in 1856 had the matter under consideration for several months. They personally investigated the methods used hy each pro- fessor and the results obtained, and studied the curricula in many other colleges. The report of the committee embodied a new scheme providing for a university course of study as follows : Lectures shall be delivered in the college, which shall be conducted in three dis- tinct schools. They shall be open to any person, under such regulations as the Trustees may from time to time prescribe. ' Report of the Regents, 1857. - Regents' Report, 1858, contains a description of these buildings. COLUMBIA UNIVEBSITY. 153 1. A school is established, called the School of Letters, in which shall he pur- sued the following studies: Moral and mental philosophy, including an analysis of the moral and intellec- tual powers, festhetics, or the principles of taste and art; the history of philosophy; appropriate literature of the Greeks and Romans; oriental and modern languages, as far as possible; comparative philology and ethnology. 2. A school is established, called the School of Science, in which shall be pur- sued the following studies Mechanics and physics, astronomy, chemistry and mineralogy, geology and palipontology, engineering, mining and metallurgy, art of design; history of sci- ence, natural historj', physical geography. o. A school is established called the School of Jurisprudence, in which shall be pursued the following studies: History, political economy, political philosophy, the principles of national and international law civil and common law, the writings of the G-reeks and Romans, and of the modern civilians and jurists appropriate to the last three subjects. The conjunction of the above three schools shall form the university course. Any person who may enter either of the said schools may receive the degree of master of arts after having pursued for a space of time not less than two years, to the satisfaction of the Trustees and Faculty, such of the studies thereof and under such regulations as the Trustees may from time to time prescribe. There shall be fellowships, with or without stipends, to be filled by the Board of Trustees, upon such examination and upon such rules and regulations as may hereafter be prescribed.' These extensive plans serve to show that the aim of the college has always been toward the position of a liberal university, and, although they were not carried out in full, important changes in this direction were made. In the faculty of arts the board of instruction was aug- mented by the appointment of several new professors. Up to this time, under the comprehensive title of professor of moral philosophy, Dr. Mc Vicar had given instruction in the evidences of natural and revealed religion, ethics, intellectual philosophy, logic, i-hetoric and belles-lettres, and historical and political science. This work was now divided between three professors. The chair in evidences of natural and revealed religion was retained by Dr. McVicar. A chair in moral and intellectual philosophy and literature was filled by the election of Charles Murray Nairne, M. A. , L. H. D. Dr. Nairne was born at Perth, Scotland, on the 15th of April, 1808, graduated at St. Andrew's Uni- versity in 1830, and two years later received the degree of M. A. from the University of Edinburgh. He then became assistant to the cele- brated Dr. Chalmers, of Glasgow, a position which he held for a number of years. In 1847 he came to America, where his ability as director of a classical school attracted the attention of the trustees and led to his election. Subsequent events have proved that this choice was a wise one. No less important was the election of Francis Lieber, LL. D., to the third chair, that of history and political science. He was called from a similar chair in the University of South Carolina, where he had ' Statutes. 154 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATIOIsr IN NEW YORK. gained great distinction as a publicist. Born in Berlin on the IStli of March, 1800, he had early joined the Prussian army and fought as a volunteer at Ligny and Waterloo, receiving a severe Avound in the assault on Namur, which crippled him for life. Although arrested and imprisoned several times on suspicion of revolutionary senti- ments, he never gave up his studies, and finally in 1820 took his doc- tor's degree at Jena. He then attempted to continue his studies at Halle, but was so persecuted that he found it necessary to leave the country. He spent a year at Rome in the family of Niebuhr (then Prussian ambassador) as tutor to his son Marcus. Returning to Ber- lin on the assurance of the King that he should not be molested, he was again thrown into prison, and only escaped through the pressing solicitations of Niebuhr. Leaving his native land in 1825, he came to this country, and in 1835 was called to a professorship in the Univer- sity of South Carolina. It is here that the great works by which he is known were written — his Legal and Political Hermeneutics, his Political Ethics, and his Civil Liberty and Self Government. These works represent the first real transmission of German political philosophy to the New World, through the clarifying influence of English history and Amer- ican life. His was the first great original production of political science in America. ^ By the call of Dr. Lieber to Columbia, history and politics were recognized as coordinate sciences, a combination which was the his- torical corner stone of the school of political science since founded by Prof. John W. Burgess. Rather less prominent, but by no means less important, were the changes in the department of natural sciences. Professor McCuUoh confined his work to the physical sciences, and to the chair in chem- istry was elected Charles A. Joy, Ph. D. Professor Hackley took the chair in astronomy, and Charles Davies, LL. D., was made professor of mathematics, and to him was assigned, as an assistant, William G. Peck, A. M., with the title of adjunct professor. In the classical department no new instructors were added, but a more logical division was made, Professor Anthon devoting himself to Greek, while Dr. Drisler became professor of Latin. The university course was arranged practically as to-day, so that at the end of the junior year the student could take his choice between the lectures offered by the school of letters, the school of jurispru- dence, and the school of science ; and a post-graduate department was established corresponding to the present faculty of philosophy. From the regents' report we learn that during the year 1858 lectures were ^ Study of History in American Colleges, by Dr. H. B. Adams. Circular of Information No. 2, Bureau of Education, 1887, p. C9. For interesting sketches of Dr. Lieber see this work and the History of Higher Education in South Carolina, by Dr. Colyer Meriwether, Circular of Information No. 3, Bureau of Education, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 155 delivered in the university as follows: In the school of letters, by- Professor Lieber, on the history of commerce and political science; by Professor Nairne, on ethics and aesthetics; by the Hon. George P. Marsh, on the English language; by Professor Guyot, on comparative physical geography in its relations to history and modern civilization. In the school of jurisprudence, by Professor Dwight, on municipal law and kindred subjects. In the school of science, by Professor Mc- Culloh, on the mechanics of ethereal matter and the present state of knowledge in relation to heat, light, and electricity; by Professor Joy, on chemistry, with practical instruction in the laboratory; by Professor Peck, on civil engineering, including surveying and the use of instru- ments, general principles of construction, and graphics; by Professor Davies, on the higher mathematics and the nature and history of mathematical science; by Professor Hackley, on physical astronomy, with the practical use of instruments; by Prof essor Torrey, on botany. In speaking of the fate of these new courses, which were abandoned after the first year. Professor Van Amringe says: The time seemed not to be ripe for the proper support by the public of the scheme, and it was relinquished after one year's trial. The college, indeed, by no means abandoned its cherished plan of giving more than ordinary academic train- ing; but professional and scientific schools superseded that more liberal and extended course of teaching by which it had been hoped to inspire young men with an ardent and honorable love of learning and to qualify them for those higher and more arduous efforts of self-instruction which the college has ever regarded as the true aim and purpose of academic training. ^ FOUNDING OF THE LAW SCHOOL. From the remains of this experiment sprang the professional schools for which Columbia is to-day justly renowned. First among these was the school of law, under the able leadership of Theodore W. Dwight, A. M., who was appointed j)rof essor of municipal law on the 17th of May, 1858. Six years later he was placed at the head of the department, with the title of warden of the law school. This position he held until 1891, and for his long and faithful service he justly received the respect of all who could see and appreciate what he had done.^ Professor Dwight, who has a reputation throughout the whole Union as the greatest living American teacher of law, has in substance founded and keeps alive simply by his own capacity as a teacher one of the best schools of law, in which one generation of pupils after another learns those elements of English law which, according to a certain number of good people, can not be taught from a professor's chair. This is what Prof. A. V. Dicey, of Oxford, said of Professor Dwight, and Prof. James Bryce in speaking of his course said: ' Historical 'Sketch of Columbia College by J. H. Van Amringe. ^Professor Dwight retired from the active duties of this chair in 1891 upon the reorganization of the law school. His death occurred a few years later. 156 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. Better law teaching than Mr. Dwighfs it is hardly possible to imagine. It would be worth an English student's while to cross the Atlantic to attend his course. I.iectnres were delivered by Professor Dwight upon constitutional law and upon the history of the Roman law as supplementary to the general course of instruction upon municipal law. Instruction in con- stitutional law was given by Professor Lieber and in moral philosophy by Professor Nairne. John Ordronaux, M. D., LL. B., was made pro- fessor of medical jurisprudence, and courses of lectures were delivered by several distinguished legal gentlemen of New York, who liberally gave their services without remuneration. During the first year of its existence the exercises of the school were held in the rooms of the Historical Society on Eleventh street, but at the commencement of its second year it was moved to Lafayette place, directly opposite the Astor Library. Twenty to thirty lectures were delivered by Professor Lieber "on the state, embracing a view of the origin, development, objects, and history of political society; on the history of political literature; on political ethics, and on punishment, including its his- tory, statistics, and a view of the penal theories, systems, and codes of modern times." ADOPTION OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. On the 4th of June, 1860, the College of Physicians and Surgeons was by a resolution of the trustees adopted as the medical depart- ment of Columbia College. The College of Physicians and Surgeons had been incorporated by the legislature in 1807 and placed under the direct control of the regents of the University of the State of New York, which body, as has been seen, was originally intended to include all the higher educational establishments in the State. The medical department of Columbia College was merged into the College of Physicians and Surgeons in November, 1813, and as late as 1835 the university was the only recognized authority in the State for con- ferring medical degrees. Many medical schools existed, but every- thing connected with the courses of instruction, the examination of candidates, the selection of professors or lecturers or of new members of the boards of trustees, with other matters of incidental importance, required the ratification of the regents. After this time medical colleges began to be incorporated directly by the legislature and empowered to grant diplomas under the authority of their own trustees. The regents were, therefore, less solicitous for retaining a control which had so largely diminished in importance; and, on the other hand, the college no longer derived from its connection with the university the same prestige as before. Accordingly, the memo- rial of the trustees sent to the regents in 1859 was answered by an act of the legislature, passed March 24, 1860, amending the charter so as to give the college a system of self-government and the power to confei degrees. It was immediately after this that the union with COLUMBIA UNIVEESITY. 157 Columbia was effected, and after a separation of nearly half a century Columbia's medical department was returned to her.^ Administration of President Barnard. At the stated meeting of the trustees in March, 1864, President Charles King, LL. D., tendered to the board his resignation to take effect at the next commencement, stating as his reason "advancing age and the necessity of repose." In accepting the resignation the following resolutions were passed by the trustees : Whereas the presidential term of Doctor King has been distinguished by the removal of Columbia College to its present superior site, by much development and expansion of its educational system . . . and a consequent augmentation of its importance and influence; and Whereas the bearing of the retiring president in his official relations with this board has been marked by courtesy and kindness, by frank, generous, elevated, and genial spirit, which engaged personal regard while it contributed to the pleas- antness of our intercourse: Therefore, Resolved, That the trustees . . . unite in tendering him a unanimous ex- pression of their respect and warm personal regard and of their grateful sense of the earnestness with which he has labored to promote the best interests of the institution under his charge. On the 18th day of May, 1864, the Rev, Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard, S. T. D., LL. D., some time chancellor of the University of Mississippi, was elected to the presidency. In his letter Dr. Barnard said: I accept the position with a deep sense of the honor done me . . . and with the hope that by an earnest devotion to the important duties which it Involves 1 may be eo happy as in some degree to promote the interests of the institution and through it of the cause of education in the country. Dr. Barnard was graduated at Yale College in the class of 1828, and was a tutor in that college in the year 1830-31. He was elected a professor in the University of Alabama in 1837, where he remained seventeen years filling successively the chairs of mathematics and natural philosophy and of chemistry and natural history. In 1854 he was chosen professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in the University of Mississippi, of which institution he became the president in 1856 and chancellor in 1861. At his inauguration President Barnard found the college provided with 10 professors, 1 adjunct professor and 1 tutor in the faculty of arts, 8 professors and 3 assistants in the medical school, 2 professors in the school of law, and 2 in the new faculty which had just been formed under the name of the school of mines. The total number of students in all the departments was 625. The library proper con- sisted of less than 15,000 volumes, while the law library contained only 3,500. There were no elective courses, the scheme of 1857 having been ' For an account of the medical school see History of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, by President John C. Dalton, M. D. New York, 158 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. abolished after a few years' trial. German was the only modern lan- guage tanght and this was entirely voluntary. To appreciate the value of President Barnard's work it is only necessary to compare the state of the college at his inauguration with the condition in which he left it when death overtook him in 1889. At the very beginning of his administration the president met dis- couragement. The Rev. Dr. McVicar, who had so long been one of the main supports of the college, expressed his desire to withdraw from active service. Such a request from one who had been so faith- ful could not be refused, and the honor of an emeritus professorship was conferred upon the retiring professor. Dr. McVicar was born in New York City on the 10th of August, 1787. He was the son of a leading merchant of that city and was of Scotch descent. He was graduated by Columbia in the class of 1804. Educated as a theologian he took orders in 1811 and for a time was settled over a parish in Hyde Park. At the age of 30 he gladly accepted a professorship under his alma mater and seized the oppor- tunity to follow the inclination of his youth. His surroundings and acquaintances had been such that he could not escape the great politico-economic problems of his day. It was not strange therefore that he increased his own labors for the sake of giving instruction in his favorite subject. His devotion to the political sciences, however, did not detract from his ability as a logician, theologian, and philos- opher, and the number and versatility of his works give evidence of untiring assiduity and a fertile mind. The retirement of Dr. McVicar was not the only trial which the new president had to encounter. From the beginning the trustees had had a constant struggle, and the finances of the college were now in a very discouraging condition. The endowment was small in compari- son with the amount of work necessitated by circumstances, and while the funds were scarcely sufficient to carry on the courses already laid out, it had become evident that there was public demand for a new professional school. FOUNDING OF THE SCHOOL OF MINES. Early in the year 1863 Mr. Thomas Egleston, a graduate of the Ecole des Mines of Paris, foreseeing the prominence which the United States was about to assume as a mineral-producing country, prepared a plan for the establishment of a school of mines and metallurgy in connection with the college. Realizing that Columbia was more advan- tageously situated than any other college in the country for such a school, the trustees very soon adopted this plan, and arrangements were made for the establishment of the school of mines. Mr. Egleston was made professor of mineralogy and metallurgy, and shortly after- wards Brig. Gen. Francis L. Vinton, also a graduate of the Ecole des Mines, was made professor of mining engineering. A few months later Dr. Charles F. Chandler, of Union College, was made professor of COLUMBIA UNIVEESITY. 159 analj^tical and applied chemistry, and on the 15th of November, 1864, the school of mines was formally opened in the basement of the old college building on Fortj^-ninth street. Arrangements were made by which Professors Joy, Peck, Van Amringe, and Rood of the college faculty were to give instruction in the school. The prospectus said: The object of this school is to furnish to the student the means of acquiring a thorough scientific and practical knowledge of those branches of science which relate to mining and the working up of the mineral resources of this country and to supply to those engaged in mining and metallurgical operations persons com- petent to take charge of new or old works and conduct them on thoroughly scien- tific principles. Instruction is given in the following subjects: Inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, assaying, mineralogy, geology, botany, paleon- tology, mathematics, mechanics, metallurgy, machines, mining, physics, machine drawing, and descriptive geometry. This was the first school of its kind in America, and its success was immediate and great. Twenty-five students entered it on the opening day, and the numbers reached forty-eight during the session. The first year, however, was one of great expense, and but for the personal efforts of President Barnard it would have become bankrupt during its first term. Encouraged by its evident popularity and usefulness and by the enthusiasm of the new president the trustees enlarged the accommodations of the school by appropriating $30,000 for a building with laboratories and drawing-rooms to accommodate 72 students. Eighty-nine, however, were admitted, and the rooms proved to be inadequate. At the close of the second year the success of the school being assured, the trustees determined to continue it in spite of their financial weakness. Accordingly, although it was necessary to go into debt to do so, $70,000 were voted for the construction of a new build- ing and the purchase of a complete equipment. From this time the school continued to grow in numbers and in usefulness. In 1866 a chair in geology and paleontology was created and filled hy the appointment of Dr. John S. Newberry, LL. 1). John Strong Newberry was born at Windsor, Conn., on the 22d of December, 1822. He was graduated at Western Reserve College and at Cleveland Medical College, and after studying abroad two years practiced medicine in Cleveland until May, 1855, when he was appointed assistant surgeon and geologist to the exploration party under Lieut. Robert S. Williamson. This party was sent to examine the countrj^ between San Francisco and the Columbia River. Later he accompanied Lieut. Joseph C. Ives in the exploration and naviga- tion of the Colorado River. His observations formed the most inter- esting material that was gathered by the expedition, and fully half of the report was written by him. In 1859 he explored parts of southern Colorado, Utah, northern Arizona, and New Mexico. He was elected a member of the United States Commission, although still on duty in the War Department, and his medical knowledge and experience in the Army made him an imj)ortant member of it. 160 HISTORY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. After the war he was appointed to the professorship in the college. His abilities have since led to his appointment to many honorable offices. In 1869 he was made State geologist of Ohio, and the results of his work are published in nine volumes. He has since been asso- ciated with the work of the New Jersey Geological Survey, and reported on the fossil fishes and plants of the Trias and on the flora of the Amboy clays. In 1884 he was appointed paleontologist of the United States Geological Survey, and has prepared a monograph on the Paleozoic fishes of ISTorth America and on the fossil plants of the Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks of the far West. In January, 1888, the Geological Society of London conferred on him its Murchison medal. In 1863 he was named by Congress one of the corporate members of the National Academy of Sciences. He has been presi- dent of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the Torrey Botanical Club. Besides the volumes that have been mentioned Dr. Newberry's sepa- rate papers contributed to various sources include upward of two hundred titles, chiefly in the department of geology and paleon- tology, but also in zoology and botany. Dr. Newberry brought with him to the college his magnificent mineralogical collection. This was augmented by a valuable dona- tion of minerals made by George T. Strong, and soon after by the gift from the Hon. Gouverneur Kemble of a larger similar collection. During the year 1867-68 the curriculum was enlarged so as to include four parallel courses of instruction: I. Mining engineering; II. Metallurgy; III. Geology and natural history; IV. Analytical and applied chemistry. The requirements for admission were some- what increased and a preparatory year added to enable those who were not fully qualified to prepare for the entrance examination. This preparatory year has since become the first year of the course, which now covers four years, while the school has become far more than its name implies, being virtually a university of applied sciences " more scientific than Freiburg, more practical than Paris. "^ Civil engineering was added in 1870, being taught at first by the professor of mining engineering, but in 1872 it was separated from that chair and made the fifth parallel course. In 1874 a still larger building was erected, at a cost of $150,000, and fitted up with everj^ convenience for this school. This was the first of the group of buildings planned b}^ Mr. C. C. Haight, a graduate of the college, who has made this block a prominent architectural f eatui^e of the city. The attention that Dr. Barnard was called upon to give to this school did not deter him from equal activity in the other departments. ijohn A. Church, E. M., Ph.D., in North American Review, January, 1871. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 161. DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS. On the death of Dr. Hacklej^ in 1861, William G. Peck, professor of pure matliematics, had been transferred to thechair of mathematics and astronom3% and two years later Mr. J. Howard Van Amringe was promoted from the tutorship to the adjunct professorship. In 1865 Dr. Davies, the professor of higher mathematics, was retired as emeritus professor. Dr. Davies had gained great eminence in his profession. He was a graduate of West Point, where he was after- wards professor of mathematics. This position he was forced to resign on account of illness, but later held similar chairs in Trinity College, Hartford, and the University of New York. For five years he served as treasurer '^f the United States Military Academy. The professor- ship at Columbia, to which he was called in 1857, was the last that he held. On his resignation he retired to private life at Fishkill Landing, where he died on the 17th of September, 1876. His w^orks, which are distinguished by plainness and close logical arrangement, comprise an entire series of mathematical text-books, extending from a primary arithmetic to the higher mathematics, and including edi- tions of Legendre's Geometry and Bourdon's Algebra. Among his more advanced works are Descriptive Geometry; Surveying and Navi- gation; Shades, Shadows, and Perspective; Differential and Integral Calculus; Logic and Utility of Mathematics, and a Mathematical Dictionary, the latter written in conjunction with his son-in-law. Prof. William G. Peck. On the retirement of Dr. Davies the whole department was reorgan- ized under the leadership of Dr. Peck, who, graduating from the United States Militarj^ Academy at the head of his class, was assigned to the Corps of Topographical Engineers and served in the third expedition of John C. Fremont, in 1845. He was also with the army of the West, under Gen. Stephen W. Kearny, during the Mexican war. He was assistant i3rofessor of natural philosophy at West Point in 1846 and professor of mathematics from 1847 to 1855, when he resigned from the Army. He then became professor of physics and civil engi- neering in the University of Michigan, where he remained until 1857, when he came to Columbia. At the outbreak of the civil war Mr. McCuUoh was "expelled for having abandoned his post and joined the rebels," thus leaving vacant the chair in mechanics and physics. Dr. Peck took upon himself the duty of giving instruction in mechanics, and an able professor of physics was found in the person of Ogden N. Rood. Pro- fessor Rood was a graduate of Princeton, in the class of 1852. He began his scientific studies in the Sheffield School at Yale and con- tinued them at the universities of Munich and Berlin. Returning to this country, he was chosen professor of chemistry and physics at Troy Universitj^ where he remained nearly five years, being called 3176 11 162 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. from there to Columbia. Professor Rood has won great distinction for himself in his science. He was one of the first to apply photogra- phy to the microscope and to take binocular pictures with that instru- ment. His original investigations have been numerous, including special studies of questions in mechanics, optics, acoustics, and elec- tricity. His studies of the nature of the electric spark and the dura- tion of the flashes are particularly interesting, involving the deter- mination of more minute intervals of time than were ever before measured. In 1880 he devised a mercurial air pump giving an exhaus- tion of a degree that has never been attained by other pumps. The methods of photometry that he has originated and his investigations of the phenomena that depend on the physiology of vision are very ingenious, and he was the first to make quantitative experiments on color contrasts. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the National Academy of Sciences, before which many of his most important memoirs were read. DEPARTMENT OF GREEK AND LATIN. The resTimption of the academic exercises in October (1867) found two impor- tant departments of instruction unofficered. The veteran professor of Greek, whose masterly scholarship and whose signal services to the cause of classical education had won him a reputation as wide as the republic of letters and madu him the pride of the institution with which he had been identified for nearly half a century, had passed away during the summer, and had descended to his rest full of years and full of honors.' Dr. Anthon was born in New York City on the 19th of November, 1797. He was a Columbia man from the beginning, taking his first degree there in 1815. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1819, but in 1820 returned to the college in the capacity of adjunct professor of Greek and Latin. From that time to his death his con- nection with Columbia was never severed. He was a voluminous writer and an authority often sought. He pi^epared many text-books for colleges, edited an edition of Lempriere's Classical Dictionary, besides writing one himself, and published a dictionary of Greek and Latin Antiquities. Happily for the cause of classical learning in the college, a worthy successor to our lamented fellow laborer was found without the necessity of seeking beyond our own ranks. Dr. Drisler has already established for himself a solid reputation as a prof ound investigator of Greek philology, and his transfer to the vacant chair was a measure so obviously appropriate that it was effected without a dissenting voice. By this transfer the chair of Latin was thrown open, and this has since been filled by the election of Prof. Charles Short, late president of Kenyon College, a gentleman who had come to us recommended by the highest testimonials, and who, in discharging the duties of the office as professor ad interim for some months previous to his election, had proved himself eminently efficien t as an instructor and agreeable as an associate. ' 'Report of President Barnard, June 1, 1886. COLUMBIA UNIVEESITY. 163 THE ELECTIVE SYSTEM. These changes in the force of instruction imme'^iately led to the first step in the development which characterized President Barnard's administration. Up to this time the course of instruction had been confined mainly, as President Barnard said, " to studies called par eminence disciplinary," and distinguishing this as the "gymnasial period." Since 1855, it has been seen, numerous attempts were made to advance to the university stage, but they had been ahead of their time, and the real development began with the creation of the profes- sional schools and the parallel expansion of the arts course. In 1868 four books of Professor Davies's edition of Legendre's Geom- etry were added to the requirements for admission and thus a much greater amount of work in higher mathematics and allied subjects was made possible in the course. The establishment of the elective system followed closely upon this. At the end of their junior year the class of 1870 sent a i3etition to the faculty requesting them to arrange a system of elective studies so that during the senior year the individual student might to a certain extent be able to choose what subjects he would pursue. This, of course, it was not within the power of the faculty to grant, but they referred it to the trustees, and by the middle of the following year, with the aid of the students of that class, a provisional course had been arranged for an experiment. During the second term instruc- tion was conducted in accordance with this plan, which proved in a large degree successful. In the ensuing May a committee of the trus- tees was appointed to consider the expediency of extending and mak- ing permanent this more liberal system, and as a result the following arrangement was adopted : Of the fifteen hours a week occupied by the seniors in lectures and recitations, about half were spent on required subjects, and for the remainder the class was divided into sections according as the members desired to pursue higher classical, philo- sophical, mathematical, or scientific courses. POST-GRADUATE WORK. "The adoption of a liberal sj^stem of elective study of this descrip- tion prepares a college to rise naturally and easily to the higher level of post-graduate instruction,"^ says President Barnard, and this result, indeed, followed in Columbia. The first step was taken in 1878, when a provision was made for examinations for the degree of Master of Arts. The student was to pursue his studies outside of the college and could not be a candidate for examination until three years after graduation. No instruction was offered in the college for this degree, because it seemed impracticable for want of room and a sufficient corps of instructors. Before 1880, however, when the plan was to have gone ^ President Barnard's Report, 1879. 164 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW TOEK. into effect, these difficulties had been overcome. During a few years a large number of instructors were added and an entire reorganization of the college took place. REORGANIZATION OP THE LAW SCHOOL. In the law school five distinct professorships were created — • I. The law of contracts, maritime and admiralty law. II. Real estate and equity jurisprudence. III. Criminal law, torts, and procedure. IV. Constitutional history and international and constitutional law and political science. V. Medical jurisprudence. The first of these was filled by the warden, Professor Dwight, the third by Mr. George Chase, who for four years had ably assisted Pro- fessor Dwight, the fifth by Professor Ordroneaux. To the second was elected the Hon. John F. Dillon, formerly judge of the United States circuit court in the eighth district, and to the fourth Prof. John W. Burgess. This professorship was a revival of the chair which had been created in 1865 when Dr. Lieber was transferred to this school and given the duty of delivering lectures on the State, embracing the origin, development, objects, and history of political societ,y, and the laws and usages of war, on the history of political literature and on political ethics. Dr. Lieber continued his connection with the law school until he was removed by death in 1872, giving lectures on these special subjects, "in which," says Professor Dwight, "he had gained great distinction for his learning, originality, and independence of thought, extensive research, and sound judgment." Professor Burgess was a graduate of Amherst College of the class of 1867. He had studied law two years, but through the recommenda- tion of President Seelye went to Knox College, Galesburg, 111., where he taught English literature and political economy from 1869 to 1871. He then went to Germany to study history and political science in Gottingen, Leipzig, and Berlin. In 1873 Professor Burgess was called to the newly established chair in history and political science in his alma mater, where he lectured with extraordinary success until 1876, when he was invited to the similar chair in Columbia. NEW PROFESSORS IN THE SCHOOL OF MINES. Professor Vinton having resigned the chair of civil and mining engineering, William P. Trowbridge, Ph. D., LL. D., was elected in his place. Dr. Trowbridge was a graduate of the United States Military Academy. Standing at the head of the class of 1848, he was promoted second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers and spent two years in the astronomical observatory preparing for coast-survey work. He was assigned to duty in the primary triangulation of the coast of Maine. In 1853 he was sent to the Pacific, where he was occupied COLUMBIA UNIVEESITY. 165 three years conducting a series of tidal and magnetic observations along the coast from San Diego to Paget Sound. After serving one year as professor in the University of Michigan, he was again appointed on the coast survey and was engaged in preparing for pub- lication the results of the Gulf Stream exploration. In 1860 he went to Key West to superintend the erection of a self- registering magnetic observatory, and he prepared minute descriptions of the Southern coast for the use of the Navy. During the war he was in charge of the engineer office in New York City, where his duties included the supply of materials for fortifications and other defences and the con- struction and shipping of engineer equipage for armies in the field. He constructed the fort at Willets Point, and was in charge of the repairs at Fort Schuyler and of the works on Governors Island. In 1865 he became vice-president of the Novelty Iron Works in New York City, with the direction of their shops. He was elected professor of dynamical engineering at the Sheffield Scientific School, remaining there from 1869 until he was called to Columbia. Dr. Trowbridge has held many honorable offices, both State and civic. He is a mem- ber of the National Academy of Sciences, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. On his election the title of the chair was changed and he became professor of engineering. At the same time Henr}^ S. Munroe, E. M., Ph. D., was made adjunct professor of surveying and practical min- ing, and a few years later Frederick R. Hutton, A. M., E. M., C. E., Ph. D., was made adjunct professor of mechanical engineering. Besides professors, there were in this school a steadily increasing number of lecturers, instructors, and assistants. CHANGES IN THE SCHOOL OP ARTS. Prior to 1876 the only assistants in the school of arts were in the classical department and in the department of English — in the for- mer Dr. A. C. Merriam, tutor in both Greek and Latin; in the latter, Dr. John D. Quackenboss, now adjunct professor in the same depart- ment. This force was now increased by the appointment of a tutor in Latin, Dr. Sydney G. Ashmore, and a tutor in mathematics, Mr. Frank Drisler. This was followed by the appointment of Mr. Rich- mond Mayo Smith, of Amherst, as adjunct professor of history and political science, to share the labors of Professor Burgess ; and of Dr. Archibald Alexander as adjunct professor of moral and intellectual philosophy. During the year 1879-80 additional tutors were appointed in Anglo-Saxon, French, German, Greek, Latin, and mathematics. Finally, in anticipation of the increased work, the aged and distin- guished Dr. Henry I. Schmidt was honorably retired to the rank of emeritus professor. To his chair was elected Mr. Charles Sprague Smith, who afterwards, with the aid of Dr. Hjalmar Hjortli Boyesen, so thoroughly organized the department of modern languages. 166 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. The first and most important obstacle to the founding of post- graduate courses having been overcome by this reorganization, the other disappeared on the completion of Hamilton Hall, a fully equipped building with a frontage of 200 feet on Madison avenue and a depth of about 60 feet on both Forty-ninth and Fiftieth streets, erected, at a cost of over $200,000, for the accommodation of the school of arts. DEVELOPMENT OF THE POST-GRADUATE SCHEME. In accordance with a resolution of the trustees, dated June 7, 1880, a scheme of instruction w^as draw^n up to go into effect the following fall. This course was open to all bachelors of arts, of science, and of philosophy of this or of any other college of equal standing, and the degree of master of arts was conferred at its completion. The scheme provided for three hours a week each in Greek, Latin, mathe- matics, and history ; four hours in astronomy, two practical and two theoretical; two hours each in physics, chemistry, philosophy, English literature, jpolitical econom}^, Anglo-Saxon, and Sanskrit, and one hour each in Italian and Spanish literature, besides which the following lecture courses in the school of mines were open to members of this department: Chemistry, general, theoretic, and applied; botany, zoology, geology, paleontology, mineralogj", and crystallography. This system was capable of indefinite expansion and within one decade resulted in the thorough establishment of the university, to which President Barnard had so long looked forward. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SCHOOL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE. The first university faculty was created on the 7th of June, 1880, when it was resolved "that there be established a school, designed to prepare young men for the duties of public life, to be entitled a School of Political Science, having a definitely prescribed curriculum of study extending over a period of three years and embracing the history of philosophy, the history of the literature of the political sciences, the general constitutional history of England and the United States, the Roman law and the jurisprudence of existing codes derived therefrom, the comparative constitutional law of European states and of the United States and of different States of the American Union, the history of diplomacy, international law, systems of administration. State and national, of the United States and comparison with European systems; political economy and statistics. In speaking of the study of the political sciences in 1882, Professor Burgess said: During tHe last half decade an awakening of interest in the study of the polit ical sciences has manifested itself throughout the public at large, such as no pre- vious generation since the beginning of our national existence has experienced. The conviction is now already deep and general that, unless a sounder political wisdom and a better political practice be attained, the republican system laay become but a form and republican institutions but a deception. It is then hardly COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 167 a question any more whether we need a higher political education. The common consciousness of the nation is already beyond that point, and is now occupied with the invention of the means and methods of its realization. Of course, chief among these means should stand our institutions of superior learning— our colleges and universities. This "liigher political education" is what Columbia aimed at giv- ing her students in the foundation of the school of political science. The whole structure of the course is built. upon an historical foun- dation. ' ' Theory and speculation in politics, " says Professor Burgess, "must be regulated by historic fact." To this intent the student desiring admission is required to have completed the junior yesir in the school of arts or some other college of equal standing. In this arrangement Columbia for the first time recognized the dis- tinction between gymnasial and university work. Up to the close of the third year the courses in the school of arts are of a purely gym- nasial character. University work begins with the senior year, and it is here that the elective system enables a student to select the subject in which he will continue his education. It is on this principle that the school of political science is open only to seniors. A glance at the curriculum will show that the historical work does not stop with the end of the gymnasial course, but becomes rather a study of "the history of institutions, the origin and development of the State through its several phases of political organization down to the modern constitutional form. " The student then advances through ' ' history to the existing, actual, and legal relations of the State, . . . and finally through comprehensive comparison to generalize the ulti- mate principles of our political philosophy, aiming thus to escape the dangers of a barren empiricism on the one side and of a baseless spec- ulation on the other." At the close of the first year is conferred the degree of bachelor of philosophy, which does not difEer in character from the degree of bach- elor of arts, and thus places the recipient on an equal plane with the student who has completed the fourth year in the school of arts. The final degree is given two years after the first, and to obtain this is a much more difficult matter. The requirements are threefold: First, a direct oral examination of each candidate upon any or all of the courses pursued in the presence of the entire faculty and by each member of the same; second, collateral examinations upon Latin, German, and French languages, and third, the examination of an original dissertation prepared by the candidate upon a subject either assigned to him by the faculty of the school or selected by himself imder their approval at least six months before the date of the examination. The candidate must furnish each member of the faculty with a copy of his dissertation at least one month before the date of the examination, and, at the time fixed, must appear before the assembled faculty of the school and defend his fact, his reason- ing, and his conclusions against the criticism of each member of the same. The successful candidate receives the degree of doctor of philoso- phy, or the degree cum laude, or magna cum laude, according to his ability. 168 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. The school of political science was opened on the 4th of October, 1880. Its faculty edits The Political Science Quarterly, the first periodical of its kind published in this country. Connected with the school is an academy of political science, a voluntary association of the graduates of the school, formed to carry on the studies which have been begun. Meetings are held at frequent intervals, at which papers are read and discussed. From the academy a lecturer is chosen each year to serve three years in the school, and thus the faculty is recruited and 3^oung thought and strength brought into it. Throughout the course the work in every department is of the highest character, comparing favorably with the best European schools. EXPANSION OF THE SYSTEM. Numerous and frequent changes in the elective system in the school of arts followed the opening of the school of political science, but the principle in both undergraduate and university work has remained the same. In the y6ar 1883-84, history and the English language were the only obligatory studies in either the junior or senior years. This expansion proving too comprehensive, it was followed by a slight reaction, and has since been more gradual and logical. The personnel of the college has altered very rapidly. Professor Nairne retired, receiving the title emeritus, and his chair was divided. Prof. Thomas R. Price was elected to the professorship of the Eng- lish language and literature, while Dr. Archibald Alexander was pro- moted to the professorship of philosophy, ethics, and psychology. The department of chemistry was enlarged and strengthened by the appointment of Profs. Pierre De Peyster Kicketts and Elwyn Waller to the chairs of assaying and analytical chemistry, and in this and the other departments of the school of mines a large number of instructors, assistants, and tutorial fellows were added. In 1884 the Hon. Maj. John S. Billings, M.D., assistant surgeon- general of the United States, was appointed lecturer in sanitary engi- neering and hygiene. The lectures which this eminent X3liysician delivered during the following three or four years formed the basis of the school of sanitary engineering, a department which has grown rapidly in the public favor. Another very popular school, that of architecture, originated in 1881, when a chair in that subject was founded in the school of mines. To this professorship was called William R. Ware, B. S., a graduate of Harvard and of the Lawrence Scientific School, and sometime pro- fessor of architecture in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Through the efforts of Professor Ware this branch of study has been greatly developed. Architecture has been made the sixth separate department, a number of instructors and assistants have been COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 169 appointed, and a valuable collection of architectural periodicals, drawings, and photographs has been made. During this same year the course in astronomy was considerably extended. Mr. John Krom Rees, A. M., E. M., was appointed director of the observatory and professor of geodesy and practical astronomy. Ver}^ valuable instruction in the use of the instruments has been added since the completion of the new observatory. A new librarj^ building was completed and occupied in 1883, at a cost of $400,000. It was situated on Forty-ninth street about the middle of the block, and was the most imposing feature of the beautiful group. On the first floor were arranged two commodious lecture rooms, with the necessary studies and offices for the law school. The remainder of the building was devoted to the library, and the whole surmounted by an astronomical observatory. The new observatory contained a set of portable astronomical instru- ments, a 46-inch transit, by Troughton & Simms; a combined transit and zenith instrument for time and latitude determinations; an equa- toriallj^ mounted refractor of 5 inches aperture, to which was attached a spectroscope with the dispersive power of 12 flint-glass prisms of 55 degrees, by Alvin Clark; also a diffraction spectroscope with grating by L. M. Rutherfurd, esq. A set of comparison apparatus, with elec- trodes, Plticher's tubes, coils, etc., accompanied the spectroscope. Several valuable additions have lately been made to the observatory equipment. REMOVAL OF THE LAW SCHOOL. In 1883 the law school was moved to new quarters on the college block. It had been feared that removal to such a distance from the city courts would cripple the usefulness of the school, but this fear has proved groundless. The school has increased steadily in numbers and efficiency. There have been established three prize tutorships of the annual value of $500 each. The first of these was awarded in 1883, and one has been awarded each year since, thus supplying the school with three fellow assistants. At the time of President Barnard's death the number of students in this school had reached 477, and on the 7th of May, 1888, the follow- ing important resolution was passed by the trustees : Resolved, That from the commencement of the scholastic year of 1888-89 the degree of bachelor of laws shall he conferred only upon students, hereafter matric- ulating for the first time, who shall have pursued a three-years' course. Several times propositions had been made to confer ui3on graduates of the law school the higher degree of master of laws. Various plans were suggested for requiring one or two years of additional study or for conferring it only on bachelors of law who were already bachelors of arts. It was, however, very forcibly argued by President Barnard that the bachelor's degree was too easily obtainable, and that the offer- ing of a higher degree would only increase an already existing evil. 170 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. For a number of years no examinations were required for entrance to the law school, and even after their introduction they remained very insignificant, the result being, as President Barnard said, that num- bers of men going through the law school without proper preliminary training "go to swell the already great and constantly growing num- ber of uneducated lawyers." It should be the object of a great uni- versity not so much to make "lawj^ers" as to make men "learned in the law." Two new professorships were created and able men were elected to do the additional work. THE LIBRARY. The university library, which was directly over the law school, was so situated as to be easy of access from any portion of the college. Approaching from either side by a flight of stone steps one entered a rectangular room 36 by 50 feet, flanked by stacks for books and broken in height by two tiers of galleries. This room contained the loan desk and "opens into the reading room by means of a pointed arch so wide and lofty that the two form indeed but a single great apartment, the arch coming toward the end of one of the longer sides of the reading room. This is lighted by large windows above, and small ones, rather widely spaced, below, thus affording the best illumi- nation while avoiding the shut up feeling that comes when all the openings are above the level -of the eye. The ceiling is a barrel vault supported on either side by a semivault of similar section. * * * The finish here as in other parts of the building is of brick slightly glazed as to surface. The color is pale yellow diversified by bands of dull red, applied in no strictly symmetrical way but with a skill which at once emphasizes dimensions and gives a desirable accent of freedom and variety." The arch was the important feature of the room. Its beauty of form and great size (34 by 36 feet) give dignity and distinction to the whole composition, and turns what might have been a merely excellent into an extremely imposing apartment.' The completion of this room made possible what had for many years been desired, namely, the uniting of the libraries of the different schools. The duty of arranging and cataloguing the 50,000 volumes, which up to this time had been scattered in nine different rooms, was intrusted to Mr. Melvil Dewey, of the Boston Library Bureau. The books were minutely classified and placed on shelves, to which the students had immediate access, and the library was open from 8.30 a. m. until 10 p. m. every dsij in the year except Sunday, Good Fri- day, Independence day. Thanksgiving, and Christmas. These privi- leges, extended in but few public libraries, were thoroughly appre- ' Recent Architecture in America, by M. G. Van Rensselaer, Century Magazine, 1884, p. 67. COLUMBIA UNIVEBSITY. I7l dated by the students, and the library is in constant use. The number of books has grown until it is considerably over 100,000, and is increasing at the rate of a thousand a month. It is surpassed in numbers by but two university libraries in America. Books are loaned only to officers, students, and alumni, but any respectable person is free to use the library for scholarly purposes. In his inau- gural address President Low said : There is no library in the city, I venture to think there is none in the country, where the student is more welcome, where the facilities granted him are so great. No part of the college system is more liberally supported or more generously dealt with, for it is recognized to be a laboratory of all the departments of the college. Besides what may be 'spoken of as the general library, there is a special library of political science, intended to include the most recent and most valuable European and American works, particular atten- tion being given to providing the material needed for original inves- tigation. The department of history and political science alone con- tains 18,000 volumes. The law library, of about 10,000 volumes, contains a complete series of the reports and statutes of the United States and of New York; full sets of the repprts of nearly all the other States, with statutes and digests; a full series of the English and Irish reports from the yearbooks to the present time, with the English and Irish statutes and digests; the leading treatises on English and American private law; the beat editions of the Roman civil law and the leading commentaries on it, both ancient and modern, and the codes, legislative acts, and special treatises on the law of Germany, France, Italy, and other nations, including the South American States. It includes the origi- nal law library of William- Samuel Johnson, the first president of Columbia College after the Revolution, and one of the framers of the Constitution of the United States; also the law library of John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States, and is especially rich in international, constitutional, and administrative law. The library also contains, in pure and applied science, an unusually fine collection of periodicals and serials, including complete sets of nearly all the important English, French, and German journals in chemistry, chemical technology, mining, metallurgy, engineering in its various branches, electric science, jphotography, public hygiene, pure mathematics, astronomy, geology, botany, and kindred sciences. The number of current periodicals and serials taken is more than 800, and the funds at the disposal of the library for the purchase of books enable the officers of instruction in the various departments to put into the library the latest treatises and monographs on their respec- tive subjects. Besides the library, the property of the college, the students have also access to the library of the New York Academy of Sciences. 172 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATIOlsr IN NEW YORK, This collection consists of about 6,000 volumes, largely made up of the proceedings of learned societies of America and Europe, and is deposited in the library. THE HERBARIA. The president's report for 1869 contains a description of the herba- rium, as it existed at that time, written by Dr. Torrey, by whom the larger portion of it was presented to the college : The collection is peculiarly rich in what are called type specimens, being the identical plants named by the authors who have described or noticed them in their published works. The college herbarium is the standard for many works on North American botany, such as The Flora of the Northern and Middle States; The Flora of North America, by Torrey and G-ray: The Flora of the State of New York; nearly all of Dr. Gray"s works and those of Engelmann, Sullivant, Tucker- man, Chapman, and many others. The botanical collections of nearly all the United States Pacific railroad surveys were made the subject of special reports, which were published by order of Con- gress; and the typ§ specimens, with few exceptions, are in our herbarium. So are those extensive collections made by the Government botanists in the five or six years occupied in the Mexican boundary survey. Full sets of the plants were reserved for reference. We have also an extensive collection of plants from the United States North Pacific exploring exjiedition, under Commodores Rodgers and Ringgold, and many from Commodore Perry's Japan expedition. All the plants obtained by Fremont in his explorations are preserved in the college herbarium. We have nearly every plant described in the valuable botany of the States north of Virginia and west to the Mississippi, by Dr. Gray; and of Dr. Chapman's Southern Flora, identified by the authors themselves. Of California plants we have very full collections, and in a fine state of preser- vation. The Rocky Mountains, Utah, and Colorado are well represented oy what we have received from most of the explorers of those regions. Indeed we have been so fortunate as to have received sets of plants from nearly all the botanists who have visited or surveyed the remote parts of North America, even beyond the Arctic circle. Many of these were received through the kindness of Sir William Hooker, to whose charge were committed, by the British Government, the various collections made in the Hiidson Bay regions to the Pacific coast. His extensive Flora of British America was founded on these collections, and the author of that splendid work shared them liberally with us. We have also many plants from Alaska, some of them received before we purchased that Territory. The botany of the Southwestern States is well represented in the college herba- rium. ... Of foreign plants we have vast numbers, embracing almost a complete flora of Europe, named by distinguished botanists, with a good number from Africa, especially those of the Cape of Good Hope, many of them types of what are described in the Cape Flora of Harvey and Sender, recently published by the Brit- ish Government. In East India botany we are rich, having received liberally of the plants col- lected under the auspices of the British Government. China has furnished us with many rare species, and we have lately been very largely supplied with choice Japan plants from the botanists of the Imperial botanic garden of St. Petersburg. A special interest is felt in the botany of Japan, sini e it has been shown that its flora is so nearly related to that of North America, and the specimens received from St. Petersburg are all originals of a late flora of Japan.' 'Report of President Barnard to the trustees, 1869. -First-Floor- COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY— THE LIBRARY. • Third -Floor ' COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY— THE LIBRARY. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 173 In 1874 the very extensive collection of the late Professor Meisner, of Basle, Switzerland, especially rich in South American, Asiatic, and Australian species, and supplementing the Torrey herbarium to a remarkable degree, together with the herbarium of Dr. A. W. Chapman, of Florida, containing nearly all the species described in the Flora of the Southern United States, were purchased by Mr. John J. Crooke, of New York, and presented to the college. The personal bryological collection of the late Mr. C. F. Austin, containing all of Austin's types of mosses and some of his Hepaticse, has since been purchased.' Dr. N. L. Britton, adjunct professor of botany, has been active in the development of this department. Besides many papers, monographs, and scientific sketches, he has published a Catalogue of the Flora of Richmond County, Staten Island (1879), The Geology of Staten Island (1880), Preliminary Catalogue of the Flora of New Jersey (1882), Catalogue of Plants found in New Jersey (1889). On the completion of the new library building the trustees voted that the herbarium should be considered a part of the botanical library and should be kept in one of the rooms of the new building. The botanical library is placed around the walls of the room; it comprises about 2,000 bound volumes and an equal number of pamphlets, and is rapidly increasing in bulk. ' CABINETS AND COLLECTIONS. In addition to the herbaria the college has equally valuable collec- tions of specimens and models illustrating all the other subjects taught in the school of mines. The lectures on crystallography are illustrated by a collection of 150 models in glass, which show the axes of the crystals and the relation of the derived to the primitive form. This suite is completed by 400 models in wood showing most of the actual and theoretical forms, and also by a collection of natural crystals showing the forms as they actually occur in the prominent mineral species. The cabinet of minerals comprises about 30,000 specimens, arranged in cases. It includes a large suite of pseudomorphs, a collection illus- trating the physical characters of minerals, and a collection illustrating crystallography by natural crystals, showing both their normal and distorted forms. The minerals are accompanied by a large collection of models in wood showing the crystalline form of each. Arranged in wall cases are large specimens showing the association of the min- erals. There are also three separate student collections of average specimens, amounting in the aggregate to over 6,000. A very complete collection of metallurgical products, illustrating the different stages of the type process in the extraction of each metal in this country and in Europe, is accessible to the students, and the collection is constantly increasing. An extensive collection of models 'Columbia College Herbaria, by Dr. N. L. Britton, Botanical Grazette,Vol. XII, No. 1. 174 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATIOlsr IN NEW YORK. of furnaces has been imported, and a very large number of working drawings of furnaces and machines used in the different processes. Applied chemistry is illustrated by several thousand specimens of materials and products, arranged in a cabinet of industrial chemistry for exhibition at the lectures and for inspection by the students. The geological collection consists of over 100,000 specimens, to which additions are constantly being made. The departments of civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and mining engineering are fully illustrated by collections of appropriate models. THE VANDERBILT GIFTS. Soon after the completion of the new library and law school build- ing the munificent gift of the late William H. Vanderbilt placed the college in possession of buildings for its medical department superior to any in this country. Mr. Vanderbilt presented to the college twenty- nine lots of land on Fifty-ninth street. Tenth avenue, and Sixtieth street for the erection thereon from time to time of suitable buildings for instruction in the science of medicine. These lots were valued at $200,000, and to this gift he added $300,000 in money as a building fund. This princely and very opportune gift provided the school with build- ings thoroughly equipped in the very best manner. The generous benefactor lived but a short time after this, and on his death a hospital was built on the college grounds, by a gift from his four sons, as a memorial of their father. This is known as the Vanderbilt Clinic, and contains a fully equipped dispensary. At the same time a second hospital was built upon this block by one of the Vanderbilt family. Mr. William D. Sloane presented to the college $200,000, with which the Sloane Maternity Hospital was built. This contains 39 beds, all of which are free, having been endowed by Mrs. Sloane, a daughter of the late Mr. Vanderbilt. This hospital is also under the imme- diate supervision of the college professors, and a corps of 6 students from the graduating class are on duty each week in the term. Includ- ing the land, the three buildings, the equipment, and the endowment of the beds in the maternity hospital, over $1,000,000 has been ex- pended by this family for the benefit of the medical profession. But the science of medicine does not receive the only benefit from this generosity. During the year 1889 over 102,000 persons were treated in the Vanderbilt Clinic. The completion of these new quarters encouraged the faculty of medicine to take some important steps in the direction of increased usefulness. In 1880 the duration of the annual session had been extended from five months to seven. There was a large increase in the number of students in the following year. It is also encouraging to note that the majority of the students chose of their own accord to spend three years in the school instead of finishing as was possi- COLUMBIA UmVEESITY. 175 ble, in two. This action was encouraged by raising the standard of examinations and making it possible for a student to pass final exami- nations in certain of his subjects at the end of his second year. The result was the establishment in 1887 of a graded course covering a period of three years, thus making it possible to offer much more detailed and thorough instruction.^ The next step was the requiring of examinations for admission to the course. This had long been considered a desirable measure in the interest of the profession. The college adopted a schedule of entrance examinations, making it prerequisite to matriculation that the student should show a fair proficiency in the English and Latin languages, arithmetic, algebra, and geometry, such as is usually de- manded for entrance in advanced literary colleges. The immediate effect of this was to greatly decrease the number of students, but it has placed the college on a much higher level. DEATH OF DR. SHORT. A very sad loss occurred in the latter part of President Barnard's administration in the unexpected death of the eminent Latin professor, Dr. Short, who died on the 24th of December, 1886. " Dr. Short," says the Rev. Talbot W. Chambers, "was remarkable as a painstaking scholar, who would have contributed more to classical literature but for his reluctance to let anything pass from his pen till he had ex- pended his ability upon it." Graduated at Harvard in 1846, he spent Ms entire life as an educator, a portion of it in the presidency of Kenyon College, Ohio. Three years after his call to Columbia he was appointed a member of the American committee for the revision of the New Testament, and subsequently became secretary of that body. He was a member of many learned societies, to which he contributed papers of much originality. His work includes revisions of Schmitz and Zumpt's Advanced Latin Exercises and Mitchell's Ancient Geogra- phy. He wrote an essay on the order of words in Attic-Greek prose, which is prefixed to Young's English-Greek Lexicon, and is the most exhaustive treatise that has been written upon the subject. He also edited, in conjunction with Dr. Carlton T. Lewis, a new edition of Andrew's Freund's Latin Lexicon. Dr. Short was an active Christian and a good churchman. For a number of years he was a vestryman of St. Thomas Church, where a tablet has been placed to his memory. The chair in the Latin language and literature left vacant by the demise of Dr. Short was subsequently filled by the election of an alumnus of the college, Dr. Harry Thurston Peck, a young man of marked ability, who had shown himself eminently fitted for the responsible position intrusted to him. ' The course has since been extended to four years, the length of time now required in all reputable schools . 176 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT BARNARD. In June, 1888, President Barnard, admonislied by a severe sickness that liis increasing age would soon necessitate his retirement from active life, offered his resignation of the presidency. The board of trustees sought by passing a series of resolutions to express their sympathj^ in the impaired condition of their leader's health and their sincere and deep regret of the action made necessary by it. It was resolved — That this board attest with pride and pleasure the widespread fame of the dis- tinguished head of the college and share in the general admiration for his extraor- dinary attainments, his ability as an educator, and the modest simplicity and dig- nity which have uniformly characterized his manners and life. Resolved, That President Barnard be granted a leave of absence for one year from date or until the election and installation of his successor. Resolved, That when the time comes to install his successor the board confer on the retiring president the rank and title of president emeritus and that his sal- ary be continued during the remainder of his life. Dr. Drisler was requested to undertake the duties of the presidency and it was hoped that Dr. Barnard would live to complete his twenty- fifth year in office, but in the spring of 1889 he passed to his eternal rest. What the college was when President Barnard was called to it in 1864 has been seen; his last report shows it to have been a university consisting of the college proper, the nucleus, called the school of arts, with its graduate department and four associated schools, the medical school, the law school, tlie school of political science, and the school of applied sciences, called the school of mines. This latter was divided into seven departments each of which was practically a school by itself — a school of mining engineering, a school of civil engineering, a school of metallurgy, a school of geology and paleontology, a school of analytical and applied chemistry, a school of architecture, and a school of sanitary engineering. The school of arts offered an extensive elective system, the grad- uate department, together with the school of political science, offered almost all the advantages given under the faculty of philosophy in foreign universities, while the professional and scientific schools had attained a degree of excellence unsurpassed in this country. There were in the college 1,863 students, of whom 51 were matricu- lated in two or more schools. Four hundred and fifteen degrees were given in President Barnard's last year, 28 in the school of political science, 56 in the school of mines, 106 in the school of medicine, 110 in the school of law, and 115 in the school of arts. ^ The corps of instructors consisted of 45 professors, 12 adjunct professors, 10 lec- turers, 16 instructors, 6 tutors, 76 assistants, and 36 fellows. ' This number includes honorary degrees conferred at the centennial celebration. COLUMBIA UNIVEESITY. 177 ADMINISTRATION OP DR. DRISLER. Nothing- of great importance to history could be done while the col- lege was without a head, but Acting President Drisler won a place for himself in the hearts of all Columbia men by the faithful care he took of the welfare of the college, and the work of his successor was made lighter b}^ the fact that no backward steps were taken. It was owing to his faithfulness, indeed, that the trustees were able to give such deliberate attention to the selection of a new president. Their appreciation of his services was evinced by their action on the 10th of February, 1890, when it was — Resolved, That in the administration of Prof. Henry Drisler, LL. D., as acting president of Columbia College, an office for which he was admirably equipped by his sense of its responsibility and by exalted personal character, as well as by pro- found learning and sound judgment, and an experience of nearly fifty years of service in the coliege as an officer of the institution, the trustees gratefully acknowledge the ability and faithfulness with which the duties of the position have been performed. That they record with satisfaction the continued usefulness and prosperity of the college under Professor Drisler's management, which they recognize as hav- ing been wise and conservative in maintaining acauemic traditions, as well as progressive in its hearty sympathy with the healthful activity of all the schools of the college. Further resolutions i)rovided for the pi-omotion of Professor Drisler to the position of dean of the school of arts. It was during Dr. Drisler's administration that what promises to be one of the most useful schools of the college was opened. The prom- inence which electricity has of late taken in the world of science led the trustees to establish a school in electrical engineering and to appropriate sufficient funds for the erection of a thoroughly equipped building for its accommodation. The course in this school, as well as the course in sanitary engineering, was made postgraduate to the school of mines, and thus another step taken in the direction of a university. Shortly before his retirement Dr. Barnard had said : Universities are a want of the country which must and will be supplied; but they can not spring into being full panoplied, like Minerva from the head of Jupiter. They must grow by gradual accretion continued through a long series of years, and no such accretion can take place except around an existing nucleus. , . . She [Columbia] is the nucleus of what will one day be the great university of the city —possibly of the continent; and it should be an encouragement to all who have any ambition to see our city as preeminent in its literary and scientific char- acter as it is in its population, its commerce, and its wealth, that she is a nucleus so substantial already; so sound and solid at the core, that all future accretions will adhere to her firmly and constitute the elements of a healthy growth.' Throughout Dr. Barnard's long administration Columbia had steadily grown in this direction. The possibility which he had fore- ' President Barnard's Report, 1886, 3176 12 178 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATIOK IN NEW YOEK. seen was accomplished in all but form and name. Fortunately for the college, the wisdom which has characterized the board of trustees since their creation did not desert them now, and mature deliberation enabled them to select as a successor to President Barnard a man who was exceptionally well fitted to continue the work and lead the college toward its goal — the metropolitan university. ACCESSION OF PRESIDENT LOW. On the 7th of October, 1889, Hon. Seth Low, LL. D., one of her own alumni, was elected to the presidencj^ of the college. President Low is the son of Mr. Abiel A. Low, a well-known merchant of Burling Slip. He was born in Brooklyn, and his early education was obtained at the Brooklyn Polj^technic Institute, where he was prepared for Columbia. He was graduated in 1870, standing at the head of his class. He then went abroad and spent several years in travel, after which he entered his father's mercantile house, where he subsequently became a partner. He was elected a member of the chamber of com- merce, served on several important committees, and achieved a cred- itable distinction for a series of addresses made before that body on the trade and commerce of New York and kindred subjects. In 1880 he took a prominent part in national politics, founding the "Young Republican Club," which has since become a permanent organization of considerable importance. His impressiveness as a public speaker placed him conspicuously before the people and gained for him a wide celebrity. When a year later the people of Brooklyn were called upon under their new charter to elect a mayor with greatly increased responsibilities, Mr. Low was chosen by a flatteringly large majority. To this office he was reelected in 1883, and throughout both terms his administration was signalized by the display of extraordinary execu- tive abilities. He sank partisanship, reconstructed municipal mat- ters throughout, and gave the city a real reform administration. After his retirement he went abroad again, and on his return resumed his commercial occupation. In 1881 he was elected a trustee of Columbia, in which office he afforded his associates ample opportuni- ties for learning his peculiar fitness for the high position to which they elected him. His new honors were borne with becoming modesty. In his letter of acceptance he said : The honor is at the same time the summons to a duty which I may not decline. I accept, therefore, the position to which I have been chosen with grateful thanks to my colleagues for this culminating mark of their confidence and good will and with the assurance that I will doeverythinginmypowerto justify their judgment. At his own suggestion and with the advice of Dr. Drisler, President Low did not enter upon his duties until the beginning of the second term, when appropriate installation ceremonies were held on the 3d of February, 1890. COLUMBIA UNIVEKSITY. 179 In his inaugural address, after mentioning among Columbia's many eminent alumni Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, DeWitt Clinton, and Hamilton Fish, President Low said : The value of the college to New York is not to be measured by the services of her conspicuous sons. Her chief and permanent value to the city lies in the con- stant witness she bears to the usefulness and nobility of the intellectual life and in the work she is always doing to develop and uplift that life. Columbia Col- lege, college and university both as she really is, holds aloft this ideal in the great city where finance and commerce show alike their good and their bad sides. Her influence makes always to strengthen the things which are good. In her financial management she illustrates a business trust faithfully administered without a breach for one hundred and thirty years. On her educational side she displays the splendid usefulness of money which is received not to be hoarded, but to be well spent. She is profoundly conscious that what she is doing is but the earnest of what she yet may do if New York will but make common cause with her and enlarge and broaden and deepen her work on every side. The city also may be made, to a considerable extent, a part of the university. All about us lie its galleries, its museums, and its libraries. Best of all, here are are its men, the most eminent in their calling in every walk of life. Let us bring these men in every possible way into vital touch with our work, and we shall see a university of which the whole country shall be proud. Administration of President Low.' The distinctive features of President Low's administration are the simplification of the university organization ; the growth in the num- ber of university faculties and in the real university work done; the gratifying general development of both college and university in numbers and equipment; the affiliation of the university with various educational agencies in the city and the closer contact with the life of the city itself. Columbia had formed a high ideal of university organization and work thirty years before, and had during the last year of President Barnard's administration been working rapidly toward it. LTniversity work, not merely in the professional schools, but in certain depart- ments of pure science, notably in economics and politics, had for several years before the accession of Mr. Low been successfully car- ried on. The relations of the different departments of the university in this work, however, were not systematized. Certain tentative changes were made immediately after the inauguration of Mr. Low as president. After a short trial this tentative reorganization was retained for the most part with further modifications seen to be necessary. ' The remainder of the sketch of Columbia was written by Sidney Sherwood. The chapter which had been written by Mr. Hathaway described the organization as it was in 1891. To make the present condition of the university most easily intelligible it seemed best to pass over more lightly the first steps in the trans- formation wrought by President Low, and to bring out in clearer relief the latest status. While Mr. Hathaway's chapter as a whole has been discarded, a part of his material has been used. 180 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. The administrative key of the reorganized system is the univer- sity council, established in 1890 as a board of advisers to the presi- dent upon university matters, but afterwards constituted a definite body in the government of the university, representative of the vari- ous faculties and invested with large powers. The most lucid account of the reorganization is to be found in the annual reports of the president, those of 1890 and of 1892, respectively. ORGAISriZATION AT THE ACCESSION OF PRESIDENT LOW. Mr. Low, in his report of 1890, says: On the 6th of February, 1890, Columbia College in the city of New York con- sisted of the School of Arts, or the college proper, founded in 1754; the School of Law, established in 1858; the School of Mines, established in 1864, and the School of Political Science, established in 1880. In addition to these schools, which are under the direct control of the trustees of the college, the College of Physicians and Surgeons had become in 1860, by joint resolution of its own board of trustees and the trustees of Columbia, the medical department of Columbia College. The president, however, and this board have no responsibility as toward the medical department, and this report, therefore, will concern itself at this point with the other schools only. Each of these schools, the School of Arts, the School of Law, the School of Mines, and the School of Political Science, had its own faculty, and each school was administered without any reference to the others, almost without any conscious- ness of the others. ' ' No degree could be had except by pursuing the complete course in some one school," although it was possible in some instances to have work taken outside one of the schools count for a degree in that school. In such a case, however, additional fees had to be paid. What seemed especially to be needed from the point of view of the student was such a unification of the institution as would make its varied opportunities more available to these students where equipment and capabilities justified them in desiring to study in more than one school. As toward the trustees, also, the existing situation had developed embarrassments. All of the scientific professors in the faculty of the School of Arts had seats also in the faculty of the School of Mines. In another instance, one professor sat in the three faculties of arts, law, and political science. When, therefore, the judg- ment of the teaching faculties of the entire institution was sought by the trustees, it had become necessary to direct that no professor should vote in more than one faculty. It was clear to all concerned that somebody ought to be constituted which should represent to the trustees the teaching mind of the institution in all its parts. The problem was to secure a body which would be accepted as fairly representative by all the members of every faculty. Again, the graduate work, for which were given the higher degrees of master of arts and doctor of philosophy, stood in need of organization. It had grown to considerable proportions, but for the most part it depended too much upon indi- vidual professors. There was no general standard to which all must conform. In the School of Political Science, it is true, this work represented a large part of the labors of the faculty, for, with the exception of the first year, it is a graduate COLUMBIA UNIVEESITY. 181 school: but in the School of Arts and the School of Mines the graduate work was a mere incident. For this purpose, also, it was necessary to secure a body which could, in effect, direct the graduate work where it concerned itself with more than one school, and provide a common standard for all the schools. Incidentally, it was desirable, if possible, to place this work in its general phases under the charge of faculties rather than of individuals. It thus appears from these different points of view that the first thing necessary in any i eorganization was to secure the central body which would unify the insti- tution in the various directions indicated, thus enabling it to be operated as one whole instead of as so many parts. The one essential condition in relation to such a body was that it should be felt to be and be accepted, by both trustees and pro- fessors, as thoroughly and fairly representative of the entire institution. Prior to my election the trustees had in fact decided that there should be such a body, to be known as an academic or university council. When I assumed the duties of my office, it remained to be decided how this body should be composed, and what precisely should be its function. It was the common opinion, also, that there should be created a faculty of philosophy, to have charge of the advanced work in philosophy, philology, and letters. Such a faculty, if created, made it possible to divide all the professors in the institution into homogeneous groups, of which groups no professor should be in more than one. THE PRESENT ORGANIZATION. "Columbia University at the present time consists of the School of Alts, the original college founded in 1754; of sundrj'^ professional schools, to wit, the School of Law, the College of Physicians and Sur- geons, and the School of Mines, admission to all of which, as candi- dates for professional degrees, is open to all students whether or not they are college-bred men; and of the university faculties of Law, Medicine, Mines (Applied Science), Political Science, Philosophy, and Pure Science, which conduct all courses leading to the university degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. "The point of contact between the college and the university is the senior year in the School of Arts, during which year students in the School of Arts pursue their studies, with the consent of the faculty of arts, under one or more of the universitj^ faculties. The term 'uni- versity faculties ' includes all the faculties except the faculty of arts, "The various schools are under the charge of their own faculties, and for the better conduct of the strictly university work, as well as of the whole institution, a university council has been established."^ THE UNIVERSITY COUNCIL. " The university council consists of the president, the deans of the several university faculties, and of a representative chosen from and by each faculty for the term of three years, and of the dean and the secretary of the School of Arts ex officio. "The council (subject to the reserved power of control by the trus- tees) has power, and it is its duty, in all matters not referred by stat- ute to the president or the several faculties — ' Columbia College. Historical sketch and present condition. New York, April, 1893, p. 16. 182 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. "To fix and determine the conditions upon which the degrees of Master of Arts (Master of Laws by amendment, June o, 1893) and Doctor of Philosophy shall be conferred, and to recommend candi- dates for such degrees; " To secure the correlation of courses offered by the several univer- sity faculties, with a view to increasing the efficiency and enlarging the range of university work ; to encourage original research; to adjust all questions involving more than one faculty; "To make such recommendations, both to the trustees and to the several faculties, concerning the educational administration of the university, as may seem to it proper, and to advise the president upon such matters as he may bring before it; "To prescribe the form of the commencement exercises and to select the speakers; " To appoint all fellows and to make rules for their government, subject to such restrictions as may be prescribed by the statutes or by the terms upon which the several fellowships are established. "The council may invite a representative of the faculties of the Gen- eral Protestant Episcopal and of the Union Theological seminaries, respectively, to sit with it, with power to advise only. " ^ ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION. "From the administrative point of view it is almost more convenient to sny that Columbia consists of the college, that is, the School of Arts, and of six university faculties — Law, Medicine, Mines, Political Science, Philosophy, and Pure Science — for while it is true that each of these faculties conducts a school, it is also true that they work together in giving instruction to an increasing body of students who seek instruction from more than one faculty. In other words, the Columbia that two years and a half ago consisted of four schools almost wholly unrelated to each other consists now of seven schools that are tied together by all the interests of a common life. The uni- versity council, established two years ago as an advisory body only, by the revised statutes has been made a body with ample powers, experi- ence having shown that it was admirably adapted to serve as the principal organ of the faculties in directing the common life of the university. The council also serves as a unifying factor, consisting as it does of two members from every faculty, who constantly meet together to deal with questions of common concern."^ NEW FACULTIES ESTABLISHED. In 1891 the College of Physicians and Surgeons surrendered its separate charter and became one of the university faculties of Colum- bia. An agreement was also entered into with the General and Union 'Columbia College. Historical sketch and present condition. New York, April, 1893. p. 16. - President's Report, 1892, p. 7. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 183 Theological seminaries providing certain reciprocal educational priv- ileges and giving these institutions a qualified representation in the university council. In 1892 a school of pure science was established, the object of which was "to increase the opportunities for advanced work in mathematics and natural science on the part of the students who do not care to take any of the technical courses in the School of Mines." The faculty of this school also secured equal representation in the university council. EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION. The educational organization then consists of a college in the usual American meaning of the term, in which a four years' course of study leads to the degree of B. A., the last year of which, however, can be spent in work under university faculties ; three professional schools, Law, Medicine, and Mines (the latter a technological school), and three schools in which scientific research is the chief aim — School of Political Science, School of Philosophy, and School of Pure Science. The statute regulating the conferring of degrees is as follows: The president shall have power, when the requirements of the statutes shall have been satisfactorily fulfilled, to confer degrees as follows: a. The degree of Bachelor of Arts, upon the recommendation of the faculty of arts; 6. The professional and technical degrees of Bachelor of Laws, upon the recom- mendation of the faculty of law; Doctor of Medicine, upon the recommendation of the faculty of medicine; and Bachelor of Science, Engineer of Mines, Civil Engi- neer, Metallurgical Engineer, Electrical Engineer, and Sanitary Engineer, upon the recommendation of the faculty of the School of Mines; and c. The degrees of Master of Arts, Master of Laws, and Doctor of Philosophy, upon the recommendation of the university council. ' THE WORK OF THE SEVERAL FACULTIES. THE SCHOOL OF ARTS OR COLLEGE PROPER. The minimum age on entrance is 15 years. The curriculum covers four years. The studies of the freshman and sophomore years are for the most part obligatory. In the junior year, rhetoric, philosophy, history, and political economy are required, and eleven hours per week of elective studies are allowed and must be filled. In the senior year the studies are wholly elective and must occupy not less than fifteen hours per week. The first year courses of the school of law, the school of mines in any of its departments, and the college of physicians and surgeons are open to seniors. THE SCHOOL OF LAW. This is a professional school des -ned "to prepaie students for practice in any State of the Union." Before Mr. Low became presi- dent it was almost entirely in the hands of its founder, Prof. Theodore 1 Columbia College in the City of New York, etc., p. 16. 184 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW" YOEK. W. Dwight, and, while held by common opinion one of the best two law schools in the country, it was not entirely suited to the conditions of the later times. President Low found it necessarj^ to reorganize it in the interests of more scholarly legal education, as well as to make it harmonize with his general policy of reorganization. Let him tell the story of the change in his own words : ^ "The most important internal educational change of the year has been the reorganization of the law school. This was made necessary by the announcement in January of Prof. Theodore W. Dwight, the warden of the school, of his purpose to retire as an emeritus professor on July 1, 1891, under the resolutions of the trustees already alluded to. Dr. Dwight's notice of his intended retirement was followed almost immediately by the resignations of Profs. George Chase and Robert D. Petty, which resignations were accepted, as presented, to take effect June 30, at the end of the academic year. It is greatly to be regretted that in the law school the old order could not have passed into the new as easily and pleasantly as it has done in all other parts of the university. Historically the situation was excep- tionally difficult, the initiative as to , many points which properly belonged with the president having been with the warden from the formation of the school ; but a fuller explanation of the complete break which has taken place is to be found in the wide differences of opinion which prevailed as to the future policy of the school. The differences between the new arrangement of the course and the old are clearly indicated by the following points : "1. The new course assumes three years as the unit of the course, instead of adding a third year to the old two-years' course, as though that were a thing complete. This is in accordance with the report of the siDecial committee, to which was referred the subject of a third- year's course in the law school, presented to the trustees May 7, 1888. "2. The new course is based upon the concurrent study of different subjects. "3. It permits the study of public law as part of the equipment for the degree. "4. It adjusts the hours so as to discourage office work during the first two years, while facilitating it in the third yesir. "5. The hours have been so arranged as to throw open to the students of law many privileges of study in other departments of university instruction which would otherwise be denied to them. "6. The new course offers a broader range of choice in legal sub- jects by establishing numerous elective studies. "7. It relieves the professors from repeating the same work twice a daj^, but it requires their attendance at the school through the entire academic year." This change has been productive of good results. The relative ^ President's Report, 1891, pp. 17-18. COLUMBIA UNIVEKSITY. 185 number of students taking law without a college degree grows each year less, and the character of the work is distinctly broader and more scholarly. THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS. Consolidated with Columbia in 1891 and now one of the university faculties, several notable steps in the line of progress have been taken by the medical school. President Low says in his report for 1891 : The medical school has been importantly strengthened in those directions which make for more thorough teaching and in the laboratories which are to conduct original research, while the multiplied opportunities of a great iiniversity are thrown open at once to the students of medicine. The coui'se of study, which was at that time three years, has now become a four-years' course. The notable features of the extension to four years are "the great increase in clinical instruction available to students in small groups," and the introduction of elective courses in the fourth year. THE SCHOOL OF MINES. This is a polytechnic school. It offers the following seven courses of instruction, each of four years' duration: Mining engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, metallurgy, geology and paleontology, analytical and applied chemistry, and architecture. There is also a graduate course of two years in sanitary engineering. It offers, also, university courses for the degrees of master of arts and doctor of philosophy in all the departments to graduates of .Columbia or other colleges with equivalent curricula. THE SCHOOL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE. "1. The school of political science, established in 1880, embraces courses in constitutional history and constitutional law, history of political theories, political economy and social science, Roman law and comparative jurisprudence, administrative law, international law, and history. ' ' The faculty aims to give a complete general view of all the subjects of public polity, both internal and external, from the threefold point of view of history, law, and philosophy. The i:)rime aim is, therefore, the development of all the branches of the political sciences. The secondary and practical objects are: "a. To flt young men for all the political branches of the public service. "6. To give an adequate economic and legal training to those who intend to make journalism their profession. "c. To supplement, by courses in jDublic law and comparative juris- prudence, the instruction in private municipal law offered by the faculty of law. "d. To educate teachers of political science."^ ' Columbia College, etc. Historical sketch and present condition. 1893. p. 30. 186 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. The courses are arranged in three groups: (1) History and political philosophy; (2) Public law and comparative jurisprudence; (3) Politi- cal economy and social science. The seminarium is an important feature of this school, every stim- ulus to original work being given. The results of this work have been of gratifying excellence. A series of studies in history, eco- nomics, and public law, embodying the best results of this original work, has completed its fourth volume, and has received wide and favorable recognition. The well-known Political Science Quarterly, now in its tenth volume, is the organ of this faculty. The competition for fellowships shows something of the spirit of the work of this school. The dean's report for 1894 shows 98 applicants for university fellowships in political science, of whom 36 were recom- mended by the faculty as worthy the appointment. Only 9 were awarded fellowships. In 1894 a chair of sociology was established by the appointment of Prof. Franklin H. Giddings. The chief obstacle to the highest efficiency of the work in this school seems to be the large number of law students who take this work as a secondary matter. Of the 226 students enrolled in this school in 1894, 151 were also law students. The majoritj'^ of the law students are not college graduates. Many of the other students in this school are not college graduates. In fact, of the 226 mentioned above, only 139 were full university students, and of these 40 had only finished the junior year in college. Fortunately, however, the growth of the percentage of college grad- uates is clearly perceptible. The school has one of the ablest and best organized faculties in political science in the world. THE SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY. This school was established in 1890, and is in a sense the realization of the school of letters once planned. It has charge of the university courses in philosophy, psychology, philology, and letters. This some- what anomalous restriction in scope was probably rendered necessary by the preemptions of other faculties, such as that of political science and of pure science. This logical inconsistency in titles, however, has no evil effect upon the practical work of the school.^ In 1895 it offered the following courses : Number of courses. 1. Philosophy and education 13 2. Pedagogy (Teachers' College) 15 3. Greek. .^ - 10 4. Latin --- -- - 9 5. English -. - -- 13 6. Literature 4 1 The relations to the Teachers' College have become more intimate with the incorporation of the latter in the university. COLUMBIA UNIVEKSITY. 187 Number of courses. 7. Germanic languages ._ 7 8. Romance languages 11 9. Sanskrit ._. 3 10. Semitic languages . - - , 9 11. Iranian languages 5 13. Linguistics 1 THE SCHOOL OF PUEE SCIENCE. The first movement toward the establishment of this school was the creation of a department of biology in 1891. This was partly an out- growth of the consolidation with the College of Physicians and Sur- -geons. It served as a connecting link between the medical school and the university, and also developed the policy to provide for advanced scientific study. The school of pure science was established the next year. It con- tains the following departments: Mathematics, mechanics, physics, chemistry, mineralogy, astronomy, geology, biology, botany, phj^s- iology, anatomy, bacteriology. The number of students attending courses during the first and second years may be summarized as follows : 1892-93. 1893-9t. Graduates 13 37 2 1 6 29 Seniors, school of arts. - 29 From school of law.. From school of philosophy Special students 9 Total. 59 67 UNIVERSITY PRESS. "At the close of the academic year 1892-93 the trustees authorized the formation of a corporation to be known as the Columbia University Press, to which they granted the use of that name, subject to revoca- tion, in case of need, at the option of the trustees. This corporation has since been formed, with the president of Columbia College as its president. Its object is to provide for the printing and publication of meritorious works on all subjects, after the manner of the Claren- don Press at Oxford. It has designated Messrs. Macmillan & Co. as its publishing agents. The first book to be brought out, bearing its imprint, very appropriately was Classical Studies in Honour of Henry Drisler. Already, however, the Press has performed another service of great value to the college. A committee was appointed "to con- sider and report on the desirability and practicability of securing uni- formity and cooperation in the publication of college documents (contributions to literature and science), and of the several journals edited by faculties of the college. " As a result of the labors of this committee, all the serial studies and contributions from departments 188 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. of tlie college, whicli hitherto have appeared in all sorts of shapes, will appear henceforth with a certain degree of uniformity in style and caption, so far as that may be possible with contributions cover- ing so wide a range. All of them will have, in common, the effect of a systematic series of studies embodying the researches of the officers and students of our various departments. In this way it is expected that the college will be recognized, more widely than hitherto, as the seat of original work in many subjects, no effort having been made in the past to connect these different series with each other or with the college. It is interesting to observe how generally our professors are at work in this direction. The following journals are issued under the direction of members of the faculties of Columbia College, or in cooperation with members of other colleges: The School of Mines Quarterly. The Political Science Quarterly, Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. Bulletin of the New York Mathematical Society. Educational Review. (In cooperation.) Modern Language Notes. (In cooperation.) American Journal of Archaeology. (In cooperation. ) Psychological Review. (In cooperation.) "The following serial studies and contributions are issued from the college: Studies in Histor}^, Economics, and Public Law. Studies from the Analytical and Assay Laboratories of the School of Mines. Contributions from the Electrical Engineering Department of the School of Mines. Contributions from the Herbarium of Columbia College. Contributions from the Mineralogical Department of Columbia College. Contributions from the Geological Department of Columbia Col- lege. Contributions from the Observatory^ of Columbia College. Contributions to Philosophy, Psychology, and Education. Studies from the Biological Department of Columbia College. Studies from the Department of Pathology, College of Phj^si- cians and Surgeons, Columbia College."^ STATISTICS CONCEENING THE UNIVERSITY AS A WHOLE. The student membership of the university reveals a gratifjdng growth. It was in — 1891-92 .__ 1,573 1892-93 1,641 1893-94... 1,805 1894-95 1,943 ^ President's report, 1894, pp. 7-8. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 189 The gain comes from all quarters of the Union, and the gains from a distance are, both absolutely and in percentage, in excess of local gains. Instructors. Professors Emeritus professors. Adjunct professors Clinical professors Instructors Tutors Assistants.... Curators Lecturers Director of laboratories . . Demonstrators Assistant demonstrators. Clinical lecturers Chiefs of clinic Clinical assistants -. Honorary assistants 1892-93. 236 1893-94. 51 6 1.5 9 21 18 30 2 15 3 7 6 10 61 3 '257 1 1894-95, 265 It will be noticed that the teaching force has been importantly strengthened as compared with last year. Students. 1892-93. 1893-94. Percentage. 1892-93. 1893-94. Undergraduates . 296 497 847 271 575 958 18.05 30.30 51.65 15 02 31 87 53 11 for women (now superseded by Barnard Col- Collegiate course lege) - 1,640 1 1,804 1 100 100 1,641 1,805 Summary by schools. 1892-93. 1893-94. Num- ber hold- ing de- gree. With- out de- gree. Total. Per- cent- age of de- grees. Num- ber hold- ing de- gree. With- out de- gree. Total. Per- cent- age of de- grees. 103 251 61 79 63 3 166 403 323 ' 85 57 3 269 654 384 164 120 5 38 38 16 48 53.5 40 Ill 305 52 18 65 23 137 461 325 10 18 7 248 766 377 128 83 30 45 40 Mines 14 Political science 64 Philosophy , Pure science 78 77 559 62 1,037 190 1,596 253 Arts.. 497 847 1,344 296 1 36.9 574 1 958 271 1,533 273 1 37 College course for women Grand total 1,641 1,805 1 The table for 1893-94 has been made without duplicates for purposes of convenience, but it 190 HISTOKY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. The following tables show the gratifying spread of our influence : Number of colleges represented by graduate students. Year. 1891-93 1892-93 1893-94 1894-95 Foreign colleges. 14 13 18 26 THE NEW SITE AND BUILDINGS. On January 1, 1895, at a cost of $2,000,000, the college came into possession of a tract of 17 acres on Riverside Heights, between One hundred and sixteenth and One hundred and twentieth streets. President Low says : By general consent the new site is unsurpassed in location by that of any uni- versity in the world. It is near the Grant monument and the new cathedral of St. John the Divine. Anyone placing a building upon this site, in such a location, may be confident of a memorial at once enduring and useful, and one which will be before the eyes of the people of the United States almost more than any college building in the land. This gives a fine opportuity for the construction of buildings upon a generous plan. PRESIDENT low's GIFT. In connection with the removal of the university to the new site, special mention should be made of the munificent gift of President Low. In May, 1895, Mr. Low offered to give to the trustees a sum not exceeding $1,000,000 to retire bonds issued for the building of the new library. The gift was made as a memorial of Mr. Low's father, Abiel Abbott Low, and was conditioned upon the establishment of 36 scholarships and 1 fellowship in Columbia College, Barnard College, and Columbia University, and the release of President Low from the charge of the salary of the professor of sociology. The trustees voted not only to accept the conditions accompanying President Low's gift, but to establish also ' ' The Seth Low professorship of American his- does not fairly represent in this form the work of the various faculties. The total number of students taught by each faculty is as follows: Under faculty of — Law Medicine - .. Mines Political science Philosophy Pure science There has been a slight decrease in the School of Arts, due, probably, to causes already noted. The percentage of graduate students is larger than ever. The graduate students number 575, and they form 31.87 per cent of the entire student body. COLUMBIA UNIVEESITY. 191 tory." This noble liberality was emulated by Mr. William C. Scher- merhorn, who at the same time offered to erect a building for natural science, not to exceed in cost $300,000. COLUMBIA ' ' UNIVERSITY. " President Low, in his report for 1894-95, says: Inasmuch as King's, afterwards and still Columbia College, has now developed into the university that it aimed from the beginning to become, I think the time has arrived when the entire institution should be known upon our statutes, even if the name of the corporation remain unchanged, either as Columbia University or as the University of Columbia College. By a resolution of the trustees, passed June 1, 1891, I am already authorized to refer to the institution in any publica- tion or announcement as a university. I shall shortly submit proposed amendments to the statutes intended to give effect to the use of the name university for the institution as a whole, and of Columbia College for the school of arts. I trust these proposals will meet with favorable consideration. This leads me to consider the university and its policy from another point of view. Whatever may have been the case twenty-five years ago, there is no doubt that to-day, in the United States, there is growing up a tolerably distinct concep- tion of the difference between a college and a imiversity. A college is conceived of as a place for liberal culture; a university as a place for specialization based on liberal cultiare. In this sense, it is true that Columbia is both a college and a university, and as yet but partially a university. In the school of law only 47 per cent are college graduates: in the school of medicine barely 36 per cent; and iu the school of mines only 13 per cent. It goes without saying that a man need not be a college- bred man in order to be a good lawyer, a good physician, or a good engineer. But it is the general testimony of experience, and the uniform testimony of all the faculities, that the best men, with rare exceptions, are those who have first had the broadening training and the mental discipline of a liberal course. I conceive, therefore, that it should be Columbia's policy, slowly, if you please, but steadily, to raise the requirements for admission to all her professional schools until a liberal training, equivalent to the old-time college course, is demanded as a condition for admission to every one of them. I hope such a declaration of policy may shortly be made. I think it would give consistency to our own devel- opment, and be of service to the cause of higher education throughout the United States. RELATION OF BARNARD COLLEGE TO COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. [From President Low's Report, 1894-95.] "A matter of great moment, having important consequences, has been discussed by the University Council. The relations of Barnard College to Columbia College as to the first three years of the college course are perfectly distinct. For these years Barnard College pro- vides separate instruction for its young women, almost exclusively by instructors connected with Columbia. As a result of the discussion alluded to, the ultimate relation of Barnard College to Columbia, as to graduate work, is about to be determined by experiment along two different lines. The senior year being merged at Columbia with the first year of university work does not call for separate consideration. 192 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IJST NEW YOEK. Under the statutes of the trustees, students of Barnard College are at liberty to attend lectures at Columbia in the two faculties of philoso- phy and political science, the consent of the president and the pro- fessor delivering the course being first obtained. Under this provi- sion a considerable number of courses in philosophy and letters have been available to the students of Barnard for several years. No embarrassment or difficulty has arisen from this arrangement in any instance or in any direction. This is one alternative. "The faculty of political science, on the other hand, has uniformly declined to open any of its courses to Barnard students. The courses in higher mathematics, as being in the faculty of pure science, are also closed to the young women, that facultj^ having been established since the statute that deals with this question was adopted. Under these circumstances, Barnard College found itself unable to offer to women advanced courses in history, jjolitical economy, and mathe- matics. The students of Barnard can not attend the lectures on these subjects at Columbia, and the professors delivering the lectures declined, for lack of time, to repeat them at Barnard. In the mean- while Columbia had undertaken to give its degree to the graduates of Barnard College. This is the problem, then, to which the University Council addressed itself. The first proposition was to take the nec- essary action to throw open to the students of Barnard the desired courses given at Columbia. The University Council declined to adopt this course, and it seemed for the moment as if the whole scheme for the higher education of women in the city of New York for which Barnard College stands, was in danger of shipwreck. Happily the friends of Barnard and of the higher education of women were equal to the emergency, so that what threatened to be a crushing disaster was con- verted into a distinct advantage to both Barnard and Columbia. Bar- nard proposed to furnish to Columbia the money for the salaries of three professors, one in history, one in political economy, and one in mathematics, who should divide their time between Columbia and Barnard, provided that professors already connected with Columbia in the same subjects should give as many hours of instruction at Bar- nard as the professors provided by Barnard should give at Columbia. "This proposal met with the approval of the university council, and upon their recommendation it has been adopted by the trustees of Columbia and successfully carried into effect. It has one undoubted merit. Barnard thus becomes a source of positive strength to Colum- bia instead of making new demands upon Columbia's strength. It also provides for the women, separately, advanced courses in history, political economy, and mathematics, for the time being ample in number and in range, by the same professors that teach the men at Columbia. I hope the time will never come when Barnard shall cease to support these professorships. As Barnard College increases in financial strength it is reasonable to hope that the number of profes- — .uIbS COLUMBIA UmVEESITY. 193 sorships supported by it at Columbia will be enlarged. Those who are interested in securing for women the same educational advantages that the men enjoy should not be content to ask the old foundations to do double duty; they ought to be glad to prove, in some such way as this, that the old foundations will themselves be strengthened, if they lend themselves to the new work. "It is thus to be tested by experiment, as the second alternative, whether it will continue to be thought worth while to provide for women, separately from the men, this university instruction in such subjects as history, political economy, and mathematics. As to the college work we are all agreed ; the young men and j^oung women are taught separately, and should continue to be so taught. As to the advanced work, however, in the opinion of many the case is different. Oxford, Cambridge, the Scotch Universities, to say nothing of the usual American practice or of the occasional German courtesy, all throw open their university courses to women in common with men. Under such a system it is clear that the addition of three professors to the staff of the university would add just so much to the privileges enjoyed both by the men and by the women. Under the system actually insisted upon by our university council, a sj^stem of offsets, Barnard does indeed secure the educational privileges for which it pays; but the men of Columbia lose as many courses from our old professors as they gain from the new, so that the men are better off than they were before only by the greater range that can be covered by the larger number of professors. I doubt whether public senti- ment, either ouside of the university or within it, will long consider this separateness of instruction of women in the higher courses worth maintaining at so heavy a cost. However, that is precisely what is to be determined by this experiment." It has been Mr. Low's good fortune to assume the government of this great college at the time when everything was ready for a sudden and brilliant development. The increasing number of college gradu- ates looking forward to scientific rather than professional careers were ready to welcome new opportunities for training. The growing importance of economic and political studies gave inevitable success to a well-organized attempt to teach these subjects to advanced stu- dents. The scholarly study of the law had become a crying need of the time. The feasibility of carrying on in this country original research of the highest character in the various departments of pure science had been demonstrated by the success of the Johns Hopkins University. A more scientific training in medicine, not only for the teacher, but for the practitioner, was becoming a recognized necessity. The work accomplished in these few years shows that the opportu- nities have been clearly seen and firmly grasped. Not the least sig- nificant feature of the new Columbia is its power of absorption by affiliation. In this way it has knit closely to itself Barnard College 3176 13 194 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. for Women, the Teachers' College, two theological seminaries, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Natural History. It has also established connection with Cooper Institute by means of lecture courses delivered there by Columbia professors. Its policy is by affiliation with all the greatest agencies of the city's life to become the scientific and scholarly representative of the city and to make itself a vital power in shaping the development of the city. If rightly appreciated by the people of New York and wisely guided in its future course, Columbia, it can be safely prophesied, is only entering upon the long period of its greatness.^ BIBLIOGRAPHY. 1. Charter and Acts of the Legislature relating to Columbia College IN THE City of New York. The charter of King's College in the city of New York. October 31, 1754. Statutes, 1785. An act to institute an university within this State and for other purposes 'therein mentioned. April 13, 1787. (Sess. 10, ch. 82, sees. 8, 9, 10, 11. Greenleaf's edition. Vol. I, p. 437.) ' . " (This act renewed the charter and changed the name to Columbia College in the city of New York.) An act to encourage literature by donations to Columbia College and to the several academies in the State. April 11, 1793. (Sess. 15, ch. 69, sees. 1, 3. Green- leaf's edition. Vol. II, p. 479.) Supplemented by — An act for the payment of certain officers of government and other contingent expenses. April 11, 1796. (3 Greenleaf, 340.) An act respecting Union College and for the purposes therein mentioned. March 30, 1797. (3 Greenleaf, 449.) (Appropriation for the preservation of the Anatomical Museum. ) An act to amend the act entitled "An act for the encouragement of literature." April 3, 1802. (Sess. 25, ch. 105, sees. 1, 2. Webster's edition. Vol. Ill, p. 163.) An act relative to Columbia College in the city of New York. March 23, 1810. (Sess. 33, ch. 85. Webster & Skinner's edition. Vol. VI, p. 24. ) Statutes, 1811. ) An act to render the provost of Columbia College in the city of New York eligible to be a trustee thereof. February 14, 1812. (Sess. 35, ch. 6. Webster & Skinner's edition, Vol. VI, p. 348.) An act instituting a lottery for the promotion of literature, and for other pur- poses. April 13, 1814. (Sess. 37, ch. 120, sees. 6, 7. Webster & Skinner's edition. Vol. Ill, p. 142.) (This act granted the Botanic Garden to Columbia with conditions, which were removed by the following act ) : An act relative to Columbia College in the city of New York, February 19, 1819. (Statutes, 1821.) (Sess. 42, ch. 19. Gould & Co.'s edition. Vol. V, p. 26.) Original charter October 31, 1754, with the acts of the legislature altering and amending the same or relating to the college. 1836. 'The President's Annual Report for 1897 gives valuable information, statistical in part, about the growth of the university during his presidency. ^^ml }j"i ■w^m ms, m COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 195 An act [Statutes, 1843] to amend an act entitled '^An act [Statutes, 1851] relative to Columbia College in the city of New York," passed March 23, 1810. (Laws of 1852, ch. 310.) April 15, 1852. Original charter and acts of the legislature relating to the college. New York, 1854. An act to authorize the trustees of Columbia College in the city of New York to take and hold certain real estate. (Laws of 1857, ch. 132.) March 19, 1857. An act to authorize the trustees of Columbia College in the city of New York to take and hold certain real estate. (Laws of 1860, ch. 51.) March 2, 1860. On the authority of these two laws the site of the college at Forty-ninth street was pur- chased. An act to amend the charter of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the city of New York. March 24, 1860. Chapter HI. This gave the trustees the right to confer degrees directly without the intervention of the regents as formerly. Immediately .succeeding this act and under its influence the College of Physicians and Surgeons was made the medical department of Columbia. An act relative to the law school of Columbia College. April 7, 1860. (Laws of 1860, ch. 202: statutes, 1866.) An act in relation to Columbia College in the city of New York. March 8, 1872. (Laws of 1872, ch. 96.) (Granting general power to hold land.) An act in relation to Columbia College in the city of New York. March 28, 1884. (Laws of 1884, ch. 65.) An act to amend the charter of the College of Physicians and Surgeons [medical department of Columbia College]. April 17.1885. (Laws of 1885, ch. 146.) Act authorizing change of name to Columbia University, 1896. 2. Official Documents. 1. Statutes of Columbia College. 2. Resolutions of the board of trustees, 1820-1868. New York, 1868. 3. Resolutions of the board of trustees, 1868-1874. New York, 1874. 4. Resolutions of the board of trustees, 1874-1879. New York, 1879. 5. Resolutions of the bo-ird of trustees, Vol. VIII, 1880-1885. New York, 1885. 6. Resolutions of the board of tru.^tees. Vol. IX. 1885-1889. New York, 1889. 7. Resolutions of the board of trustees. Extracts from the minutes printed monthly to date. 8. Presidents' reports. Annual. Printed for the college. 9. Report of the board of trustees of Columbia College to the regents of the Uni- versity of the State of New York. Annual. Printed in the regeats' reports. 10. A.nnual report of the treasurer of Columbia College. Printed for the use of the trustees. 11. Annual Catalogue of Columbia College (including The Register and The Cir- cular of Information). Printed for the college in this form till 1878. 12. Annual Register, 1879 to date. 13. Annual Handbook, 1879 to date. The handbook contains each year a brief historical sketch of the college. 14. General catalogue of the officers and graduates, 1754-1888. Tenth edition. Prepared by J. H. Van Amringe. New York, 1888. 15. Annual Catalogue of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. New York, Printed for college. 16. Report relative to the course of instruction and discipline in Columbia Col- lege. Presented to the trustees February 28, 1810. New York, 1810. 17. Report of the committee of the trustees relative to the removal of the college. New York, 1854. 196 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IJST NEW YOEK. 18. Report of the select committee of the legislature (New York State) appointed to examine into the affairs of Columbia College. Albany, 1855. 19. Report of a committee of the trustees appointed to inquire into the condition of the college. New York, 1858. 3. Semiofficial Documents. 1. The Founding of King's (afterwards Columbia) College, by Daniel J. Pratt. Annals of Public Education in the State of New York. University Con- vocation. Regents' Report, 1874, pp. 715-780. 3. The Founding of the University of the State of New York, under the legisla- tive acts of 1784 and 1787, by Daniel .J. Pratt. Regents' Report, 1876, pp. 671-748. 3. Annals of Public Education (resumed) , by Daniel J. Pratt. Regents' Report, 1883, pp. 671-748. 4. Legislative grants and franchises enacted for the benefit of academies, etc., from 1786-1873. Annals of Public Education, by Daniel J. Pratt. Uni- versity Convocation, 1872, p. 205. 5. University of the State of New York Historical and Statistical Record, 1784- 1884, by Franklin B. Hough. Printed by authority of legislature, Albany, 1885. 6. Contributions to the History of Medical Education and Medical Institutions in the United States, 1776-1876. Special report prepared for the United States Bureau of Education by N. S. Davis, A. M., M. D. Washington, 1877. 7. Ther Study of History in American Colleges and Universities, by Herbert B. Adams, Ph. D. Bureau of Education. Circular of Information No. 3. 1887. 8. History of Federal and State Aid to Higher Education in the United States, by Frank W. Blackmar, Ph. D. Bureau of Education. Circular of Infor- mation No. 1. 1890. 4. Histories. 1. An Historical Sketch of Columbia College in the City of New York, by Nathaniel F. Moore, president. New York. Printed for the college, 1846. 2. The First Century of Columbia College, by Alfred Jones. New York, 1863. 3. An Historical Sketch of Columbia College in the City of New York, 1754-1876, by J. Howard Yan Amringe. New York, 1876. 4. History of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Medical Department of Columbia College, by John Call Dalton, M. D., president. New York, 1888. 5. Encyclopedia Articles. Appleton's American Cyclopaedia, Vol. V, p. 118. Chambers' Encyclopaedia, III, 369 (brief). Encyclopaedia Americana, II, 314. Encyclopaedia Britannica, XVII, 456, 461 (brief), XXIII, 857 (mere mention). Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia, II, 160. 6. Magazine Articles. 1. The National Quarterly Review, vol. 18, p. 303, "Columbia College," by E. I. Sears. 3. Appleton's Journal, vol. 5, p. 583. 3. American Quarterly Register, VII, p. 344. 4. Christian Review, Vol. II, p. 115. COLUMBIA UNIVEESITl . 197 5. Harper's Magazine, vol. 69: p. 715, Kings College; p. 813, Columbia College. 6. The New England Magazine, Vol. II, p. 363, "Columbia College," by J. H. Van Amringe. 7. The Cosmopolitan, A-^ol. VIII, p. 265, "Columbia College,"' by H. H. Boyesen. 8. Knickerbocker Magazine, vol. 61, p. 170, "The first century of Columbia College." 9. The Nation, vol. 50, p. 369, " Columbia as a university." 10. Magazine of American History, vol. 25, p. 249, " Distinguished sons of Colum- bia," by President Seth Low, LL. D. 11. New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 43, p. 311, "Colum- bia College alumni who have held official positions," by R. H. Green. (Incomplete.) 12. The Library Journal, Vol. II, p. 70, "The library of Columbia College," by Beverly N. Betts, librarian. 13. The University Quarterly, A^ol. Ill, p. 41, " The library of Columbia College " by W. A. Jones, librarian. 14. The American Naturalist, vol. 13, p. 502, "The geological museum of Colum- bia," by I. C. Russell. 15. The International Review, vol. 12, p. 346, "Political science at Columbia Col- lege." by John W. Burgess, LL. D. 16. American Architect, vol. 24, p. 251, "Architectural education at Columbia College. " 7. Addresses, Pamphlets, etc. Statement of facts relative to the Elgin Botanic Garden, by David Hosack, M. D. New York, 1811. Francis, J. W. Address on the life of R. R. Livingston, delivered on the anni- versary of the Philolexian Society of Columbia College. 1831. Account of the celebration of the first semicentennial anniversary of the incor- poration of Columbia College by the legislature of New York, with the ora- tion and poem delivered on the occasion. 1837. Testimonials presented to the trustees of Columbia College in behalf of Wolcott . . . Gibbs. candidate for the professorship of natural and experimental philosophy and chemistry. 1854. ■ Ruggles, S. B. Duty of Columbia College to the community, and its right to exclude Unitarians from its professorship of x^hysical science, considered by one of its trustees. 1854. Ogden, G. M. Defense of Columbia College from the attack of Ruggles. 1854. Addresses of the newly appointed professors, with an introduction by W. Betts. 1858. Dwight, T. W. Inaugural addresses of Dwight and G. P. Marsh in Columbia College. 1859. "Our Alma Mater Fifty Years Ago." An oration delivered before the Alumni Association March 14, 1861, by Judge Blatchford. Proceedings at the inauguration of Frederick A. P. Barnard as president of Columbia College. 1864. Centennial address by Hon. John Jay, New York. 1876. Proceedings at the installation of Seth Low as president of Columbia College in the city of New York. 1890. To the trustees of Columbia College. Correspondence of J. D. Van Buren and the president concerning the appointment of F. R. Van Buren as valedictorian. Four American universities— Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia. Columbia by Brander Matthews. 1895. 198 HISTORY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. Local Histories. 1. Picture of New York, by S. Latham Mitchill. New York, 1807. 2. The Documentary History of the State of New York, arranged under the direc- tion of the Hon. Christopher Morgan, secretary of state, by Ed. Burke O'Callaghan, M. D., Vol. IV, pp. 375, 381, 466. and 635. Albany, 1850. 3. Documents relative to the colonial history of the State of New York, procured in Holland, England, and France, by John Romeyn Brodhead, edited by Ed. Burke O'Callaghan, M. D., LL. D. Albany, 1856. General index (Vol. XI) sub verbo "College, Kings." 4. Description of the City of New York, by James Hardie, A. M. New York, 1827, pp. 218 and 275. 5. History of the State of New York, by James Macauley. New Yoi-k and Albany, 1829. Vol. II, p. 85: Vol. Ill, pp. 4 and 433-434. 6. History of New York, by William Dunlap. New York, 1839. Vol. I, pp. 483 and 486-487; Vol. II, p. 257; appendix, miscellaneous matter, CLXXVI, CLXXXII, CLXXXVI, CLXXXIX, cxci, and cxcv. 7. A Geographical History of the State of New York, by J. H. Mather and L. P. Brockett, M. D. Utica, 1848, p. 120. 8. Historical Collections of the State of New York, by John W. Barber. New York, 1851, pp. 191 and 197. 9. What I Saw in New York, by Joel H. Ross, M. D. Albany, 1851, p. 249 et seq. 10. History of the City of New York, by Mary L. Booth. New York, 1863. Index sub verbo " Colleges." 11. Old New York, by John Wakefield Francis, M. D., LL. D. New York. 1866. 12. History of the City of New York, by William L. Stone. New York, 1872, pp. 174-179. 13. History of New York, by Thomas Jones. New York. The New York Histor- ical Society, 1879. Index sub verbis ''College" and "'Kings College." 14. History of the City of New York, by Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. New York and Chicago: A. S. Barnes & Co., 1880. Indices sab verbis: Vol. I, *• College, Kings, " Vol. 11, " Columbia College," " College of Physicians and Surgeons," " University of the State of New York." 15. New York, by Ellis H. Roberts, in American Commonwealth's series. Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 188 T. Index sub verbo: "College." 16. The Story of the City of New York, by Charles Burr Todd. New York and London, 1888, pp. 179-199. 17. Historic Towns, New York, by Theodore Roosevelt. London and New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1891. Index sub verbis: "Columbia College," and "Kings College." 3. UNION COLLEGE, 1795. [By Robert C. Alexander.] Union University, Andrew V. V. Raymond, D. D., LL. D., president— Union College; Albany Law School; Albany Medical College; Albany College of Pharmacy. The history of Union College is, in its origin and during its early years, a narrative of toil, sacrifice, faith, constancy, indomitable energy, and ultimate success. Long before its incorporation the struggle began. As early as 1779 petitions were circulated, addressed to the governor and legislature, in response to which a charter was drawn, but for some reason never signed or sealed. It recited that — UNION COLLEGE. 199 Whereas a great number of respectable inhabitants of the counties of Albany, Tryon (Montgomery), and Charlotte (Washington), taking into consideration the great benefit of a good education, the disadvantages they labor under for want of means of acquiring it, and the loud call there now is, and no doubt will be in a future day, for men of learning to fill the several offices of church and state, and looking upon the town of Schenectady in every respect the most suitable and com- modious seat for a seminary of learning in this State, or perhaps in America, have presented their humble petition to the governor and legislature of this State, earnestly requesting that a number of gentlemen may be incorporated in a body politic, who shall be empowered to erect a college in the place aforesaid, to hold sufficient funds for its support, to make proper laws for its government, and to confer degrees. This institution was to liave been called Clinton College, in honor of New York's great governor. It" contemplated the creation- of a cor- porate body by an executive act, therein following the colonial prece- dents. Seven years later the board of regents was created, and upon that board thereafter devolved the chartering of New York colleges. The petition of the "respectable inhabitants" seems to have been favorably received, but the exigencies of the war probably diverted attention from the project, and the unsealed charter in the State Library at Albany contains all that is known to-day of Clinton College. But the widespread belief that there should be a college in Schenec- tady was too deep rooted to be readily abandoned. Dominie Dirck Romeyn, pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church in Schenectady, who more than any other man is entitled to be styled the founder of Union College, was unremitting in his efforts to secure the charter, as is evi- dent from his letters during the period 1779-1795. Again, in 1779, as appears from the assembly journal of that year, "a petition was received from John Cuyler and 542 inhabitants of Albany and Tryon counties, and from Thomas Clarke and 131 others of Charlotte County, for a college at Schenectady." No action seems to have been taken on the petition, possibly because the inhabitants were not so ' ' respectable " as the petitioners for Clinton College charter. An interesting recital is that which follows, contained in the memo- rial of 1795 to the board of regents: In the year 1782 the citizens of the northern and western parts of this State, together with the inhabitants of the town of Schenectady, amounting to near 1,200 subscribers, applied to the legislature, in session in the town of Kingston, for the institution of a college in the town of Schenectady, for founding which the citi- zens of Schenectady alone proposed an estate valued at nearly eight thousand pounds principal. That is all that historj^ tells us of the application of 1782, but in the light of those thrilling times how eloquent it is of the spirit which animated the Revolutionary patriots ! The war was not yet closed. The smoke was still rising from the smoldering ruins of burned hab- itations on the northern and western borders, and the echo of the Indian war whoop had not yet died away in the valley of the Mohawk. The long struggle for liberty had left the people decimated, weary, 200 HISTORY OF HIOHEE EDUOATIOlSr IN NEW YORK. and impoverished. Yet 1,200 of the citizens on the northern and west- ern frontier subscribed from their meager fortunes to the cause of higher learning, and the citizens of Schenectady alone proposed to contribute to the new college a sum of £8,000. The extent of this sac- rifice is apparent when it is remembered that by the State census four- teen years later the whole population of the town was but 3,472, "of whom 683 are electors and 381 slaves." Yet this second application, even with so much of heroic self-sacrifice behind it, fared no better than Clinton College. In February, 1785, measures were taken for the establishment of a private academy in Schenectady, by mutual agreement among leading citizens, and it was placed in the charge of 12 trustees. An academy building was erected a few years later on the northwest corner of what are now Union and Ferry streets. It was of brick, two stories high, about 50 by 30 feet on the ground plan, and cost about 13,000. It afterwards became Union College, and was its only edifice until 1804. The school was opened under the care of Col. John Taylor, of New Jersey, and appears to have been conducted with much ability, being well sustained by the community in which it was planted. This academy was the germ of Union College. In December, 1791, the managers of the academy in Schenectady memorialized the legislature for a grant of land in the Oneida Reser- vation to their institution, "in order to be in possession of an estate that would enable them at an early day to apply to the regents for incorporation as a college, and to have an amount of property that would justify the establishment of a college." The assembly records show that the committee reported it to be " derogatory to the interest of the State to grant the request." In February, 1792, the trustees of the academy sent another petition to the regents, in which they stated that they had at that time about 80 students in the English language, and that they had nearly 20 jjur- suing the study of the learned languages and higher branches, in preparation for the first or more advanced classes in college. They were fully convinced of their ability to establish and maintain a col- lege, and had made efforts that led them to confidently depend upon raising the fund needed for endowment, and asked for a college char- ter. As a foundation for their fund, the town of Schenectady was willing to convey to the trustees of a college as soon as they were appointed, and by good and ample title, a tract of land containing 5,000 acres. A pledge of 700 acres more was offered from individ- uals, and a further subscription of near £1,000 in money, to be paid in four installments, was promised from citizens. The consistory of the Dutch Church offered to give a building called the "Academy" for college use, and not to be alienated, estimated as worth £1,500, and a sum of money collected for a library, amounting to £250, was likewise to be given. UNION COLLEGE. 201 But as these funds could not be realized or applied unless tliere was created a board of trustees capable of holding them, they prayed for an act of incorporation from the regents, with all the powers and privileges conferred by law upon Columbia College, and that the name of the institution should be "The College of Schenectady." The regents, on the 27th of March, denied this application, upon the ground that sufficient funds had not been provided. Failing in this effort, an application was made in November of the same year for the incorporation of the private institution as the "Academy of the Town of Schenectady." This application was suc- cessful, and an academic charter was granted in January, 1793. Early in 1791 the regents were again petitioned for a college char- ter for the academj^, but this was denied upon the ground that the state of literature in the academy did not appear to be far enough advanced nor its funds sufficient to warrant its erection into a college. On December 18, 1791, was presented the final and successful peti- tion to the board of regents. It thus begins : We, the subscribers, inhabitants of the nortliern and western counties of the State of New York, taking into view the growing population of these counties, and sensible of the necessity and importance of facilitating the means of acquiring useful knowledge, make known that we are minded to establish a college upon the following principles: 1st. A college shall be founded in the town of Schenectady, county of Albany and State of New Yoi'k, to be called and known by the name of Union College. 2d. The said college shall be tinder the direction and government of twenty-four trustees, the majority of which trustees shall not at any time be composed of persons of the same religious sect or denomination. These two provisions mark a new era in college erection. Of the colleges which antedated Union, we find Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and Williams were distinctively Congregational; William and Mary, St. John's, and Columbia, Episcopal ; Brown, Baptist; Princeton and Hami3den-Sidney, Presbyterian; Rutgers, Reformed; and Dickinson, Methodist. Union was the first strictly nonsectarian college in the country. The name itself was given as expressing the intention of uniting all religious sects in a common interest and for the common good by offering equal advantages to all, with preference to none. It was designed to found an institution upon the broad basis of Chris- tian unity, and this idea has ever since been faithfully followed in the spirit of the original intention, no particular religious denomination having at any time claimed or attempted to control its management or to influence the choice of trustees or faculty. Its motto, "In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas," has been characteristic of the perfect harmony and genuine catholicity which has marked its entire history. At last success crowned the efforts of the "citizens," and on Feb- ruary 25, 1795, a charter was granted to Union College, naming twenty- four trustees, giving full power for granting degrees, and the most 202 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. ample guarantees against denominational control. The chronicles of the day record that the news of the granting of the charter, when it reached Schenectady, was celebrated by great rejoicing, with the ring- ing of bells, firing of cannon, display of flags, bonfires, and a general illumination. Next to Dominie Romeyn, to Gen. Philip Schuyler belongs the honor of establishing the college at Schenectady. The city of Albany had offered strong pecuniary inducements for making the capital the site of the college, but the vigorous efforts of General Schuyler so reen- forced the Schenectady petition that it secured the young institution for that town. The following letter from General Schuyler to Dr. Romeyn, announcing the signature of the charter, evinces the hearty interest he felt in the new college : Albany, March 2, 1795. Reverend and Dear Sir: On Wednesday last the engrossed Charter was sub- mitted to the Regents and approved of, and on Friday the seal of the University was affixed thereto with the Chancellor's signature, an event the more satisfac- tory to me, as I have long since wished to see the vicinity of my native place hon- ored with such an Institution, and I sincerely congratulate my fellow-citizens of Schenectady in particular, and the whole of the Northern and Western parts of the State in general, on the facility with which they will be able to obtain a col- legiate education for their children. May indulgent Heaven protect and cherish an Institution calculated to promote virtue and the weal of the people. Please to request the gentlemen to whom has been confided the subscription paper to the funds of the College, to add my name to the list for one hundred pounds. I shall strive to procure a donation on the part of this State, and as I have already con- versed with some leading members on the subject, I trust my efforts will be successful. The charter, with all the evidences of the funds, are, by order of the Regents, to be delivered to one of the trustees of the College. If Chief Justice Yates does not come down, they will be delivered to one of the gentlemen here, to be delivered to him as the first trustee named in the act of incorporation. I am with great regard, Reverend Sir, Your most obedient servant. Ph. Schuyler. The Rev. Dr. Romeyn. A subsequent act, April 6, 1795, authorized the trustees of the academy to convey, and those of the college to accept, the academy building on Union and Ferry streets, and this was accordingly done. The college was organized on the 19th of October, 1795, by the elec- tion of the Rev. John Blair Smith, D. D., of Philadelphia, as president; John Taylor, A. M., as professor of mathematics and natural philoso- phy, and the Rev. Andrew Yates, as professor of the Latin and Greek languages. The first commencement was held in May, 1797, in the old Reformed Dutch Church, and the first degrees conferred upon three young men who had finished the course of study then required. This was an occasion of signal and novel interest to all the country around, and drew together a large and enthusiastic audience. These three graduates were, Cornelius D. Schermerhorn, of Greenbush; Joseph Sweetman, of Charlton; and John L. Zabriskie, of Schenec- tady. UNION COLLEGE. 203 The two latter were both living at the semicentennial of the college in 1845, and Rev. Dr. Sweetman delivered the anniversary address on that interesting occasion. A manuscript report of the board of regents to the legislature, March 6, 1797, signed by Chancellor John Jay, and now in the Union College library, shows the progress made by the new college during its first two years. An extract is appended : UNION COLLEGE. From the Report of a Committee of the Trustees it appears that the Property of the College consists in various articles to the following amount, namely: Drs. Cts. Bonds and Mortgages produsing an annual Interest of 7 per cent . 21301 Subscriptions and other Debts due on the Books of the Treasurer 4988 10 Cash appropriated for the purchase of Books _ 1356 45 House & Lot for the President 3500 Lot for the Scite of the College 3250 House & Lot heretofore occupied for the Academy — a donation from the Consistory of the Dutch Church ....... 5000 Books &c. in the possession of the Trustees and on the way from Europe. 2381 99 Cash appropriated by the Regents for the purchase of Eooks in the hands of the Committee 400 Legacy by Abraham Yates Junr. Esq., of Albany 250 42422 60 and 160 acres of land. The Faculty of the College at present consists of the Pres- ident and one Tutor, and the salary of the former, with an House tor his Family is 1100 Dollars; and of the latter 665 Dollars per Annum, with an additional allow- ance at present of 250 Dollars on account of the extraordinary price of the neces- saries of life. There are thirty seven Students, eight in the Class of Languages, twenty in the Class of History and Belles Lettres, six in the Class of Mathematics, and three in the Class of Philosophy — The Course of Studies, is the first year, Viigil, Cicero's Orations, Greek Testament, Lucian, Roman Antiquities, Arith- metic, and English Grammar; the second year. Geography and the use of the Globes, Roman History, History of America and the American Revolution, Xeno- phon, Horace, Criticism, and Eloquence; the third year, the Various Branches of Mathematics, and Vulgar and decimal Fractions, and the Extraction of the Roots, Geometry, Algebra, Trigonometry, navigation, mensuration, Xenophon, contin- ued, and Homer; and the fourth and last year. Natural Philosophy, the Constitu- tion of the United States and of the different States, Metaphysics, or at least that part which treats of the Philosophy of the Human mind, Horace continued, and Longinus, and during the Course of these Studies the attention of the Classes is particularly required to Elocution, and to Composition In the English Language, — A provision is also made for substituting the Knowledge of the French Language instead of the Greek, in certain cases, if the Funds should hereafter admit of insti- tuting a French professorship; [the first optional course] all which, together with the System of Discipline, is contained in a printed Copy of the Laws and Regula- tions for the Government of the College, and which accompanies this Report. The Trustees farther rei ort that the officers of the College discharge their duty with ability, diligence and fidelity and that the Students generally have exhibited specimens of their progress in Science at the Examinations, which are public and stated three times a year; and finally that it would essentially promote the interest of that part of the Country if the Legislature would patronise with further dona- tions this infant Seminary; the want of means to endow prof essorships obliges the 204 HISTORY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YORK:. present officers to attend to too many branches of Science; insomuch so that the President has during the present year instructed the Classes of History, Chro- nology, Antiquities, Geography, Natural and Moral Philosophy, Criticism, Logic, Constitutions of the United States and of the different States, and Languages. President Smith resigned in 1799, and was succeeded by Rev. Dr. Jonathan Edwards, the yonnger, who died in office in August, 1801. His successor was Rev. Dr. Jonathan Maxcy, who resigned in 1804. Although the college was still feeble, it was not without enterprise. Under the presidency of Dr. Edwards, in 1798, a new edifice was begun on a scale magnificent for that day. Tliis building was after- wards known as the "West College," located on the corner of Union and College streets, and was finished in 1804. It was in the Italian style of architecture and from the designs of Philij) Hooker, then an eminent architect of Albany. It was of stone, three stories high, besides a high basement, and was surmounted by a central cupola. The ground plan measured 150 bj^ 60 feet, and the original cost was about 156,000, besides $4,000 for the site. It contained a residence for the president, the chapel, library, and recitation rooms, and a con- siderable number of dormitories. In 1815 it was sold to the city and county for a court-house, jail, and city offices, and while thus owned it was commonly known as the "City Hall." The college received in payment 3,000 acres of land in detached parcels in various parts of Schenectady County. In 1831 it was repurchased by the college for 110,000, and used for the library, cabinets, and residence of freshman and sophomore classes until 1854. It was then resold to the city for the sum of $6,000, and was used by the city as a union school until the year 1890, when it was demolished to make room for a more modern school building. Between 1805 and 1810 a row of two-story brick buildings was erected on College street for use as dormitories. It was known as the "Long College," and was sold about 1830. An event occurred in 1804 which proved to be of peculiar and last- ing advantage to the institution, and from which its success may be justly dated. This event was the choice of the Rev. Eliphalet IsTott, as president. Mr. Nott was then a young clergyman of Albany, known at the time as the eulogist of Hamilton, as an eloquent and effective public speaker, of dignified and courteous manners and distinguished learning, but not as yet known for that talent in the education of young men which this election gave him the opportunity^ to exercise, and which has never been surpassed in the history of any American college. Endowed by nature with a keen perception of character, a discriminatiug judgment in developing latent talent, a dignity of manner commanding both love and respect, a facility in governing young men, wherein the secret lay in teaching them to govern them- selves, and a zeal and earnestness in the discharge of every duty, he acquired and held through a long and active life a commanding posi- tion as an educator throughout the country. UNION COLLEGE. 205 THE LOTTERY. The financial history of Union College from this period, until 1853 forms a chapter bj^ itself — a chapter which the moralists of these lat- ter days would cheerfully pass over unnoticed, but the fact remains and must be admitted that Union College was placed on a secure financial foundation by a tremendous gambling device, which, if applied to-day, would not only place Dr. Nott and his reverend coad- jutors under the frown of ijublic sentiment and the ban of church dis- cipline, but would have landed them inside the bars of a State prison. We are more enlightened and conscientious than our grandfathers. The church fair of to-day was the lottery of the early part of the cen- tury. The lottery was the most beneficent institution of that day. Not only was it permitted, but it was especially authorized by law as a j)roper and legitimate method of raising money. It was regarded as perfectly innocent and unobjectionable, and was not only tolerated, but sustained and encouraged by the whole Christian community. Lotteries were employed to secure funds for charities, for schools, for hospitals, for colleges, and for churches. It must not be thought strange, therefore, that a Christian minister like Dr. Nott, following the fashion of the day, involved the aid of the popular device and became the successful manager of the hugest lottery deal ever author- ized by the State of New York. When the new president assumed his office the finances of the col- lege were in a nearly desperate condition. During the administra- tions of his three predecessors there had been a constant lack of funds to meet the regular current expenses of the college. The failure of Dr. Smith's expectations in this respect was one of the causes of his early retirement. Dr. Edwards died, after a short incumbency, weighed down Avith concern as to the fate of the institution placed under his charge. Dr. Maxcy was not more fortunate than his pred- ecessors, and his short administration was a continuous struggle with financial embarrassment, from Avhich extrication appeared hope- less. Less than $35,000 had been obtained from indiAddual subscrip- tions, and some of these were still unpaid. The State had at various times granted, in money or in lands afterwards sold, property which availed $78,112.13. The new building (West College) was still incom- plete and the college was badly in debt. At this juncture the young Albanj' clergyman assumed the presi- dency. He at once applied to the State for aid, and in March, 1805, it came in the shape of the grant of the proceeds of four lotteries of $20,000 each. The returns, however, were slow, and in 1806 the leg- islature borrowed $15,000 on the credit of the State and loaned it to the college, to be repaid from the proceeds of the lotteries. In 1814, when the lotteries were wound up, the college had realized from them about $76,000, which was applied toward furnishing the equipment, 206 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. edifices, and instruction necessary for the rapidly increasing number of students. A few years' experience showed that the location in the city was not sufficiently ample, and the observing eye of Dr. Nott, at an early period in his presidency, had noticed in the suburbs a better one that combined in a rare degree every advantage desirable. On the eastern border of the city the fields rose by a gentle slope to a plain of mod- erate elevation and of easy access. Near the upper edge of this slope the construction of a terrace a few feet high would afford a level campus of amjjle space and a site for buildings that would overlook the valley, the river, and the neighboring city, while northward glimpses of mountains blue from distance, and southwestward ranges of hills dividing the waters of the Mohawk and Susquelianna rivers would present a panorama of peculiar loveliness. A gently murmur- ing brook issuing from dense woodlands flowed across the grounds just north of the proposed site, and in the rear alternating fields and groves extended several miles eastward to the Hudson. A half century later, in an address before the gathered alumni of Union who had met to celebrate the anniversary of his accession to the presidency. Dr. Nott thus spoke of the new college grounds : Fifty years ago. having been charged with the supervision of Union College, I stood for the first time on yon rising grounds where the college edifices now stand. The same range of western hills, the same intervening luxuriant flats, and the same quiet river winding through fields of grain whitening for the harvest then met the eye; the same starry firmament overspread the night, and the same glorious sunlight rendered visible by day, in its general outline, the whole lovely valley of the Mohawk. The immediate college grounds, however, now so symmetrical and ornate, were then mere pasture grounds, scarred by deep ravines, rendered at once unsightly and difficult of access by an alternation of swamp and sand hill, and the whole divided into numerous irregular compartments in evidence of different owner- ships. As yet neither shrub nor tree had been planted, walk traced, garden laid out. or edifice erected thereon. A tract of some 250 acres was secured mainly on the responsibility of the president, and new buildings begun upon plans drawn b}^ M. Joseph Jacques Ramee, a French engineer then eminent in this country and for a time emploj^ed by the National Government in planning fortifications and public v/orks. In 1890, in an old print shop in Paris, a Union College graduate of the class of 1880 discovered M. Ramee's original sketch of the ground plan of the college buildings and gardens. It bears the inscrip- tion, "College de I'Union a Schenectady, Etat de New Yorck, 1813," and is probably the original draft submitted b}'' the architect to Dr. Nott. This iDlan has been very closely followed in the laying out of the grounds and the erection of the successive college buildings. It shows the ground plan of the main college buildings, north and south, the central circular building, not completed till 1876, and the pro- jected semicircular building in the rear, which has still more recently UNION COLLEGE. 207 taken form iu tlie Powers Memorial Building, finished in 1884. The two buildings at the ends of this semicircle, however, are still to be built. Nor has the lake in the "college pasture" or the Catholic cross in the garden shown on the Frenchman's plan yet materialized into being. The work of construction was begun in 1812, and the two main buildings finished in 1820, although one of them was occu- pied as early as 1814. These buildings were four stories high, 200 feet by 40 feet each, and cost about $110,000. To meet this expense application was again made to the legislature in 1814. Dr. Nott was a power in Albany. His influence with legis- lators and before committees was another instance of that remarkable personal force which impressed itself upon all he met. Other colleges and institutions were before the legislature of 1814 as applicants for aid, but, satisfied that their unaided efforts would prove ineffectual, intrusted their cases to President Nott, who generously advocated their claims in the same breath with his own, and the benefits to Hamilton College, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Asbury African Church in New York were included in the same grant as those to Union. Columbia College had introduced a bill intended to grant to that institution the celebrated Hosack Botanical Garden in New York. Convinced of the futility ot their independent claim for aid, the Columbia managers withdrew their special bill and besought Dr. Nott to take up their appeal. This he did so generouslj^ and vigorously that the Columbia grant was attached as a " rider " to his own lottery bill, and went through with it. Thus, solely through the influence of the president of Union, Columbia received that mag- nificent propert}^ which to-day forms its principal endowment. The botanical garden granted to Columbia comprised 20 acres located between Fifth and Sixth avenues. Forty-seventh and Fifty-first streets, in New York City, then 3^ miles out of town, but now the center of the wealth and population of the metropolis. In the same act which gave to Columbia the title to the botanical garden, it was provided, in recognition of the services of her sister college, that within one year from the passage of the act, at least one healthy exotic flower, shrub, or plant of each kind it contained in duplicate should be sent, with the jar containing it, to Union College. There is no record, however, that Columbia ever complied with this graceful suggestion for the recognition of Union's services in her behalf. So marked was the influence of the distinguished clerical lobbyist in favor of the combination bill that at the close of the act in the offi- cial session laws of 1814 was printed this unprecedented note: No bill before the legislature excited greater interest and attention than this act. Much credit is due to the unwearied exertions of the able and eloquent president of Union Co]lege in promoting its passage. This lottery bill granted to Union College $200,000, to Hamilton College $40,000, to the College of Physicians and Surgeons $30,000, 208 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN FEW YORK. and to the Asbury African Churcli in New York $4,000, with interest for six years. But the managers of these lotteries, appointed by the act, were so remiss in selling the tickets that np to 1822 not a dollar of the prin- cipal had been paid to any of the beneficiaries. Again, therefore, the good doctor betook himself to Albany, and on April 5, 1822, an act was passed "to limit the continuance of lotteries." It recited the delay in the conduct of the concern, and authorized the institutions themselves to take the management of the lotteries, direct the drawings, receive the avails, and pay the prizes. The other ben- eficiary institutions, having witnessed the failure of the lotteries during the preceding eight years, took alarm at the responsibility this act devolved upon them, and refused to participate in the active man- agement. Not so the president of Union. With the consent of his board of trustees, he bought out, for a satisfactory consideration, the interests of all the other institutions, for which he borrowed, on his own responsibility, $75,000, and assumed in his own person the entire management of this great hazard. It was this bold act and the transactions which followed it, which years later brought Union Col- lege into the courts and into legislative investigations, and which caused the motives and acts of the president to be sharply arraigned. From this consolidated lottery Union College received in all a sum of $277,000. Dr. Nott had sublet to Yates & Mclntyre, a firm of brokers, the management of the lotteries, reserving to himself a per- centage of the profits from such management, which were afterwards found to amount to $71,691.29. In order to save the firm of Yates & Mclntyre from bankruptcy and from imperiling the college interests in the proceeds of the lottery, Dr. Nott had advanced the firm large sums of money by pledging his and his wife's propertj^, and had taken as securit}^ a bond for $150,000. It was the ownership of these two sums which years later gave rise to the charges against the president. His enemies claimed that these profits and the bonds belonged to the college and not to the doctor personally. This claim was, however, never made by the college, but by newspapers and by outsiders. The charges were never credited by the friends of Dr. Nott, or by the col- lege trustees. And the president had frequently announced his intention ultimately to appropriate every dollar that he derived as profits from the lottery transaction to the benefit of Union College, a promise which was eventually more than fulfilled. In 1849 a resolution was introduced in the assembly requiring a report as to the financial condition of Union College. This was inT3ited by the reports of newspapers hostile to Dr. Nott, charging that he had appropriated to his own use $560,000 of the funds of the college. A committee of the assembly made an examination of the books and reported that the ' ' financial condition of the college was unsound and improper." This led, of course, to a thorough investi- UNION COLLEGE. 209 gation, in which Hon. "John C. Spencer, an old pupil of Dr. Nott, volunteered his services in behalf of his old instructor, and his masterl}^ argument before the commission was so eloquent and con- vincing as to complete the vindication of his venerable instructor of other years, and to remove the odium from an honored name. Dr. Nott completed the discomfiture of his enemies by anticipating the report of the legislative committee and by executing a deed of trust which bestowed upon the college a property then estimated at over $600,000, an act which only the most malignant of his enemies per- sisted in characterizing as the discharge of a debt, and not as a dona- tion. Certainly the college owes its high position among American colleges not only to the scholarship and the reputation of Eliphalet Nott, but also to his shrewdness, skill, and munificence it owes its largest endowment. The tracing to their culmination of the lotteries and the diffi- culties engendered by them has caused a digression from the history of the college itself and its progress through these years. Notwith- standing the number and the intricacy of the outside matters which claimed his attention. Dr. Nott's first interests were in "his chil- dren," as his pupils were afi'ectionately styled. From the time of the erection of the new college buildings on the hill the number of students steadily increased until in 1820 the number in all the classes exceeded 300, and the graduating class alone contained 65. In this class were several men who attained distinguished eminence, among whom were William H. Seward ; Laurens P. Hickok, who long stood at the head of American metaphysicians; William Kent, one of New York's ablest jurists; Tayler Lewis, the greatest linguist and classical scholar of his age, and Rev. Dr. Horatio Foote. In 1825 Union had passed Harvard and Yale in the number of its students, and with the exception of a few intervening years held for a quarter century the honor of being the largest college in the United States. The fame of Dr. Nott as an educator, the high reputation of the college, the excellence of its system and management drew students from all parts of the countr}^ to Schenectady, and large numbers came from the lower classes of other institutions to obtain the benefit of President Nott's senior lectures and receive from his hand their diplomas. The president drew around him and kept as his coadjutors a remarkable body of faithful, energetic, and learned professors, and throughout President Nott's unprecedented administration of sixty-two years the college .enjoyed the highest degree of prosperity. In 1845 was celebrated with great enthusiasm the semicentennial anniversary of the founding of the college, for which preparations had been made for two years previous. The occasion was one of gen- eral rejoicing and congratulation. Addresses were made by Rev. Dr. Joseph Sweetman, one of the first graduates, and by Dr. Alonzo 3176 14 210 HISTORY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. Potter, afterwards vice-president of tlie college. Over 500 of tlie alumni attended the anniversary. Another interesting anniversary was held nine years later on the completion of the half centnry of Dr. Nott's administration, July 25, 1854. The central point of interest on this occasion was the address of the venerable ]3resident, which was a compact review of the labors, trials, and successes of the fifty years which had closed. The other principal orators were Hon. William W. Campbell, of Cherry Valley, and President Francis Wayland, of Brown University, a former pupil of Dr. Nott. The proceedings u^jon both these anniversary occasions were preserved in the form of printed memorial pamphlets. Before this time, however, the aged president had begun to feel the infirmities of advancing years, and in 1852 Dr. L. P. Hickok was elected vice-president, and upon him gradually devolved the cares of administration, although the presidency was not actually conferred upon him until the death of Dr. Nott in 1866. The prosperity of the college continued undiminished until the civil war burst like a storm cloud over' the country. The classes of 1860 and 1861 were among the largest in the history of the college. Through nearly a quarter century the South had sent more students to Union College than to any other, and the class rolls of those years show rep- resentatives from nearly every Southern State. But as the controversy over the question of slaverj^ became more bitter the South gradually withdrew its young men from Northern institutions, and when the first shell broke over'Sumter the last band of Southern students then remaining in Union left to join the ranks of the Confederacy. ISTor was this the only cause of depletion. Scores of Northern students forsook their books to take up the musket. The college campus became a drill ground. The brilliant young professor of modern lan- guages. Prof. Elias Peissner, recruited a company on the campus and led them in person to the front, himself falling on the bloody field of Chancellors ville with a colonel's eagles on his shoulders. Over 300 Union men became Union soldiers. The war was the beginning of a period of depression which lasted for many years. Dr. Nott died in 1866, at the ripe age of 93 years, and was succeeded by Dr. Hickok. He resigned in 1868, and was succeeded by Rev. Dr. Charles A. Aiken, of Princeton, who served for only two years. After a brief interregnum. Rev. Dr. Eliphalet Nott Potter, a son of Bishop Alonzo Potter, and a grandson of Presi- dent Nott, was elected to the ijresidency. Under his administration new endowments were received, new buildings erected, and the number of students increased. Under his management, however, misunder- standings arose between the president and the faculty and trustees, and he retired in 1884. On his retirement, Hon. Judson S. Landon became president ad interim until the election, in 1888, of Harrison E. Webster, LL. D. UNION COLLEGE. 511 EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE AND PROGRESS. There is perhaps no place more fitting than this for a brief mention of the services of the instructors who made Union famous and of her influence in the development of higher education in America. It is true that during the administration of Dr. ISTott he alone shaped the policy of the college, originated plans for its government, suggested and carried into effect changes when needed, and controlled its affairs as absolutely as any monarch who ever ruled an empire. Yet his rule was gentle, if autocratic. The utmost harmony prevailed in the councils of the faculty, and the mention of their names is sufficient to account for the value and popularity of the Union College course during his administration of sixty-two years. At the head of the Greek department, Union has had such instructors as Andrew Yates, Henry Davis, Robert Proudfit, Tayler Lewis, and Henry Whitehorne. In Latin, Thomas C. Reed, John Newman, Benjamin Stanton, and Robert Lowell. In mathematics, John Tajdor, Benjamin Allen, Fran- cis Wayland, Isaac W. Jackson, and Isaiah B. Price. In chemistry, Joel B. Nott, Charles A. Joy, Benjamin F. Joslin, Charles F. Chand- ler, and Maurice Perkins. In natural philosophy, Thomas Macauley, Alonzo Potter, and John Foster. In French and German, Pierre Rej^naud, Louis Tellkampf, Pierre A. Proal, Elias Peissner, William Wells, and Wendell Lamoroux. In natural history, Jonathan Pear- son and Harrison E. Webster. In rhetoric, logic, and belles-lettres, Thomas C. Brownell, Alonzo Potter, Laurens P. Ilickok, Nathaniel G. Clarke, Ransom B. Welch, and George Alexander. In Oriental literature, John Austin Yates and Tayler Lewis. In civil engineering, Frederick R. Hassler, William M. Gillespie, Cady Staley, and Win- field S. Chaplin. Union College was the first to break away from the strict and beaten classical course and to place scientific instruction on a plane of equal dignit}^ with it. At Union also originated the so-called optional sys- tem, which it has always exercised to a limited degree, but never to the extent of the license which it afterwards attained in other colleges. As far back as 1797 we have seen, in the report of the regents, quoted in the foregoing pages, the germ of this now popular system. "A provision is also made for substituting the knowledge of the French language instead of the Greek, in certain cases, if the funds should hereafter admit of instituting a French professorship." This profes- sorship, with a single exception, the first in the United States, was established in 1806. The essential features of the scientific course, as originated by Dr. Nott and so ably advocated by President Wayland and other of his pupils, was the substitution of the modern languages and an increased amount of mathematical and physical science in place of the Greek and Latin languages. It also permitted, within certain well-defined limits, the election of certain studies by the student. 212 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN" NEW YORK. The first course of civil engineering in any American college was established at Union in 1845 by Prof. William M. Gillespie, and has ever since been successfully maintained. While it still maintains the classical course in all its thoroughness, the scientific instruction has recently been still further- developed by the establishment of courses in sanitary and electrical engineering. The departments of English and of modern languages have also been greatly strengthened, and the course of instruction at Union to-day compares favorably with that of the best New England and Ne^- York colleges. Union has been called the mother of secret societies. Instead of antagonizing and repressing'the fraternities, the authorities at Union have ever encouraged and fostered them. The three oldest college fraternities in the United States, except the venerable Phi Beta Kappa, which had then alreadj^ ceased to be a secret society, were organized at Union in 1825 and 1827. These were Kappa Alpha, Sigma Phi, and Delta Phi. Later on, in 1832 and 1847, Psi Upsilon, Chi Psi, and Theta Delta Chi established their first chapters at Union. The authorities have always maintained that, properly conducted, the fraternities were of actual benefit rather than a hindrance to college discipline. The fraternities now flourishing are, in the order of their establishment. Kappa Alpha, Sigma Phi, Delta Phi, Psi Upsilon, Delta Upsilon, Aplia Delta Phi, Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, and Chi Psi, reestablished in 1892. The Union chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, established in 1817, is the Alpha or parent chapter for the State of New York. Another honorary fraternity, Sigma Xi, has recently been established, to which only the honor men of the scien- tific and engineering courses are eligible. Phi Beta Kappa being con- fined to the classical students. Two literary societies, the Philomathean and the Adelphic, each nearly a century old, divide the allegiance of the students. Each has a fine hall and well-selected libraTies of from 3,000 to 5,000 volumes. One of the earliest of all college publications was the Floriad, piib- lished by the literary societies of Union in 1809. A few numbers of this paper are in the Boston Public Library. The various student publications which have followed it and survived for a longer or shorter period were the Students' Album (1827), The Parthenon and Academicians' Magazine (1832), The Union College Magazine (1860- 1875), The Unionian (1862), The Spectator (1873), and the Concor- diensis (1877). The last-mentioned is now the pr-incipal college pub- lication, and has recently been made a bimonthly. The Garnet, so named from the college color, is an annual illustrated publication, conducted by the secret societies. The songs of Union form a handsome volume, Carmina Concordia, first collected by a member of the class of 1875, a new edition of which, embodying the recent songs, has since been issued by two members of UNION COLLEGE, 213 the class of 1896. John Howard Payne was one of Union's earliest song writers, and gifted writers have from year to year added to the collection. A few of these songs are perennial in their fragrance and are always sung on festive occasions. This is especjallj^ true of the "Song to Old Union," composed by Fitzhugh Ludlow, of the class of 1856, and now deceased. It is always sung on commencement day, at the close of the graduating exercises. The hearty good will and feel- ing with which returning sons join in the grand chorus — Then here's to thee, the brave and free Old Union, smiling o"er us; And for many a day. as thy walls grow gray, May they ring with thy children's chorus — show that the gifted poet did not attune his lyre in vain. The government of Union College has always been paternal, but characterized by the greatest freedom consistent with good results. The ponderous code of rules and" restrictions of the old days has long since gone out of print, and the only rule now promulgated at Union College is that recently announced in the terse language of ex-Presi- dent Webster, that ' ' every student should do his work and conduct himself like a gentleman." On these two hang all the law and the prophets. Of the nine presidents of Union, four, Presidents Hickok, Potter, Webster, and Raymond, were graduates of Union; Presidents Maxcy and ISTott bore the diplomas of Brown University, Presidents Smith and Edwards were Princeton men, and President Aiken a graduate of Dartmouth. The strict adherence of the college to the unsectarianism and Christian union which shaped the plans of its founders is appar- ent in the varying religious tenets of its several presidents. Presi- dents Smith, Edwards, Nott, Webster, and Raymond were Presby- terians, Dr. Maxcy a Baptist, Dr. Hickok a Congregationalist, and Dr. Potter an Episcopalian. BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. The oldest buildings on the college grounds are the north and south college buildings, uniform in construction and 800 feet apart. The ends of each building contain residences for professors, and the cen- tral part, having three distinct entrances and sections, provides 48 rooms in each college. Backward from each of these buildings run the two "colonnades," each 250 feet long. These contain recitation rooms, lecture rooms, and apparatus. The colonnades terminate each in a larger, square building, the north building being devoted to the chemical and philosophical laboratories and lecture rooms, and the south to the chapel, registrar's office, and natural history museum. The museum of natural history is one of the finest in this country, being exceeded in the number and variety of its specimens only by that of Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution at Wash- 214 HISTORY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. ington. It comprises (1) the extensive collections, cliiefly of marine animals, made by President Webster during his occupancy of the chair of natural history; (2) the celebrated Wheatley collection of shells and minerals, donated by E. C. Delavan; (3) specimens received from the National and State governments; and (4) contributions from friends and patrons of the college. The philosophical museum is also rich in apparatus, especially in instruments illustrating electricity, magnetism, light, heat, acoustics, pneumatics, statics and dynamics, hydrostatics and hydraulics, and measurements. The engineering department possesses the celebrated Olivier col- lection of models, consisting of about 50 models, representing the most important and complicated ruled surfaces of descriptive geometrj^ particularly warped or twisted surfaces. Their directrices are rep- resented by brass bars, straight or curved, to which are attached silk threads representing the elements or successive positions of the gen- eratrices of the surfaces. Each of these threads has a weight sus- pended by it, so as always to make it a straight line. These weights are contained in boxes sustaining the directrices and their standards. The bars are movable in various directions, carrying with them the threads still stretched straight by the weights in every position they may take; so that the forms and natures of the surfaces which they constitute are continually changing, while they always remain "ruled surfaces." In this way a plane is transformed into a paraboloid, a cylinder into a hyperboloid, etc. These models were invented by the lamented Theodore Olivier while professor of descriptive geometry at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, in Paris. One set of them is now deposited there and a second is in the Conservatory of Madrid. Copies of some of them are to be found in most of the polytechnic schools of Germany. The Union College set is the original collection of the inventor, having been made in part by his own hands, and after his death in 1853 retained by the widow till bought from her by Pro- fessor Gillespie in 1855. It is more complete than that in the Paris Conservatoire. It may be worth noticing that the silvered plates on the boxes, reading "Invente par Theodore Olivier," etc., were added by Madame Olivier after the purchase, at her own expense, as a tribute to the memory of her husband, her own words being: " Je tenais a ce que chaque instrument portat le nom du savant dont la reputation passera a la posterite." Memorial Hall, long a familiar object in the pictures, and origi- nally designed for a chapel, was delayed for various causes, so that the foundation was not laid till 1858. The war and its attendant depres- sions interrupted the work, which was not resumed till 1874, and the present domed structure was evolved in 1876. This building, situated midway between, and in the rear of, the two main buildings, is nearly circular, 84 feet in diameter, the dome rising 120 feet from the floor. UNION COLLEGE. 215 It has never been of any particular use to the college, but is employed for the banquet hall at commencement time, and is adorned by paint- ings, statues, and works of art. A president's house was built in 1873, and in 1874 a gymnasium, which, when finished, was one of the largest and best equipped in the country. All these buildings, except Memorial Hall, are of brick, roughcast with stucco or cement, producing the "graj^ old walls" celebrated in college song. Some distance behind the circular building has recently been erected a handsome structure known as the Powers Memorial Building, finished in 1885. This consists of a chapel-like central building, with wings extending from it on either side in the form of a half circle. The central building forms a splendid receptacle for the 40,000 volumes which constitute the college library, and the wings contain the presi- dent's office and eight spacious and well-equipped recitation rooms. The development of fraternity life is gradually introducing a more modern architecture on the college grounds. The Psi Upsilon fra- ternity recently secured the grant of a lot on the college grounds, to the rear of South College, and has erected on it a fine chapter house, costing- $30,000. The Alpha Delta Phi Society has for several years owned a lot near the college gate, and has a considerable fund sub- scribed for building a chapter home, which it has decided to locate near the Psi Upsilon chapter house, on a circular path which is known as the "Grecian Bend," The Sigma Phi chapter has recently been enriched by a bequest of 140,000, and a building for this venerable fraternity is probable in the near future. Similar plans are contem- plated by Delta Upsilon and other of the Greek-letter societies. The original grounds acquired for college uses in Schenectady have been somewhat reduced by street improvements and the sale of lots, but are still amply sufficient, embracing about 125 acres, including the campus, gardens, and grounds properly belonging to the college and essential for its use, besides some 100 acres of woodlands and fields adjoining. During the residence of Prof. Thomas Macauley, more than fifty years ago, a beginning was made in the improvement of a garden north of North College. The work was, however, scarcely more than a beginning until Prof. Isaac W. Jackson became a resident of the adjoining dwelling in 1831, when a series of improvements were begun which, aided by a small annual grant from the trustees, have gradu- ally transformed a wild ravine and tangled woodland into a charming ramble and pleasant retreat. The grounds embrace some 12 acres, and combine many attractions of sylvan solitude and floral beauty. "Captain Jack," as the professor was affectionately styled by his pupils, devoted the last years of his life almost entirely to the beauti- fying of this garden, and under the spreading elm, which was his favorite resort, were held his funeral ceremonies at his death in 1877. 216 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK, Besides the real estate in Schenectady the college owns a few lots in the city of New York and a large tract, comprising over 1,300 city lots, in Long Island City. This tract was received under the deed of Dr. Nott, and is of great value, already yielding the college a consid- erable annual income. The constant growth of Long Island City, its probable connection with New York City in the near future by tun- nel or bridges, and its inevitable consolidation with the metropolis unite to make the college real estate of immense prospective value. The trustees of the college are, by its charter as amended, the gov- ernor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, and attorney-general of the State, ex officio, thirteen chosen for life by the board of trustees, and four elected, one each year for a term of four years, by the alumni. The present trustees, exclusive of the ex officio members, are Silas B. Brownell, Rev. Dr. Wm. Irvin, Hon. Judson S. Landon, Hon. Edward W. Paige, Wm. H. H. Moore, Rev. Dr. Denis Wortman, Hon. John H. Starin, Clark Brooks, John A. De Remer, Rev. Dr. George Alexander, Robert C. Alexander,^ Hon. Warner Mil- ler, N. N. V. Franchot, S. K. Williams, Col. Charles E, Sprague, Howard Thornton, and Wallace T. Foote. The faculty as now constituted is made up as follows: A. V. V. Raymond, D. D., LL. D., laresident; John Foster, LL. D., Nott pro- fessor (emeritus) of natural history; Henry Whitehorne, LL. D., Nott professor of the Greek language and literature; William Wells, LL. D. , professor of modern languages and literature and lecturer on current history; Maurice Perkins, A. M., M. D., professor of analytical chem- istry; Sidney G. Ashmore, A. M., L. H. D., professor of the Latin language and literature; James R. Truax, A. M., Ph. D., professor of the English language and literature ; Thomas W. Wright, A. M. , Ph. D., professor of applied mathematics and physics; Frank S. Hoff- man, A. M., professor of mental and moral philosophy; Benjamin H. Ripton, A. M., Ph. D., professor of history and sociology, and dean; Olin H. Landreth, A. M., C. E., professor of civil engineering; James L. Patterson, Sc. D., professor of mathematics; Samuel B. Howe, Ph. D., adjunct Nott professor, principal of Union school; Albert H. Pepper, A. M., assistant professor of modern languages; James H. StoUer, A. M., professor of biology; Edward Everett Hale, jr.. Ph. D., professor of rhetoric and logic; Philip H. Cole, A. M., assistant professor of English; Edwin H. Winans, A. M., assistant professor of mathematics; Homer P. Cummings, instructor in sur- veying; Wendell Lamoroux, A. M., librarian and lecturer; C. P. Linhart, M. D., instructor in physiology and physical education; Geo. V. Edwards, A. M., instructor in Latin and Sanskrit; Howard Opdyke, A. B., instructor in mathematics and phj^sics; Elton D. Walker, B. S., instructor in engineering; John I. Bennett, A. M., instructor in Greek, besides a corps of 36 lecturers. 1 Deceased, 1900. UNION COLLEGE. 217 ^he general catalogues of Union College contain a list of names of which both the college and the country may well be proud. In the total number of its graduates it stands at least fourth, and perhaps third, among American colleges. The number of its alumni is nearly double that of any other college in New York State. Its graduates have become prominent in every profession and walk in life. Among the number have been a President of the United States, two Secre- taries of State, two justices of the United States Supreme Court, ten Senators, two Speakers, and one hundred and thirty members of the House of Representatives. Thirty-six college presidents have had their educational ideas molded at Union and have transplanted them to other institutions. One-fifth of the whole number of judges elected to the bench of the court of appeals and of the supreme court in New York State have been Union College graduates. The general alumni association was organized and incorporated in 1857, and local associations have been formed in New York City, Albany, Chicago, Rochester, St. Paul, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington. The New York association has over 500 members. ELECTIVE COURSES. "Elective courses, not elective studies" were declared by the late President Webster in a recent address to be the present policy of Union College. There are, it is true, a considerable number of elec- tive studies arranged in the latter stages of each course, but the aim has been rather to increase the number of definite, well-arranged courses than to enlarge the list of optional studies in the courses. Union now offers, in its academic department, one A. B. course, one B. S. course, one Ph. B. course, three B. E. courses, and one graduate C. E. course. These courses are distinguished as follows: COURSES OF STUDY. [Beginning September, 1895.] 1. Course leading to the degree of A. B. — This is the usual classical course. Aftei' the sophomore year the work is largely elective. French and German are included in addition to the ancient languages. Students may pursue additional studies in other courses. 2. Course leading to the degree of Ph. B. — This differs from the A. B. course chiefly in the omission of Greek and the substitution therefor of additional work in modern languages and science. S. Course leading to the degree of B. S. — The modern languages are here substi- tuted for the ancient, and the amount of mathematical and English studies is increased. After the sophomore year a large list of electives is offered. 4. General course leading to the degree of B. E. — This course is intended to give the basis of an engineering education, including the fundamental principles of all special branches of the profession, a knowlege of both French and German,' and a full course in English. 5. Sanitary coiirse leading to the degree of B. E. — This differs from course -4 in substituting special work in sanitary engineering for some of the general engineer- ing studies. 218 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. 6. Electrical course leading to the degree of B. £■.— This differs from course 4 in substituting special work in electricity and its applications in place of some of the general engineering studies. 7. Graduate course in engineering leading to the degree of C. E.—A course of one year offered to graduates of course 4, 5, or 6. The arrangement of studies in the course leading to the degree of A. B. is as follows: FRESHMAN YEAR. FIRST TERM. Hours per week. 4 Greek — Xenophon or Homer. 4 Latin. 2 English, (Clearness; study of words.) 4 Solid geometry. 1 Physiology. 1 Physical culture. Greek prose composition. Latin prose composition. SECOND TERM. 4 Greek — Xenophon, Homer, or Herodotus. 4 Latin. 3 English. (Past and present; rhetoric, intellectual qualities.) 4 Algebra. 1 Physiology. 1 Physical culture. Greek prose composition. Latin prose composition. One extemporaneous essay — an abstract. THIRD TERM. 4 Greek — Xenophon, Herodotus, or Euripides. 4 Latin. 3 English— rhetoric, emotional qualities. 3 Trigonometry. 2 History. 1 Physical culture. Greek prose composition. Latin prose composition. One extemporaneous essay — an amplification. SOPHOMORE YEAR. FIRST TERM. Hours per week. 3 Greek— Euripides or ^schylus. 3 Latin. 3 English— Chaucer and the early poets. 3 Analytic geometry. 3 French. 2 History. 1 Physical culture. Greek prose composition. Latin prose composition. One formal essay — descriptive. One extemporaneous essay— narrative. UNION COLLEGE. 219 SECOND TERM. 3 Greek — Etiriiiides or ^schylus. 3 Latin. 3 French. 2 Englisli — Shakespeare and the dramatists. 2 History. 3 Logic. 1 Physical culture. Greek prose composition. Latin prose composition. One formal essay — expository. One class oration. THIRD TERM. 3 Greek — Euripides, Sophocles, or Plato. 3 Latin. 3 English — the essayists. 3 French. 3 Biology. 1 Physical culture. Greek prose composition. Latin prose comi)osition. One extemporaneous essay — expository. One class oration. JUNIOR year: FIRST TERM. Hours per week. 3 German. 2 English — prose fiction and modern poetry. 4 Mechanics. 2 History. 5 Elective. One extemporaneous discussion. One formal essay^argumentative. SECOND TERM. 3 German. 3 Physics. 4 Psychology. 2 History. 4 Elective. One formal essay — argumentative. One class oration. THIRD TERM. 3 German. 3 Physics. 4 Ethics. 3 Geology. 3 Elective. One extemporaneous discussion. One chapel oration. 220 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATIOISr IN NEW YOEK. SEOTOR YEAR. FIRST TERM. Hours per week. 3 Economics. 3 Logic. 10 Elective. One extemporaneous discussion. One extemporaneous essay — argumentative. SECOND TERM. 3 Sociology. 3 Astronomy. 10 Elective. One formal essay — argumentative. One chapel oration. THIRD TERM. 3 Sociology. 13 Elective. One formal essay— argumentative. The B. S. course differs from the above arrangement in the elimi- nation of the Greek and Latin and the substitution of the modern languages with an increased amount of mathematics and English studies. The Pli. B. course eliminates the Greek only, and inserts the modern languages and the mathematics of the B. S. course, increasing the amount of English studies. The B. E. course retains all the mathematics, modern languages, and advanced studies of the other courses, and includes also drawing, surveying, field work, archi- tecture, calculus, sanitary and electrical engineering, hydraulics, etc. REQUIREMENTS FOR EXAMINATION IN 1895. I. Candidates for admission to the freshman class in any of the regular courses will be examined: 1. In English. — English Grammer; Bain's Higher English Grammar, West's English Grammar, and Strang's Exercises in English are recommended. A short English composition will be required to test spelling, punctuation, use of capitals, paragraphing, and grammatical purity. No candidate will be admitted whose written work is seriously defective in these respects. 2. In mathematics.— Arith.m.ei,\c; algebra, through quadratics; plane geometry. II. Candidates for admission to the freshman class in the course leading to the degree of A. B. will be examined in addition: 1. In Latin.— hsitin grammar, Allen and Greenoughs (or an equivalent), includ- ing prosody; Csesar, four books, or Arrowsmith and Whicher's First Latin Read- ings (preferred); Vergil's ^neid, six books; Cicero, six orations; Sallust's Catiline or Jugartha; Daniell's Exercises in Latin Composition, Part I (or an equivalent); H. T. Pecks Latin Pronunciation. 2. In G'reefc.— Goodwin's Greek Grammar; Goodwin's Greek Reader, 100 pages (or an equivalent); Xenophons Anabasis, four books; Homer's Iliad, three books. (The attention of instructors is particularly directed to the student's need of a full and accurate knowledge of the Greek and the Latin grammar. Deficiency in this knowledge will prevent admission.) UNION COLLEGE. 221 3. In history, — Greek and Roman history, including ancient geography, Those intending to pursue the above course should enter at the beginning of the freshman year fully prepared; without such preparation, time and strength needed for regular studies are consumed in making up deficiencies. If, in their prepara- tion, candidates have time to spare, it is desirable for obvious reasons that they should not anticipate the college studies. III. Candidates for admission to the freshman class in the course leading to the degree of Ph. B. will be examined as in II, except that an equivalent amount of French or German ma)^ be substituted for Greek. IV. Candidates for admission to the freshman class in the course leading to the degree of B= S., in addition to the subjects in I, will be examined: 1. In modern geography. 2. In history of the United States, to the close of the civil war. 3. In rhetoric — Nichol's Manual of English Composition, or an equivalent. 4. In English literature— The general course of development of English litera- ture, as presented in Stopford Brooke's or Kellogg's English Literature, Pancoast's Introduction to English Literature, or an equivalent. 5. In solid geometry. V. Candidates for admission to the freshman class in any of the courses leading to the degree of B. E. will be examined as in IV. The marking system is in vogue at Union, the highest mark for term work being ten, and any mark below six fails to sustain a stu- dent. The ten highest grades for the whole course entitle the seniors taking them to appointments at commencement. To a large class of students Union College presents extraordinary advantages in its numerous scholarships. Under an act jjassed in 1814 the sum of $50,000 was set apart as a fund the income of which has ever since been applied in aiding young men of narrow means, and thus multitudes have gone out into active life well prepared who but for this would have failed to receive a thorough education. This aid is granted without reference to the intended profession and with the sole object of accomplishing the greatest good. Other bequests of $50,000 each for the same purpose were made by the late Miss Catharine L. Wolfe and Dr. John McClelland, of New York. Still further scholarships (some of which, however, are not yet available) were provided by the trust deed of President Nott, who designated $125,000 to be set apart for the endowment of several grades of prize scholarships. In the scholarships of the first grade the incumbents, on the condition of good conduct and satisfactory application to study, receive at the end of each term a credit on the books of the registrar to the full amount of the term bill. These scholarships are accessible, under certain restrictions, to all who present the requisite certificates of character and sustain the examinations required for admission to the regular classes of the college. The college offers a series of annual prizes, w^hich are awarded at each commencement. These are — (1) The Blatchford oratorical prizes of $40 and $30 each, awarded to the two members of the graduating class who deliver at commence- ment the best orations. 222 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. (2) The Warner prize of the value of $50 is awarded to the senior who shall have attained the highest standing and who shall also sus- tain the best character for moral rectitude and deportment. (3) The Ingham prize of $70 for the best senior essay on an assigned subject in English literature. (4) The Allen prizes of 125, $20, and $15, respectively, for the best senior essays on subjects assigned. (5) The Clark prizes of valuable books, awarded to the writers of the two best junior essays on assigned subjects in English literature. (6) The Robert C. Alexander prize of $50 for the best extempora- neous speech at a public competition, the topic being assigned imme- diately before the competition. (7) Two oratorical prizes are annually awarded to the two juniors and the two sophomores who deliver the best orations on the occasion of the ijrize-speaking* contest in commencement week. (8) Engineering prize. — A prize is offered by the class of 1889 for three j'^ears, beginning in 1893. It will be awarded to the member of the graduating class in the engineering course who presents the best thesis. (9) Allison-Fooie prize. — Founded by George F. Allison, of New York City, and Hon. Wallace T. Foote, of Port Henry, N. Y., for the encouragement of debate in the literary societies. The prize consists of $100 in cash, and is to be awarded as the result of a public compe- tition between representatives of the Adelphic and the Philomathean literary societies. Fifty dollars will be awarded to the society pre- senting as a whole the strongest argument. The remaining $50 will be awarded to the debater who makes the best single speech, regard- less of his society relation. (10) Tlie Oilbert K. Harroun prize. — A prize consisting of $50 in gold has been established by Mr. Gilbert K. Harroun, treasurer of Union College, to be awarded at commencement to that member of the graduating class who shall iDresen^ the best thesis on an assigned sub- ject in sociology. The thesis must contain not less than 3,500 nor more than 4,000 words, must be typewritten, and must be presented on or before June 1 to the professor of history and sociology. The committee of award is appointed by the donor. The exercises of commencement are always held on the fourth Wednesday in June. Ten of the graduating class deliver orations, and the exercises are concluded with an oration hy the honorary chancellor, selected for that purpose by the board of trustees. Among the recent honorary chancellors have been Hon. George William Curtis, Hon. John K. Porter, Hon. Alexander H. Rice, of Massachusetts; Rev. Dr.. R. S. Storrs, Hon. Charles E. Smith, late United States minister to Russia; William H. McElroy, of the New York Tribune; Gen. Daniel Butterfield, Hon. Pliny T. Sexton, Hon. Charles T. Saxton. Hon. Joseph M. Carey, and Bishop Henry C. Potter. UNION COLLEGE. 223 IFnion College commanded a great deal of attention by reason of the course of lectures which was established at that institution by Maj. Gen. Daniel Butterfield, of New York (class of 1849). His scheme was remarkable in its wide scojje and in the number and character of the lecturers, and in the great eminence of many of them. The purpose of the course of lectures was to give to the students in the college a glimpse of many practical problems and to present to them from the highest quarters lessons in the tasks and duties of citizen- ship. General Butterfield not only assumed the whole pecuniary responsibility, but secured a score of gentlemen whose names were assurance of the marked success of the project. The value of such a glimpse of great questions, presented by speakers who have won distinction in their many different fields, is by itself a liberal education. The college can not fail to receive very great advantage from it, both in the number of its students and, in what is of very much more account, in the elevation of its spirit and in the practical character of its training. The course was marked out to extend over about three years, as follows : THE BUTTERFIELD LECTURE COURSE. THE WEST POINT MILITARY ACADEMY. Its foundation, history, and purposes; its course and system of training; its unwritten code of honor, and the benefit of its training and discipline for any vocation in life. What it has done for the country in both military and civil life. What of it may be common to all educational institutions. 1. By Gen. P. S. Michie, professor of mathematics and dean of the faculty of the West Point Military Academy. 2. By Gen. Horace Porter. POLITICS IN THE UNITED STATES. The necessity for and the duty of young men in familiarizing themselves with political and T>arty usages and customs, and in participating in primary elections and caucuses; party government in the United States; the higher duties of American citizenship. 3. By Hon. William McKinley. jr., governor of Ohio. 4. By Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, ex-Secretary of State. THE DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR SERVICE. The customs and usages of diplomacy, and how to become familiar vs^ith them. What has been accomplished for the United States by its diplomacy. 5. By Hon, Andrew D. White, ex-president of Cornell University, and United States ambassador to Germany. 6. By Hon. Frederick W. Seward, '49, formerly Assistant Secretary of State. ELECTRICITY. Its properties and latest development. 7. By Albon Man, '49. 224 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN ISTEW YOEK. JOURNALISM AND THE PRESS. How college men may best qualify themselves for the profession. 8. By Hon. Charles A. Dana, editor of the New York Sun. 9. By William H. McElroy, LL. D., '60, editor of the New York Tribune. WEALTH AND ITS USES. The practical value of a college training for business men. 10. By Andrew Carnegie. 11. By Hon. Chauncey M. Depew. COLLEGE WORK AS A PREPARATION FOR THE DUTIES OF LIFE. 12. By Hon. Warner Miller, '60. 13. By Gen. Daniel Butter field, '49. TRADE SCHOOLS — THE ELEVATION OF LABOR — INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 14. By Col. R. T. Auchmuty. founder of the Nev/ York trade schools. 15. By Prof. Rossiter W. Raymond. BANKING AND FINANCE. Currency and its political economy. 16. By Hon. George S. Coe, president of the American Exchange Bank of New York. AMERICAN FINANCE. 17. By Senator John Sherman. ex-Secretary of the Treasury. ART AND ARCHITECTURE. Honesty and truth in their purpose and expression. 18. By Montgomery Schuyler, -'34. THE POLITICS AND DIPLOMACY OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ADMINISTRATION. 19. By Gen. Daniel E. Sickles. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WEST AND SOUTH. •' Westward the star of empire takes its way." 20. By Hon. Charles F. Manderson, United States Senator from Nebraska, and President pro tempore of the Senate. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. 21. By Rev. Edward Everett Hale, D. D. COURTS-MARTIAL — MILITARY LAW— MARTIAL LAW. The suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. Respective jurisdictions of the State and Federal courts in war and peace. 22. By Maj. John W. Klous, U. S. A., judge-advocate and professor of law, West Point Academy. MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 23. By Hon. Seth Low, ex-mayor of Brooklyn, and president of Columbia College. 24. By Abram S. Hewitt, ex-mayor of New York. THE DUTIES OF A GOVERNOR AND HIS WORK. 25. By Alex. H. Rice, '44, ex-governor of Massachusetts. UNION COLLEGE. 225 THE MASSING OF POPULATION IN THE TENEMENT HOUSES OP CITIES— THE PROBLEM OF THE FUTURE. 26, By Hon. Bourke Cockran, M. C. 37. Farming on a large scale. — By Hon. Lyman R. Casey, United States Senator from North Dakota. 28. Canada and the Great North Land. — By Erastus Wyman. 29. Relation of brain to muscle. — By Dr. William A. Hammond. 30. Lecture. — By Hon, John Wanamaker, ex-Postmaster-General. There were offered 30 prizes of $25 each for the best essay upon the subject of each of the lectures, and prizes of the value of $125, $60, and $30, respectively, upon the first, second, and third best series of j)apers upon the entire course of lectures. For the first, second, and third best papers upon any single lecture in the course prizes of $75, $40, and $20 each were given. In addition to the student prizes a i)rize of $150 was awarded to the private school or private teacher to whom the greatest number of prize winners shall have ascribed his college preparation. Although Union College is an eleemosynary institution to so liberal an extent, its greatest present need is for unrestricted funds to be applied to general objects. Its largest endowments are trusts entailed to a particular purpose, as is the case with so many other of the older colleges of the country. An endowment fund for the establishment of new professorships or for increasing the salaries attached to exist- ing chairs would be of substantial benefit. A handsome beginning in this direction was recently made by the gift to the college of valuable real estate in Plattsburg, N. Y., the annual income of which (about $6,500) is designated for the establishment of a professorship of political economy and social science. The donor is Mr. Thomas Armstrong, of Plattsburg. Other needs of the college are for new dormitories to accommodate the yearly increasing number of stu- dents and a hall for commencement and other public purposes simi- lar to that latel}^ provided for Princeton by the munificence of Mrs. Charles B. Alexander. UNION UNIVERSITY. 'Union University embraces the following institutions : Union Col- lege, Albany Medical College, Albany Law School, Dudley Observa- tory, Albany College of Pharmacy. Union College acquired by its original charter full university pow- ers, but the creation of graduate institutions at Schenectady was not found practicable. Schools of law and medicine and also an astro- nomical observatory had existed at Albany, only a few miles distant, for many years previous to 1873. The arrangement naturally sug- gested b}^ these circumstances was that the professional schools and the observatary at Albany should be united with Union College under the charter and board of trustees of the latter. This was accordingly 3176 15 226 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION" IN NEW YORK. effected by tlie incorporation of Union University in 1873. Tlie Al- bany College of Pharmacy was created by the board of regents June 21, 1881, and incorporated as a department of the university August 21 of the same year. ^ The president of Union College and permanent chancellor of Union University has the oversight of the university, each of the institutions having its resident dean. The university board ot governors is com- posed of certain of the permanent trustees of Union College and of representatives of each of the other institutions embraced in Union University. The election of Dr. Harrison E. Webster as president in May, 1888, began a new era of progress and development in the history of Union College. He had been a member of the faculty from the time of his graduation in 1868 to the year 1883, and the members of twenty suc- cessive classes had carried away with them not only the highest respect for Professor Webster's ripe scholarship and his rare qualities as an instructor, but also a personal regard which was generally sincere affection for him as a personal friend. His election to the presidency of the institution to which he had given a lifetime of self-sacrificing devotion was therefore hailed with universal joy and enthusiasm. President Webster served the college till January, 1894, when, by reason of ill health, he presented his resignation, which was accepted with many expressions of regret and of appreciation for his valuable services to his alma mater. Early in 1894 the trustees selected as the successor of President Webster Rev. Dr. Andrew V. V. Raymond, a graduate of the class of 1875, and at that time pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Albany. There are many who link this coincidence with the youth, the enthusiasm, the oratorical ability, and the remarkable personal influence of Dr. Raymond, and draw a i3arallel between President Nott and President Raymond. Not since the war has the old college experienced such a period of prosperity and of hopeful enthusiasm as since the inauguration of President Raymond, which occurred in June, 1894. The classes have doubled in numbers, the teaching force has been largely increased, new endowments secured, and the standard of scholarship constantly elevated. 'New interest and enthusiasm have been inspired among the alumni and complete harmony exists in the college councils. The celebration of the centennial anniversary of the charter of Union College was an event which stirred the loyalty and kindled the enthusiasm of every alumnus. Two years before preparations had been begun, looking to a fitting celebration of this interesting event. At the commencement of 1894 the organization of working committees was completed, and the year which followed was filled with busy preparations for the great event. The exercises extended over a period of five days, commencing Sunday, June 23, 1895. The ceuten- ITNIOW COLLEGE. 227 iiial programme was opened on Sunday morning by the memorial sermon of Rev. Dr. George Alexander, '66, pastor of the University Place Presbyterian Church in New York. In the afternoon a reli- gious conference was held on religion and education, in which clergy- men of the Reformed, Methodist, Baptist, EpiscoiDalian, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic denominations, respectively, took part, thus typifying, in a peculiarly impressive manner, the nonsectarian pur- poses of the college. The same evening the baccalaureate sermon was preached by Right Re V. William C. Doane, Episcopal bishoj) of Albany. On Monday morning and afternoon an "educational conference" was held, in which pai4i was taken by Secretary Melvil Dewey, of the board of regents; Superintendent Maxwell, of Brooklyn; Principal Bancroft, of Phillips Academy, Andover ; President Scott, of Rutgers ; President Andrews, of Brown, and President Taylor, of Vassar. The conference was continued in the evening, and the invited speakers were President Oilman, of Johns Hopkins; President Low, of Colum- bia; President Hall, of Clark University; President Harper, of Chicago University, and Chancellor MacCracken, of the University of the City of New York. On Tuesday, June 25, was held the annual meeting of the alumni, of whom over 600 were in attendance during the celebration. At the centennial banquet held in Memorial Hall President Raymond pre- sided, and fraternal greetings from sister colleges were presented in eloquent addresses by Chancellor Anson J. Upson, of the State board of regents; Prof. George Herbert Palmer, of Harvard; President Pat- ton, of Princeton; President Andrews, of Brown; Prof. Henry Parks Wright, dean of Yale College ; Prof. John Haskell Hewitt, of Williams ; Prof. Charles F. Richardson, of Dartmouth; Prof. J. H. Van Amringe, dean of Columbia College; Prof. William MacDonald, of Bowdoin; Prof. John Randolj^h Tucker, of Washington and Lee; President Scott, of Rutgers; Prof. Oren Root, of Hamilton; Prof. Anson D. Morse, of Amherst; President Taylor, of Vassar, and Chancellor MacCracken, of New York University. In the afternoon of Tuesday, June 25, the class-day exercises of '95 were held in the college garden, and a reception was given bj^ Presi- dent and Mrs. Raymond. In the evening commemorative exercises were held, presided over by Rev. Dr. Charles D. Nott, '54, at which addresses were given by Judge George F. Danforth, '40, and Rev. Dr. Stealy B. Rossiter, '65, while the centennial poem was read by VlUiam H. McElroy, LL. D. A unique feature of the celebration was that on Wednesday morn- ing, June 26, consisting of a flag raising with an artillery salute. The exercises, which were held in the open air, were presided over by Gen. Daniel Butterfield, '49; Maj. Austin A. Yates, '54, made an elo- quent and patriotic oration, and a poem was read by Col. Weston Flint, '60. On the same morning exercises typifying "Union College 228 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUOATIOIS" IN NEW YORK. in professional life," presided over by Hon. William PI. H. Moore, '44, were held under a tent on the camijns, and addresses on behalf of the three learned professions were made by Rev. .Dr. Teunis S. Hamlin, '67; Maj. J. V. R. Hoff, M. D., '71, and Hon. J. Newton Fiero, dean of the Albany Law School. The alumni banquet was held at noon in Memorial Hall, j)resided over by Hon. Amasa J. Parker, '63, president of the General Alumni Association, at which speeches were made by representatives of the decennial classes and others. In the afternoon of June 26 ^as held the celebration of the semi- centennial of the engineering school of Union College, at which addresses were made by Cady Staley, '65, president of the Case School of Ai)plied Science; Hon. Warner Miller, '60; Gen. Roy Stone, '58, and Prof. O. H. Landreth, '76. The exercises of Wednesday evening were especially interesting. They were presided over hy Hon. John Gary Evans, '83, governor of South Carolina; Hon. David C. Robinson, '65, and Hon. Charles Emory Smith, '61. At this ceremony was first played the Union Col- lege Centennial March, composed by John T. Mj^gatt, '58. The centennial ceremony was concluded on commencement daj^, June 27, when, following the orations of graduates, a brief address was made by President Eli]3halet Nott Potter, of Hobart College, and the chancellor's oration was delivered by Right Rev. Henry C. Potter, bishop of New York. Thus closed the first century of Union College, a century of useful- ness, of progress, and of development. The second century opens with the happiest auguries for the future^ — a future bright with hope and promise. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF UNION UNIVERSITY. Charter. 1855, 1882. Laws. 1871. Code. 1880. West, C. E. Address on the fiftieth anniversary of the class of 1832. Class op 1884. Decennial record. Memorial Volume. An account of the tricentennial class meeting held at the college, June 24, 1884. Philomathean Society. First semicentennial anniversary, held at Union College July 25, 1848. First Semicentennial Anniversary. Celebrated July 22, 1845. Seymour, Horatio. University address. July 2, 1873. Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Dr. Nott's Presidency of Union College. July 25, 1854. Delavan, E. C. Communication to the board of trustees of Union College. 1869. Wells, W. Scribner, 12: 229. Wells, W. Harper, 31: 809. HAMILTON COLLEGE. 229 HAMILTON COLLEGE, 1812. Hamilton College, at Clinton, had its origin in the Hamilton-Oneida Academy, chartered by the regents January 31, 1793, upon petition of Samuel Kirkland, Jonas Piatt, Eli Bristol, Erastus Clark, Joel Bristol, Sewell Hopkins, James Dean, an. White had then been elected, a member ex officio.^ At the same time the term of office of the elective trustees was fixed at five years, three members to be elected each year. The amend- ment also provides that when the number of alumni shall reach 100, 45 of them may, by a majority vote, elect annually one of the three incoming trustees. By a subsequent amendment in 1895,^ the number of elective trus- tees is raised to thirty, twenty of whom are to be elected by the board and ten by the alumni, the board to elect four each year and the alumni two. Elective trustees serve for a period of five years each. This, with the trustees ex officio,^ makes the number of the present board after June, 1895, thirty-nine. The novelty and importance of the provision as to alumni repre- sentation have been demonstrated in the interest attaching to the elections. But the difficulty of gathering a large body of electors from widely separated points gave eventually a somewhat local char- acter to the election and wrought an injustice to those living at a distance. This was obviated by another amendment permitting alumni to send their ballots, under their signatures, to the treasurer of the university nd to have them counted as if personally cast.* Con- cert of a 3tion in such elections is secured by a provision whereby any ten alumni may file a nomination for alumni trustee with the treas- urer, whose duty it is to mail a complete list of candidates to each alumnus. Much interest has always been taken in these elections by the alumni, and in some years, when questions of university policy have been involved, campaigns have been conducted with the great- est vigor by well-organized committees. In the early years the alumni chose a representative from outside their own body, but of late their choice has invariably fallen upon graduates of the university, and it is doubtful whether any others will hereafter be chosen by them. The plan, the credit for which is due to Mr. White, has worked extremely well, both as regards the interest it serves to keep alive among graduates and the character of the men who are elected to the board. The board has also begun the practice of electing alumni as trustees, and with the increase in the alumni body and their growing importance in university affairs, it is altogether probable that Cornell, like the older colleges, will eventually pass largely under the manage- ment of her own sons.^ 1 Laws of New York, 1867, chap. 763. ■^Ibicl., 1895. chap. 87. ^ The State commissioner of agriculture was added to the ex officio list. ■iLaws of New York, 1883, chap. 423, as amended by L. 1895, chap. 87. •'' Five of the twenty trustees elected by the board are now Cornell alumni. COENELL UNIVERSITY. 833 E. The Origin of the Idea of Cornell. To Ezra Cornell belongs the honor of being the founder of Cornell University. Even before the conception of such an institution had taken form in his mind he had fully determined to devote a half million of dollars to the benefit of the people of New York State. ^ When he realized the Immense advantages to be gained by uniting this endowment with the land-grant fund, and came to see the futility of division and the wisdom of concentration of resources in higher education, his purpose was quickly formed. From that purpose, thereafter unchanged, came into being the university that bears his name. To Andrew D. White, his faithful friend and coworker, belongs the equal honor of having first conceived the idea of such a university. Of this, happily, there is ample evidence. While still a student in a small denominational college in central New York, Mr. White had begun to think of the needs of New York in respect of higher education. With his larger experience at Yale College and in the great universities of Europe, the idea had strength- ened that in New York there should be a university, broad enough to meet all the needs of the Empire State and of this nineteenth century. On his return from Europe he took positive steps toward the accom- plishment of his cherished plan. Several wealthy men, notably the well-known philanthropist, Gerrit Smith, were approached by him on the subject and a definite offer was made by Mr. White of a generous share of his own fortune for such a purpose, but nothing tangible resulted from these efforts.^ The most remarkable testimony as to the early ideas of Mr. White on this subject is borne by George William Curtis, long a regent and afterwards chancellor of the University of the State of New York. In his address at the inaugural ceremonies of Cornell University. Mr. Curtis said : It is now just about ten years since I was in the city of Ann Arbor, Mich., the seat of the University of Michigan. ... I was in that city and I sat at night talking with my friend, a New York scholar, professor of history in that institu- tion, and one of the men who have given that institution its great place in this country. There, in the warmth and confidence of his friendship, he unfolded to me his idea of the great work that should be done in the great State of New York. " Surety," he said, " in the greatest State there should be the greatest of univer- sities; in central New York there should arise a university, which, by the ampli- tude of its endowment and by the whole scope of its intended sphere, by the character of the studies in the whole scope of its curriculum, should satisfy the wfints of the hour. More than that," he said, "it should begin at the beginning. It should take hold of the chief interest of this country, which is agriculture; then it should rise, step by step, grade by grade, until it fulfilled the highest ideal of what a university could be." It was also his intention that there should be no^ ' ^ White: My Reminiscences of Ezra Cornell, p. 7. 2 xbid, pp. 5, 6. 334 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. man. wherever he might be, on the other side of the ocean or on this side, who might be a fitting teacher of men, who should not be drawn within the sphere of that university. Until the hour was late this young scholar dreamed aloud to me these dreams; and at the close, at our parting, our consolation was that we lived in a country that was open to every generous idea, and that his dream one day might be realized was still a possibility. Ten years ago — and why are we here? Why am I speaking to you? What is this building that we see? What are these bells we hear? What are these chimes, whose musical echo lingers and will always linger in your hearts? Why, on this autumn day, when every crop is in its perfection, when all the sweet blossoms of your orchards are now glowing in gorgeous piles of fruit, all the grain dropped by yoti in the furrows is now piled and to be piled in the granaries of the world; wh}^ in this spot, on this autumn day, the vision of the New York scholar has come true. Here in noble stone, here scattered through this village of yours, here upon these everlasting hills, founded now, and with these hills to endure, more wonderful than the palace of Aladdin, you behold, you realize the dream of the scholar of the Michigan University, your honored president, Andrew D. White. ' Thus was conceived, thus born, Cornell University. What the brain of the scholar planned, the heart of the philanthropist builded. New York has her great university — broad enough for the needs of all her people, high enough for the aspirations of her most ambitious sons — and for it she owes her meed of praise most of all to two men — Ezra Cornell and Andrew D. White. III. THE BUILDING OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY. A. Preliminary Matters— Site and Buildings. After the passage of the charter the trustees were obliged to remain inactive for three months, during which time the People's College, by depositing the sum fixed by the regents, might defeat the land grant to Cornell. The sum fixed by the regents was $185,000. On the 28th of August, 1865, the secretary of the regents certified that no such deposit had been made, and, as the time limited had then more than expired, there could be no further claim on the part of the People's College. Cornell University was entitled henceforth to undis- puted possession of the great endowment. The first meeting of the trustees had been held at Albany on the day following the passage of the charter, at w^hich time the board had been filled by the election of additional members, and the grant of the land scrip had been formally accepted.^ The second meeting was held at Ithaca on September 5. At this time Mr. Cornell agreed to execute his bond for the sum of $500,000, bearing interest at 7 per cent, and secure the same by capital stock of the Western Union Telegraph Company to the amount of $700,000. ' Proceedings at the inauguration of Cornell University. (Ithaca, 1869.) pp. 33, 34. -Laws and Documents Relating to Cornell University (Ithaca, 1892), pp. 33-35. CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 335 This arrangement was accepted by the trustees and was afterwards carried ol^t.^ At the same time lie paid $25,000 to the Genesee Col- lege; and both transactions were certified by the comptroller of the State as correct and satisfactory. The matter of a site for the university Mr. Goruell solved in a very characteristic way by giving, in addition to his pledge, a tract of over 200 acres of land upon an eminence overlooking Cayuga Lake and the village (now city) of Ithaca from the east. It had passed into a saying among his fellow-townsmen that " he never did less than he promised, but generally more." This tract was increased by subse- quent purchases until the university domain now comprises about 270 acres. Work now began in earnest. The structure now known as Morrill Hall — but then and up to 1883, as the " South University building" — was begun, and necessary improvements of what was to be the cam- pus went on as rapidly as possible. But it soon became evident that, owing to the delay which had taken place, the university could not be ready for the reception of students within the two years prescribed by the charter. An amendment was therefore secured from the legis- lature of 1867 extending the time for the fulfillment of the conditions of the grant to the 1st of October, 1868.^ Even this extension was not sufficient for the completion of the necessary work. In addition to the South University building, the Cascadilla building originally intended for a water cure, was refitted for university jjurposes. When the inaugural day came, neither of these buildings was finished, nor was the work upon the campus completed. There were no doors upon the students' rooms, no heating apparatus, no bridges across the ravines on the campus, while the entire equipment for laboratories and shops ^i> as stored without order in whatever spot would give it shelter and security.^ Aside from the two buildings named, there was erected just south of the South University building a temporary campanile, in which was hung a chime of nine bells, the gift of Miss Jennie McGraw."* This was the material appearance of Cornell University when it began its work in October, 1868. Between Cascadilla place and the ^Laws and Documents Relating to Cornell University (Ithaca, 1892), pp. 35-37. Mr. Cornell had made his fortune largely in telegraph enterprises, in which he was a pioneer, and was one of the originators of the Western Union Telegraph Company. -Laws of New York. 1867, chap. 763. ^Andrew D. White: My Reminiscences of Ezra Cornell, p, 19. '* Afterwards hung in the tower of McGrraw Hall and now finally placed in the tower of the library. A tenth bell was added by Mrs. White, and is called in her honor the Magna Maria. ~ For it James Russell Lowell wrote this fine inscription: I call as fly the irrevocable hours, Futile as air or strong as fate to make Your lives of sand or granite; awful powers. Even as men choose, they either give or take. — Heartsease and Rue, p. 216. 336 HISTOEY OF HIGHEK EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. South University building were two deep ravines — the Cascadilla Gorge and a lesser one. About the South building was a rough and broken field which had been hastily transformed from a cornfield into a campus. All was crude and unfinisbed. But in that "box in a cornfield," as it was not inaptly called, there was to begin a novel experiment in education, an experiment which drew at once the attention of the whole country and which has succeeded beyond the fondest expectations of its authors. B. The Plan of Organization. At { n early meeting of the trustees Mr. White had been appointed upon a special committee to prepare a report upon the internal organ- ization of the university. On October 21, 1866, his report was pre- sented to the board. ^ The report opens with a discussion of the question whether, under the act of Congress and the charter of the university, the trustees would be justified in providing for instruction in departments foreign to agriculture and the mechanic arts. Of their power to do so there could be no question. The act of Congress of 1862 uses the language "without excluding other scientific and classical studies," and declares the object of the donation to be "to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life." The charter is equally broad. After spe- cifically naming agriculture and the mechanic arts as the leading and required studies, it adds : ' ' But such other branches of science and knowledge may be embraced in the plan of instruction and investi- gation pertaining to the university as the trustees may deem useful and proper." Of the propriety of thus extending the scope of the university Mr. White had no doubt. His plan of organization argued for it and provided for it. His plan was to have two great divisions of the university, the first to include separate departments devoted to special sciences and arts and the second literature and the sciences and arts in general. Under the first division were to fall agriculture, mechanic arts, civil engineer- ing, commerce and trade, mining, medicine, law, history and political science, and education. Not all of these courses were recommended at the outset ; not all are yet established ; some, like commerce and trade, may never be established. Those that were particularly recom- mended, and that have since reached the greatest development, are agriculture, mechanic arts, civil engineering, and history and political science. Upon the last the report is especially urgent, and the views then expressed have continued to retain their hold upon the trustees and faculty and have finally blossomed into the strong and admirably equipped "President White School of History and Political Science." ' Report of the Committee on Organization. Albany, 1867. COENELL UNIVERSITY. 337 The report also recommends in the general courses a wide liberty in the choice of studies— Greek and Latin for those who have the taste and time for them, but literature, history, modern languages, and science for those whose tastes lie in other directions. Mental discipline is to be sought, not merely in those studies that promote keenness and precision of mind, but also in those that promote breadth of mind. "In American life there will always be enough keenness and sharp- ness of mind. But the danger is that there will be neglect of those noble studies which enlarge the mental horizon and increase mental powers in reaching out toward it, studies which give material for thought and suggestions for thought upon the great field of the history of civilization. " ^ The report recommends the division of the faculty into resident professors and nonresident professors, the latter to give brief courses of lectures each year. Upon the question of administration, Mr. White strongly recom- mended that the then prevailing system under which the president of a college or university decides all matters of government and policy be replaced by one in which the faculty at large should be intrusted with this power ; that each department, with its separate faculty, be authorized to govern matters pertaining particularly to it; and that the combined faculty of the whole university constitute an academic senate, in which every teacher in the university should be permitted to speak, but only the professors or heads of departments to vote. This plan, with some modifications, was adopted, the general faculty having committed to its charge most questions of internal adminis- tration and discipline. Later an academic senate consisting only of full professors was for a time added, but during President White's entire administration professors of all grades sat in the faculty meet- ings and took part in its deliberations.^ The report has further recommendations upon equipment, library, discipline, etc., which need not here be considered, while the matters pertaining to manual labor, physical culture, and the dormitory system will be treated hereafter. The whole tone and spirit of the report can not but be regarded as broad, progressive, and in some features unique. The idea of gath- 1 Report of the Committee on Organization, Albany, 1867, p. 10. ^By legislation passed in 1897 the university is divided into the graduate depart- ment, the academic department (or department of arts and sciences), the college of law, the college of civil engineering, the Sibley college of mechanical engineer- ing and mechanic arts, the college of architecture, the college of agriculture, and the New York State Veterinary College, to which have subsequently been added the medical college and the New York State College of Forestry. There are nine special faculties and one general or university faculty, which deals with questions of general university policy, or questions which concern more than one special faculty, and which has charge of the graduate department. 3176 22 338 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN" NEW YOEK. ering in the same class rooms the students of agriculture and of Greek, of mechanical or civil engineering and of literature, was a bold one, and the experience of some older colleges in which scientific students were, and still are, excluded from the social life of the academic students seemed to augur but ill for its success. But the foundation idea of Cornell University was thoroughly democratic, and the men who molded its history had no sympathy whatever with the worn-out traditions of academic life. They deemed it equally honorable to build philosophies or steam engines, to turn out a neat translation or to turn a straight furrow, to frame a law or build a bridge. They were determined that the students who came to Cornell should take a like view so far as daily experience would induce it. This feeling found its most advanced exponent in Mr. White and its highest expression in this report and his subsequent inaugural address. C. The Choice op a President. A year and a half had passed in this preliminary work and as yet no one had been selected to preside over the destinies of the nascent university. The matter had been broached from time to time ; several names had been presented for consideration ; but there had been no open discussion of Mr. White's name, nor had he ever had the slight- est thought that it was under consideration for this position. It was therefore a genuine surprise to him when Mr. Cornell, at the meeting of the trustees succeeding that to which the report on organization had been presented, named him as the fittest person for president of the new universit5^ In the face of Mr. White's own protests that there was need of a man of greater age, more robust health, and wider reputation, the trustees earnestly seconded Mr. Cornell and declared their young colleague to be their first and unanimous choice. Mr. White at last reluctantly consented to undertake the duties for a time, and with many misgivings, as he himself has said, became the first president of Cornell iTniversity.^ There were many reasons why this position should not have appeared very attractive to Mr. White. He was just entering upon what promised to be a brilliant political career. Large business interests demanded his attention. His taste for academic life was sufficiently gratified by his work at the University of Michigan, where he held the position of j)rofessor of history and where he was in the habit of lecturing every spring. He had, moreover, just been elected director of the art school and lecturer on the history of art at Yale College, a positition which, if he decided to return to educational work, would have best suited him. In addition to all this, abundant wealth gave him an opportunity to pursue his favorite studies on either side of the Atlantic unhampered by the burdens of a young and struggling university. 1 White: My Reminiscences, etc., p. 16. He was elected on October 24, 1866. COENELL UNIVEESITY. 339 Two considerations doubtless led him finally to accept the trust. The first was the opportunity it offered for him to build on his own lines the great school of his early dreams. The other was the firm faith of Mr. Cornell in his fitness to carry out the far-reaching plans upon which they were jointly agreed. For these reasons he undertook the arduous duties of a first president. Yet there was even then only the purpose to get the university fairly started and then aid in the selection of a man who should carry it on in the spirit of its founders. But having once undertaken the work he did not find it so easy to lay it down, and for nineteen years he remained the president and the guiding force of Cornell Universit3^ D. The Selection of a Faculty. The first faculty of Cornell consisted of twenty resident and five non- resident professors. This includes all the men who had been selected before the opening of the university, and in the case of nonresident professors some who were elected during the first year. The follow- ing list will show with what degree of success the ideas set forth in the report on organization were realized : Professors. — Andrew Dickson White, ^ history; William Channing Russel,^ history and romance languages; William Dexter Wilson,^ philosophy; Evan Wilhelm Evans, ^ mathematics; Albert Sproul Wheeler, ancient languages; Daniel Willard Fiske, Germanic lan- guages; Homer B. Sprague, rhetoric and oratory; Eli Whitney Blake,^ physics and industrial mechanics; William Charles Cleveland,^ civil engineering; John Lewis Morris,^ mechanical engineering; George Chapman Caldwell,* agricultural chemistry; James Mason Crafts? general chemistry; Burt Green Wilder,* comparative anatomy and zoology; James Law,* veterinary medicine and surgery; Charles Frederick Hartt,^ geology; Albert N. Prentiss,^ botany; Joseph H. Whittlesey,^ militarj^ science and tactics. Assistant professors. — Ziba Hazard Potter, mathematics; James Morgan Hart,^ modern languages; Thomas Frederick Crane,* romance languages. Nonresident professors.— J enn Louis Rodolphe Agassiz,^ natural history; Goldwin Smith,'' English constitutional history; James Rus- sell Lowell,^ English literature; George William Curtis,^ recent liter- ature; Theodore William D wight, ^ Constitution of the United States. The theory upon whi=5 s o o 2 !: a cc a c8 p t^a o ^ ^ >g g o o o hQo 5 Pit: . 01 fl (3 0) (S ■<£ O o o o o o 'C ^ Ti 'd 'O fto o 5^3 13 g-o o P"0 o o'^ 1 o.rHpiajoooo Ih^ 3 =• . ; . .C3 a-S • HO oooOq- •43ajt*'OOoooo s!i : : : i-soJjcsS ;;;:;; •5SS I 4) p! , S> o j»rfl^ ^£ £h ."S ts"^ . . . . es ts caw o o o o o o a o o O =3 O ^a O O O O O £ I ^ I I 1 ^ s ^^ ggjgits 00 00 1877-78- 1878-79.. 1879-80.. 1880-81.. 1881-82.. II 1871- 1872- 1873- 1874- C3 o O cc-^incDt-oo oo 00 00 op CO 00 II III I ei CO -* lo CD t- oooocooooooo QD CO 00 CO 00 00 ^<^!lrtl COENELL UNIVERSITY. 369 o o O 6 ft ; ' <5 o C8 P- W-S ^6f c3 £^ ti t^'d eg -s :• a ^ el SB 33 a > ■^^ •St^ o " -^ o O bf 0)13 0-73 fl rt 1 s r^ ? ° §a O Or; S o-o CD ■„ a Moj — 'O C > S t>>0 |>,o £ 5 s 5 S S S •r; p a) g >,_2 fe: ^aaa'6i3§?°o» 1. 1 I I iHF^^oa '~' eci so' -* lo I I I I -d S 8 s e e ;5,a.5i,R,g •£-5-g-S-5 o o o o^ 370 HISTORY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. C. The Faculties. The first organization of the faculties was, at least theoretically, into a general university faculty and into a number of special facul- ties corresponding to the ' ' colleges " above described. It is stated in the first register that — The faculties of the colleges have, under the university faculty, the general supervision of the lectures and class exercises properly belonging to each; arrange special courses; are charged with the oversight of students pursuing special courses, and are intrusted with the keeping of such of the university museums and collections as illustrate their respective branches ot study. This is repeated down to and including the register for 1872-73. In 1873-74 the term "college" disappears, and with it the term "special faculties." The latter makes its reappearance, however, in 1874-75, and continues with some variations down to 1890-91. It seems, how- ever, to express nothing more than a grouping according to depart- ments of work. At most the ' ' special faculty " was a committee for routine administration, and all matters requiring faculty action were referred to the one general faculty. In 1887 the faculty of law was organized as an independent faculty, and from that date to 1896 there were two faculties, each quite inde- pendent of the other. In 1889-90 appears for the first time the university senate, com- posed of the full professors of the general and law faculties and vested with the power of confirmation or rejection, subject to final action of the board of trustees, of nominations for positions in either of the two faculties. After a short and somewhat tempestuous career the academic senate disappears in 1893. In 1896 there was a complete and radical reorganization of the departments and faculties. First, there was a return to the early nomenclature, and each technical or professional department was des- ignated as a "college." Second, there was a return to the early divi- sion into a university faculty and a number of special faculties, the latter corresponding to the " colleges," and in addition including as one special faculty all the corps of instruction in the academic depart- ment or department of arts and sciences. Under this plan the uni- versit}^ faculty, or general faculty, includes all professors, associate professors, and assistant professors, and deals with the graduate department, matters of general university policy, and matters affect- ing more than one special faculty. The special faculties include the faculty of arts and sciences, the faculty of the college of law, the fac- ulty of the college of civil engineering, the faculty of the college of mechanical engineering, the faculty of the college of architecture, the faculty of the college of agriculture, the faculty of the medical col- lege, the faculty of the New York State Veterinarj^ College, and the faculty of the New York State College of Forestr3^ Each special fac- ultj^ deals with the concerns of its own department or college, deter- CORNELL UNIVEESITY. 37 1 mines entrance requirements and courses of studj^ and exercises dis- cipline over its own students. Its legislation is subject to revision by the university faculty "on all matters affecting general university policy." In 1886-87 appears for the first time the dean of the general faculty. This office was continued down to 1896, when, upon the reorganization, a dean was appointed for the university faculty, for the faculty of arts and sciences, and a ' ' director of the college and dean of the fac- ulty " for each of the colleges. The school of law had been organized with a dean from its beginning in 1887. The deans have been as fol- lows: The old general faculty (to 1896): Charles Ashmead Schaeffer (1886-87) ; Henry Shaler Williams (1887-88) ; Horatio Stevens White (1888-1896). The law school faculty : Douglas Boardman (1887-91); Francis Miles Finch (1891 — ); associate dean, Harry Burns Hutchins (1892-1895). Under the reorganization of 1896: University faculty, Horatio Ste- vens White; arts and sciences, Thomas Frederick Crane; agriculture, Isaac Phillips Roberts; architecture, Charles Babeock (1896-97), Alex- ander Bull Trowbridge (1897 — ) ; civil engineering, Estevan Antonio Fuertes; mechanical engineering, Robert Henry Thurston; law, Francis Miles Finch; veterinary medicine, James Law; medicine, Wil- liam M. Polk (1898 — ); forestry, Bernhard E. Fernow (1898 — ). D. The Professors. It is quite impracticable to do more than refer to the various pro- fessors who have conducted the educational work of the university. For convenience they will be mentioned in connection with the depart- ments and colleges into which the university is now divided. 1. THE ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT. The academic department is now divided into numerous separate branches or groups. For the sake of simplicity and convenience these may be here grouped into a somewhat smaller number. Prof. T. F. Crane has been dean of the faculty of arts and science since 1896, and was, during the temporary absence of Dr. Schurman, the acting president of the university. A. Languages and Literatures. The classical languages were originally united at Cornell under the professorship of Albert S. Wheeler from 1868 to 1871. In the latter' 3^ear a division was made upon the resignation of Professor Wheeler. Tracy Peck became professor of Latin and Isaac Flagg professor of Greek. In 1880 Professor Peck was succeeded bj^ Prof. William Gardner Hale, and he in turn in 1892 by Prof. Charles E. Bennett. Professor Flagg was succeeded in 1888 bj^Prof. Benjamin I. Wheeler, who in 1886 had been called to the chair of comparative philology, 372 HISTORY OF HIGHEK EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. and who combined the two. G. P. Bristol is associate pi'ofessor of Greek, and H. C. Ehner assistant professor of Latin. Alfred Emer- son was associate professor of classical archaeology from 1891 to 1898. An excellent museum of classical archaeology has been pro- vided through the generosity of Henry W. Sage. The work in Greek and Latin has always been of the highest order, and during the period of intercollegiate literary contests from 1874 to 1879 Cornell students distinguished themselves, especially in the contests in Greek and Latin. Since 1896 Nathaniel Schmidt has been professor of the Sem- itic languages and literatures. H. S. White (1876-1878), D. W. Brown (1878-79), and William R. Perkins (1879-1882) have served as assistant professors of Latin. The modern foreign languages seem to have been divided from the outset into two chairs, that of Romance languages and that of Ger- manic languages. The first was filled down to 1881 b}^ Prof. William Channing Russel, assisted by Prof. T. F. Crane. J. M. Hart, W. M. Howland, F. L. 0. Roehrig, and Alfred Stebbins were also assistants at different periods. In 1873 Professor Crane was given an independ- ent professorship of Italian and Spanish, and on the retirement of Professor Russel became the head of the Romance language depart- ment, in which he is now assisted by Asst. Prof. E. W. Olmstead and several instructors. The chair of German language and litera- ture was filled from 1868 to 1883 by Prof. Willard Fiske. Upon his retirement W. T. Hewett, who had been assistant professor since 1870, and H. S. White, who was assistant professor of Latin from 1876 to 1878 and of German since 1878, were made professors of Ger- man language and literature, and have since jointly administered the department. H. H. Boyeson was assistant professor from 1873 to 1876, and professor of German literature from 1876 to 1880. Others who have been connected with the department as assistants are G. F. Behringer (1869-70), J. M. Hart (1869-1873), B. P. McKoon (1870-1883). The department of English was organized by Prof. Homer B. Sprague, who remained from 1868 to 1870, when he was succeeded by Prof. Hiram Corson. Both Professor Sprague and Professor Corson were entitled " professor of rhetoric and oratory," but the instruction by both was broader than the title, including English literature, and in the case of Professor Corson, Anglo-Saxon. In 1871 Charles C. Shackford was made professor of rhetoric and general literature, and Professor Corson gave his attention to English literature, including Anglo-Saxon. LTpon the retirement of Professor Shackford as emeri- tus in 1886, Professor Corson again united the work in rhetoric and literature until in 1887 Brainerd G. Smith was elected associate pro- fessor of rhetoric and oratory, being succeeded in 1893 by Asst. Prof. D. C. Lee. From 1881 to 1883 William E. Lucas, who had previously been instructor, was assistant professor of rhetoric and composition. In 1890 James Morgan Hart became professor of rhetoric CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 373 and Eiigiish philology. The work of the department is now three- fold — English literature, in charge of Professor Corson; rhetoric and English philology, in charge of Professor Hart, and elocution and orator}', in charge of Assistant Professor Lee. O. F. Emerson was assistant professor of rhetoric and English philology from 1892-1896. In 1897 F. C. Prescott became assistant professor of rhetoric. In the same year Miss Louise Sheffield Brownell, warden of Sage College? became also a lecturer in English literature. In English literature Professor Corson's work has been, since his coming in 1870 to the present day, an inspiration and delight to great bodies of students. B. HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE. History and political science are united into one department, now known as the President White School of History and Political Science. The union was formally made in 1881, and the above title was adopted in 1887. The school has no permanent head, however, and the differ- ent chairs combined under the title are practically independent. From 1868 to 1885 President White was professor of modern Euro- pean history. President Adams succeeded to the same title in 1885, but resigned the chair in 1889. In 1890 Herbert Tuttle was transferred from the chair of politics to that of modern European history, and on his death in 1894 he was succeeded by Prof. H. Morse Stephens. From 1868 to 1881 William Channing Russel was associate professor of history, giving instruction mainly in Roman, mediaeval, and American history. From 1868 to 1872 Goldwin Smith was professor of English history, and has since been a frequent lecturer on that subject. In recognition of his devotion and generosity to the university tlie trus- tees conferred on him, in June, 1894, the honorary appointment of professor of English history, emeritus. In 1881 a chair of American history was established, to which Prof. Moses Coit Tyler was elected, a choice which has been more than justified by the unflagging interest manifested by students in the work of his department. In 1888 George L. Burr was made instructor in mediaeval history, and was rapidly promoted through all the grades to professor of ancient and mediaeval history. The department of history has now, therefore, three chairs — ancient and mediaeval history, filled by Professor Burr; modern European history, filled by Professor Stephens, and American history, filled by Professor Tyler. The department has always been peculiarly fortunate in its choice of professors. The brilliant work of Professors White and Smith gave it an impetus at tlie outset, which it has never lost to the present day. In political science the instruction by resident professors was given mainly down to 1881 through the courses in history, supplemented by brief courses in political economy by Prof. W. D. Wilson and Asst. Prof. Ziba Potter. In 1881 Herbert Tuttle was appointed lecturer on inter- national law, and in 1883 was made associate professor, and in 1887 374 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. professor of politics, his exact title varying somewhat from year to year. Professor Tuttle's work was of a brilliant order, but his tastes lay more decidedly in the lield of modern European history, to which he was transferred in 1891. He was succeeded in that year by Prof. Jeremiah W. Jenks. In 1883 Henry Carter Adams was elected asso- ciate professor of political economy, dividing his time between Michi- gan Universitj^ and Cornell. After four years of service, during which tinxe he made the study of political economy an inspiration to great numbers of students, he retired in order to give all his time to Michigan. He was succeeded in 1888 by Prof. E. Benjamin Andrews, and he in 1890 by Prof. J. Lawrence Laughlin, with whom A. C. Miller was associated. Both the latter resigned in 1892, and the department of political science was ui_ited under the head professor- ship of Professor Jenks, with E. A. Ross, W. F. Willcox, and C. H. Hull as assistants. Professor Ross resigned after one year and the work has since been carried on by Professors Jenks, Willcox, and Hull, with one or more instructors. The department now falls into three classes — that of politics, in charge of Professor Jenks ; social science and statistics, in charge of Associate Professor Willcox, and political economy and finance in charge of Assistant Professor Hull. C. PHILOSOPHY. Philosophy was from 1868 to 1886 in charge of William Dexter Wil- son, the well- beloved and venerated registrar of the universit3^ Dur- ing this period he lectured on the history of philosophy, the philosophy of history, psychology, logic, and kindred topics. He also gave some instruction in political science, having courses in political economy and American law. In 1886 he was made professor emeritus and retired from active service. A professorship of Christian ethics and mental philosophy was created by the generosity of Henry W. Sage in 1885, in memory o:^ his wife, Susan E. Linn Sage, and to this in 1886 Jacob Gould Schurman was called. In 1890 Mr. Sage endowed a department of philosophy and steps were taken to equip and develop it. To the department was given the name of Susan E. Linn Sage School of Philosophy. Dr. Schurman was made dean of the school and professor of mental and moral philosophy, which chair he resigned in 1896. Charles Mellen Tjder succeeded Dr. Schurman in 1891 as professor of Christian ethics, to which was added the further title of the history and philosophy of religion. In addition several professor- ships in special branches of philosophy were created. Frank Angell was assistant professor of psychology during 1891-92; William A. Hammond was made assistant professor of ancient and mvsdiseval philosophy in 1892; James E. Creighton was assistant professor of modern philosophy from 1892 to 1895, and in the latter year became professor of logic and metaphysics ; Edward B. Titchenor was assistant professor of psychology from 1892 to 1895 and has been professor of COENELL UNIVERSITY. 375 psychology since the latter date; Jaines Seth was professor of moral philosophy from 1806 to 1809. He is to be succeeded next year by Prof. E. B. McGilivray. The chair of pedagogy was filled from 1886 to 1898 by Prof. Samuel Gardner Williams, who, upon his resignation last June, was made professor emeritus. He is succeded hy Prof. Charles De Garmo. The school publishes a periodical known as the Philo- so^ hical Review. D. SCIENCES. The scientific branches of the academic department may be for con- venience grouped under the heads of mathematics, physics, chemistry, geology, botany, entomology and invertebrate zoology, and physiology and vertebrate zoology. The department of mathematics was first organized by Prof. Evan Wilhelm Evans, who remained at its head until his death in 1874. During this time the following served as assistant professors: Ziba H. Potter (1868-1882), William E. Arnold (1869-1876), Henry Turner Eddy (1869-1873), Lieut. William J. Hamilton (1869-70), Lucien Augustus Wait (1870-1877), James Edward Oliver (1871-1873), William Edward Byerly (1873-1876). From 1874 to his death in 1895, Professor Oliver was head professor of the department, but since 1891 shared the administrative work with Professor Wait, who became an associate professor in 1877 and professor in 1891. George William Jones was elected assistant professor in 1877, associate professor in 1893, and professor in 1895. James McMahon has been an assistant professor since 1890, and John H. Tanner since 1894. There have been, during the thirty years, a very considerable number of teachers in the depart- ment of the rank of instructors. The department necessarily conies into relations with a large number of students and has always main- tained a rigid standard. The department of physics was organized by Prof. Eli Whitney Blake, who served from 1868 to 1870, being succeeded by Prof. John Jackson Brown, who served for one year, and was in turn succeeded by Prof. F. E. Loomis, who also served for one year. The department then passed under the charge of Prof. William A. Anthony, who served from 1872 to 1887, and to whose ability and zeal the department very largely owes its great success. On Professor Anthony's retire- ment in 1887 he was succeeded by Prof. E. L. Mchols, who still remains in charge. The staff now consists of Professor Nichols, Asst. Prof. G. S. Moler (1880—), Ernest Merritt (1892—), and Frederick Bedell (1893 — ), besides several instructors and assistants. In 1881 a separate building was erected for physics and chemistry, which, since the erec- tion of a special building for chemistry, has passed wholly under the control of the department of physics. To this department is due the establishment of a course in electrical engineering, which is now regarded as a department in the Sibley College of Mechanical 376 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. Engineering. The department publishes a review known as the Phys- ical Review, under the editorship of Professors Nichols and Merritt. The department of chemistry was organized jointly by Profs. G. C. Caldwell and J. M. Crafts, the first being professor of agricultural chemistry and the second of general chemistry. Professor Crafts retired in 1870. Professor Caldwell still remains in the service, being the senior professor of the university, and since 1892 has been profes- sor of general chemistry and of agricultural chemistry in general charge of the department. Prof. Charles A. Schaeffer was professor of analyt- ical chemistry and mineralogy, and later of general chemistry also, from 1869 to 1887. Others who have been connected with the depart- ment are Prof. C. H. Wing (1870-1873), Prof. A. A. Breneman (1875-1882), Prof. S. B. Newbury (1882-1892). The staff now consists of Professor Caldwell, Associate Prof. L. M. Dennis (1891 — ), and Asst. Prof. W. R. Orndorff (1890—), J. E. Trevor (1892—), Wilder D. Ban- croft (1895 — ), besides several instructors and assistants. A building known as Morse Hall was erected for the department in 1890, and has been enlarged during the present year. In geology the first professor was Charles Frederick Hartt, who served from 1868 to 1878, and whose brilliant work did much to place the department upon a sound basis. Professor Hartt died while upon a scientific expedition to Brazil in 1878. Assistant Prof. T. B. Corn- stock served from 1875 to 1879, during most of which time Profes- sor Hartt was absent in Brazil. From 1879 S. G. Williams was pro- fessor of general and economic geology down to 1886, and H. S. Wil- liams (1879) was assistant and afterwards full professor of paleontology down to the same year, when he became professor of geology and paleontology, and so remained until his retirement in 1892. J. F. Kemp was assistant professor from 1888 to 1891. The department, as at present organized, consists of R. S. Tarr (1892), professor of dynamic geology and physical geography; G. D. Harris (1894), assist- ant professor of paleontology, and A. C. Gill (1894), assistant profes- sor of mineralogy and petrography, besides instructors and assistants. The department of botany was organized by Prof. A. N. Prentiss in 1868, who continued in charge of the department down to 1895. During this period W. R. Dudley was assistant professor from 1876 to 1892, when he was succeeded by Associate Prof. G. F. Atkinson. W. R. Lazenby was assistant professor of horticulture from 1879 to 1881. Since 1888 L. H. Bailey, jr., has been professor of general and experi- mental horticulture. Professor Atkinson became associate professor in 1893 and professor in 1896. WillardW. Rowlee has been assistant professor since 1893. The department has been well housed and sup- plied with laboratories and greenhouses through the generosity of Henry W. Sage. A catalogue of the flowering plants of Ithaca and vicinity was published in 1886 by Professor Dudley and marks a por- tion of the careful and scholarly work of the author. COHNELL UNIVEESITY. 377 The department of entomology and general invertebrate zoologj^ was at first a part of the department of general zoology. John Henry Comstock was appointed instructor in the subject in 1873 and was made assistant professor in 1876 and full professor in 1882. During the period from 1879 to 1881, when Professor Comstock was engaged in Government work at Washington, the work was carried on by Asst. Prof. W. S. Barnard. The work of Professor Comstock, both at Cornell and at Washington, has been of the yery highest order and has been of incalculable service to American farmers and fruit grow- ers. An insectary, the first of its kind, so far as is known, anywhere in the world, was erected and equipped in 1888 and has been copied at various other experiment stations throughout the country. The department of physiology and vertebrate zoology was organized b}'^ Prof. Burt G. Wilder in 1868. Professor Wilder remains in charge of the department down to the present, having been assisted since 1878 by S. H. Gage, who was appointed instructor in that year, assistant professor in 1881, associate professor in 1889, and professor in 1895. Professor Gage's title is now professor of microscoiDy, histology, and embryology. In addition to the work in physiology, anatomy, and kindred subjects, intended for general students in science, the depart- ment offered until the establishment of the medical college a s]3ecial course of two years to students preparing for the study of medicine. The equipment of the department in the matter of specimens is excel- lent, owing to the unwearied zeal of the professors in charge. The museum is specially rich in human brains. Professor Wilder having made the brain a special study for many years. 3. TECHNICAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEPARTMENTS. The technical and professional departments consist of the college of agriculture, the Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering and the Mechanic Arts, the college of civil engineering, the college of archi- tecture, the college of law, the medical college, the New York State Veterinary College, and the New York State College of Forestry. The college of agriculture was organized by Prof. Lewis Spaulding in 1869, who remained but one year. He was succeeded by Prof. Henry McCandless, who was in charge from 1871 to 1873. During this period lectures were delivered by John Stanton Gould. Mr. Gould's lectures were probably the only instruction received by agri- cultural students in scientific agriculture. Both Professor Spaulding and Professor McCandless seem to have been rather practical farmers than professors of agriculture. A new era dates from the appoint- ment of Prof. Isaac P. Roberts as professor of agriculture in 1873. Professor Roberts has been in charge of the department from that time to the present, and its growth during this period has been steady and gratifying. An experiment station was established in 1879, which became a State experiment station in 1887. In 1890 the department 378 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. became formally the college of agriculture, and Professor Roberts its director. The college is strengthened by the allied departments of horticulture, under the direction of Professor Bailey, and of veterinary science, under the direction of Prof. James Law, who has been in serv- ice in that department since 1868. The regular agricultural course is four years, but a special course of two j^ears is offered to students who are not candidates for a degree, and a short winter course is given each winter to meet the needs of those who can not spend more than one or two terms at the university. Instruction is given in animal industry and dairy husbandry, which is under the charge of Asst. Prof. H. H. Wing. The departments of chemistry, botany, entomol- ogy, etc. , are allied to the department of agriculture in certain phases of its work and help to make up, with the department of agriculture, the experiment station. The Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering and the Mechanic Arts. — The department of mechanic arts was organized at the begin- ning of the university by Prof. John L. Morris. Professor Morris is still at the head of the department, which is now incorporated into the larger organization known as Sibley College of Mechanical Engineer- ing and the Mechanic Arts. The Sibley College was reorganized in 1885, and Prof. Robert H. Thurston was elected director. Its growth since that time has been remarkable, the number of students enrolled in its various departments in 1898 being 463. As now organized it in- cludes six departments — mechanical engineering, experimental engi- neering, electrical engineering, mechanic arts, industrial drawing and art, and machine design — besides a graduate school of marine engineer- ing and naval architecture, and a graduate school of railway mechan- ical engineering. The present staff consists of the director. Professor Thurston, in charge of mechanical engineering; Professor Morris, in charge of practical mechanics and machine construction; Prof. R. L. Carpen- ter (1890), in experimental engineering; Prof. H. J. Ryan (1889), in electrical engineering; Prof. W. F. Durand (1891), in marine engineer- ing, and Asst. Prof. E. R. McDermott, in naval architecture; Prof. J. H, Barr (1891) and Asst. Prof. D. S. Kimball (1898), in machine design; Asst. Prof. E. C. Cleaves (1873), in free-hand and mechanical drawing; and Asst. Prof. H. W. Hibbard (1898), in mechanical engineering of railways; besides a large number of instructors and assistants. Others who have been connected with the department are Prof. J. E. Sweet (1878-79), Prof. S. W. Powel (1879-80), Prof. J. B. Webb (1880-1885), Asst. Profs. E. L. Gardiner (1879-80), W. C. Kerr (1880-1882), W. M. McFarland (1883-1885), F. H. Bailey (1885-1888), A. W. -Smith (1887-1892), E. P. Roberts (1888-89), A. B. Canaga (1888-1891). The college owes its material resources in large part to the gener- osity of Hiram Sibley, in whose honor it is named, and who, from GOENELL UNIVEKSITY. 379 1870 to his death, in 1887, gave over 1150,000 toward its equipment and endowment. His son, Hiram W. Sibley, has sinc3 added about $70,000 for the same purposes. The department, down to 1898, had conferred 912 first degrees and 81 second degrees, a total of first degrees in excess of that conferred by an}^ other college of the university or in any one of the general courses in the academic department.^ The facilities of the college have been overtaxed during recent years, and it has been found neces- sary to impose increased requirements for admission in order to keep the number of students at a point where they could receive proper opportunities for work. Altogether the success of this department has justified the ample endowment conferred by the National Gov- ernment for instruction in three main branches, of which this is one. The college of civil engineering. — In civil engineering the first pro- fessor was William Charles Cleveland, upon whose death, in 1873, Prof. Estevan A. Fuertes took charge of the department. Under his efficient and devoted management it has had a history of marked suc- cess. Its graduates, down to 1898, number about 300, and have taken front rank in engineering enterprises and as teachers in similar insti- tutions. Charles L. Crandall has been assistant professor, associate professor, and later professor in the department since 1875; Irving P. Church since 1876. The latter was made professor of applied mechanics in 1892. Robert Herman was assistant professor in 1884; C. D. Marks from 1884 to 1890; C. B. Wing in 1891. H. S. Jacoby was appointed assistant professor in 1890, associate professor in 1894, and professor in 1898. Gardner Williams was elected professor of experimental hydraulics in 1898. The staff now consists of Professors Fuertes, Church, Crandall, Jacoby, and Williams, Asst. Prof. H. W. Ogden, and a number of instructors and assistants. The department was named the college of civil engineering in 1896, and Professor Fuertes its director. The college occupies the larger portion of Lincoln Hall, which was erected for the joint accommodation of it and the department of architecture. In addition to the equipment at this building there has just been completed a hydraulic laboratory at the foot of Triphammer Falls in Fall Creek. Tlie college of arcMtecfu7'e. — The department of architecture was united with that of civil engineering down to 1871, when the Rev. Charles Babcock was elected professor of architecture and in 1896 director of the college. Charles Francis Osborne was made in- structor in 1880, assistant professor in 1881, and associate professor in 1892. He resigned in 1897. C. A. Martin was made assistant pro- fessor in 1895. Professor Babcock resigned in 1897 and became pro- fessor emeritus. In the same year Alexander Buel Trowbridge was elected professor in charge of the college and John V. Van Pelt assist- ' Science comes next with 749 first degrees, but of these 223 were in science and letters; law follows with 608 and arts with 476. 380 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. ant j)rofessoi-. In 1898 Olaf M. Brauner was elected assistant pro- fessor of drawing and molding. The department met with, tlie special encouragement of President White, who gave it a valuable library, besides additional sums of money for the purchase of books. The department or college has conferred 174 first degrees. The College of Lmv. — The law school was first organized in 1887. The first faculty consisted of Douglass Boardman, dean, and Profs. H. B. Hutchins, F. M. Burdick, and C. A. Collin. Professor Bur- dick retired in 1891, was succeeded by Prof. Charles E. Hughes, who retired in 1893, and was succeeded by Prof. E. W. Huffcut. William A. Finch was elected assistant professor in 1891, associate professor in 1892, and professor in 1895. Professors Hutchins and Collin retired in 1895 and were succeeded by Profs. Cuthbert W. Pound and Henry W. Hardon. The latter retired in 1896 and was succeeded by Prof. E. H. Woodruff. Prof. Henry S. Red field was elected to the faculty in 1898. Upon the death of Judge Boardman in 1891 he was succeeded in the office of dean by Judge Francis JM. Finch, an asso- ciate justice of the court of appeals. Down to Judge Finch's retire- ment from the bench, at the end of 1895, the administration of the school was in the efficient hands of Professor Hutchins, first as secretary and later as associate dean. In 1896 the school was rechristened a college, and Judge Finch became director. A building was erected at a cost of over $100,000 for the special accommodation of the school, and was dedicated in 1893 as Boardman Hall. At the same time Mrs. Boardman and Mrs. George R. Williams, the widow and daughter of Judge Boardman, presented the school with the Moak library, a gift which gave the school completely adequate library equipment. The course up to 1897 was a two years' course, but for the class entering in that year and thereafter it was extended to three years. The school has conferred 608 first degrees and 60 second degrees. The Neiu York State Veterinary College was established at Cornell by the legislature of 1894. The State erected and equipped a build- ing at a cost of 1150,000, and has since appropriated to its mainte- nance $25,000 a year. From 1868 to 1896 James Law was professor of veterinary medicine and surgery in the university. With the organi- zation of the State college he was elected director. The rest of the staff, all elected in 1896, are Profs. V. A. Moore, W. L. Williams, and Asst. Profs. P. A. Fish and G. S. Hopkins. Prof. S. H. Gage, since 1877 connected with the department of physiology and zoology, is also upon the staff of the veterinary college. The Medical College opened in the fall of 1898, and is therefore not within the period covered by this sketch. The college is located in New York, and is due to the generosity of Col. Oliver H. Payne, who has undertaken to furnish means for its establishment and mainte- nance. It is now located in a building in the grounds of the Belle vue Hospital, but a building for its special accommodation is being erected CORNELL UNIVEESITY. 381 on First avenue, between Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth streets. The first two years of the course are duplicated at the university, so that a student may take these years at either place. There are already registered in the college 274 students. The faculty numbers at the New York college 25 professors, together with a large staff of instructors and assistants. The New York State College of Forestry, like the medical college, does not belong to the era covered in this sketch. It was established under authority of the legislature in 1898, and has for its object edu- cation and instruction in the principles and practice of scientific f orestrj^ The act makes provision for the purchase of a demonstra- tion area in the Adirondacks of 30,000 acres, to be the property of the university for thirty years, and then to revert to the State. This area has already been secured, and the college has entered upon its work under the direction of Prof. B. E. Fernow, assisted by F. Roth. 3. Auxiliary Departments. Three departments of the university may be regarded as auxiliary to all of the others — namely, the department of military science, of physical culture, and of the library. The department of military science is made necessary by the terms of the land-grant act. The department was organized in 1868 by Maj. J. H. Whittlesey, who remained in charge until 1870, being- assisted during a portion of the time by Maj. W. E. Arnold. The latter was in full charge from 1870 to 1873. Since that date the com- mandants have been as follows: Maj. J. W. MacMurray (1873-1875), Maj. W. P. Van Ness (1875-1877), Capt. J. B. Burbank (1877-1883), Capt. W. S. Schuyler (1883-1886), Lieut. W. P. Van Ness (1886-1889), Capt. H. E.Tutherly (1889-1892), Lieut. George Bell (1892-1896). Capt. Walter S. Schuyler was again assigned to the post in 1896, but on the outbreak of the recent war returned to active service as colonel of volunteers. During the early days of the university all students were required to wear a uniform, take part in daily military drill, and observe in general the requirements of the camp as to hours and duties. This rigid military discipline did not continue long, how- ever, and the uniform soon disappeared except at the hours for mili- tary drill. At present all members of the freshman and sophomore classes are required to drill three hours a week during the fall and spring terms unless excused for special reasons, such as that they are aliens or conscientiously opposed to military exercises on religious grounds, or are laboring students or physically unfitted for such duties. Lectures are also given to seniors during the winter term on military science. The provisions of the land-grant act have thus been faithfully observed by the university, and few students are graduated who have not had at least two years of military drill. The department of physical culture was one of those recommended 382 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK:. by President White in his plan of organization. It was his idea that the university should provide a well-equipped gymnasium with a com- petent instructor, together with grounds for out-of-door sports, and that regular and systematic physical exercises should be required of all students. It was many years, however, before all of these ends were accomplished. A temporary gymnasium supplied the needs of students until 1883, when the present gymnasium and armory hall was erected. In the same year Edward Hitchcock, jr., was elected acting professor of physical culture, and has since been professor of physical culture and director of the gymnasium. Physical exercise is required during the winter term of all members of the freshman class. Lectures upon hygiene are also given each year in the fall term to members of the entering class, and all students upon entering the universitj^ are required to submit to a physical examination in order that the kind and extent of the physical exercise may be prescribed. Similar provisions are made for women students in the gymnasium connected with Sage College. By the generosity of Mr. J. J. Hager- man and Mr. W. H. Sage ample athletic grounds, known as Percy Field, have been provided for out-of-door sports. A commodious clubhouse has been erected upon these grounds, provided with dress- ing rooms and bathrooms, for the use of students taking part in athletic exercises. The library was organized by Prof. Willard Fiske in 1868, and con- tinued in his charge until his resignation in 1883, since which time it has been administered by George W. Harris, who had been an assist- ant to Professor Fiske since 1873. Andrew C. White has been an assistant librarian since 1889, and Willard H. Austin since 1892. George L. Burr, professor of mediaeval history, has been since 1890 in special charge of the President White library, for which a special room in the library building is reserved. The nucleus of the library consisted of the Anthon collection of classical literature and philology, the Bopp collection in philology and oriental literature, the Ezra Cornell col- lection in agriculture, and the collection of modern scientific works purchased by the university; in all, something like 15,000 volumes. To this has been added the Goldwin Smith library of historical works, publications of the British patent office, the White architec- tural library, the Kelley mathematical library, the Sparks library of American history, the May collection relating to slavery, the Schuyler collection of folklore and Russian history, the Rhaeto-Romanic col- lection, the President White historical library, the Zarncke library of Germanic philology and literature, the Dante collection, the Spi- noza collection, various other similar collections, and the yearly pur- chases of volumes and sets by the university. The law library is made up mainly of the Merritt King collection and the N. C. Moak collec- tion. At the end of its first thirty years the University library con- tained 183,804 volumes and 35,000 pamphlets, and the law library i MJLm J L CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 383 about 26,504 volumes. These libraries have been largely gifts of generous donors, the chief of whom are President White, Mrs. Board- man and Mrs. Williams, Willard Fiske, Goldwin Smith, William Kel- ley, Eugene Schuyler, and William 11. Sage; ex-Governor Flower is the donor of the Flower veterinary library. The library owes its build- ing and its permanent endowment to the generosity of Henry W. Sage, who erected the building at a cost of over a quarter of a million of dollars, and provided the library with a permanent endowment of $300,000. The library is managed by a body known as the library council, consisting of the president of the university, the librarian, a member of the board of trustees, and four members of the university faculty. The law library is administered by the law faculty, and is in charge of a librarian. Since 1893 the librarian has been A. H. R. Fraser. A summer school was first organized in 1892, and courses were given in botany, chemistry, mathematics, philosophy, physics, English, French, German, drawing, and physical training. It was, however, not officially a part of the university system, but was conducted by professors as a voluntarj?- undertaking. In subsequent years the courses were increased by Greek, Latin, history, j)olitical science, law, and some other subjects. It continued upon this basis down to and including the summer of 1898. By recent action of the trustees a summer session has been added as a part of the general university scheme, and hereafter such courses will be given as are specially fitted for the needs of teachers. Under this plan the summer session is officially a six weeks' term of the academic year, and all professors are instructors in and after 1899 are regularly appointed and paid by the university. VII. THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY. A. The Number op Students. The number of students actually matriculated upon the books of the university during its first thirty years (excluding those in the summer school and in the winter school in agriculture) was 10,759. Of these, 3,599 were enrolled during the seventeen years of President White's administration, 3,252 during the seven years of President Adams's administration, and the balance during the first six years of President Schurman's administration. The largest number of matriculates in any one year down to 1887-88 was in the first year of the university. Four hundred and fourteen students presented them- selves and were accepted during the opening year and 457 during the twentieth year. There has been a steady increase since that date, and in the thirtieth year there were 657 matriculates. The smallest number in any one year was in 1880-81, when only 125 matriculated. 384 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IK NEW YORK. The number of first degrees conferred down to June, 1898, was 4,235. The number of advanced degrees was 520, of which 129 were doctors' degrees. Of the first degrees conferred, 476 were in arts, 52 in litera- ture, and 418 in philosophy, making 946 in courses requiring Latin or Latin and Greek for admission and graduation. In letters 259 first degrees were conferred, in science and letters (degree B. S.) 223, and in science 539 (of which 8 were in engineering). This makes a total of 1,013 degrees in courses requiring neither Latin nor Greek. The total number of degrees in the department of arts and sciences was therefore 1,959, of wliich 946 were in classical courses, 482 in modern language courses, and 531 in scientific courses. The first degrees conferred in the technical and professional courses were as follows: Agriculture, 103; architecture, 174; mechanical engineering, 918 (of which 461 were in electrical engineering); civil engineering, 459; veterinary science, 11; pharmacy, 3; law, 608; total, 2,276. The matriculations, attendance, and degrees for each year of the university are shown by the following table : Year. Matricu- lates. Attend- ance. First degrees. Advanced degrees. 1868-69 414 313 260 308 188 203 200 219 333 180 160 149 135 133 153 209 251 273 387 457 529 505 496 605 658 684 516 593 680 657 414 583 609 597 539 509 533 543 561 539 505 463 399 384 406 461 575 649 839 1,022 1.229 i;329 1,390 1,538 1,700 1,801 1,689 1,702 1,808 1,835 16 23 41 68 95 65 50 63 71 67 67 78 83 64 65 61 61 82 92 137 158 242 229 282 313 272 312 327 387 375 1869-70 1 1870-71 1871-73 .., . 3 3 8 1872-73 1873-74 1874-75 3 10 1875-76 1876-77 _ g 1877-78 3 1878-79 4 1879-80 _ 1880-81 ... 4 3 1881-83 3 1883-83 . . 6 4 1883-84 1884^85 __.. 10 1885-86 13 1886-87 - '.. 4 1887-88 12 1888-89. g 1889-90 - 33 1890-91 36 1891-93 33 1893-93 46 1893-94 76 1894-95 53 1895-96 53 1896-97 44 1897-98 49 The decrease in attendance from 1877 to 1881 has been attributed to various causes. Probably a combination of causes contributed to the result. The university was at that time in sore financial straits and little or nothing could be done in the way of enlarging the facilities and equipment of existing departments, or of creating new ones. This was also the period of President White's absence as minister of the United States at Berlin. With the beginning of the academic year 1881-82 the number of new students, and consequently the aggre- gate attendance, steadily increased. It was at about this time that the department of history and political science was practically created CORNELL UNIVEESITY. 385 and new professors were called to take charge of it. A little later the Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering was reorganized and strengthened and the increase in attendance there was very marked. Attendance has always been affected also by the requirements for admission. During the early years of the university these were not verj^ exacting, except in the courses of arts, literature, and philosophy. At various subsequent times the requirements for admission to the other general courses and to the technical courses have been raised. At present the requirements for admission to all the courses are about equally exacting in the amount of time required for preparation. Altogether it may fairly be said that the entrance requirements are now as high, measured by the amount of time required for prepara- tion, as in any of the leading universities where the requirements are based mainly on Latin, Greek, and mathematics. B. The Admission of Women. Both Mr. Cornell and Mr. White had expressed the earnest wish in their addresses at the inaugural ceremonies that the university might speedily offer every advantage necessary for the higher education of young women equally with young men. "Speaking entirely for myself," said the latter, "I would say that I am perfectly willing to undertake the experiment as soon as it shall be possible to do so." The possibility came sooner than he had ventured to hope. Mr. Henry W. Sage, upon the evening of the inaugural day, went quietly to President White and said: "When you are ready to carry out the idea of educating young women as thoroughly as j^oung men, I will provide the endowment to enable you to do so." ^ Mr^ Sage's purpose strengthened with the growth of the university, and shortly after, all other difficulties being then practically removed, he renewed his offer. A committee, of which President White was chairman, made an exhaustive study of all questions relating to coeducation, visited the leading institutions in which it had been tried, corresponded with eminent educators, and, in a report which reviews at length the whole problem, recommended the acceptance of the offer. ^ That offer was of an endowment of $250,000 upon the simple condition that "instruc- tion shall be afforded to young women, by the Cornell University, as broad and thorough as that now afforded to young men."^ In April, 1872, the offer was formally accepted by the trustees, and women were admitted to all the privileges of the university. Probably this action b}'' the trustees conferred no privileges upon women which they might not already have claimed under the charter; but the noble gift of Mr. Sage made it possible to offer to such as ^ Proceedings at the laying of the corner stone of the Sage College (Ithaca, 1873). Remarks of President White, p. 6. *Ibid, pp. 69-134. 2Ibid, p. 130. 3176 25 386 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. should come llie comforts and conveniences wliich, however dispen- sable in the case of men, were absolutely necessary for the care of any considerable number of young women. The Sage College is sim- ply a home for women students, and in no sense an "annex." The women go into all classes with the men, pursue the same studies, hear the same lectures, work in the same laboratories. Mr. Sage simply provided them with a home where, under the care and advice of a lady principal, they are freed from the vexations and embarrassments of the ordinary boarding house. This fine building was erected and furnished by Mr. Sage at a cost of $150,000, and received from him for its care and management $100,000 more. It was opened for the reception of the women stu- dents in the fall of 1875. Eighteen young women applied for entrance to the university the same year (1872-73) that the trustees. passed the formal resolution for their admission. From that time the number has steadily increased. In 1872-73 the proportion of women students was 1 in 40; in 1882-83 it was 1 in 8; in 1892-93 it was a little over 1 in 8. The total number in attendance in 1892-93 was 221. In the report of President Adams for 1890-91 occurs the following passage : In former reports I have frequently called attention to the general good stand- ing in their classes of the young women in the university. It is gratifying to know that the average proficiency of this class of students continues to be highly creditable. Indeed, if we were to judge of the comparative rank of the young women from the number of those who are unable to pass the examinations, we should be obliged to infer that their proficiency was considerably greater than that of the young men. Of those dropped fi'om the university or from one class to another for deficiencies in scholarship, the proportion is far less than the pro- portion of the class as a whole. For obvious reasons this is not a correct means of comparison; but when every modifying circumstance is taken into considera- tion, we are forced to conclude that the average standing of the classes is made somewhat higher by the presence of women. (Pp. 33-33.) In the report of President Schurman for 1897-98 is the following: Coeducation is so firmly established and so thoroughly accepted at Cornell University, it is so much a fundamental idea of the institution, that any reasoning in favor of the principle or indication of it drawn from experience could not but seem a wasteful and ridiculous excess of words. There is no call even to dis- cuss the workings of the system, as the presence of women at Cornell on equal terms with men has not created any specific problems for the authorities of the university. C. Provisions for the Accommodation of Students. In his report on organization. President White recommended that the university make no provisions for dormitories other than rooms that could be spared for that purpose in the regular university build- ings. This policy has been continued down to the present time save in the case of Sage College, which was erected by private funds for the accommodation of women students. Cascadilla Place was from the CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 387 first used mainly for housing professors and students, and is still put to the same use. No rooms in any other building are now available for this purj)ose. The great body of students are scattered throughout the city, or find quarters in the chapter houses erected by the various fra- ternities. The large increase in numbers during the past few years has given rise to some discomfort, but on the whole the demand for suitable rooms has been rapidly supplied by private enterprise, and the university still adheres in practice to its original decision. During recent years, however, there has been decidedly a stronger demand on the part of the students for dormitory accommodations and a marked desire on the part of university authorities to comply with the demand as soon as practicable. At present there are no funds available for this purpose, and it is doubtful whether there will be in the near future. It is hoped, however, that private generosity will come to the aid of the university in this matter, and that suitable dormitories will be erected on the university grounds, similar to those at many of the other leading Eastern universities. The cost of living in Ithaca has increased in recent years, owing to the increase in the number of students, and it is believed that with dor- mitories and commons students can live more cheaply and more com- fortably than they now do in priv^ate houses.^ Reference has been made to the erection of chapter houses by col- lege fraternities. These have, to a considerable extent, supplied the place of dormitories. These fraternities, owing to the increasing number of their graduates, are able to provide the necessary funds for the erection and maintenance of the house. Some of these have been built on private grounds and some on the university campus. They are in general beautiful and commodious structures, accommo- dating from twelve to twenty men. It is the policy of the university to encourage the building of these houses under proper restrictions, and to this end it has granted sites to those fraternities that desired to build on the university domain. The Sage College for women has, until recent years, been ample for the accommodation of most of the women students. It became, in later years, overcrowded, and an addition was made to it in 1895, The college is simply a home for women, under the charge of a lady principal, and affords the necessary comforts and cojiveniences for women residing at the university. Reference has already been made to the provisions for the physical culture of students, both in the university gymnasium for men and in the Sage gymnasium for women. ' In his report for 1896-97, President Schurman gives the results of an investiga- tion into the prices actually paid by students for board and lodging. His results are thus stated: Forty per cent of the students pay $1.50 or less per week for lodging, and 35 per cent pay from $L51 to $2.50. For board, 50 per cent pay $3 a week or less, and 40 per cent pay from $3 to $4. 388 HISTOBY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. D. Self Support by Students. It had been a favorite idea with Mr. Cornell from the first to pro- vide for the self-support of poor students. In pursuance of this idea he published in the New York Tribune a letter to the effect that young men could support themselves at the university by their own labor while carrying on their studies. He argued that if one man could support himself and a wife on the labor of a day, another man could support himself alone on the labor of half a day. In addition to his theory he had the demonstration bt his own experience in which he had acquired a fair business education during the intervals of severe toil. On these premises he based the not illogical conclusion that, given a fair opportunity such as he purposed that the university should provide, any energetic young man could gain a college educa- tion and support himself at the same time. In his address at the inauguration proceedings he said : I believe tliat we have made the beginning of an institution which will prove highly beneficial to the poor young men and the pogr young women of our coun- try. This is one thing which we have not finished, but in the course of time we hope to reach stich a state of perfection as will enable any one by honest efforts and earnest labor to secure a thorough practical, scientific, or classical education. Mr. Cornell's idea was adopted, though with some modifications, by his colleagues. In his "report on organization " Mr. White argued that previous experiment had not, as claimed, shown the futility of the plan and that as Cornell would have in this respect advantages possessed by none of its predecessors, it ought at least to try the experiment. In his inaugural address he approaches the subject with more caution and expresses a doubt whether unskilled laborers could do much toward their own support while pursuing a college course. Nevertheless he pledges the university to a fair trial of the experi- ment and an honest effort to solve the problem, and declares that "no class of students shall be regarded by us with more favor than those who work with their hands that they may work with their brains." The announcements in the first registers, or annual cata- logues, were guarded and discreet. It was recommended that no student should come entirely without resources; it was stated that the university could guarantee employment to no one ; and in subse- quent publications it was announced that the number of students applying for labor constantly exceeded the number that the university could employ. The idea of self-supporting labor combined with collegiate studies proved, in spite of this precautionary announcement, a very taking one. Great numbers of young men presented themselves, eager to be set at work and to begin their college course. A few of these could undertake skilled labor, but the great majority were unskilled in any trade and a considerable number were unfit for labor of any kind. The embarrassment arising from this ]3roved very great and often CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 389 extremely painful. The organization of the labor corps was in the charge of W. A. Woodward, at that time business manager of the university. A daily record of matters connected with tlie business department was kept for the first few years bj;^ Mr. Woodward and much of this has to do with the difficulties he experienced in provid- ing work for students and in supplying them with rooms and board at terms moderate enough to meet their needs. The following extracts from his record will give some idea of the conditions surrounding the experiment : October 10, 1868: Several students reported a willingness to have a less elabo- rate supply on the table it' the price can be reduced to $3. October 13, 1868: We propose to deduct 50 cents per week from the board of each student who will use water instead of tea or coffee. Many students represent themselves as too poor to pay their board without work and large pay. In sev- eral cases they demand board, room rent, lights, fuel, and tuition for services. Several notices to quit are served on me. They consent to remain on being- rea- soned with. October 14, 1868: A student applies for return of his money. Wants to go home. He is 15 and evidently homesick. Says his head aches and his lessons are too long. Adopted the rule not to return money to students who get homesick or wish to leave the institution. X. reports himself recovered. Concludes to stay and requests that we will not send the letter to his mother. October 14, 1868: Thirty students were set to work at 2 p. m. Some were employed in taking down the old stone store on Eddy street, others removing tim- ber, shingles, stone, etc. Three were engaged in cutting out the road on Mrs. Cornell's farm north of the bridge across Cascadilla Creek and fifteen or twenty on landscape work, removing the moimd of earth south of Cascadilla building and adjoining Mr. Gile's property, removing the earth to grade southwest of Casca- dilla building. Several students distinguished themselves for their ability in management of work to advantage, and all woi'k with alacrity. C. is Al . N. , R. , and many others showed themselves superior to any skilled laborers. October 15, 1868: Thirty students were employed Directed C. to note the effl- c ency of each workman and report as to value of services. Mr. Cornell thinks that there are some carpenter students who have their tools with them. We can employ all such profitably at fair wages. October 16, 1868: Repeated my instructions to Mr. B. to discharge his hired waiters and employ students wh6 were willing to do duty. He says he can get plenty of them. October 17, 1868: Corps of students were employed this morning, using all the too's that we had on hand, and about twenty continued to work all day, while about the same number worked but half the day (Saturday). October 24, 1868: An increased number of students ask for labor. The matter of labor, as organized, has become quite popular and pleasing to those who per- form it. My best success is to organize squads of seven and an overseer who works with them, making eight persons, but to-day the number has so increased as to overflow our squads, requiring more companies, which we are organizing. The compensation paid to students for work at this time seems to have been at the rate of from II to 12 per day, according to the kind and quality of the work. Carpenter work seems to have been paid at the highest rate. The list of labor corps furnished by the superin- tendent of the grounds and buildings on November 1, 1868, numbers over 70; 20 or 30 more seem to have been employed by other univer- 390 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. sity officials. A considerable number of students were employed in tbe construction of tlie university buildings. The amount paid for student labor during tlie first year of the university was from $800 to 11,000 per month. The university seems to have suffered somewhat from the invasion of doubtful characters, who were attracted by the possibility of earn- ing a living with a few hours' labor each day and at the same time acquiring the honor of becoming connected with a university. Mr. Woodward records that "a fellow from the Rochester penitentiary has given out that he is employed at Cascadilla House," and again, that a student who had been dismissed from Harvard was living in Cascadilla and had failed to meet his bills. Notwithstanding the difficulties connected with the labor experi- ment, it was carried on for several j^ears. During the first three years from $8,000 to 110,000 per year was paid for student labor. This fell to about 16,000 the fourth year, and steadily decreased until in 1882-83 only $1,400 was paid. From 1868 to 1883 a total of over $68,000 was so expended.^ Since the establishment of a system of university scholarships and the students' loan fund the universitj^ has ceased to offer any consid- erable opportunities to students for manual labor. The experiment, while it enabled a considerable number of students to pay wholly or in ijart the exi^ense of their university course, was considered by the trustees a failure. Never having formed any part of the original plan as embraced in the land-grant act or the charter, and having been adopted mainly out of deference to the philanthropic purposes of Mr. Cornell, its failure could arouse no stronger sentiment than a sincere regret that so noble a plan should prove impracticable. Even so, its impracticability seems to consist not so much in the idea of combin- ing self-supporting labor with collegiate studies as in the attempt of the university to supply the necessary labor. Even at the present time it not infrequently happens that students are able to do much toward their own support by laboring a few hours each day in such occupations as are open to them. Those have succeeded best who have been skilled in some occupation for which there is a demand at the university or in the town. During the existence of the univer- sity printing office, now discontinued, a considerable number of stu- dents supported themselves by typesetting. If a young man in good health has a trade and an opportunity to follow it, there seems to be no reason whj^ Mr. Cornell's idea is not a sound one, so far as such a student is concerned. The failure comes, under existing conditions, mainly in the case of those who can offer only unskilled labor. Nor can it be said that even as to these the plan is really impracti- cable. Given the opportunity to labor, and there are many who could, and would, earn enough by working a few hours each day to go far 'Alumni Report, by James Fraser Gluck, 1884, p. 17. COENELL UNIVEESITY. 391 toward their support at the university. There are now men very high in scientific, professional, and educational circles whose opportunities were found not only in lecture rooms and laboratories of Cornell, but also in the trenches dug and the stones chiseled in the making of campus and buildings. Even in the face of the decreed failure of the student-labor idea, it can not positively be said that the plan of com- bining manual labor with collegiate study may not yet be shown to be not only the most practicable, but even the most useful and the noblest form into which a college can cast its endowments for under- graduate scholarships. E. Fellowships and Scholarships. The original endowment for fellowships and scholarships ali Cornell grew out of what at first appeared a great calamity. In 1872 the uni- versity was in sore financial straits, and for a time it seemed that all new plans would have to be abondoned and even some existing depart- ments curtailed or abolished. It was, perhaps, the darkest hour the university has ever seen. At this juncture Ezra Cornell, John McGraw, Henry W. Sage, Hiram Sibley, and Andrew D. White con- tributed in the aggregate the sum of $155,000 for the purpose of tiding over the diificulty. Through the thoughtfulness of the Hon. George W. Schuyler, until his death a valuable member of the board of trustees, the condition was inserted in the gift that whenever the university should have sufficient funds for the purpose the sum then contributed by the five trustees named should be set apart for an endowment for fellowships and scholarships. The proposition caused some amusement when read, but was accepted.^ What seemed so improbable in 1872 was really accomplished in 1884. The total sum of 1155,000 was then set aside for the purpose contemplated by Mr. Schuyler's proposition, and in addition $50,000 of Mr. Sage's endow- ment of Sage College was made available for scholarships for women only. With the income from these sums nine undergraduate scholar- ships were annually awarded upon competitive examination, each paying the holder the sum of $200 a year for four years. Subsequently the three scholarships for women were withdrawn, but in 1889 three additional scholarships, open to all students, were added, so that the number still stood at nine granted yearly, or thirty- six in all. The term of a scholarship was subsequently limited to two years, so that eighteen are now awarded annually. Later the Frank William Padgham scholarship in mechanical engineering was endowed by Amos Padgham, of Sja^acuse, as a memorial to his son, who died while a student of the university. It is open only to students of the public schools of Syracuse. For graduate students there were first provided seven fellowships, to ' Unpublished MS. in possession of President White; Annual Report by Presi- dent White, June 20, 1883, pp. 83, 84. 392 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK, which was added an eighth in 1885. By the terms of the gift of his library in 1887, President White provided for two fellowships in history and political science of the annual value of $500 each, which became available in 1891. With the establishment of the Susan Linn Sage School of Philosophy, three additional fellowships in that department were added of the value of $400 each, and also six graduate scholar- ships of the value of 1200 each. Subsequently there were established two fellowships in political economy and finance, two in Greek and Latin, and one in American history. In all, down to 1893, there were eighteen fellowships and six graduate scholarships established. In October, 1893, there were added to the above five additional fel- lowships and ten graduate scholarships, and in 1896 the Oliver grad- uate scholarship in mathematics. These and all existing fellowships and graduate scholarships were placed at $400 and $200 per year, respectively. In 1894, upon the adoption of the requirement that graduates should pay the regular tuition fee, the fellowships were raised to $500 each, and the President White fellowships to $600 each, and the graduate scholarships to $300 each. There are now awarded annually twenty-three fellowships and sixteen graduate scholarships in the general and technical departments. The giving of scholarships and fellowships was a favorite idea with President White, and the establishment of the system was among the last of the official acts of his administration. In his last report he says : Nothing that this board has ever done has, in my judgment, shown its value . more immediately and conclusively. No doubt the offering of these scholarships was one of the leading causes of the great and sudden increase in the number of students entering last year. But there is another result far more important than that, and this is that a much larger proportion of students entered with a high grade of preparation. . . . It is to be hoped that as time goes on the number of these university scholarships may be gradually increased. To endow more of them would be a most worthy exercise of private munificence. In addition to these university scholarships there is established, under the charter of the university, one annual scholarship for each assembly district in the State, such scholarship entitling the holder to free tuition for four years. Down to January, 1895, there were 128 assembly districts, and 512 students were therefore entitled to free tuition each year. Since that date there have been 150 assembly dis- tricts and 600 free scholarships. Reckoning tuition at 1100 a year (it is $125 in some courses), this gives an aggregate annual value of $50,000. If the actual cost of educating students be considered, the total is much larger, as is pointed out by President Schurman in his annual report for 1892-93. ^ In addition, the university educates free of cost all students in agriculture. Taking into account all its free gifts to education, Cornell bestows annually $50,000 in State scholarships, $7,200 in undergraduate schol- 1 Page 49. CORNELL UlSriVEESITY. 393 arsliips, 14,800 in graduate scholarships, and 111,700 in fellowships, or a total of about $75,000. F. College Societies. College societies naturally divide themselves into two classes, those which are organized for literary or other educational purposes and those which are organized for social purposes. Of the first class there have been many at various times during the history of the university, and are manj^ at the present. The purely literarj^ society, however, which follows the traditions of the old literary societies of the Eastern universities has never flourished at Cornell. The Philolathean, the Irving, and the Curtis have all disappeared after a few years of strug- gles and doubtful success. The debating clubs have had a somewhat more successful career. Among the earliest of these was the Cornell Debating Club, which, however, ceased to exist some years ago. It was replaced by the Cornell Congress, an organization formed in imi- tation of the House of Representatives and devoted mainl}^ to the discussion of jDublic and political questions. It has alwaj^s been a successful and useful organization. Within the last two j^ears other debating clubs have been formed, chiefly through the efforts of Prof. Duncan Campbell Lee, and have had a fair measure of success. Inter- collegiate debates have been held during the past six years with the University of Pennsylvania. A large number of societies connected with various departments of work are in existence, such as the Classical Association, History and Political Science Association, Natural History Society, the Agricul- tural Association, the Architectural Club, etc. The social clubs are for the most part Greek letter societies, main- taining some semblance of secrecj' in their organization and proced- ure. Of these, between thirty and fortj^ are now in existence, and most of them occupy houses in which their members lodge, and some have erected structures specially for this purpose. Those members of the university who do not belong to Greek letter fraternities are generallj^ known as "Independents." At manj^ times in the history of student life at Cornell the relations between the fra- ternity men and the independents, especially with refei-ence to mat- ters of class politics, have been strained. In one or two instances senior classes have had two distinct organizations, one composed mainlj^ of fraternity members and the other of independents. In later years, however, this opposition between the two elements has largely disappeared, and divisions upon matters of student concern are gen- erally along other lines. Gr. Students' Publications. The first student publication was the Cornell Era, which, was begun within a few months after the opening of the university in 1868. It 394 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUOATIOT^ IN NEW YORK. was originally published by members of the Greek letter fraternities, but afterwards passed under the control of editorial boards chosen from the two upper classes. It is still continued as a weekly publi- cation, being now in its thirty-first volume. The Cornell Times was begun in 1873, as a rival of the Era, but was continued for only a short time, and ceased publication in 1874. The Cornellian, which is the college annual, was begun in 1869, under the editorship of the Greek letter fraternities. In 1883 it passed into the control of editors selected from the junior class, the class of 1884 being the first to issue the annual, which is still published annually by editors selected by the juniors in the university. The Cornell Review, a monthly publication, was begun in 1873 and ceased publication in 1886. The Cornell Magazine was the successor of the Review, and has been published monthly since 1888. The Cornell Sun, a daily paper, was begun in 1880 and is still pub- lished by editors selected from the various classes of the university. The Crank was begun by students in the department of mechanical and electrical engineering in 1886. This name was changed in 1890 to the Sibley College Journal of Engineering, and under this title it is still published. Two illustrated papers have been i)ublished by students of the university. The first, known as Cocaigne, was begun in the spring of 1878 and continued during the rest of that college year. The second, known as The Widow, was begun in the fall of 1894, and has since been regularly issued biweekly. A single number of The Cornell Law Journal was published in June, 1894. In the fall of that jesiv the plan of the publication was changed and a law periodical known as The New York Law Review was issued in Januarj^, 1895, but ceased publication in June, 1895. A quarterly periodical known as The Bulletin was first issued by the University Christian Association in 1886, but ceased publication in 1896. H. Athletics. The early athletic interests of Cornell were mainly confined to boat- ing. The first boat club seems to have been organized in 1871, and the first regatta was held on Cayuga Lake in 1872. It was not until 1873 that the university took part in an intercollegiate race, in competition with eleven colleges. It again contested in 1874 with nine colleges. The success of the crew in these races was not marked, as it won only fourth place in the first and fifth place in the second, but in 1875, under the management of Captain Ostrom, the Cornell navy began a series of victories wliich has continued with few interruptions down to the present time. In that year an intercollegiate 'varsity race and also an intercollegiate race between freshman crews were held on Sara- toga Lake. In both of these races Cornell was successful, in the first rowing against twelve colleges and in the second against three freshman CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 395 crews. It was on this triimiplial occasion that the Cornell yell is said to have been invented. The genesis of the yell is a matter of some doubt, one explanation being that it is merely an inverted form of the Yale refrain, ' ' Eli, eli, eli, ell," the Cornell form being " Cornell, I'ell, 'ell, 'ell," which devel- oped speedily into "Cornell, I yell, yell, yell, Cornell." In 1876 Cornell was again successful at Saratoga in a race against five colleges, and the freshman crew in a race against two colleges. After this year the Intercollegiate Rowii^ig Association was disbanded. In 1878 the freshman crew was successful against the Harvard crew. In 1879 the crew was sent to Saratoga, but no competitors appeared to contest the race. Since the disbanding of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association the Cornell navy has contested with various colleges at various times, and for ten years, from 1885 to 1894, it did not suffer a single defeat. In 1895 it was defeated in the races at Henley and in a race with Columbia and Pennsylvania on the Hudson. In 1896 the 'varsity crew won in a race on the Hudson over Harvard, Pennsyl- vania, and Columbia. In 1897 it won in a race with Harvard and Yale, and in another with Pennsylvania and Columbia. In 1898 it won over Harvard and Yale at New London, but was defeated by Pennsylvania in a race at Saratoga. Since 1888 all races have been in eights. In baseball, football, and general athletics there have been 'varsity teams for many years. The entire athletic interests of Cornell were united in 1889 under the corporate name of the Cornell Athletic Association. The trustees of this association, seven in number, unite with two undergraduates from the Navy, two from the baseball club, two from the football club, and two from the athletic club to constitute the athletic council. Under the direction of this council the athletic interests of the university have been centralized and systematized. The council has exercised a potent influence in the management of the finances of the associa- tion and in the control of athletic contests. Little, if any, complaint of athletic excesses has been made since the organization of this council. In 1889 William H. Sage gave to the athletic association an athletic field of nearly 10 acres, and J. J. Hagerman, of Colorado Springs, gave the necessary funds to lay out and equip the field. These grounds are known as Percy Field, in honor of one of the sons of Mr. Hagerman. There have been built upon the field a quarter-mile cinder track, a clubhouse, and a grand stand, and all contests in football, baseball, and track athletics are held there. The field has been enlarged by an added gift from Mr. Sage, and by purchase. I. Government op Students. Government of students at Cornell has naturally presented the same problems and difficulties as at similar institutions. There has been, however, as little paternalism as possible, and the students have enjoyed the greatest liberty consistent with good order. In the 396 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. absence of dormitories it has not been necessary for the university authorities to intervene in student affairs except where there has been a flagrant breach of public order or of university regulations. The most serious difficulties have grown out of what is known as "class spirit." This has exhibited itself in cane rushes, attempts to disturb or break up class banquets, and other similar disturbances, but of late 3^ears this has disappeared. During the first year or so most of the students were under military discipline, and comparatively little difficulty was experienced in main- taining order. Nevertheless, there seem to have been two or three out- breaks of "students' frolic," and on one occasion there was strong suspicion that students were responsible for the burning of a small building to which they had some not unreasonable objections. Prob- ably no class ever entered a university which contained so many and different elements as the first class which entered Cornell. Some of these men had naturally acquired habits which were not in keeping with their new surroundings, and the faculty and executive committee were troubled to prevent such students from becoming a source of dis- turbance among the other students and a reproach to the university. It was a part of President White's original plan that the students of the university should govern themselves, but no definite plan to this end was devised and put into practice during his administration. Matters of discipline were brought before the faculty, and after inves- tigation action was taken by that body. The same course was pursued during the administration of President Adams. For a short period recentl}^ a plan was in operation for the government of students by a body selected by themselves and presided over by the president of the university. This self-govei-nment council investigated al! matters of discipline and decided upon the guilt or innocence of the accused. In case of conviction it recommended the penalty to be inflicted, and then certified its action to the facult3^ The faculty reserved the power to approve or reverse the action of the council. As a matter of fact, it never failed to approve such action. The whole question of student government seemed to be very much simplified by this experi- ment, and the results, while not escaping criticism in some quarters, were such as to encourage the belief that self-government was feasi- ble. Upon the reorganization of the faculties in 1896 the scheme dropped out of view and has never since been revived. At present discipline is in the hands of the special faculties, each exercising discipline over its own students. VIII. THROUGH THREE ADMINISTRATIONS. A. The Administration of President White. It remains to sketch briefly the administrations of the three presi- dents of Cornell. Much that might be gathered under this head has OOKNELL UNIVEESITY. 397 been anticipated in the preceding cliapters, but many characteristic features remain to be mentioned. President White's administration lasted from his election in October, 18G6, to his resignation in June, 1885, a period a little short of nine- teen years. During this time he was twice absent in Europe, first in search of health, from 1876 to 1878, and again as United States minis- ter to Germany, from 1879 to 1881. During these absences the uni- versity was administered by the vice-president, William Channing Russel, who retired in 1881. 1. EDUCATIONAL GROWTH. The development of the curriculum and the growth of departments have already been sketched in a preceding chapter. It will be seen from the statement there made that the founder's ideas of the union of liberal and practical education and large liberty in choice of studies were steadily and constantly developed during this period. New sub- jects were added and new professorships established as the funds at the disposal of the university seemed to justify. There does not seem, however, to have been any marked divergence from the general plan outlined in the report on organization. The university register for 1884-85, the last one published during President White's administra- tion, shows that the division of courses into "general" and "special" still existed. Of the general courses there were five — arts, litera- ture, philosophy, science, and science and letters Of the special courses there were eleven — agriculture, architecture, analytical chem- istry, chemistry and physics, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanic arts, mathematics, natural history, medical prejjaratory, and history and political science. The five general courses were merely a modification and development of the five general courses recommended by President White in his original report, the main difference, as already pointed out, being that in place of one dis- tinctively optional course each course provided for certain required studies, consistent with the general character of the course, and at the san^e time left a reasonable number of hours in each term, vary- ing from three to twelve of the fifteen required, to be filled as the student should elect. This optional work was in the main confined to the junior and senior years, although in one or two courses there were some optional hours in the sophomore year. In the special courses, not so much latitude could, in the nature of the case, be expected, and for the most part the work in those courses was pre- scribed, save that in some there was an option among certain allied subjects, and in some, as mathematics, natural history, and history and political science, there was a moderate provision for election. There was steady improvement also in the quality of the work at the university. This was made possible by a gradual raising of the standard of admission and by an increase in the teaching corps. The 398 HISTOEY OF HI'GHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. effect of the first was to insure a body of well prepared and disciplined students, and of the second to secure to professors the leisure neces- sary for advanced work. In most departments having any consider- able number of students one or more assistants, ranking as assistant professors or as instructors, were from time to time appointed to relieve the professor in charge from much of the routine work of the class room. The leisure thus secured was devoted to investigation in more advanced fields, into which students whose tastes lay in that direction were encouraged to enter. The introduction of seminary methods of study in literature, languages, history, political science, and like subjects, and the special and patient investigations in the field and laboratory, tended constantly, under these conditions, to strengthen and broaden the university idea. The success of the idea of liberty of choice in university students became more and more marked as the university expanded. This is seen not only in the extension given to the policy at Cornell, but in its adoption at other institutions. Indeed, so marked was the tendency among the latter as to lead to a hasty conclusion that one of these was the originator of the idea.^ It is not to be claimed, of course, that the idea originated at Cornell, for President Wayland had long before suggested the need of greater liberty in college courses, and President Tappan had introduced at the University of Michigan the device of parallel courses of study, though under con- ditions and limitations which made the experiment far from satisfac- tory. The originality of President White's plan lay in its adaptation of these earlier theories and experiments to new and untried conditions. There was, first, the great division of all courses into the general and special, with an ample number of parallel courses in each division; and second, the provision, especially in the general courses, for a generous amount of purely elective work. A large liberty of choice was thus granted the student at the outset of his academic life in the choice of a course or general line of study and later in the choice of th'e particular branches of study wanted in the chosen course. In one feature directly related to this liberty of choice Cornell could justly claim to be unique, and in this feature rests her claim to the leadership of the "new education." This feature was the scope and diversity of work from which the student might make his choice. It had been the aim of Mr. Cornell and Mr. White to build a university adapted to the growing needs of the nineteenth century. The union of the literary and practical courses of study upon an absolute equal- ity with a perfect liberty of choice in either the one field or the other, or in both, had been the outcome of this purpose. This it was that rendered Cornell from the first a unique educational experiment and rallied to her support the captains of industry as well as the progressive leaders of academic thought. Hitherto the university See statement in Thwing's American College, p. 30. i CORNELL UmVERSITY. 399 liad seemed to exist solely for the professional and social classes. Cornell appealed equally to them, but extended her appeal to the indus- trial classes as well. It sought to touch every interest of the people with equal and impartial hand, bestowing upon all alike the educa- tional benefits of the nation and the founder. It thus dignified labor, whether at the forge or at the desk, and infused into higher education the dominant democratic spirit of the age. This bold challenge to old academic traditions did not pass unan- swered. The older colleges declared the experiment foredoomed to failure, and an eminent educator, now the president of a venerable and powerful university, gave it as his deliberate judgment that the practical spirit and the literary and scholastic spirit were incompati- ble within the same walls. ^ It has demonstrated the error of that judgment, while the rapid growth of the idea of such a union of liter- ary and practical studies, both in this country and England, has been a fine tribute to the wisdom and courage of the leaders of the ' ' new education." To sum up, it may be said that the development of that curriculum and the expansion of departments during President White's adminis- tration were merely the natural growth of the founder's ideas, with such modifications as were suggested by experience or rendered neces- sary by existing conditions. Literary and practical studies were added as means would permit. New courses were established. Old courses were modified or extended. Larger and fuller liberty was granted in the choice of studies within the courses. Absolute and perfect equal- ity was maintained among all departments. There was throughout a consistent purpose to reach the aim set up in the inaugural address: "The adaptation of the universitj'^ to the American people, to Amer- ican needs, and to our own times." 3. MATERIAL GROWTH. The two buildings now known as Cascadilla Place and Morrill Hall soon proved wholly inadequate for the needs of the university. Early in 1869 a large wooden building was erected as a temporary expedient, but although building after building followed, this wooden structure proved a necessary refuge for more than one overcrowded department, and it was not until 1890 that it finally disappeared from the campus. In the fall of 1870 the north university building, now known as White Hall, and in architectural features the duplicate of Morrill Hall, was completed at a cost of over $80,000. In 1871 two friends of the "new education," both of whom were successful captains of industry, gave each a building as a testimonial of their interest in this efi:ort to reach and raise the industrial classes. The first was the McGraw Building, given by John McGraw; the second, Sibley College, given by Hiram Sibley. In 1875 Sage College, the gift of Henry W. Sage, was for- 1 President Eliot in the Atlantic Monthly, vol. 23, p. 315. 400 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN FEW YORK. mally dedicated, and in tile same year Sage Chapel was also given to the university by the same generous donor. To the Sage College was added in 1882, by Mr. Sage, the botanical laboratory and greenhouses. In 1871 President White built a handsome brick residence on the campus, at a cost of $50,000, which has since been occupied by him- self, but which he has given to the university as the "president's house." In 1883 Franklin Hall and the gymnasium and Armory Hall were built by the trustees. In the same year the memorial chapel was added to the Sage Chapel. During this period, also, many resi- dences were built on the campus by the professors. At the close of President White's administration the annual income of the univer- sity was about $225,000. The productive funds amounted to about $3,750,000. The amount invested in buildings and grounds was nearly $1,000,000, and in equipment about $400,000. The total value of the university property, exclusive of its Western lands, was upward of $5,000,000. In addition, the university held at that time the splen- did endowment given by Mrs. Jennie McGraw Fiske. The latter, however, was subsequently lost as the result of a contest in the courts. 3. Religious Features. By the terms of its charter Cornell is made strictly a nonsectari^n institution — as fully so, in fact, as the public schools of the State. Of the propriety of this there seems never to have been any doubt in the minds of the founders and friends; nor has any argument ever been urged against it which would not, with equal force, apply to the whole system of public instruction. In the new field which Cornell was to occupy there was no room for theological controversies or sectarian wrangling and as little for particular denominational control. To a complete emancipation from all this the charter pointed the way in its prohibition that " at no time shall a majority of the board be of one religious sect or of no religious sect" and its provision that "persons of every religious denomination or of no religious denomination shall be equally eligible to all offices and appointments. " These commands of the charter were from the first unswervingly obeyed hy the founders and their colleagues. In his inaugural address President AVhite dwelt upon them as embodying a great fundamental principle of the "new education" which "accepts fully the principle of religious free- dom in higher education, as we all receive it in general education." "We will labor," he declared, " to make this a Christian institution — a sectarian institution may it never be." This bold position naturally led many of the more timid clergymen throughout the State to take fright and, in their nervousness, to say and do some foolish things. The stronger and wiser, however, had no fear of true learning, and the end has amply justified their faith. It would be of no service now to revive the bitterness of attacks which have happily well-nigh ceased. A misunderstanding of the true pur- COKNELL UNIVERSITY. 401 poses of the university, and perhaps a deep distrust of its policy so far as understood, led many well-meaning persons to apply to it epi- thets not calculated to strengthen it in the opinion of careful parents. It is simply a part of history that for fifteen years after it first opened its doors Cornell had to contend against the distrust, the prejudices, and even the avowed hostility of a large portion of the clergy of New York.^ That it has outlived the sentiment is a tribute to its honest and straightforward management. The purpose from the first was to provide religious and ethical instruction so far as this could be done without violating the spirit of the charter. To this end no one has contributed so largely as the Hon. Henry W. Sage. His was the generous hand that built the university chapel. One of his sons endowed it amply with a preacher- ship fund; another son placed in it a fine church organ, which has added greatly to the beauty of its services. There each Sunday dur- ing the college year some eminent clergyman, selected for his high standing in his denomination and the respect he has won at large, speaks, freely as he will, the truth as he knows it. Attendance is purely voluntary, but, so far from there being any lack of interest, the chapel proves too small for the number who wish to attend, and diiring the past year it has been enlarged to double its original capacity. Supplemental to the chapel is the fine building given by the late Alfred S. Barnes, of New York, to the university Christian Associa- tion, and called in his memory Barnes Hall. This building is used daily by the association for its various meetings and services and has become a kind of center for the social and religious life of the univer- sity. The association itself is very strong and is believed to have the largest membership of any college association in the country."^ Mr. Sage's earnest efforts for the higher life and thought among the students also led him, in 1884, to endow the Susan E. Linn Sage pro- fessorship of Christian ethics. This professorship was filled by the election of Prof. Jacob Gould Schurman, whose work has proved of the ver}^ highest value to the university and through it to the entire country. But Mr. Sage's generosity did not stop here, and, in 1890, he added to his previous endowment of $60,000 the further sum of 1200,000 for the establishment of a school of philosophy. ' The curious may care to look at the testimony of Dr. Samuel J. Parker, of Ithaca, before the investigating committee (N. Y. senate docs. 1874. No. 103, pp. Vd'i-liO). There is also among President White's papers a long and serious protest signed by a number of Ithaca clergymen who had been shocked because the young people were permitted to dance at one of Mr. Cornell's receptions. ■ It is at least worthy of note that in this institution where all religious activ- ities are purely voluntary and uninfluenced by any denominational impulse, the Students' Christian Association is the largest and perhaps the most perfectly and efficiently organized to be found in any college or university in the country.— President Adams, Annual Report, 1890-91, pp. 21-22. 3176 26 402 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. Thus religion and ethics are a part of the strong forces that go to the making of men and women at Cornell University, and it is not too much to say that no institution in the world offers greater advantages for the development of a deep and reverential religious character. The erroneous ideas which have prevailed as to the religious atti- tude of the university warrant the publication of the chief official statements on this point from the opening of the universit}'- down to the present time. They will be found below in chronological order: The Cornell University, as its highest aim, seeks to promote Christian civiliza- tion; biit it can not be sectarian. Established by a General Government which recognizes no distinctions in creed, and by a citizen who holds the same view, it would be false to its trust were it to seek to promote any creed or to exclude any. The State of New York, in designating this institution as the recipient of the bounty of the General Government, has also declared the same doctrine. By the terms of the charter no trustee, professor, or student can be accepted or rejected on account of any religious or political opinions which he may or may not hold. The success of the University of Michigan, where the faculty comprises men of all religious sects and of all parties, is a sufficient refutation of those who assert that an institution of learning must be sectarian to be successful. (First general announcement, 1868, pp. 18-19; Ibid.. 2d ed., pp. 21-22.) The second announcement, 1868, pp. 21-22. Same as above, adding: Simple religious services are held daily at the university chapel, which all stu- dents, except those specially excused for due cause shown to the faculty, are expected to attend. Students are also expected to attend some religious service on Sunday. (Catalogue for 1868-69, with announcement, p. 69.) In the university chapel— the gift of Henry W. Sage— religious services are held, in connection with discourses to be delivered by clergymen of the various Christian denominations, selected, from time to time, in such a way as to give the best repre- sentation of the religious thought of the age and to exemplify the influence of Christianity upon the world. There are, also, daily chapel services to which students are invited, although none are compelled to attend. (Register, 1875-76, p. 39.) The university, established by a Government which recognizes no distinctions in religious belief, would be false to its trust were it to seek to promote any creed, or to exclude any. The State of New York, in designaiing it as the recipient of the bounty of the United States Government, acted on this principle. By the terms of its charter, persons of any religious denomination or of no religious denomination are equally eligible to all offices and appointments in the univer- sity, and it is expressly ordered that "at no time shall a majority of the board of trustees be of any one religious sect, or of no religious sect." In the university chapel— the gift of Henry W. Sage — religious services are held and discourses delivered by representative clergymen of the various Christian denominations. (Register, 1880-81, p. 8). Same as above, with this sentence before the last one : This is understood to imply that while the university can not be identified with or under the control of any one religious denomination, it must, nevertheless, always be on the side of Christianity as opposed to irreligion and unbelief. (Reg- ister, 1885-86, p. 16.) I COENELL UJSriVEESITY. 403 Same as above, omitting "as opposed, to irreligion and unbelief." (Register, 1886-87, p. 17; ibid., 1887-88, p. 10; ibid., 1888-89, p. 17.) Substituting for interpolated sentence: This is understood to imply that while the universitj^ can not be identified with or nnder the control of any one religious denomination, it must, nevertheless, always be religious in spirit. (Register, 1889-90, p. 16; ibid., 1890-91, p. 14; ibid,, 1891-92, p. 14.) Hereafter all special reference ceases except by way of description of the Sage Chapel and Barnes Hall and a general statement of the charter limitations as to religious control. 4. THE M'GRAW-FISKE WILL CONTEST. Among the very earliest benefactors of the university was Miss Jennie McGraw, the daughter of John McGraw, the donor of McGraw Hall. When the university opened in 1868 its students received their first greeting from the chime of bells which her thoughtfulness and generosity had provided and which have continued to welcome all succeeding classes from the belfry in the McGraw tower and later in that of the university library. Upon the death of her father in 1877 she inherited the bulk of his great fortune, which during her short life she shared generously with the suffering and needy about her. About a year before her death she went abroad in search of health and was soon afterwards married at the Ameincan legation at Berlin, where President White then represented the Government of the United States, to Willard Fiske, a professor in the university and its librarian as well. Before leaving Ithaca she had given her architect, Mr. Will- iam Miller, caT-te blanche for the construction of a mansion just below the university grounds and overlooking the waters of Cayuga Lake. This mansion she was destined never to enter alive, for, returning to her native village after an absence of a year, she lingered for a few days A\athin sight of its towers and then, on the 1st day of October, 1881, passed away. When her will was opened it was discovered that she had left to the university a princely fortune. Forty thousand dollars was given to found a hospital for students on the campus; $50,000 was devoted to maintaining McGraw Hall; $200,000 was given in trust for the use of the university library. After these and other bequests, aggregating over a million and a half dollars, were paid, the residue of her estate was to be added to the fund for the use of the library. By the terms of this instrument her husband received $800,000 in addition to what she had already given him during their married life, and all of her near relatives received large bequests. The funds that actually came into the possession of the university under the specific bequests named and the residuary clause in the will amounted to over three-quarters of a million of dollars, while the real estate not converted into money would have brought the total uj) to about a million and a quarter. This magnificent endowment the university was destined never to 404 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. secure. For reasons which have never been publicly known, but which arose out of disagreements with the executor of the estate on the one side and the trustees of the university on the other, Professor Fiske, who at first expressed himself as perfectly satisfied with the provisions of his wife's will, was induced to begin a suit for the practical annul- ment of the will of Jennie McGraw Fiske. The principal ground on which the bequests to Cornell University were contested was, that by the terms of its charter its endowment was limited to three millions of dollars in the aggregate, and that as the endowment exceeded this sum at the death of Mrs. Fiske, the university had no capacity to take or hold the additional property bequeathed by her will. The case was argued with great learning in the supreme court and the court of appeals, both of which decided for the contestants upon the principal ground maintained by them. ^ In the meantime, it should be said, Mrs. Fiske's relatives had appeared as contestants, claiming under a conditional provision in her father's will. They and Professor Fiske were united against the claims of the university. As a last resort the university carried the case to the Supreme Court of the United States, contending that under the land-grant act and the charter, the entire proceeds of the land grant, inclading the Cornell endowment fund and the unsold lands, belonged in reality to the State, while only a present and conditional right to the income belonged to the university. Plad this view prevailed it would have left the endowment of the university far less than three millions of dollars and would have saved the McGraw-Fiske bequests intact. But the Federal court also decided adversely to the university,^ and after seven years of litigation the estate was divided between Professor Fiske and the McGraw heirs. This loss would have been a very serious blow to the hopes of the university had not Mr. Sage, with continuing generosity, met the dif- ficulty in a very characteristic way. Even before the contest was finall}^ decided he pledged himself to be responsible for the cost of a suitable library building, to which a part of the fund was to have been devoted. The necessary funds for this iDurpose he advanced upon the understanding that in case the suit terminated in favor of the university they were to be repaid to him, otherwise to be a free gift. ISy this means work on the library building was begun, and on October 7, 1891, it was formally opened. At the exercises attend- ing this event Mr. Sage presented to the universitj^ the receipts for . $260,000, the cost of the building, and also for $300,000 for a permanent endowment. Thus the generous purposes of Jennie McGraw-Fisl have been in part accomplished, and it is not altogether improbabll that the future may see even a fuller realization of her noble designsj i45HiTn., 354: lllN.Y.. 66. 2136 U.S., 152, Justices Brewer and Gray dissenting. :^:=^^|^B - ,^|^H "'^■^^^l bd,^^Bi^H^H^^^^^^| i - ^^I^^^^^^^^H ""'^'^'^M^BI^^ ^■« . — ^^^^^H 1 . .aMK^pR^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^I ^■A.^ ^^- f~ '^^^^HB^B|^^^^BB^MB '" /^ ^'^^^SH^^^^^^^^^^^^H I CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 405 5. OTHER FEATURES OF THE ADMINISTRATION. One of tlie features of the administration worthy of special mention was the adherence to the original plan of nonresident lectureships. It was a favorite idea with President White that the regular work of the resident i3rof essors should be supplemented by nonresident lecture courses by eminent specialists in various fields of work. At the out- set the men selected for these lectureships were such as to dignify the system and render its success certain. From 1868 to 1870 the lec- turers were Professor Agassiz in natural history, James Russell Lowell in English literature, George William Curtis in recent literature, and Prof. Theodore W. Dwight upon the Constitution of the United States. The lectures were thrown open to the general public u]pon the pay- ment of a small fee, somewhat after the now prevalent system of uni- versity extension lectures, and it is interesting to note from an old contemporary record that the fees thus received more than paid the expenses of the course, exclusive of the amounts paid to the lecturers. Later the lectures were thrown open to the general public without cost. Some of the later lecturers were Bayard Taylor on German lit- erature, George Washington Greene on American history, James Anthony Fronde on English rule in Ireland, Professor Von Hoist on constitutional history, John Fiske on American history, Edward A. Freeman on European history, Charles Dudley Warner on recent lit- erature, and many others. Most of these were lectures of from six to ten in number, but some were more extended, as the lectures of Felix Adler on Hebrew and Oriental literature and F. B. Sanborn on social science. The system has been continued down to the present, the number of lecturers annually increasing rather than diminishing. In the law school nonresident lecture courses have been given from the first by specialists in various fields, and during recent years frequent lectures have been given before the students in the engineering courses. The present tendency, however, seems to be toward calling lecturers for single lectures, rather than for more extended courses. In the matter of the aesthetic environment of the university Presi- dent White was also especially interested. Owing to the limited resources of the university his plans in this respect were not often carried out, but he himself gave largely and encouraged others to give for such adornment of the university buildings and grounds as was possible. One of his earliest gifts consisted in fitting up with sub- stantial furniture and a considerable number of fine engravings and bronzes a room in "White Hall for the joint use of the literary societies and the University Christian Association. After the demise of the literary societies the Christian Association became the sole beneficiary of this gift, and the engravings and bronzes were removed to Barnes Hall when that building became the home of the association. Pres- ident White was also deeply interested in the department of architec- ture and gave largely in books and money for the equipment of that 406 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IIST NEW YORK. work. The placing of portraits and memorial windows was also largely due to Ms interest and often the result of his own generosity. It was lie who brought about the building of the Memorial Chapel and the placing in it of the memorial windows and statues. He also had much at heart the matter of the erection of an alumni hall, which should be the repository of memorials and works of art. This has not yet been accomplished, although he has made a generous offer of a considerable sum of money if the alumni of the university will sub- scribe enough more to erect a suitable building. Since his adminis- tration closed the department of classical archaeology and history of art was established, and in connection with it there has been equipped a fine museum of classical archaeology through the generosity of Henry W. Sage. Another favorite plan of President White's was to provide for sucli instruction as would best fit students for the profession of journalism. During the earlier years occasional courses of lectures were given by journalists, and the work in the department of English was to some extent adjusted to the prospective needs of those who intended to enter the profession. At one time, after the close of President White's administration, there was a regular course in journalism, under charge of Prof. B. G. Smith, who had had an extended experience in news- paper work. This was subsequently abandoned, and since that time no special provision has been made for the training of journalists. It is thought that a thorough training in language and literature, in history and political science, and in the art of composition will afford the main preparation that can be offered by a university. 6. RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT WHITE. At the end of the college year in June, 1885, President White laid down the burdens of the office which he had borne for nineteen j^ears. His resignation was received on all sides with unfeigned regret. Trustees, faculty, alumni, and students united in the common expres- sion of appreciation for his noble and beneficent services. As the early friend of the founder, as himself in a very true sense a founder, he was justlj^ regarded as the greatest personal force in the university system and the highest exponent of its policy and spirit. His resig- nation seemed, therefore, to many friends of Cornell almost an irre- mediable calamity. Happily the foundations of the university had, largely through his wise efforts, been laid too deep and broad to need the additional support of any particular man, and the wonderful progress of Cornell since 1885 has dissipated all fears as to its future, while it has tended to strengthen the appreciation of the wisdom and devotion of its first ]3resident. When President White resigned his office on the 17th day of June, 1885, a little more than twenty years had elapsed since Cornell Uni- versity came into existence. From a name it had grown into a splen- did reality. From an experiment it had passed through all the viols- COENELL UNIVERSITY. 407 situdes of shifting public o]3inioii, of sincere and fair-minded doubt, and of open and often ungenerous criticism and opposition into the security of a triumphant success. It had become in a very true sense "a people's university," in touch with all their interests and needs and aspirations, and the people had rallied to its support. Its mate- rial growth, its educational triumph, its firm adherence to the rational principles and policy of its founders, its steady and growing influence upon the intellectual and moral life of the State and nation were every- where recognized and everywhere gave it an importance which no institution of like age could equal and few of even vastly greater age could excel. It was no light thing that the man who took up the burdens of such an undertaking at thirty-four could lay them down at fift3^-three with these just words: Whatever pride we may take in the growth of the institution under our care, I feel that we have a far greater cause for satisfaction in the triumph here and elsewhere of those principles in vphich our university was founded and which, in some respects, it was the first to represent. Among the facts resulting from these principles I may name the consolidation of resources for higher education; a closer union between the advanced and the general educational system of the State; unsectarian control ; the equal eligibility of all candidates for trusteeships and professorships, irrespective of sectarian or i^artisan connections; the presentation of various courses of study, each carefully framed to give a discipline and culture suited to the different characters, needs, and aims of various classes of students; the placing of all students in all courses on an equal footing as regards privileges; the development especially of a well-planned course in history and iDolitical and social science adapted to the practical needs of men worthily ambitious in public affairs; the more thorough presentation of the leading modern literatures, espe- cially that of our own tongue; full attention to technical studies, both on the sci- entific and practical side; and, in general, the steady effort to abolish monastic government and pedantic instruction. All these ideas and tendencies, of which our university has been a leading champion, and for which it incurred in its early days much opposition and some obloquy, have now so far taken hold upon the leading American universities that their speedy and complete triumph is certain.' The trustees sought in every way to express their regret at the president's resignation and their appreciation of his long and valu- able services. They first desired him to accept the title of honorary president of the university, but this, out of deference to his succes- sor and the best interests of the university, he felt constrained to decline. They also offered to secure an amendment to the charter, making him a trustee for life, but this he declined on the ground that it would establish a doubtful and perhaps dangerous precedent. Later they elected him dean of the department of history and political science, or, as it was named in his honor, the President White School of History and Political Science, but this also he declined, feeling, doubtless, that his jDresence in the faculty might prove embarrassing to his successor.^ But when, in the usual way, he was elected to a 'Letter of resignation, Annual Report, 1885, 2d ed., pp. 73, 74. '^Resolutions of the trustees, ibid., p. 76; Proceedings of Board, etc., 1885-1890, pp. 39, 120. 408 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IK NEW YORK. seat in the board of trustees, lie willingly accepted it, and in that posi- tion, and as a lecturer on history, he continues his work for the uni- versity which he helped to found and to build, and to the success of which he has contributed the best years of his life and the full meas- ure of his great qualities of head and heart. B. The Administration of President Adams. 1. ELECTION OF CHARLES KENDALL ADAMS. The second president of Cornell was Charles Kendall Adams, who was elected by the board of trustees to that position on July 18, 1885, and entered upon the duties of his office on July 21 of the same year. The selection of Mr. Adams was the outcome of the belief that his training, his sympathies, and his recognized ability fitted him in a peculiar sense to carry out the great purposes for which the university had been established. Educated at Michigan University, he had been for over fifteen years a professor of history in that institution, and had contributed in no small degree to its development and success. He had given particular attention to questions of University govern- ment, having studied the whole subject with great care, both in this country and in the Old World. Moreover, the character of the Uni- versity of Michigan as an organic part of the educational sj^stem of the State and the general problems with which as such it had to deal had provided an excellent school for the training of a president of Cornell. It was felt that the future development of the university must be on the broad lines laid down bj^ its founders, and that Mr. Adams would come to this work in a large and sympathetic spirit. His selection, although not unanimous, was therefore easily deter- mined upon and quickly made. He had especially the support of President White, who had known Mr. Adams at Michigan University and entertained the highest respect for his abilities. It is impossible to do more than sketch briefly the many features of this administration. It lasted precisely seven years, during which time the growth in material prosperity, in the number of students and professors, and in the development and extension of the curricu- lum was almost or quite unprecedented. Many of these features have already been anticipated. 3. REORGANIZATION OF DEPARTMENTS. The first work which the new president undertook was a thorough study of the organization and relations of the departments of the uni- versity. A full report of the committee on reorganization, of which President Adams was chairman, was presented to the board in Decem- ber, 1885, and was adopted as reported.^ Many important changes resulted from this action, although not all were realized immediately. 1 Proceedings of Board of Trustees, 1890, pp. 33-28. CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 409 Among- the most important may be mentioned the temporaiy consoli- dation of the department of English literature with that of rhetoric and general literature; the establishment of a department of peda- gogy; the extension of the department of chemistry; the entire read- justment of the department of history and political science. There were in addition many changes in the i3ersonnel of various depart- ments, both by the resignation of professors and the creation of new chairs. Together with a general increase of salaries there was adopted the principle that a professor whose services are deemed indispensable shall be secured by the payment of whatever salary is necessary, without regard to the salaries paid to other professors. Two important schools were created during this administration. The first was the school of law, which first opened its doors in 1887, and has since had a history of exceptional success. The other was the Susan Xinn Sage School of Philosophy, which was organized under the endowment provided by Mr. Sage in 1890. These two schools rounded out in a very necessary way the scope of university instruc- tion, and have added greatly to the reputation and usefulness of the university. The increased interest in humanistic studies was especially marked. This Avas felt not onlj^ in new departments, or schools, like that of philosophy, but in the older departments of language and literature. In the departments of Greek and Latin there was a considerable increase not only in the teaching force and equipment, but also in the attendance. In his report for 1888-89, President Adams says that — Within four years the number of classical students in the university has increased by about fivefold. This increase is plainly owing to the superior instruction offered, to the greatly enlarged equipment of the seminary rooms for advanced work in the ancient classics, and to the very gratifying atmosphere of confidence and enthusiasm that has come to surround linguistic studies. The enlargement of the department of English by the establishment of a professorship of rhetoric and English i^hilology, distinct from the professorship of English literature, increased materially the useful- ness and popularity of these studies. Without embarrassment to the efficiency of the scientific and technical departments, which indeed prospered as never before, the departments dealing with the humani- ties became not only more efficient by the increase of teaching force, but more useful by the increase of students who sought work in those lines of study. 3. COURSES OF STUDY. The courses of study were also somewhat modified during President Adams's administration. In the first year of the administration the general course in literature finally disappeared; the course in science and letters was rechristened the course in letters ; special courses in analytical chemistry and chemistry and physics were replaced by a single course in chemistry, which, however, disappeared in 1891-92, 410 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. the same eud being obtained by specializing in chemistry during the last two years of the course in science; the course in mathematics, natural history, and history and political science disappeared, the first two coming under the course in science, the last under the course in philosophy ; the course in industrial art not leading to a degree was introduced, but disappeared in 1892-93. The scheme of courses which prevailed during most of the administration was, first, general courses in arts, philosophy, science, letters; second, special courses in agriculture, architecture, chemistry, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, law, and, not leading to a degree, industrial art and medical preparatory. Practically the only change from this was the disappearance of chemistry as a special course in 1891-92. There was a sharp advance in the amount of elective work per- mitted within the general courses. In 1884-85 the amount was from two to four hours in the second year, from nine to twelve in the third, and about the same in the fourth. In 1885-86 a practically uniform rule was adopted for all of the general courses. Under this there was an allowance of from two to five hours elective in the second year, thirteen in the third, and practically the whole of the fourth. In the course in science the student was required to devote at least nine hours of that elective in the third and fourth years to scientific sub- jects, while in the course in letters he must devote the same amount to literary, historical, and philosophical subjects. The electives were increased slightly in 1890-91 so as to make practically the whole of the third and fourth years of the general courses entirely elective. One of the most marked and important features of the administra- tion was the completer organization of post-graduate study and instruction. This was true not only of the general courses but of the special technical courses as well. The result was speedily seen in the large increase in the number of graduate students. In 1884-85 there had been 33; in 1891-92 there were 132, who were candidates for advanced degrees, and a considerable number more who were candidates for baccalaureate degrees. By way of summary it may be said that the administration was characterized by greater simplification of courses, a larger scheme of elective studies, and more adequate provision for post-graduate instruction. 4. MATERIAL GROWTH. The period from 1885 to 1892 was one marked by great material prosperity, not only in the increase of productive funds, but in the erection of buildings and the equipment of departments. Among the buildings erected were Barnes Hall, Morse Hall, the library building and Boardman Hall. The increase of buildings and equipment dur- ing the seven years is estimated at upwards of $1,000,000, while the increase in endowment by gifts and the sale of university lands was nearly $2,000,000. The final decision in the McGraw-Fiske will con- COENELL UNIVERSITY. 411 test, resulting in loss of the bequests to the university, was a serious blow, but the generosity of Mr. Sage, in building and endowing the library, averted the more immediate embarrassment. No feature of the administration is of more importance or of more lasting benefit than that M'hich has to do with the university library. The large gift of Mr. Sage was supplemented by the gift from ex-President White of the great library, which for over thirty years he had been gathering; and other smaller gifts, together with yearly purchases, resulted in a large increase in the number of volumes, which, however, verj'- inadequately represents the increase in effici- ency. At the end of the administration the general library numbered over 100,000 volumes and 25,000 pamphlets, and the law library over 9,000 volumes. The gift of the President White library, which is especially rich in authorities relating to the French Revolution, the Protestant Reformation, and the history of superstition, including witchcraft, torture, and similar subjects, renders the library for certain lines of study the center of available authorities in America. The increase in income was about $150,000, but the increase in expend- itures kept pace with that in income. The salary list alone, during the year 1891-92, was upwards of $200,000, while the demands of vari- ous departments for equipment were often greater than the means for supplying them. President Adams early pointed out the need of enlarged resources. In his annual report for 1887-88 he said: The friends of the university every whei-e ought to know that one of three things is absolutely necessary. Either the growth of the university must be arrested by the holding of the expenditures of the institution substantially where they now are; or secondly, the permanent funds of the university will have to be encroached upon as a means of providing for permanent improvements; or thirdly, assistance for the purposes of several departments needing new buildings must come from the friends of the institution. The trustees would be unfaithful to their trust if they allowed the present prosperity of the university to be built up by placing a mortgage upon its future. It has not been the policy of the university hitherto to content itself with what has already been attained. It must, there- fore, in the future place its reliance, under God, not only upon such wisdom as it can command in the management of its investments and the administration of its affairs, but also upon the generosity of those who believe in its methods and rejoice in the work it is endeavoring to do. The need is still as urgent as when President Adams thus empha- sized it, although in the meantime the productive funds have largely increased and munificent gifts have been bestowed. Indeed it is difficult to anticipate a time when a growing university will have all the funds which it could desire and usefully expend in the cause of education. 5. INCREASE IN NUMBER OF STUDENTS. The increase in the attendance of students during the seven years was very rapid. During the year 1884-85 the registration was 577, the new matriculates 251. During the year 1891-92 the registration was 1,538, the new matriculates 605, notwithstanding the fact that in 412 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. the meantime the tuition was raised from 175 a year to $125 in some courses and to $100 in others, and that the entrance requirements were materia,lly increased. This increase in attendance was dis- tributed throughout the different courses. In arts the registration increased nearly fiA^efold (from 30 to 142); in the engineering course over threefold (from 184 to 640); in philosophy the increase was about fourfold; the number of graduate students increased fourfold. The establishment of the law school also added materially to the total attendance. The total registration for the seven years was 7,986, representing 3,252 matriculates, as against 8,580, representing 3,599 matriculates during the preceding seventeen years. The total number of first degrees conferred was 1,036, as against 1,019 under the preceding period. The number of second degrees conferred was 111. Some fears were entertained that the increase in tuition might operate to check the rapid growth in numbers, but in view pf the history of the administration upon this point such fears seem to have been groundless. Whatever other objection might be raised against high tuition fees the argument from numbers is far from conclusive. 6. INCREASE IN FACULTY. The rapid increase in the number of students made necessary a corresponding increase in the number of teachers, but this could not be accomplished siDeedily enough to keep the iDroportion as it was at the beginning of the increase in attendance. During the years 1888-89 and 1889-90, there were a larger number of students to each teacher than at an 3" ijrevious period since the first five years of the university. In 1884-85 there were 56 teachers to 575 students; in 1889-90 there were 99 teachers to 1,329 students; in 1891-92 there were 123 teachers to 1,573 students. The increase in the number of professors of all grades during the seven years was 20; the increase of instructors and assistants 67. This marked increase in the number of instructors was made necessary by the multiplication of sections in subjects required of large numbers of students, while the addition and development of departments swelled the teaching force in the higher ranks. 7. OTHER FEATURES OP THE ADMINISTRATION. Among other interesting features of the administration may be mentioned the passage by the trustees of a statute providing for a " Sabbatical year " for professors. It is provided that any professor, acting professor, associate professor, or assistant professor who has served for at least seven years, may have a leave of absence for one year and that half of his regular salary may continue during his absence. This statute was passed in the belief that a year spent in rest and study by a professor who has been long in the service will result in much good not only to him but to the university as well. COENELL UNIVEESITY. 413 Undei" its provisions many of the older professors have spent a year in Europe at the great seats of learning, making themselves acquainted at first hand with the results of modern research and methods. There was also created the office of dean of the general faculty, who performed many of the duties previouslj^ devolving upon the president. He was the medium of communication with the students, the chairman ex officio of many important committees, and in general the executive officer of the faculty. This office materially lightened tlie labors of the president in matters of administrative detail, and rendered possible a more systematic management of the routine of the administrative department. The dean was appointed by the president, subject to i-atification by the board of trustees. The fol- lowing served as deans of the general faculty: Charles A. Schaeffer, 1886-87; Henry S. Williams, 1887-88; Horatio S. White, 1888-1896. Since 1896 Professor White has been dean of the university faculty created by the legislation of 1896. The trustees also by a statute conferred upon the university senate an advisory iDower in the selection of professors. It was first pro- vided that no election of a full professor should be made except upon the recommendation of a committee composed of all the full profess- ors and the president.^ This was found unsatisfactory and was replaced by a statute providing that the nomination of professors should be vested in the joresident, who should first i^resent the name to the university senate. This body was empowered to consider the nomination and vote upon it, yea or nay. This vote, with any rea- sons the senate might wish to assign, was then transmitted with the nomination to the board of trustees for their final action.^ The uni- versity senate was composed of the president and all full professors, a body which in 1891-92 numbered 35 members. Its duties were to assist the president, to counsel and advise in regard to all nomina- tions for i^rofessorships, to advise in regard to courses of study, and in general to consider and advise as to questions of universit}'^ policy and especially such as might be submitted to it by the trustees. The senate continued upon this basis down to October, 1893, when it was abolished by act of the board of trustees. In the first year of his administration President Adams recommended that the university should confer honorary degrees upon its alumni or others who might be deemed worthy of this distinction. In accord- ance with this recommendation two honorary degrees were conferred in 1886, one upon ex-President White and one upon David Starr Jordan, a graduate of the university in the class of 1872, then presi- dent of Indiana University and since president of Leland Stanford, Junior, University. Down to this time the university had never con- 1 Proceedings of Board of Trustees, 1885-1890, p. 314. -Annual Report of the President, 1890, pp. 19, 20. Proceedings of Board of Trustees, October 21, 1890. 414 HISTORY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. 1 ferred any honorary degrees, and it had been tacitly nnderstood that ^ such action was contrary to its established policy. The alumni of the university, while recognizing that if honorary degrees were to be conferred at all, the two persons selected were eminently worthj?^ of the honor, could not look with indifference upon this reversal of the established policy. They accordingly prepared and circulated a petition requesting the trustees to reverse their action so far as con- cerned the future policy of the university, and this petition, signed by an overwhelming majority of the alumni, was presented to the facult}^ and the board of trustees during the following year. The petition was favorably and unanimously acted upon by the faculty, and the trustees on October 22, 1886, rescinded their action of the preceding June, without prejudice to the degrees already conferred. This decisive action may be regarded as indicative of what is now the settled policy of the university upon this point. 8. RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT ADAMS. On May 5, 1892, President Adams resigned the presidency of the. university, to take effect at the close of the college year, assigning as] his reason for the step ' ' grave and seemingly irreconcilable differs ences of opinion in regard to matters of administrative importance.! While no further public statement has ever been made as to the pre- cise nature of the differences which led to this step, it is generally understood that they were of a character honorable to all concerne( and that President Adams laid down the duties of the office in th^ conviction that bj^ so doing he could best secure for the university a harmonious and consistent administration. In accepting his resig- nation the trustees testified to their high opinion of Dr. Adams and just appreciation of his work for the university in this minute, which was spread upon their records: It is in obedience both to a sense of duty and to a feeling of strong personal respect and attachment that the trustees of Cornell University place upon their minutes this formal expression of their cordial appreciation of the services of Dr. Charles Kendall Adams as their chief executive officer during the past seven years. He came into the presidency at a time when a great addition to the material resources of the institution demanded commensurate effort. New departments were to be created, old departments to be enlarged and reorganized, large addi- tions were to be made to the faculty, and great extension given to the equipment. It is not too much to say that President Adams distinguished himself by the fidelity with which his multifarious duties were discharged. The formation of his plans was marked by wisdom, and their execution by unwearied labor and care. In the choice of professors he showed remarkable sagacity. Rarely in the history of any institution has such a series of eminent professors been brought nto any faculty as that which has been introduced under his administration into Cornell University. A very striking testimony to the wisdom of his nominations is seen in the efforts which other leading universities have made to attract into their own faculties the men he has thus selected. In the relation between the university and the National and State governments, and especially with the department of public instruction of the State of New York, President Adams has also shown his ability to deal with men in the conduct of large public affairs. CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 4f5 As regards the influence of the university on the public, and wide discussion of the leading educational topics of the time. President Adams, by his writing and speeches, has materially influenced the most enlightened public opinion of his countr3^ and as a writer upon historical subjects he has done work which has elicited praise from the highest sources on both sides of the Atlantic. His administration will be remembered in the history of Cornell University as equally important to the interests of the institution and creditable to himself, and we tender to him as a scholar, as an educator, and as a man the assurances of our sincere respect and regard, with our best wishes for his future success and happiness. President Adams closed liis official relations with the university on commencement day (June 17), 1893. His annual report, presented to the board of trustees on June 15th, concludes with these words: I can not close this report without giving expression to my appreciation of the generous action of the board of trustees in connection with the acceptance of my resignation. I wish also to acknowledge with gratitude the hearty and more than cordial terms in which my relations with my colleagues and my parting with the university is alluded to in their reports herewith presented by the dean of the gen- eral faculty, the director of Sibley College, the director of the college of agricul- ture, the director of the college of civil engineering, and by the associate dean in behalf of the faculty of the school of law. I am also grateful for the expressions of regard that have come to me in so many ways from the students of the univer- sity. All these kindly and friendly sentiments are gratefully appreciated and fully reciprocated. At the end of my inaugural address I used these words: " In my hopeful moments I try to forecast the future. I see in imagination these courses of study perfected and extended; I contemplate new departments added and developed; I behold museums and laboratories established and amplified, and, as the crowning glory of all, 1 behold a great library arising to fulfill the provis- ions of a noble and unthwarted purpose. As I picture all these provisions shed- ding their influence for good or for evil over the future generatins of this State, and think of all their possibilities and promises, and see them in imagination crowning these beautiful hills. I reverently pray to God that all the fruits of wis- dom and benevolence may be vouchsafed to the people of this State, and that all our efforts may be sanctified to the building up of noble men and women, and the universal furtherance of all good learning and of every form of Christian civilization." As I look about me to-day I can not suppress a feeling of reverent gratitude that in the seven years that have since elapsed so much has been accomplished for the fulfillment of this hopeful prediction. Best of all, I rejoice that the university never before was in so good a condition as it is to-day, and in passing over the keys of office to my successor, I do it with the hope and the fervent prayer that the prosperity of the past seven years may prove to have been only a harbinger and a preparation for even greater prosperity in the years to come. Dr. Adams assumed at the beginning of the next college year the presidency of the University of Wisconsin, where his talents and experience are helping to build up one of the greatest of the State universities. C. The Present Administration of President Schurman. On May 18, 1892, Jacob Gould Schurman, D. Sc, LL.D., was unani- mously elected president of the university, and on June 17 he entered 416 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATIOIT IN ISTEW YOEK. upon the duties of the office. Dr. Scliurmau's election was received among tlie officers, alumni, students, and friends of the university with a degree of favor which amounted to positive enthusiasm. For seven years he had been connected with the faculty, first as professor of Christian ethics and later as dean of the Susan E. Linn Sage school of philosophy, and during that time had given evidence of the ripest scholarship), the broadest educational ideals, and the highest adminis- trative ability. Moreover, he was a young man, being but 38 years old at the time of his election, and having still before him his best years of usefulness. Everything combined to make him the first choice of all and the fittest man for the place that could have been selected. President Schurman's policy is clearly outlined in his inaugural address, entitled "Grounds of an appeal to the State for aid to Cor- nell University," delivered November 11, 1892, upon the occasion of his formal inauguration as president. The policy there announced is based upon the idea that Cornell is the State university of New York, just as, for example, the institutions at Ann Arbor and Berke- ley are the State universities of Michigan and California. It pro- ceeds from this premise to the conclusion that New York should sup- port her State university in the same manner that Michigan and California support theirs. Cornell, he argues, educates yearly 512' sons and daughters of New York at an expense of over $150,000, free of charge.^ Ne-w York ought, in justice, to bear this burden, appropriating yearly to Cornell not less than that amount. She has, in fact, never appropriated to that purpose one cent from her own treasury. Her sole benefaction has been to turn over to the university the gift of the United States, a gift represented by the land scrip fund, upon which the annual income has been about $20,000 and which will never exceed $30,000. Various urgent needs of the university call for State aid. Especially agriculture and veter- inary science, subjects touching most nearly the interests of the State, call for immediate and ample appropriations. In view of these con- siderations the xjresident announced the policy of calling henceforth on the State for the aid necessary to develop and maintain the university. The policy thus inaugurated was speedily put to the test. The legislature of 1893 was asked to appropriate money for the erection and equipment of an agricultural building devoted to instruction and experiment in dairy husbandry. The result was an appropriation of $50,000, the first money ever voted directly to the university from the State treasury. With this money the dairy building was erected, and its formal opening in the fall of 1893 was the occasion of the first visit 'Since the adoption of the revised constitution, going into effect January 1, 1895, the number of assembly districts is increased to 150 and the number of free State scholarships may therefore aggregate 600 in all. COENELL UNIVERSITY. 417 to the university of a legislative committee. Another aj)propriation M^as asked in 1894, and a like sum of $50,000 was voted for the erec- tion of a veterinary building, to which $100,000 was added the next year. The latter building, however, belongs to the State as a part of the equipment of a State veterinary college, and is administered in behalf of the State by the trustees of Cornell ITniversitj^ Additional appropriations have been asked of the legislature for the maintenance of the college and have been granted. The legislature last year estab- lished a State College of Forestrj^ and put it under the management of the university. Thus the policy announced at the inauguration has received recognition in successive legislatures and bids fair to become firmly established. Another result, due largely to President Schurman's exertions, was the transfer of the land-scrip fund from a special fund, subject to possible loss or impairment, to the general funds of the State, on which the State will pay hereafter 5 per cent interest annuallJ^ Other phases of the policy announced in the inaugural address were, the increase of the salaries of professors; the increase in the number of university fellowships and scholarships ; the establishment of publication funds for the printing of contributions in various fields of learning; the establishment of new departments and chairs in fields as j^et unoccupied; fuller and more adequate equipment for estab- lished departments and building and equipment of dormitories for students. For the accomplishment of many of these ends the presi- dent looks to private benefaction and for many he holds that it is the duty of the State to make provision. The gist of it all may be briefly put. Cornell University was designed for the benefit of the people of this Commonwealth, but in accepting the land grant from Congress New York pledged State aid to the institution receiving the proceeds. This is Cornell University. . . . But the university has now reached a point in its development at which; if it is to furnish liberal and practical education to the largest numbers in all the pursuits and professions of life, it must have sup- port from the public treasury as well as from the bounty of individuals. Thus only can the university fulfill its vocation of furnishing the highest education to all classes at the lowest cost. These ends are the ends of the State. It is dedi- cated to truth and utility; and between these there is no incompatibility; for, as Plato has well said, " the divinest things are the most serviceable." We are at once realistic and idealistic, and while we cherish the old we are always in quest of something better. The genius of Cornell Universitj^ stands on the solid earth; and while his eyes front the dawn the ancient heavens are about him, and through all its resounding spaceshe hears the noble mother call Excelsior! So may it be! So shall it be; for the people of New York will not suffer either private gifts or public grants to fail us. During the comparatively brief period that has elapsed since the beginning of the administration several important changes have been made in the educational and govermental policy of the university. The requirements for admission to the technical courses were mate- 3176 27 418 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. rialty raised. Like advances were made in the requirements for admission to the courses leading to B. S. and Ph. B. Finally the course in letters leading to the degree of B. L. was abolished, to take effect in 1896. This left but three general courses, that leading to A. B,, that leading to Ph. B., and that leading to B. S. The first two differed mainly in the substitution of modern languages for Greek in the entrance requirements and in the work of the freshman and soph- omore years in the course leading to Ph. B. In his report for 1893-94 the president argued for the abolition of the degree of Ph. B., and the conferring of the A. B. degree both in the general course requiring Greek and Latin and in the general course in which the modern lan- guages are substituted for Greek. This would have resulted in the conferring in the general courses of only two degrees, A. B. and B. S., the first in courses in which the major work was in the humanities, and the second in the courses in which the major work is in science. But the faculty went further than this, and decided to grant but the one degree of bachelor of arts and to make all work in the department of arts and sciences (with very slight exceptions) wholly elective. The requirements for admission to the course in law have also been increased to an equality with those in arts and sciences, and the course has been extended to three years. The administration of the university has been changed or modified in several particulars. The first is by the abolition of the university senate which has been a body composed of full professors, advisorj?^ to the president in matters of educational administration and especially in the ajppointment of professors. By this change the powers pre- viously vested in the two bodies are now vested in the president. Later the faculties were reorganized with special faculties as explained in Chapter VI. The second change is the increase in the membership of the board of trustees by the addition of fifteen elective members, ten of whom are to be elected by the full board and five by the alumni. A third change had to do with the government of students. There was created in 1893 a student council presided over by the president, and intrusted with all questions pertaining to frauds in examinations. Subsequently the powers of this body were extended so as to include all cases of student offenses of whatever character and the body was designated the student self-government council. It disappeared in 1896. ■ The increase in the number of students continued down to 1894, when, owing to the charge then first made for tuition for graduate instruc- tion and the increased requirements for admission to the mechanical and electrical engineering courses, there was a falling off. The attend- ance has been as follows: 1891-92, 1,538; 1892-93, 1,700; 1893-94, 1,801; 1894-95, 1,689; 1895-96, 1,702; 1896-97, 1,808; 1897-98, 1,835. At the commencement exercises in June, 1898, President Schurman stated that during the six years of his presidency he had conferred as CORNELL UNIVEESITY. 419 manj^ degrees as President White and President Adams together con- ferred in the preceding twenty-four years. During the year just passed a medical college has been established in New York. Thus during President Schurman's administration three new colleges have been added to the nniversit}^ veterinary science, medicine, and forestry. The university completed its twenty-fifth year, since the date of its formal opening, on October 7, 1893. Appropriate ceremonies were held on October 6, 7, and 8 in celebration of the event. The oration was delivered on the morning of October 7 by the Hon. Chauncej^ M. Depew, and addresses were delivered by the Hon. Stewart L. Wood- ford, the Rev. Anson J. Upson, the Rev. E. IST. Potter, Prof. G. C, Caldwell, and the Hon. Joseph C. Hendrix. An interesting feature was the presentation to Dr. Burt G. Wilder of a "Quarter Century Book," made up of original contributions from his former students who have become prominent in various fields of science. A dinner was held at the conclusion of these exercises at which telegrams and let- ters were received from various friends of the university, including Ex-President White, then minister of the United States at St. Peters- burg; Gen. Meredith Read, the onl}^ surviving member of the original board of trustees, and Prof. Goldwin Smith, a member of the first faculty. The commemorative sermon was preached by the Right Rev. William Croswell Doane, Bishop of Albany.^ This anniversary occasion recalled to the seat of the university large numbers of former students and served to mark the large results of twenty-five years of progress. The campus, which had been a rough unfinished upland when the first body of students gathered upon it twenty-five years before, spread out in broad and well-kept lawns with winding avenues lined with stately elms. Where then stood a solitary building flanked by a temporary campanile, now rose fourteen noble structures in brick and stone, devoted to the varied activities of the modern Cornell. On the campus thirty-five cottages and five fratern- ity halls housed professors and students; 145 teachers and over 1,600 students wrought together on that beautiful hillside. Great depart- ments, schools, and colleges have grown up almost unnoticed. A priceless general library of 150,000 volumes was housed in a building acknowledged to be unequaled at any university in the countrj'^, while the great law library of 23,000 volumes was housed in a neighboring- building devoted to the needs of a fiourishing law school. Large equipments, museums, and collections were on every hand. A total income of over $600,000 was available for the maintenance, if not the extension, of this magnificent plant. Above all there rested the spirit of devotion to the foundation principles of true catholic scholarship, ' See Proceedings and Addresses at the Twenty- fifth Anniversary of the opening of Cornell University, Ithaca, 1893. 420 HISTORY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. liberal and practical, planted on that spot twenty-five years before by the founders of the university. In view of these facts it is no hyperbole to say that the present con- dition of Cornell University surpasses the most eager hope of its far- seeing founder, or of the young and enthusiastic scholar who dreamed aloud his dreams to that sympathic friend of all high ideals over thirty years ago. The hopes and dreams and aspirations of both have been transmuted into realities. The university which they founded has educated a large body of students, affording to each an opportunity to fit himself for such work as his tastes or talents might incline him to. This it has done freely and unstintingly in the broad and catholic spirit of the founder that it might carry out his great pur- pose of combining practical and liberal education and of fitting "the youth of the country for the professions, the farms, the mines, the manufactories; for the investigation of science, and for mastering all the practical questions of life with success and honor." This great growth and important work render very pressing the questions of administration and endowment for the future. There is need for the same wisdom and devotion that have characterized the administration of affairs in the past. Of those who founded and built the university many have passed away and others must soon follow, in the course of nature. Of the trustees named in the charter but one, Alonzo B. Cornell, still sits in the board. Of those first elected under its provisions but one, Andrew D. White, remains. Of the early benefactors the founder, Hiram Sible}^, John McGraw, Jennie McCraw-Fiske, Alfred S. Barnes have died in the midst of their labors. Of others who have powerfully aided by their counsels in the development of the university many are also dead, including Horace Greeley, Erastus Brooks, George W. Schuyler, Charles J. Folger, Douglas Boardman, and Henry W. Sage. There remain of those who have helped to direct its destiny from the earliest days only Andrew D. White, Alonzo B. Cornell, Stewart L. Woodford, Henry B. Lord, Francis M. Finch, and a few others. In the future the administration of affairs must pass more and more into new hands and these new questions must be solved by new friends and benefactors. Fortunately all new questions are half solved in advance of any positive action, for there still remains and must always remain, as the unalterable basis of the university, to which all else must be sub- servient, those foundation ideas laid firm and deep by Ezra Cornell and Andrew D. White; the close union of liberal and practical edu- cation, absolute equality among all, even the most diverse courses of studies, and the adaptation and extension of the privileges built upon this foundation to every person who may ask them and to every need of the age. The history of Cornell University has been the history of the development of these ideas and their translation into the high- est forms of usefulness and dignity. Its history for the future, if it CORNELL UNIVEBSITY. 421 is true to its great mission, will be but the deepening and broadening of the same beneficent purposes. BIBLIOGKAPHY. 1. Public Acts and Documents. The legislative proceedings relative to the incorporation and endowment of Cornell University may be followed in the journals of the senate and assembly of New York for 1865. For previous proceedings relative to the land grant and the People's College see the journals for 1863 >and 1864. The Cornell University. Speech of Hon. Andrew D. White, in [the] senate [of New York] , March, 1865. pp. 8. The legislation affecting the university may be found in the Revised Statutes of the State and the session laws. All legislation down to 1892 is included in the Laws and Documents relating to Cornell University, published by the university in that year. This publication also contains all public documents relating to the university. The reports of the comptroller of the State since 1864 are of value in following the history of the land grant and the disposition of the scrip. Mr. Cor- nell's reports to the comptroller are also of great value. The relation of the State to the land-scrip fund is decided in the case of The People ex rel. Cornell University v. Davenport, comptroller (117 N. Y., 549). The relation of the State and the university to the Cornell endowment fund and the history of the McGraw-Fiske will contest appear in the decisions in the matter of McGraw (45 Hun., 354; ib.. Ill N. Y., 66); Cornell Uni- versity V. Fiske (136 U. S., 152). The land-grant history is enriched by the " History of the Agricultural College Land Grant of 1862" (Ithaca, 1890, pp. xx, 106), by S. D. Halliday, attor- ney for the university which grew out of the first case above cited and contains the decision in the case. The investigation made, at the request of Mr. Cornell, by the legislature of New York in 1873-74 resulted in the three following documents: State of New York: Senate (1874) Document No. 92. Majority report of the commission to inquire into the college land grant, etc. [Albany, 1874.] pp. 40. Signed by W. A. Wheeler and John D. Van Buren. State of New York: Senate (1874) Document No. 93. Minority report of the commission to inquire into the college land grant, etc. [Albany, 1874.] pp. 10. Signed by Horatio Seymour. It concurs with the majority report in vindicating Mr. Cornell, but differs as to the relation of the State to the Cornell endowment fund. State of New York: Senate, 1874, Document No. 103. Testimony in investiga- tion of the college land grants, etc. [Albany, 1874.] pp. 498. 2. Histories of the University. A "Sketch of the beginning of Cornell University" was in 1876 prepared by Vice-President William Channing Russel, to be read before the University Convocation of the State of New York. The paper, if read, never appeared in the printed report of the convocation; but the manuscript of it is in the library of the university, and has been of much use. There did appear, however, in the convocation's report for 1876, under the head of "Uni- versity necrology," brief sketches, by Vice-President Russel, of Ezra Cor- nell and of John Stanton Gould. 422 HISTORY OF HIOHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. Historj' of Cornell University in the twenty-five years of its existence, by Prof. Waterman Thomas Hewett, published in "Landmarks of Tompkins County," 1894. Cornell University: Her general and technical courses. By F. C. Perkins. 1891. Outside its ovs^n publications, the yearly reports of the university to the regents of the University of the State of New York, printed in full or in abstract in the reports of that body to the State legislature, form, perhaps, the most important series of data; but their contents are usually an abridgment of that of the university's own "Register" for the corresponding year. 3. Lives of the Founder. In Memoriam: The death and burial of Hon. Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University. Ithaca, 1874. pp. 40. Apparently compiled and published by the Ithaca Journal, from whose columns all the contents of the pamphlet are taken. A memorial address, delivered in Library Hall [Ithaca], January 11, 1875, " Founder's Day." In commemoration of the life and character of Ezra Cornell, founder of the Cornell University. By Rufus P. Stebbins, pastor of the First Unitarian Church. Ithaca, 1875. pp. 34. Dr. Stebbins was the close personal friend of Mr. Cornell, who was an attendant upon his church. Biography of Ezra Cornell, Founder of the Cornell University. [By Alonzo B. Cor- nell]. New York, 1884. pp.322. The author, late the governor of New York, is the eldest son of Ezra Cornell, and by the charter a trustee of the university. He writes largely from personal observation. The Life and Services of Ezra Cornell: An address delivered at Cornell University on Founder's Day (January 11, 1887), by Francis M. Finch, judge of the court of appeals of the State of New York. [Ithaca, 1887.] pp. 16. Judge rinch was one of the earliest and closest associates of Mr. CiorneTl in the foun- dation of the university, and for long, as librarian of the Cornell Library in Ithaca, an ex officio trustee. My Reminiscences of Ezra Cornell: An address delivered before the Cornell Uni- versity on Founder's Day, January 11, 1890, by Andrew Dickson White,! LL. D., L. H. D., first president of the university. Ithaca, 1890. pp. 43^ 4. Publications of the University. (Of the manifold publications of the university, only those are here chronicle^ which are of the first importance to the student of its general history. ) Report of the committee on organization, presented to the trustees of the Cornel| University October 21, 1866. Albany, 1867. pp. 48. Signed, for the committee, by Andrew D. White, who was the chief author of the report. The Cornell University: First general announcement. [Albany, 1867.] pp. 19. A second edition, printed in the spring of 1868, has a list of the professors alreadj appointed, with biographical notices of them. The Cornell University: Second general announcement. Albany, 1868. A second edition, with additions (pp. 37), was issued in the same year. The sam^ pamphlet was also published under the title of "Circular to school commissioners, citj superintendents, and supervisors," a circular of the State superintendent of publid instruction being prefixed to this second edition. A four-page supplement to the sec4 ond general announcement, containing courses of study and conditions of admission^ was later published. CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 423 The Cornell University: Account of the proceedings at the inauguration, October 7, 1868. Ithaca, 18C9, pp. 37. The Cornell University Register. Yearly. 1868 to the present. 27 vols. The annual catalogue of the university. The first issue bore the title of "Catalogue of the officers and students of the Cornell University for the academic year 1868-69," etc., but it was followed by a " Register " in the same year. Since 1886 the Register has been supplemented by the "Annual announcement of the School of Law," and annual announcements are issued by some other schools. The Ten- Year Book of the Cornell University. Decennially. 1878, 1888, 1898. 3 vols. A catalogue of the officers and matriculates of the university, with biographical sta- tistics of its graduates. Compiled by the librarian of the university. Reports of the President. Yearly. 1880-81, 1882-83, to the present. 17 vols. The report for 1881-83 was not published. Appended, in full or in abstract, have usu- ally been the reports of heads of departments and colleges to the president. Reports of the Treasurer. In some years these reports are bound up with the reports of the president, but of late they have been printed separately. The Library Bulletin of Cornell University; edited by the librarian. 1882 to 1896. 3 vols. Appearing at irregular intervals and devoted mainly to the additions to the library, but containing lists of the publications of professors and many notes of importance for the history of the library. Since 1896 the list of publications by professors has appeared as an appendix to the president's report. Laws and Documents Relating to the Cornell University. Ithaca, 1870, pp. 91; 1883, pp. 161; 1893, pp. 231. 3 vols. Certain regulations proposed for the Cornell University. Ithaca, 1870. pp. 8. Report submitted to the trustees of Cornell University in behalf of a majority of the committee on Mr. Sage's proposal to endov^r a college for women. By Andrew D. White, chairman of the committee. Ithaca, 1872. pp. 40. The Cornell University: What it is and what it is not. Ithaca, 1872. pp. 30. By President White. Proceedings at the laying of the corner stone of the Sage College of the [Cornell] University, May 15. 1873; [with the] report to the trustees on the estab- lishment of said college. Ithaca, 1873. pp. 134. Of importance as regards the admission of women to the university. Proceedings at the unveiling of the portrait of the Hon. Justin S. Morrill, . . . June 20, 1883. Ithaca, 1884. With portrait. The addresses of President White and of Senator Morrill are of historical value. Letter of Andrew Dickson White, LL. D., resigning the presidency of Cornell University. Ithaca, 1885. pp. 8. Cornell LTniversity: Proceedings in memory of Louis Agassiz, and in honor of Hiram Sibley. Commencement week, 1885. Ithaca, 1885. The Presidency of Cornell University: Remarks of Andrew Dickson White, pre- sented in accordance with the request of the trustees that he would address them regarding the election of his successor. Ithaca, 1885. pp. 28. Proceedings and addresses at the inauguration of Charles Kendall Adams, LL. D., to the presidency of Cornell University, November 19, 1885. Ithaca, 1886. pp. 77. Cornell University: Report of a special committee on the establishment of a department of law, together with a preliminary announcement of the action of the trustees in establishing such a department. Ithaca, 1886. pp. 28. 424 HISTOEY OF HiaHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. Cornell University: Its significance and its scope. An address, . . . 1886, by- Charles Kendall Adams, LL. D., president of the University, Ithaca, 1886. pp. 19. Cornell University: Report of the executive committee on the reorganization of the department of history and political science, adopted January 18, 1887. Also, a letter from ex-President White, offering as a gift to Cornell Uni- versity his library of works on history and political science, and the action of the trustees accepting the same and reorganizing the department. [Ithaca, 1887.] pp. 8. A People's University: An address delivered before the Cornell University on Founder's Day, January 11, 1888, by J. G. Schurman, professor of philos- ophy. Ithaca, 1888. pp. 32. Exercises at the dedication of Barnes Hall, June 16, 1889. Ithaca, 1889. pp. 39. . Exercises and addresses at the laying of the corner stone of the University Library Building, October 30, 1889. Ithaca, 1889. pp. 32. Proceedings of the board of trustees of Cornell University, including the minutes of the executive committee, July 21, 1885-July 22, 1890. Ithaca, 1890. pp. 387. -• Ibid., 1890. Proceedings and addresses at the inauguration of Jacob Gould Schurman, LL. D., to the presidency of Cornell University, November 11, 1892. Ithaca, 1892. pp. 81. Proceedings and addresses at the twenty -fifth anniversary of the opening of Cor- nell University. [Edited by Prof. George L. Burr.] Ithaca, 1893. Memorial exercises in honor of Henry Williams Sage. [Held Feb. 22, 1898.] Ithaca, 1898. pp. 80. A Generation of Cornell, being the address given June 16, 1898, at the thirtieth annual commencement, by Jacob G. Schurman, president of the university. New York, 1898. pp. 58. 5. Alumni Publications, Proceedings of the associate alumni of Cornell University. Yearly. 1884 to the present. Reports of the alumni trustees to the alumni of Cornell University. Yearly. 1884, 1886, to the present. 12 vols. Since 1887 this report, made in obedience to the resolution of the alumni, that the uni- versity trustee "last elected by the alumni, at the end of the first year of his office, make a report on the condition and needs of the university," has been included in the "proceedings of the associate alumni." The reports are as follows: 1884, James Fraser Gluck; 1886, George R. Van De Water; 1887, Mynderse Van Cleef ; 1888, David S. Jor- dan; 1889, Daniel E. Salmon; 1890, Frank H. Hiscock; 1891, Walter C. Kerr; 1893, Robert H.Treman; 1893, George B. Turner; 1894, Charles S. Francis; 1895, ; 1896, Daniel E. Salmon; 1897, ; 1898, Jared T. Weidman. Petition of the alumni of Cornell University in opposition to honorary degrees, presented to the board of trustees Wednesday, October 27, 1886. Ithaca, 1886. pp.13. 6. Undergraduate Publications. The Cornell Era. Weekly. 1868 to the present. 30 vols. The Cornellian. Yearly. 1868 to the present. 30 vols. An illustrated annual, published under the varying title of Cornelian or Cornellian, at first by the secret fraternities of the University, then (since 1883) by the successive junior classes. In 1877 and again in 1878 both a Cornelian and a Cornellian appeared. CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 425 The Cornell Times. Weekly. 1873-74. 1 vol. The Cornell Review. Monthly. 1873-1886. 13 vols. Cocagne. Fortnightly. 1878 (April -June). 6 numbers. An illustrated satirical publication. The Cornell Daily Sun. 1880 to the present. 18 vols. The Association Bulletin ; published by the Cornell University Christian Associa- tion. Monthly. 1886 to 1896. 11 vols. The Cornell Magazine. Monthly. 1888 to the present. 10 vols. The Widow. 1894 to the present. 4 vols. Au illustrated satirical biweekly. The Crank: Published ... by the students of the Sibley College of the Cor- nell University . . . representing the interests of the mechanical and electrical engineers. Monthly. 1887-1890. 4 vols. The Sibley Journal of Engineering (formerly the Crank). 1890 to the present. In all. 13 vols. The New York Law Review. 1895. A monthly periodical published by mem- bers of the school of law. 1 vol. "?. GrUIDEBOOKS AND DESCRIPTIONS. The Cornell University. The university guide. Ithaca, 1870. pp. 31. By Prof. Willard Fiske. Guidebook of the Ithaca gorge and its surroundings. By William G. Johnson. Ithaca, 1873. pp. 58. The University Guide: Containing an account of the buildings and collections of Cornell University. Ithaca, 1875. pp. 61. Students" handbook. Yearly. 1885 to the present. A descriptive guide for new students, revised and published annually by the Chris- tian Association of Cornell University. In and out of Ithaca: A description of the village, the surrounding scenery, and Cornell University. By C. H. Thurber [registrar of the university.] Ithaca, 1887. 8. Miscellaneous. The more important of the numerous magazine articles which have been devoted to Cornell University can readily be found by the aid of Poole's Index. Of cyclopedia articles, those in Appleton's American Cyclopedia, in John- son's Universal Cyclopedia, and in Stoddart's Encyclopedia Americana, being written by ofificers of the university, have a quasi ofl&cial authority. 426 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY, ISTO. [Fnrnislied by the Tiniversity. ] Genesee College was founded at Lima, X. Y., in 1851, and for twenty years its work Avas carried on at that place. In 1871, in response to a demand for a more central location, its grounds and Iniildings were abandoned to the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary. The college was transferred to Syracuse and reopened under the name of the College of Liberal Arts of Syi^acuse I^niversity. In 1873 the Geneya Medical College, chartered in 1834, was also transferred to the same city. One 3'ear later a College of Fine Arts was organized, and these three col- leges at x^resent constitute the university. The charter, however, ]jrovides for dei^artments in theology, law, industrial arts, and letters whenever it shall be deemed expedient. COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS. Three courses of study are at present provided in the College of Liberal Arts. The classical course is substantially the same as is pursued in the best American colleges, including a considerable amount of modern languages. The Latin scientific course is nearly identical with the classical, except in the substitution of German and other subjects for the Greek. The scientific course, in the place of Latin and Greek, substitutes German and French and some additional studies in mathematics, natural sciences, literature, history, and j)hilosophy. In the junior year nearly one-third of the student's time is devoted to elective work. In the senior year the range of election is somewhat larger. MEDICAL COLLEGE. The Medical College is one of the few that require a graded course of instruction instead of simple attendance upon lectures with the accompanying examinations. Tlie course of instruction extends over a period of three years, and consists of lectures, recitations, practical work in the laboratories and dissecting room, together with clinical exercises, etc. The division of the work is as follows : Fii'st year : Anatomy, physiology, chemistry, histology, botany, and applied anatomy. Second year: Anatomy, physiology, medical chemistry, materia medica, practice, surgery, and clinics. Third year: Therapeutics, practice, surgery, obstetrics, pediatrics, pathology, gynaecology, forensic and State medicine, ophthalmology, dermatology, and clinics = First-year students receive practical instruction in chemistry, with a course of laboratory work extending through both terms. Second- year students take a shorter course in purely medical chemistry. SYEACUSE UNIVEESITY. 427 Laboratories liave also been established for practical work in his- tology and comparative and human anatomy. COLLEGE OP FINE ARTS In the college of fine arts three courses of instruction otiIj have been organized. It is intended that the scope of this college shall ulti- mately include instruction in all the fine arts, that is : 1. The formative arts : Architecture, sculpture, painting, engraving, and the various forms of industrial art; and 2. The phonetic arts: Music, oratory, poetry, and belles-lettres literature. Candidates for admission to the course in architecture are examined in English grammar, geography, American historj^ arithmetic, nat- ural philosophy, algebra as far as to the calculus of radicals, plane geometry, and free-hand drawing, sufficient to represent the progress usuall}^ made by students in at least one year of thorough and sys- tematic study. Candidates for admission to the course in painting are examined in English grammar, geography, American history, arithmetic, natural philosophy, and free-hand drawing sufficient to represent the progress usually made in at least two years of thorough and systematic study. Candidates for admission to the course in music are examined in the same studies as for the course in painting, with the exception that two years of thorough and sytematic study in music replace the two years in drawing. The courses in architecture and painting include systematic and progressive instruction in the theory, the history, and the practice of architecture and painting, and in those branches of mathematics, natural science, historj^, language, and philosophy which bear most intimately and directly upon these arts, and without a knowledge of which success in the higher domain of art is impossible. It is the aim to develop the talents of the students in such a way that each student shall retain his individuality of character and manner, and not to mold after the same arbitrary method. The course in music includes systematic and progressive instruction in the the theory, history, and practice of music, and is arranged with a view to enable the student to become an accomplished musician. Other instruments, as the violin, viola, violoncello, cornet, or clarionet, may be substituted for the piano after the freshman year; the organ after the sophomore year. Vocal instruction may take the place of instrumental after the sophomore year. The study of vocal music for one year is required of all who pro- pose to graduate in the course of music. Various accessor}^ branches of study are introduced, which have a more or less intimate connection with the art of music, and which 428 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION" IN NEW YORK. also liave a relation to general liberal culture. These are hygiene, physics, elocution, rhetoric, English literature; the French, German, and Italian languages; ancient, mediseval, and modern history, and the histor}^ of civilization; the science of esthetics, and the general history of the fine arts. Opportunity is given to advanced students, who are fully qualified to do so, to assist in instructing the preliminary classes in music, for the purpose of giving pedagogic experience under the supervision of the faculty. • Persons completing the course in architecture receive the degree of bachelor of architecture; the course in painting, the degree of bache- lor of painting ; the course in music, that of bachelor of music ; spe- cial students may receive certificates of progress and proficiency. THE HIGHER DEGREES. It has been the policy of the university, in order to promote system- atic and thorough culture, to confer the master's degree and the degree of doctor of philosophy upon any bachelor of arts, of science, or of philosophy who shall comply with the following conditions: Courses of study have been outlined in English literature, mathe- matics, Greek, Latin, modern languages, philosophy, evidences of Christianity, chemistry, physical science, esthetics and history of the fine arts, history, botany, zoology, and geology. Any three of the groups or units designated by the Roman numerals, I, II, III, etc., provided they are selected from the same department, is regarded as one year's study. On passing a satisfactory examination therein, the candidate is entitled to the second degree; i. e., a bachelor of science, of philosophy, or of arts is entitled to the corresponding master's degree. After satisfactory examination on another year's course of study, selected as before explained, the degree of Ph. D. is conferred. These degrees are offered to none but regular graduates of colleges, and the master's degree conferred in cursu or causa honoris is accepted as a substitute for the first year's post-graduate study. In this uni- versity a study of Latin equivalent to four books of Caesar is requi- site for the degree of B. S., and the higher degrees are not conferred upon any who are not thus qualified. The candidate appears at the university for examination, and pre- sents and defends a thesis of not less than 4,000 words on some sub- ject connected with the course of study pursued. Examinations upon the work of the two years may be taken at one time, or in two sec- tions — each covering the work of one j'^ear — as may be desired; but examinations are not given upon smaller fractions of the course. The degree of doctor of philosophy is not conferred except upon these conditions, and the master's degree is no longer given causa honoris. SYRACUSE UNIVEESITY. 429 GOVERNMENT. The university is ^^overned T)y a board of trustees consisting of not less than 20 nor more than 45 members. All matters of administra- tion in which more than one college is interested are in charge of a senate, consisting of two trustees, the chancellor, the deans of the several colleges, two members of the faculty of liberal arts and one from each of the other faculties. The decisions of this senate are binding in the absence of any instructions from the trustees. Each faculty is supreme in its own department, not having power, how- ever, to alter the courses of study without the approval of the senate, but, with its dean, having complete control of all matters of adminis- tration and discipline. The chancellor is a member of the board of trustees and of each of the facuHies, and any professor of any col- lege having students from another college has a voice in its faculty on all matters pertaining to his work. BUILDING. The campus of 50 acres is beautifull}^ situated in the southeast part of the city, and commands a view of the city and lake and the sur- rounding country for many miles. The corner stone of the first build- ing was laid August 31, 1871. It is a handsome cut limestone struc- ture 180 by 96 feet, four stories in height. It contains the recitation rooms, museums, laboratories, and chapel of the liberal art college. In 1887 Mr. E. F. Holden, a member of the board of trustees, built and presented to the university an astronomical observatory. It is built of rock-faced gray limestone, and equipped with an 8-incli Alvin Clark telescope, a 3-inch reversible transit, by Troughton & Sims, chronograph clock, chronometer, micrometer, etc. It is also provided with meteorological instruments. The library building, a fireproof structure three stories high, 80 by 90 feet, built of Trenton pressed brick, was completed in June, 1889. It is provided with abundant rooms and all needed appliances, and has a capacit}^ for 135,000 volumes. The John Grouse Memorial College edifice, built and furnished by the late Mr. John Crouse and his son, Mr. D. Edgar Grouse, is of Long Meadow red sandstone, with granite foundation. It is four stories high, 162 b}^ 190 feet in extreme dimensions, and is one of the most imposing of college structures. The college of fine arts is in this building. The buildings of the .medical department are eligibly located on Orange street, nearly in the center of the city, but a short distance from the hospitals and dispensary. They consist of a large brick edifice, in which are the various lecture rooms, histological and path- ological laboratories, museum, etc. The amphitheater is spacious, capable of seating one hundred or more students, well lighted and heated, and furnished with all the necessary appliances for properly presenting the various subjects demonstrated or lectured upon. The 430 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. amphitheater, as well as the other lecture and recitation rooms in the main building, have additional rooms or cahinets connecting witli them in which special dissections are made, and where the various preparations in use are arranged for presentation to the classes. These rooms are provided with running water and such other conven- iences as may be needed. In the rear of the main building is the chemical laboratory and dissecting room. LIBRARIES AND SCIENTIFIC COLLECTIONS. The general college library contains about 35,000 volumes, and is open to students daily. It is in charge of a competent librarian. Several large funds at present charged with life annuities will be at the disposal of the university for increasing its library facilities at the death of the donors. In April, 1887, the great historical library of Leopold Yon Ranke was purchased by Mrs. Dr. John M. Reid and presented to Syracuse Universitj^ This is almost invaluable to the student of modern his- tory. The library of the Geneva College of Medicine, with the addi- tions which have since been made to it, is at the service of student! in medicine. So soon as necessary room is provided the college will come into possession of the extensive and valuable medical library collected by N. C. Husted, M. D., LL. D., of Tarrytown, :N^. Y. As a nucleus to a library of the fine arts, valuable books and peri- odicals have already been gathered, to which additions will be made from time to time, as circumstances shall permit. Several of the most important art journals are provided in the reading room. The col- lege of liberal arts possesses for illustrating natural science the fol- lowing collections : 1. The Ward series of casts of fossil remains. 2. An extensive lithologic collection representing all the leading types of rocks. 3. A collection of fossils illustrating especially the palaeontology of New York State. 4. The "Cooper collection" of quartz and its varieties. In zoology are : 1. The "Banks collection" of North American birds, 2. A consider^ible collection of alcoholic specimens, mostly of invertebrates. 3. A collection of shells with abundant representation of nearly all molluscan families. 4. A collection of insects. In botany, a well-ordered herbarium of about 8,000 specimens is accessible to students. The laboratories are also kept supplied with an abundance of mate- rial for class use. The college of medicine has an excellent museum, extensive in the SYRACUSE UNIVEESITY. 431 department of pathology, and amply provided with the means of illus- tration of the materia medica. For the nse of students in painting, the college of fine arts has sev- eral thousand photographs, engravings, and chromo lithographs, and a good collection of plaster casts procured several years ago. To these have been added in the last year a very fine collection of casts pre- sented by a friend in New York, and the celebrated Wolif collection of engravings, containing 12,000 sheets of rare and costly etchings and engravings representing the great masters of the art in all ages. This great collection was the gift of Mrs. Harriet Leavenworth, of Syracuse, in April, 1889. Special facilities for the study of the masters of the organ are afforded. The university has two pipe organs, which are employed for instruc- tion and practice. The one in the large hall of the John Grouse Memorial building, built by Frank Roosevelt, is perhaps unsurpassed in perfection and completeness by any organ in America. The one in the university chapel, built by Johnson & Son, though smaller and of less range, is of most excellent quality. PROPERTY, ETC. From its foundation the nniversit}^ has been coeducational, and young women and young men have been admitted to its classes on an equal footing. It does not provide rooms or board for its students, but they are responsible, like other citizens, to the laws and ordinances of the city. The income is derived from tuition receipts and produc- tive endowment funds. The net value of its property in 1890 was about $1,792,655. The number of students in 1889-90 was 575 exclu- sive of those pursuing post-graduate courses of study. Since its foundation 783 have taken the bachelor's degree, and 98 the degree of doctor of philosophy. FACULTY. The following have been ]3rominent members of its faculty : Joseph Cummings, afterwards president of Northwestern University, Evans- ton, 111. ; John M. Reid, secretary of missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal Church; William Wells, professor of modern languages of Union College; S. A. Lattimore, professor of chemistry in Rochester University; Alexander Winchell, of Michigan University, and E. O. Haven, late bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. PUBLICATIONS. Annonncement of Syracuse University, 1871, 16 pages. Annuals from 1872 to 1890, inclusive. Announcements of College of Medicine, 1872 to 1890. Manual of College of Fine Arts, 1874, 1875, 1882. Post-Graduate Courses of Study, 1876, 1878, 1883, 1884, 1886, 1889. 432 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATIOlSr IN NEW YORK. Syracuse University: Inauguration and Corner Stone, 1871, pp. 40. Inauguration of Alexander Winchell as Chancellor of Syracuse University, pp. 79. Bulletin of Biological Laboratory No. 1 : List of Birds of Onondaga County, by Morgan K. Barnum. No. 1, pp. 34. Syracussean [Student Annual] , 1877, 1878, 1879, 1880, 1881. Onondagan [Student Annual] , 1883, 1884. 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890. University Herald, Monthly, Vol. I-XVIII, 1872-1890. Syracusan, Monthly, Vol. I-XII, 1877-1890. University News, Weekly, Vol. I-III, 1888-1890. Annual Report to Board of Trustees, 1874, by Alexander Winchell, pp. 17. Address to Members of Conference of the M. E. Church in New York, 1875, by Chancellor Haven, pp. 4. Statement of Syracuse University, 1878, Chancellor Haven, pp. 12. Charter and By-Laws of Syracuse University, 1887. Statement of Syracuse University, 1884, by Chancellor Sims. Alumni Record of Syracuse University, 1872-1886, including Genesee College, 1853- 1871, and Geneva Medical College, 1835-1872. Prepared by J. H. Tartman, '78; C. W. Winchester, '67; L. M. Underwood, '77. ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, 1871, BROOKLYN. This college was incorporated iu 1871 under the general law tor the formation of benevolent, charitable, scientific, and missionary socie- ties. It is under the control of the Roman Catholic Church, and maintains a theological as well as a collegiate department. The president of the institution is the Very Rev. J. A. Hart- nett, C. M., and the faculty comprises eleven members. The number of students in 1896 was 109 and the net value of its property about $400,000. ST. BONA VENTURE'S COLLEGE, 1875, ALLEGANY. I This is a college in the hands of the " Brothers of the minor order of St. Francis, who are vowed to poverty and devoted to education." Beyond a bare support they draw nothing from the funds of the col- lege. The order insures to the college a perpetual succession of com- petent teachers.^ It was founded as an academy in 1859, and given a conditional charter by the regents in 1875, which charter was made absolute January 11, 1883. Allegany, in Cattaraugus County, is the seat of the college. Its reports to the regents are verj^ meager, and few facts as to the value of its property can be given. The total income in the year 1888-89 was $33,600, of which $30,500 was from tuition fees. It is under the presidency of the Very Rev. Joseph Butler, O. S. F., who has a force of 20 instructors. The students number 103. The courses of study are four — commercial, scientific, classical, and ecclesiastical. ' Reports of January 11, 1881, of committee of regents on question of granting full charter, quoted in Hist, and Stat. Rec, p. 340. CANISIUS COLLEGE. 433 CANISIUS COLLEGE, 1883, BUFFALO. Canisius College is of recent origin. The only trustwoi-thy informa- tion obtainable concerning it is to be found in the historical and statistical record of the regents, 1885 : Canisius College is located in Buffalo and conducted by the members of the Society of Jesus. It was incorporated (by the regents) without provisional requirements January 11, 1883. In the report made by the committee at the time of granting a charter it is stated that the buildings are very extensive and admir- ably adapted to the uses of the college. Its library and philosophical apparatus are good, and the revenues abundant for its uses. The property with which it was proposed to endow the college was estimated to be worth $240,600 by fair and competent judges. A few more facts in regard to the history of the college can be found in the regents' annual reports. It is under the direction of Rev. John I. Zahm, S. J. There are 30 instructors and 62 students; the course is of three years' duration, the sophomore year of the usual college course having been omitted. THE NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, 1883. Is under the auspices of the Congregation of the Mission. It was incorporated by the regents in 1883, and consists of three distinct departments — the Seminary of our Lady of the Angels, at Suspen- sion Bridge, and the law school and the medical school in Buffalo. The chancellor of the university is the Yevy Rev. Patrick MacHale, C. M., D. T>. STATISTICS OF STUDENTS AND INSTRUCTORS. Department of Arts: Students of college grade 86 Instructors 9 The instructors receive no compensation for their services except that required by the rules of the order. The net property amounts to $187,560. ST. FRANCIS COLLEGE, 1884, BROOKLYN. [Prepared by order of the president, Brother Jerome.] St. Francis College was founded in 1859, incorporated in 1868, and chartered in 1884. It occupies commodious and well-arranged prem- ises at 300 to 312 Baltic street and 29 to 33 and 37 to 47 Butler street, near Court street, Brooklyn. It has a frontage of 175 feet on each street. The buildings are five stories high, with a fine court between them adorned with lawns, fountains, shade trees, and flower beds. The president, vice-president, and, generally speaking, the majority 3176 28 434 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IIT NEW YORK. of the staff belong to the Franciscan Order, but eminent lay help is promptly secured whenever death or any other inevitable mishap leaves a void in the ranks of the religious. As a rule, the lives of the latter are so uneventful as not to be interesting to the general reader, and they all die with the wish expressed or implied that the record of their services should be entombed with their bodies. This is true, in a special manner, of the religious order of which Francis of Assisi was the founder. We could give several names of the past and present of high distinction in the different departments of our collegi- ate programme, and of some who have made a mark in English litera- ture, but in deference to well-known modesty we shall refrain from making them public. The fortune of the college, financially speaking, has varied with the times, but the attendance has been always very respectable and remarkably steady from entrance into '^nj of the classes to the com- mencement evenings, when the names of graduates are announced. A general average of attendance struck for the past twenty years might be put down at 360, including boarders and day scholars. The attachment of alumni and students to the college and its traditions has become a household word in Brooklyn. The entertainments given by the literary unions in connection with the college and the several commencement exercises have won unstinted praise from the press and public audiences. The course of studies embraces English literature, rhetoric, poetry, elocution, history, geography, phonography, and science of accounts; mathematics; the physical sciences — natural philosophy, chemistry, outlines of phj^siology, botany, zoology, and geology; the Greek and Latin, French and German languages. The educational programme has been gradually extended, comprising at present every branch required for entering first-class universities and any department of professional studies or mercantile j)ursuits. The library of the col- lege has 1,500 volumes of the very Choicest selection in literature, science, and art. Many of the graduates of the college have acquired a high reputation in different walks of life. The college is exten- sively represented in the Catholic priesthood throughout the diocese of Brooklyn and in other dioceses of the United States adopted by its graduates. It has also a large and distinguished showing in the legal and medical jDrof essions, and its alumni are found in some of the fore- most mercantile firms of Brooklyn and the neighboring cities. Our commercial department is entirely separate from the classical, scien- tific, and philosophical. We have not as yet been pained with the report of a failure on the part of students who received diplomas from this department. Brother Jerome, president of the college, has from its infancy watched over its destinies and largelj^ shaped its programme and progress. He has been ably assisted by many talented members of a POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE OF BROOKLYN. 435 religions body of teachers wliose numbers and sphere of usefulness are annually extending. Nearly every section of the United States is represented in our classes, and Ave have had for some years quite a number of students from Mexico and the States of Central America. POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE OF BROOKLYN, 1890. FOUNDATION. The Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, incorporated under the laws of the State of New York, is the completed reorganization and out- gi-owth of the former Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute. Its origin dates from the foundation of that institution, which was incorporated by the board of regents as an academy in April, 1854. Its curriculum, at first preparatory, in the main, for college and for business pursuits, was steadily enlarged and extended, until, by the year 1870, two courses of study had been provided, leading, respec- tively, to the degrees of bachelor of science and bachelor of arts. Its powers under the academic charter and its equipment were found inadequate for advanced Avork, and it was finally determined to procure a new charter with wider powers. In January, 1890, a college charter was granted by the regents to this institution under the name of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. DEPARTMENTS. The educational institution as now established comprises two gen- eral departments, viz, the institute and the academic department. THE INSTITUTE. The institute comprehends all the higher educational work. It pro- vides at present in its various departments of instruction four-year courses of study, equivalent in all respects to like courses in colleges and technological schools leading to the bachelor's degree. The con- ditions for admission correspond generally to those for entrance into the freshman class of the leading schools of science and arts. The institute courses are, however, specially arranged to secure a conti- nuity and progression in the advanced branches of those courses of study which are begun in the academic department of the institution. THE ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT. The academic department comprises the preparatory courses of the institute and all work lower in grade than that conducted in the institute. Its courses are designed to preiDare students thoroughly for entrance into the institute or for admission into any of the colleges. It pro- vides also for students not intending to pursue a college or technical 436 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. course, but who desire to fit themselves for mercantile life, a course of instruction specially designed for this end. The president of this institution is David H. Cochran, Ph. D. , LL. D. (From "The Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. Retrospect and Outlook." Issued by the corporation, Brooklyn, 1890.) KEUKA COLLEGE, 1890. This institution, situated at Keuka, in Yates County, was granted a provisional charter by the regents in 1890, but surrendered it in 1895, not having attained the requirements for an absolute collegiate charter. The following minute of the proceedings of the regents appears in the report of the secretary for 1897, page 173 : Keuka College. — The request of the trustees of Keuka College, that its provi- sional charter be made absolute, was submitted with the reports of the head inspector as to its financial and educational condition. Voted, That the secretary notify the trustees that the institution does not meet the minimum requirements of ordinance 5 for college rank, and that therefore an absolute college charter can not be granted; but that in view of all the facts the regents have extended the provisional charter for three j^ears in order to allow ample opportunity to meet the minimum conditions of the ordinances for a full college charter. (November 4, 1897.) I PROTESTANT COLLEGE AT SAO PAULO, 1891. Chartered by New York legislature in 1891. Located at Sao Paulo, Brazil. Its history not within the scope of this volume. CHRISTIAN COLLEGE IN CHINA, 1893. i Incorporated by the regents in December, 1893, and located at Canton, China. ADELPHIA COLLEGE, 1896, BROOKLYN. This college was incorporated by the regents June 24, 1896, and began organized work in the fall of that year. CHAPTER 6. UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES FOR WOMEN. FIRST EFFORTS TOWARD THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN IN- NEW YORK STATE. New York has reason to be proud of the part it has taken in solving the knotty problem of woman's education. Before the Boston Latin School had generously offered instruction to girls in summer, when the boys did not want to come ; before Oberlin's audacious experiment in graduating women in the same class with men; long before the days of Mount Holyoke and Elmira and Vassar, an attempt was made in eastern New York to secure for women a higher standard of educa- tion. It was made by a remarkable woman, Mrs. Emma Willard, whose name the college woman of to-day delights to honor. Mrs. Willard was the preceptress of a girls' school which she had established in 1814 at Middlebury, Vt. This seminary she moved to Waterford, N. Y., in 1819, hoping that the generosity of New York State toward the education of men might be extended to the educa- tion of women. With this hope she made, in 1819, an application to the legislature for aid, accompanying her petition with a "Plan for female education. " In spite of the fact that Governor De Witt Clinton, in his annual message, strongly supported the application, and in spite of the masterly character of the plan itself, the legislature did not respond. Mrs. Willard then set to work to accomplish her purpose by other means. She elaborated the courses of study in her own school. This in 1821 was moved to Troy, and became known as the "Troy Female Seminary." Here Mrs. Willard worked until 1838. Finding the existing text-books inadequate in some departments of instruction, she attempted to supply the deficiency. It is said that she was the first to introduce the study of map drawing into schools. She prepared charts for historical and geographical study, for which she was awarded a gold medal at the World's Fair in London in 1851. The work in English at this seminary was of an unusually high character. Many successful teachers have been sent out from this institution, which is still engaged in active work. Mrs. Willard severed her con- nection with it in 1838, leaving it in the hands of her son. She died in 1870, in the 84th year of her age. Mrs. Willard's attempt to gain the cooperation of the legislature in carrying out her plans was a failure. But it may be that her prac- 437 438 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION ITST NEW YORK. tical demonstration of tlie fact that a woman can obtain a thoroughly scholarly education largely by her own efforts and can spend her life in imparting it to others without the loss of either health or womanli- ness went far toward gaining from the legislature the charter of Elmira College in 1855 and of Vassar in 1861. It is certain that her demonstrated success stimulated the establish- ment of similar ' ' female " seminaries in all parts of the country, and thus helped to create a demand for an education equal to that offered by the colleges for men. ELMIRA COLLEGE, 1855. [Sketch furnished by President Van Norden.] Elmira College was opened in 1855. The site chosen was on the highest terrace of the Chemung, in the center of the beautiful and fertile intervale, girt about with hills, on which is built the flourishing city of the same name. Here, in a region exceptionally blessed in natural resources, with the "garden of America" to the north and the most prolific coal-oil and gas area in the world to the south and west, a region sure in time to become densely populated and very wealthy, it was resolved to carry out to logical conclusion previous tentative movements in the direction of the higher education of women; and here the very first real experiment in subjecting young girls to the tests of the best colleges for men was boldly ventured. THE FIRST WOMAN'S COLLEGE. The founding of Elmira College marked the commencement of a new era in the higher education of women. The quarter century immediately preceding had witnessed noble and successful efforts in establishing female seminaries, some of which were of great excellence^ and high grade. These mainly depended upon the personality ol their proprietors, chiefly women, whose high character and executive skill gave them deserved success. It was, however, impossible tc transfer to successors the personal influence, affection of pupils, anc educational skill which gained the well-earned reputation of the founders, who, in many instances, after a period of successful labor,! retired with a handsome fortune, leaving the seminary as a new busi| ness enterprise to some one else. There was no accumulation oi educational forces, no conservation of what had been gained, n( expectation of permanence and increased value. MOTIVES FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COLLEGE. The success of the female seminaries, limited as it necessarily was] at least challenged thoughtfulness on the possibilities of expansion j Good and wise men agreed that the aptitudes and facilities of the minds of women had not been exhaustively cultivated, and that tht experiment of a higher education need not be faithlessly attempted.1 THE COLLEGE GROUNDS. ' ■1 *''■' : \ i; U "W^*^ " 7' _ J Iff^ ■'■' ^S''*** ■^-;V'.*;- i 1 ;g^ ih^ • ^K ' ^ _— __^ "^^"^Sfe^ 'f 5 ELMIRA COLLEGE. ■•3 - I i cat' ELMIRA COLLEGE. 439 It was also believed that the associated college life, with its varied friendships, its class feeling, its society intimacies, and its loyal love • for alma mater might be of very great value in the education of women. Of course, college life for women must be purified from the objectionable elements so common in our colleges for men. It was believed to be possible to furnish an almost ideal home life in a well- rep- uated Christian college for women, which might be and ought to .. constant training in self-control, spontaneous kindness, and aal helpfulness. College life might be the best preparation for a n-e home life, for Christian social life, and for church life for young ■n, and also a superior professional preparation for the highest ions as teachers. oh was, in general principles, the ideal before the minds of those resolved to take the next step upward, from the highest and best le seminaries, of which "the Troy" and "Mount Holyoke" cj^pes, to a true college for women. The name female college iven then becoming common at the South and West, but in no nee, so far as we can learn, did it signify a required course of higher than that of Troy or Mount Holyoke, although to a few granted the legal right to confer degrees. Among these were male college at Macon, Ga., and the Wesleyan Female College J cinnati. Almost all grades of seminaries and joint-stock insti- i,^ > adopted the title "female college," and this has been a seri- - jstacle in the way of the recognition of the true rank of '-a." FIRST STEPS TOWARD ORGANIZATION. year 1851 a number of distinguished ministers and laymen Jbany to consider the matter of establishing a real college for in advance of the best female seminaries, designed to furnish higher systematic education, with the best methods of instruc- ti<, " a college faculty, with permanent organization into special depar tents, and with endowments which should secure a continued and inci-easing growth, with a permanent place and honorable rank among the most valuable and distinguished educational institutions of the country. After careful consideration it was resolved to estab- lish such a college somewhere in the State of IsTew York. In the following year, 1852, a charter was obtained locating the institution at Auburn, with the title Auburn Female University, with an able board of trustees from all parts of the State and representing the various Christian denominations. A financial secretary was put into the field to gather subscriptions and enlist the Christian public in this new institution. This secretary was Rev. Harvey A. Sackett, whose wife, Mrs. D. E. Sackett, had been prominent among a noble band of Christian teachers in New England and New York who were earnestly devoted to the uplifting of the standard of education for women and had established a number of very superior seminaries. 440 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK, Prominent among these were the seminaries in TJtica, Geneva, Canan- daigua, and Leroy. It was principally due to Mrs. Sackett and her husband that the idea of founding a college for women was brought to the special attention of the gentlemen who held their first confer- ence on this subject in the consistory room of the Second Reformed Dutch Church of Albany. Dr. Wyckoff, Hon. Amos Dean, and Hon. Luther Tucker, of Albany ; Dr. Beman, of Troy ; Dr. Mandeville, of Hamilton College; Dr. Hickok, of Auburn; Dr. Hogarth and Professor Boyd, of Geneva; Dr. Kendrick, of Rochester, and other prominent educators gave the enterprise their hearty approval and cooperation, and actively served on the board of trustees. CHARTER. Great difficulty was encountered in raising funds. The new era of large donations had not yet come. With an encouraging prospect of pecuniary help from Elmira, the question of location was reconsidered and the proposed institution transferred from Auburn to Elmira in 1853, aad rechartered in 1855 as the Elmira Female College. Mr. Simeon Benjamin, an elder in the First Presbyterian Church, became warmly interested in the enterprise. He became chairman of the board of trustees and also treasurer of the college, and by his able financial management, and generous advances and gifts of much needed funds at critical times, he gained for the college its secure though moderate pecuniary success, and left a generous legacy upon^ condition that the synod would take the college under its care. The donations and legacy of Mr. Benjamin, extending through the first ten years of the college history, amounted to the sum of $80,000. During this period the college also received from the legislature $35,000, from the Maxwell brothers, Geneva, $10,000, and more recently from the Marquand estate, $25,000, and from local subscriptions at various times $50,000. But this all came so slowly that the college has always labored under great difficulty in putting itself in favorable, attractive comparison with the new colleges for women which began with abundant means, and which have never felt need of economy. Elmira College has been compelled by comparatively limited means, as well as by conscientious principle, to offer excellence of instruction and the best possible training of the personal character of students as its most important attractions and elements of value, so that while waiting anxiously for donations and legacies it might become more clear that the college was unquestionably worthy of them and would surely make the best possible use of them. Two figures have been very prominent in the history of its faculty. PRESIDENCY OF DR. COWLES. Rev. Augustus W. Cowles, D. D., LL. D., its only president for the first thirty-five years, distinguished himself for scholarship at Union College, where he graduated in 1841. For two years thereafter he ELMIEA COlLLEaE. • 441 tauglit. After fiiiisliiug his theological course at Union Theological Seminaiy, he preached for ten years at Brockport, N. Y. In 1856 he was called to the presidency of Elmira College. Besides presiding over the college, he has at times filled the chairs of Latin and Greek, and all the time those of mental and moral philosophy, Christian evidences, biblical literature, and aesthetics. The college itself and its alumnse are the best witnesses to his worth and work. At the age of 70, and while in the full vigor of mental jDOwer, he retired from the executive work of the college to continue in his beloved work of teaching. He became president emeritus and professor of the same branches that for so many years occupied his attention, and, hale and youthful, continued to lecture with great vigor and acceptableness on the old loved themes. Rev. Darius R. Ford, D. D., present and long time professor of the natural sciences, furnishes another instance of rare combination of gifts, great dignity, and suavity of manner and uncommon dexterity in imparting knowledge. For a generation (since 1863) he has been a mighty local force in all educational matters. Well preserved and in the ripeness of his power, on him depended no small part of the success and prosperity of the management. PRESIDENCY OF DR. PHRANER. In 1889, on the retirement of Dr. Cowles, Rev. Wilson Phraner, D. D., of Sing Sing, IST. Y., was elected to the presidency and entered vigorously upon his office ; he was, however, soon forced by failure of health to retire, but not without leaving abundant fruit of his brief administration. PRESIDENCY OF DR. VAN NORDEN. Late in 1889 Rev. Charles Van Norden, D. D., recently pastor of the North Church, of Springfield, Mass., where he succeeded Rev. Washington Gladden, D. D., was elected to the presidency. STATISTICS. Of graduates and other students passed beyond its care, Elmira Col- lege has had over 2,000, to be found everywhere, women of culture, of influence, often of wealth, not seldom of fame. Educators, artists, elocutionists, musicians, they have in every part of the country made for themselves an honorable record. Of undergraduates, there has been from the beginning an annual average of 150. A recent increase has swollen this number to over 200. The local reputation for good behavior of these young ladies has always been deservedly high, owing no doubt to the admirable moral and religious control maintained by the former administration and to the atmosphere of self-respect and mutual good-will that has ever pervaded the college home. Few appeals have been made to any but the highest motives, the marking system has not been emphasized, 442 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION" IN NEW YORK. and in 1800 the last prize was abolished. The practical difficulty in tlie government of the institution has been to prevent the students from overworking under pressure of only noble motives. COURSES OF STUDY. In matter of standard, Elmira has always taken firm and foremost position, with many advances. The first freshman class in 1857 pur- sued the following required studies, usually four or five lessons each week : Cicero's orations, Kuhner's Greek grammar, Davies's university algebra, descriptive astronomy, critical reading of English poets, out- lines of ecclesiastical history, botany and part of Mrs. Somerville's physical geography, philosophy of history, with a Sunday lesson in Nichols' Helps to Bible Study. In the sophomore class Latin and Greek were continued; geometry, plane, solid, and spherical, completed; political economy and civil government, rhetoric, natural philosophy. The junior class studied trigonometry, chemistry, French and Ger- man languages, with English literature, Karnes's criticism, logic, geol- ogy, and mineralogy. The senior class (with no electives) continued French and German languages and literatures through the year, conic sections and mathe- matical astronomy, mental science, applications of science to useful arts, moral philosophy, Paley's natural theology, Butler's analogy, with a Sunday lesson in Gregory's Evidences of Christianity. This course of study was in good faith designed by experienced college men to be fully equivalent to the regular four years' course of study at that time required in the best colleges for men. The less amount of Latin and Greek was sincerely believed to be fully compensated by an extensive and thorough study of modern languages which were not required at that time by any other college in the State, and by required courses in English literature and extended courses in history, ethics, and Christian evidences. It was at that time the most advanced course of required study in any institution for women in this country. After a few years the other colleges raised their requirements in Latin and Greek for entrance to the freshman class and a few intro- duced French and German as electives. Elmira allowed three and a half years of thorough study of French and German to take the j)lace of Greek as a full equivalent, and those who took Latin and Greek were required to take either French or German in addition. If Elmira could have been supplied with students well prepared for the fresh- man class, the course of study above described might have been made almost the ideal course for women. About 1884 the course of study and the requirements for admission to the freshman class were considerably advanced so as to compare favorably with the best colleges for women in this State and in New England. PHI MU PARLOR. ELMIRA COLLEGE— OBSERVATORY HALL. ELMIRA COLLEGE. 443 The reqiiireineuts for iidmissioii to-day are those of Smith, Wellesley, aud Yassar. PREPARATORY DEPARTMENT. From the beginning of its history until the present Elmira College has sustained a preparatory department of the grade of a first-class New England high school. As this has long since ceased to be a necessity and, indeed, has become clearly an embarrassment, it was resolved in the spring of 1890 to arrange for its progressive abol- ishment bj^ discontinuation each year of the lowest remaining class. In 1893 the preparatory department came to an end and Elmira became a college, pure and simi)le. ART AND MUSIC. An art school under charge of an artist of national reputation, with one assistant, forms a valued adjunct. A music school of high aims and most ably officered, with its own faculty of six specialists, all enthusiasts in their departments, greatly adds to the rej)utation and influence of the college. FUNDS, BUILDINGS, ETC. The property of Elmira, at fair valuation, is rated at $230,000 over and above all indebtedness, of which $25,000 form a beneflciar}^ fund for aid of needy and worthy students, and $10,000 represent private scholarships. The main building of brick, situated on a commanding site facing a beautiful campus, is 225 feet long and at the center two-thirds as deep, is heated by steam, lighted by electricity, furnished with elevator, and can accommodate, if necessary, 130 boarders, besides ample room for chapel, parlors, gymnasium, infirmary, recitation rooms, labora- tories, music rooms, art studios, and art gallery. An astronomical observatory, formerly belonging to the Elmira Academy of Sciences, situate on a site of its own near the campus, is equipped with a refracting telescope, a sidereal clock, an electric chronograph, and star charts. In an enlargement of the observatory on the north side there is a museum and a lecture hall, the former with mineralogical, geological, and zoological collections, the latter for microscopic and telescopic work, for lantern exhibitions, and popu- lar scientific addresses. All work done in Elmira is intended to be intensely" practical. Mere cramming with book learning is held in disfavor. French and Ger- man are taught in the original languages, and the students learn to converse in these tongues as readily as to translate. Chemistry is acquired in actual handling of the reagents. Astronomy is studied 444 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. in the observatory, each, student freely using every instrument. So of biology, geology, etc. The fraternities have never been directly or indirectly represented. Two literary societies, originally called Philomathean and Kaloso- phian, and now designated simply by the Greek letters "Phi Mu" and "Kappa Sigma," comprising only full members of the four college classes, meeting on alternate weeks, devote themselves to literature, the drama, and good fellowship, much to the general enlivening and enjoyment of college life. The social atmosphere is always delight- fully cordial, spiced with merriment and graced with affability, and finds its outlet not only in the beautiful and artistic societj^ rooms, but in the pleasant dining hall, in occasional parlor reunions, and in none too infrequent "spreads." The merriest and not least useful hour of the day comes immediately after a late dinner in a spacious, well-floored, and well-lit hall. This is called the ' ' romping " hour, and the gravest Hypatia and most exalted Sappho unbends and laughs, sings, and dances to lively music to her heart's content. In this same hall later, after the evening study and before bedtime, gymnastic and Del Sarte exercises enable the young ladies to calm their wearied brains for sleep. Degrees are conferred b}^ Elmira only for merit. The practice of granting honorary distinction has fallen into disuse. A title from this institution represents work of high value actually done under competent supervision. Elmira College has always issued a general annual catalogue, and of late has added thereto, each year, separate catalogues or circulars for the art and music schools. No historical volume, however, has been published. In 1890 the word "female" was legally expunged from the title, and the proper designation of the institution now is simply "Elmira College." No legal limitation restricts the amount of gifts or of bequests in money to Elmira College. PRESIDENCY OF DR. GREEN. In June, 1893, the Rev. Rufus S. Green, D. D., was elected presi- dent, to succeed President Van Norden. He was a graduate of Hamilton College of the class of 1867. INGHAM UNIVERSITY, 1857, LEROY. By an act of the legislature in 1857 Ingham Collegiate Institute at Leroy, Genesee County, N. Y., was changed into Ingham University. This institution came into existence in 1841 as the Leroy Female Seminary. Only women were admitted to the university. It was a INGHAM UNIVERSITY. 445 Presbj^terian school, but- other denominations were entitled to repre- sentation in the board of trustees "in proj)ortion to the funds con- tributed for its support. " An interesting item for the history of higher education of women is the claim on the part of this universitj^ "to have been the first to introduce a college curriculum for the education of young ladies and the first that was empowered to grant diplomas." The regular course extended over four years. Three departments — those of literature, music, and art — were open to students. In 1890 there were 144 collegiate students in the institution; its chancellor was the Rev. W. W. Totherole, D. D. ; the number of instructors was 13; the net value of the property was 193,755. In 1861 this institution received a grant of $5,000 from the State. Its collegiate chai-ter was revoked by the regents in 1892. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Historical sketch of Ingham University, 1876. Laws, 1857. Regents' reports. 446 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. VASSAR COLLEGE, 1861, POUG-HKEEPSIE. [By Margaret Sherwood.] It occurred to me that woman, having received from her Creator the same intellectual con. stitution as man, has the same right as man to intellectual culture and development. It is my hope to be the instrument in the hand of Providence of founding an institution which shall accomplish for 3'oung women what our colleges are accomplishing for young men.— Mattheiv Vassar. Yassar College stands on the bank of the Hudson, 2 miles east of Poughkeepsie. The 200 acres that make up the college estate form a fitting background of meadow and hill and wood for the red brick buildings, the observatory, laboratory, museum, gymnasium, and conservatory that cluster around the large main building. HOW IT CAME INTO BEING. Perhaps the most important event in the history of Vassar is the fact of its foundation. That colleges for women should be founded having the standards and requirements of the American college for men was a wonder that has not yet ceased to call forth expressions of astonishment, even though Smith and Wellesley and Bryn Mawr and Barnard have risen up to say that Elmira and Vassar were not mis- takes. People were busy then, as now, in discussing the limitations of woman's mental and physical strength. While they were talking, it occurred to a practical man to give them the opportunity to settle the cxuestion by fair trial. "It is my hope," said Matthew Vassar, when the college was about to be opened, "indeed, it has been the main incentive to all I have already done, or may hereafter do or hope to do, to inaugurate a new era in the history and life of woman. I wish to give one sex all the advantages so long monopolized by the other. Ours is and is to be an institution for women, not men. In all its labors, positions, rewards, and hopes, the idea is the development and exposition, and the marshaling to the front and the preferment of women, of their powers on every side, demonstrative of their equality with men. * * * This, I conceive, ma}^ be fully accomplished within the rational limits of true womanliness and without the slightest hazard to the attract- iveness of her character. We are indeed already defeated before we commence, if such development be in the least dangerous to the dear- est attributes of her sex. We are not the less defeated, if it be haz- ardous for her to avail herself of her highest educated powers when that point is gained. We are defeated if we start upon the assump- tion that she has no powers save those she may derive or imitate from the other sex. We are defeated if we recognize the idea that .she may not, with every propriety, contribute to the world the ben- efits of matured faculties which education evokes. We are especially defeated if we fail to express by our acts our practical belief in her preeminent powers as an instructor of her own sex. " I VASSAR COLLEGE. 447 The man to whose generous confidence in women not only the daughters of Yassar, but all the college women of America owe a debt of gTatitude, was an Englishman by birth. THE FOUNDER'S LIFE. Matthew Vassar was born on the 29th of April, 1792, at East Dere- ham, in the county of Xorfolk, England. His father, a farmer, emi- gi-ated to America in 1796, and settled near the city of Poughkeepsie. Here he raised barley and brewed ale, ale no less famous than the beer that afterwards earned the money to found Vassar. 3Iatthew, when a boy of fourteen, seriously objecting to assist his father in the brew- ery already- established in Poughkeepsie, disappeared from home. With his clothes tied up in a pocket handkerchief, as became a hero, with his mother's blessing and her i3arting gift of 75 cents, he crossed the river at Xew Hamburg, and walking southward found emijlojTuent in a country store near Xewburg. Here he stayed four years, devel- oping the business ability that afterwards characterized him, return- ing home at the end at that time with 8150. He became his father's bookkeeper, afterwards started an independent business, and slowly built up a great fortune. Two nephews, Matthew Vassar, jr., and John Guy Vassar, were associated Avith hdm in the business before his own active connection with it ceased in 1866. HIS INTEREST IX EDUCATION. The idea of giving to women the opportunity to obtain the liberal education of which he had been deprived, was first suggested to Mr. Vassar by, a niece, principal of Cottage Hill Seminary in Poughkeep- sie. Throughout his busy life he had retained an interest in literature and in science, and in looking about the world to see where Ms money could be best emi^loyed, it is small wonder that he should think of woman and her needs. His interest resulted in the following resolve : To build a college in the proper sense of the word, an institution which should be to women what Yale and Harvard are to young men. receiving them after suit- able preparation at the academies and seminaries, and furnishing them with the means for a true liberal education. '' It was unoccupied ground,"' wrote President Raymond afterwards. " Millions had been spent in colleges for young men, while not a single endowed college for young women existed in all Christendom. " HIS DEATH. This interest in the college never waned until the day of his death, June 26, 1868. He had withdra\vn from his position on the executive committee of the board of trustees three years before, but still stood ready to heli3 with money, with sympathy, or with Ms keen business ability. Dr. Raymond ^vi-ote of Mm that "his heart was as big as an elephant's and as tender as a babe's." Also : It is a wonder how a man without any regular education can so correctly appreciate the necessities of such an institution, and the conditions of its success. 448 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. But it is the purity of his motives and the large and generous catholicity of his spirit, in connection with a broad common sense and much business experience, that explains it. He died while reading Ms annual address to tlie board of trustees, in which he wished them ' ' a cordial and final farewell. " Not expecting, from my advanced years and increasing infirmities, to meet with you officially again, I implore the Divine goodness to guide and direct you in all your councils. THE CHARTER. On the 18th of January, 1861, an act for the incorporation of the college was passed by the legislature of the State of New York, the bill having been received with much enthusiasm by the members of both houses. The first name given to the institution was "Vassar Female College," a name it retained until 1867, when the word "Female " was omitted. BOARD OF TRUSTEES. Mr. Vassar had already chosen 29 of his friends to form the first board of trustees. Most of them were, like himself. Baptists, though Mr. Vassar expressly stated that he wished the college to be non- sectarian. The first meeting was held at the Gregory House in Poughkeepsie, February 26, 1861. After an address Mr. Vassar transferred to the custody of the trustees bonds and mortgages, certificates of stock, and a deed of conveyance the value of which amounted to $408,000. MR. VASSAR' S SUBSEQUENT BEQUESTS. In addition to the sum already given, Mr. Vassar presented to the college in his lifetime the su.n of 195,000, and at his death bequeathed — 1. A lecture fund of $50,000. 2. An auxiliary fund of the same amount. 3. A library, art, and cabinet fund of the same amount. 4. A repair fund of over $100,000. THE FIRST PRESIDENT. At the first meeting of the board Prof. Milo P. Jewett was choseii| president of the college. This position he resigned in 1864, his place being filled by John H. Raymond, LL. D. Professor Jewett, prior to his resignation, had visited the leading schools for both sexes in England, France, and Germany, and returned to say that though his investigations had been interesting he had been unable to gain defi- nite ideas as to what the college should be. The new needs in a new eountry seemed to demand original methods of procedure. THE COLLEGE BUILDING. A contract was made by the board of trustees with James Ren- wick, jr., for the erection of the college buildings. The work was laiiri r: « r f f i r-* r VASSAE COLLEGE. 449 begnn as soon as possible, and on the 4th of June, 1861, Mr. Vassal* •'broke ground" in the i^resenee of a few of his friends, tracing with a j)low a part of the trench for the foundation stones of tlie building. In spite of the embarrassment from lack of funds during the civil war the college building was completed hj 1865, an observatory had been erected, and a gymnasium Avas already begun. The main build- ing is 500 feet in length, 200 feet through the center, and 164 feet through the transverse Avings. It contains six independent dwellings for officers, accommodations for 400 students, a chapel, dining hall, parlors, library, and a large number of recitation rooms. All pos- sible measures were taken to secure the comfort and safety of the young women who flocked to its doors. ORGAXIZATIOX. The legislative authority, now, as at the beginning of the college, is vested in the board of trustees, who meet annually. Its officers are chairman, treasurer, and secretary. The management of the college is intrusted to standing committees — the executive committee, the committee on faculty and studies, the committees on the library, on cabinets and apparatus, on the art department, on scholarships, and for examining securities. The internal organization has two branches, educational and domes- tic. The executive head of both is the president, upon whom devolves the educational direction and discipline of the college, as well as the moral and religious instruction of the students. The lady principal, who is the president's chief assistant, watches over the health, social connections, and habits of the students. For- merly the students were kept in order by teachers and faculty, but now, under a self-governing system, they have assumed responsibility for their own conduct. Each professor is the head of his department, having the direction of its methods, the organization of its classes, and the supervision of the teachers therein. The faculty, consisting of president, lady principal, professors, and instructors, are empowered to regulate the internal life of the college, educational and domestic, subject to the authority of the board of trustees. The "treasurer's department," the "steward's department," the "matron's department,'' the "engineer's department," the "janitor's department," and the "farm and garden" minister to the various needs of the members of the institution. In this way has the ideal of the founder been realized, that the col- lege woman should have the domestic comfort and the social life not deemed necessary for the college man. 3176 -29 450 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDU CATION IN NEW YORK. THE COLLEGE OPENED. On the 20th of September, 1865, the college was opened with 300 students, 8 professors, president, lady principal, and 20 assistant teachers. Three members of the faculty were women, as were all the assistants, it being the founder's opinion that it was due to simple justice and economy to have a large part of the instruction given by women. In the present faculty six of the professors and all of the assistants are women. LIONS IN THE WAY. Well equipped with instructors and with all the necessary apparatus for instruction, well supplied with students, this college, founded for the liberal education of woman, was confronted by the question: " What is a liberal education for a woman?" Should it incline less to the scientific and more to the SBsthetic? Should music and the modern languages supplant to any degree the Greek and Latin of the men's college? Wisely, the professors resolved to experiment. The trustees and founder had decided only a few points. 1. A complete domestic system must be incorporated with the educational. 2. The course of study must be liberal, thorough, and scientific, resembling not the academy or seminary but the American college. 3. The plan should not be a copy of existing models, but should be adapted to the needs of women. The claims of gesthetic culture were not to be ignored, and time should be allowed for the study of music and art. Several questions were still open to discussion: Should the college adopt the university system, allowing each student to select whatever studies her tastes might indicate, or should the course be to a certain degree prescribed? Should the preference be given to language and literature study rather than to mathematics? Should the aim be to give a practical education, and if so, what might a practical education be? THE FIRST PROSPECTUS. EarljT^ in the spring of 1865 a prospectus was issued, containing a provisional plan. Instruction was offered in all collegiate studies, the student being allowed to choose which she should take up, though her choice was subjected to the approval of president and faculty. Candidates for admission should be over 15 years of age and should be prepared to pass an examination in arithmetic, English grammar, geography, and American history. The different branches to be taught were grouped in ten departments, with the statement that the scheme was merely tentative. The difficulties to be met became apparent during the first year. The majority of the students had been poorly prepared. Many of them objected to taking up studies they did not like. It became VASSAE COLLEGE. 451 apparent that two measures must be taken : The first, the establish- ment of a preparatory school where young women could receive the tlioroug'h training necessary for admission to a collegiate course; the second, that a thorough course of study must be prescribed for the college classes in order to secure the desired results. In this last resolve the faculty were aided by the students themselves who, feel- ing the need of rigid mental discipline, pleaded for the introduction of a definite system with the highest educational standard. FIRST CLASSES. At the close of the second year an attempt was made to form the bodj^ of students into regular classes. The result was as follows: Whole number of students 352 Seniors 4 Juniors __ ._. 18 Sophomores 36 Freshmen 58 Regular preparatory students 71 Specials 165 PREPARATORY DEPARTMENT. The preparatory department existed until 1888, when the faculty refused to admit students who were unable to enter the college classes. This was done on the plea that the admission of younger students tended to lower the standard of the institution. PERMANENT COURSE OP STUDY. The college did not attain a full collegiate character until the close of the third year. A plan for a permanent course of study was pre- sented to the trustees at their meeting on June 23, 1868, and received their approval. ORIGINAL CURRICULUM. [From the catalogue of 1867-68.] There are two regular courses of study pursued in the college, the classical and philosophical course and the scientific and modern-language course, and between these each student is allowed her choice. In special cases where advanced stu- dents desire to supply particular deficiencies in their previous education, courses specially suited to their wants will be arranged for them under the direction of the president and faculty. REQUISITES FOR THE FRESHMAN CLASS. 1 . For admission to the freshman class in either course the student must be pre- pared for examination in the following, or in equivalents: Harkness's Introduc- tory Latin Book; Harkness's Reader; Csesar, four books; Cicero, four orations; Virgil, six books; Harkness's Latin Grammar, complete; Robinson's University Algebra, to equations of second degree; Quackenbos's or Boyd's Rhetoric; out- lines of general history. 2. A further examination will be required — (1) For admission to the freshman class, in the classical course: In Harkness's Introductory Greek Book, Xenophon's Anabasis, three books, and Ktihner's Gram- mar, to syntax. 452 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION UST ISTEW YORK. (2) For admission to the freshman class, in the scientific and modern-language course: In Otto's French Course, Fasquelle's Colloquial Reader, Williams's English into French. CLASSICAL COURSE. Freshman year. First semester. — Latin: Livy, Arnold's Prose Composition. Greek: Felton's Historians; Klihner's Grrammar, syntax; Arnold's Prose Com- position. Mathematics: Robinson's University Algebra, completed. English: Exercises in composition. Second semester. — Latin: Cicero, de Senectute et Amicitia; prose composi- tion. Greek: Homer's Iliad, six books; Klih- ner's grammar, completed. Mathematics: Loomis's geometry. English: Exercises in grammatical analyses. SCIENTIFIC COURSE. Freshman year. First semester. — Latin: Livy, Arnold's Prose Composition. French: Poiterin's Grammaire; La- rousse's Lexicologie, I'' Annee; How- ard's Aids to Composition, begun; Scribe and Racine. Mathematics: Same as in classical course. English: Same as in classical course. Second sernester. — Latin: Same. French: Poiterin, 1 " Annee, andHov?-- ard's Aids; completed. Racine and Sou- vestre. Mathematics: Same. Botany: Gray's Lessons and Manual, with excursions. English: Exercises in analysis. [Sophomore and junior programmes are omitted.] Senior year. Senior year. First semester. — Intellectual philoso- phy: Haven. Anatomy: Gray. Chemistry: Stockhardt and Wells. Astronomy: Robinson's, begun. German: Woodbury's Method; Adler's Reader. Italian: Grammar and reader. Latin: Cicero's Tusculan Disputations. Second semester. — Moral philosophy: Wayland. Physiology: John C. Draper. Astronomy: Robinson's, completed. Criticism: Kames's Elements. Languages: German (Goethe's Iphi- genia); Italian (Dante), or Greek (lyri- cal poets) . i In the junior and senior years each student elects three of the studies laid down for each semester, subject to the approval of the faculty. PRESENT CURRICULUM. Various changes have taken place in the course, as maj^ be seen "by comparison of the above with the following extract from the catalogue for 1894-95:^ ' The plan of having two distinct courses, the classical and scientific, was aban- doned, and a course partly prescribed, partly elective, was substituted. First semester. — Philosophy: Same. Anatomy: Same. Chemistry: Same. Astronomy: Pierce's spherical, begun. German: Goethe's Torquato Tasso; free compositions. Italian: Same as in classical. Logic and political economy: Whately and Wayland. Second semester. — Philosophy: Same. Physiology: Same. Astronomy: Pierce's, completed. Criticism: Same. Languages: German, Italian, or French literature. VASSAR COLLEGE. 453 Candidates for the freshman class are examined in the following studies: English. — In 1895 every candidate will be required to write a short composition upon a subject assigned at the time and taken from one of the following works: Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night; Milton's L'Allegro, II Penseroso, Comus, and Lycidas; The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers in the Spec- tator; Irving"s Sketch Book; Scott's Abbot; Webster's First Bunker Hill Oration; Macaulay's Essay on Milton, Essay on Addison; Longfellow's Evangeline. The examination essay should cover not less than two pages, foolscap; it should be correct in spelling, punctuation, idiom, and division into paragraphs. Beginning with 1896, the entrance requirements will be as follows: 1. Reading: A certain number of books are set for reading. The candidate is required to present evidence of a general knowledge of the subject-matter, and to answer simple questions on the lives of the authors. The form of examination will usually be the writing of a paragraph or two on each of several topics, to be chosen by the candidate from a considerable number — perhaps ten or fifteen— set before him in the examination paper. The treatment of these topics is designed to test the candidate's power of clear and accurate expression, and will call for only a general knowledge of the substance of the books. The books set for this part of the examination will be: In 1896: Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream; De Foe's History of the Plague in London; Irving's Tales of a Traveller; Scott's Woodstock; Macaulay's Essay on Milton; Longfellow's Evangeline; George Eliot's Silas Marner. History. — Outlines of Greek and Roman history to the establishment of the Roman Empire; outlines of American or English history. Any standard history of Greece, Rome, England, or the United States may be used. The following are recommended: For Greek and Roman history, the sections on Greek and Roman history in Sheldon's General History or Myers' General History; for American history, Johnston's History of the United States or Fiske's History of the United States; for English history, Gardiner's English History for Schools or Montgom- ery's Leading Facts in English History. Mathematics. — (a) Algebra: The requirements in algebra embrace the follow- ing subjects: Factors; common divisors and multiples; fractions; ratio and pro- portion; negative quantities and interpretation of negative results; the doctrine of exponents; radicals and equations involving radicals; the binomial theorem of the extraction of roots; arithmetical and geometrical progressions; putting questions into equations; the ordinary methods of elimination and the solution of both numerical and literal equations of the first and second degrees, with one or more unknown quantities, and of problems leading to such equations. The text-books used should be equivalent to the larger treatises of Newcomb, Olney, Ray, Robin- son, Todhunter, Wells, or Wentworth. (5) Plane geometry, as much as is contained in the first five books of Chauve- net's Treatise on Elementary Geometry, or the first five books of Wentworth's New Plane and Solid Geometry, or Wells's Plane Geometry, or the first six books of Hamblin Smith's Elements of Geometry, or chapter first of Olney's Elements of Geometry. In order to pursue successfully the work of the college, recent review of the work completed early in the preparatory course is necessary. Latin. — Grammar, Allen and Greenough or Gildersleeve-Lodge; Latin compo- sition. Collar (parts third and fourth) , or Daniell (parts first and second) , or Allen (fifty lessons) ; Caesar, Gallic War, four books; Cicero, seven orations (the Manil- ian Law to count as two); Vergil, ^neid, six books. Translation at sight from Csesar's and Cicero's orations. The Roman method of pronunciation is used. The attention of preparatory schools is specially called to the following points: 1. Latin composition: Greater thoroughness in drilling the student in the gram- matical forms and simpler constructions of the language. 454 HISTOKY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. The advantage of studying Latin prose in connection with the various authors read. 3. Pronunciation: Practice in reading Latin with special attention to vowel quantities. Training the ear by the translation of Latin read aloud. In addition to the Latin, one other language is required. This may be Greek, German, or French. In 1896 a third language (French or German) will be required. Greek. — Candidates must be able to read at sight easy Greek prose and easy passages from Homer; also, to render easy English passages into correct Greek. For this they should have thorough training in grammar, with constant practice from the start in translating sentences into Greek, and should read carefully at least four books of the Anabasis or the Hellenica and three books of the Iliad or the Odyssey, with constant practice in translating at sight. They should have at command a fair vocabulary, should be able to recognize forms at a glance, and to read Greek aloud intelligently and with correct pronunciation. Practice in translating from hearing is recommended strongly. Gervian {if offered as the second language). — Candidates for the freshman class are expected to have a thorough knowledge of German grammar; they must have acquired facility in practically applying the rules of construction by translating easy English prose into German. They are also required to read and to be able to give in German some account of the following works: Immermann, Der Oberhof ; Wagner, Goethe's Knabenjahre (Cambridge University Press ed.); Lessing, Minna von Barnhelm; Schiller, Wilhelm Tell (Deering ed.); Goethe, Hermann und Dorothea; Freytag, Die Journalisten. Throughout the course German is the language of the class room, therefore good preparation in conversation is necessary, facility in reading and writing German script indispensable. German {if offered as the third language). — Schmitz, Elements of German Lan- guage, I, II. Translation. Three of the following books: Fouque, Undine; Storm, Immensee; Heyse, L'Arrabiata; Gerstacker, Germelshausen; Freytag, Soil und Haben (Macmillan ed.). French {if offered as the second language) . — A thorough knowledge of French grammar and ability to translate easy English prose into French. (Whitney, Practical French Grammar, recommended). Six of Bocher's College Plays: Daudet, La Belle Nivernaise; Souvestre, Un Philosophe Sous Les Toits; Julliot, Mademoiselle Solange; Dumas, La Tulipe Noire; Erckmann-Chantria, Le Con- sent de 1813. As French is the language of the class room, it is essential that candidates for admission should have some practice in French conversation. French {if offered as the third language).— A knowledge of the fundamental principles of grammar. Whitney's Practical French Grammar, part first. Henri Greville, Dosia; Octave Feuillet, Le Roman d'un Jeune homme pauvre; Daudet, La Belle Nivernaise, and three of Bochers's College Plays. It should be under- stood that in these requirements it is the knowledge of the language itself, rather than of the grammar which is demanded. The full preparation in either French or German should cover a period of at least two years, five recitations a week, under competent instructors. ADMISSION TO ADVANCED STANDING. Candidates for advanced standing not coming from other colleges may be admitted, on examination, to the regular course at any time previous to the begin- ning of the the junior year. Such students will be examined in all prescribed studies antecedent to the desired grade, including the requirements for admission to the college, and in such elective studies as shall be chosen by the candidate and approved by the faculty. VASSAR COLLEGE. 455 Candidates coming from other colleges must submit their courses of study and their certificates to the judgment of the faculty. No student will be received as a candidate for the degree of bachelor of arts after the beginning of the senior year. COURSES AND METHODS OP INSTRUCTION, ARRANGED BY DEPARTMENTS. The course of study leading to the baccalaureate degree extends over four years. The aim is to give the student the opportunity to follow lines of study continu- ously through both the required and the optional portions of the course. Through the first two years of the course each student must have fifteen hours of class-room work per week. During the last two years, fourteen hours are allowed; in 1895-96 this rule will apply to the second semester of the sophomore year. All elections are subject to the approval of the faculty. No changes in elec- tions will be considered after the first Monday o^ the semester. Two languages, Latin and the second language offered for entrance to the col- lege, are required throughout the freshman year of every candidate for a degree. The second language may be Grreek, G-erman, or French. An opportunity is given, in the elective part of the course, for beginning the study of Greek, German, or French. Important changes in the curricultim will go into effect in 1895-96. There will be less prescribed work and a number of new elective courses will be offered. DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSES. FRESHMAN YEAR. Latin. — The course in Latin extends through the four years of the undergradu- ate course, being required for the first and elective for the last three years. The aim of the course is to acquaint the student with the principal phases of literary activity among the Romans through the study of representative authors. In the department of history, Livy and Tacitus exhibit natural development in style and method. Cicero and Lucretius represent opposing schools in Roman philosophy; Horace and Juvenal show the growth of satire; Horace, Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius, that of elegy and the lyric; Plautus and Terence, the course of Roman comedy. Using these authors as starting points, the endeavor is to bring before the student the lines along which the various departments developed, and also to show the connection of literature with history and politics, as v/ell as with the various social conditions and relations of Roman life. The development of the language in literary form is pointed out through expla- nations of grammatical forms and constructions, and the relation in which these stand to the historical growth of syntax. Much stress is laid on these points in connection with the required work of the freshman year, and while attention is still directed toward them in the elective courses of the other years (especially in the study of Plautus and Terence) , the literary side of the language is made promi- nent. Facility in reading Latin is cultivated by translation at sight. The study of Latin composition is pursued in the freshman and sophomore years for the most part in connection with the authors read. Required: 1. Cicero, two orations (Verrine or Philippics), Livy, Books 'XXI- XXII (Westcott) or Books V-VII (Cluer) [3] Latin prose composition [1]. First semester. 2. Livy (continued), Cicero, de Senectute or de Amicitia (Kelsey) [3], Latin prose composition [IJ. Second semester. The purpose of this course, wh^ch runs through the freshman year, is to enable the student to read ordinary prose Latin with greater ease and intelligence. The 456 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. I weekly exercises in Latin composition are for the most part based on the texts | read, and translation from hearing Latin read is a regular class exercise. The ! peculiarities of "Livy's style are now constantly noted and contrasted with the classic idiom of the selections from Cicero. The orations will not be read this year. OreeJc.— The aim is to acquire as many-sided a knowledge of Greek as possible. Facility in reading Greek is cultivated, and to this end practice at sight is given and private reading is encouraged. Attention is paid to grammatical principles, to the development of the language and of the literature, to different phases of Greek life and thought. Careful study is given to the style of each author and to the distinctive Excellence of each, and in advanced classes to text criticism. The courses given embrace representative authors in history, oratory, philosophy, in epic, lyric, and dramatic poetry. In the junior year, a course in elementary Greek is offered to any non-Greek students who may wish it. A society called the Hellenic Society has been formed for the purpose of keep- ing itself acquainted with the results of archaeological research in Greece. Vassar College contributes to the support of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. The school affords facilities for archasological investigation ; and study in Greece, and graduates of this college are entitled to all its advan- | tages without expense for tuition. Required: 1. Lysias; Plato, Apology [3]. English into Greek [1]. Translation at sight and also from hearing. Lectures on legal, political, and social aspects of Athenian life. Freshman year, first semester. 2. Homer, Odyssey; Herodotus [3]. English into Greek [1]. Translation at sight. Lectures on Homeric antiquities and on the Homeric question. Historical , explanation of the Homeric forms and syntax. Freshman year, second semester. ! 3. Demosthenes, On the Crown; ^schines, Against Ctesiphon [2]. English ^i into Greek [!]. Lectures on Attic orators. Sophomore year, first semester. a| 4. Plato, Protagoras [2]. Lectures on Socrates, the Socratic method, the Sophists. Sophomore year, second semester. Courses 3 and 4 will not be required after this year. j French.— Required: 1 and 2. Reading, Balzac, Eugenie Grandet; Hugo, Her- j nani and Quatrevingt-treize; Ponsard, Charlotte Corday; Delavigne, Louis XL i Translation of English into French. Review of syntax. One hour a week of the second semester is devoted to the literature of the nineteenth century. Bonnefon Ecrivains modernes. Freshman year, first and second semesters [41. G^ermoji.— Required: 1 and 2. Grammar. Composition. Translation at sight from English into German. Harris, German prose composition; Buchheim, prose composition: Eichendorf, Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts. Poems by Goethe, Schiller, Uhland, Chamisso, etc. Schiller, Maria Stuart; Goethe, Egmont. Fresh- man year, first and second semesters [4J. In the freshman year the grammatical principles are carefully reviewed and in the subsequent classes incidental instruction in grammar is given. English.— The instruction given by the department of English has three objects: (1) proficiency in English composition; (2) a general acquaintance with English literature; (3) a more minute knowledge of certain authors, whose works illustrate the development not only of English literature, but also of the English language. The first of these objects is considered in the required work of the freshman and sophomore years — courses 1 and 2, and 3, respectively, and in elective courses A and B. Especial stress is laid upon frequent and regular practice. The second of these objects is considered in the required sophomore courses 4 and 5, which are introductory to the subject, and in elective courses C, D, E, F, and G. In these courses a large amount of reading is prescribed, a still larger amount is recommended, and from time to time written work is required. VASSAK COLLEGE. 457 The third of these objects is considered in elective courses H and I, J, K, L, and M. The courses in elocution are included in this department for convenience, but form no part of the regular English work, and are not counted toward the degree of A. B. They consist of a required course for freshmen, one hour per week, second semester, and of an elective course, open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors, one hour per week, second semester. Required: 1. English composition. Genung's Outlines of Rhetoric; exercises, weekly themes. Freshman year, first semester [3] . 3. English composition. Wendell's English Composition, illustrated by a study of masterpieces; themes and essays. Freshman year, second semester [3]. Mathematics. — Required: 1. Solid and spherical geometry. Freshman year, first semester [3] . The exercises in geometry include recitations from the text-book, original dem- onstrations of propositions and applications of principles to numerical examples. The text-book is Chauvenet (revised by Byerly). 2. Algebra. Freshman year, second semester [2] . The text-book in algebra is Hall and Knight's Higher Algebra. 3. Plane trigonometry (Wells). Freshman year, second semester [2], In plane trigonometry attention is given to trigonometric analysis and the solu- tion of triangles. After the student has gained facility in the use of trigonometric tables, application of the principles is made to problems in mensuration, survey- ing, and navigation. Hygiene. — Required: Hygiene [1] . Freshman year. A course running through the year. One hour weekly is devoted to this course, and the study comprises lec- tures, recitations, and practical investigation of the principles of house sanitation. Drawings and models are provided for this study. All new students are required to attend. In 1895-96 this course will extend through the first semester only. SENIOR YEAR. Philosophy. — The study of psychology is required of all candidates for a degree. The subject is presented as science of mind, to be distinguished on the one hand from the physical sciences and on the other from speculative philosophy. The intimate relation of mental phenomena to the physical organism is carefully con- sidered and the practical bearing of psychological principles on the rules of thought and methods of education is kept constantly in view. The aim of the instructor in this subject, as in all the courses of the department, is both to further the immediate intellectual discipline of the student and also to lay a basis for the formation of a sound and independent conception of self, the world, and God. Lectures and text-book study are supplemented by essays and free class-room dis- cussion. The student is encouraged in every way possible to think for herself. The course in ethics is also required of students for a degree. The methods of instruction are similar to those outlined above. A text-book forms the basis of the work, and is made the ground of free discussion. A course of lectures sup- plements the work, and reading in the history of ethical philosophy is required. Topics of study are the conscience, moral law, the will, and the ultimate ground of moral obligation. The relations of the principles thus discovered to the duties of moral beings to self, others, and God are discussed. Required: Ethics; lectures on the ethical philosophy. Senior year, second semes- ter [3], (After this year, first semester. ) Elective: Course A. — History of ancient philosophy; lectures, recitations, read- ing of authors in translation, essays. Junior year, second semester [3] . (Also open to seniors in 1894-95). Course B. — History of modern philosophy. Senior year, second semester [3J. (In 1895-96 this course will extend through both semesters.) 458 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. Sanskrit. — Sanskrit is an elective course of two hours running through senior year. The study of the characters and inflections of the language is first taken up with Whitney's Grammar as a text-book; later, selections from Lanman's Reader are read. Students should consult with the instructor before electing the course. For the present year the course is given in part. Latin. — Course I: Roman elegy, Catullus (Merrill), Tibullus and Propertius (Ramsay). First semester [3] . Catullus's position among Latin poets, his originality, the influence of the Alexandrine school, and similar questions are considered. Tibullus and Proper- tius are used to illustrate the development of the elegy. This course will be offered in 1895-96. Course J: Juvenal, Satires (Hardy), Pliny, Letters (Pritchard and Bernard). First semester [3] , As these authors present opposite views of social life in Rome under the Early Empire, an important feature of the work consists in the preparation of papers on various topics suggested by the text. Course K: Lucretius I, III (Kelsey), Cicero, Tusculan Disputations I (Harpers text). Second semester [3] . The first Book of Lucretius gives a general presentation of his form of Epicu- reanism, and from the third Book and the Tusculan Disputations are selected the portions that bear on the questions of the immortality of the soul. Course L: Roman institutions. Second semester [2]. The purpose of the course is to trace the connection between modern institu- tions and forms of government and those of ancient Rome. After briefly consid- ering the attitude of modern criticism toward the early period of Roman history, the institutions of the regal period are taken up, the manner of their development into republican forms and offices, and their final absorption into those of the Empire. The original authorities as well as the works of Niebuhr, Lewis, Ihne, and Mommsen are used. This course is open to sophomores. Course M: An introduction to comparative grammar. Second semester [1]. This course is intended to give some general idea of the history, theories, and methods of modern philology, with special illustration from the Grgeco-Italic group of languages. The class will consult the works of Whitney, Delbruck, and others with references to the larger treatises of Brugmann, King and Cookson, and G. Meyer. (jj-eeifc.— Course B: (Short course continued. ) Same work as in freshman course. First and second semesters [3] . Course I: Plato, Republic. First semester [3]. Course J: Aristotle, Politics. Second semester [3]. Course K: ^schylus, Seven against Thebes and Agamemnon. Second semes- ter [2]. (Begins in 1894-95.) Course L: Pindar and lyric poetry. Second semester [2]. (Begins in 1895-96.) French.— Gouvsa F: Corneille, Le Cid, Racine, Andromaque, Moliere, Le Bour- geois gentilhomme. Lectures upon the society of the seventeenth century, the Hotel de Rambouillet, and the French Academy. Discussions of topics that have been prepared by the students. Conversation. First semester [2]. Course G: Critical, analytical, and comparative study of the drama of the sev- enteenth century. Lectures upon the rise of the French drama. Extensive readings. Conversation. Second semester [2] . Course H: The philosophical, the religious, and the miscellaneous literature of the seventeenth century— Pascal, Descartes, Bossuet, La Fontaine, and Mme. de Sevigne. Lectures and conversation. First semester [2] . VASSAR COLLEGE. 459 Course I: The literature of the Renaissance period. Reading of extracts from the works of Amj'ot. Montaigne, Agrippa d'Aubigne, and other writers of the times. Lectures on French literature from its beginning to our times. Second semester [2]. Course J: Contemporary literature. The literary theories of the Romanticists, the Naturalists, the Parnassians, the Symbolists, and the Decadents. Foreign influences— Tolstoism and Ibsenism, The moral and religious reaction in litera- ture. The new critics, Brunetiere, Tissot, Faguet. Recent writers, Taine, Renan, Scherer, Cherbuliez, Loti, Coppee, Daudet, and de Vogue. Senior year, first and second semesters [2] . German. — Course G: History of modern literature. Critical study of poetical productions. Collateral readings and lectures will supplement the work in the classroom. Essays. Lessing's prose works. First semester [2] . Course H: Work of course G continued. Goethe's Faust, Parts I and II. Sec- ond semester [2]. Course I: Gore, Science Reader, or Hodges's Course in Scientific German. Sec- ond semester [IJ . English. — Course H: Anglo-Saxon. Bright's Anglo-Saxon Reader; Sievers's Grammar. First semester [3] . Course I: Anglo-Saxon. Beowulf. Versification. Textual criticism. Theories of origin. Second semester [3]; continuation of H. Omitted in 1894-95. Course J: Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales (Clarendon Press series) and Minbt Poems. First semester [3J. (Second semester, 1894-95.) Courses K and L: Shakespeare. A minute study of six plays, three each semester. May be elected for a single semester or for the whole college year. First and second semesters [3] . Coiirse M: Bacon and Milton. Bacon "s Essays and Advancement of Learning; Milton's Areopagitica, English i^oems, and first two or three books of Paradise Lost. First semester [3] , alternate years, beginning with 1895-96. Mathematics. — Course F: Quaternions. First semester [3]. Course G: Quaternions continued. Second semester [2]. This course includes the general properties of scalars and vectors, quaternion interpretation and applications of quaternions to the geometry of the plane, right- line, and sphere. Course F presupposes courses A and C. Course I: Curve tracing. First semester [2]. Lecture course with daily practice in curve tracing. Prerequisite: Courses A, C, H. Course J: Analytic geometry of three dimensions (C. Smith). The geometry of planes and quadric surfaces. Second semester [3J . Prerequisite: Courses A, C, H, I. Course K: Modern methods in analytic geometry. First semester [3]. Course L: Modern methods in analytic geometry. Continuation of Course K. Second semester [3]. Prerequisite: Courses A, C, H, I, J. Course M: Projective geometry. First semester [3] . Course N: Projective geometry. Continuation of Course M. Second semes- ter [3]. A lecture course based on Reye's Geometrie der Lage. Prerequisite: Course A. Course O: Analytic mechanics. First semester [3]. The elements of statics and dynamics. Applications to practical problems. The fundamental principles of mechanics and the elements of the theory of the potential. 460 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. Prerequisites: Courses A, C, D. Astronomy. — Course D: Spherical and practical astronomy. First semester [3]. Course E: Theoretical astronomy. Second semester [2] . These courses enter into a more detailed study of certain departments of practi- cal and theoretical astronomy, and require a working knowledge of the calculus. They must, therefore, presuppose mathematical courses A and B. During the first semester the students use the meridian circle, making and reducing their own observations. They iDredict occultations and observe them. In the second semes- ter practice is transferred to the equatorial telescope. The order and character of practical work through the year, however, must frequently vary according to the positions of celestial objects of study. Theoretical astronomy is generally treated under the form of comet's orbit. Course F: The solar spectrum. Second semester [2]. This course in the study of the sun will introduce the student to the principles underlying our knowledge of the constitution of the celestial bodies as revealed by the spectroscope. It does not presuppose the course in general astronomy, but an ordinary knowledge of the solar system is desirable. P/iysics.— Course D: Practical physics; experimental work in physical meas- urements and electricity with lectures and collateral reading. First semester [3]. Course E: Practical physics; experimental work in light with lectures and col- lateral reading. Second semester [3] . Chemistry. — Course D: Organic chemistry. First semester [3]. Two lectures and three hours of laboratory work per week. Open to those who have completed Course B. Coiirse E: Sanitary chemistry. Second semester [3].= One lecture and six hours' laboratory work per week. Chemistry of air and water in their relation to health, water supply and purification, ventilation, food adulteration, and legal standards of purity. Open to those who have completed courses C and D. Course F: History of chemical theory. Second semester [2]. Open to those who have completed Course D. Geology. — Course D: An advanced course, either in petrography or in paleonto- logical and stratigraphical geology, with practice in field work. First semester [2] . Course E: Advanced geology. Either a continuation of Course C, or, for those who have not pursued Course C, a similar course. Second semester [2]. Biology.— Course C: General Zoology. First semester [3]. Three lectures and four hours laboratory work weekly. Open to those who have had Course B. This gives the student a systematic knowledge of the animal kingdom, attention being paid chiefly to the classification, development, and homologies of inverte- brates. Course D: Embryology. Second semester [8] . Three lectures, four hours' labo- ratory work weekly. Open to those who have had Course B. Thorough work on the embryology of the chick is followed by a brief compara- tive study of the development of the vertebrates. The usual method of making and studying sections of the chick is supplemented by models in clay made by the students to illustrate the more important stages in development. Course E: Higher biology. Second semester [1] : Open to those who have taken Courses C and D. This course begins with a history of the development of the biological sciences with special reference to the growth of the evolution theory. Some of the leading questions of biology, such as natural selection, evolution, heredity, are discussed in the lectures. Course F: Current biological literature. First and second semesters [1]. Open to seniors who have had Course B and are taking Courses C and D. The class meets weekly throughout the year. The aim of the course is to give VASSAE COLLEGE. 461 the student familiarity witli current biological literature, practice in bibliography , and in the presentation and discussion of papers. Course Gr: Comparative anatomy or histology. Second semester [2]. Three to four hours' laboratory work a week. Open to those who have had course B. This course is intended to give a comparative knowledge of the structure of the various organs of vertebrates. Those who wish to study medicine will have an opportunity to do special work in comparative osteology. This course may alter- nate with a course in histology. History. — Course D: American constitutional history. First semester [4]. This coiTrse is open to students who have had at least three courses in history. The course is intended to offer opportunity for critical study of the origin and development of the American Constitution. The specific lines of work along which the general subject is studied vary from year to year. The class is divided into small sections, thus affording opportunity for constant discussion of facts and principles and the individual study of special topics. Course E: American and English constitutional history. Second semester [3J. This course is open to students who have completed Course D. The course completes the work of Course D, and includes a comparative study of the existing political institutions of America and England. Course F: Nineteenth century history. First semester [2]. This course is open to students who have completed Course B and Course C. The object of the course is to study the different political conditions in Western Europe as they have been developed from the French Revolution. The special subjects considered include the growth of republican ideas in France, the unifica- tion of Italy, the establishment of the German Empire, and the revolutionary movements of 1830 and 1848. Special topics for individual study are taken up by each member of the class and pursued throughout the semester. Course G: Comparative politics. Second semester [2]. This course is open to those who have completed Course F. The work comprises a study of different theories in regard to the origin and functions of the State, with an examination of the application of these theories in the different forms of modern federal government. The specific questions con" sidered vary from year to year. During the year 1895-96 and subsequently the reqtiired work in history will be a course of three hours a week throughout the sophomore year in general Euro- pean history. Economics. — Course D: Railroad transportation, trusts, and the relation of the State to monopolies. First semester [2] . Must be preceded by A. Laissez-faire, the argument for and against, and substitutes proposed for this precept; definition and classification of monopolies; transportation prior to the railway, development of the railway system, results of improved transportation and communication, railway organization and accounts, competition, combina- tion, discrimination, rates, railroad policy of different countries and of this coun- try before 1887, constitutional and legal limitation of the legislative power in controlling transportation agencies, proposed solutions of the railway problem, including State ownership, the interstate commerce law and its results; the devel- opment, organization, advantages, and dangers of trusts, antitrust legislation; municipal ownership of waterworks, gas works, electric-lighting plants and street railways; conclusion as to the jjroper treatment of monopolies. Course E: (a) The labor problem; its origin and attempts toward its solution; (b) Socialism. Second semester [8j. Open to those having had A. The chief topics considered will be the historical basis of the labor problem in the economic development of the last hundred years; the progress and present condition of the working classes; their complaints and claims; history and aims of workingmen's combinations; conciliation and arbitration; cooperation; profit 462 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. sharing; different views as to the proper relation of the State to industry; factory and other legislation; history of socialism, its present strength, critical study of the proposals of the different schools of socialists; principles of social reform. Course F : Social science. First semester [2J . Open only to seniors who have taken A. Sociological bearings of natural selection, heredity, environment, free will; phys- ical, physiological, psychological, moral, and social causes of abnormality; sta- tistics of the causes of pauperism, history of the English poor laws; principles that should direct charity; private relief, charity organization, public relief, alms- houses, old age pensions and workingmen's insurance; relief for the unemployed, including labor colonies and the tramp problem; dependent children; relief of the sick; insanitj'; statistics of the causes of crime; criminal anthropology; preven- tion of crime; principles that should govern the treatment of offenders; delin- quent children; reformatories; prison methods, cumulative sentence; the family and divorce. Visits have been made to various charitable and correctional insti- tutions, of which there is a considerable variety within easy access of the college. The formal and informal lectures by those in charge of the institutions visited have been very instructive. Course G: Economic seminary. Second semester [2]. This course will be offered only when desired by several proiserly prepared students. A prerequisite for admission is the completion with success of at least three courses in economics. If not previously taken. Course E must be elected contemporaneously with the seminary. Art. — Course C [2] : First semester. Painting: Classic and Byzantine painting, Renaissance painting, Giotto, Fra Angelico, Masaccio, Leonardo, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Titian, Veronese, Durer, Rubens, Rembrandt, Velasquez, Murillo, Poussin, David, Millet, Hogarth, Rey- nolds, Benjamin West. Music. — Course C: Counterpoint. Exercises in adding one, two, three, four, or more voices in simple counterpoint to given or original cantus fermi. Also the principles employed in writing double counterpoint, canon, and fugue. First semester [2]. Course D: History. It is the aim in this course to study, under the following headings, the outlines of musical progress from the time of the most ancient Oriental civilization to the present. Oriental and ancient music; the first ten cen- turies of Christian music; from Guido to the fourteenth century; epoch of the Netherlanders; the rise of dramatic music; the beginning of oratorio; instrumental music from the sixteenth to the nineteen century; general development of Italian, French, and German opera; of the oratorio, cantata, passion music, and sacred music. First semester [2] . Course E: History of dramatic music. The Greek drama; its rise and decline. Invention of the opera or rediscovery of dramatic music by the Florentine Cam- erati, and its progressive development into the music drama of Richard Wagner. History and synopsis of operas representative of the various schools — Neapolitan, French, Italian- German, national German, and cosmopolitan. To be illustrated at the piano forte. Second semester [2] . Course F: History of sacred music. Second semester [2]. Liturgical music and musical insti'uments of ancient peoples; music of the early Christians; of the Roman, Greek, and Protestant church. History and analysis of the forms em- ployed in modern worship music, namely: The recitative, aria, chant, canticle, anthem, motette, chorus, familiar hymn tunes and Gospel hymns, cantata, ora- torio, passion music, and mass. History and analysis of one or more of the stand- ard oratorios (the Creation, the Messiah, Elijah, St. Paul, etc.), and of organ music and miscellaneous solo forms suitable for purposes of worship. VASSAR COLLEGE. 463 Courses E and F are exchangeable. Students electing both may count but one toward the degree. The College Chorus meets once a week and offers class training in the principles and practice of vocal music, namely: Notation, time, accent, dynamics, tone pro- duction, articulation, and expression. GRADUATE COURSES. Courses of advanced study will be arranged by the various departments of the college for graduates of colleges who may prove to the faculty their ability to profit by them. The student will have the advantage of study with the instructor and of a general direction in her investigations. Graduate courses of study, under the direction of the heads of the different departments of instruction, will be arranged for such resident graduates as wish to take examinations for the second degree in arts (A. M.). DEGREES. students who have completed the regular course will receive the first or bacca- laureate degree in arts (A. B.). No person will be admitted to the college as a candidate for the degree of bach- elor of arts after the beginning of the first semester of the senior year. The second degree in arts (A. M. ) may be conferred upon bachelors of arts of this or any other approved college who have pursued a course of advanced non- professional study. The required period of residence is one year, but graduates of this college studying in absentia must employ at least two years to complete the same amount of work. Nonresidents must submit their proposed courses of study to the faculty not later than November 1 of the year preceding that in which the degree is to be taken. The candidate must pass examinations on the course of study arranged and present an acceptable thesis. The title of the thesis must be presented to the faculty as early as possible and not later than January 1 of the year in which the degree is conferred. A fair copy of the thesis should be sent to the president's office not later than May 1 of the same year. The degree of doctor of philosophy (Ph. D. ) will not be conferred by the college at present. In the estimation of the trustees and faculty the requirements for this degree can not be met properly where there is not special provision made for extended graduate work, such as can not be offered by institutions without a university equipment. COLLEGE BUILDINGS AND PROPERTY. Since tlie college opened with its two buildings — the main hall and the observatory — various others have grown up about it. The museum, erected in 1866; the laboratory, erected in 1880, the gift of John Guy Vassar and Matthew Vassar, jr. ; the conservatory, dating from 1886; thealumnsB gymnasium of 1889, and Strong Hall, a dormi- tory built in 1893, testify to the growth and i3rosperity of the college. All, especially the observatory and the laboratory as well as the gym- nasium, are furnished with excellent apparatus for their respective purposes. A valuable art collection is found in the museum, part of which is the gift of Matthew Vassar, who purchased from the Rev. Elias Magoon, D. D., of Albany, more than 400 pictures in oil and water colors. 464 HISTORY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. No separate library building is in existence, the present library of about 22,000 volumes occupying a large room in the main building. The total college property amounts to $1,921,518. PROFESSOR MITCHELL. No history of Vassar would be complete without mention of her famous professor. Miss Mitchell. Maria Mitchell was born at Nantucket on August 1, 1818. Her parents were Quakers. As a child she assisted her father in astro- nomical work. She studied with him and in one of the Nantucket schools until her eighteenth year, when she became librarian in the Athen^um Library in her native town. Here she found amj^le oppor- tunity for pursuing her studies, astronomy being the chief. She car- ried on practical work with the theoretical and discovered several new comets. In October, 1847, she discovered one that had not been seen before. On this her fame rests. After a sojourn in Europe, where she became acquainted with Sir John Herschel, Sir George Airy, Leverrier, Humboldt, and some of the leading astronomers of Italy, she resumed her work as librarian in Nantucket. In 1865 she was appointed to the professorship of astronomy in Vassar, a position which she occupied until 1888. The strength and simplicity of her character and the inspiration of her class, work left an impress not to be forgotten on all students who came in contact with her. She died in June, 1889. VASSAR'S PRESIDENTS. The first acting president of the college was the Rev. John H. Ray- mond, LL. D., whose death in 1878 left the chair vacant. It was filled by the Rev. Samuel L. Caldwell, who held it until 1887 and then resigned. An interregnum of a year followed, during which time the Rev. James Ryland Kendrick assumed the position of presi- dent pro tempore. In 1886 L»r. James W. Taylor was elected to the office, which he still holds. DR. RAYMOND. To no one is Vassar more deeply indebted for her success and for her persistent effort to uphold a high standard of scholarship than to her first president. Taking up the work, as he did, at its very begin- ning, he found himself confronted by the old problem, how to bring order out of chaos? He was to decide on the organization of the col- lege, collect a faculty, and, hardest of all, convince the girls gathered from seminaries far and near of the value of sound systematic train- ing. No further recognition is needed of the steadfastness, breadth of mind, and sound scholarship of Vassar's first president than his success in realizing his ideal for the college. ' ' My idea is not at all the one at first proposed," he wrote, "to make the school an omnium gatherum of ages, studying on all plans, but to make an earnest effort at organizing a liberal education for women, taking students at a VASSAE COLLEGE. 465 point where thorough education leaves off in existing ladies' semina- ries and carrying them through a well-digested and well-balanced course of higher culture adapted to the sex." President Raymond was born in New York in 1814. He was edu- cated at Columbia and Union colleges; then pursued a course in theology at Hamilton, IST. Y., after which he entered upon his work as a teacher. He was for fourteen years a member of the faculty at Madison University, for five years professor in the university at Rochester, president of the Brooklyn Polytechnic for nine years, and so was well prepared to guide a new institution through the dangers of its first j^ears of existence. Clear headed, judicious, sympathetic, enthusiastic, yet most care- ful in elaborating details, he seemed in every respect most admirably fitted to undertake the training and education of a body of young women. At the close of his first ten years of quiet work he was able to report that at least three results had been attained : The college had survived the perils of its inf ancj^ and had disappointed the predictions of skeptics; it had been true to the object of its founder that it should minister to woman's education and to that alone, and it had proved its ability to support itself. This success was due largely to the presi- dent's earnest effort and to his earnest belief in woman and in her abilities. His death occurred in the summer of 1878. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Sketch in supplement to Encyclopaedia Britannica. (J. M. T.) Vassar College, by Benson J. Lossing. Life and Letters of John H. Raymond. Edited by his daughter. Vassar College: Its Foundation, Aims, Resources, and Course of Study. By Presi- dent Raymond. 1873. Historical Sketch of Vassar College. Published for the National Centennial in 1876. Annual reports of president, treasurer, and executive committee. Eulogy on Matthew Vassar, by Miss M. W. Whitney. Communications to the board of trustees of Vassar College, by its founder. Laws and regulations. Annual catalogues. Biographical Sketch of Matthew Vassar, by John H. Raymond, LL. D. Addresses at the celebration of the completion of the twenty-fifth academic year, June, 1890. Sears, E. I. Vassar and its degrees. Nat. Quar. Rev., 19: 124, 38. Smith, L. R. Social life at Vassar. Lippincott, 39: 841. Freeman, M. L. Vassar College. Educ, 8: 73. Four years in Vassar. Victoria, 24: 54. Vassar College: Bracket, A. C. Harper, 52: 346. Godkin, E. L. Nation, 10: 315. Old and new, 2: 115. Orton, J. Old and new. 4: 257. McFarland, H. H. Scribner. 2: 337. Sherwood, Margaret. Scribner, June, 1898. 3176 30 466 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IIST KEW YORK. DREW SEMINARY AND FEMALE COLLEGE, 1866. [Furnished by the institution.] Drew Seminary and Female College, located at Carmel, N. Y., was chartered by the legislature of New York, April 23, 1866, to promote the education of both sexes in literature, science, and the arts, and to furnish young women with a collegiate course of study. By the charter the trustees are to be appointed by the annual conference within whose jurisdiction the seminary is located. For twenty-six years the high rank of the institution was due to the personal influence and efficiency of Prof. George Crosby Smith. Several years since the management of the school was committed to the Rev. James Martin Yager, D. D. Since then $12,000 have been ex- pended in improvements. The building has been thoroughly renovated and painted within and put in excellent order. Students' rooms have been newly and well furnished. Contracts have just been given for a new building, to be devoted to a gymnasium, class rooms, and music rooms, to cost $10,000. This new hall will be completed by February 1, 1896. The standard of admission has been raised, and the preparatory, scientific, modern classical, and classical courses of study have been broadened. Every room is at present (October 1, 1895) occupied, and the gradu- ating class of 1896 will be the largest in the history of the institution. It has never been a coeducational institution, and has for years been known as "Drew Ladies' Seminary." In 1895 the collegiate charter was surrendered and a new academic charter* granted. RUTGERS FEMALE COLLEGE. Until within a few years this has been the only college for women in the city of New York. Before its collegiate charter, which was granted by the legislature in 1867, it had an academic existence reach- ing back to the year 1838. It was known as the " Rutgers Female Institute." It has been claimed for this academy that it served as a model for the Packer Institute in Brooklyn and for the Buffalo Female Academy. That it met the real educational wants of the time is shown by the great numbers of students enrolled on its books from the very beginning. THE COLLEGE. Meanwhile the idea of colleges for young ladies providing a classical training and bestowing the ordinary college degrees upon their grad- uates had become somewhat familiar through the institutions of this type already in successful operation at Elmira and Leroy, in this State, and others in the West. The noble benefactions and extended EUTGEKS FEMALE COLLEGE. 467 plans of the late Mr. Vassar at Poughkeepsie had now given a great stimulus to all such views, and the friends of Rutgers began to inquire whether the time had not come for the establishment of such a college in the metropolis, and whether the institution which had led the way in higher female education for the city during so many years were not alike fit and ready to take a ne^v step and assume a new position. It possessed already a charter, an organization, and an hon- orable record of usefulness. It had long been and still was the only incorporated institution for young women in the metropolis. The multiplication of private schools and seminaries with the growth of the city seemed also to suggest a further advance if the institution would maintain that high and distinctive position which it had held at first. On all these grounds the step seemed wise, fitting, and timely. An application was therefore made to the legislature for a new charter giving the former institute the powers and privileges of a full college. It is due alike to the memory and the services of a lately deceased member of the board of trustees, Jeremiah Burns, esq., to state that he was very largelj^ instrumental in the successful accomplishment of this important change, he having been among the first to propose it and having given a very great amount of time and personal atten- tion to the several steps of its progress. The college, duly chartered by the legislature, was authorized "to confer upon students at graduation the usual college degrees and also to bestow such honorary degrees, etc., as are granted by any univer- sity, college, or seminary in the United States, with the exception of such diplomas as entitle their recipients to practice medicine, law, or other specific professions." No degrees, however, were conferred by the college until 1870. After several changes of location, the college is now situated in West Fifty-sixth street. INSTRUCTORS AND STUDENTS. In the year 1893 there were 34 students enrolled. The college has a corps of 15 instructors. The president was then George W. Samson, D. D., LL. D. In June 1895 the charter of Rutgers Female College was surrendered to the regents and the corporation dissolved. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Charter of Rutgers Female Institute. Laws 1838, chap. 192. Charter of Rutgers Female College. Laws 1867, chap. 328. Regents Report, 1868, p. 194. Account of proceedings on organization as a college. Historical sketch, by Prof. Daniel S. Martin, in Regent's Report of 1877, p. 644. WELLS COLLEGE, 1868. Wells College was founded at Aurora, N. Y., by Henry Wells, and opened for the reception of students in September, 1868. The insti- 468 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATIOlSr IIST NEW YORK. tution was chartered in the same year, with full collegiate powers and privileges, by the legislature of the State of New York, under the name Wells Seminary. In 1870 the name was changed, on petition to the regents of the University of the State of New York, to Wells College, the better to express the real purpose of the founder in establishing the school. A preparatory department has been main- tained from the first, but it will probably be dropped entirely at an early date. Announcement to this effect would have been made already had it not been for the interruption of our plans occasioned by the loss of the main building by fire, in August, 1888.^ BUILDINGS. The main college building, which replaces the original building, was completed and occupied at the beginning of the collegiate year 1890-1891. It has a west front, overlooking the lake (Cayuga) of about 140 feet, with north and south wings, each extending back 160 feet, with a square tower, terminating in a graceful spire 160 feet in height, rising from the center of the structure. Besides rooms for resident teachers and students, it contains ample class rooms; library, with capacity for from 15,000 to 20,000 volumes; chapel, music hall, ofiices, and other public rooms, all on the first floor; gymnasium fitted with the Sargent apparatus, dining-room on second fioor; a fine studio and society halls on the upper floor. ^ PRESIDENTS. The first president of Wells College was the Rev. William W. Howard, who held office only one year. From 1869 to 1873 the Rev. S. Irenseus Prime, D. T>., was the acting president, and he was succeeded by the Rev. Thomas C. Strong, D. T>., who resigned in 1875. The Rev. Edward S. Frisbee, D. D., was then elected as president, and he occupied the office until June, 1894. Under his administration this institution has been steadily improving in all the appointments for study and instruction, and in a character for thorough scholar- ship and genuine literary and Christian culture. =* In the letter from President Frisbee above referred to attention is drawn to a peculiar feature in the policy of this institution. He writes: A special point may be taken into the account, which was intended by the founder, and has been kept steadily in mind from the beginning, namely, the limitation of numbers. Originally the limit was placed at 75. For the last two years it has been considerably less, solely because since the fire we have been unable to pro- vide room for a larger number. On the completion of the new building the limit will be raised to 100, experience showing that such number is not too large for the best results. ■ From a letter of President Frisbee, of date March 6, 1890. ^ Annual catalogue, 1891. 3 Quoted from Public Service of the State of New York, III, p. 410. WELLS COLLEGE. 469 In 1894 William Everett Waters, Pli. D., succeeded to the presi- dency. BENEFACTORS. Besides the large gifts of the founder, Wells College has received an endowment of $200,000 from the late Edwin B. Morgan, of Aurora, in addition to other donations from the same generous source. COURSES OF STUDY. Besides special courses, which are discouraged rather than recom- mended, there are three courses of study open to students : The regular course, the scientific course, the literary course. All have the same requirements for admission and all are of four years' duration, the first leading to the degree of A, B., the second to that of Bachelor of Science, the third to that of Bachelor of Literature. Special attention is given in Wells College to the study of the English language and literature. ADDITIONAL FACTS. Further information, especially of a bibliographical character, is contained in the following extract from a letter of President Frisbee, dated June 1, 1891: The only acts of the legislature of this State which pertain to Wells College, rather the only act, is that of 1867 or 1868, incorporating " Wells Seminary" under a full college charter. A year or two later petition was made to the regents of the university of this State for a change of name to " Wells College," which was granted, but with no change of the charter. Aside from the annual reports of the regents, the volumes of their reports from 1868 to 1870 contain the history of the foundation of Wells College. The history of Wells College has not yet been written, and the material for it in published form is still more scanty, consisting as it does of pamphlets and newspaper reports of public occasions, very little of which in our possession sur- vived the fire. The State library at Albany contains more of all such material than can be found at present elsewhere. The late Dr. S. I. Prime, of the New York Observer, was one of our trustees at the time of his death, and was acting president of the faculty from 1869 to 1872 or 1873. The late Judge James Sheldon, of Buffalo, N. Y., was largely interested in the college, but I know of no biographical sketch of him, unless such a sketch may be found in the archives of the Buffalo Historical Society. The chief figures in connection with the foundation are Henry Wells, founder of the college, whose name is st.ll retained in the firm title. Wells, Fargo & Co. , and the Hon. Edwin B. Morgan, of Aurora, neither of whom is living. 470 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. CLAVERACK COLLEGE. , [From materials furnished by President Flack.] HISTORICAL SKETCH. Wasliiugton Seminary, the germ of the present institution, was founded by Maj. Henry. Van Rensselaer, Col. Peter Van Ness, Mr. William Henry Ludlow, Rev. John G. Gebhard, and others, in 1779, and conducted as a successful English and classical school for nearly fifty years, having among its pupils many who have taken a prominent place in the history of the State and nation. A stock company was formed in 1829 to erect a larger building, which was opened under the name of Claverack Academy in 1830, and chartered by the regents of the University of the State of New York during the following year. The academy flourished with its increased facilities for a quarter of a century, when the trustees, learning of other large seminaries springing up throughout the State, increased their capital to build and furnish the Claverack Academy and Hudson River Institute, which ojDcned its doors October 10, 1854. To meet the wants of a large number of pupils, another building, the College Hall, was added ten years later, and on the 4th of June, 1869, power was given the trustees, by the regents of the university, to confer upon young women such degrees as are granted by other colleges for women in the State. The centennial anniversary of the founding of Washington Sem- inary, as also the semicentennial, quadricentennial, and decennial anniversaries of the development of academy, institute, and college, were appropriately celebrated on the 14th of June, 1879. BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. The site of the buildings is open, airy, and elevated, without bleak- ness. The grounds, containing 20 acres, consist of a shaded lawn in front and large level campus in the rear. There are two buildings used for educational purposes. The main building, erected in 1854, contains the offices, parlors, library, reading rooms, chapel, dining hall, recitation rooms, music hall, practice rooms, society halls, studio, rooms for students and teachers, besides the apartments used for domestic and culinary purposes. College Hall, erected in 1864, contains a large hall 50 by 80 feet, used for military drill and calisthenics, the armory, laboratory, day school room, gymnasium, and separate apartments for day pupils. DESIGN. The design of the institution is to furnish superior facilities for academic and collegiate study to young women, to prepare young men BARNAKD COLLEGE. 47 1 for college, professional school, or business, and at the same time fur- nish them a comfortable, cultured Christian home. There is also a conservatory of music and art. Courses of study. Years. Collegiate (for young women) 4 Academic. . . 3 Latin, scientific ..._...__ 3 College, preparatory . . . . 3 Commercial .... . . ... 1 Music ... _ 4 Drawing, painting, and sculpture 3 In addition to the above, special courses are arranged to meet the wants of those who desire to prepare for any particular theological, technological, medical, law, or other professional school. The president of the college is the Rev. A. H. Flack. In 1894 or 1895 the collegiate charter was revoked, and the institution now ranks only as an academy, under the name of the Hudson River Institute. BARNARD COLLEGE. [By the dean of the college, Miss E. J. Smith, 1894.] HISTORY. In 1883 a petition numerously signed by residents of New York and the vicinity was laid before the trustees of Columbia College, asking that the privileges of the college be extended to women in the form of coeducation. This petition was tabled by the trustees, but in the same year they took action to make the degrees of Columbia attain- able by women who should be able to pass the necessary examina- tions. The resulting system, called the Columbia courses for women, proved unsatisfactory. The students found that they had the name without the thing, and the college authorities grew unwilling to con- fer, on the strength of examinations only, degrees which commonly rested on daily training as well. To ease the situation it was obvi- ously necessary to provide instruction for the women which should be identical with or equivalent to that provided by Columbia for men, and in 1889 Barnard College was organized with this purpose in view. It will be noticed, therefore, that Barnard's relation to Columbia has developed in the opposite order to that customary in such cases. Girton and the other English colleges for women began by securing the benefit of instruction by members of the universities with which they are affiliated. The Harvard Annex in this country pursued the same policy. All these colleges are apparently as far as ever from obtaining the degrees of the universities, and the Harvard Annex, by becoming Radcliffe College, has virtually renounced the prospect. 472 HISTORY OF HIOHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. In 1889 Barnard received a provisional charter, granted to Mrs. Francis B. Arnold, Rev., Arthur Brooks, Miss Helen Dawes Brown, Silas B. Brownell, Mrs. William C. Brownell, Mrs. Joseph H. Choate, Frederic R. Coudert, Noah Davis, George Hoadly, Hamilton W. Mabie, Mrs. Alfred Meyer, George A. Plimpton, Mrs. John D. Rocke- feller, Jacob H. Schife, Francis Lynde Stetson, Mrs. James S. T. Stran- ahan, Mrs. James Talcott, Rev. Henry Van Dyke, Miss Ella Weed, Everett P. Wheeler, Alice Williams, Frances Fisher Wood. To meet the expenses of the college a number of persons pledged themselves to the payment of small annual sums for four years. The house was rented at 343 Madison avenue, which the college has occu- pied ever since. Seven instructors were selected from the Columbia faculty; 14 students entered in the school of arts and 12 as special students in science. In the second year the botanical laboratory was equipped by the generosity of the Torrey Botanical Club. Nine additional instructors were appointed. The entry of each new class during the four 3^ears of experiment greatly increased the expense of the college, as it required an extension of the staff of instructors which the fees were far from meeting. Yet at the end of the four years the college found itself free from debt, with a graduating class of 8, 7 juniors, 10 sopho- mores, 27 freshmen, 33 special students, and 18 instructors. It had by this time received $100,000 for a building fund and $25,000 in $5,000 founderships, but was otherwise without income, save from its students' fees. In January, 1894, the college sustained a great loss in the death of Miss Ella Weed, one of the original trustees, and, as chairman of the academic committee, the administrative head of the college. Miss Weed's very remarkable clearness of view and strength of purpose made her the ideal leader of an experimental enterprise, and she had the fortune to possess, together with sound ideas, the tact requisite to make them prevail. In view of the changes necessitated by her death, the trustees resolved to furnish the college with a formal head, and appointed, as the first dean. Miss Emily James Smith, a graduate of Bryn Mawr, who entered upon her duties in September, 1894. In June, 1894, the college received its permanent charter. During that year its building fund increased to $200,000, the number of $5,000 founderships rose to 7, and a sum not to exceed $12,500 annually was guaranteed for the payment of salaries for three years. In October, 1894, 127 students were registered, as follows: Undergraduates - - - 72 Graduates - 19 Special students 36 127 BARNARD COLLEGE. 473 ACADEMIC STATEMENT. The opening of the Harvard Annex in 1881 and of Barnard College in 1889 bear witness to the gradual growth in this country of the uni- versity idea. The independent colleges for women which have been so generously established in our Eastern States prove not only that the theory of the collegiate education of women is accepted in this coun- try, and that the money is forthcoming to put it in practice, but that a very few years ago the existing colleges for men were not so good that there was any audacity in trying to duplicate them. In Europe it has never been seriously supposed that the University of Oxford or of Berlin could be reproduced for women. Thirty years ago it seemed credible that Harvard might be so reproduced. But within those thirty years the idea of concentrating ability and money in a great university here and there instead of scattering it broadcast, the idea of accumulating great university libraries instead of increasing the number of small collections which wastefully duplicate each othei without rising above mediocrity, has prevailed and produced a great advance in American scholarship. In harmony with this idea, Bar- nard, although in possession of a charter and an administrative autonomy of its own, has the advantage of academic identity with Columbia. Instructors at Barnard are chosen from the staff of Columbia, or approved by the president thereof. Columbia is respon- sible for the Barnard examinations, the papers used at both colleges being identical, save in a few exceptional cases. Barnard students have equal privileges with Columbia students in the university library. In other words, the women of New York have an opportunity to receive precisely the same education as their brothers, to hear the same professors, to use the same books, to share the mental breadth that comes of life in a university as distinguished from a college, and are yet spared as undergraduates the problems that arise from coedu- cation in the narrow sense. The caution with which both parties to the experiment have hitherto advanced, and the liberty left to the various faculties at Columbia of making their own terms of agreement with Barnard, results in a cer- tain heterogeneity of relations. In the undergraduate course the instruction at Barnard College is identical with that at Columbia, though for reasons of practical convenience it is given to the women separately at Barnard College during the first three years. In the senior year a peculiarity of the Columbia system, by which graduate courses are open to election by seniors, takes many of the Barnard studen'is to lectures at Columbia with the men. Of the twenty instructors in undergraduate work at Barnard, sixteen are on the Columbia staff. The faculties of philosophy and of political science at Columbia have been authorized by the trustees to open their courses to auditors, with 474 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. the understanding that these may be either men or women. Audi- tors, as such, have no right to examination or other official recogni- tion, but the students of Barnard have all such' privileges under the general arrangement between the colleges. The faculty of philosophy, which has charge of the departments of philosophy and education, and of the oriental, Greek, Latin, Germanic, romance, and English languages and literatures, has used the authoritj^ given it by the trus- tees and opened 92 courses to students in Barnard College. The faculty of political science has never thrown open any of its courses to auditors, and its relation with Barnard offers a very interesting phase of the subject. Barnard contributes two professors to the com- mon stock. Estimating their services in lectures at six hours each per week, the faculty furnish Barnard with twelve hours of lectures a week by a number of different professors. Both institutions are obviously benefited. Columbia enlarges its staff, and Barnard has the range of a department of specialists instead of being limited to its own two. This arrangement, which was completed during the year 1894, went into effect in 1895-96 and opened to women unusual advant- ages in the department of historical, economic, and social study, sup- plemented by practical work and investigation, for which New York City offers an exceptional field. The Columbia faculty of pure science have never received permis- sion to open their courses to auditors, and the conditions under which Barnard students receive elective and graduate instruction in the subjects under the direction of this faculty shows a third aspect of Barnard's relations with Columbia. In mathematics an arrangement has been made similar to that with the faculty of political science. Barnard contributes one professor of mathematics to a total of three, and receives her share of their services. The lectures are delivered at Barnard College. In the natural sciences, the work in chemistry and zoology is done at Barnard by instructors in Columbia. In physics a special instructor is secured by Barnard, with the approval of Columbia. The botanical department is under the charge of the only professor appointed by Barnard who has no connection with Columbia, Professor Emily L. Gregory, Ph. D. But under all these varying conditions a uniformity of standard is secured by the fact that Columbia awards all the degrees and estab- lishes her own requirements, which must be met by every department. Special students are admitted only to courses in natural science and political science. After a four years' course in natural science, spe- cial students receive a certificate from Barnard College ; special stu- dents in political science receive no testimonial beyond such p3rsonal statements as they may obtain from instructors. The degrees and certificates awarded to students in Barnard Col- lege read as follows: BAENARD COLLEGE. 475 1. Degree of Bachelor of Arts. Cvratores Collegii ColvmbisB Neo Eborancensio omnibvs et singvlis ad qvos prte- sentes litterse pervenerint salvtem. Sciatis nos ■ qvge exercitationes oinnes ad gradvm Baccalavrei In Artibvs attinentes in CoUegio Barnardino nostro rite ac legitime peregerit ad istvm gradvm provexisse eiqve omnia ivra privilegia et honores qvse adsolent in tali re adtribvi dedisse et concessisse. In cvivs rei plenivs testimonivm chiragraphis praesidis hvivs Collegii et decani ScholsB Artivm Liber alivm nee non sigillo nostro commvni diploma hocce mvni- endvm cvravimvs. Datvm Novi Eboraci die mensis . Annoqve Millesimo Octingentesimo Nonagesimo. • — ■ , Decanvs. , Prceses. 2. Degree of blaster of Arts. Cvratores Collegii Colvmbise Neo-Eborancensis omnibvs et singvlis ad qvos prse- sentes litterse pervenerint salvtem. Sciatis nos qvi exercitationes omnes ad gradvm Magistri in Artibvs attinentes rite ac legitime peregerit ad istvm gradvm ijrovexisse eiqve omnia ivra privilegia et honores qvse adsolent in tali re adtribvi dedisse et concessisse. In cvivs rei plenivs testimonivm chirographo prsesidis hvivs collegii nee non sigillo nostro commvni diploma laocee mvniendum cvravimvs. Datvm Novi Eboraci die ■ mensis . Annoqve Millesimo Octingentesimo Nonagesimo. , Prceses. 3. Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Cvratores Collegii Colvmbiae Neo-Eborancensis omnibvs et singvlis ad qvos prse- sentes litterse pervenerint salvtem. Sciatis nos qvi exercitationes omnes ad gradvm Doctoris in Pliilosophia attinentes rite ac legitime peregerit ad istvm gradum provexisse eiqve omnia ivra privilegia et honores qvse adsolent in tali re adtribvi dedisse et concessisse. In cvivs rei plenivs testimonivm chirographo praesidis hvivs collegii nee non sigillo nostro commvni diploma hocce mvniendvm cvravimvs. Datvm Novi Eboraci die mensis . Annoqve Millesimo Octingentesimo Nonagesimo. , Prceses. 4. Certificate of special course in Science. Barnakd College, New York. This is to certify that has fulfilled all the requirements and passed the examinations in the course in . -■ , Dean. New York City, , 18-. CHAPTER 7. PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS. Many of the professional schools in the State are departments in universities already described, and it has been thought that the attempt to give adequate histories of these schools would unduly extend the limits of this report. Exception has been made, however, of two institutions, the Rens- selaer Polytechnic Institute, at Troy, and the Teachers' College, at New York. The former holds such an important place in the growth of technological education in this country, and has had so profound an influence upon the development of the material resources of the United States, that it deserves a place even in this general history. The Teachers' College likewise deserves special mention, because it is an unique institution in the heighth and breadth of its aim and in its remarkable success in reaching this aim.^ In order to give some idea of the extent of the work done in the State in professional and technical education a list is here given taken from Regents' Report 110, for the year 1896. 1 The Teachers' College has, since this report was written, been incorporated in Columbia University. 476 PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS. 477 t-coo ss 10 02 ^ CXIrH o ro iO o lO n lOCO t-co ;q 1 ig^'o - ■-' '^^ -;CQ • 3 p go M J^ .^Mfe el CO ^ S^rr; S ^ o a, .J Pig s .m © 03 2 a g ■^ d,^ c« cS iQ 3"^ w ^<^ d ^ rj] S ^ O fl B S bo ^Q lO <— I ':o o *>- 1— I »C CO »rt iC Xi 00 CD Oi 00 00 CO CO CO CO 00 O COT^-rtliOZD COO CO coy^t^CO OOOD CO COQOOOOO'O) COCC C30 ' "" " ^ i:~ CO ao CO CO 00 ICO rt CO ?1 CO -* CO CI I '■^S p< aft <1 -A^ ft S o s =s " d fci.2 ^ P3 M Sj -^ p^ Jjuqjij JJ tJ iJHJiJ «^ S-f? „-, O M OM-y - o o^ V o-a) a . H d ;j O .3 « 05 * ^ ma2^ ^is cs §^oiS 0 CD t- ■5> M o c3 §:m 3 3 a a zj 'C'O —I "I' 2 50.2 M ft5 s ° >>° oO-i^d 0-t='co^3 ,— . a fH o .S to -So 'ci_2 a/v S 5>Ha 1^ a ffi ;>.'^ r Q ;^ >asg-^ag>H ■^c!? o-ja-^ !>-t»t2 4J o <=> 2 m +-"' be fe O a.5 SW ^ * 0>; (Mco^ioco t-QO OS OrHr:tco 478 HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. rHlOO o oo ^ OS CDOJ coco O'J+Ht- CSCO OOQD 5-i 05 O CO O — ToT s^f^t-" lO CO C-l t-( CO 1 o Pi ;-i (1) fi> o h s 0) t? ® w ?■ CO Fh 01+3 ft g ^^^ (E O t*= to Ci 1^1 tn w 6d +='1:3 f3 (D - ^1 ©^ 3°, J+sh-l bo o a in ? f-1 11 J a . p„ CC CD COOOQO coco cooooo p. <5 1 .s^ ICt- COQD ftp, CD 050(M 05C0-* 00 OOGOCO COODOO »0-^iO t-CDlO r-H (M!MrH oj g^ pi o x-o 0) rj 0) .2 o fl o C6 03 C^ f3 ® W fn S O =" S O O) " fl p. —I cS (» P< ^=•-1 , 3°>> 'iTi S CO M 0) •^ O =t-l Fh 5pg 6'^ &D -I S o o 03 O !> O H 01 CO -# lO IB S O O 2 CM O Q H 0-302 Ms cS M -I "5 o°P O 33 O O t* HSU) .-(C'ICO bD-r; O iD 5 -3.9 ; PI 3 ^1 n rt 03 a la 1^^ 03 S 0)+= fi ® O (MCO-* lOCOt- PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS. 479 Oi 00:0 r-i OOOO CO OOOO CO i-- -* iCi SSc§8 -HOO 83 (MCO OC-l -HCJO ooco (M >C 00 -4< CO ■^ ce ,3 o M M t> > . fH ^ CO "Tip; w (33-P_5 fH - ro . f-i CD i^rv! ,5 o « cs OhCSSO j? o cS •Q.2 s s s ^ 00 CO t- r^ ei ^cocooococs CCODOOQOCOOD cDOmosco "5 ts p. o cs c« g cs 2 ;■§ JJJO^ JJJ ;iJh:i IJWMPJ :? fq a o > 'm" >> ^J H 1^ o ars P .0) . csi2fl += t, CD 43 s cs bmo a.s^ • 12; K ^ ^ H<1 ° o o l^o -So 2 "I" ■pi il> ® ni 3 oDryj O 03 ^- ^-.S ^H O O CO S CD j.2 o > O CO o30 So C3 03 R M a) M jO >)ikj co^ [H^K^ 0) CO XI o ■* ut: cc :i" o t^q o ^::5 o cs g M O.Sf O CO S >M °5; o 0) ^d3S , r, 1 Ml) ^«f ^ ^: '^S Jl-^-*tA. ►**« - y~ - .sis TEACHERS' COLLEGE— MAIN BUILDING, MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS. TEACHERS' COLLEGE— MECHANIC ARTS BUILDING. teachers' college. 481 INTRODLTCTORY COURSES AND TERMS OF ADMISSION. As few students who are not college graduates have been found to possess the degree of preparation or maturity of mind necessary for the successful jjursuit of professional studies, the college now oifers an introductory course of two years. This course is designed to bridge the gap between the high school and the professional course. Its cen- tral study is English, as the central study of the professional course is psj^chology; the one is designed to preiDare for the other. It is especially strong in all studies involving expression and constructive activity. SCHOOL OF OBSERVATION AND PRACTICE. In vital connection with the college there exists a school, known as the Horace Mann School, in which, under unity of plan and adminis- tration, every stage in the school life of a child — from the kindergarten through the high school — is represented, and the complete curriculum may be studied as an organic whole. This school exists primarily for the iDurpose of affording to those pursuing the professional course an opportunity for observation and practice, but being under the personal superintendence of the heads of departments in the college, and having in addition a competent staff of professional teachers, it is able to prepare candidates for entrance to colleges, both literary and scientific, and to prepare for citizenship and the active duties of life. ALLIANCE WITH COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. For the purpose of securing to the students of Columbia College, Barnard College, and the Teachers' College reciprocal advantages and opportunities, an agreement, taking effect July 1, 1893, was entered into between the above-named institutions. By the terms of this agreement certain courses of instruction in the Teachers' College are accepted by Columbia as counting toward the Columbia College de- grees of A. B. , A. M. , and Ph. D. These courses pass under the charge of the faculty of philosophy of Columbia College, and the members of the faculty of the Teachers' College are represented on that faculty. For persons actually engaged in the work of teaching, but who wish to pursue further courses of professional study in order to enable them to meet satisfactorily the demands made upon them by the continual expansion and elevation of the school curriculum throughout the country, Saturday classes are organized in the several departments of the college. THE PUBLIC OPENING OP THE NEW BUILDINGS. The new buildings on Morningside Heights were formally opened on "Founder's Day," November 15, 1894. The Outlook, in its issue of November 24, 1894, thus describes the event: A notable event in the history of Greater New York was the formal opening of the new buildings of the Teachers' College in Morningside Park on Thursday 3176 31 482 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDlTCATIOlSr IN" NEW YORE:. afternoon of last week. This institution is the pioneer of the group of colleges and public buildings which will shortly crown the noble heights which overlook the Hudson on the one side and the city, the East River, and Long Island on the other. The Teachers' College, by the evolution of sound ideas, of intelligent man- agement, and of deep convictions, has become one of the foremost institutions in the country. Its specific aims and its special methods have been described in these columns. It is at last worthily housed, although only a part of its building plan has so far been realized. The position which it has already attained and the influence which it is already exerting are evidenced by the fact that, in taking possession of its new quarters, it was able to call to its aid, as interpreters of the occasion, the presidents of Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Columbia universities, all of whom bore testimony to the advance in educational ideas which it represents. GROWTH AND FINANCIAL STATUS. Some idea of the growth of the Teachers' College may be conveyed by the following quotation from an article by Rosa Belle Holt, appear- ing in the Cosmopolitan Magazine, March, 1894: The Teachers' College has been established but a few years, and yet more than half of the States of the Union and several foreign countries are represe^^ted en its rolls: there is not a railroad or a ferry going into New York City that does not regularly carry its students; the number of applicants for admission exceeds t^ie present accommodations, and the demand for its graduates has always betn greater than the supply. The results of this rapid growth and the present financial status may be seen at a glance in the following summary taken from the Teachers' College Bulletin: " Trustees, 17: professors and instructors, 42; departments, 12: courses, 75. " Teachers now in the field, 900; now in attendance, 237; pupils in the school of observation and practice, 295. "Total estimated current expenses for 1893-94, $69,000, of which $37,000 is expected to come from earnings, the remainder from donations. Number of donors, 1892-93, 55. "Value of land, $150,000; main building, when completed, $350,000; gift of manual arts building, $225,000; estimated cost of western wing (not yet providei ' for the departments of physical training, domestic science, and arts, $175,000." AIMS IN FUTURE DEVELOPMENT. The writer of the same article in her closing words, quoted below, shows some of the broader aims of the college for the future : From its coigne of vantage on Morningside heights, the college will aim to widen its influence so as to reach not only the schools, but the homes. In addi- tion to its proper function of offering a competent training to those upon whom devolves the most important work of superintending the education of the rising generation, it will endeavor, so far as it may be given support, to reach the mass of the people. It will endeavor to do this by offering popular lectures upon com- mon themes, by holding mothers' meetings and fathers' meetings, and by opening after-school classes for the children and evening classes for the wage-earners, and in every way possible reach forward and extend its influence for good far and wide. By these methods of directly reaching the people, the trustees hope to make the college a center of light and power, and to make good the claim some- times advanced in its behalf that it is the true type of " the people's college." A SEWING LESSON IN THE PRIMARY CLASSES. TEACHERS' COLLEGE— IN THE LIBRARY. TEACHERS COLLEGE. 483 INCORPORATION INTO COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. Teachers' College became, by an agreement dated February 28, 1898, a part of the educational system of Columbia University. The president of Columbia University is president, ex officio, of Teachers' College, and the university professors of philosophy and education and of psychology are members of the faculty of Teachers' College, which is in turn represented upon the university council by the dean and an elected representative of its faculty. Teachers' College maintains its separate corporate organization, and its board of trustees continues to assume the entire financial respon- sibility for its maintenance. Teachers' College is the professional school of Columbia University for the study of education and the training of teachers. It takes academic rank with the schools of law, medicine, and applied science. The purpose of Teachers' College is to afford opportunity, both theo- retical and practical, for the training of teachers of both sexes for elementary and secondary schools, of specialists in various branches of school work, and of principals, supervisors, and superintendents of schools. Students of university grade and experienced teachers are afforded the most ample facilities for practical work, as well as for special study and research. Columbia University accepts courses in education as part of the equipment required for the degrees of A. B., A. M., and Ph. D. Graduate students who prefer to devote their entire time to profes- sional study and investigation may become candidates for the higher diploma of Teachers' College. The college diploma is conferred upon students who have successfully completed some one of the general courses, which are fully described in the announcement of Teachers' College for 1898-99; a departmental diploma upon those who have fitted themselves for particular branches of school work, and a certifi- cate testifying to work actually performed upon students who have pursued partial courses. The course of studj^^ for intending teachers in secondary schools is so arranged that undergraduate students of Columbia and Barnard colleges may, if they so desire, receive the diploma of Teachers' College at the time of receiving the degree of bachelor of arts. The Horace Mann School, fully equipped with kindergarten, ele- mentary, and secondary classes, is maintained by Teachers' College as a school of observation and practice. It offers unexcelled advan- tages for the investigation of educational problems and for the study of the practical work of teaching. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Century Magazine. October, 1889. *' The Training of the Teacher." The Teachers' College. Rosa Belle Holt. Cosmopolitan Magazine. March, 1894. Teachers' College Bulletin. Published monthly since September, 1894. 484 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. [By Palmer C. Ricketts, C. E., Director of the Institute. ] PURPOSE OF THE POUNDER. This institution, located at Troy, IST. Y., was founded by the Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer, of Albany, IST. Y., in the year 1824, and was named at that time the Rensselaer School. It was incorporated by the legislature by act of March 21, 1826. It was established as a school of practical science. The intention of its founder will be understood by quoting from a letter, dated November 5, 1824, written by him to the Rev. Dr. Blatchford, who was the first president of the school : I have established a school at the north end of Troy for the purpose of instruct- ing persons who may choose to apply themselves in the application of science to the common purposes of life. My iDrincipal object is to qualify teachers for in- structing sons and daughters of farmers and mechanics, by lectures or otherwise, on the application of experimental chemistry, philosophy, and natural history to agriculture, domestic economy, the arts, and manufactures. And in acircular of the school issued in 1826 the following clause occurs : The Rensselaer School was founded by the Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer solely for the purpose of affording an opportunity to the farmer, the mechanic, the clergyman, the lawyer, the physician, the merchant, and in short, to the man of business or of leisure, of any calling whatever, to become practically scientific. In the letter above referred to a board of trustees was appointed, articles for the temporarj^ government of the school were enunciated, and Amos Eaton, of Troy, was made senior professor. The first meet- ing of the board of trustees occurred on the 29tli of December, 1824, at which time the name Rensselaer School was given to the institution. It was opened on the 5th of January, 1825, and an act of incorpora- _ tion was passed by the legislature March 21, 1826. fl The usefulness of the school was extended in this year bj"" the estab- lishment of what was called a "preparation branch," the object of which was fully enunciated in the circular of 1826, from which a quota- tion has already been made. As this circular is the first prospectus of a school of science ever issued in the English language, and as there may be drawn from it interesting inferences in relation to the state of scientific knowledge in this country at that date, it is given verbatim: PRKFAKATION BRANCH RECENTLY ESTABLISHED AT RENSSELAER SCHOOL. From a respect for the frequent solicitations of many gentlemen in the Southern States, and of some in the Northern, and from a desire expressed by the patron, to see the results of an extension of his plan, a preparation branch was this day established at this school, to go into operation on the third Wednesday in November. RE]SrSSELAP:R POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 485 The folio iving is an outline of the Plan, 1. The original method of instruction which has produced such unexpected results, called the Rensselaerean method, will be extended to this branch; to wit, that of exercising the student, on the forenoon of each day, by causing him to give an extemporaneous dissertation or lecture on the subject of his course, from concise written memoranda; and to spend the afternoon in scJiolastic amusements. 2. The circle of instruction is divided into five parts ; and to each part is attached a course of summer and lointer afternoon amusements. The following order will be observed in the fall and winter terms. In the spring term it will be inverted. First Division . Botany and Etymology. (The latter branch will extend to so much knowledge of the structure of the Latin, Greek, and French languages, as will enable the student to trace scientific terms to their themes, which are derived from those languages. ) Amusements. For stmimer. Collecting and preserving minerals, plants and insects. For winter none, as this division will not be studied in the winter. Second Division. Geography and History. Amusements. For summer. Selecting specimens for illustrating the physiology of vegetation, and examining them under the common, and the solar, microscopes, and making drawings of their internal structure. For ivinter. Each making a globe of plaster of Paris, and drawing the chief subjects of geography upon it. Third Division. Elements of practical mathematics and of moral philoso- phy. Amusements. For summer. Land-surveying, taking the latitude, and per- forming simple hydraulic experiments. For winter. Making and using a set of mechanical powers, exercises in percussion with suspended balls, guaging, meas- uring cordwood and timber. Fourth Division. Logic and Rhetoric. Amusements. For summer. Exper- imenting upon the most common gases, as oxygen (obtained from vegetables by the action of light) nitrogen, hydrogen, carbonic acid (with its combination in soda-water) testing their specific gravities, &c. and experimenting upon aqueous exhalations — all to be performed with apparatus made with their own hands. For ivinter. Making and using galvanic batteries and piles, electrometers and magnets; and disengaging combined caloric by compression and affinity. Fifth Division. Elementary principles of government and law, and parlia- mentary rules. Amusements. ¥ or spring dsn.^ fall. Constructing dials, fixing meridians, constructing and using air-thermometers and hj'grometers, taking specific gravities, using the blow-pipe and constructing the three elementary musical chords to illustrate the science of tones. For -winter. Making camera- obscura boxes; producing focal images by a pair of common burning glasses and ice lenses, and illustrating the microscope and telescope by the same; illustrating the laws of refraction and reflection by cheap mirrors and vessels of water, and separating the coloured rays by ice cut into triangular prisms. Candidates are admitted to the preparation branch, who are deemed of sufficient discretion for going through the course, provided they have been successfully taught in reading, writing, common arithmetic and English grammar. The Faculty of Rensselaer School are to judge upon their qualifications; but the Trus- tees have, in the second article of the by-laws of this branch, expressed an opinion, that " the age of thirteen or fourteen years and upwards, is best adapted to this course. " Expenses. Tuition $1 50 cents for every three weeks, which constitutes a step in the circle. Students may enter either step in the circle at the commencement of every three weeks, reckoning from the beginning of each term. The terms or sessions of this branch, correspond with the other terms of the School. Board, in commons with the other students, never to exceed $1 50 per week. Rooms will 486 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN" ISTEW YORK. be furnished at or near the school, to be under the inspection and control of the faculty, at a small expense. No charge is made for the use of public rooms, library, chemical and philosophical apparatus, tools of the workshop, or the cabinet. And each student will attend the daily lectures of the Professors, free of charges. A student of strict prudence, may pay all his expenses for the 42 weeks in each year, at this branch, with $120, as follows: Tuition $21: board $63: fuel and lights $10: washing and lodging $10: text books $6: amusement apparatus, $10. As this circular may fall into the hands of some, who have not read the new code of by-laws, passed April 3d, 1826, and the legislative act of incorporation, passed March 2Ist, 1826. it may be advisable to state as follows: The Rensselaer School was founded by the Honorable Stephen Van Rensselaer, solely for the purpose of affording an opportunity to the farmer, the mechanic, the clergyman, the lawyer, the j)hysician, the merchant, and in short, to the jnan of business or of leisure, of any calling whatever, to become x>T'acticaJly scientific. Though the branches which are not taught here, are held in high estimation, it is believed that a school attempting every thing, makes proficients in nothing. The Rensselaer School, therefore, is limited to an experimental course in the Nat- ural Sciences. The studies of the preparation branch are extended no farther than is necessary, as auxiliaries to the experimental course. The FALL term commences on the third Wednesday in July, and continues 15 weeks. The winter term commences on the third Wednesday in November, and con- tinues 12 weeks. The SPRING term commences on the first Wednesday in March, and continues until the last Wednesday in June; which is the day of the annual commencement. Expenses. All the same as in the preparation branch, with the addition of double the charge for tuition in the fall and spring terms, on account of the great additional labor required for teaching the student to perform with his own hands about sixteen hundred exijeriments in chemistry and natural philosophy. But students who have gone through a course in the preparation branch with success, will not be required to attend the winter term. This will reduce the necessary expenses to about $95 for the whole experimental course. Many unsuccessful attempts have been made to render science amusing to the youthful mind. They have generally proved verj^ unprofitable, by diverting the attention of the student from literary pursuits, and by creating an attachment to useless, and often demoralizing sports. By the plan adopted at this school, the objections to scholastic amusements are effectually obviated; and it will appear by this circular, that those have been selected, which will give due exercise to both body and mind. The muscular powers of the body will be called into action, and their forces will be directed by mental ingenuity, until the student becomes familiar with the most important scientific manipulations, and particularly with those which will be most useful in the common concerns of life. The Rensselaerean scheme for communicating scientific knowledge had never been attempted on either continent, until it was instituted at this school, two years ago. Many indeed mistook it, at first, for Fellenberg's method; but its great superiority has now been satisfactorily tested by its effects. As the experi- mental school, as well as the preparation branch, were founded solely for the public benefit by its disinterested patron, it is the particular desire of the trustees, that its excellences should be understood and imitated at other schools, as set forth in a former circular. Like other useful inventions, much expense was required for making the first experiment. Fortunately for science, the trial has been fairly made at the expense of many thousands, advanced by a single indi- I RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 487 vidual. Now it may he followed, in its chief advantages, by every school district; while the parent school at Troy will prepare competent teachers. By order of the Trustees. SAMUEL BLATCHFORD, President. Rensselaer School, Troy, (N. Y.) Sept. 14, 1826. OFFICERS OF THE SCHOOL. PATRON, Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer, with the power to appoint all Examiners. TRUSTEES, Surveyor Gen. S. De Witt and Prof. T. R. Beck, of Albany— Hon. J. D. Dickinson and Hon. R. P. Hart, of Troy— Rev. Dr. Blatchford and E. Parmelee, Esquire, of Lansingburgh— Hon. Gr. Van Schoonhoven and Hon. J. Cramer, of Waterford. FACULTY, Rev. S. Blatchford, President,— A. Eaton, Sen. Prof.— L. C. Beck, Jun. Prof. AUXILIARY OFFICERS, Dr. Moses Hale, Sec'ry.— Mr. H. N. Lockwood, Treas.— T. Dwight Eaton, Monitor and Libra- rian.— Asahel Gilbert, Steward.— Cyrus A. Lockwood, Esquire, Acting Steward. AMOS EATON. A slight digression is necessary to give a short account of one whose remarkable powers as a teacher of science insured its early success. Amos Eaton, the first senior professor, was born at Chatham, N. Y., in 1776. He gave evidence at an early age of superior ability and aptitude in the acquirement of scientific knowledge. At the age of 16, with homemade instruments, he had become a practical surveyor, and in 1799 graduated at Williams College with a high reputation for his scientific attainments. Although he at first studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1802, he never lost his interest in natural sciences, and abandoning his profession went to Yale College in 1815 to more thoroughly fit himself for scientific pursuits. He had given in 1810 a course of popular lectures on botany, and in 1817 returned to Williamstown to give lectures to volunteer classes in botany, min- eralogy, and geology. Giving evidence here of his value as a teacher, and of his remarkable power of exciting the interest and enthusiasm of students, he determined to deliver a series of popular lectures through- out New England and other States. This was done with great success. According to Prof. Albert Hopkins he was one of the first to popularize science in the Northern Stiates. In 1820 he was appointed professor of natural history in the Medical College at Castleton, Vt., and in this and the following year made, under the patronage of Stephen Van Rensselaer, geological and agricultural surveys of Albany and Rens- selaer counties in the State of New York. There was thus acquired a knowledge of his capabilities which secured his appointment as senior professor in the Rensselaer Institute. He left the imprint of genius upon this school, and died at Troy in 1842. HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. He was not only an able teacher, but a scientific investigator and explorer as well. His practical work and writings attest this. His first work, a treatise on botany, was published in 1810, and his last, on geology, in 1841, He wrote on botany, zoology, chemistry, geology, and surveying. The different editions of his various books amount in all to about 40 publications.^ DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICAL ARTS ESTABLISHED. By an act of the legislature passed in 1832 the name of the institu- tion was changed from the Rensselaer School to the Rensselaer Insti- tute, and in 1833 by the same authority the trustees were empowered to establish a department of mathematical arts for the purpose of giving instruction in engineering and technology. From its inception to this time the institution has been a school of natural science, its graduates receiving the degree A, B. (r. s.). A consideration of the condition of the country and of the state of scientific knowledge as applied to the constructive arts toward the beginning of the century shows why this was the case. At the time of the foundation of the school it could hardly be said that there were in this country any engineers other than military engineers. But few miles of canal had been built, the Erie canal having been begun in 1817. There were no railroads, the first one having been opened in 1830. The term civil engineer had hardly been coined. The inclu- sion, therefore, among the duties of the senior professor, in the first triennial catalogue, published in 1828, of lectures on civil engineering is significant of the broad and enlightened views of the founder and officers of instruction. The foundation of the department of mathematical arts resulted in the establishment of a coarse in civil engineering, and eight members of the class of 1835 received the degree of civil engineer (C. E.). This was the first class in civil engineering graduated in any English- speaking country. There follows a copy of a notice dated October 14, 1835, in which the curriculum of the engineer corps is set forth. It is interesting not only because it is the first prospectus of a school of civil engineering ever issued in English, but because it adds to our information of the state of applied science in this country at that date. A more striking indication than this notice of the advance- ment, during the last sixty years, in the application of scientific knowledge to the development of the constructive arts can hardly be given. This is especially the case with those parts of it relating to the conferring of degrees, where it is stated that the degree of civil engineer is conferred on candidates of 17 years or upward, and that one year is sufficient for obtaining the degree. Also that graduates of colleges may succeed in obtaining it by close application during ' See Nason's Biographical Record of the Officers and Graduates of the Rensse- laer Polytechnic Institute, and Durfee's History of Williams College. RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 489 the twenty-four weeks in the summer term. It is to be remembered, that civil engineering meant at that time all branches of engineering other than military. TIRST CIVIL ENGINEERING PROSPECTUS. Notices of Rensselaer Institute, Troy, N. Y., October 14, 1835. [Being tlie answer to letters of inquiry.] Hon. STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER, Patron, with the right to appoint the Annual Board of Examiners. ACTING FACULTY. Rev. E. NOTT, D. D., President— also President of Union College. Judge DAVID BUEL, Jr., Vice President. AMOS EATON, Senior Professor, and Professor of Civil Engineering; also holding the Agency and Supervision of the Institute. EBENEZER EMMONS, Junior Professor. JAMES HALL, Professor of Chemistry and Physiology. Assistants— Edward Suffern and D. S. Smalley. Instruction, wholly practical, illustrated hy Experiments and Sjjeciviens, is given 4.0 weeks in each year. Five days in each w^eek the forenoon exercises are from 8 A. M. to 1 P. M. Winter Session commences the third Wednesday in November, and continues 16 weeks. During the first 12 weeks, each forenoon is devoted to practical Mathe- matics, Arithmetical and Geometrical. This is a most important course for men of business, young and old. During the last 4 weeks of the Winter Term, extem- poraneous Speaking on the subjects of Logic, Rhetoric, Geology, Geography and History, is the forenoon exercise. Throughout the whole session the afternoon exercises are Composition, and, in fair Weather, exercises in various Mathematical Arts. A course of Lectures on National and Municipal Law, is given by the Senior Professor. Summer Session commences on the last Wednesday in April, and continues 24 weeks: ending with Commencement. Students of the Natural Science Department are instructed as folloivs: Three weeks, wholly practical Botany, with specimens. Four weeks. Zoology, including organic remains; and Physiology, including the elements of Organic Chemistry. Three and a half weeks, Geology and Mineralogy, with specimens. Three weeks, traveling between Connecticut River and Schoharie Kill, for mak- ing collections to be preserved by each student, and exhibited at examinations; also for improving in the knowledge of Natural History and Mathematical Arts. Ten weeks. Chemistry and Natural Philosophy. Half a week, preparing for examination and Commencement. The afternoons of all fair days are devoted to Surveying, Engineering, and various Mathematical Arts — also to Mineralizing, Botanizing, and to collecting and preserving subjects in Zoology. Students of the Engineer Corps are instructed as folloivs: Eight weeks, in learning the use of Instruments; as Compass, Chain, Scale, Pro- tractor, Dividers, Level, Quadrant. Sextant, Barometer, Hydrometer, Hygrometer, Pluviometer, Thermometer. Telescope, Microscope, &c., with their applications to Surveying. Protracting. Leveling, calculating Excavations and Embankments, 490 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. taking Heights and Distances, Specific Gravity and Weight of Liquids, Degrees of Moisture, Storms, Temperature, Latitude and Longitude by lunar observations and eclipses. Eight weeks, Mechanical Powers, Circles, Conic Sections, construction of Bridges, Arches, Piers, Rail-Roads, Canals, running Circles for Rail-Ways, cor- recting the errors of long Levels, caused by refraction and the Earth's convexity, calculating the height of the Atmosphere by twilight, and its whole weight on any given portion of the Earth, its pressure on Hills and in Valleys as affecting the height for fixing the lower valve of a Pump; in calculating the Moon's distance by its horizontal parallax, and the distances of Planets by proportionals of cubes of times to squares of distances. Four weeks, in calculating the quantity of Water per second, &c., supplied by streams as feeders for Canals, or for turning Machinery; in calculating the veloc- ity and quantity effused per second, &c. , from flumes and various vessels, under various heads; the result of various accelerating and retarding forces of water flowing in open race-ways and pipes of waterworks, and in numerous miscellane- ous calculations respecting Hydrostatics and Hydrodynamics. Four weeks, study the effect of Steam and inspect its various applications — Wind, as applied to Machinery; also Electro-Magnetism — inspect the principal Mills, Factories, and other Machinery or works which come within the province of Mathematical Arts; also, study as much Geology as maybe required forjudging of Rocks and Earth concerned in construction. Fees for instruction, including all Lectures, Experiments, &c.; also for use of Instruments, Apparatus, Library and Specimens, $4 for each sub-term of four weeks. No student received for less than a sub- term. No extra charge excepting $8 for the course of Experimental Chemistry, where each student gives a course of experiments with his own hands. Students furnish their own fuel, light, and text-books. Each boards where he pleases; but the Professors will aid strangers in the selection of boarding houses. A small number of strangers are boarded at the School at $2 per week; they furnish their own bedding, washing, &c. The Rensselaer degree of Bachelor of Natural Science is conferred on all qualified persons of 17 years or upwards. The Rensselaer degree of Civil Engineer is con- ferred on candidates of 17 years and upwards, who are well qualified in that department. This power was given to the President, by an amendment to the Charter, passed last session of the Legislature. Candidates are admitted to the institute who have a good knowledge of Arithmetic, and can understand good authors readily, and can compose with considerable facility. After a trial of two seasons, it is found to be inexpedient to enter young lads in the regular divisions, before they have sufficient pride of character to govern their conduct when preparing for their exercises in the absence of a teacher; arrange- ments will therefore be made for having a teacher always present with them, when they are not in the immediate charge of a Professor or Assistant. Students in any one department have the right to attend one Experimental Lecture each day in the other departments, free of expense. One year is sufficient for obtaining the Rensselaer degree of Bachelor of Natural Science, or of Civil Engineer, for a candidate who is well prepared to enter. Graduates of Colleges may succeed by close application during the 24 weeks In the Summer term. Candidates may commence the course at the beginning of any sub-term; but the third Wednesday of November is to be preferred unless the candidate is a graduate of a regular College, or otherwise well instructed in general Mathe- matics and Literature. In such cases the last Wednesday in April is the most suitable time of entering. His theoretical views may then be reduced to practice during the Summer course. EENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. ' 491 The degree of Master of Arts is conferred after two years of practical applica- tion. Gentlemen wishing to learn the outline of the terms of the Rensselaer Institute, are requested to pay postage on their letters; and they will receive this printed notice. If this appears to be a " narrow notice," I will state that I paid $54.28 in one year in postage for letters on others' business: some for our school course, more for advice about mines, minerals, and visionary projects. Amos Eaton, Agent. Rensselaer Institute, Troy, Oct. 14, 1835. Upon the death, of Amos Eaton, in 1842, George H. Cook, of the class of 1839, afterwards widely known for his work as State geolo- gist of New Jersej'', became senior professor. Under his direction the school was reorganized and the courses of instruction somewhat extended. He resigned in 1847 and was succeeded by B. Franklin Greene, of the class of 1842, who became director of the institution when that office was created by act of legislature in 1850. REORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL. His acceptance of the position marks an epoch in the history of the school. After a careful study of the scientific and technical institutions of Europe, the curriculum was, under his direction, thor- oughly reorganized in 1849. This reorganization included a material enlargement of the course of study and the requirement of a more rigid standard of scholarship from candidates for degrees. The num- ber of instructors was also increased and the length of time devoted to the course was changed to three years, with a "preparatory class," which made it practically four years in duration. The graduating or senior class was called Division A, and the others Divisions B and C. In 1858 the preparatory class was merged into the regular course under the name of Division D. Professor Greene published in 1856 a pamphlet of 84 pages entitled The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Its Reorganization in 1849- 5,0 — Its Condition at the Present Time — Its Plans and Hopes for the Future. This, as its title indicates, was descriptive of the reorgani- zation. Two paragraphs are quoted from it to show more clearly the character of the changes and the intentions >of the authorities : The managers of the institute therefore resolved that their field should be nar- rowed and more thoroughly cultivated; that, indeed, their educational objects should be restricted to matters immediately cognate to architecture and engineer- ing; that, moreover, for a somewhat irregular and for the most part optional course, requiring but a single year for its accomplishment, they would substitute a carefully considered curriculum, which should require at the least full three years of systematic and thorough training, and that, finally, they would demand the application of the strictest examination tests to the successive parts of the course prescribed, not only in respect to the translation of students from lower to higher classes, but especially in all cases of ultimate graduation with profes- sional degrees. It was in accordance with such views as these that, in 1849-50, this institution 492 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IIST NEW YOEK. was wholly reorganized upon the basis of a general polytechnic institute, when it received the distinctive addition to its title, under which it has since been more or less generally known. It will be seen from the last paragraph that the name Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was first used in 1849-50. This change was ratified by an act of the legislature passed April 8, 1861. Thus were inaugurated the course and methods which have resulted in giving to the engineering profession of this and other countries during the last forty years many of its most distinguished members. The main causes of the reputation of the school and of the success of its graduates have been the method of instruction then adopted and the high standard of scholarship maintained. Although the curriculum has of course since been changed from time to time to adapt it to the needs of the best modern practice, the methods have remained practically unchanged. The classes are divided into small sections and each student is required to recite each day in every subject. Text-books, suiDplemented by lectures and explanations, are used whenever the nature of the case permits. The students are not only interrogated, but in almost all subjects are required to make blackboard demonstrations. After the material constituting each term's work has been finished, a review in all subjects follows and afterwards an examination. Close records of the work done each day are kept, and the success of the student in passing in any subject depends largely upon these daily records. PRESIDENTS AND DIRECTORS. Director B. Franklin Greene resigned in 1859, and his position was occupied until 1860 by Nathan S. S. Beman, D. D., who was at that time president of the board of trustees. The names of the presidents and directors and the years during which they served, from the foundation of the school to the present time, are here given : PRESIDENTS. Rev. Samuel Blatchf ord, D. D. , first president 1824-28 Rev. John Chester, D. D. , second president 1828-29 Eliphalet Nott, D. D., LL. D.. third president 1829-45 Nathan S. S, Beman, D. D., fourth president 1845-65 Hon. John F. Winslow, fifth president . 1865-68 Thos. C. Brinsmade, M. D., sixth president .- 1868-68 Hon. James Forsyth, LL. D. , seventh president . . _ . 1868-86 John Hudson Peck, LL. D. , eighth president 1888- SENIOR PROFESSORS AND DIRECTORS. Amos Eaton, A. M. , senior professor 1824-42 George H. Cook, C. E. , Ph. D. , senior professor _ . 1842-46 B. Franklin Greene, C. E., A. M., director 1847-59 Nathans. S. Beman, D. D., director 1859-60 Charles Drowne, C. E., A. M., director 1860-76 William L. Adams, C. E., director..,. 1876-78 David M. Greene, C.E., director 1878-91 Palmare. Ricketts, C.E., director 1892- EENSSELAEE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 493 REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION. The requirements for admission to tlie institute have been in the past, and are at present, somewhat elementarj^ in their character. In this, as in some other respe.cts, it resembles the United States Military and Naval academies. The cause has been the necessity of thorough preparation in elementary branches of mathematics, which experience has taught can not generally be expected from students who have received their mathematical training in the secondary schools of this country. For this reason, besides the usual English branches, arith- metic, plane geometry, and algebra through quadratic equations only are required for admission. Local examinations for entrance are pro- vided in a few schools of high grade in various parts of the country. NUMBER AND LENGTH OF TERMS. Each year is divided into two terms of about nineteen weeks each, and examinations are held at the end of each term. Besides this, students of Divisions C and B, which correspond to the sophomore and junior years of academic schools, go into the field during the month of July for instruction in practical surveying of various kinds. This is in addition to the survejdng required during other parts of the course. COURSES OF INSTRUCTION. The principal course of instruction given is that in civil engineer- ing, and the degree conferred is civil engineer (C. E.). It is to be distinctly understood, however, that the instruction is not narrowed to any special branch of civil engineering. The design of steam engines, as well as that of bridges, sewerage systems, waterworks, etc., is taught, and the student receives instruction as well in the principles of electrical engineering as in the location and construction of roads and railroads. There is also given a course in natural science, upon the satisfactory completion of which the degree of Bachelor of Science (B. S.) is conferred. Special practical courses in chemistrj^ and assaying and in survey- ing and railroad engineering are given during the summer vacation. That in chemistry and assaying is six weeks in duration, and includes either qualitative or quantitative analysis as may be desired. The course in surveying and railroad engineering is given in the field between June 1 and July 1, and is therefore four weeks in duration. Some healthful part of the Adirondack region in the northern part of this State is chosen for the work. A special winter course of lectures on highwaj^ engineering and road construction is also given. These lectures are not technical in their character, being intended for those who, without an advanced special training, are engaged or interested in the construction and maintenance of country roads. 494 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. SCHEDULE OP THE COURSE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING. FIRST YEAR. First term. — Solid geometry; algebra; French; projections, theory; projections, drawing; freehand drawing; plane problems; elements of drawing; pen topog- raphy. Second term.— Tvigonometrj; physics; French; surveying, theory; surveying, practice; colored topography; bridge drawing. A thesis must be written during the summer vacation. SECOND YEAR. First term.— 'Physics; logic; descriptive geometry, theory; descriptive geome- try, drawing; analytical geometry; surveying, theory; surveying, practice; physi- cal experiments. Second term. — Chemistry, theory; chemistry, lectures; differential calculus; surveying, theory; shades and shadows, theory; shades and shadows, drawing; perspective, theory; perspective, drawing; freehand drawing, lettering. A thesis must be written during the sammer vacation. A four weeks' course in surveying during the month of June is required. THIRD YEAR. First term. — Integral calculus; rational mechanics; geodesy; highway engineer- ing; chemistry, qualitative analysis; mineralogy; electricity and magnetism; map drawing. Second ierr».— Rational mechanics; structures; railroad engineering, theory; astronomy; machine construction, theory; machine construction, plates; chemis- try, blowpipe analysis; assaying. A thesis must be written during the summer vacation. A four weeks' course in railroad engineering during the month of June is required. FOURTH YEAR. First term.. — Machines; resistance of materials; hydraulics; sewerage; bridges and roofs; economic theory of railroad location; practical astronomy, theory; practical astronomy, observations; metallurgy; physical laboratory work. -Second term. — Bridge design ; hydraulics; hydraulic motors; thermodynamics; steam engineering: stonecutting, theory; stonecutting, plates; electrical engi- neering; physical laboratory work; geology; Jaw of contracts. A graduating thesis must be presented. SCHEDULE OF THE COURSE IN NATURAL SCIENCE. The studies of the course in natural science are identical with those in civil engineering during the first two years. THIRD YEAR. First ferm.— Calculus; electricity and magnetism; mineralogy, petrography;, map drawing; chemistry, qualitative analysis, elementary quantitative analysis. Second term.— Astronomy; geology, lithology; histology; chemistry, organic; blowpipe analysis; assaying. A thesis must be written during the summer vacation. EENSSELAEK POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 495 FOURTH YEAR. First term. — Metallurgy, general metallurgy, iron metallurgy; chemistry, quantitative analysis, analysis of commercial and industrial products; physical laboratory work. Second term. — Physical laboratory work; paleontology; mineralogy, determina- tive; petrography; chemistry, quantitative analysis, volumetric and gravimetric analysis; law of contracts. A graduating thesis must be presented. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. The aim of the department is to give each student a thorough work- ing knowledge of the several subjects taught. The courses are made to bear as directly as possibly upon the training of the engineer. During the first year thorough instruction is given in solid geometry, higher algebra, and trigonometry. These are followed by analytical geometry and differential calculus in the second year, and by integral calculus in the third. Lectures on the theory and various forms of the slide rule are also delivered. In all these subjects examples of a practical nature are constantly given. The text-books used are sup- plemented by notes prepared by the instructors. A course in descriptive astronomy is given in the third year, and that in spherical and practical astronomy in the fourth. In the latter are considered the adjustment and use of portable instruments, cor- rection of observations, determination of time, latitude, longitude, and the meridian, the method of least squares, and similar subjects. The theory is supplemented by work in the observatory, where the use of the sextant, chronograph, transit instriiment, etc. , is taught. DESCRIPTIVE GEOMETRY AND STEREOTOMY. In this department careful and thorough instruction is given in free- hand drawing, lettering, the use of drawing instruments, tinting, shading, isometric and orthographic projections, tracing and making blue prints, the theory and practice of shades, shadows and perspec- tive, machine construction and drawing, including gearing and the slide valve, and stonecutting. In all these subjects a great amount of time is spent in the drawing room under the immediate supervision of the instructor, and original work sufficient to fix the principles is required. In descriptive geometry, for instance, although a lesson is assigned for each day from the text-book, the student is seldom given a problem found there, but is required to prove an original one illus- trating the same principles. Besides the drawing required in the course in stone-cutting, plaster of paris models of arches, stairwaj^s, etc., are constructed by the students. CHEMISTRY, The course in chemistry, which is obligatory for all students, con- sists of daily lectures during the last part of the second year upon 496 HISTOKY OF HIGBEE EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. ,; general inorganic chemistry. These are accompanied by daily recita- ^ tions, including the solution of chemical problems. The course in qualitative analysis extends over the first half of the third year, with laboratory work five days in each week. During this course the student acquires ability to examine analytically all the ordinary materials likely to be presented to his attention during his professional engineering practice. He is, as far as possible, given charge of outside questions which come to the laboratory for solution. Blowpipe analysis and assaying extend over part of the second term of the third year, particular attention being given to the assay of gold and silver and to the recognition of such ores of the heavy metals as may be met with in the mining regions of this country. Quantitative analysis and organic chemistry are not given to can- didates for the degree of civil engineer. Courses in these subjects are given to candidates for the degree of bachelor of science, to post- graduates, and to special students. Very complete arrangements make these courses especially thorough. MINERALOGY, GEOLOGY, AND METALLURGY, These subjects are taught by means of lectures and recitations. An unusually fine collection of rocks, minerals, and designs for iron and steel works adds greatly to the value of the courses. PHYSICS. The course of physics begins in the last term of the first year with the mechanics of solids, liquids, and gases, and acoustics. Optics and heat are studied during the first term of the second year, and elec- tricity and magnetism during the first term of the third year. These subjects are developed by daily lectures. The student uses a text- book, and is held strictly accountable for an exact knowledge of its contents, but much instruction is given additionally in the lectures, accompanied with full experimental illustrations. He is required to take notes during the course of the lectures and to copy others which have been put upon the blackboards. In the course of daily recita- tions problems are frequently assigned, and upon these, as well as on demonstrations of theory, the student is required to give both oral and written explanations. During the first term of the second year a course of laboratory work is conducted in which the student is in- troduced to the methods of quantitative measurement, and he thus acquires some familiarity with the use of physical instruments. For each exercise due preparation is made by appropriate reading, and a report is written which is examined by the instructor. During the first and second terms of the fourth year laboratory practice is con- tinued, prominence being given to methods in electrical and magnetic measurement. During the second term of the fourth year a course in thermody- namics is given, and this is followed by lectures on the elements of BEISrSSELAER POLyTECHNIO IISISTITUTE. 497 electrical engineering as an accompaniment to the laboratory work in electrical measurement. SURVEYING. The student begins the work in surveying during his first year at the institute. In the second term of this year he is taught the use of the chain, tape, and compass. He also makes a compass survey of a small piece of land, which is mapped and the area computed. In the second year the construction and use of all modern surveying instruments, including transit, level, solar compass and attachment, clinometer, hand level, aneroid barometer, planimeter, etc., are taught in the class room, as are also the various methods in modern use of making land, topographical, hydrographical, mine, and city surveys. In topographical surveying, while all methods are taught and the con- ditions rendering one method more suitable than another, particular attention is paid to the transit and stadia, and the students become thoroughly familiar with this most generally suitable method. Dur- ing the first term daily practice in the adjustment and use of the various instruments before enumerated is given. Surveys of limited extent are executed, a meridian is established with the solar compass, checked b}^ stellar observations, and the magnetic declination of the needle determined. At the close of the year the class is taken into the field for four weeks, and makes a complete topographical survey of an area selected with reference to the diversity of problems it presents. This survey is also made to include hydrographic work, as the portion of the stream within the area chosen for work is mapped from soundings and its flow determined. GEODESY. Besides the course in astronomy, in which the students are taught to determine latitude, longitude, time, etc., from observations on the heavenly bodies, a brief course in geodetic surveying is given in the third year. The work includes the methods of measuring base lines, field work of triangulation, adjustment of triangles and quadrilaterals, and a discussion of the figure of the earth. HIGHV^AY ENGINEERING. During the third year there is given a course in highway engineer- ing, in which is discussed the location, construction, and maintenance of country roads and city streets, the advantages and disadvantages of the various paving materials, and specifications for each, and a study is made of the various road laws in force and their adequacy. A special course of fifteen lectures on the construction and maintenance of country roads is offered to persons of mature years, and is designed for road overseers and others having to do with this class of work, 317G 32 498 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. RAILROAD ENGINEERING. The subject of railroad engineering is begun in the third year with a theoretical course in railroad curves, turnouts and minor structures, and the staking out and computation of railway earthwork. The course also includes a discussion of the method of making railway location surveys, and a contour map is furnished the student on which he projects a location line and makes an estimate of materials and cost. This theoretical course is followed at the close of the year by four weeks of field practice in railroad surveying, during which a preliminary survey is made and mapped, a location projected and run in, the work staked out, quantities computed, and cost estimated. A line from 3 to 8 miles in length is usually located, and through the courtesy of railroad officials interested in the institute the classes not infrequently have an actually contemplated line to examine, which secures an interest and faithfulness not always obtained on a mere "practice" line. In the fourth year the subject generally known as economic theory of railroad location, embracing the items of train resistance and the effect of grades, curves, and length of line in operation is thoroughly studied, together with the, correlative subjects of economic construc- tion, maintenance of way, etc. Numerous problems are given to illustrate the subject, and a short thesis comparing two or more possi- ble locations for a line, the data for which are given, is written. The students also discuss in the light of the new knowledge the location made the previous year. In addition to the above, there is given in the fourth year a comiDrehensive series of lectures on railwaj'' signals, embracing the construction and operation of block signals and inter- locking signals for yards, crossings, etc. SUMMER COURSES. It is believed that the summer courses in surveying in the second and third years are particularly valuable on account of the continuous and practical character of the work. The student is employed all day for six days in the week, and the methods used both in the topo- graphical and railroad surveys embody the latest modern practice. The work is usually located in the Adirondack foothills, and forms the most enjoyable and healthful as well as valuable portion of the surveying instruction. These courses are open to a limited number of special students who show themselves competent to perform the work. TOPOGRAPHICAL DRAWING. Topographical drawing is taught in the first, second, and third years of the course. In the first year the student learns to make the various topographic symbols, both in pen and ink and in color. In BENSSELAEE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 499 the second year, in connection with the course in surveying, he maps small areas from notes furnished him, measures and computes the areas and draws contours, projects grades and computes volumes of earthwork involved in surface grading. He also makes the skeleton map of the summer survey. In the third year he completes this map and also makes in the field the map of the railroad survey. The use of the planimeter and the various diagrams for estimating areas and earthwork are taught. EATIONAL MECHANICS. At the conclusion of the course in integral calculus, during the first term of the third year, instruction in rational mechanics begins. In this course, which extends over a part of two terras with recitations and lectures every day, the fundamental theoretic principles of statics, cinematics, and dynamics which underlie and form the foundation of all branches of engineering are taught. The higher treatises and text-books, supplemented by notes, are used. The method of instruc- tion, which applies as well to the technical subjects in the depart- ment of mechanics as to the rational, is as follows: The class is divided into sections, and each section, after a combined lecture and thorough interrogation by the professor m charge, goes to the assistant for a recitation on certain selected parts of the subject. The assistant requires each student each day to put one of these articles on the blackboard and explain it. During this explanation he is interrogated upon the principles involved. STRUCTURES. The theory of structures is taught during the last term of the third year. This includes the equilibrium and stability of frames, chords, arches, buttresses, chimneys, abutments, piers, retaining walls, dams, etc. Analytical and graphical methods of treatment are elaborated. A treatise on masonry construction is also used as a text-book, and the strength, properties, and cost of cement, mortar, concrete, brick, and stone masonry, together with all the more important kinds of foundations, are considered. RESISTANCE OF MATERIALS. The elasticity and resistance of the materials of engineering are considered during the first term of the fourth year. The fundamental equations of the theory of flexure are first determined and applied to a consideration of the strength of simply supported and continuous beams and of columns. Practical formulae for the strength of beams are determined, and the right line long-column formula and those of Gordon and Euler are deduced. Attention is also paid to the graph- ical representation of the strength of columns. Theoretical formulae 500 . HISTOEY OF HIGHEE EDUCATIOJS' IN NEW YOEK. for torsion are developed and applied to a consideration of the strength of shafting. The design of riveted joints for boiler and tnbe work is taken up and the proper size and pitch of rivets determined. In the practical part of the subject the coefficient of elasticity, elas- tic limit, ultimate resistance, and other properties of cast and wrought iron, malleableized iron, steel, bronze, copper, and other metals in tension, compression, and shear are studied, and the students are required to make experiments on the testing machine and determine their proi3erties as above outlined. The value of wood, stone, brick, etc. , for use as materials of engineering, is investigated, and each student also determines the strength of cement by the use of a cement- testing machine. Attention is paid to the fracture and appearance of metals, and also to the effect of repetition and reversal of stress. BRIDGES AND ROOFS. The course on bridges and roofs is given in the first and second terms of the fourth year. The first part is devoted to the theory of stresses. In this the student becomes familiar with the calculation of stresses in plate girders, in Howe, Pratt, Whipple, and lattice bridges, and in trusses with curved chords; also in cantalever, suspension, and draw bridges, and in various kinds of roof trusses. Analytical and graphical methods and the method of wheel concentrations and of panel loads are used. Details and connections are carefully considered and studied from the very large collection of blue prints of existing struc- tures of all kinds in possession of the institute. A set of bridge speci- fications forms a part of the course upon which recitations are required, and handbooks of bridge and iron works are used for reference. Dur- ing this course the class is taken out for an examination and comparison of various styles of bridges in the vicinity, and a bridge shop is also visited and the machines and methods of manufacture explained. The second part of the course in the second term is taken up with the design of bridges and parts of bridges. The student makes all the calculations and complete shop drawings of the work in hand, each bridge being different from the others, and tracings and blue prints are finally made. It is thus seen that the course is thoroughly prac- tical in its character. HYDRAULICS AND HYDRAULIC MOTORS. This subject is taught in the fourth year. It includes hydrology, hydrostatics, theoretical hydraulics, the flow of water through ori- fices, over weirs and dams, through tubes and pipes, and in conduits, canals, and rivers, the measurement and cost of water power, the dynamic pressure of flowing water, hydraulic motors, and the general principles of naval hydromechanics. IsTumerous examples illustrating the principles are given. In the direction of water-supply engineering there are considered general rainfall statistics, precipitation, evapo- EET^SSELAEE POLYTECHNIC IITSTITUTE. 501 ration, the collection and storage of water, and its impurities, the practical construction of waterworks, including reservoir embank- ments, wasteweirs, partition walls, conduits, distributing sj^stems, and the various methods of filtering-. The delivery of water by- pumps is here touched upon, though this matter is more thoroughly treated in the course on the steam engine. The theory and efficiency of the various forms of water wheels are investigated, and the students are instructed with regard to the different kinds of turbines, with their draft tubes, diffusers, and governors. Students are required to measure the flow of adjacent streams by means of weirs, and thus practically to find the discharge. Practice in the measurement of the velocity of streams by means of current meters and floats is also given, and models of valves, motors, practical working turbines, etc., add value to the instruction. The subject of aerodynamics is also taken up in this course, and the flow of air through orifices, and in pipes, blowing engines, the relations between the velocity and the pressure of the wind, anemome- ters, windmills, etc., are studied. SEWERAGE SYSTEMS. The design of sewerage systems is taken up in the fourth year. A comparison of the cost and efficiency of the different systems is made and the conditions under which each should be used explained. The various methods of sewage disposal are exemplified and their efficiency discussed. The effect of the surface slope and magnitude of area drained in connection with the maximum rainfall is considered, and main and branch sewers for the separate and combined sj^stems are proportioned and their cost determined. The materials of con- struction, foundations required, methods of laying, and descriptions of details, such as branches, manholes, catch basins, etc., are also given. STEAM ENGINEERING. The course in steam engineering is given during the last term of the fourth year. It consists of a series of lectures by a well-known consulting mechanical engineer. The properties of steam are first elaborated and afterwards the details and construction of the various engines and boilers in ordinary use considered. The strength of their parts is calculated and their general operation explained. The course also includes pumping machinery. The lectures are illustrated by drawings, photographs, and handbooks, and books of reference are used for consultation. Each student makes a general design for a locomotive, pumping, marine, or other form of engine, though detailed drawings are not expected. He is also required to take indi- cator's diagrams from some engine and determine from them its power. Examinations of various forms of steam engines in the vicin- ity are also made under the direction of the instructor. 502 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATIOlSr IN NEW YORK. THESES. A thesis on some teclmical subject must be written by each student during each summer vacation. A graduating thesis, which must be either a review of, or a design for, a machine, structure, plant, system, or process belonging to a department of scientific or practical technics, is also required. The annual register of the institute for 1893 contains the following clauses in relation to the conferring of degrees : DEGREES. The institute will confer the degree of civil engineer, or of bachelor of science upon all its future graduates who shall have completed the courses leading to such degrees, or to either of them. The conditions of conferring the degree are as follows: 1. The candidate must have sustained a satisfactory examination in all the studies of the course in civil engineering or in that leading to the degree of bachelor of science. 2. His thesis must have been approved by the faculty. 3. He must have paid all dues to the institute. 4. He must be of good moral character. BUILDINGS AND PROPERTY. The institute has at present six buildings in use for purposes of instruction — the main building, the Winslow Laboratory, the Ranken House, the astronomical observatory, the gymnasium, and the alumni building. The main building is 115 feet in length, 50 feet in breadth, and four stories in height. It contains lecture and recitation rooms, drawing rooms, and the laboratories of the department of physics. The main hall of the institution, where the reading of theses takes place, is also in this building. The Winslow Laboratory is 77 feet long, 45 feet wide, and three stories high. It is devoted to the department of chemistry. The first story contains rooms for quantitative analysis and special investiga- tions, and also the furnaces for the work in assaying. The second story contains the general laboratory for qualitative analysis and rooms for chemical balances and for the instructor in charge. The third story contains the general lecture hall, a recitation room, a room for the apj)aratus used in the lectures on general chemistry, and an office for the use of the instructors in the department. In this room there is a carefully selected special chemical library. The William Proud fit Observatory is an astronomical observatory consisting of a central part 40 feet square, with north, south, and east wings. It is 70 feet long and 60 feet in depth. It is well equipped with instruments for use in engineering instruction, con- RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE— GYMNASIUM. EENSSELAEK POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. 503 tainmg a transit instrument, clironometer, chronograph, clocks, and sextant. The Ranken House is 40 feet square and two stories in height. It is used as a mechanical laboratory, and contains machines for the testing of the various metals and of cement, stone, wood, etc. The gymnasium is 80 feet long, 44 feet wide, and two stories high. The first story contains bowling alleys, sponge and shower baths, a dressing room, and a reception room. The whole of the second story, 30 feet in height, is taken up by the gymnasium proper, which has a gallery with a racing track, and is fitted up with the best patterns of Dr. Sargent's gymnastic apparatus. The alumni building is about 50 feet square and three stories in height. It is fireproof throughout, having concrete floors and brick partition walls. The first floor contains the library, a room for the trustees and the transaction of general executive business and one for the office of the director. The second and third floors contain the geological, mineralogical, and general natural history collections. There is also a lecture room for the professor of geology on the second floor. THE LIBRARY. The library, located on the first floor of the new fireproof alumni building, is strictly technical in its character. It consists of about 5,000 volumes and a large number of pamphlets and maps, and con- tains many valuable scientific works, including the publications of foreign and American societies, and bound volumes of various tech- nical journals. The professional library of the late Alexander L. HoUey was bequeathed by him to the institution and forms a part of its collection. The books and pamphlets are accessible to all mem- bers of the institute, and the reading room attached contains the cur- rent numbers of all the more valuable scientific publications of this and other countries. The institution possesses valuable collections of drawings, models, instruments, an.d machines for purposes of illustration and instruc- tion in its various departments. The total value of its property is estimated at 1350,000. ITS GRADUATES. The importance of this institution in the educational history of the country is well known. This is due not only to the methods of instruction and the high standard of scholarship required, but also to the splendid work of its graduates as engineers and teachers of sci- ence. In a pamphlet published in 1892, entitled A Partial Record of the Work of Graduates of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, are given the names of 33 presidents, 121 vice-presidents, managers, and superintendents, and 69 chief engineers of railroad companies, steel and iron works, bridge companies, waterworks, electric companies, mining companies, sewerage systems, canals, etc., who have graduated 504 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. at the school; also of 5 State geologists and 56 professors who have been connected with most of the great educational institutions of the country. The pamphlet also shows that the graduates of the school have been connected as designers and constructors with nearly all the larger bridge companies and great bridges in the country, and that they have in responsible positions helped to build and equij) 109,000 miles of the railroad systems of North America, besides many miles in other quarters of the globe. One hundred and ninety of the grad- uates of the school have become members of the American Society of Civil Engineers. It received at the Paris Exposition of 1889 the only grand prize given to engineering schools of the United States. That it is widely known as a school of science may be inferred from the residences of its students, who have come from all parts of the world. Including the class of 1893 there have been 1,093 graduates, of whom 837 are alive and 256 are dead. Nine hundred and forty-seven received the degree of civil engineer (C. E.). The graduates are practicing their professions in 47 of the States and Territories of the United States and in 18 foreign countries. Besides the General Alumni Association of the Institute there are associations of graduates in Pittsburg, Kansas City, Chicago, and New York. The annual register for 1893 contains the names of 18 professors and instructors, 8 lecturers, and 206 students. BIBLIOGRAPHY. The laws of the State of New York for the years 1826, 1832, 1833, 1835, 1837, 1850, 1851, 1861, 1863, 1864, 1866, 1868, and 1871 contain provisions relating to the school. Prospectus entitled Preparation Branch Recently Established at Rensselaer School, and dated September 14, 1826. Prospectus entitled Notices of Rensselaer Institute, and dated October 15, 1835. The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Its Reorganization in 1849-50; its Condition at the Present Time; its Plans and Hopes for the Future, by B. Franklin Greene, was published in 1856. 8vo pamphlet, 87 pp. Papers relating to the Organization of the Association of Graduates, Troy, N. Y., June 22-23, 1869. 8vo pamphlet, 24 pp. Proceedings of the Semicentennial Celebration of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y., held June 14-18, 1874. 8vo pamphlet, 139 pp. History of the Winslow Laboratory and the Cabinets of Mineralogy and Geology, Troy, N. Y., 1874. 8vo pamphlet, 13 pp. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y. Meeting of Alumni in New York, February 18, 1881. 8vo pamphlet, 30 pp. Biographical Record of the Officers and Graduates of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1824-1886, by Henry B. Nason. 8vo. 614 pp. A Partial Record of the Work of Graduates of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Insti- tute, Troy, N. Y., 1892. 8vo pamphlet, 27 pp. The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y., founded 1834. Handbook of Information. 8vo pamphlet, 23 pp. Annual registers of the institute from the foundation of the school to 1893. SPECIAL SCHOOLS. 505 POPULAR COLLEGES AND SUMMER SCHOOLS. Peculiar work of a technical or a popular character, done by such institutions as Cooper Union in New York, Pratt Institute in Brookljm, Chautauqua University, and the Catholic Summer School of America, valuable as it is, does not properly belong within the limits of this history, although the above institutions are colleges incorporated under the laws of the State of New York. They are doing work which falls in with the university-extension movement, as lead- ing to a wider opportunity for higher education to the people at large. The real history of this large movement is yet to make, and such begin- nings as can be attributed to these institutions have been often de- scribed in pamphlets and articles easily accessible. Reference is specially made to the following list of publications : "The history of summer schools in the United States," by W. W. Willoughby, Ph. D. Published as chapter 29 of the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1891-92. COOPEE UNION. Hough, F. B. Historical and Statistical Records of the University of the State of New York, 1784-1884. Albany, 1885. This sketch has peculiar interest as giv. ing an account of the conferring of the degree of LL. D. upon Peter Cooper, on February 12, 1878, his eighty-ninth birthday. Laws of New York, 1857, chap. 31. " Incorporation of the Peter Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. " Laws of New York, 1859, chap. 379, amending above. Pamphlet, "Charter, Trust Deed, and By-laws of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art; with the letter of Peter Cooper accompanying the trust deed." New York, 1881. This pamphlet contains also the by-laws and regulations of the institution. Address of the graduates and pupils to Peter Cooper, esq., and his reply at the annual commencement, May 31, 1871. New York, 1871. Annual Report of the Trustees. The thirty-ninth report is dated May, 1898. " Regents' Report for 18S9." P. 592 has interesting summary of the financial statements of- the institution. CHAUTAUQUA. Chautauqua Assembly Herald. See University of the State of New York. Extension bulletin 9. (Summer schools. ) ' Noble, F. P. Chautauqua as a new factor in American life. New England Magazine n. s, 2: 90. Thorpe, F. N. Chautauqua life in 1800. Chant. 9: 528. Flood, T. L. Old Chautauqua Day. Chant. 13: 561. Prof. Herbert B. Adams. Chautauqua. Report of United States Commissioner of Education for 1894-95. Chapter 19. Comprises 100 pages and includes an account of the " Catholic Chautauqua," the Catholic Summer School. PRATT INSTITUTE. Campbell, J. R. Pratt Institute. Century 46: 870. Hale, E. E. Pratt Institute. Cosmopolitan 7: 99. Regent's report, 1895. pp. 467-492. CATHOLIC SUMMER SCHOOL. Catholic Reading Circle Review. CHAPTER 8. SECONDARY SCHOOLS COMPRISED IN THE UNIVERSITY. The secondary schools of New York, outside of the purely private schools, are divided into three classes — academies, high schools, and academic departments of union schools. They are designed to cover the four years of work preparatory to admission to the first year of college. Although touching at several points the work under the direction of the department of public instruction, notably in the aca- demic departments of union schools, yet they are kept under the supervision and control of the regents. Much of the most effective work of the regents has been in securing greater uniformity and higher standards of work in the academies. The number of these institutions is so great that detailed account is here impossible, although several of the academies date from the last century and have a history at once interesting and instructive. A detailed account of these academies will be found in Dr. Hough's Historical and Sta- tistical Record of the University of the State of New York, already referred to, chapter 27. Chapters 11 to 26, inclusive, of that work are likewise devoted to the academies. In June, 1897, there were a total of 584 of these secondary schools in the State. They were attended by over 53,000 scholars and had a total of 3,291 teachers, of whom 2,256 were women. The 465 high schools and academic departments, which are public institutions, had a net property of $7,667,883.30, and expended $1,892,960.16 for the year, while the 119 academies, which are incorporated, show a net property of $15,493,518.70, with expenses for the year of $1,391,286.02. The following extracts from the report of Secretary Melvil Dewey to the regents for 1897 will be found interesting: ACADEMIES AND HIGH SCHOOLS. In 1896, the last year for which the statistics are available, 600,000 pnpils pur- suing secondary studies were reported to the United States Bureau of Education, nearly seven-eighths of the whole number being in public and private high schools, the remainder in normal schools, academic departments of colleges, etc. There are now in the high schools and academies of New York State 53,464 students, or about one-eleventh of the whole number in the United States. Of these 82 per cent are in our high schools, while the whole United States shows 78 per cent of the entire number taking the public-school course. The number of public high schools in the United States in 1896 was 4,974—421, or more than one-twelfth, being in New York. The growth in one year for the whole country was 262 schools, of which one-fifth was in New York, whose high schools increased from 371 to 421. 506 SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 507 During the year ending June 30, 1897, the high schools in our State reached the number 465, and there were 119 academies, making a total of 584. Including the additions up to the time this report goes to press, there are in this State 611 high schools and academies, or about 1 to every 10,000 population. For comparison with another of the States of the Union, we note that Ohio, with 4,000,000 population, reports 558 public high schools and 56 private, a total of 614, or about 1 to every 8,000 population. NUMBER OF STUDENTS IN ACADEMIES AND HIGH SCHOOLS, 1893 AND 1897. The following table shows the number of students in 1892 compared with that in 1897 : Comparative siLinmai^y of students. High, schools. Academies. Total in Year. Boys. Girls. Total. Boys. Girls. Total. ary schools. 1897 -- 19,594 13,055 34,323 16,304 43,916 38,359 4,653 5,035 4,895 5,615 ■ 9,548 10,650 53,464 39,009 1893 --- Increase (+) or decrease (— ), 1897 +7,539 + 63 +8,018 + 49 +15,557 + 55 —383 — 8 —720 — 13 -1, 103 — 10 +14 455 + 37 The list of the academies which follows is taken from the regents' report for the year ending June 30, 1896, and shows 128 institutions: Academies of the University of the State of Neiv York. [L. — Legislature; all others incorporated or admitted by regents.] No. Name. City or village and county. Incorporated or admitted. By- Date. Academy of Mount St. Vincent Academy of Notre Dame Academy of Sacred Heart Adams Collegiate Institute Adelphi Academy Albany Academy. Albany Female Academy — Alfred University, academic de- partment. A. M. Chesbrough Seminary Augustinian Institute --. Berkeley Institute for Young La- dies. Bridgehampton Literary and Com- mercial Institute. Bulfalo Seminary Canandaigua Academy Canisteo Academy Gary Collegiate Seminary - - . Cascadilla School Cathedral Academy of City of Al- bany. Cay uga Lake Academy Cazenovia Seminary Chamberlain Institute _ Champlain Institute Charbonneau Institute Christian Brothers' Academy Cincinnatus Academy Clifton Springs Female Seminary. Clinton Liberal Institute Colgate Academy Cook Academy _ De Lancey School Delaware Academy -. Delaware Literary Institute De Veaux School D You ville Academy - — East Springfield Academy Evans Academy _ Fairfield Seminary New York Albany Syracuse, Onondaga Adams, Jefferson Brooklyn, Kings Albany Albany Alfred, Allegany North Chili, Monroe . Carthage, Jefferson.. Brooklyn, Kings Bridgehampton, Suffolk. Buffalo, Erie Canandaigua, Ontario . Canisteo, Steuben Oakfield. Genesee Ithaca, Tompkins Albany Jan. 36,1849 Feb. 16,1885 Jan. 9, 1889 Apr. 13, 1855 Aug. 3.1869 Mar. 4,1813 Feb. 16,1831 Jan. 31,1843 Jan. 14,1869 Nov. 31,1895 Apr. 13, 1886 Nov. 33, 1875 Oct. 14,1851 May 4,1795 Mar. 16,1868 May 16,1845 Dec. 13,1893 Dec. 14,1893 Aurora, Cayuga Cazenovia, Madison Randolph, Cattaraugus.. Port Henry, Essex Rouse Point, Clinton , Albany Cincinnatus, Cortland Clifton Springs, Outario. Fort Plain, Montgomery , Hamilton, Madison Montour Falls, Schuyler- Geneva, Ontario Delhi, Delaware Franklin, Delaware Niagara Palls, Niagara . . Plattsburg, Clinton . East Springfield, Otsego. Peterboro, Madison Fairfield, Herkimer L. Mar. Apr. Jan. Feb. June Aug. Apr. May Apr. June Aug. Dec. Feb. Apr. Apr. Dec. July Jan. Mar. 33,1801 6, 1825 24,1851 8,1894 36,1895 3, 1869 31,1857 11, 1868 39, 1834 17,1853 7.1873 7,1887 3, 1830 33,1835 15, 1853 14^1893 13, 1880 38,18.53 15,1803 508 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IK NEW YOEK. Academies of the University of the State of New York — Continued. Name. City or village and county. Incorporated or admitted. By- Date. Female Academy of Sacred Heart Female Academy of Sacred Heart Female Academy of Sacred Heart Female Institute of the Visitation Flushing Institute Fort Edward Collegiate Institute Genesee Wesleyan Seminary Glens Falls Academy _.- Greenville Academy Hartwick Seminary, academic de- partment. Hebrew Technical Institute Hogansburg Academy Holy Angels' Academy _ Houghton Seminary Hudson River Institute Institute of the Sisters of St. Joseph Ives Seminary Keuka Institute Lansingburg Academy La Salle Academy La Salle Institute Lowville Academy Mc Anley Academy Macedon Academy Marion Collegiate Institute Mount Beacon Academy Associa- tion. Mount Pleasant Academy Mount St, Marys Academy _. Munroe Collegiate Institute Nazareth Academy _ New Tork Military Academy Oakwood Seminary -__ Oxford Academy Packer Collegiate Institute Peekskill Academy Pike Seminary _ Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn, academic department. Pratt Institute High School Rensselaer villa Academy . . _ , Round Lake Summer Institute. __ St. Agnes Female Seminary St. Ann's Academic School St. Austin's School St. Bernard's Academy St. Elizabeth's Academy St. Faith's School... St. Francis Xavier's Academic School. St. Gabriel's School St. Joachim's Academic Institute St. John's Academic School St. John's Academy St. John's Catholic Academy St. J ohn 's Military School St. Joseph's Academic School St. Joseph 's Academy _ . St. Joseph's Academy St. Joseph's Academy St. Joseph's Academy 1., St. Joseph's Academy and Indus- trial Female School. St. Margaret's School _ _ St. Mary's Academic School St. Mary's Academic School St. Mary's Academy. St. Mary's Academy and Indus- trial Female School. St. Mary's Catholic Institute St. Patrick's Academy St. Peter's Academy St. Peter's Academy.. St. Philomena's Academic School St. Stanislaus Academic School... St. Teresa's Ursuline Academy St. Thomas Aquinas's Academy Seymour Smith Academy Sherman Collegiate Institute Sodus Academy. Starkey Seminary Staten Island Academy Kenwood, Albany New York Rochester, Monroe Brooklyn, Kings Flushing, Qiieens Fort Edward, Washington. . . Lima, Livingston Glens falls, Warren Greenville, Greene Hartwick Seminary, Otsego . New York Hogansburg, Franklin. Buffalo, Erie Clinton, Oneida Claverack, Columbia. Buffalo, Erie Antwerp, Jefferson Keuka College, Yates Lansingburg, Rensselaer New York - Troy, Rennselaer Lowville, Lewis - Keeseville, Clinton Macedon Center, Wayne Marion, Wayne Fishkill on Hudson, Dutchess . L. L. L. Sing Sing, Westchester Newburg, Orange.. Elbridge, Onondaga Rochester, Monroe Cornwall on Hudson, Orange Union Springs, Cayuga Oxford, Chenango Brooklyn, Kings Peekskill, Westchester Pike, Wyoming,. Brooklyn, Kings .do. Rensselaer ville, Albany Round Lake, Saratoga Brooklyn, Kings Hornellsville, Steuben New Brighton, Richmond .. Cohoes, Albany Allegany, Cattaraugus Saratoga Springs, Saratoga Brooklyn, Kings L. New York Water town, Jefferson Greenbush, Rensselaer , Albany Syracuse, Onondaga Manlius, Onondaga .„ Binghamton, Bi'oome Albany. Brasher Falls, St. Lawrence. Flushing, Queens Troy, Rensselaer Lockport, Niagara Buffalo, Erie. Dunkirk, Chautauqua Hoosiek Falls, Rens.selaer .. Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence . Buffalo, Erie Amsterdam, Montgomery . Catskill, Greene Rome, Oneida . Troy, Rensselaer.. Brushton, Franklin Keeseville, Clinton New York... Brooklyn, Kings Pine Plains, Dutchess Moriah, Essex Sodus, Wayne Eddy town, Yates New Brighton, Richmond . L. Mar. July Apr. Apr, Apr. July Apr. Jan. Feb. Aug. Jan. Jan. Feb. Jan. Apr. Dec. Feb. Dec. Feb. June July Mar. Dec. Apr. July May Mar. July Apr. Dec. May Jan. July May Apr. Feb. Apr. 19,1861 9,18.51 15,1858 17,1863 16, 1837 8,18.54 30, 1833 25, 1843 26,1816 13,1816 10,1884 9. 1889 13,1865 13,1881 35, 1831 14, 1893 1, 1856 10, 1890 8, 1796 24, 1896 7,1891 21, 1808 9,1891 11,1843 6, 1855 31, 1885 24,1820 5,1887 23,1839 9,1891 1. 1890 13, 1860 27,1794 8,1845 16,1838 1,18.56 7,18.34 Feb. 8,1894 Jan. 30,1845 Jan. 10,1889 Feb. 38,1895 June 6,1894 Mar. 13, 1886 Dec. 10,1890 June 26, 1895 June 21, 1893 June 36, 1895 Feb. 8,1894 do Nov. 21,lo95 June 24, 1896 Dec. 7,1887 June 6,1881 June 5, 1894 Feb. 11, 1892 Dec. 9,1891 Aug. 27, 1860 June 24, 1896 Feb. 19, 1866 Jan. 7, 1885 Feb. 8, 1894 Dec. 13, 1894 Dec. 10, 1890 Apr. 29, July 10, 1883 Feb. 11, 1892 Dec. 13, 1883 Jan. 9, 1889 Dec. 12, 1894 Feb. 28,1895 June 24, 1896 Mar. 19, 1896 Apr. 31, 1874 Feb. 16, 1841 Jan. 11, 1855 Feb. 35, 1848 Jan. 7,1885 SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 509 Academies of the University of the State of Neio For/f— Continued. No. Name. City or village and county. Incorporated or admitted. By- Date. 115 Syrian Protestant College, Aca- demic Department. Temple Grove Seminary Beirut, Svria __ L. " lV" L. L. L. L. L. May 4, 1864 .TiiTio i IRfiQ 116 Saratoga Springs, Saratoga ,. Franklinville, Cattaraugus New York 117 IIS Ten Broeck Free Academy Trinity School Apr. 19, 1862 Mar. 14, 1806 May 5, 1834 May 6. 1837 Apr. 13, 1836 Apr. 13, 1868 Dec. 9, 1891 11't T'O Troy Female Seminary do- ._ 131 Union Academy of Belleville Belleville, Jefferson , Bedford Park, New York 1"3 Utica Catholic Academy . _ Utica Female Academy . _ Utica, Oneida I'M do L. L. L. Apr. 28, 1837 July 30, 1886 May 13, 1841 June 34, 1896 T"! Wagner Memorial Lutheran Col- lege. Walworth Academy Westerleigh Collegiate Institute . . Rochester, Monroe 1^6 Walworth, Wayne V>7 West New Brighton, Richmond TW Angelica, Allegany June 13 1881 There were tliat year 421 high schools and academic departments, as against 465 in 1897, scattered, of course, throughout all the counties of the State. One county, however, Hamilton, lying in the Adiron- dack region, has no institution of secondary education. SUMMARY OF THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY. On January 1, 1898, the number and location of institutions com- prised in the University of the State of New York were as follows : Institutions in the university. Num- ber Janu- ary 1, 1898. Students 1896-97. Men. Women. Universities and colleges of liberal arts: For men. - For women. - - For men and women Total. 3,331 1,717 3,217 853 5,050 3,078 Professional and technical schools: Law - Medicine Dentistry Veterinary medicine Pharmacy ._ — Theology -.- Education of teachers Education of librarians Music .-_ - - Other 1,999 3,790 499 119 633 757 198 5 155 5,733 43 335 13 31 15 913 28 515 4,349 Total. 71 13,877 6,030 Academies: Academies (incorporated) . Senior academic schools... Middle academic schools. .- .Junior academic schools... 3,825 208 122 4,330 40 157 Total - 123 4, 653 4,895 High schools: High schools Senior schools . . . Middle schools . . . Junior schools... Special schools a . 353 25 50 159 3 15,515 974 3.138 19,316 1,149 1,372 2,499 Total Grand total students. 24,333 643,146 38,335 81,471 510 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. Institutions for home edti cation: Number. Institutes. _ 3 Libraries (incorporated or admitted).. ._ 135 Registered libraries c _ 48 Museums... _ 3 Extension teaching centers H Summer schools 3 Study clubs 186 Total.. _ __ .- _ 430 Grand total all institutions 1,136 a New York institution for the blind and New York State school for the blind. b Not including 38 diiplicates. c Including branches. Location of institutions in university by counties, June SO, 1897, County. High schools. Acade- mies. Colleges. Profes- sional and tech- nical schools. Libraries. Univer- sity of the State of New York. Not in Univer- sity of the State of New York. Albany Allegany Broome Cattaraugus. Cayuga Chautauqua . Chemung Chenango Clinton Columbia Cortland Delaware Dutchess Erie... Essex Franklin Pulton Genesee Greene Hamilton Herkimer Jeff ei'son Kings Lewis. Livingston... Madison Monroe Montgomery New York ... Niagara Oneida _ Onondaga Ontario Orange Orleans Otsego Putnam Queens Rensselaer Richmond Rockland St. Lawrence. Saratoga Schenectady.. Schoharie Schuyler Seneca. Steuben Suffolk. Sullivan Tioga Tompkins Ulster Warren. Washington . . 3 7 9 3 131 3 11 7 4 14 4 6 2 3 20 13 SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 511 Location of institutions in university by counties, June 30, 1S07 — Continued. High schools. Acade- mies. Colleges. Profes- sional and tech- nical schools. Libraries. County. Univer- sity of the State of New York. Not in Univer- sity of the State of New York. Total. 9 9 8 3 5 2 1 3 1 30 3 15 7 48 Wyoming 13 Yates .- .-- 1 6 Foreign countries: 3 1 1 1 2 1 Syria.- 1 2 4 1 The map given on another page indicates the location of these insti- tutions graphically. It is taken from the report of the secretary of the university for 1897. APPENDIX„ ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT. OF THE NEW YORK COMMON SCHOOL SYSTEM.' Mr. President and ladies and gentlemen of the New York State Teachers' Association, if we are loyal sons and daughters of the Empire State, we know what are commonly considered the leading facts in her history. We can recount the chief and prominent incidents in her first settlement, and her wonderful development from the time when the Half Moon first stirred the waters of her majestic North River till she came to stand out as the central and conspicuous figure in the sisterhood of States. We have wondered at the daring and sighed at the fate of the dauntless English captain with a Queen Elizabeth ruff about his neck, who sailed his little Dutch vessel through the Narrows at our great harbor, onl}^ to be disappointed in his confident belief that he had at last foiind the great highway of the nations to the Indies, and to find himself in an imperial fresh- water river, flowing through what he described as " a land peopled by vig- orous men and beautiful women — as beautiful a land as the foot of man can tread upon." We have regretted that a noble company of English Puritans, bound for New Netherland in the Mayflower, -were carried out of their course and landed upon the inhospitable shores of Cape Cod. Oh, how much New England owes to ill winds or bad seamanship! We have noted and commended the foresight and thrift which led the first Dutch settlers to buy 22,000 acres of land upon Man- hattan Island from the Indians for the not extravagant sum of twenty-four dol- lars, and to lay the foundations of a State upon land in which they owned the fee. We have marked the different characteristics of the Dutch and the English as first one and then the other held the supremacy in the affairs of the colony. We have stood amazed in the presence of the fact that before and for many years after the coming of the whites there were upon this territory five savage nations with a system of laws and a retinue of officials, each with a completely organized government shaped and directed by the will of the majority, and all confederated together in a barbarian republic upon the unique plan afterwards adopted by our States and our National Republic. We have followed in awe the unprecedented advance in population, the growth of the most imperial cities, the development of material resources apparently inexhaustible. We have witnessed the building of the greatest canal and railway systems, and have watched to a successful result the most gigantic commercial enterprises that human energy ever had the courage to undertake. We have seen literature and the arts and sciences nurtured and fostered by a people engrossed in the world's most bewildering activities. We have applauded the sagacity of our statesmen, and we have gloried in the immortal deeds of our heroes. We 1 An address delivered before the New York State Teachers' Association, at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., Tuesday evening, July 8, 1890, by Andrew S. Draper, superintendent of public instruction, State of New York. 512 THE COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEM. 513 have listened to the discussions of the earliest Colonial Congresses to form a basis of union at Albany, and we have heard the first constitution promulgated from the head of a barrel in front of the old senate house at Kingston. We know how intrepid Ethan Allen, in the gray dawn of a May morning, demanded and received from the British commander in undress uniform the surrender of Ticonderoga '•in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," when as yet the Congress had no existence: and how Mad Anthony Wayne, in reply to Wash- ington's inquiry as to whether he would lead an attack on Stony Point, answered with the ardor of an enthusiast and the instinct of the soldier that he was— "I would lead an attack on hell if the commander in chief would order it, sir." Our hearts have throbbed heavily as we have read the story of the heroic and successful life struggle of Herkimer's thin battalions in the valley of the Mohawk and of Sullivan's sanguinary campaign against hostile savages in the Genesee country. The blood has tingled as we have heard the victorious cannon and wit- nessed the humiliating surrender of the haughty Burgoyne at Saratoga, and we have held our breath as Macdonough assembled his crew about him, knelt in prayer on the quarter-deck of his flagship, and asked the aid of the Almighty on the ensuing action before his navy thrashed a superior force on Lake Champlain, while the army paid a similar compliment to Wellington's veterans, fresh from the field of Waterloo and almost disdaining to fight plain people, at Plattsburg. We know how New York stood for independence, for the Federal Constitution, and the '-more perfect union,' in the first instance, and how she contributed one- eighth of her population, one-fifth of the entire force which went out to save that Union when assailed. We honor the names of Van Rensselaer and Stuyvesant and Schuyler and Cadwallader Colden and Richard Montgomery and the Living- stons and the Jays and Hamilton and Gouverneur Morris and the Clintons and Daniel D. Tompkins and Washington Irving and Fenimore Cooper and James Kent and Chancellor Walworth and Samuel Nelson and Silas Wright and Marcy and Van Buren and John A. Dix and a host of others, for we associate them with the circumstances which mark the growth and make the history of the great Commonwealth. In short, we have a general knowledge of the leading facts which stand out more prominently than the ordinary facts in the course of the physical and political development of the State. INTELLECTUAL ADVANCEMENT. But 1 venture that we are exceptional even among the loyal sons and daughters of the Empire State if we have investigated the causes which have promoted or if we know the events which have marked the social and intellectual advancement of the people of New York. If this is so, it is not strange. In the economy of statecraft, as in the experience of the schools, it is the phj'sical object which arrests the attention, and it is the object lesson which excites interest, arouses enthusiasm, and leaves the deepest impressions upon the mind. Railways and steamships, merchandise and machinery, books and newspapers, great cities, pab- lic woi'ks and munificent charities, all the institutions which support a free State and the temple of liberty are but the public and visible manifestation of wide- spread mental and moral development. May we not to-night undertake to look through these visible objects and endeavor to discern the reason of them? May we not try to ascertain the leading influence behind these familiar and invaluable things and profitably to inquire into the causes which set this influence in opera- tion and the results which it in turn has produced? Circiimstances have scarcely favored this unprecedented development in state- hood. The foundations of New York were laid by a rude people in an unbroken wilderness overrun by barbarians and savages. The, struggle for bread was a hard one. Yet these people offered asylum and succor to the oppressed and heart- 3176 33 514 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YOEK. sore of all nations. The response was overwhelming. But all kinds, the best and the worst, came together. With the honest man. seeking the rights of conscience and the opportunity of improvement, which were denied him in the Old World, came the adventurer and the scapegrace. We have always held the greatest port of entry in the country, and the overwhelming and oft-polluted tide of immigra- tion has always surged into or across our territory. The accumulation of many people in gi-eat communities always presents many and difficult social and indus- trial problems. Yet who shall say that the 6,000,000 of people of the Empire State are, all classes together, less generally informed, less keenly and alertly intelligent, than any other 6,000.000 of people on the globe? Again, who shall say that these 6,000,000 of people are not better housed, better fed, better clothed, more generally educated, more active in affairs, better equipped for self-govern- ment, than any other entire people numbering 6.000.000. unless it be other citi- zens of our own country, surrounded by the same circumstances and conditions? This is the result of intellectual force and of mental strength widely spread and generally diffused. The fact that it reaches all classes is its chief glory. It extends not only to the manager of a railway, but to the man who runs the train or walks the track. Commonly both have enjoyed equal opportunities, and stand in different grades of the service only because of qualities which inhere in differ- ent individuals and which no policy of the State can regulate. As often as other- wise the man at the top suffered the greatest hardships, labored against the greatest disadvantages, and had the poorest chance. But both are alert within their sphere. Each is industrious and aggressive. Each reads the papers, dis- cusses the tariff, and g03s to the legislature. Each owns a home, supports a church, and mingles in affairs. Each constitutes the right kind of material out of which to erect a free State. If there is to be discrimination at all, it must be in favor of the masses fairly developed rather than of the few exceptionally intel- lectual or unusually prominent, COMMON SCHOOLS PROMOTE GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. What is the prominent and conspicuous influence which has led to this general enlightenment of the people? It is not leadership, except as leadership planned wisely in the beginning. It is not due to favoring circumstances; it is in spite of unfavorable ones. It is not due to the development of physical and material resources. That would be misplacing cause and effect. It is not the work of the university, unless it be indirectly and remotely. The common history of New York unmistakably shows that this widespread intelligence among her people was not manifest until the State placed common schools within easy distance of every home, and that from the time when this policy was well established her career has been practically unparalleled in the history of States. QUALITIES OF FIRST DUTCH IMMIGRANTS. Let us then spend an hour in investigating the rise and tracing the progress of the State public school system. When America was first settled Eiirope was just emerging from the gloom of the " Middle Ages." The prerogatives of kings were being called in question, and the walled castle and the mailed knight were surely doomed. Commercial enter- prise was beginning to show itself, industry was becoming honorable, learning was claiming some attention. Society, which had been prostrate for centuries before the feudal lord, was getting upon its feet again. Nowhere else was this so marked as in the Low Countries. Holland was the chief commercial and indus- trial nation of the world at the opening of the seventeenth century. It was doing more for education and had a fuller conception of the value of civil liberty than THE COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEM. 515 any other. Mr. Motley, in his history of the Dutch Republic, says, "the children of the wealthier classes enjoyed great facilities for education in all the great cap- itals," and that " intellectual cultivation was not confined to the higher orders, but, on the contrary, it was diffused to a remarkable degree among the hard- working citizens and handicraftsmen." This people had sprung from sturdy Teutonic and Celtic tribes, and inherited a thrifty disposition and a manly and independent bearing. They had but just followed the lead of the finest orator, the most sagacious statesman, and the greatest soldier of the sixteenth century, in a revolt against arbitrary power, and had fought most heroically and suffered incomparably in the world's first and most memorable contest for liberty. With- out democratic theories they had been spending their treasure and blood in resist- ing tyranny, until by force of circumstances their governmental organization became a republic. To such a people the company of Puritans, with Pastor John Robinson at its head, fled from England for shelter before drifting upon Plymouth Rock. From this people came the first settlers in a village which, for obvious reasons, they called New Amsterdam, in a territory they called New Netherland. It would be strange, indeed, if they had not proved to be an industrious and thrifty people, as it would be equally strange if they had not brought with them a love for liberty and an instinct for self-government. Sturdy in body and mind, quaint in figure, tolerant in spirit, given to trade and to the accumulation of property, they cut the forest, tilled the ground, built huts, opened shops, traf- ficked with the Indians, while they organized society, established public worship, opened schools, and erected all the institutions of a civil state. In the most for- bidding circumstances and contending with the strongest odds, they impressed their ways and their beliefs upon the future history of the country. THE DUTCH ESTABLISH FREE SCHOOLS. Our colonial records clearly show that in the midst of the most overwhelming difiiculties they were not indifferent to the importance of schools, for even in thei.- most important documents the affairs of the schools receive frequent mention. Their primitive and crude ideas, their difficulties in raising money and regulating teachers, the way in which they made great contentions out of insignificant mat- ters, would be ludicrous if not so common in the closing years of the nineteenth century. In 1621 the States-general of Holland enjoined the colony '• to find speedy means . to maintain a clergyman and a schoolmaster," and it was required that "each householder and inhabitant should bear such tax and public charge as should be considered jDroper for their maintenance. " Four years later the expenses of the schoolmaster are shown to have been 360 florins, just one-fourth those of the min- ister. You observe that some pernicious ideas relate back to very early precedent. In 1638 Adam Roelandson, a professional schoolmaster, was brought over to take charge of the school. He remained in charge for nine years, and is believed to have been the first professional schoolmaster in the country. Unfortunately the proof is abundant that he was of a quarrelsome nature and no credit to the profession. Before 1650 New Amsterdam had a population of 800. Jan Cornelisen, Jan Stevenson, and Aryaen Janson are mentioned as teachers who kept schools "in hired houses. " The excise moneys seem to have been set apart to pay teachers, and they were in part at least paid out of the public treasury. One of the reports of the board of accounts of New Netherland estimates that the expense for the next year of the " schoolmaster, precentor, and sexton " will be 30 florins, or about $12.30 per month. The estimate appears to have been conceived in too imprudent a spirit, and was reduced to 18 guilders or $7.56 per month. On one occasion the governor of the colony parleyed with the Indian chiefs and urged them to send 516 HISTOEY OF HI&HER EDUCATIOlSr IIST NEW YORK. their sons down to New Amsterdaixi to school. After taking a week to consider, they diplomatically answered that they were powerless to accept the invitation, for the boys were altogether tinder the control of their mothers. I am sure that William Vestens, a teacher of ancient days, will not only challenge your admira- tion, but gain your sympathy, for he is shown to have led a bold but apparently an ineffectual movement for " an increase of salary." The churches frequently maintained or supervised schools, and not uncommonly the functions of the minister and teacher were economically combined in the same person. Indeed, it more than once happened that the poor teacher had also to act as sexton. precentor, choirmaster or psalmsetter, and a "comforter of the sick," as the person who supplied the minister's place was commonly called. "Clergy- men, comforters of the sick, and schoolmasters " were designated as " necessary officers" in the articles adopted by the economical States-general in 1638, concern- ing the colonization of New Netherland. One of the dignified early reports upon the condition of the colonj'- speaks of the plate having been passed around a long time to raise money to build a schoolhouse, "which has as yet been built only with words," and asserts that the school "is kept very irregularly by this one or that according to his fancy, as long as he thinks proper." If this was not for the purpose, it certainly should have had the effect of loosening the purse-strings of the home government. The extension of the population into the interior is shown by the official direc- tion to provide ministers and teachers to be sent to "Rensselaer's Colonie" and other " distant places." In one instance the people are plainly told by the director for the colony that "if they are such patriots as they appear to be, they will be leaders in generous contributions for laudable objects, and will not complain when the directors request a collection toward the erection of a church and a school." That learning was making progress is shown by the fact that in 1655 Aegidius Luyck is spoken of "as late principal of the Latin school in New Amsterdam." In several instances the governor and council of the colony received complaints that the inhabitants of certain villages refused to pay for the support of schools, and, after notifying the delinquents to appear and answer, ordered them "to promptly pay their share for the support aforesaid, on pain of proceeding against them with immediate execution." How much pain would ensue in that painful event, I am certainly unable to say. COMMON SCHOOLS IMPARTED FROM HOLLAND. Reminiscences like these might be multiplied almost indefinitely. Enough have been recited to show that while learning was in its incipient stages, as was every- thing else, yet the common-school idea was among this people in the correct form, and that it was developing. Indeed, it occurs to me that enough has been shown to establish the proposition that we are indebted to the Republic in the Netherlands, rather than the Kingdom of Great Britain, for the first and essential principles of the free-school system, and that the first importation came by way of the narrows at Sandy Hook, rather than over Cape Cod. LATIN SCHOOLS AT NEW AMSTERDAM. In 1658 the people Petitioned Peter Stuyvesant, the director, for a person to teach a Latin school, assuring him that it would be well attended, and would lead to the formation of an academy, " whereby this place to great splendor will have attained." The petition was granted, and a classical school was opened. Dr. Alexander Carolus, a professional teacher, was principal. He received $187.50 annually from the public treasury, was provided with a house and garden, received six guilders from each student, and was allowed to i^ractice medicine in addition. THE COMMOlSr-SCHOOL SYSTEM. 517 ENGLISH GOVERNMENT OPPOSED TO COMMON SCHOOLS. It is said by eminent authority that when tlie Dutch were obliged to surrender to the English in 1664, the educational spirit was so common througliout the colony that almost every settlement had a regular school taught by more or less permanent teachers, and that there was a decided setback given to this move- ment upon the advent of the English in consequence of the apprehension on the part of the nobility that common schools would nourish and strengthen a spirit of independence which had, even then, made some considerable headway. It is true that the official instructions sent by the Government to the successive gov- ernors of the province uniformly provided that no person should be permitted to come from England to teach a school without the license of the archbishop of Canterbury, and that no person here should do so without the license of the gov- ernor, but it seems clear that this was not so much for the purpose of excluding incompetent instructors as it was to control appointments and determine the course of the schools. Substantially the only legislative act relating to free schools passed within the colony during the English rule is that entitled "An act for encouragement of a grammar free school in the city of New York,"' bearing date of November 22, 1702. It provided that there should be "Elected, Chosen, Authorized and appointed, one able, skilfull and Orthodox person to be Schoolmaster, for the education and instruction of youth and Male Children of such parents as are of French and Dutch extraction as well as of the English," and that there should each year for seven years be levied and collected the siim of £50 for the support of such school- master. This would seem to impair the statement that the English did not aid the organization of schools. But an examination of the records confirms the fact beyond question. The bill was first passed by the general assembly in which the Dutch were strong if not predominant. The governor and council refused to approve it and returned it to the assembly. The assembly adhered to its position. A commit- tee of conference was appointed, and, after days of controversy, a compromise was finally agreed upon by which the bill was amended so as to require that the teacher should be licensed and approved by the bishop of London or the governor or commander in chief of the province. The bill was enacted by the Dutch. It was aijproved by the English governor, but not until amended so as to enable him to control the school in the interests of the established church and the Crown. When, by its own terms, the provisions of this measure expired, seven years later, nothing was done to renew or continue them. Indeed, all the English schools in the province from 1700 down to the time of the Declaration of Independence were maintained by a great religious society organ- ized under the auspices of the Church of England, and, of course, with the favor of the Government, called " The society for the propagation of the gospel in for- eign parts." The law governing this society provided that no teacher should be emjjloyed until he had proved "his affection to the present government," and his conformity to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England." Schools maintained under such auspices and infiuences were in no sense free schools. Indeed, as humiliating as it is, no student of history can fail to discern the fact that the Government of Great Britain, during its supremacy in this territory, did nothing to facilitate the extension or promote the efficiency of free elementary schools among the people. I observe with interest, in this connection, that Mr. Edward Eggleston, in a most readable article concerning the early English colony in Virginia, which appears in the July number of the Centtiry Magazine, states that the policy of the English Government touching schools in that colony was precisely what we have found it to be in New York. In all the colonies it was what we might have 518 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATION" IN NEW YORK. expected to find. The nobility reasoned that poor men and ignorant men cotild be governed, and that learning brought disobedience and heresy into the world, and kings and princes, lords and earls and dukes acted in accord with their beliefs. If the English nobility did nothing to extend elementary schools, the Dutch were largely indifferent to advanced schools. Their leading men were merchants whose sons went from the elementary schools into the affairs of trade. It was precisely the same considerations which led the English to treat the ele- mentary schools with indifference that also led to the organization and shaped the policy of the first college in the State. Its business was to educate leaders to the tenets of the State church, so far as religion might go, and who would sympathize and agree with the English aristocracy, so far as politics were concerned. Twenty years after the organization of this college its officers requested a royal charter granting special privileges. In a letter transmitting this request, and urging that it be granted, Cadwallader Golden, the lieutenant-governor of the province, con- cludes as follows: "It therefore seems highly requisite that a seminary on the principles of the Church of England be distinguished in America by particular privileges, not only on account of religion, but of good policy, to prevent the growth of republican principles, which akeady too much prevail in the colonies." My limits will not allow me to spend more time in referring to the educational facts bearing upon the colonial period. We must be content, for the present, with the statement, which is abundantly supported by the facts, that under the mistaken policy of the English rule the schools languished, and during the prog- ress of the war for independence, which raged with great fierceness over oxir ter- ritory, they were nearly or quite obliterated. The fury of war had closed the doors or entirely extinguished the single college and, practically, all of the acad- emies and schools. REVIVAL OF LEARNING AT CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTION. With independence and free statehood came a renewed interest in edtication and a strong impulse toward the advancement in learning. The foremost states- men deemed the subject worthy their closest attention. Immediately upon the advent of peace Governor George Clinton said to the legislature of 1784: "'There is scarce anything more worthy your attention than the revival and encourage- ment of seminaries of learning." In a communication to the same legislature, asking for a revision of their charter, the few remaining governors of Kings College stated that the greater part of theirnumber "had died out or departed from the State," and that many parts of their charter "are inconsistent with that liberality and that civil and religious freedom which our present happy constitution points out." In answer, came an act changing the name from " Kings " to " Columbia," under which the old institution played a most important part in the formative period of the Commonwealth and the Republic. In time she accumulated means and gath- ered honors about her, and now, under the presidency of a young, accomplished, and vigorous man, whom we heard with so much satisfaction last evening, seems to be entering upon a career of unwonted brilliancy and still more widely extended usefulness. The act in May, 1784, reorganizing this college, created the State board of regents. In theory and intent the regents were constituted a board of trustees of the exist- ing college, with authority to organize additional colleges and " seminaries," and exercise similar authority over such as should be organized. In fact, the board only transacted the business of the single college for three years, and in that time experienced innumerable obstacles and difficulties. THE COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEM. 519 BOARD OF REGENTS PROPOSE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. This original board of regents was the first representative body since the Dutch rule to make any official or public deliverance looking to the organization of a State public school system. Technically, It had no legal authority or responsi- bility concerning elementary schools, and it so understood. Indeed, there were no such schools at the close of the war, and the prevalent, if not the universal, idea was that society itself was not chargeable with any responsibility in that con- nection. But the wisest statesmanship of the day was in that board of regents. In a musty book of records, now in the archives of Columbia College, and as to the custody of which that institution and the board of regents have held contrary opinions, there is to be found tha journal of the board during the three years when that college constituted the entire university, and when the functions of the regents were mainly confined to the supervision of the same. In this book there is a record which is certainly of interest to its. On the 31st of January, 1787, the board appointed a committee, in the language of the record, " to take into consideration the present state of the university, and to report as soon as possible the measures necessary to be adopted to carry into effect the views of the legislature with respect to the same, and particularly with respect to Columbia College." The committee consisted of the mayor of .ISTew York, and Messrs. Jay, Rogers, Mason, Livingston, Clarkson, Gros, and Hamilton. The report was presented at a meeting held February 16, 1787, adopted, and ordered to be transmitted to the legislature. From the nature and verbiage of this report, as well as the order in which the names of the committee apiaear, it seems reasonably clear that Hamilton drafted it. After setting forth the various diffi- culties which the board had experienced and suggesting the necessary remedies, the committee went outside of its prescribed duty and, so far as I know, made the first public and official presentation of the necessity of common schools main- tained by public aiithority, in the following words: " But before your committee conclude, they feel themselves bound in faithful- ness to add that the erecting of public schools for teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic, is an object of very great importance, which ought not to be left to the discretion of private men, but be promoted by public authority. Of so much knowledge no citizen ought to be destitute, and yet it is a reflection as true as it is painful that but too many of our youth are brought up in utter ignorance. This is a reproach under which we have long laboured unmarred by the example of our neighbors, who, not leaving the education of their children to chance, have widely diffused throughout their State a public provision for such instruction. " Your committee are sensible that the regents are invested with no funds of which they have the disposal, but they nevertheless conceive it to be their duty to bring the subject in view before the honorable the legislature who alone can provide a remedy." Nothing came of this. The legislature passed the act which the board sub- mitted, but it contained no mention of common schools. It is impossible to discern in any of these early educational statutes any acknowledgment of the principle that the State should be responsible for elementary schools. They provided for and aided colleges and academies only, quite possibly in the belief that thereby elementary education would be promoted indirectly and perhaps most effectually. GOSPEL AND SCHOOL LANDS. It is indeed strange how little mention there was of schools in those early legis- lative sessions. In a comprehensive act of the legislature in February, 1789, providing for the sale of certain public lands of the State, the surveyor-general was directed to lay out twenty towm-hips. so that each should contain 100 lots of 250 acres each, and sell the same, except that he should reserve, near the center 520 HISTOEY OF HIGHER EDUCATIOlSr IN ISTEW YORK. of each township, one lot, which should be devoted to the supijort of the gospel, and one other to the support of schools. Here is the origin of the gospel and school moneys which have mystified so many minds. This action, however, con- tained no recognition whatever of the common-school principle. It was only an admission of the propriety of public encouragement to churches and schools, and that on equal terms. FIRST STATUTE FOR AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. In 1791 an act was passed authorizing six gentlemen, of whom the first was Robert R. Livingston, to receive certain moneys ar'sing from excise fees and fines in the town of Clermont, in the county of Columbia, and "not wanted for the relief of the poor," and to build a schoolhouse and maintain a school therewith. Here is the first authority of the new Commonwealth for an elementarj^ school. But it meant little. It levied no tax. It permitted a town to iise for a school moneys which would legally go to the support of the poor, and which were not needed for that purpose. It put the almshouse and the school on about an equal footing. FIRST GENERAL STATUTE ENCOURAGING ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. But in six years after their first utterance, the board of regents rectirred to the matter persistently and heroically. In 1793 and 1T94 and 1795 the board urged the matter in their annual reports, and the stanch old governor likewise talked strongly and soundly in the legislative ear. In the latter year he spoke in this fashion: " While it is evident that the general establishment and liberal endowment of academies are highly to be commended, and are attended with the mo t beneficial consejuences, yet it can not be denied that they are principally confined to the children of the opulent, and that a great proportion of the community is ex- cluded from their immediate advantages. The establishment of common schools throughout the State is happily calculated to remedy this inconvenience, and will therefore engage your early and decided consideration." These influential ajppeals brought from the legislature of 1795 a law entitled "An act for the encouragement of schools," which became the substantial corner stone of a State elementary school system. It appropriated $100,000 each year for five years from the State treasury ' • for the purpose of encouraging and maintain- ing schools in the several cities and towns of this State, in which the children of the inhabitants residing in the State shall be instructed in the English language, or be taught English grammar, arithmetic, mathematics, and such other branches of knowledge as are most useful and necessary to complete a good education." This was a grand and noble thing to do. The appropriation was munificent when we consider the valuation upon which it was levied. The entire assessable valuation then was but about $100,000,000. The same rate upon our valuation would yield nearly $>,500,000 as the annual State appropriation for common schools now, which, by a curious coincidence, is precisely what the State does appro- priate. The State was then heavily in debt; it is free from debt now. But in addition to the appropriation, the act required each town to raise by tax half as much more as it received from the State appropriation. It did not authorize this; it required it. In the assembly, when the bill was under consideration, a motion was made to provide that each town should share in the appropriation only upon condition that it should raise one-half as much more by local taxation. The proposition was voted down. The house said. No, there shall be no conditions or uncertainty about it. We will make this appropriation; we will require each town to raise half as much more as we give it, and we will set up the machinery THE COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEM, 521 which will insure its proper expenditure for elementary schools. This was not only a grand and a noble, but it was a heroic thing to do. But in other ways this first general school law reveals the handiwork of the besb statesmanship. It stated the purpose of the law accurately and felicitously. It provided a system for allotting the appropriation and for the annual ejection of not less tlian three nor more than seven commissioners in each town, who were to supervise and direct the system. This appropriation was not intended to pay the full expense of the schools. It was only to assist. It was reasoned that the people in 'ocalities would associate together bejause of this assistance, and oiien schools. The act contemplated the organization of school districts in the country, pro- vided for the election of trustees, and set forth their powers and duties. In short. it brought into being the elements of .a State school system, and gave shape and form to that system, in essential particulars, as it exists to-day. "Wise and courageous as were the men who framed this great statute and breathed the breath of life into a common-school system (and they were wise and courageous beyond their generation), yet they had no conception of, and gave no adhesion to, the doctrine now pervading the school system, that it is the dutj' of the State to provide by common tax an elementary school within easy access of every home, and that a good English education at general expense is the right- ful inheritance of every child of the Commonwealth. They advanced to the point of believing that the State should encourage schools, and even to the point of believing that it might rightfully do this in a substantial way through its power to levy and collect taxes. But they still believed that, primarily, the responsi- bility rested upon each individual to educate his offspring, and that only when he faiied to do this, private or public charity might properly aid the unfortunate. It seems strange, in view of the fact that the State had previously confided its educational interests, so far as it had acted at all, to the board of regents, and that the common-school system was established largely through the infiuence of that board, that it did not give the regents siipervision of the new system. But it did not do so. On the contrary, the bill recited that special provision had pre- viously been made for encouraging colleges and academiies and provided that nothing contained in this act should be construed as extending to such institutions. In 1800 a strong movement was made for continuing the provisions of the act of 1795 for another five years. It succeeded in the house, but failed in the senate, near the close of the session, by a close vote. Each succeeding year for five years the governor urged the subject, but nothing was done. Evidence is not wanting to show that the unfortunate delay and neglect resulted from differences as to the best course to pursue, and particularly as to whether the administration of the system should be given to the regents. In 1803 the foundations of a permanent common school fund were laid, and from that time, in spite of some neglect and hindrances innumerable, the common-school system has, with unvarying uniform- ity, grown in strength and in efficiency. In 1798 the reports received showed the organization of 1,352 schools, with 59,660 pupils. In 1815 there were 2,755 districts and 140,106 pupils. In 1830 there were 9,063 districts and 499,424 pupils. Last year there were 1,803,667 pupils in the common schools of the State. PUBLIC SCHOOL SOCIETY OF NEW YOKK CITY. Even the briefest narration of the development of the State school system would be tmfaithful which failed to make mention of a great organization known as the " Public School Society of the City of New York." It was chartered by the legis- lature in 1805, and was composed of the foremost citizens of the metropolis. Its object, as stated in its charter, was to establish "a free school in the city of New York for the education of such poor children as do not belong to or are not pro- vided for by any religious society." Tliis illustrates the prevailing sentiment of 522 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATIOIS" IN NEW YORK. the time concerning the relation which society should sustain to common educa- tion better than any language of mine can do it. hi acting up to the spirit of the times, and in carrying out the beneficient objects for which it was created, this society won the gratitude of the ages. It received public and private contri- Dutions and tuition fees for the support of its work, it controlled all the public schools in the city for nearly fifty years, and exerted a strong influence upon the educational opinion of the country. At its dissolution in 1853 it had supervised the instruction of 600,000 children, and it turned over to the board of education of the city of New York property worth more than .§450.000. What this society was doing in the city of New York was being done in one way or another, to a greater or less extent, by associated effort in all the cities and towns of the State. GROWTH OF THE SYSTEM. The fact that the State assumed to regulate the affairs of the schools to some extent, as well as the aid which it gave them, coupled with the growing public interest in them and the ardor of the professional educators, steadily promoted the growth and development of the system till, in the judgment of the most com- petent and impartial witnesses, it clearly led the educational work of the country. In his annual report for 1845 Horace Mann, secretary of the board of education of Massachusetts, says: '; The great State of New York is carrying forward the work of public education more rapidly than any other State in the Union, or any other country in the world." And Henry Barnard, of Connecticut, at the first meeting of your association in the same year, said: "I have watched the progressive improvement in the organization and administration of the school system of this great State with intense interest, and regard it at this time as superior to any other of which I have any knowledge, for its extent, its liberality, its efficiency, and the general intelligence and activity with which its widespread affairs are administered."' These will be recogni-^ed at once as great names— perhaps the greatest — in the history of common-school development in the country. THE RATE BILL. The early legislation seems to have been framed on the belief that the income of the State school fund and the tax equal to one-half its share, which each district was required to raise, would support the schools, but this was found to be inade- quate, and then it" was provided that the schools should be maintained a specified time each year and that any deficiency in funds should be collected from the patrons of the schools in proportion to the attendance of their children. This gave rise to the * ' rate bill. '' It was only a tax levied upon parents in proportion to the number of days which their children attended the school. The amounts raised in this way were not inconsiderable. In 1830 it was $874,000; in 1840, $475,000; in 1867, the last year of the system, it was $709,000. The average sum annually collected by rate bill in the forty years from 1828 to 1868 was §410,685.66. The greatest contest concerning schools which the State has known was over the abolition of the rate bill and the consequent establishment of absolutely free schools. Every man here past 50 years of age, who is accustomed to be inter- ested in affairs, will feel the blood coursing more rapidly through his veins at the remembrance of the fight for schools free to all and maintained at public expense. I fear none of the ladies are old enough to recall it. The system became odious. It discriminated against the poor. Although it permitted trustees to excuse such from paying fees, no self-respecting man could suffer himself to be publicly adjudged to be poor by a school trustee. It afforded a good excuse or plausible pretext for nonattendance. It was attended with many misunderstandings and disputes, and promoted demoralization in many ways. Sentiment was deeply agitated and found expression in every direction. THE COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEM. 523 In 1849 the legislature submitted the question to a vote of the people, and the returns showed 249,873 in favor of making '-the property of the State educate the children of the State," and 91,951 against it. The opponents were not content. In 1850 they procured legislation resubmitting the question, and the returns showed 209,616 against the rate bill, and 184,303 for the old system. Still the opponents were not content. In 1850 a kind of compromise was effected, and the controversy was attempted to be settled by restoring the rate bill and levying a State tax for $800,000, to be distributed with the school money. This tax, increased to larger amounts, has been annually raised since, and is technically known as the "free-school fund." But, as a general thing, the cities would not tolerate the rate bill. At their solicitation the legislature, from time to time, passed special acts creating a board of education with general powers and duties, and in this manner set up an organ- ized school system in each city. These special laws ordinarily authorized taxa- tion adequate to the entire support of the schools, and thus the rate bill became obsolete in most of tlie cities at a comparatively early daj . In the meantime the " union free-school district system" became legally per- missible, and met with considerable favor. It authorized districts to combine and establish a graded school and meet the expenses by a general tax, thus obviating the necessity for the rate bill in communities adopting it. In 1867, under the impetuous and able leadership of Victor M. Rice, the rate-bill system was finally abolished, and the principle that the schools should be absolutely free to all and supported at public and general expense was fully and triumphantly established. WHAT HAS PROMOTED THE GROWTH OP THE COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEM. Now, permit me, in as few words as I can well employ, to speak of the distin- guishing characteristics which have made our State school system the leading influence in developing the intellectual and therefore the material life of the Commonwealth, and have constituted it a model for other States, so far as their representatives have had the foresight and the courage to follow it. It may fairly be said that these are four in number: 1. State support 2. Extent and manner of supervision. 3. Technical training of teachers. 4. Cooperative effort. STATE SUPPORT. The State has not at all times done all that her ardent educators have asked. Her generosity has been so munificent that their standard has been high and their expectations great. For man}' years her authority has been potent and her bounty plenteous. Passing the first splendid appropriation, before the dawn of the nineteenth century, to which I have previously adverted, we find that in 1805 she laid the foundation of a permanent common-school ftmd, and provided for its increase, until last year it amQunted to $4,000, 0'OO. Acting upon the commonly accepted theory of the times, large sums were appropriated year after year to encourage schools. At an early day the State began the policy of requiring localities to raise by tax such additional amounts as were necessary to maintain schools, and authorized all communities to levy such additional amounts as they saw fit for the same jpurpose. More than fifty years ago the State initiated the school district library system, and since that time has annually made a liberal appropriation to maintain the same. It is true that portions of this money have been diverted to other uses and that the whole matter needs revision now, but it is equally true that the millions of volumes which the fund has supplied greatly enhanced the efficiency of the schools and promoted the mental growth of the people of the State. In 1851 it 524 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. disavowed the old doctrine that education was the rightful inheritance of the opulent, but ought to be doled out in reasonable quantities as a charity offering to the poor, adopted the principle that the property of the State should educate the children of the State, and began regularly to levy a State tax for schools, and commenced the annual ai)propriation of the ' ' free-school f und. "' Under this policy the amount raised by general and local taxation for common schools in the State has rapidly advanced from $1,600,000 in 1850 to $3,700,000 in 1860, $10,000,000 in 1870, and nearly $17,000,000 last year. In 1866 the State extended to local authorities the power to acquire land for school sites by the right of eminent domain. It is a lesson which the States of the Union have been slow to learn, and which some of them will apparently never learn, that the efficiency of a school system must necessarily depend largely upon the extent of support and the proper but complete exercise of State authority. Men who understand it not uncommonly lack the courage to say so. The Empire State appreciated this fact early, earlier than any other, and her statesmen have acted with wisdom and courage in the matter. Now for many years the au- thority and power of the State have been freely exerted in innumerable ways to the extension and betterment of school property and the improvement of the schools. EXTENT AND MANNER OF SUPERVISION. When New York first took action looking to the organization of common schools, town commissioners, with trustees in subdistricts, were provided for. When the time came to S3t about reducing the disconnected schools which, under her aid and encouragement, had been organized in her cities and towns and along her picturesque hillsides and valleys into s .mething HItb an organized and related sys- tem, she did it through a general system of supervisory officers, a plan which has since been put in operation in all the States of the Union, but in the adoption of which she clearly led the way. In 1812 an act was passed providing for the appointment, by the counsel of appointment, of a State superintendent of common schools. The same statute also provided for the election in each town, at the annual town meeting, of three commissioners to superintend and manage the affairs of the schools within their town. In 1814 this statute was reenacted witli som© amendments, among which was a provision that there should also be chosen at each town meeting " a suitable number of inhabitants, not to exceed six," to act with tlie three commissioners as inspectors of common schools. Upon the office of superintendent of common schools being established, Gideon Hawley, then a young lawyer, and whom I recollect as a pleasant and dignified old gentleman on the streets of Albany sixty years later, was appointed to fill it. His vigorous intellectuiil powers and his devotion to the duties of his position brought a stately and compact system out of disorganization, chaos, and confu- sion, and gained for him a large share of public confidence and esteem. But he did not get on well with the wicked politicians with which the State seems to have been infested in those early days. The counsel ol' appointment removed him just prior to the expiration of its own life, as provided by the constitution of 1831, and appointed Welcome Ss'eeck in his place. So strong was the public indigna- tion concerning this act that the legislature promptly abolished the office of superintendent and devolved the duties thereof upon the office of secretary of state. Chapter 260 of the laws of 1841 is very important in that it provided for the appointment, by the board of supervisors in each county, of a deputy superin- tendent of common schools for the county, except that in counties having more than 200 school districts they were to appoint two deputies. Here we find the beginning of the county or district commissioner system. THE COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEM. 525 • In 1843 the offices of town commissioners and inspectors were abolished, and provision was made for the election in each town, at town meeting, of a "town superintendent of common schools." In 1847 the office of county deputy superintendent or county superintendent, as it had come to be called, was abolished. In 1854, by a bill introduced by Hon. William H. Robertson, then and now the senator from the Westchester district, and always the steadfast and able friend of the schools, the State department of public instruction was organized and the office of superintendent of public instruction was created. In 1856 the office of town superintendent was abolished and that of school com- missioner was again created. Thus it will be seen that we have had supervision by State officers since 1812, by county or district officers from 1841 to 1847 and from 1856 to the present time, and by town officers from 1795 to 1856. The general features of this comprehensive plan of school supervision have affected the develi^pment of the school system most advantageously. EMINENT SUPERINTENDENTS. In the list of State superintendents some very eminent names appear. Gideon Hawley was, in his way, truly a great man. Of lofty personal attri- butes and great natural dignity of character, yet modest and retiring in demeanor, he was methodical, painstaking, and persevering to the last degree, the ideal man through the jDeriod of construction and organization. For the paltry sum of §300 per year he perfected a system for the management of the school fund and for the organization of districts, provided for the fair and equitable distribution of the bounty of the State in each district, and set in operation the vast and intricate machinery of the State school system. The State never rewarded him for his dis- interested labors, but posterity will not withhold the credit which is his due. Particularly fortunate was the State in its general superintendents from 1826 to 1845. This period is covered by the continuous administration of four great men — Azariah C. Flagg, John A. Dix, John C. Spencer, and Samuel Young. The first had been in the legislature several years before coming to this work, and went from it to the office of comptroller of the State, which he filled from 1834 to 1846, and rounded out a reputation as one of the truly eminent men of the State. Of General Dix the world knows. Before he put his great natural and schol- astic abilities at the service of our school system he had been on a special and delicate mission to Denmark and received high military honors, including the office of adjutant-general of the State. He afterwards held innumerable positions of public trust, including those of Secretary of the Treasury, United States Sena- tor, major-general in the United States Army during the civil war, and finally governor of this State. Mr. Spencer was a graduate of Union, and had served one term as attorney-gen- eral, one term in Congress, and two in the State senate, and had served as a com- missioner in the revising of the statutes of the State before he became superin- tendent of common schools, and was Secretary of War and Secretary of the JTreasury afterwards. Samuel Young had been in each house of the legislature, had served as canal commissioner from 1816 to 1840, and was the Democratic candidate for governor against Mr. Clinton in 1824. Incidentally it is amusing to recall that in more illiberal times than these he once denied an application to revoke the certificate of a teacher for dancing, card playing and drinking on the ground that he did the same things himself when a young man. I speak of these four men with some particularity, not so much because they otherwise attained such great itrominence as to recall the qualities which they 526 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IIST NEW YORK. brought to the discharge of the duties of superintendent, and to point out their influence upon the affairs of the schools. They occupied the ofS.ce through a try- ing and critical period. They enjoyed the office and filled it. They shaped the policy and gave tone and substance to the whole system. Their decisions have, in many instances, become the common law of the schools. Their strong sense of right and their uncompromising steadfastness constituted a secure fortress against which the waves of ignorance, prejudice, and controversy might beat harmlessly and without effect. Other names are entitled to a place upon the bright side of the temple of fame and to share in the gratitude of the commonwealth for exerting an exceptional influence in behalf of her schools, but it was the matchless leadership of these four great men from 1826 to 1845 which, according to Horace Mann and Henry Barnard, placed the New York system in the advance of all the rest at the end of that period. To every one of the old State superintendents may be traced some prominent feature of our present school system. Besides those whose names I have men- tioned. Nathaniel S. Benton and Christopher Morgan, Henry S. Randall and Elias W. Leavenworth, Victor M. Rice and Henry H. Van Dyck, were strong men, all of them. The aggressiveness of some of them, and the siibstantial conservatism of others, perhaps in equal degree, have impressed themselves upon the work of the schools and so combined all in a common system as to carry the best feature of each to all the remotest parts of the State. NECESSARY AUTHORITY. The extreme decentralization of authority, the mistaken idea that the operation of the schools sho'uld largely be left to local direction, has been a great drawback upon American public schools. The power and authority which, at a very early day, this State vested in its school department has given it an advantage over its neighbors which they will recover only with extreme difficulty. It is possible that this authority hasTieen injudiciously or erroneously exercised upon occasions. I do not believe it has ever been exercised maliciously or influenced by unworthy considerations. In any event, the presence of such an exalted power, the fact that it may be speedily and conclusively exercised, and that, ordinarily, it is well exer- cised, has quelled disputes, shaped policy, directed and applied energy, procured support, concentrated effort, made the school system the creature of the State, and in innumerable ways promoted its healthful and productive activity. For the same reasons, if not in equal degree, local supervision has been helpful to the development of the school system. The work of the city superintendent and the county commissioner has promoted uniformity, put out incompetency, aided and encouraged the timid, directed the strong, curbed the passionate, and in more ways than can be mentioned given effectiveness to the means and the energies devoted to the service of the schools. In short, the system of supervision which is everywhere present, with its authority to regulate buildings, certify teachers, control all the concerns of the schools, and which is required to collate and report the facts, and is held in a large measure responsible for results, has been a potent influence in advancing the character and efficiency of the schools. PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OF TEACHERS. The next feature which must attract the attention in investigating the causes which have been most potential in advancing the State free school sj'stem is the continuous and costly effort to improve the teaching service. Aside from an exceedingly small number of prominent positions, the compensation of teachers has, from the beginning, been so moderate that persons with the required qualifi- cations would be allured to other occupation by larger remuneration. It must be admitted, also, that the uncertainties and humiliating conditions sur- THE COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEM. 527 rounding a teacher's employment are frequt ntlj'^ such as to drive an independent and self-respecting person to other work at no better j)ay. For these and other reasons not necessary here to enumerate, the greater number of persons who com- mence teaching do so upon the understanding that it is only a temporary expedi- ent and not a permanent means of livelihood. This has made it exceedingly diffi- cult to secure the requisite number of persons completely or even measurably adapted to the instruction of the schools. This has been largely so from the begin- ning, bat the fact has been more jprominent in recent years because the qualities which constitute a good teacher, and the vast importance of having such qualities in every schoolroom, have come to be so much more generally understood. The best statesmanship of New York appreciated this matter from a compara- tively early date, and at once began special efforts for training competent teachers for the schools. In his annual message to the legislature, in 1826, Governor DeWitt Clinton referred to the subject in these words: " With a full admission of the merits of several who now officiate in that capac- ity, still it must be conceded that the information of the instructors of our com- mon schools does not extend beyond rudimental education; that our expanding population requires constant accessions to their numbers; and that to realize these views it is necessary that some new plan for obtaining able teachers should be devised. I therefore recommend a seminary for the education of teachers. A compliance with this recommendation will have the most benign influence on individual happiness and social prosperity.'' In his annual message in 1827 the governor recurs to the subject with added emphasis, and goes so far as to recommend a central school in each county for the special education of teachers. In that very year the legislature added §150,000 to the capital of the literature fund " to promote the education of teachers.'' From this time there was much discussion of the subject until a statute was enacted in May, 1834, which authorized the regents to spend a portion of the lit- erature fund in specially educating teachers, and this brought into existence the teachers' classes in the academies. The sum of $500 was given to purchase books and apparatus for an academy in each of the senate districts as they then existed, and the further sum of $400 was given for the support of an instructor in each academy. The classes for teachers were opened in these academies in the autumn of 1835. In succeeding years the appropriations were increased, and thus the number of classes was multiplied. This work has been continuous to the present time. A year ago the supervision of these classes was transferred from the board of regents to the department of public instruction, and this year the appropriation was raised from $30,000 to $60,000. In April, 1843, the first teachers' institute was held at Ithaca. There were 28 teachers present, and the session continued two weeks. These gatherings of teachers were at first voluntary, but soon came to be regulated and supported by the State. In later years they have been held with regularity in each commis- sioner district, and teachers have been paid for attendance, while attendance has been comi^ulsory. In 1844 the first State normal school was opened at Albany. Others have been established from time to time until now there are ten of these institutions, and the eleventh is to be opened in the coming autumn. These schools have real estate worth $1,400,000, and furniture and apparatus valued at §150,000 more. Last year they had, all told, 6,468 pupils and graduated 537. The State paid for the maintenance of these institutions last year $272,581.85. In March last the name of the original school was changed to that of " The New York State Normal College," and it will hereafter receive only pupils who have more fully completed their work in subject-matter in the ordinary schools, and will devote 'its entire 528 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK, time to the technical training of teachers not only for the elementary but the advanced schools. In 1870 the city of New York' opened a normal college for the purpose of pre- paring teachers for the public schools of that city, and from which the supply is largely drawn; and in nearly every other city of the State special schools or classes are continually maintained for the same purpose. In most cities of the State no teachers are certified or employed Avho, in addition to scholastic attainments, do not show a year or more of professional training. A bill to establish this princi- ple in all cities and villages employing a superintendent of schools passed the last legislature with but little opposition, and only failed to become a law for want of the approval of the governor. The law would only have hastened matters some- what. The inevitable trend is in this direction. The city that does not exact as much will soon find itself behind the times. With or without law the time will soon come when some special and technical training will be exacted on the part of all persons seeking employment in the schools of our cities and villages. In the country the uniform system of simultaneous examinations for teachers and the multiplication of teachers' training classes in the academies and union schools are leading steadily in the same direction. The Empire State has a proud record upon this matter, and I refer to it with pride and satisfaction. She commenced the work of training teachers early. I do not claim for the fathers who inaugurated the work sixty years ago a very clear comprehension of the problems involved. They probably knew but little of psy- chology and pedagogy. They were not thinking of technical or professional training.'- They were looking for teachers who had knowledge without much reference to the art of transmitting it successfullj'. In making provision at public expense for even the education of such they builded up academies in all parts of the State, and created centers where learning glowed to radiate and ilhimine all the country round about. They reared and trained scholars who, in their turn, stimulated and promoted educational and pub- lic-school development everywhere. They heightened the general intelligence, and hastened the time when the common sentiment of the people will forbid that helpless children shall be delivered into the care of other children, or of weaklings and unfortunates on the one hand, as well as the unfit favorites of small politi- cians on the other. They opened the way for the early understanding of the difficult problem involved, and the general acceptance of the proposition that teachers in the schools must be not only liberally educated, but specially and tech- nically trained, or come short of the requirements of the service. All honor to the statesmanship which inaugurated as well as to that which has since sustained and prosecuted this work so intelligently and generously. It has contributed more than it knew to the intellectual and moral health of the commonwealth. VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. The remaining great influence which has promoted the healthful development of our public-school system, and which I shall feel justified in taking time to con- sider, is that of the voluntary associations of the friends of education, and partic- ularly of teachers. This influence has been a most consetiuential one. The order in which I mention it must not be accepted as an indication of its importance. I think you will find the subject interesting. I know you would if there was time to thoroughly investigate it. ^ They borrowed from France and Germany. ^ Note the new college in New York City for training of teachers. THE COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEM. 529 "SOCIETY OF ASSOCIATED TEACHERS," NEW YORK CITY, 1794. In the custody of the State library at Albany, in company with the original Andre papers, the original copy of President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclama- tion, the original of Washington's Farewell Address, there is a manuscript volume of more interest to us than any of them. It is the original minutes of the first permanent or continuing teachers' association in America. It was an association of schoolmasters, organized in New York City in May, 1794. The minutes are neatly and correctly kept, and indicate that any one of the secretaries would have been able to pass the State examination if they had had mechanical contrivances for testing the qualifications of teachers in those days. The journal shows that meetings were held with much regularity at least till 1807. The first meeting was held May 15, 1794, at the schoolroom of ••Citizen Q-ad Ely.'' The first resolution adopted after agreeing to organize was one " that the person filling the chair for the time being be authorized to call to order any member when necessary." The fact that this precaution was deemed necessary will at once put us on terms of easy fellowship with these early teachers. John Wood was chosen chairman, and John Winchell secretary. Fifteen persons were pres- ent at the first meeting. Opposite nearly every name in the list, some hand has written the words "•since dead." It was essentially a secret society. It may seem superfluous, therefore, to state the related fact that no ladies were admitted. Members were elected by ballot, requiring a three-fourths vote to elect, and were received into membership by an initiatory ceremony. The admission fee was $1. Meetings were held in the schoolrooms or at the residences of the members, and ordinarily about every week. From the 21st of March to the 31st of September the association met at 8 o'clock and adjourned at 10, and from the 21st of September to the 21st of March it met at 7 and adjourned at 9 o'clock. The time of meeting suggests early hours and regular habits in somewhat striking contrast with those observed by their succes- sors in office. Six shillings were paid to the secretary that he might purchase a record book, and he secured a good one, bound in leather, every page of which is water lined, with an English coat of arms and the letters • 'G, R. ," in remembrance of the fact that one of the Georges was King. On July 21, 1794, the common council granted the association the right to meet in the common council chamber '-at such time as the same shall net be occupied by the public on business or by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowl- edge, the Medical Society, or the St. Cecilia's Society." With the assurance of a veteran the infant at once drew on the St. Cecilia's Society to change its night of meeting for the better convenience of the schoolmasters' association. The officers were a president, secretary, and steward. They served for three months, were required to take an obligation or pledge to perform faithfully the duties of the several offices, and the president and secretary were fined 25 cents and the steward 18i cents for each absence, unless excused. But with all these incidental matters, which inspire a smile, this association did substantial work. Its proceedings were of practical interest and importance. The association assumed to act as a breakwater against incompetency in the schools. A committee of seven was appointed to examine persons wishing to teach, and such as they found worthy they certified to be so. It is to be hoped that they did not forget that they were once young and inexperienced themselves. The association also examined and recommended text-books, and evidently com- pelled such test-book publishers as there were to treat the society with proper and becoming respect. The city library conferred upon the association one mem- bership right in that institution, and a "reader" was appointed to examine the books and report any information he might receive for the good of the society. 3176 34: 530 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. When any student was so disorderly as to oblige the master to expel him the facts of the case were reported for the information of all. The association assisted its members in collecting tuition fees from slow patrons. Among the subjects considered the following are observed, viz: "Is silent study or studying aloud most conducive to the improvement of scholars?" ''Whether a systematical method of teaching penmanship is more eligible than such methods as are com- monly pursued? " "Whether the practice of good flagellations by the tutor is advantageous to the good regulation of a school? "' " Whether it is better to sub- ject the passions to reason or root them out? " " Ought any religion further than morality be inculcated in the schools?" " Whether an indolent person of great abilities or one of inferior talents and assiduity makes the best teacher?" "Is the same mode of education equally applicable to the male and female sex? " They decided that a "theater, under the usual regulations, was not unfavorable to morals; " and that "the present situation of affairs was unfavorable to matl'i- mony; " that "it would not be good policy to manumit slaves in America imme- diately," and the association seems to have gone to pieces in trying to decide whether "the mental jjowers of the aborigines of North America were equal to those of the Europeans." These reminiscenses of this the earliest of teachers' associations might be con- tinued almost indefinitely. But so much must suffice for the present. It was a primitive organization, but it shows a devotion to their calling on the part of these old teachers. With steadfast earnestness they continued for thirteen years at least to maintain a teachers' association for mutual improvement and the advancement of their schools. They had no precedents to guide them, no suc- cesses and failures to light their path. They did not copy; they originated. History has not yet done them justice, but it may not always be so. The State Teachers' Association may well stand with uncovered head while it respects and honors their memory. OTHER LOCAL ASSOCIATIONS. From the time when the State really assumed a share in the support and super- vision of schools, city, county, and town associations of teachers became common and have no small part in determining the characteristics of the school system. Almost every page in the early books and periodicals related to the interests of education reports the doings of these local associations. As early as 1830 the State superintendent headed a movement for the organization of county and town associations and for the holding of public celebrations, and as a result there was marked activity in the way of organizations in all directions and a notable increase of public interest in all the affairs of the schools. FIRST STATE CONVENTION OF TEACHERS. The first State convention of teachers in this State, and the first in any State, so far as my investigations have gone, was held at Utica in October, 1830. Undoubtedly a thorough investigation would reveal the circumstances which led to this gathering, as well as the facts touching its character and its transactions. It is shrouded in some mystery, however. I am certain of but one thing con- cerning it. and that is that it resolved upon and provided for calling a future convention. The fact that it called another convention only three months later indicates that it was a slim affair and did little, if anything, beyond this. The next State teach- ers' convention was held at Utica ,1 anuary 12, 13, and 14, 1831. Rev. Henry Davis, D. D., of Hamilton College, was president. Most of the counties were repre- sented, and most of the names of the active school men of the day appear in the roll of the convention, but we examine it in vain for the name of a woman. Com* THE COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEM. 531 mittees were appointed as follows, viz: On the qualifications of teachers; on the studies and exercises proper for common schools; on appointing one or more agents for carrying into effect the objects of the convention; on the construction and furnishing of schoolrooms; on the school law of the State. The question as to whether the State should establish normal schools or utilize the academies for educating teachers was as hot then as it ever has been since. The convention, for obvious reasons, declared in favor of utilizing the existing schools. The committee on "Studies and exercises in the schools" reported that the fol- lowing studies should be pursued, viz: Reading, writing, spelling, mental and practical arithmetic, geography, English grammar, composition, a method of keep- ing accounts, some brief systems of political economy, and some of the simpler parts of the natural sciences. " The committee observe that they are aware that their list is too large to be pursued in a single school, especially if the number of pupils is large. They urge, by way of a solution of the difficulty, that one teacher should never have charge of more than 30 or 40 pupils, and that where the school is larger than this grading should be resorted to. The committee urge, among other things, that the schools should "call into action the intellectual powers of the pupils and teach them by independent investigation to arrive at conclusions for themselves which shall be according to truth;" that pupils "should not waste time in loading the memory with what is not understood:" that they "should not be suffered to pronounce words without a knowledge of their meaning;" that in arithmetic pupils "may derive much valuable improvement by the help of sensi- ble objects, without being burdened with rules above their comprehension." This convention sixty years ago also faced the text-book question, but precipi- tately surrendered in its presence, and contented itself with saying that while the multiplicity of text-books was a great evil, still they thought it unwise for them to enter a field which would require them to discriminate, and with apparent solemnity expressed the belief that " if a remedy shall be found out for the other defects in the system of common-school instruction the text-book evil will grad- ually disappear." To all of this the convention agreed. It also provided for a State agent to go about, hold meetings, arouse the people, encourage teachers, organize lyceums, etc. The convention seems to have been in something of a fog concerning the im- provement of schoolrooms. It declared that " schoolhouses are too small, the ceilings too low, the windows placed quite too near the floor, and that too little regard is paid to the ventilation of the rooms." But, in its opinion, the methods of remedying these defects were "too plain to require explanation." Then it immediately proceeded to explain and suggest that "instead of the plain ceilings in common use arched ones might be constructed with great advantage and at little additional expense," and that ' ' for the purpose of ventilating the rooms the contrivance should be rather to let down the upper than to raise the lower sash of the windows, as by that means the greater portion of the air rendered unfit for respiration may be easily expelled without exposing the students seated next to the wall to currents which pass through the windows or tempting them to gaze at external objects to the neglect of their proper studies." As a master stroke in the then budding sciences of school economy and school architecture, the convention proposed that all schools should adopt the plan upon which the principal room in the Lowville Academy was constructed, and proceeded to describe it as follows, viz: "The students are so seated for study that while no two of them can see each other, the instructor has a full view of all his pupils. This mode of seating pupils is easily carried into effect by having the base of the building a dodecagon or a polygon of a less number of sides separated into two unequal divisions by a partition, and in the larger division should be the seat and 532 HISTORY OF HiaHEE EDUCATIOlSr IN NEW YORK. table of the instructor. On the floor of the principal room there should be con- structed three or four concentric ranges of seats, ascending from the center toward the periphery of the room, as in a theater, and crossed by partitions 5 feet high, regularly converging toward the instructor's seat."' If pupils failed to emerge from this formidable machine with their physical', mental, and moral natures thoroughly developed and well polished off, the educational situation would seem to be in as serious a fix as the pupils were when in the box. We must pass from this early convention, although we might pursue our inves- tigations into its proceedings with great interest. The convention concluded its deliberations by organizing a New York State Lyceum and by adopting an address to the public in which it set forth, with much ability, the needs of the schools, and called a meeting of the "friends of education from every State in the Union,'' in New York city, on the first Wednesday in the following May, for the formation of '"a National Lyceum — a republic of letters, coextensive with one political con- federacy, whose aim it shall be to establish, as far as practicable, a universal system of education, reciprocally to yield and enjoy the advantages of each other's discovery, to bind ourselves to firmer union by the humane yet intimate associa- tion of literature and science, and relieve the asperities of conflicting interests and selfish jealousies by the interchange of intellectual treasure.'' OTHER STATE CONVENTIONS. Other conventions were subsequently held, but not with regularity, until 1845. One occurred at Albany in September, 1836, and another at Utica in May, 1837. In May, 1842, a State convention of county superintendents was held at Utica, which was presided over by Jabez D. Hammond, the author of the " Political History of New York." Forty-two of the fifty-nine counties were represented, and Colonel Young, the State superintendent, Horace Mann, and many eminent men were present and participated in the deliberations. Subsequent gatherings of the same character were held at Rochester in 1843, at Albany in 1844, at Syra- cuse in 1845, and at Albany again in 1846. PERMANENT ORGANIZATION OP ''THE STATE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION." A most important convention assembled at Syracuse on July 30 and 31, 1845, if its importance is to be measured by permanent results. It was the first meeting of a permanent and enduring State teachers' association. On the first day 185 delegates were present from thirty-two counties. On the next day 300 teachers were present. William Ross, of Seneca, was temporary, and J. W. Bulkley, of Albany, permanent president. Substantially the first business was to invite all the text-book agents to address the convention, and Mr. A. L. Smith, of New York, agent for Smith's geography, arithmetic, gi-ammar, and divers other books; Mr. H. H. Hawley, publisher of Perkins's mathematical series; Mr. Silas Cornell , manu- facturer of globes; Mr. A. R.Boyle, a phonographist; Mr. B. Mortimer, agent for Salem Town's books, and others, overcame the traditional and proverbial modesty of their craft sufficiently to advocate their respective claims before the conven- tion. This convention discussed ably and seriously the leading educational ques- tions of the day, including the reading of the Bible in the schools, the necessity for pedagogical literature, school discipline, and the education and elevation of the teaching profession. It determined upon and effected a permanent organiza- tion which has met each year since, except that the meeting of 1850, which was to have been in New York city, was not held because of the prevalence of cholera. This gathering constitutes the forty-fifth in the series of annual meetings. And what a notable and noble series of educational meetings it has been! How they have been anticipated, and how they have been remembered! What tender ties of affection have been here welded! How many minds have been here opened THE COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEM. 533 to the light! The destiny of how many children has been here influenced and directed! How these meetings have affected the educational policy of the State and the United States. OTHER ASSOCIATIONS. At the annual meeting of the State Teachers' Association in Troy, in August, 1856, the superintendents in the cities and villages, and the county commission- ers, formed the State Association of Commissioners and Superintendents. The association has met regularly since. This organization has really come to be dis- tinctively an association of county commissioners, as the superintendents have since associated themselves together in still another organization. On the 4th day of August, 1803, the first meeting of officers and teachers in our colleges and academies, convened by the board of regents, and since called the " University Convocation," occurred, and a similar meeting has been annually held at the capital since. In 1883, at Syracuse, the superintendents in cities and villages met and organized the " State Superintendents' Council," and have held annual meetings at different points since. On the 29th of December, 1885, the secondary principals of the State met in the high-school building at Syracuse, and effected an organization, which has since met regularly, and has come to be known as the " Conference of Associated Acad- emic Principals." Each of these organizations is in vigoi'ous life, with a good record and excellent prospects. INFLUENCES OF THE ASSOCIATIONS. The beneficial influences which all these voluntary associations have exerted, and continue to exert, in behalf of the school system is inestimable. For a great many years a little company of gentlemen with scientific or literary tendencies, and known as the "Albany Institute," has met semimonthly in that city and discussed subjects of mutual interest. The meetings are so quiet and unobtrusive that they attract but little attention, and influence the social life of the capital but imperceptibly. Yet John Ericsson gained his idea of the revolving turret for armed war vessels from a volume of the transactions of the Albany Institute, and from a paper read and long since forgotten. Who shall say that the deliberations of any association of thinkers go for naught? And who shall undertake to calculate the extent to which all these regular and continuous gatherings of teachers have promoted the general intelligence and the mental strength of the State? There is no standard for such a measurement. As I have read the records of their proceedings, I have been again and again struck with the fact that the leading reforms in the law governing the schools, as well as in the procedure of the schools themselves, have originated with and been accomplished through the operations of these associations. They have concen- trated forces and they have distributed information. On the one hand they have removed misunderstandings, originated suggestions, carried the ripest experience and the best thought of each teacher into every city and every village and every dis- trict, and on the other hand they have combined educational effort, directed edu- cational energy, and shaped the educational policy of the commonwealth. Each has become a power in itself, but the combined strength of all is invulnerable. Happily, fellowship between them is now so complete that no unusual movement is prosecuted without the concurrence of all, and with such cooperation the suc- cess of the undertaking is practically inevitable. 534 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. SMALL MATTERS. I have now, in a way, covered the ground contemplated at the outset. How inadequately I have been able to do so, I am fully aware. Whether or not I have been able to interest you, I can truly say that such investigation as, at odd moments, I have been able to make into the circumstances which produced and the causes which have advanced the State public-school system has been a delight to me — such a delight as I know can not be transmitted through any ability of mine to tell the story. I would I had the time to tell you of some of the small but interesting and amusing matters I have come across in my reading — of the com- plaints of the regents and that first New York City association, because their lot- tery investments did not i)ay better dividends; of the tribulations in the State superintendent's office before Mr. Spencer proposed printed forms for trustees' reports in 1841; of General Dix's hurry and anxiety to get out his report "before the close of navigation; " of the poorer pay and " boarding around " experiences of the earlier teachers; of "summer schools " and " winter schools; " of the physical struggles to decide whether the teacher or the big boys should control the school; of David P. Page, the first normal principal, going about with horse and wagon to examine the candidates for admission and ordinarily determining that they were qualified; of Dr. E. A. Sheldon and Susan B. Anthony, noble man and noble woman that they were and are, sitting side by side in this association year after year, he with his resolutions for the consolidation and more. effective organization of educational work, and she with her continual claim for equal rights and a fair show for her sex. I would like to tell you also of Joseph Lancaster and the Lancastrian methods; of the philanthropy of James Wadsworth, who put The School and the School- master, a most excellent volume of 550 pages, in the hand of every officer and teacher in the State; of the reciprocal influences of the old academies upon the common schools and the schools upon the academies; of the stubborn contest with sectarianism; of the growth of high schools and night schools and technical schools: of a thousand things which have contributed to the development of the school system in its present form. The field is a rich one, and it is to be hoped that some loyal son or daughter of the State, who is jealous of her glory and has an inclination and a gift for original research, will enter and cultivate it for the advantage and benefit of all her children. NEW YORK LEADING THE NATION. Looking back over the field we can not escape being impressed with the fact that New York has scarcely had full credit for the magnificent part she has borne in making the history of our common country. Few people, very few, have the leisure or the inclination for original research. The multitude are only too ready to take statements at second hand. It is commonly as helpful to the fame of a people to have had fervent poets, orators, and historians among their sons as to have performed the deeds which light the beacon fires of history. . . . The colony at New Amsterdam loved liberty as dearly and certainly had as true a conception of the public institutions and regulations which guarantee civil and religious freedom as the colony at Plymouth. New York has contributed as lib- erally as New England to the material as well as the intellectual development of the country. If these observations are just in any sense, they are as related to the building up of a system of common schools. The first public school in America of which we have any knowledge was upon Manhattan Island. The principle that all the property should educate all the children of a people was first enforced there. The oldest school in America is now maintained at No. 248 West Seventy- fourth street THE COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEM. 535 in the city of New York. It was in the colony of New York that teachers were first required to be certified or licensed. New York was the first State in the Union to levy a general tax for the encouragement of elementary schools, as she was also the first to establish a permanent State common-school fund. She was the first to establish State supervision of elementary schools. She was the first to specially provide for the education of teachers, and she is now doing more for the professional training of teachers than any other. The institute system was first established in New York. She was the first to provide school district libraries. She was the first to publish a journal exclusively devoted to the interests of com- mon schools. The first local association of a permanent character in the country among school teachers was in New York City. The first State teachers' conven- tion in the country was held at Utica, and the oldest permanent State teachers association in America is the one I now have the honor to address. The first woman's college in America was established at Elmira, and the old Albany Female Academy is the first higher educational institution for women the world ever knew. New York is the only State to have established a special court to determine all school controversies, and provide that its decisions shall be final and conclusive. It is the only State to provide architects" drawings and estimate for schoolhouses, and to determine the character of the structures which localities must provide for school purposes. It is the first and only State to give statutory recognition to the work of the colleges and universities in educating teachers, and to give the same recognition to teachers of acquired position who may come to us from other States. We are doing more to build up a teaching profession, by exact- ing proper qualifications on the part of teachers and protecting their legal rights, than is being done anywhere else in the country. The great State is spending more money and exercising closer supervision over common schools than any other. The legislative power has been and is continually being exercised to con- solidate and systematize her educational work upon an intelligent plan, with a definite purpose, to a greater extent than any commonwealth East or West. It is no thoughtless, self-conceited boast, it is a fact in the case, which her teachers ought to understand, that they may appreciate the responsibility under which they rest, that for what she has done and what she is doing and what she is trying to do her common-school work occupies the leading position among the States of the American Union. CONCLUSION. I must conclude upon the instant. Even the hasty and superficial examination of the rise and development of our State common-school system, which we have been able to make in a single evening, will be fruitful of suggestions, which your interest in the subject will easily enable you to discern. The one which comes to me with more force than any other is that history clearly and unmistakably reveals the fact that free schools have invariably been the accompaniment and the support of civil liberty and of government by the people. Wherever there has been self-government there have been common schools; wherever there have been common schools mental strength and manly independence have developed, and the Government haa been a democracy, or the kingship has been only a name. We can not doubt the stability and the permanence of our unique American system of free schools. It is warp and woof of our social fabric the staunchest pillar of ovir governmental temple. The most deserving and practical patriots are the men and women who do most to simplify and perfect its machinery, to make its work ennobling, and to keep its life pure. The most insidious, and there- fore the most dangerous, foe of the Reptiblic is the man whose politics or whose religion, whose ignorance or whose selfishness, leads him, deliberately or unwit- tingly, to thwart the best results of its high and holy mission. 536 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDLTCATION IN NEW YORK. I thank you for yonr iDatience; it lias seemed boundless. For all your thoughtful and considerate courtesj'I make my most respectful acknowledgments; it encum- bers the State superintendent with obligations which he has no power to repay save only in sincere and grateful appreciation. Note.— Investigations, incident to the preparation of the foregoing address, have led me to think that an exhibit showing the extent and manner of school supervision which has been in operation in this State since the organization of the school system, together with a complete list of State superintendents, and a statement indicating the places of meeting, and the presiding offi- cers at the various sessions of the different State associations, would be acceptable to the edu- cators of the State, and I take tlie liberty of adding the same in a brief appendix. I also embrace the opportunity for acknowledging my indebtedness to C. W. Bardeen, of Syracuse, who kindly and generously loaned from his private library rare books and documents which have been of great assistance, not only in supplying this added information, but in the jsrepa- ration of the adiJress itself.— A. S. D. APPENDIX. Si/stem of supervision. Year. 1795 1813 1841 1847 1851 1856 1890 By State officer. By cotinty officers. By city officers. State siiperintendent. By town officers. Names. Residence. Chosen. Albany do.. do Plattsburg Coopersville . . Canandaigua . Ballston . Gideon Hawley _ Welcome Esleeck Secretaries of State and su.perintendents, ex officio: John Van Ness Yates Azariah C. Flagg ..- John A. Dix _ John O. Spencer Samuel Young . Nathaniel S. Benton - --- Little Falls . Christopher Morgan - Auburn Henry S. Randall - Cortland Ellas W. Leavenwoi'th , I Syracuse Department of public instruction: j Victor M. Rice.- Buffalo.. Henry H. Van Dyck i Albany Emerson W. Keyesa do Victor M. Rice-- , -- Buffalo-.. Abram B. Weaver Deerfield Neil Gilmour -. ; Ballston Spa William B. Ruggles ' Bath James E. Morrison a New York City. Andrew S. Draper - j Albany Jan. 14,1813 Feb. 33,1821 Apr. Apr. Apr. A]pr. Apr. Apr. Nov. Nov. Nov. Apr. Apr. Apr. Feb. Apr. Apr. 3,1831 14, 1836 1,1833 4, 1839 7,1842 3,1845 3, 1847 4, 1851 8,1853 4,1854 7,1857 9, 1861 1, 1863 7, 1868 7, 1874 Mar. 14,1883 Jan. 1.1886 Apr. 6,1886 a Acting superintendent by reason of resignation. THE COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEM. Netv York State Teacher's' Association, 537 Year. Place. President. 1845 - Syracuse John W. Bulkley. Chester Dewey. J oseph McKeen. Samuel B. Woolworth 1846 Utica 1847 - 1848 Auburn 1849 « - - 1850 New York Do. 1851 Buffalo John W. Bnlkiey. Nehemiah P Stanton iao2 Elmira 1853 - 1854 Oswego Victor M. Rice 1855.. Utica 1856 Troy 1857 1858 George L. Parnham. Oliver Arey. James N. McElligott. Edward A. Sheldon. 1859 Poughkeepsie 1860 _ 1861 - 1863 - 1863.. _ _ Troy Buffalo Emerson C. Pomeroy. 1864 1865.... - 1866 1867 -- . .. Auburn 1868 - 1869 _ 1870-.- Ithaca - William N. Reid. 1871 __ 1873 Saratoga Springs Utica 1873 1874..-- 1875 H R Sanford 1876 Noah T. Clark 1877 1878 1879..- . Casper G. Brower. 1880 - 1881..- Saratoga Springs 1883 - Albert B Watkins 1883 -- 1884 : Elmira 1885 Saratoga Springs Niagara Falls . - Elizabethtown- S A Ellis 1886 1887 George Griflftth. J W Kimball 1888. - 1889 E. H. Cock 1890 Saratoga Springs do 1891 a No meeting held on account of prevalence of cholera in New Yoi'k. 538 HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN NEW YORK. Commissioners and Superintendents' Association. Year. Place. President. 1856. Troy Victor M. Rice, State superintendent, ex officio. H. H. Van Dyck, State superintendent, ex officio. Do 1857 1858 Elmira 1859 Do. 1860. Syracuse [During the war, the assoc' 1 tion ceased to hold meeting . Elmira Do 1861.-- - 1863- 1863--- - 1364. - 1865 John W. Bulkley (reorsanization). John W. Biilkley. 1866 - Geneva 1867 Auburn 1868 Owego.. Charles T. Pooler. 1869 (a) 1870 -t Syracuse 1871. Utica Rochester 1873 (a) 1873. O. F. Stiles. 1874.--.- -.. 1875 Do. 1876 Watkins Do. 1877 ... .-- . Albany Do. 1878.... Utica.- . .. Andrew McMillan. 1879 Do. 1880 Sidney G. Cooke. Do. 1881 Utica 1883 Albany . . George V. Chapin. 1883 Little Falls Edward Wait. 1884 . . Rochester > George P. Crumby. 1885 Utica 1886 Ithaca Edward C. Delano. 1887 Syractise _ Jared Sandford. 1888 1889 Binghamton Charles E.White. Cortland > Ezra B. Knapp. Emmons J. Swift. 1891 .*. Batavia a It is impossible at present to supply these name& favor by forwarding them. Any person who can do so will confer a Council of superintendents. Year. Place. President. 1883 . 1884 Charles W. Cole. 1885 -- . . . . Auburn David Beattie. 1886 . -- - L. C. Foster. 1887 Rochester. .. - Charles E. Gorton. 1888 ... ... B. B. Snow. 1889 Albany David Beattie. Conferences of associated academic principals. Year. Place. President. 1885 Syracuse George R. Cutting. 1886 do Do. 1887 do Do. 1888 . do C. T. R. Smith. 1889 . do Do. LE M 28° 85 i r. 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