IN AR   G U E  _& T I N X    S
AT THE
TOGETHER WVITH THE
A N- X U A L REPORT
OF TIHE.ALAN~, N..    Y.:
18 72.








With the Compliments of the President
of the College.








AT THE
INAU GURATIO N,
TOGETHER WITH THE
ANUAL REP O
OF THE
1871-  2
ALBANY, N. Y.:
J. MUNSELL, 82 STATE STREET,
1872.








A DDRESSES
DELIVERED
AT THE INAUGURATION
OP THE
REV. ELIPHALET NOTT POTTER, D.D., S.T.D.
trzeliaM of itaia eot%11oc
JUNE 26,
A.D. 1872.








INAUGURATION EXERCISES.
The formal inauguration of the Rev. Eliphalet Nott
Potter D.D., S. T. D. as President of 1U1nion College, took
place in the Presbyterian church at Schenectady, on the
26th of June, 1872.
The Hon. Ira Harris LL.D., chairman of the Board of
Trustees of the College presided, and the exercises were
opened with prayer, offered by the Rev. J. Trumbull
Backus, D.D.
The Hon. chairman, as presiding officer, then said:
"It is fifty years ago, this present summer, that I entered
Union College. I found here the two most distinguished
men connected with its history. They received me with
great kindness and became my life-long friends. To-day
it is my privilege and pleasure, as the organ of the Board
of Trustees, to welcome their descendant and successor to
the Presidential Chair.
At the Annual Meeting of the Board in June last, the
Reverend Eliphalet Nott Potter, D.D., was unanimously
elected President of Union College. His formal and public induction into office was appointed to take place at
this time. We are now assembled for that purpose. The
opening Address upon the occasion, on behalf of the Trustees, will be delivered by his excellency Governor hoffman.
Gov. Hoffman spoke as follows:
" I am glad to be here to-day at this inauguration of our
new President, not only as one of the representatives of the
state in the Board of Trustees of Union College, but as an
alumnus whose heart is full of affection for his Alma Mater.




6
"As I stand here, how thick and fast memories of early
days crowd upon me! Twenty-nine years ago I entered
my class and witnessed for the first time the commencement exercises. The scene seems the same, and yet how
changed! There were gathered here then a goodly array.
Eliphalet Nott, Alonzo Potter, his chief of stafft Proudfit
and Jackson, Reid and Yates, Foster and Pearson, and
others of the Faculty, some now dead, some yet living.
And there was one other whom I cannot omit to name.
Perhaps some here remember him only as a tutor; poor
William  Kelly, a noble hearted fellow, who, not long
after went down somewhere amid the waves of the broad
Atlantic, and was never heard of more.
"And my classmates, where are they? How few are left
of all who on that commencement day stood here. Those
were among the palmy days of Union College, and she
prospered greatly. Soon after that came her trials. Alonzo
Potter was called away to another field of usefulness.
The physical powers of President Nottyielded to advancing
age, and our Alma Mater, which had leaned on him so
trustingly, and whose steps he had guided so faithfully,
faltered and staggered. Then came the war. Young men
sought the battle field rather than college halls.  Many
gave up this union; some to save, some to destroy, if possible, another. Both, thank heaven, are preserved, and
have before them a bright and glorious future.
" The death of President Nott was a great blow to our
Alma Mater, and though not, we trust, irreparable, she has
never yet fully recovered from it. But she will, and that
now rapidly.
1" It often happens in the state, when some commanding
intellect is stricken down, that the people who had been
guided and led by it, wait longingly and patiently for a
new leader; until at length, some crisis brings forth the
man.




"' In the household, when the head and master is taken
away, children stand by their sorrowing mother, left alone
and hopeless, without a protector or a guide. Yet, when
all hope seems dying out, some younger son often steps
to the front, and all look up to him in trust and confidence
as he takes his father's place and does his work. So it is
in all the spheres of life, and so it is here in old Union.
We meet to-day to give public welcome to our new President, this our younger brother, Eliphalet Nott Potter, who
unites in his own, the names of two distinguished men
whose lives were identified with the college. In him we
trust and believe, are blended also many of the virtues and
traits of character which made them illustrious as teachers
of youth and examples worthy of imitation. While I
recognise the high character of our colleges in other parts
of the country, yet, as governor of New York, and as an
alumnus of old Union, I am phroud to say that none of
them has a more brilliant record in the past then she has;
and that to-day she renews her youth and vigor. I welcome you, sir, thus publicly, to the Presidency of Union
College. May your life be spared to witness new triumphs
which will gladden the hearts of all her sons and to rejoice
with them in her perfect and complete restoration to the
greatness of other days."
At the conclusion of Gov. iHoffman's address, Judge
Harris, addressing Doctor Potter, spoke as follows:
"And now Dr. Potter, in the name and on behalf of the
corporate authorities of this institution, I salute you as
President of Union College and commit to you its care
and supervision. In performing this grateful service permit me to add my most cordial congratulations. In your
person I recognize the representative of two most valued
friends, the most honored names Union has ever known.
I shall always hold them in grateful remembrance.




",It only remains for me, sir, in the name and by the
authority of the Trustees of Union College, to deliver to
you these documents. They are the Charter and By-Laws
of the College. I present them to you as the symbols of
your office and in the name of the Trustees and by their
authority, and as their representative I do formally and
publicly proclaim  you to be the President of Union College.
"' As such President, I present you to the Faculty of the
College, to its Alumni, and to all who honor the occasion
with their presence."
The Inaugural Response of Doctor Potter was then
made as follows:
"4 MR. CHAIRMAN,
Ladies and Gentlemen: In your presence, at the hands of
the official head of the Board of Trustees, and with the concurrence of the Faculty and of the Alumni, I have just received a sacred charge and trust, by formal inauguration
into the Presidency of Union College.
You will bear me witness, that in this office I am called
to occupy a position held with distinction, in the past, by a
succession of illustrious men. So too, in addressing you
on the present occasion, I am placed in trying conjunction
with distinguished graduates and friends of the college.
it is fitting, then, that I should speak with the brevity
suggested both by these circumstances and by the protracted length of this commencement. Brevity is yet the
more incumbent upon me, since in my annual report to the
trustees of the college, (to which I would ask close and
thoughtful attention), I have made those statements and
suggestions, which I deemed of immediate and vital importance to the well being of the institution. For a short
time only, then, will I ask you to dwell with me upon the
memories and hopes, which are naturally associated with
the occasion.




That was a memorable night, when in  the winter of 1795,
the bell of the old Schenectady Academy rang out its loudest peal, and the building was brilliantly illuminated, And
well might the people of this, at that time, secluded village
rejoice; for news had just reached them that a charter had
been obtained which changed their Academy into a College,
and located the institution at Schenectady.  Other towns
had contended forthis distinction; but the efforts and liberality of the inhabitants of this frontier village, together with
enlightened aid from certain influential men not resident
here, secured the location of Union College at Schenectady.
As its inception and first endowment were in great measure
due to the enterprise and liberality of citizens of this place,
we would to day place it on record, that in our outlook towards the future we turn first to Schenectady; anticipating
its increasing prosperity, desiring to promote its best interests, and looking to its citizens for the sympathy, liberality and cooperation, which the institution has sometimes
sadly lacked, and without which, would be wanting a most
important element of its prosperity and progress.
Fifty years had passed away and the College had grown
up from a feeble infancy to be a power in the land, when,
as if responsive to the dying peal of the old Academy bell,
the bells on College Hill rang out a joyous welcome to
Union's first semi-centennial anniversary~
From  every part of the land her sons assembled.  The
greatness of the Tnstitution was indicated by their eminence
as citizens; her pride, their prosperity; her glory, their
practical skill in the affairs of life, their leadership in. the
walks of sound learning, their wise and catholic beneficence. From highest places in church and state, from most
distinguished positions at the bar and on the bench, as from
humblest callings discharged with fidelity and skill and
with a rare knowledge of men and of themselves, they came
to lay their honors and achievements at the feet of their
Alma Mater.




10
The old halls were crowded with returning footsteps,
the groves resounded with grateful acclamations. The vast
throng of graduates assembled, united in the pledge that
the Institution should ever have their support in the carrying out of its high designs.
To the graduates of the College, then, we turn to-day,
for the cooperation and support upon which we have a right
to rely, not only because of their number and influence and
wealth, but from their recent avowals through all their associations, of continued devotion to the College. Without
their aid, the Institution, whose endowments are limited in
amount and specific as to their objects, can neither be furhished for her work nor supplied with the numbers who
shall carry down her reputation undiminished to succeeding generations.
The mention of the semi-centennial anniversary of the
College will remind many of my auditors of a similar celebration which occurred some years later, when that President of Union who had held the office during the longest
and most eventful period of her history had attained the
fiftieth year of his connection with the Institution.  Then
the halls of Union were again thronged with men of all
ages and of diverse pursuits and opinions, who came to
testify their love and veneration for the Master at whose
feet they had delighted to sit.
Able to recall, but dimly, the first of these celebrations
I can remember distinctly that venerable man upon the
occurrence of the second. Trained at his side, the fact has
been here recalled that I am bound to him by the tenderest
ties of relationship and affection; as also to another, whose
last years it was my privilege at once to solace and in constant intercourse to enjoy. I have heard with emotion the
names of both mentioned here to-day with equal honor.
You can understand then, that while appreciating such
claims upon my entire devotion, I cannot trust myself to
contemplate or to recur at length, in this presence, to the
sacred and affecting nature of the bonds that link me to the




11
responsibilities which, this day, at your call and in God's
strength I have assumed.
There are those here present who were long associated
with these venerated men in the Faculty of Union College.
To them, and indeed to every professor and to all in any
way related to the daily routine of the college, I am debtor,
both for a cordial welcome and for valued aid extended to
me in my inexperience in these new duties.
When one who, for a half century or more, had held in
his hands the entire direction of the affairs of the College
felt himself unable longer to sustain the burden; as was
natural, there came with the inevitable change, diversities
of opinion and lack of the unity essential to success.
After years of perplexity and trial the Board of Trustees
have formally entrusted me with the Presidency of the: ollege. Grate.fully receiving their assurances of confidence
and relying upon their united support as essential to the
success of the Institution, I desire now publicly to express
my thanks to the resident rnembers of the board, to the
state officers, to the trustees, one and all, for the cordial
and efficient cooperation I have thus far received from them
in the midst of arduous and unsought responsibilities.
As one of the happiest auguries of the day I recur to
the fact that not only has my immediate predecessor given
us his best wishes, but that he also joins in the felicitations
with whom, as an attached pupil in this Institution, I studied mental and moral science; that honored graduate
eminent for his writings abroad and at home, Laurens P.
Hickok.
I remember gratefully, to-day, that when I hesitated to
accept the offered Presidency, his was one of the -most
cordial of valued letters of encouragement, and that among
many who have expressed their regret at being necessarily
absent from this assemblage, none has given a heartier or
more prized Godspeed.  We may well make his aspirations for the College our own.'" May those beloved walls
which have long been in deep shadow soon stand out in the




12
full sunshine of prosperity."' May the inauguration be
the signal of universal prosperity for the Institution."
In conclusion, I would briefly refer to that which would
seem to be the peculiar distinction, nay, the prophetic idea
of Union College. Those who subscribed for its first foundation in this neighborhood were, most of them, members
of the communion prominent here from the earliest times.
The congregation of the Reformed Dutch church at Schenectady was then under the pastoral charge of one deeply
interested in the establishment of the College. His catholic,
forecasting mind so provided, that no exclusive denominational or sectarian influences should here predominate.
This was signified and is secured by the name and charter
of'" Union College."
At this hour, when from liberated Italy, from smitten
France, from  stalwart Germany, from our own reunited
land, and from  every earnest Christian heart the world
round, the cry goes forth for liberty in things non-essential and for that essential unity in Christ which was the
burden of the last and great high-priestly prayer of our
Divine Master; at this momentous epoch and for all coming
time, Union College may well glory in her title and stand
true to the fundamental religious principle of her charter.
Although for denominational institutions there may be
ampler support and important work, yet, the religious influences of this College (though unsectarian, not the less
efficient for Christianity, as its graduates throughout the
land attest) may well centre about the old, cherished, chartered purpose of exemplyfying "' in essentials unity, in nonessentials diversity, in all things charity."
Brethren of the Alumni, Trustees of the College, Gentlemen of the Faculty, Fellow Citizens, Friends of Education,
let us unite for the good of the Institution, in the spirit of
its charter.  The realization of its long cherished ideal will
crown our efforts with the truest, because the most beneficent and enduring success.
Solicitous for no prosperity which is merely superficial




13
and evanescent, laboring to lay broad and deep foundations
for the future; in the present, and to the largest possible
extent, let us seek to bless our country with the best means
of Christian education.
So, laden with justly acquired honors, shall our Alma
Mater reach her first centennial anniversary. On the
morning of that day, may the bells from College Hill, the
union let us hope of a full and harmonious chime, reverberate not only from ancient,buildings, but as well from
spacious structures of our own time. Across the century responding again to thatfirst college peal of the old Academy,
may t'hey proclaim to all the land that Faith and HIope,.Love and Labor have verified the truth of the sentiment
time honored at Union and ever to be perpetuated by her
sons: "Perseverantia vincit omnia nec non et in gloriam
ducit."
After the response of the President the following resolutions of the Alumni Association of the College adopted
June 25th, 1872, were read.
Resolved, That while we, the Alumni Association of
Union College, unite with joy in this auspicious event,
wherein the traditions of our Alma Mater augur a happy
success, we hail our new President and commit to him her
interests with assurance of our earnest and cordial support.
Resolved, That I-on. Thomas Allen of St. Louis, of the
Class of 1832 be commissioned to represent our Association
in the inaugural exercises of President Eliphalet Nott
Potter, D.D.
The Hon. Thomas Allen of St. Louis on behalf of the
Alumni of the College then proceeded to deliver the following Address of Welcome to the President.
" To those of you who came here expecting to hear the
Sage of Auburn, I extend my condolence; for myself, in
the temerity of attempting to fill his place, haudpassibes
ceuqis, I ask your sympathy; while to Mr. Seward I beg
to express my regret that he should have lost the opportu



14
nity of engaging in a pleasing welcome, and of being
appreciated and welcomed himself by a brilliant audience.
"' Having accepted the task. I have the honor to say that
the thoughts of thousands of living Alumni flow hitherward this day; and if we may believe that the spirits of
the dead hover around the places they loved in life, then
may we readily imagine that the spirits of other thousands
gather about us, while the quadruple crown of experience,
love, joy, and faith, is placed upon the revered head of
Alma Mater.'l Responsive to the voice of the Board of Trustees, in the
name of the Alumni of Union College, far and near, old and
young, we hail with satisfaction the name of the new President, and bid him a hearty welcome.
I" If there is any thing in a name, or any telling virtue in
blood, or in circumstances conspiring to a desired end,
then we may recognize in. ELIPHALET NOTT POTTER, the
President elect of this College, the right man in the right
place.
"' We congratulate you, sir, that you now stand in this
relation. We congratulate the College that such relation
was within its compass. And now we may wish, for both
President and College, that the mantle and spirit of Alonzo
Potter and especially of Eliphalet Nott, may fall upon this
man whose name combines both names, and in whom we
trust the elements of both pedigrees are so mingled as to
give all the world assurance of the man that was wanted.
To fill the space made void by the departure of the leaders
of those names, and to occupy the place so long filled by
one whose talents and character made the presidency of
this College a great office, was an appointment requiring
wise judgment to select, and great courage to accept.
We confidently look for justification of both the wisdom
and the courage.
"They tell us of the Roman matron who was proud of her




distinguished sons. May not our Alma Ilater justly exclaim
what were they compared with the sons of Union College?
And if these are great, how much greater the mother  If the
mother honors the children, so do the children honor the
mother. For over seventy years Union College has sent
forth her sons, armed with the sword of knowledge and
the buckler of discipline, to fight the great battle of life.
If victories have been achieved by them in any field, (and
the banners they have won would fill you a hall of glory,
if you would but collect them), they point back to Alma
_Mater as the main spring of their power. Time would
not permit, nor occasion justify, a suitable reference to the
achievements of the Alumni in science, art, letters, politics,
diplomacy, law, religion, journalism, material progress,
missionary enterprise, or in teaching, but the record is
long and brilliant and probably unexcelled by results from
any similar institution. HIere is proof of a kind of success
which ought to be the most appreciated, a success in making the College felt all over the civilized world. Think
what has been achieved during the life-time of a graduate
of 1799, whom I left a few days since living on the banks
of the Mississippi. The whole country, within that time,
west of the Alleghanies, and south of the Carolinas gained
and subdued, our rank and our rights as a nation of the
first class asserted and maintained, the gospel of liberty as
well as of peace sent to every nation, equal political rights
and universal education established; the power of man
vastly increased by discoveries in physical science, and the
globe itself compressed within his grasp and made one
kingdom by the use of natural forces; and in all these
glorious results, the Alumni of Union College have largely
shared, and to all of them largely contributed.
"Now, sir, this is glory enough for the College, and it
ought to be a source of no inconsiderable pride to the
state of New York. The knowledge of it ought to incite




16
the state to perfect and perpetuate the establishment and
machinery of the College, even if the administration of it
is left alone to attract students.  The remembrance of it
will add dignity and responsibility to your office.  You
will feel that you have engaged in no holiday work in
assuming such direction of afairs as will assure the continuance of precisely similar results, so that Union College
shall perpetuate her line of influence and her well established characteristics of achievement~
" As the masses of this country are its masters, the necessity of education continues the more imperative.  The
desire of it should be diffused; to a certain extent it should
be compulsory; the highest perfection of it should be paid
for or worked for; while the commoner sort, in which the
people are most generally interested, should be sustained
by common taxation, and taxation or pay, or work, being
likely to secure a higher degree of interest or watchfulness
is perhaps better, or more phlilosophical, in this relation,
than charity.  We are apt to appreciate most highly that
which costs most. Nevertheless, education should be placed
within the reach of all.  The state should do its part
liberally, and private endonwment will surely follow the
example. Scholars will not be wanting where there are
great facilities, agreeable surroundings, and successful teachings. Let us elevate the standard, as well of scholarship,
as of teaching and education; let us pay for these latter
according to quality, and we shall find the fruit of our labors
to correspond.  Do not let any teacher so magnify himself,
or his office, or his learning, that the student shall seek to
hide himself in sheer despair. Do not tolerate any such
misconception as that education consists in memorizing
books. Do not permit that sort of intellectual teasing and
torture of the student which is sometimes manifested,
when: incompetence, unable to forgive itself, takes its
revenge upon the student, and drives him from college in




17
a frenzy of repugnance and disgust. Above all so conceal
the art of teaching that the student may imagine that he
is learning everything himself. Then he will recollect
and rejoice at his own achievements. Let him do this, so
that he shall love, and not hate, his task and his teacher.
" Then let the great work go bravely on. There is to be
no intermission in it, and no substitute for it. You will
find cause for redoubled energy in the history of the past,
and in the demands of the future. Through patience and
perseverance, new friends will be found and old ones will
rally with renewed interest, and nothing that is material
for support will be wanting. Let us know precisely what
that is. Let us have definite and well matured plans.
I speak from experience, when I pray that you may not
be embarassed by that sort of safety which comes from too
many counsellers. Confidence is essential for election, but
concentration of power is indispensable to executive efficiency. Responsibility too much divided results in no
responsibility at all. A large committee will shift it until
it finds no resting place.' I take the responsibility,' was
the ready assumption of the man of iron will, and that one
man power is what you will often need when, in your solitude and isolation, you are anxiously pondering the exigencies of your administration.
" The Alumni trust that you may have the art, the grace,
and the success of your great progenitor. And as you will
desire to be beloved and remembered by your pupils as he
was and is, so may you teach and lead, with the help of an
enlightened Faculty, that your Scholars may remember as
though they were self taught; and, as, in the manner of
it, their progress in learning may be attended by constant
emotions of happiness, so the Alumni of your administration may be your pride, and their love and success your
reward.
2




18
"Again the Alumni extend to you a cordial welcome, and
embrace you with their good will and sympathy, confidently expecting from your advent a concentration of magnetic power that will fill the old halls with successful and
happy students."
The Hon. John V. L. Pruyn, Chancellor of the University of New York, then said:
" MR. PRESIDENT,
G" Ladies and Gentlemen: Somewhat more than twenty-five
years since, I found myself called on without notice, to
speak to the large assembly, gathered at your Semi-Centennial, which embraced not only the distinguished Alumni
of Union, but many from other institutions of learning,
and from every part of our country, making it, I presume,
the most eventful day of the College history.
"' It chanced that two gentlemen who were to have preceded me in addressing those present, did not respond
when called for, and it fell to me under such circumstances,
to say what I best could, in acknowledgment of the compliment paid to the Board of Regents, to which I had
shortly before been elected. To day I am once more
called upon to take part in your proceedings, but under
circumstances less embarrassing than before. Several of
your most distinguished Alumni have already said to you
in matured thoughts, happily expresssed, almost everything
that the occasion requires. It only remains to make my
acknowledgments for the call on me as the Chancellor of
the University, and to speak very briefly of the interest I
feel in the events of the day.
"Union was the first College incorporated by the Regents, and its history and condition have always been an
object of interest to the members of the Board. Recent
events have called special attention to its situation and its
future, and I feel sure that I express the opinion of every
Regent, when I say, that the appointment of your new




19
President has been most satisfactory, in every point to be
considered, and in their belief is the very best for the College that could have been made.
"i He is young in years, but let us recollect that "' wisdom
is as gray hairs unto men, and an unspotted life as old age;"
and if we recur to the fact that Dr. Nlott, who during his
Presidency of the College, earned such fame for himself
and for the Institution, was, when elected to that post no
older than the grandson who has succeeded him, we may
dismiss as groundless any fears which may rise from this
circumstance.
i Let me add one other thought. It has been supposed by
some persons, that it is unwise to choose an ecclesiastic to
the office of college president. But this is virtually assailing your whole history, and the unbroken practice of the
past.  The able men who, for more than three quarters of
a century, guided your affairs, were all Christian ministers,
and with such results as those brought about by the liberal
teachings of Dr. Nott, (who perhaps better understood the
true aims and objects of University life than any person of
his day), and by the equally sound and enlarged views of
his associate, and oftentimes his representative for the time
being, that distinguished friend of education and noble
specimen of the Christian man, the father of your President; we may feel assured that he who is now to follow
those who have thus gone before him in these high duties,
will in the most enlarged and catholic spirit make Union
College what it was intended to be; a true Union (ignoring
non-essential differences of faith and doctrine)- a true
Union of all who come hither to seek its advantages on the
broad basis of Christian morals and of Christian truth."
The 2d part of the 117th Psalm was then sung by the
congregation, after which the Commencement Exercises
followed in the usual order.
At the conclusion of the Commencement Exercises, and
in connection with the distribution of Prizes, the Rev. Dr.




20
Halley chairman of the Committee to Award the Blatchford Oratorical Medals, presented the following Report:
"We have found the office assigned to us a difficult one
to'discharge to our satisfiaction. This arises from some
things peculiar to its arrangement. We are required to
form our judgement solely on the merits of the pieces that
are spoken without any respect to the reputation of their
authors for general scholarship and talent. A similar difficulty lies in the way of judging the oratorical qualifications of the speakers, for a timid and diffident individual
may fail to do justice to himself in speaking before such a
large assembly and our decision may thus be rendered in
favor of one who may be decidedly his inferior. In addition, the time allotted for coming to a decision on the
comparative merits of the orations is so brief as to render
it possible that we may be mistaken in the verdict to which
we have come. To err is human, and to err under such circumstances is pardonable. Not knowing any of you, our
decision must be entirely impartial. If it shall meet with
general approval, we shall feel happy; if, on the contrary,
it shall be censured, remember that we had not the same
materials for arriving at a judgment which you possess.
The Ist medal is awarded to Andrew Webster Archibald,
author of the Oration entitled'All right.' The 2d to
William  James Hillis, author of the Oration entitled
IHeroic Moments.'
" All which is respectfully submitted.
E' BENEZER  HALLEY, CH.,
" WILLIAM TRACEY,
"S ~ILAS BROWNELL."
After which Doctor Halley proceeded:
"And now, Mr. President, permit me to say a few words
to the Students on the importance of that art which the
annual distribution of these medals is intended to encourage
and promote.




21
Younpg Gentilemet:
" tudy to acquire a gacefuil elocution.  Do not, like too
many, undervalue it and class it amnong those servile and
debasing drudgeries to which only an inferior intellect will
stoop. It is indispensable to the success of every public
speaker. Originality of thought can in the present day be
the attainment of few, -for almost all its hidden treasures
have been explored; neither can truth be presented to a
great extent, by new and brilliant illustrations; for these
are nearly exhausted.  Much of the success of a public
speaker must now  depend on repeating comm on place
truths in a fresh and impressive manner. The difference
is wide as the poles, upon an audience, of sentiments delivered with a graceful elocution and the same sentiments
uttered in a cold, passionless9 drawling and humdrum.
manner.  You are all familiar with the severe training that
the father of Grecian eloquence employed to excel in this
art. He put pebbles in his mouth to correct a defect in his
utterance, he declaimed near the sea when in at storm that
he might face the tumultuous clamors of an Athenian audience and he transcribed ten times Thucydides' History of'
the Peloponnesian War for its style, and its clear and comprehensive records of great national events.  You know
the fame to which he reached and the immrense influence
which by his eloquence he wielded in arresting for a tirnme
the calamities which afterwards befell his countrvy
"Such are the exertions to be used ere eminence can be
reached. Be not satisfied with mediocrity, where excellence
can be attained.  Amid your varied studies see that you
neglect not the art of public speaking.  Whether you are
aspiring to the Pulpit, the Bar or a seat on the floor of
Congress, you will find the early cultivation of this to be of
vast importance in future years in enlisting the sympathies
and attention of those whom you address and in crownning
your professional exertions with a success which they otherwise would not attain.




22
My CGhristian Friends; This day carries me back thirtyfour years when for the first time I witnessed a Commencement in Union College. Many changes have taken place
here since that period. This church in which we then met
has been entirely remodeled and in the place of the old
sombre interior, has sprung up this beautiful sanctuary to
the worship of the living God. Many of the Trustees are
gone, men of distinguished eminence in position and worth.
flow many of the Professors have also passed away, though
it rejoices me to find Professors Jackson and Foster still at
their posts, and filling their respective chairs with undiminished vigor and usefulness. There is one other name
that must not be omitted. I remember on the morning to
which I have referred looking down from the gallery with
the keen eye of a stranger, on him who presided on that
occasion. I was struck with his majestic appearance, the
expressive features of the face and with all his movements
in which dignity, gracefulness and energy were all conbined. And a subsequent acquaintance with him enabled
me, like all who enjoyed his friendship, to discover, that he
was a man of profound judgment, correct taste and extensive acquirements, courteous, benevolent, amiable in all his
relations, generous in his feelings, the friend of youth, the
patron of education, the lover of his species, the eloquent
expounder of Divine truth. What a loss society sustained
when he was struck down! What a severe loss to this Institution of learning over which he had so long presided,
watching it so tenderly, guiding it so prudently, and beholding its prosperity with so much satisfaction. Ever since the
reins of office dropped from his hands has our College declined, and though his place has once and again been ably
filled, the quickening impulse to the Institution was not
given. Let us believe thatthe favored hour has come. We
have this morning witnessed the inauguration ofa newPresident, one who has the blood of the venerable Dr. Nott in his
veins; one who has the entire confidence and respect of the
Faculty; one whose course here for nearly a year has been




23
so prosperous, and one whose appointment has diffused such
wide and general satisfaction.
"' As he, this day, gravely unfolded the duties and responsibilites of his office, in a graceful and unassuming manner,
his physique and general bearing recalled vividly the late
Dr. Nott, and I was forcibly reminded of an anecdote
quoted from the Parliamentary history of England. When
Pitt the son of the illustrious Earl of Chatham, delivered
his first speech, it so electrified the house that a number
of the members went over to Burke, exclaiming' he is a
chip of the old block.' "No,' said the eminent statesman'he is not a chip of the old block, he is the old block
himself.' We believe that we have secured a President
who will realize the fondest expectation of his friends and
of the Institution. May his administration be as long and
prosperous as that of his illustrious predecessor. May the
professors ever illustrate science on the principles of religion. And may this hallowed, time-honored College long
be blessed among its fellows in the number of intelligent,
pious youths which it shall educate, and in the revenue of
glory which it shall bring to God."
Prizes were then presented by the President, after
which the benediction was pronounced by the Rev. Doctor
Vermilye.








PRESIDENT'S REPORT,








PRESIDENT'S REPORT.
A. D. 1871-720
To the Board of Trustees':
The President of the College, in accordance with a recent
resolution of the Board of Trustees, respectfully presents the
following Report:
When notified of his election in June last, he was prevented by engagements previously formed, and not lightly
to be set aside, from deciding at once the question of acceptance and from entering upon the undivided discharge
of the duties of his office.
While his own preference was, that any new connection
with the College should not begin until the month of January, yet yielding to earnestly expressed wishes of the Trustees and Faculty, he entered at once upon duty. During
several months he was obliged to take from the discharge of
ministerial labors previously undertaken, so much time as
was essential to the interests of the College. Upon the expiration of parochial engagements he felt bound in return,
to continue during a series of Sundays, ministrations in his
former parish; and also by pecuniary contributions in connection with the College, and by efforts in its behalf when
absent, to make compensation for any lack of residence or
personal service within the Institution. Regretting that
there are interests of the College at times calling him to be
absent fiom his home now established there, he would here
record his indebtedness to the Senior Professor who has
efficiently discharged the duties of acting President from
time to time, and to the entire Faculty for their cordial




28
cooperation. Acknowledgments are also due to members
of the Board of Trustees, and to the Alumni for the encouragement which he has received, in the midst of unsought and arduous responsibilities.
The losses which the Board of Trustees has sustained by
death or resignation, are suitably referred to in another
communication.
In a review of the past it is impossible not to be struck
with the fact that for ten consecutive years and more, the
number of students has annually decreased. Among causes
which have contributed to this result, are the rise of other
well endowed institutions, the diminution caused by the
civil war, in the number of students coming from a distance,
and the fact, that while the condition of the College has been
misunderstood and its capabilities ignored or underrated,
the number has constantly increased of those who seek for
their sons technical or so-called professional instruction, in
place of the systematic college training heretofore desired.
The increase noted below is therefore at this time the more
gratifying.
To the Reports printed in the Appendix he would call
especial attention.
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT.
The report from the Engineering Department (appended)
contains the welcome statement, that the class entering this
present spring term, is the largest which has entered the Engineering School since its foundation in 1845. Yet this
number I believe could be doubled or quadrupled by making known to the public still further, the peculiar advantages
of this School, in its library, models, instruments, training in the class room and in the field, free tuition when
needed and deserved, etc.: together with the high position
gained by its Graduates.
I recommend the appropriation of the very modest sum
asked for by the Department. I further propose after
full consultation, to readjust the studies of the Freshmran




29
and Sophomore Classes, with reference to such substitution (either by making certain studies, elective or otherwise)
as will give, by two years of preparatory study, the best
advantages to younger students looking to the Engineering
Course; and in the same way by making certain studies of
the Junior and Senior years elective or alternate to meet
certain other needs of the College Course.
One term additional to this four years' course would
properly entitle the successful candidates to the degrees
both of Ph.B. and C.E.
I am the more desirous that such provision be made since
it will, as I understand, entitle members of the Engineering
School, to equal advantages with any other class of students,
in respect to free tuition.
I further recommend that a Department of Mining, designed especially for this School (while open to other students) be inaugurated in accordance with the simple plan
herewith submitted. The Engineering Department is mentioned first in order, as it is first to present an increased
number of well prepared students. WVith the new rooms
now in progress of erection for this department, it has all
the appliances necessary for thorough work, and a larger
number of pupils.
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.
The largest reported increase in apparatus by donations
to the College, is that secured by the Professor in charge of
the Department of Natural Philosophy.
In soliciting these gifts he is working, not for himself; but
for the Institution, to which all donations solicited by him,
belong. HIe earnestly seeks to bring his Department in
point of equipment up to the advanced standard of the present day; and we may well most earnestly recommend to
the liberal regard of the Alumni and friends of the College,
the work which is thus being carried forward. His report
embraces names of contributors, and a list in detail of the




30
Apparatus, etc., added. It will be found together with other
reports in the Appendix.
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL HISTORY.
The Professor in charge, reports the additions to the Zoological collection since 1869 as exceeding 2,000 in number.
The report presents a list in detail and several important
suggestions. The liberality of the Alumni and of the friends
of the College may well be directed to this department,
which will also soon have admirable rooms for its Museum,
Recitations, etc. The erection of the new Chapel now in
progress will enable us to devote the Hall of Natural History to its intended uses. I should be glad could the Department secure the appropriation requested.
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY.
The Professor of Chemistry reports improvements in the
Laboratory, and states the needs of his Department and of
the important branches of study entrusted to his charge.
HIe also submits a plan for the suggested Department of
Mining, which as far as is practicable, it is proposed to
carry into immediate operation. A small sum ($150) is
asked for, to supply certain maps needed in teaching
Physical Geography. A visit to the Laboratory will show
the decided improvements lately made, the nature of
which the Professor explains in his report. In the same
building and well worth a visit, is the Natural Philosophy
Collection. In the opposite building is to be seen the Collection next referred to.
THE WHEATLY COLLECTION.
The Professor of Chemistry gives in his report upon the
valuable Collection presented bythe late Edward C. Delavan,
Esq., a detailed statement of its condition and present needs,
which calls for and deserves attentive consideration and a




31
liberal response. The Collection purchased for ten thousand
dollars, is now estimated as exceeding thirty thousand
dollars in value.
DEPARTMENT OF ETHICS AND CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES.
While, as the name and chartered title of Union College
implies, sectarian influence is not desired or furthered, yet
it is believed that the instruction which we here purpose,
(in the branches above named) is none the less explicitly
and earnestly Christian. No effort will be spared to make
its influence deep and abiding. Text books as well as
Lectures are here essential. In addition to Lectures upon
Christian Evidences, I have used Butler's Analogy in teaching during the past year; but with reference to text-books
in this and in other departments, it is proposed to make a
fair trial before asking their formal introduction into the
Course of Studies.
DEPARTMENT OF ANCIENT AND OF MODERN LANGUAGES.
The work that is earnestly and intelligently attempted
in this Department meets the hindrance of insufficient preparation.  Students for the Scientific Course often lack
preparatory training in Modern Languages; and in Classical
Studies it were well could one leave to preparatory schools,
much of what has formed a part of the usual course in
American Colleges. The paper read by Dr. Tayler Lewis
before the University Convocation, and requested by that
Body for publication (extracts from which will be found in
the appendix), presents it is believed the true position with
reference to Classical studies. The title of the paper gives
the conclusion of the argument.
With certain simple readjustments in the order of teaching, and lectures, we have here admirable facilities for instruction in the Latin, Greek and Oriental languages and in
preparatory training.
Your attention is asked to the suggestions made in the




82
report of the Professor of Modern Languages to be found
in the Appendix, which I trust will receive merited and
thoughtful consideration.
PREPARATORY DEPARTMENT.
In connection with the needs of the Department of Languages, it should be noted that while the College is represented in a department of our Union School, it yet needs a
more complete arrangement for preparatory training than
has been thus far attainable.  Steps are being taken towards
supplementing our present facilities efficiently, and if possible, promptly. The subject is one in which the citizens
of Schenectady and its vicinity as well as the representatives
of the College are vitally interested.
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND LITERATURE.
I ask your attention to the fact that the comparative value
of the study of History has been overlooked.
Rhetorical studies and more especially rhetorical exer.
cises, are engaged in, by the students with evidently increasing ardor. The report to be found in the Appendix,
presents several valuable suggestions. In view of the need
of a Reading Room, and a collection of books of reference,
it is hoped that money so lavishly expended in self-indulgent luxury, may be furnished with liberality, for these
admirable, and most useful objects. The report gives a
clear insight into the working of the prizes already established, and claims that in view of their stimulating effect,
additional ones might well be founded.
History, and especially American history, has been hitherto
neglected in the assignment of studies. I have this year
reintroduced the study of the Constitution of the United
States in the Senior Class; purposing speedily to secure a
complete course in History, by means both of recitations
and lectures. The proposed arrangement of elective studies
will make this practicable. But ultimately we should have,




33
in view of the needs of Journalists and others, a distinct
course in Literature, with an appropriate degree. With a
larger number of students the College would need an additional Professor in charge of this Department.
DEPARTMENT OF LAW.
The establishment of a Law School connected with the
College, was a design cherished by Chancellor Kent and
later by Chancellor Walworth. Prominent members of
the Bar have expressed their approval of' prompt action in
this direction, and have promised their personal aid.  I
recommend the appointment of a permanent committee
to take action in the premises.
It is important that Undergraduates should receive instruction of a practical nature in the Laws of their Country.
By means of a text-book and lectures, instruction of this character has as far as practicable been given during the past
year. The Resident Graduate for whose gratuitous labors
we are indebted, has received the unanimous and grateful
acknowledgment of those thus under instruction.
UNION UNIVERSITY LECTURE COURSE.
We have promise of assistance here from eminent men
not in residence. We only lack the needed donation or
appropriation.  Before the days of rail roads, Colleges
needed to congregate about a common centre, in order that,
while each was complete in itself for its subordinate work,
all might participate in the enjoyment of special lecture
courses, and other like advantages. But now the telegraph
may summon, and the rail roads bring within the reach of
each separate Institution, many of these advantages before
dependent upon centralization. Possibly fifty years hence,
population continuing its present rate of increase, it will
be found, that our numerous and scattered Colleges have
not been less useful, than if they had been congregated
3




34
about one or two conspicuous centres; since many different communities have thus enjoyed the presence of
literary institutions. Wishing God speed to all, may we
not believe that there is an important work for each? But
if there be danger in the multiplication of new and struggling institutions, it is to be remembered that the foundation of Union College, upon which we are called to build,
dates back to the previous century.
Should it be said that Institutions heretofore known as
colleges must advance and become akin to universities
abroad, or must fall back to fill, as higher academies and
technical schools, positions of important but more restricted
usefulness, the reply is, that the future of this Institution
should not belie the ideal entertained in the past.
Its endowments and traditions demnand that it should
be eminent for usefulness among the leading colleges; or,
if a much abused title is to prevail, then that Union University should hold equal rank with other universities so called.
Yet many like the old name, and think that of university,
as used in this country in some measure unmeaning, if not
deceptive. This Institution has a valid claim, not only upon
its alumni and friends, but upon the state, whose representatives are members, ex oficio, of the Board of Trustees.
THE LIBRARY.
While the College has a valuable collection of books, yet,
all things considered, the condition of this department is
lamentable. Th ere is little encouragement to the Librarian
to complete the Catalogue and to seek additions, when many
volumes are packed away for want of space, and when the
provision as to library room, etc., is neither safe nor permanent. W-erethere a secure place for their keeping, we could
readily obtain a noble collection of books, open both to
students of the College, to residents of the city and neighborhood, and under certain restrictions to the public at large.
Here surely should be the centre of educational influence




35
and of literary culture. We have an admirable site for a
structure detached from the other buildings, conspicuous,
and accessible. Agift of some twenty-five or thirty thousand
dollars would secure an indestructible building, susceptible
of additions when necessary by wings. As aperennial source
of blessing it should bear the name and perpetuate the
memory of the donor. The same may be said of the needed
Boarding Club Building, corresponding to the Library in
style, and in symmetry of situation, as related to the central
building.
TREASURER'S REPORT.
The Treasurer reports that, notwithstanding economical
management, expenses are yet in excess of income. As
expenses cannot well be reduced, there is evident need that
the work of Endowment be pressed forward. By direction of
the Finance Committee, and for the purpose of increasing a
Student's Aid Fund, the Registrarwill, as far as practicable,
keep in communication with those who have received, or
may hereafter receive aid, in securing their education. The
College has great need, as has been elsewhere indicated, of
funds for the relief of necessitous and deserving students,
who are often unable to pay the cost of board, clothing,
etc. Numbers are lost to us, and others endanger their
health in the struggle. It is not here necessary to take up
matters of finance in detail, as they are further considered
under the head of Endowment, and as they are clearly presented in the Treasurer's Report. Lands " held for a rise,"
may increase in value, but considering the cost of development, taxes, loss of interest, etc., is the accruing profit
likely to be greater, than the increase in amount of an
equivalent sum of money, placed at compound interest?
I question if it be right, even with such an end in view, to
set aside funds designed for the annual use of the College,
and at a time when it is injuriously cramped in its resources
(I refer to the deficit noted in the Treasurer's Report)




36
although, in some indefinite future, its income should
thereby be considerably augmented.
Fees for tuition and room rent should soon be raised to an
amount more nearly equivalent to the cost of what is given
in return; while they should be remitted (in whole or in
part) in all cases where there are need and desert.
I recommend that legal forms of Bequest and Donation
be procured by the Treasurer to be hereafter printed
upon documents prepared for circulation.
ENDO WMENT.
In addition to its parks, buildings, prizes, etc., and to its
moderate free tuition and professorial funds,the Endowment
of the College is mainly comprised in what is known as the
NottTrust Fund. This fund is confined to specific uses, and
at best, as will be seen by the Treasurer's Report, is insufficient to support those expenses of the College (even upon its
present basis) now necessarily charged to its account.
The evident design of this endowment was to add special
Lecture courses, and other like advantages to those which
were already possessed by the College.  But the increased
cost of living and the necessary increase in salaries, current
expenses, etc., together with the expenses involved in developing the lands at HIunter's Point, render it evident,
that the experience of the past will, in the main, be that of
the future. The nominal increase in the value of the said
endowment is fully compensated by the increased cost of all
things which the College needs. If (in addition to those
provided during the Donor's life, and by this endowment),
signal and superior advantages are to be possessed by the
College in the future, beyond those of the present or the
past, then we are forced to the following conclusions.
Considering the condition and the amount of this Trustand
of all others yet received, and comparing them  with the
magnificent sums in grants, donations, and bequests now
being received by other leading Institutions, multiplying




37
vastly their facilities each year, Union, not to be left far
behind, must receive as supplemental to her presentfoundation,
gifts and bequests in some measure correspondent to her needs
and to the number and ability of her friends.
The first one hundred thousand dollars of the new Endowment may be regarded as provided for. But apparatus, previously ordered or (as soon as practicable) to be
secured; and buildings and improvements (during the present year), completed or now in progress, will require the
expenditure of the whole amount.
There are many pressing needs which have not yet received attention. Permit me to suggest thatleaving the Endowment first projected and above referred to, in the charge
of those to whom it was at the outset entrusted, we now
advance to secure, as a further endowment, a second sum of
one hundred thousand dollars, by assigning to Agents appointed, or to each Alumni Association, some specific sum or
object (which the latter may elect), upon which to concentrate efforts and contributions.
In times past, where subscriptions or implied promises
have been made in our behalf, the propriety of prompt
collection has been overlooked, causing a loss of "' interest"
in as well as to the college; and a diminution of the principal of the subscription, if not of principle on the part of
the subscriber. Words of encouragement, and implied
pledges are surely not less binding in honor, than are
actual subscriptions, in law. But time often effaces the
memory of good intended, if it be not promptly achieved.
The following are prominent among immediate needs;
and are therefore mentioned in connection with the subject of endowment:
1st. A fire-proof Library building.
2d. A Bdarding Club building.
3d. A remodeling of old buildings, etc.
4th. A Gymnasium.
5th. Scholarships and fellowships bearing the names of
donors, designed for deserving and necessitous students,




38
and yielding aid in addition to free tuition and room rent
now given.
6th. Foundations for special lectures, prizes, etc.
7th. Gifts for memorial windows, organ, furniture, etc.,
for the new chapel.
8th. Books, maps, apparatus, and other objects named
in Reports of Departments together with additions to the
Museums.
THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS.
From the Senior Professor we learn much of interest and
importance with reference to the meetings of the Alumni.
Their filial ardor has been enkindled to good purpose, as
appears in many cheering resolutions, and will doubtless
take shape, in the future, in substantial benefit to the College.
Their meetings and greetings encourage us in our work.
I recommend that each Alumni Association take up some
one definite object, or set of related objects, upon which
the efforts and contributions of the members, may be concentrated.
CURATORS OF COLLEGE PARKS AND BUILDINGS.
A  Committee on College Parks was appointed some
years since in connection with an offered donation. Substantially, the same committee is herewith appointed by the
President of the Board, and denominated Curators of College Parks, Grounds and Buildings, in view of suggestions
accompanying the increase of the sum first offered.
The donation above referred to, will now be doubled and
applied immediately to another object, upon compliance
with certain conditions. The plan will secure the perpetual
care of the College parks and buildings by'the appointment of the said Curators, and the setting off of certain
out-lying real estate, to form the necessary fund, and
the marking out of lines including one hundred acres,
within which the parks are to be developed. Dr. Jackson




39
has offered his valuable assistance and the names of the
other Curators fully guaranty the faithful performance of
the work now undertaken.  Confining our efforts within
reasonable limits, a very moderate outlay will give us, it. is
believed, parks unrivalled and long ago projected as most
appropriate if not essential to the Institution. To our present buildings and all new buildings will be thus secured
perpetual supervision and repair.
In the development of the real estate, more particularly
the portion assigned to the Curators for sale, unusual facilities would be enjoyed, the Engineering department being
fully corupetent to render all needed service. Accounts
would be kept and documents prepared in the office of the
Treasurer and Registrar, thus giving additional employment
the need of which (in consequence of diminished numbers)
has been felt and expressed.
Upon application from several of the Departments and
from Students, I recommend the introduction of water
to the College buildings, and to the Professors' residences,
where desired; so also the introduction of gas, and all other
improvements needed, as promptly as may be practicable.
BUILDING AND IMPROVEMENTS NOW IN PROGRESS.
The educational needs of the future as well as of the
present age, in many parts of our rapidly growing country,
are being providentially anticipated. Union stands almost
alone in lacking, until very lately, evidences of that liberal
regard, manifested elsewhere during recent years in the
foundation or endowment of many educational institutions.
Although many years have elapsed, the first expenditure
at the College of a gift, since that of the late Mr. E. C.
Delavan, of equal amount, is here recorded. It has been
expended as directed in adding one to the number of
residences for members of the Faculty. It is proposed
that each donation bear the name of the donor, and thus
with this residence now completed and occupied.




40
Next in order of progress comes the great Central Building. Under the direction of the Architect appointed some
years since by the Alumni, it stands upon the old foundations. Conforming in general to the original plan, it
will furnish ample work rooms, offices, etc., on the ground
floor. In the stories above, it will give needed accommodation to the Engineering department of the College, and
affbrd also a beautiful Chapel, and a large Lecture room
and Museum, as well as a rooma for the debates and banquets
of the Alumni. Two Graduates of the College unite (upon
the fulfillment of certain simple conditions) in furnishing
the amount ($40,000) required to put the building under
roof. With other liberal offerings the Institution could
be grandly equipped for her work.
The labor of remodelling and improving the old buildings, etc., has begun and will be continued as funds may be
provided. Graduates maybe interested in contributing to
renovate their old rooms, sections or colleges.
In this connection it should be recorded, that the students have, by a unanimous resolution, expressed their
determination to manifest and encourage respect for, and
appreciative care in the use of, the added advantages proposed; including all future improvements in the College
grounds and buildings, etc.
CONCLUSION.
I defer to some future year and until experience shall
have ripened, the extended discussion of topics which otherwise mnight with propriety have been presented here. Not to
be misunderstood however, let me say that education is, in
my judgment a thing apart from, and superior to, its mere
appliances. These appliances, however, must improve as
society advances in culture and wealth. Topics of study must
be modified and arranged, in correspondence with the needs
of those seeking education. In accordance with this principle Union College was early in the field with Elective and




41
Scientific Courses.  But departments of study the most
varied, buildings and endowments and gifts the most numerous and ample, are but tools, necessary for, yet subordinate to,
a superior end. That sublime end, we shall, by God's help,
endeavor to pursue. It forbids us to seek numbers as of
first importance, or a transient and delusive success, at the
expense of the permanent welfare of the Institution and its
pupils. In receiving the formal charge of the College at
my inauguration, its total number of students scarcely exceeds that of a single class in the days when some of us were
students. A decline, long in progress cannot immediately
be arrested; and in any case there are other objects attainable and of superior importance.  The Examiners who have
in recent years reported the results of their observations,
testify to a steady advance in the standard of scholarship
and discipline. Improvement in whatever is of real and
lasting value: for this, we are all earnestly and unitedly
laboring.  We deprecate, then, impatience for results
merely numerical; we ask all friends of the Institution and
of Education to aid us in advancing the cause of sound
learning and religion, as well as in adding to the number
of those who shall enjoy these educational advantages.
In closing this formal report, I would record my appreciation of the honor conferred upon me by the election of
the Board of Trustees, and its endorsement by the Faculty,
the Alumni, and the friends of the College.
Emotions deep and tender are stirred, by memories which
rise unbidden, and by the sacredness of the ties which bind
me to my post. In accepting the trust under a sense of
responsibility at times overwhelming, I rely upon the Divine Source of all strength and wisdom; and turn confidently
to the officers and friends of the Institution whose assurances of cooperation have been most cordial.
Founded in 1795, the College has already entered upon
the last quarter of its First Century. May the Centennial
Celebration disclose facts honorable to all who are related to
our Alma Mater, and to Educational interests. The Institu



42
tion cannot die: its present Endowments, though insufficient
for its needs, are yet of such a character as to justify the
prediction of its long continuance. Let us give to it, then,
a generous and healthful life. Let no possible personal
effort, and no reasonable amount of liberality be wanting,
to impart to it enduring and ever increasing usefulness and
prosperity. May the record of facts prove that we have
all left our lasting mark for good, upon the career of an
Institution for whose welfare we are each, in some measure,
responsible.
Signed,          ELIPHALET NOTT POTTER,
Presiden t.
Union College, May 20th, 1872.




APPENDIX.








I.
In compliance with the Resolution of the Board of Trustees, the
President's Report was submitted in May. The request that it
be printed in advance of the Annual Meeting of the Board was had
in view. Its issue notwithstanding has been delayed awaiting modifications in the Reports of Departments.  The following are the
Committees appointed by the Senior Member of the Board of
Trustees:
To the Finance Committee, are referred all requests for appropriations, etc.
To the Rev. Dr. tHALLEY, JAS. BROWN, EsQ., HON. R. M.
BLATCHFORD, are referred the suggestions as to instruction in History, etc.; the needed Library Building and Boarding Club Building;
and improvements desirable in the old building.
To the HON. PLATT POTTER, HON. Wma. F. ALLEN, HON. WaM.
WV. CAMPBELL, are referred the suggestions as to Instructions in Law,
the Law School, etc.; with the request that they will report as to the
eligibility of persons non-resident in the state to membership in the
Board of Trustees.
To the committee named as Curators, namely, the REV. DR.
BACKUS, PROF. JACKSON, S. T. BENEDICT, ESQ., HON. C. C. NOTT,
1H5owARD POTTER, ESQ., J. H. WARREN. ESQ., the PRESIDENT of
the College, ex-oficio, is referred the carrying out of proposed improvements of College parks and buildings, upon the consent of the
Board to the pending arrangement.
To the PRESIDENT, E. WINSLOW PAIGE, EsQ., J. A. DE REMER,
ESQ., DR. BAcKUS, the Preparatory Department.
To the Trustees elected by the Alumni and to the Officers of the
Alumni Associations are referred all suggestions as to Endowments.
The above comprise the committees thus far appointed under the
resolution.




46
II.
Report of the Engineering Department.
Schenectady, N, Y., May 29th, 1872.
To E. N. POTTER, D.D., President of Union College:
In accordance with your request I respectfully submit the following report concerning the condition and wants of the Civil Engineering department.
The number of students is increasing. The class which entered
the present term is the largest that ever entered the department.
The preparation of those applying for admission is better than
in previous years, and the work by the students, both as to quantity
and quality, is fully up to the high standard heretofore required.
The engineering library contains about two thousand volumes
exclusive of pamphlets, and about one thousand drawings. The
engineering students have access to the library for reference and
study, and its value can scarcely be overestimated.  In order to
keep up the library with the advance of science, and to render it
still more usefiul, it is very desirable that a certain sum should be
appropriated yearly for the purchase of new books.  Cost of books
most needed at present, $50.  The engineering students support
a reading room, and keep it tolerably well supplied with scientific
periodicals.
The collection of models in descriptive geometry and stereotomy is
very complete. The most important part of these is what is known
as the Olivier Collection.
" This consists of about fifty models, representing the most important and complicated ruled-surfaces of descriptive geometry,
particularly  warped or twisted surfaces.'  Their directrices are
represented by brass bars, straight or curved, to which are attached
silk threads representing the elements, or successive positions of
the generatrices of the surfaces. Each of these threads has a
weight suspended by, it so as always to make it a straight line.
These weiglhts are contained in boxes sustaining the directrices and
their standards. The bars are moveable in various directions,
carrying with them the threads still stretched straight by the
1The description of these models is from Prof. Gillespie's Catalogue.




47
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, &c.
" These models were invented by the lamented Theodore Olivier,
while professor of descriptive geometry at the  Conservatoire des
Arts et illetiers, in Paris.l 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 his widow till bought from her by
Professor 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 O)livier,' &c.,
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 telnais a ce ue geha que instrument portat le nom du savant
dont la reputation passera d la posterite.'
" At the funeral ceremonies of AM. Olivier, these models were thus
spoken of by 3M. Peligot:' The Conservatory owes to M. Olivier a
magnificent collection of models in relief of descriptive geometry;
models lending themselves with a marvellous facility to the geometrical generation of surfaces, and facilitating in the highest degree
the teaching of that science.  These models may be considered as
the creation of our colleague. Gaspard Monge has indeed made
some models of silk threads, at the time of the foundation of
the Polytechnic School, but these were fixed and invariable in
form, as were also those afterwards executed by Brocechi. From
1830, IM. Olivier had thought of having constructed for his lectures models of silk threads which should be moveable, so that
the surface represented by the model could be modified in its form,
and so too that one surface could be transformed into another of a
different kind.  This project he executed for the Conservatory with
admirable care, economy and patience. This collection, unique in'Of him, his successor (M. De la Gournierie) writes, "The recent advances of descriptive geom etry are almost entirely summed up in his labors."




48
its kind, is assuredly one of the most precious of the Conservatory,
and is envied by all the foreign professors who come to visit our
galleries."
"Among the most remarkable peculiarities of these models is their
experimental demonstration of various important theorems of Higher
Geometry; as also their suggestion of greatly enlarged views of the
near relationship of seemingly dissimilar geometrical forms, if not
their essential identity; since the movements which the various
parts admit, cause one surface gradually to pass into another as in
a'dissolving view;' so that, for example, a plane is seen to be
only a particular case, or' limit,' of' a hyperbolic paraboloid;
a cylinder and a cone to be only extreme cases of' a hyperboloid
of one sheet,' &c.
"At the same time the singular beauty of form and color which
the models possess, arouse the admiration of those entirely ignorant
of their mathematical attractions."
The other models in this section are:
Prof. Bardin's (Paris) plaster models (seventy) of the INTERSECTIONS of prisms, pyramids, cylinders, cones, &c.;
Schroeder's (Darmstadt) models (twenty) of elementary DESCRIPTIVE GEOMETRY.  The planes of projection are in wood, and the
lines and surfaces in metal;
STONE CUTTING models, (twenty) in plaster, selected from  those
of L'Ecole Polytechn7ique, Paris;
Prof. Bardin's models, (ten) in plaster, of OBLIQUE ARCHES.
Groined and cloistered arch models (ten) in wood and plaster,
models of structures in stone, consisting of bridges, culverts, &c.
Of the other models in the collection the principal ones are
these:
French and German plaster models (ten) for TOPOGRAPHICAL
MAPPING, showing the contour lines, hatchings, shades and colors;
The five orders of ARCHITECTURE, from L'Ecole des Beaux Arts,
Paris.
IMr. Doyne's DYNAMOMETER BRIDGE-MODEL, showing the increase of the vertical strain from the middle of a bridge to the ends;
3MIodels of existing railroad bridges on various systems.
Models of roof trusses, arranged for using the dynamometer to
show  the different stresses; models of fortifications, illustrating
Vauban's system; a model of Mont Cenis Pass in plaster.




49
The following are the principal field instruments: An engineer's
transit; a solar compass; a prismatic compass; a surveyor's compass;
a Y  level, and other patterns, known as Troughton's, Egault's,
Lenoir's and Burnier's; a sextant; a quadrant; and a barometer.
The additions to the apparatus during the past year were:  A
marine chronometer, made by Dent, London...................  $200.00
Drawing instruments for class room............................ 15.00
Total......@................................ $215.00
Several of the field instruments need repairing. Probable cost
about $50.
The additions to the apparatus which are most needed are a
surveyor's transit, and a plane table of the pattern used on the
United States coast survey.
The need of more commodious and suitable rooms for the accommodation and preservation of the instruments, models, &c., belonging to the department, is very urgent. The rooms now used are
not large enough, and are otherwise unfitted for the proper care of
the apparatus, drawings and books contained in them. A recitation
room with more black board surface, and a suitable drawing room,
are also very much needed. The proposed two years preparatory
course will enable students in the scientific course to enter with still
greater advantage upon the course in engineering.  It is desirable
that engineering students should, equally with students in other departments, enjoy the advantages of free tuition when necessary, etc.
As an index of what the school has done, and the positions taken
by its graduates, reference is made to the catalogue of alumni accompanying this report.
Respectfully submitted,
C. STALEY,
Professor of Civil Eyngineering.
III..Report on the JDepartment of Natural Philosophy.
During the last two years important additions have been made to
the apparatus in this department. These additions have been furnished partly from the funds of the College, but chiefly from money
4




50
generously contributed by several graduates of the College. The
gentlemen who have contributed for this object are:
NAIES.                   CLASS.          RESIDENCES.
Winm. H. H. Moore..............  1844......... New York.
Winm. A. Whitbeck... 1846.........    do
Hon. C. N. Potter.......... 1842.........    do
Howard Potter...................  1846.........    do
S. B. Brownell,.................   1852.........    do
H. R. Pierson................. 846......... Albany.
Lemon Thompson............... 1850........    do
Hamilton Harris.... 1841.........    do
Hon. A. H. Rice............... 1844......... Boston.
Henry C. Potter............... 1841........ East Saginaw, Mich.
Hon. R. Earl.................... 1845........ Herkimer.
A. E. Stevens.................... 1840......... Dayton, Ohio.
The cordiality with which these contributions, making a total of
about $5,000, have been made, is most gratifying, and for the greatly
increased means of experimental illustration thereby secured, the
thanks of the College and of myself are specially due.
The new apparatus has been obtained mainly from London and
Paris.  Some of the pieces for illustrating several branches of natural
philosophy may be enumerated:
I-5 Electricity. Thompson's divided ring electrometer; Do reflecting galvanometer; Wheatstone's bridge; British Association standard unit of resistance; positive and negative electrophorus; Holtz
machine, by Ruhmkorff; Grove's galvanic battery of 40 elements;
small induction coil, giving spark of 2 inches, by Ruhmkorff; large
do with interruptor giving spark of 17 inches; battery of 4 jars en
cascade for the large coil; Chester battery of 8 large elements for do;
Bunsen galvanic battery of 60 elements; Foucault's electric lamp;
collection of Geissler tubes; magneto-electric machine; Morse register; and relay magnet.
In Light.  Porte lumi6re; Duboscq's magic lantern, adapted to
the use of either the electric or lime light; Marcey's sciopticon; complete photographic apparatus; circle for demonstrating the laws of
reflection, refraction, polarization, etc.; Duboscq's apparatus for projecting upon a screen all the phenomena of double refraction and polarization; solar microscope with collection of objects; prism for the
limiting angle; equilateral flint glass prism; hollow  prism  with




51
compartments for different liquids; polyprism; mounted achromatic
lens; three bisulphide of carbon lenses; total reflection fountain.
lit Heat.  Ruhmkorff's thermoelectric multiplier and pile; line
pile for showing calorific spectrum; collection of plates for diathermancy; apparatus of Despretz for conduction; apparatus of Gay
Lussac for tension of vapors; apparatus of Senarmont for the conduction of heat in crystals; thermometer with reservoir; weight
thermometer; wet bulb hygrometer; Breguet's metallic thermometer;
differential thermometer; apparatus of Tralles for maximum density of water; set of balls of different metals for specific heat; fire
syringes of brass and of glass; Regnault's hypsometer.,it Acoustics -From  Kdnig of Paris: Mouth pieces of several
instruments; model of locomotive whistle; set of 10 diapasons with
resonant cases; set of 19 Helmholtz resonators; double sirene
of Helmholtz; five diapasons with resonators for the vowel sounds 
large soufflerie for organ pipes and sirene; sixty-four organ pipes
for demonstrating theory of vibrating air columns; sonometer with
8 cords; apparatus of Melde for vibrating cords; K6nig's new apparatus for interference, shown by manometric flames; sets of plates for
acoustic figures; ear and speaking trumpets; Dr. Auzoux's models
of the ear and the larynx; beautiful wire coil for showing the
mode in which both light and sound waves are propagated, presented
by Blake Brothers, of New Haven, Conn.
An order for the payment of duty and freight on the apparatus
purchased has been given by the Board of Trustees, so that the
money contributed may be employed in the purchase only of apparatus.
To facilitate the use of the apparatus in experiments the college
has also provided a set of supports, variable in height, two tanks
lined with lead for battery fluids, two gasometers for oxygen and
hydrogen and three large and handsomely finished walnut tables
for the apparatus room.
For this as well as for the chemical department there is greatly
needed a supply of water and gas from the city works. There are
also needed new seats for the lecture and some improvements in the
apparatus room.
While the apparatus in several of the branches of Physics has been
already largely increased, no one of these branches isfully equipped,
and for other branches nothing has yet been done.  To complete the




52
work so well begun, it is estimated that the; following sums will be
required:
For Pneumatics........................  $ 300
"  Heat.......................................   800
Mechanics....................... 1,200
" Electricity...............................  200
"  Acoustics...................................    500
Optics...................................... 2,000
This sum of $5,000 in addition to the amount already received or
promised will, it is believed, place the department so far as regards
the means of instruction in a very satisfactory condition.
Respectfully submitted,
JOHN FOSTER.
To Pres. E. N. POTTER, D.D.
May 22, 1872.
IV.
Department fVatural History Report.
The additions to the Zoological Collection from 1869 to the present
time are as follows:
Vertebrata, No. of Species, (about)...<...............    300
Articulata,    "       "      (  "  )..........  174
Mollusca,       "                ( ".................... 1,594
Radiata,               " a    ( " )... o.e... 104
Fossils,             "'. (         )....................    150
2,322
By far the greater number of species are represented by numerous
individuals, which will, hereafter, be available for exchange. About
one-half of the mollusca, with a number of bird skins, were presented
by the Smithsonian Institution; the remainder have been obtained
by collection. These specimens, with few exceptions, have been
identified, and all have been arranged and catalogued. The old
palseontological collection (N. Y. State fossils) has also been worked
up and catalogued. I propose, in case the plan meets your approval,
to prosecute the collecting assiduously for a few years, (three or four)




without making exchanges.  We shall then have on hand an amount
and variety of material, which will make it possible for us to obtain
more favorable exchanges than at present, and, in addition, the work
will be much simplified. In order to successfully and effectively
conduct collecting operations, and to purchase the books necessary
to the identification of specimens, at least $500 will be required
for the ensuing year.  The principal expenses are for alcohol, zo6logical bottles, boat hire (during the summer), dredges, dredge nets,
and especially for books.  Works on natural history are quite expensive, and, unfortunately the College library contains but very few
of them.  If an appropriation of from  $500 to $800 a year can
be made for the next three or four years, I can promise to put the
natural historical collections and library on such a footing as will
satisfy yourself and the trustees that the money has been well expended, and that it is desirable to increase decidedly the yearly appropriation for the department. It is proposed to publish hereafter an
annual report on the condition of the natural historical collections,
giving additions in detail, with names of collectors, donors, &c.
In Physiology we ought to have a manikin and some accessory
preparations, which will cost from $600 to $1,000. These are
really necessary to make this instruction in the study as efficient as
it ought to be.
Permit me, in conclusion, to respectfully request you to recommend for the general expenses of the Department the amount
specified (from  $500  to $800), and to take the other matter
(Physiology) into consideration. I might add that when once the
manikin is obtained, Physiology will cease asking for money.
Very Respectfully,
To DR. E. N. POTTER,                     II. E. WEBSTER,
(Adjunct Professor Natural tIistory).
May 17, 1872.
V.
Report of the Professor of Analytical Chemistry and T'eacher of
Physical Geography.
To the President of Union College:
During the past year some improvements have been made in the
laboratory, and rooms appropriated to the chemical department.  A




54
new chimney enables us to use the north-east side of the building,
with the water baths, furnaces, etc., which were before useless. I
have within a few days erected a new assay furnace which I hope
will prove very useful to the department. It is according to a plan
of my own by which I am able to obtain the highest temperature
which we are likely to need in the laboratory, viz: the melting
point of cast iron, while by a continuous flow of coal I keep the
temperature uniform. By an arrangement of the draught I can
moderate the fire so that very little coal is burned when the furnace
is not in actual use, at the same time fire will hold from day to day
without personal attendance. At a few minutes notice the furnace
can be brought to full heat. I am happy to say that the furnace has
cost the College but a few shillings, Messrs. Keep & Bell, two of our
graduates, having furnished both shell and fire brick. I am personally indebted to them both for valuable suggestions.
The principal needs of the laboratory are water, and gas. The
supply of water is often insufficient, and must be all pumped up by
hand by means of a small force pump. This takes up the time of the
laboratory servant which could be used to much better advantage.
Gas is almost indispensable, its absence stamps the laboratory as far
behind the times.  We use every year over $100 worth of alcohol.
It is probable that gas would cost much less.  We also need some
platina vessels and new apparatus.
As helps in teaching physical geography, some wall maps are
needed, I think $150 could be spent to great advantage. We are
well supplied with nautical maps, charts, and books, the Hon. Roscoe
Conkling having presented the College with most of those published
by the United States Government.
The study of chemistry was made obligatory upon the engineers
some time since; some knowledge of this branch being regarded as
necessary for a thoroughly educated engineer. During two terms
for a few hours each week, these students practice in the laboratory
As I now have a furnace of sufficient capacity, I propose that hereafter they spend their second term in assaying, in the estimation of
fuels, and in other practical operations.
During the winter term, Prof. Webster proposes to give the
engineers a course of lectures on stratigraphical geology, accompanied with practice in the determination of building stones, &c.;
the class will then receive instruction in mineralogy, with practice




55
in the detection of minerals by the blow pipe, &c. For this we have
ample means in the Wheatly Collection.  In addition I would propose giving a series of lectures on the phenomena of veins (of useful
ores). Now, were a course of lectures on mining, machinery, and
one on the exploitation of mines added to our course in engineering,
we would have all the teaching that is usual in our mining schools.
While these lectures could be given by the professor of engineering
we should yet need models and drawings, together with suites of ores
and specimens of accompanying rocks.
Respectfully,
MAURICE PERKINS.
VI.
Report of the Curator of the Wheatly Collection.
To the President of Union College:
In the year 1857 Mr. Delavan purchased from Mr. Wheatly the
collection of minerals and shells now on exhibition in the room
over the temporary chapel, and presented it to the College. The
collection was arranged by Prof. J. D. Whitney, the finer specimens being placed upon the shelves, and the others arranged for
exchange for other minerals or for sale. I do not know the number
of minerals at first placed upon the shelves; there are now, however, about4,000. The duplicates were exchanged, as opportunities
offered, for minerals which supplied wants of the collection; the
specimens so obtained being placed upon the shelves.  Thus from
year to year our stock of duplicates has diminished until at present
we have so few, and these so little desirable, that for the last year
we have not been able to effect any exchanges.  Further advance or
improvement is thereby precluded. This is the more to be regretted
since the excellence of the collection is well known, there being many
specimens in it which have no superior either in this country or in
Europe. The collection needs a settled income that it may always
be known in the market as a purchaser. Also that excursions may
be made and minerals obtained in the field.
I have catalogued all the minerals and arranged them in the order
of Dana's New Mineralogy, the accepted authority in the science.
A copy of this book is kept in the cabinet.  Marginal numbers
in it show the student whether the species desired has any represent



56
ation upon the shelves, at the same time referring him to the catalogue
which points out its place.
The visitors of the cabinet are Rev. J. C. Backus, D.D., Albion
ransom, J. S. Delavan, and C. M. Wheatly, Esqrs. (the latter elected
in 1871 to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Delavan).
Herewith I enclose the trust deed of Mr. Delavan to the College,
premising that the collection is worth more than three times the price
paid in 1857.
Respectfully,
MAURICE PERKINS,
Curator Wheatly Collection.
VII.
Classical Study. — There should be more of it in our Colleges, or
it should be abandoned.
BY PROF. TAYLER LEWIS, LL.D.
From the tone of our most popular newspapers, a stranger would
be led to infer that one of the chief evils of our land was a plethora
of Latin and Greek. One would think from the outcry, that we
were in the utmost danger of becoming a nation of book-worms and
pedants, or that our colleges, instead of fitting our youth for future
congressmen or editors, or railroad managers, were only teaching
them to make Latin verses, or to translate Greek choral odes.  But
how is the fact? This extreme attention to classical culture ought
certainly to manifest itself in some way in our public bodies.  We
ought to see striking evidences of it among the men who have most
to say and do in our state and national legislatures.  Above all,
should it show itself in the editorial departments of our newspapers.
Is it so? The question is asked without any intention of disparaging
those bodies, least of all those newspaper gentlemen, to whose censure or approbation we all of us attach so much importance.  Are
we really suffering from such a plethora'of classical learning? 1-Has
the time come of which Plato dreamed, when kings should be philosophers, and philosophers kings, or, to translate it into the phraseology of modern ideas, when all politicians and office-holders should
be men of the purest culture, the highest literary polish, as derived
from the study of all in the past, as well as in the present, that would




elevate their minds, and give them  enlarged views of their daties
to men and their responsibilities to God?
We know that it is not so, Practical men, so called, we have in
plenty. For a generation, at least, it has been the cry: " Away with.
the speculative and the theoretical; away with everything that claims
to be studied for its owa sake, and that does not go directly out to
some immediate practical utility."  Abstract studies, as they are
called, unfit men for action, it is said. Their devotees know nothing
of life or of human nature; they live in the ideal; they are dreaming
of the past; by their studies they are utterly disqualified for dealing
with men or things as they are.
" By their fruits shall ye know them."  It is an old rule coming
from the highest authority, and we may patiently await its decisions.
Whether at the present day we want thinkers most, or men of action,
or a few thinkers, at least, as some counterpoise to the extreme opposite tendency that has set in, is not our immediate object of inquiry.
But how has the other prophecy been fulfilled? "' By their fruits
shall ye know them."  Practical men, men of action, "live men,"
as they are called, in supposed distinction from the speculative fossils,
have long held and now hold almost all places of rule and of political
influence in our land.  Another crowd of the same character, and
grounding their claims on the same qualifications, are vigorously
seeking to get into their places and promising the people to be still
more practical than those whom they hope to succeed.  "By their
fruits shall ye know them."  Let it be judged by this old infallible
test. The decision may be against the theorists, the men of speculation, the men of books, those who study humanity in its deep universality, rather than in those surface traits an acquaintance with
which is now so confidently boasted of as the true knowledge of hurman
nature.  It may be that we need more men of action; and yet the
opinion may be hazarded, that even now, in this day of practicality,
a little wider sprinkling of theorists, book worms, pedants even,
would do our land no harm.
In the language of the Psalmist, " there were they in great fear
where no fear was." Are we indeed suffering from a plethora of
classical learning, or from an extra degree of attention given to it
in our colleges?  The absurdity of the question must strike even
those who are most superficially acquainted with the state of education in our country.  We know that classical studies are far from




58
being predominant; they are far even from holding their own;
considering the popular clamor that has been so steadily kept up,
the wonder is that they have not been wholly driven out. The
diminution of classical studies, the greater attention given to those
called practical, have not filled our college halls as was expected —
certainly in no degree corresponding to the increase of population.
There is no denying the fact, that the classics are in danger of being
driven from our colleges for a season at least, though such expulsion
cannot be permanent.
Naturam expelles firca tamen usque recurret.
" Drive out nature with a pitchfork she will come back again.'
What is truly excellent will always in time assert itself. For the
reasons before given the classics will be in demand and nothing can
long keep them from being a substantial part of anything that calls
itself liberal education,     Xussi  Esvios "' the education of a freeman." In the meantime the attacks upon them and the yielding to
the popular clamor by men who ought to have resisted it, has had a
most deteriorating effect; and this is seen in the partial and inadequate treatment to which they have been necessarily reduced
both in the preparatory and college course. In this way they are
made to furnish an argument against themselves. See to how little
they amount, it is triumphantly said. There is truth in the taunt;
and we have therefore no hesitation in maintaining that unless classical education is to be made more of, it had better be wholly banished from the college course.
In determining whether there is any remedy for this, we are
drawn to consider the reasons that have been and may be given for
the study of Greek and Latin. The one most usually dwelt upon
is the discipline or mental culture connected with such a course.
Another is the preparation such study affords for a more extensive
acquaintance with language in general, or philology, now becoming
one of the most important departments of human knowledge.  It is
not intended at present to dwell on either of these.  The first has
been most ably set forth at previous meetings of this Convocation
it has, in fact, been made the chief ground in defense of classical
training.  There is great truth in it. The mere study of such a
language as the Greek is one of the highest sources of mental culture
as compared with that derived from the mathematical or any other




59
department. The second line of defense is here avoided because of
the difficulty of doing justice to it in such a paper as this, and on
the ground that both pleas, however important in themselves, fail
to present the highest and most available reasons for classical study
in its present aspects, or in regard to the chief literary want it is
intended to supply.
It may be said, then, that in addition to these two grounds of defense, so briefly denoted by the terms culture and philology, there is
a third to which should be given the highest place, although it is
generally overlooked, or if mentioned at all, is assigned to a subordinate position. It may be concisely denoted as the literary in
distinction from the disciplinary and the linguistic. It is, that classical
study is the opening door, the introduction to the wide field of ancient
literature, the richest, the rarest, and yet the most universal in its
connection with all humanity, of any that the world has ever seen.
It is not simply Greek and Latin; it is  the catholic literature,
adapted to all ages, and seemingly designed by Providence as an
intellectual medium in which are found the elements of the world's
earliest as well as its maturest thought.  The present course of
reading in our colleges barely brings the student to the vestibule of
this magnificent temple. It shows him little or nothing of the
treasures contained within. It hardly gives him to understand that
there is much more belonging to it than the few fragments which
the weariness of construing and reciting have made objects of dislike,
because of the long labor bestowed on what seems to stop short of an
available result. Just look at the Greek programme in our colleges,
the very best of them. A few books of Homer, a portion of Xenophon's Anabasis or Memorabilia, a book, perhaps, of Herodotus or
Thucydides, an oration of Demosthenes, one drama or less from each
of the three great tragedians; these read piecemeal, in disjointed
daily portions, the literary interest all lost, or overlooked because the
whole attention is absorbed or the time necessarily occupied in
thumbing the Grammar, whilst the Lexicon is worn out in looking
up new words or old words over and again. In such occupation as
this, most necessary though it be, it is impossible to appreciate the
great excellence of the classic authors, even of the few fragments
that have been so laboriously read. Unless supplemented by something very different and more attractive, there is danger lest all be
lost and the whole course become a nullity. Is it any wonder that




60
the student so often gets a dislike to the whole department, and that
his college text books remain closed to him, all the rest of his life,
whilst he thinks so little, if he thinks at all, of the great treasure that
lies beyond? As a mere fact in the world's literary history, he is
awarethat there is a vast deal more than he has ever read, or read
of, or even imagined. The array of names in his Classical Dictionary is sufficient to give him some intimation of that; but he has
the dimmest conception of what it is, a mere floating idea, with little
or nothing to stimulate him to farther study in that direction. Aside
from some degree of mental discipline, which must certainly be conceded to the most imperfect classical study, nothing remains that he
can regard as an adequate remuneration for the long time and the
great labor he has given.  He has come to the door of the temple,
we say, but he has hardly caught more than a glimpse of what is
contained within.  Is the acquisition worth so great a cost? Would
it not be more rational to banish the Greek and Latin altogether
from  our colleges than to keep on in the same old track, and with
such extremely meagre results?
But how can it be remedied, one may say, without doing injustice
to something else? The first study must necessarily be slow; there
must be drill; whatever is learned must be learned accurately,
critically, technically. It is but little, therefore, that can be read.
In fact it is becoming more and more difficult, in consequence of the
increasing pressure of the physical sciences, to give even the limited
time that has commonly been devoted to the classics.  All this is
conceded. There must be drill, of course. There can be comparatively but little read.  And yet the drill may be of a somewhat
different kind from what is enforced as though it was the very end
instead of a means to something more important. It might have regard more to methods of reading, excellencies of translation, rules
for acquiring facility and elegance *in rendering the best Greek
into the best English, instead of ever resting in the comparatively
primary department of orthographical forms, or of syntactical parsing. It might thus be the principal aim of what is called drill, to
give that tact and ease of reading which, besides making the classics
pleasant, would of itself secure the minor matters of drill, or the
knowledge of forms and constructions.  Hardly anything is gained,
or rather all is lost, unless this facility of reading is somehow acquired, or the habit of giving readily the best English for the best




61
Greek, idiom for idiom, so as in fact to gain, and that too very early,
some power of thinking in the language. Now this demands for its
acquisition a greater extent of reading than is commonly allowed.
Rules alone will not give it.  A student may become perfect in his
grammar, and yet each new author is as difficult to him as the one
before. He has not acquired this tact of which we speak, and
which can only come from practice.
Something, we repeat it, must be done to give the student what
may be called the classical enthusiasm, to tempt him within the
great temple, instead of merely standing ever marking time, but
never marching any further.  He must begin actually to converse
with its enshrined heroes and demi-gods. When this new feeling,
so different from the old weariness of the recitation room, has once
begun to show itself, it may be said that the work is done; such' a
beginning, to use the old Greek proverb, is more than half, for it
secures the whole. The speaker would not be regarded as undervaluing the work of teachers more accurate, more laborious, more faithful and conscientious than himself. We have in some of our colleges
the very best instruction in Latin and Greek regarded as purely
linguistic.  Immense improvement has been made in grammars and
text books and modes of orthographical drilling.  And yet there
may have been - there undoubtedly has been- more of this great
requisite, this indispensable stimulus, in a word, this classical enthusiasm, produced by far inferior means employed in a somewhat
different way.
I would endeavor to explain this by a few comparisons.  Fifty
years ago how poor was our classical course as compared with what it
is now. I speak especially of Union College, though the case was
not very different in any of the others. We had a little or no help
from annotated text books. We had only Moor's Greek Grammar,
a book exceedingly imperfect as compared with the one that that fine
scholar and faithful teacher, Bullions, has built on the same foundation. It was every way inferior to the excellent Greek grammar of
Professor Crosby, to say nothing of the larger works that have been
introduced from Germany. Such an aid as that profound treatise of
Professor Goodwin on the Greek subjunctive mood was altogether
unheard of. And yet with these poor helps, there was somehow
acquired a facility in reading Greek, which I may venture to say
was equal to that attained by classes now, with the confessedly better




62
teaching that we have now in the same college. There was acquired,
I can hardly tell how, full as much of that thing called classical
enthusiasm.  There were more, I think, out of the number of the
graduates, who carried away with them some fondness for the Greek
and Latin, leading them to read them in after life. This comparison
is made with diffidence; but we may go still farther back, and speak
more confidently. The course of classical study one hundred years
ago, even at Yale and Harvard, would be called very poor now as
compared with that of our least classical colleges, and yet it cannot
be doubted that there was a wider acquaintance with classical writers,
that is, beyond the college curriculum, among many of the older
New England clergy than there is in the same class now. They
made more of their scanty means than we do of our far more extensive and more accurate philological apparatus. The same might be
said of the older lawyers who lived during or before the American
revolution. They had, somehow, more classical literature among
them than the gentlemen of the bar have now.
And yet, men like Kent and Clinton, Van Schaack and the elder
Adams, and Fisher Ames, and Jefferson and Madison, all of whom
were excellent and well read classical scholars, with others that might
be mentioned, must have had helps in the study of Greek and
Latin far inferior to those enjoyed now. What was the Schrevellius
Lexicon, which they then probably used, to Professor Drisler's admirable edition of Passow; for it is so much his own that the names
of Liddell and Scott may well be left out; or the still more perfect
English-Greek Lexicon, which he and his scholarly colleague, Professor Short, have lately given us?  What college text books had
they compared with those of Anthon, Owen, Felton, Woolsey, Crosby,
Lincoln, Tyler, with many others that might be named, containing
every critical help that a scholar needs, and often much beyond his
needs? It is with pleasure that I name such works as an honor to
American scholarship; but then the question comes back after all,
has the general interest in the classics, and the more extensive reading of them by the mass of our educated men, kept pace with this
superiority of grammars and lexicons and text books, or has it in
the main actually fallen behind that which was stimulated by far inferior aids?  If not, why not?
The answer, we think, can be clearly and concisely given. The
attention has been so much directed to the means instead of the end,




63
to the subordinate rather than to what should have been the primary
object.  It has been to acquire a knowledge of the Greek language,
simply as a language, rather than an acquaintance, wide or small,
with the Greek literature.  High and important as the former is, it
is not the great thing after all, for which so much of time and labor is
to be given.  Even if we call it an end, instead of a means, simply,
it is not the highest end. We study Greek as a language, as a system of rules, as a most curious structure, possessing an interest even
in this respect, equal to that of any natural science; and here we
stop.  We do not study it as a means to something else of still wider
importance. In this way students do not secure what is most choice,
even in the language itself, as a language, in that critical skill and
tact and ease, which can only come from extensive reading. Thus
some in our colleges may become superior Greek scholars, their objective knowledge of the philosophy of its moods and tenses, of its peculiar
orthographical forms, of its idioms, its regularities and irregularities,
may surpass that which was possessed by Demosthenes himself. As objective knowledge, we say. It is even as a Frenchman or a German may
get in a similar way a more critical acquaintance with the niceties of
the English tongue than the best native English writers can boast of;
or, to reverse the picture, an Englishman may understand the German more scientifically in some respects than those who write and
speak the German language with perfection; or, to take another
view, an American who has given his whole attention to English
grammar, like Gould Brown, may have a knowledge of it beyond
any that Johnson, or Swift, or Addison. could even claim; and yet
there may be such a resting in this objective knowledge as almost
destroys its value. This may be truly said if the attention given to
it is so exclusive, and so narrowing, as to impede the entrance into
the wide domain of English literature, either by failing to give or
by weakening the stimulus that might have led to the higher literary sphere.  It may all be expressed by saying that in our colleges
we study Homer as a means of learning Greek; we do not learn
Greek as a means of reading Homer with facility, and thus reaching
that highest culture which comes from a sound familiarity with this
rich old literature. It is the same as if one used the Bible simply
as a means of learning Hebrew, instead of studying Hebrew in order
to acquire a deeper knowledge of the scriptures, or as the entrance
to the rich fields of a sacred and most sublime literature.  It is this




64
perversion of aim, as made by an extensive modern school, that has
divested the Bible of its spirituality, taken away the marrow of
scriptural theology, and turned it into a heap of dry and mrouldering
bones.
In addition to the limited comparison heretofore made, let us
present another of wider extent and showing the same difference in
a clearer light. Let us compare the men of the Porson and Elmsley
school, so famous some half a century ago, with the scholars, civilians, theologians or men of general culture, that belonged to the
seventeenth and sixteenth centuries preceding.  Men in eager hunt
for forbidden anapsests, and plausible grounds for gratifying the
cacoethes emendandi, had no time or no relish for those greater
theological, philosophical, or political questions which have their
best solutions in the rich literature of antiquity.  How much of
this kind lay before them utterly neglected. The paraphernalia of
the stage and its scenery, the proper divisions of strophe and antistrophe, had more attractions for them than the great ideas of the
Greek tragedy, such as Fate, Nemesis, Remorse, Retribution, Justice
slow but sure,- that most tragic conception, great even in its
theological perversion, of the divine Jealousy that would not endure
human boasting or human pride - the awful doctrine of sin breeding sin descending from parents to children, generation after generation, carrying down the penalty along with the moral taint.  The
reverence for the oracle - the profound significance of sacrifice as
pictured in expiatory rites - the ancient idea of a future life -
the representations of the Hadean world with its fearful penalties
shadowed in the crime - these, with their theological relations so
vast and important, so closely connecting the fields of classical and
Biblical study, were overlooked or thrown into the background,
while textual and grammatical learning had given to it a prominence
so disproportionate.
In contrast with such names as Porson, Elmsay, Wakefield, &c.,
let us put those of Ralph Cudworth, Selden in England, of Grotius
in Holland, of Vossius, Lipsius, Salmasius, Heinsius secretary of
the Synod of Dort, with others that might be mentioned, jurists and
theologians, furnished by the Dutch universities in that remarkably
learned period that followed so soon after the long struggle with
Spain. Conspicuous here would be the great names, some of whom
are earlier than this, such as Scaliger, Casaubon, Bochart, Usher,




65
Pococke, &c., the extent of whose erudition we find it difficult to comprehend.  There were, too, the learned Jesuits of the day.  Of all
of them it might be said that they were extensive readers of Greek
and Latin, not for the sake of becoming eminent Greekists and Latinists, but because of the treasures of literature thereby furnished, and
the great value they possessed in connection with their theological
and philosophical aims.  It was this motive that made them  such
all-devouring students. There cannot be a doubt that the reading
of Cudworth, for example, was more extensive than that of Porson.
What a mine of ancient philosophy, do we find in his great work,
The Intellectual System of the Universe.  Cudworth was a man
of leisure and retirement, it might be said; his days were spent in
scholarly halls, in converse with great libraries, and with every
literary aid; but there were others whose life was far removed from
scholastic quietude,whose acquisitions, nevertheless, and multifarious
reading, may well astonish us.  There was Hooker a man of intense
ecclesiastical action, Pococke an extensive oriental traveler; there
was Bochart, a French. Calvinistic or Huguenot clergyman, whose
life was spent amid the persecutions and disquietude of such a position. How did he find time and means for the composition of his
learned works, or even for acquiring that immense erudition, that
wide familiarity with the whole range of classical and Oriental
writers which astounds us on barely opening his huge folio volumes.
Yet there it is, and in his case, and from his mode of life, it is perfectly evident that it was a substantial acquirement, ever with him,
instead of being index learning, or skill in hunting up reference
passages. Grotius, too, was a man of action, of incessant, political,
literary and ecclesiastic energy.  The same might be said of the great
Scaliger, and more emphatically still of the famous editors and publishers who came upon the stage so soon after what is called The
Revival of Learning.  We are utterly amazed when we think of the
learning and labors of the Stephenses, Henry and Robert.  Incessant students and devouring readers were they, critics unsurpassed,
commentators who furnished the fountains from which so many
subsequent editors and annotators have drawn —writing and even
speaking Greek with as much ease as their vernacular tongues, engaged in the constant toil of collecting obscure manuscripts, yet, with
all this, laboring with their own hands at type-founding, type setting
and the work of the press. Their editions are yet models of beauty
and accuracy.  Of the great work of Henry Stephens, Thesaurus of
5




66
the Greek Language, it may be said that it is still one of the most
important among the foundations of Greek lexicography.   His
countless citations have helped many a one since to make a show of
learning, but with him they must have been almost wholly the fruit
of original reading.
It is admitted that in some things the Porson school was superior
to these older men; but we must discriminate as to comparative
value and comparative aims, or we may do great injustice. In a
certain kind of critical skill, the more modern scholars, English and
German, are unsurpassed.  Hallam  says, truly, that Cudworth
quoted, as undoubtedly genuine, some supposed ancient works, on
wohich the sharpness of Porson has thrown suspicion.  So also, says
the same writer, the verses of Scaliger and Casaubon were incorrect
as judged by our present standards.  They had false metres and
false quantities.  Very likely.  The same may be said, however, of
Homer and Sophocles. These old Greek poets took licenses just
as Milton and Shakespeare have done, not a few of whose lines are
unscannable by rigid rules. Person and others wrote Greek verses
correctly, it may be said, because they follow their own canons.
These are right in the main because deduced from  the general
usage. It is perfectly certain, however, that many lines in the old
poets would not conform to them without being amended or transposed, although in their old state both euphonic and significant.
The anapast and dactyls are found in uncanonical places.  So in
Homer there are still found cases of hiatus that no digamma wedge
can cure. All that need be said then is, that Casaubon and Scaliger
and Grotius took licenses, or like the old poets themselves, they
did not write with the fear of Porson's and Hermann's rules before
their eyes. They ought to have been more correct, and have put
their verses in straiter jackets, but the fault does not detract much
from their great excellence after all.  Of this more modern school
too, we have freely admitted the higher absolute merit.  In comparing them, however, with these older men one question furnishes
a test that ought to be most cisive: Which class could the world
have better spared? Or which of the two, had it been wanting,
would have left the greater chasm in our substantial literature.
In thinking of these giants and their learned works, the question
will arise, how did they do it?  And why are we so much behind
them -- at least in the amount of reading and the literary labor they




67
accomplished?  The answer, we think, may be found, to some extent, in that perversion of aim to which allusion has been made.
We study for a subordinate purpose, and hence the failure.  The
remedies must correspond to the defect; a few may be stated in
very general terms, the significance and bearing of which may be
very easily understood from what has already been said.
To make more of our classical course, we must aim at two principal things; these are, in the first place, more extensive reading, and,
secondly, the producing in some way, a state of thought and feeling
which shall be a guaranty for classical study in after life.
A greater amount of reading could be secured by the adaptation
before spoken of, or by fitting the efforts in the last years to the
more advanced students who offer the best hopes for success.  This
could be aided by adopting at this time the lecture method, or making the instruction mainly oral, substituting for the recitation, a
rapid examination at intervals. At such a course, the professor
should himself read to the class large portions of such Greek authors as may be selected, with continual comments on all matters of
interest, and requiring notes to be constantly taken.  The backward
members of the class might not receive much profit from this, they
might even greatly abuse it, but it cannot be helped, we say.  The
better students would greatly profit by it.  A young man who has
been made to see and appreciate in some measure the glories of the
Greek dramatic poets, is not likely afterwards to let them drop; he
gets a new feeling, such as always comes when he begins to read
Greek and Latin authors for their own sake, seeing them in a new
light, and under aspects very different from that presented amid the
weariness and hard drudgery of mere lesson-getting.
There comes a time when the subj unctive mood should be laid aside:
when tense-forms and orthographical peculiarities may be supposed to
be understood. The mind should now be directed to higher matters,
to ends instead of means.  The student will receive with interest and
pleasure what gives pleasure to the teacher, and more than repays
him for his exceeding labors, as he points out the neatness, the clearness, and the sparkling diction of Horace; the grandeur, pictorial
beauty, exquisite word-painting of Homer; the finished correctness
along with the fervid vehemence that mark the eloquence of Demosthenes, showing no less his own genius than the power of the language
he spoke, and the remarkable character of the people he addressed;




68
the pure condensed thought of Aristotle which Cicero so well characterised as flumen orationis aureum fundens'" ever pouring forth its
stream of gold;" the rapt idealism  and at the same time the clear
common sense of Plato's philosophy; and lastly though not least,
the solemn significance and deep religiousness that pervade the leading, ideas of the Greek drama.
A very important part of such lecturing in the Senior year should
be directed to give the student some notion of the immense amount
of Greek literature, what it was in its original state, and what it still
remains after the destructive havoc it has experienced.  To know
our ignorance, is one of the most valuable kinds of knowledge, as has
been well said by the wisest man of antiquity.  A student, as has
been said, forms some vague idea of the vast extent of the field merely
by turning over the pages of his classical dictionary, but he needs to
have it set before him at one view, that he may see how little he
knows, and how exceedingly small a portion of it —choice though
that portion be-has been selected for his ordinary college studies.
Well may he be astonished, as an ingenuous youth always is, at such
an exhibition; but instead of discouraging, it furnishes to such a one
the very stimulus he most needs.  What a magnificent temple is this!
he feels like saying; what a storehouse of the world's best thought!
Can a man be called educated who is ignorant even of its vast extent?
In lecturing on any one Greek author, especially on the Greek drama,
that fund of ancient ideas and ancient allusions, there will be occasion for reference to almost every other department of the old literature. The teacher should ever take pains to hunt them up for his own
sake. For so doing, it is of great importance that such references should
be carefully verified by actual consultation of the original sources. The
student should be directed to them, author, book, chapter, and section; there is a stimulus in it to more extensive study; it produces
something like a feeling of erudition: pedantic some may call it, or
a mere show of learning, but it is a feeling worthy of culture, and
one that at this day, even if it is pedantic, ought to be encouraged
rather than condemned.  As said before, a few more pedants in this
practical age will do us no hurt.
To this end of reference, however, an indispensable requisite for
giving a stronger stimulus is a large college library, especially full
in the classical department.  Not only as giving the means of reference is such a library useful and practical.  The very sight of an




69
immense collection of books operates as a powerful excitement.
Devoid, indeed, must that mind be, not only of classical but of all
generous feeling, that can stand in such a presence without emotion.
It is humbling, but not discouraging, we say.  There comes from it
a desire to converse with the immortal dead.  How immense the
world's literature.  What a precious part is furnished by these old
writers, either as considered by themselves or in connection with the
still greater literature that has been built upon them? What a blank
there would be if the biblical and the classical, those kindred departments, with all that had its origin in them, or from them, were
lost to the world, either from  ignorance or destruction! A large
library is an indispensable requisite for a college.  It should be the
chief attraction for all its better class of students. But it should be
a bibliotheca indeed, not a mere circulating library filled with the
transient literature of the day. It should contain the most rare and
the most precious productions of past ages.  It should represent the
world in space and time. It should be a place for study and for
writing, furnished with every accommodation for those purposes,
with its regular hours of the day and evening, during which all should
have free admission to its advantages for reading and consultation,
but with no license for withdrawing books from their place of
security.
And this suggests the thought of something already mentioned,
but on which we would again dwell for a moment as imparting their
great value to classical studies, and thereby offering a greater stimulus to success. It is the aim for which such acquisition should be
made. This may be presented in another and a more practical light.
The complaint is made that so little fruit comes from studies so long
and so arduous.  They may be excellent as a means of culture to the
individual who pursues them, but what is their public utility?  The
age demands something more and we think with reason. Now it
must be confessed that the ancient languages have been studied too
much on grounds that terminate simply in the study itself. Our
best scholars have busied themselves too much with the merely
educational apparatus. They have been too much occupied in making text books, grammars, and other aids for college classes.  There
is no intention to disparage these. They are an honor to American
scholarship, and are equal to any works of the kind produced in
England or Germany. But this is not enough. It is an aim termi



70
nating in itself.  It is the making of admirable text books and other
aids in order to produce scholars, who shall make other text books
and so on to infinity.  Something more is demanded.  We need a
classical scholarship that shall go out of itself, in the aims for which
it is employed - a study that explores the ancient writings for bringing out the treasures of wisdom and experience therein contained,
and making them  matters of modern concernment - for applying
them, in a word, to the questions social, political, economical, theological, ethical, philosophical, and even scientific, that have most
interest for the present day.
NOTE. —Intending to present extracts from this paper, the fascination of the theme and its exquisite treatment have made it an uncongenial
task to omit a single paragraph. Space and enforced haste in publication
alone prevent the transcription of the whole. It is believed, however, that
before very long, the paper will be published entire for more extended circulation.-E. N. P.
VIII.
Miodern Languages.
In the Department of Modern Languages we feel justified in
claiming as a success the recent modification of the scientific course
to make it more nearly resemble the classical curriculum.
During the three years largely devoted to the study of the French
and German languages every effort is made to secure by careful
and critical training genuine mental drill and culture. The course
has thus attained a respectability of college standing which makes
it desirable from its own merits, and it is adopted by many of the
best students in the College who may prefer it by reason of taste, by
the choice of parents, or the designs of after life.
We desire and propose to enhance its value still more in the future, and to that end hope before long to demand and obtain at
least a year's preparation in Latin before entering the course, and
shall be still further gratified when the facilities of preparatory institutions will enable us to demand a year of French and German
before entering, to the end that while in college more time may be
devoted to advanced studies in French and German classics, and to
lectures on the representative authors and the highest literature of
France and Germany.




We would therefore suggest as a means of cultivating a higher
standard of perfection in these branches, the establishment of French
and German prizes to be awarded to marked proficiency, and would
also call the attention of generous friends and patrons to the fact that
the annual prize of silver plate of the value of $50, for the highest
standard in the performance of college duties, and for moral deportment and rectitude, is confined to the classical course.  We see no
reason why scientific students who meet all these requirements in
another field of labor should be excluded from this honorable competition, and would be happy to know that some friend of scientific
studies had found it a pleasure to establish a prize of the same
general nature to be obtained by worthy students in the scientific
course.
In conclusion I may be permitted to allude to my absence from
my usual duties for a month of the term just closing, having been
honored by the Troy Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church
with the appointment as delegate to the quadrennial general conference of said church.
I am happy in being able to state that my colleagues of the conference seemed gratified at seeing with them a representative from
Old Union, "c and expressed a strong desire to continue the fraternal
relations which have so long existed between our Church and this College. In proof of this I may state that I have succeeded in obtaining
aid from the educational society of our conference for worthy and
needy young men preparing at Union for its ministry, and I would also
add that during the last few years some of the leading men at the Drew
Theological Seminary have been graduates of Union College.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
WILLIAaM WELLS,
Department of Jlodern ELangueages.
To DR. E. N. POTTER.
Ix.
Rhetorical Studies.
Union College, May 27th, 1872.
It is worthy of mention as an unprecedented fact, that, during the
present year, not a single student in college has failed to meet the




72
full requirements for Rhetorical exercises in speaking and writing,
while an unusual amount of work has been done in class essays and
class discussions.
The oratorical prize established by R. MI. Blatchford, LL.D.,
while it is especially designed for the graduating class favorably
affects every class.  It stimulates to honorable competition in speaking and writing, from the first term of the freshman year, and the
stimulus increases with every step of advance through the entire
college course. Its healthy and constant influence has been appreciated by the professor in this department, and is gratefully acknowledged.
The Ingham Prize has been operative since 1866. Its object is
to encourage the study of the English Classics, the cultivation of
a literary taste, and careful practice in composition.  While every
student feels its influence, none but Seniors are eligible to this prize.
How well it is fulfilling its purpose will appear from the following
simple statement:
During the seven years since the prize was established the proportion of final competitors has been steadily growing. (I say final,
because many enter upon the competition who do not hold out to the
end of the year.) Not to mention all the years, we may get the
average increase by taking the odd numbers.  In 1867, the final
competitors numbered one-eleventh (-f1) of the whole class; in 1869,
one-sixth (1h) of the class; in 1871, one-third (i) of the class; 
this year, about one-half (~) of the whole class.
In this connection it is suggested that a prize for public class debate, either senior or junior, upon a subject duly assigned, is highly
desirable.
It is also suggested, that, with the growing college interest felt
in the English studies, and with the increasing public demand in
this direction, there is imperative need at Union, (to be under the
charge of a college officer, and not to be removed without his consent) of books of reference in English history and English literature,
arranged in some convenient reading room where students may resort for reading and study.
Respectfully,
R. B. WELCH.
Pres. E. N. POTTER, D.D.




73
rnettem of Antion e oIlge.
HIs EXCELLENCY JOHN T. HOFFMAN, LL.D., GOVERNOR.
HON. ALLEN C. BEACH, LIEUT. GOVERNOR. 
HON. G. HILTON SCRIBNER, SECRETARY OF STATE.
HON. NELSON K. HOPKINS, COMPTROLLER. 
HON. THOMAS RAINES, TREASURER.
HON. FRANCIS C. BARLOW, ATTORNEY GENERAL.  J
JAMES BROWN, EsQ.
HON. IRA HARRIS, LL.D.
HON. WM. WV. CAMPBELL, LL.D.
HON. RICHARD, M. BLATCHFORD, LL.D.
REV. EBENEZER HALLEY, D.D.
HON. DAVID H. LITTLE.
REV. J. TRUMBULL BACKUS, D.D.
HON. CLARKSON N. POTTER.
HON. PLATT POTTER, LL.D.
HON. CHAS. C. NOTT.
WILLIAM TRACY, LL.D.
HON. WM. F. ALLEN, LL.D.
JOSEPH W. FULLER, EsQ.
REV. ELIPHALET NOTT POTTER, D.D., S.T.D.
HARVEY J. KING, EsQ. Term of office expires June, 1873
JOHN A. DE REMER, EsQ.                1874
SILAS B. BROWNELL, EsQ.               1875
CHARLES E. SMITH, Esq.                1876
of       ottforo -of   n.
7iaitotG of trje Nott CruSt jjnnb.
URANIA E. NOTT.
REV. JOHN NOTT, D.D.
HON. WILLIAM W. CAMPBELL, LL.D.
HON. RICHARD M. BLATCHFORD, LL.D.
REV. J. TRUMBULL BACKUS, D.D.
(guratort of  tarvk  ant 3utiluingb.
REV. J. TRUMBULL BACKUS, D.D.
HOWARD POTTER, ESQ.
JOHN HOBART WARREN, EsQ.
HON. CHAS. C. NOTT.
SAMUEL T. BENEDICT, EsQ.
PROF. ISAAC W. JACKSON, LL.D.
THE PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE.
E-offcio Chairman.




REv. ELIPHALET NOTT POTTER, D.D., S.T.D.,
President, Professor of  orcal Philosophy, and Lecturer ulpon the Evidences
of Christianity.
TAYLER LEWIS, LL.D.,
_NOTT Professor (No. 6) of the Oriental Languages, and Lecturer on
Greek and Latin Philology and Philosophy.
ISAAC W. JACKSON, LL.D.,
_NOTT Professor (No. 3) of 2iathematics.
JOHN FOSTER, A.M.,
NO TT Professor (No. 8) of Natural Philosoplhy.
JONATHAN PEARSON, A.M.,
Professor of Natural History.
HENRY WHITEHORNE, A.M.,
gOTT Professor (No. 1) of the Latin and Greek Languayes.
WILLIAM WELLS, AoM.,
Professor of Modern Languages and Literature.
MAURICE PERKINS, A.M., M.D.,
NOTT Professor (No. 3) of Analytical Chemistry; and tCurator of
the Museum.
REv. RANSOM BETHUNE WELCH, D.D.,
NVOTT Professor (No. 5) of Logic, Rhetoric and English Literature; and
Acting Professor of Mental Philosophy.




75
CADY STALEY, A.M., C.E.,
Professor of Civil Engineering.
HARRISON EDWIN WEBSTER, A.M.,
Assistant Professor of Natural Historyo.
ISAIAH B. PRICE, A.B.,
Tutor in Mathematics and History.
JONATHAN PEARSON, A.M.,
Treasurer and Librarian.
EDGAR MARSHALL JENKINS,
Assistant Treasurer and Registracr.




76
BDepartment of  r)paratord   *ngtruction.
BENJAMIN STANTON, A.M.,.NOTTProfessor (No. 7) in charge of Preparatory Training for the College.
SAMUEL BURNETT HOWE, A.M.,
ZNOTT [Adjunct] Professor (No. 4); Principal of Schenectady Union School.
L-ocal ~~ociationa   of  tlIumni.
New York.
Rt. REV. HORATIO POTTER, D.D., LL.D., D.C.L., President.
Albany.
Hon. AMASA J. PARKER,                  President.
Troy.
iHARVEY J. KING, ESQ., -           -  President.
Elmira.
HON. HIRAM GRAY, LL.D.,   -            President.
Rochester.
HON. HORATIO G. WARNER, LL.D.,       - President.
BuffZalo.
REV. ALBERT T. CHESTER, D.D.,          President.
Philadeilhia.
GEN. E. W. STURTEVANT,         -       President.
Chicago.
HON. WILLIAM H. KING,     -   ~        President.
St. Louis.
HoN. THOMAS ALLEN,               -   - President.




187'1.
SEPTEMBER 4, 5.-   Monday and Tuesday —Second Examination
for Admission.
SEPTEMBER 6.-       Wednesday - First Term begins.
NOVEMBER 30.-        Thanksgiving.
DECEMBER 19.-       Tuesday - First Term ends.
Vacation of two weeks.
1872.i
JANUARY 3.-          Wednesday - Second Term begins.
JANUARY 4-11.-      Daily — Final Examination for the degree of
C. E.
JANUARY 25.-         Thursday- Day of Prayer for Colleges.
FEBRUARY 22.-        Thursday - Anniversary of Washington's birthday.
MARCH 26. —          Tuesday - Second Term ends.
Vacation of one week.
APRIL 3.-            Wednesday -Third Term begins.
APRIL 16 and 17.-    Tuesday and Wednesday- Examination for
Prize Scholarships.
JUNE, 24, 25, 26 & 27.- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Anniversaries of Literary Societies.
JUNE 28 and 29. —    Friday and Saturday- First Examination for
Admission.
JUNE 30.-            Sunday -Baccalaureate Sermon.




78
NOTE.
The following resume gives, at a glance, information which is
frequently asked for by Alumni of the College, and which all friends
of the Institution should have.
WANTS.
Among the immedicate needs of the College are 
A fire proof building for the library.
A boarding-club building.
A gymnasium.
A remodeling of the interior of the present dormitories as already
in progress.
Scholarships and fellowships bearing the names of the donors
and yielding pecuniary aid, in addition to the free tuition
and room rent now given.
The establishment of special lectures and prizes.
Funds for windows (memorial?), an organ, and furniture for
the new central chapel now in course of erection.
Books, maps, apparatus, additions to the museumn or funds for
the same.
(Now that the work of improving the present buildings has begun
and will be continued as far as practicable, graduates may be interested in contributing to the renovation of their old rooms, sections
or colleges. It has been suggested that each Alumni Association,
select some definite object upon which to concentrate its efforts and
contributions).
RESOURCES.
The endowment of Union College consists of funds granted by
the state for specific purposes and also of a large property placed in
trust for the college by the late Doctor Eliphalet Nott.  The latter
yields at present an annual income of about sixteen thousand dollars




79
which is expected to be much increased, in the future, by the sale of
lands lying at Hunter's Point, near New York. The whole of this
income is at present required for the maintenance of professorships.
The Treasurer reports that the expenditures of the college have for
several years past, exceeded its total income. Many of the wants of
the Institution must therefore be supplied by means from other
sources. For these means the appeal is confidently made to the
Alumni: confidently, because of their numbers, counted as, they
are by thousands, of their aggregate wealth, of their love for OLD
UNION. The many, not graduates, who, for various reasons, are interested in the prosperity of the College, must not regard themselves
as neglected in the seeming exclusiveness of this appeal. Union
confidently appeals to her Alumni because she feels that she has
the right to do so; but not less confidently does she expect that
her needs will be liberally recognized by her friends without the
ranks of the Alumni. The numerous recent instances of princely
donations made to colleges by men who never received the training
and culture of a college, warrant the belief that this is not an unreasonable expectation and that it will not be disappointed.
I. W. J.
ha mni   AX~ociatio.
HON JOHN T. HOFFMAN, LL.D., -P.resident.
RT. REV. HORATIO POTTER, DD., LL.D., D.C.L., Oxon,
PROF. FRANK H. HAMILTON, M.D. L.L.D.,                 Vi- -ce
HON. AMASA J. PARKER, LL.D.,    -                  Presidents.
HON. HENRRY R. PIERSON, 
ALEX. J. THOMSON, A.M.,,                         or. Secretary.
HARRISON E. WEBSTER, A.M., -                    Rec. Secretary.
PROF. JONATHAN PEARSON, A.M., -                     Treasurer.
EGtBERT. C. LAWRENCE, A.B.,             -           Libari ian.