Itirivwity of f onttoytvania 
 
 PROCEEDINGS 
 
 PUBLIC INAUGURATION 
 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BUILDING ERECTED FOR THE 
 
 DEPARTMENTS OF ARTS AND OF SCIENCE, 
 
 October II, 1872. 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 ADDRESSES MADE ON THE MORNING AND EVENING OF THAT DAY: 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 
 A MEMORIAL NOTICE 
 
 OF 
 
 Professor JOHN F. FRAZER, LL.D. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 COLLINS, PRINTER, 705 JAYNE STREET. 
 
 1872. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/proceedingsatpubOOjame 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Trustees of the University confided to the Build- 
 ing Committee the arrangements for the formal delivery 
 of the new College Building; to the Faculties of the 
 Departments of Arts and of Science. 
 
 The Committee, impressed with the importance of the 
 objects sought to be accomplished by the improved and 
 enlarged organization of the Institution, made such 
 preparations as would provide an imposing public cere- 
 monial in which the Trustees, the Faculties, and the 
 Alumni should take prominent parts. This ceremonial 
 occupied the morning of the 11th of October, and was 
 honored with the presence of a large and highly re- 
 spectable audience. In the evening a social gathering 
 was held, at which representatives from several of the 
 sister colleges and universities of the country were pre- 
 sent, as well as citizens of various professions and busi- 
 ness pursuits, who came together to discuss in an in- 
 formal way the progress which the cause of liberal 
 education was making in this country, and to encourage 
 each other in the good work. 
 
 On Saturday the building was thrown open for the 
 inspection of the public generally, and thus the Com- 
 mittee endeavored to fulfil the object of their special 
 appointment. 
 
 It was deemed important that the history of the cere- 
 monies should be fully reported and printed, and, in 
 making up such a record, it has been thought best that 
 
4 
 
 some extended notice of the arrangements which led to 
 the establishment of the new courses of instruction 
 should be given. 
 
 Although for more than a century the College and 
 University had been offering to the public all the 
 usual courses of study pursued in such institutions, and 
 had often extended and varied them to meet the exi- 
 gencies of the times, but little real progrees was made 
 until Professor Charles J. Stille became a member of 
 the Faculty of Arts in the year 1866. He immediately 
 called the attention of the Faculty and of the members 
 of the Board of Trustees to the deficiencies in the 
 courses then pursued, and to those enlargements and 
 improvements which were demanded by the public and 
 which had already been introduced into certain well- 
 known institutions at home and abroad. 
 
 He inspired his colleagues and the Trustees with con- 
 fidence in his views, devoted his time and energies to 
 the preparation of the plans for carrying them into exe- 
 cution, and finally succeeded in securing their adoption. 
 
 The election of Hr. Stille to the Provostship of the 
 University in 1868, placed him before the public in a 
 position of more than ordinary responsibility. Harvard, 
 Columbia, Princeton, and other institutions had been 
 awakened to fresh efforts, and their newly chosen Presi- 
 dents had exerted their great influence in favor of an 
 improved and enlarged system. 
 
 Hr. Stille felt that our University ought to occupy a 
 rank and position quite equal to that of its elder sisters, 
 and he has labored with unwearied perseverance for 
 such a result. 
 
 While he has the satisfaction of finding his labors 
 appreciated by his colleagues, the Trustees, and the pub- 
 lic, it seems proper thus publicly to acknowledge the 
 extent and value of his services, and to express the hope 
 that he may long be spared to administer the affairs of 
 
5 
 
 the University on the broad and comprehensive scale 
 for which he has so persistently contended. 
 
 Our days of rejoicing were closed by a sad bereave- 
 ment. One who had for nearly thirty years filled the 
 chair of Physical Science with almost unrivalled ability, 
 and was loved and honored by every student who had 
 enjoyed his instruction, was suddenly struck down by 
 death. He had fondly hoped that in the wider range 
 that was to be given to scientific studies he should con- 
 tinue to take an important and active part. 
 
 But by a dispensation of Providence, to which we 
 must bow submissively, he has been taken away, and 
 we have in deep sorrow to add to the memorial of our 
 inaugural ceremonies the proceedings held by the Fa- 
 culties and the Alumni, in which they affectionately 
 commemorate the services of Professor Frazer, and pay 
 deserved honor to his character and worth. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 w 
 
 
t 
 
 r The building erected by the Trustees of the 
 University of Pennsylvania on Locust Street 
 between Thirty-fourth and Thirty-sixth Streets, 
 designed for the .accommodation of the Depart- 
 ments of Arts and of Science, was opened for the 
 reception of students at the beginning of the 
 College year, September 16, 1872. It was hoped 
 that the preparations made for their instruction 
 in both Departments would then be fully com- 
 pleted, but it was found, that, notwithstanding 
 the great efforts which had been made, the labora- 
 tories, the museums, the library, and some of the 
 other rooms were not entirely fitted up and fur- 
 nished by that time. The formal inauguration 
 or dedication of the building was therefore post- 
 poned until Friday, October 11, 1872. On that 
 day the Trustees invited many prominent gentle- 
 men of this city and distinguished strangers to 
 
8 
 
 be present at the opening ceremonies. It was a 
 matter of regret that so many of the officers of 
 foreign Colleges who had been invited were pre- 
 vented from attending by the pressure of official 
 duties at home. The Trustees were honored, 
 however, by the presence of Henry Coppee, 
 LL.D., President of Lehigh University, of the 
 Eev. Dr. E. H. Potter, President of Union Col- 
 lege, Schenectady, and of the Pev. Dr. Shields, 
 representing the Faculty of the College of ~Ne w 
 Jersey, at Princeton. A procession was formed 
 in the Library, composed of those who were to 
 take part in the proceedings, together with the 
 officers of foreign Colleges, the Board of Trus- 
 tees, the different Faculties of the University, 
 the special guests of the Trustees, and the 
 Alumni, and moved at one o’clock to the Chapel, 
 where seats had been reserved for them. The 
 remainder of the Chapel was crowded by the 
 friends of the Professors and students, among 
 whom were many ladies. 
 
 The Pjrovost then announced that Eight 
 Eey. Bishop Stevens would invoke the bless- 
 ing of Almighty God. 
 
 Bishop Stevens then offered the following 
 Prayer : — 
 
9 
 
 THE PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty and Everlasting God, the fountain 
 of all goodness, we adore thee as the One living 
 and true God, infinite in all thine attributes and 
 perfections, and worthy of the humble worship of 
 all created beings. To thee all Angels cry aloud ; 
 the Heavens and all the powers therein. To thee 
 Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry, Holy, 
 Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabbaoth, Heaven and 
 Earth are full of the majesty of thy glory. The 
 glorious company of the Apostles praise thee; 
 the goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise 
 thee. The noble army of Martyrs praise thee. 
 The Holy Church throughout all the world doth 
 acknowledge thee, the Father Everlasting. 
 
 We come before thee to ask thy blessing upon 
 this University. May it be a fountain of sound 
 wisdom and learning, wherein many generations 
 of youthful minds shall be nurtured and disci- 
 plined in all wholesome science, literature, and art. 
 Grant unto the Trustees the spirit of wise govern- 
 ance in the fulfilment of their trust. Be with 
 thy servant the Provost ; direct and strengthen 
 him as the executive head of this institution; 
 enlighten him as an instructor ; make him judi- 
 cious as a counsellor ; and make him the friend 
 and the guide of the youth committed to his care. 
 Give to all the officers fidelity and zeal, dili- 
 gence and prudence, firmness and patience in 
 2 
 
10 
 
 the performance of their several duties. Let 
 also the riches of thy grace and goodness de- 
 scend upon all the students who shall resort 
 hither. May they improve with careful diligence 
 the great opportunities of mental culture here 
 furnished, and be preserved from all error, vice, 
 and immorality, and by thy Holy Spirit be effectu- 
 ally restrained from sin and excited to duty ; and, 
 as they are set in the midst of so many and great 
 dangers that by reason of the frailty of their 
 natures they cannot always stand upright, grant 
 them such strength and protection as may sup- 
 port them in all dangers, and carry them through 
 all temptations, and finally bring them into thy 
 Heavenly Kingdom. These things, O Heavenly 
 Father, and whatever else thou shalt see neces- 
 sary and convenient to us, we humbly beg 
 through the merits and mediation of thy Son 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. To whom with thee and 
 the Holy Ghost be all honor and glory, world 
 without end. Amen. 
 
 ' 
 
 
11 
 
 ADDRESS OF WILLIAM SELLERS, Esq., 
 
 Chairman of the Building Committee. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: — 
 
 We have assembled here to-day to deliver to 
 the Faculties of the Department of Arts and of 
 the new Department of Science of the University 
 of Pennsylvania, a building designed for their 
 use; commenced when it was at least doubtful 
 whether our means would justify the necessary 
 expenditure, but in compliance with an urgent 
 demand for increased accommodation. This de- 
 mand could not be neglected, as the requirement 
 for enlarged courses of instruction was forcing 
 our youth to distant colleges, whilst the field in 
 which the knowledge sought could be best ob- 
 tained, and, when acquired, could be best utilized, 
 was at our very doors. 
 
 The first step in this work is now happily ac- 
 complished; others, and most important ones, yet 
 remain to be taken; but before entering upon 
 these it may be well to note the events which 
 have led us to this result, that if possible we may 
 find encouragement for the work yet before us. 
 
 The preliminary movement, which has shown 
 its first fruits in the building now before us, was 
 taken at a meeting of the Board of Trustees held 
 January 1, 1867, when a report was presented 
 from a special committee, previously appointed, 
 
12 
 
 to consider certain changes in the course of in- 
 struction in the Department of Arts. This re- 
 port, after considering the condition of the De- 
 partment, called attention to the great need of 
 placing the Department of Agriculture, Arts, 
 Mines, and Manufactures (the work in which had 
 long been suspended) on a proper basis, and re- 
 commended that a committee should be appointed 
 to solicit contributions to a new endowment, to 
 enable the board to enlarge the instruction given 
 in the Department of Arts, and also to reorgan- 
 ize the Department of Agriculture, Arts, Mines, 
 and Manufactures. This recommendation was 
 adopted, and a committee appointed. On the 6th 
 of June, 1868, a resolution was passed by the 
 Board of Trustees, requesting the Committee on 
 endowment to inquire into the expediency of re- 
 moving the University from its site in Ninth 
 Street, and to report where a desirable location 
 could be found. 
 
 On the 8th of October, 1868, the Committee 
 presented an elaborate report, recommending the 
 removal, and the purchase, if possible, of a por- 
 tion of what was known as the Almshouse farm, 
 in West Philadelphia. 
 
 On the 27th of October, 1868, the Board ap- 
 pointed a Committee for the purpose of nego- 
 tiating with the city of Philadelphia for the 
 purchase of from thirty to fifty acres of land in 
 West Philadelphia, part of the property occupied 
 as a farm for the city Almshouse. This com- 
 
13 
 
 mittee consisted of Messrs. Fraley, McCall, Lex, 
 Dr. Norris, Cresson, Welsh, and Judge Strong. 
 
 On the 4th of January, 1870, the Committee 
 reported that after a protracted negotiation with 
 the city authorities, they had obtained the pas- 
 sage of an ordinance whereby the city sold to 
 the Trustees of the University a piece of ground 
 (the present site) in West Philadelphia, contain- 
 ing ten and a quarter acres, for eight thousand 
 dollars per acre, and on the same day the Board 
 passed resolutions ratifying the purchase. On 
 the 21st day of May, 1870, the deed to the Trus- 
 tees was duly executed by the Mayor of the city, 
 Hon. D. M. Fox, and the consideration money, 
 $82,184, paid. This amount was raised partly 
 by mortgage and partly by applying to the same 
 purpose the loans of the United States and the 
 city of Philadelphia, held by the Trustees. 
 
 On the 1st of March, 1870, the Committee on 
 the Department of Agriculture, Arts, Mines, 
 and Manufactures was requested to report to the 
 Board a plan for the improvement of the ground. 
 This Committee called to their aid the instructor 
 of drawing in the University, Mr. T. W. Richards, 
 and on the 3d day of May, 1870, laid before the 
 Board the general features of a plan for the new 
 University building, which would secure ample 
 accommodations for both the Departments of 
 Arts and the Department of Science. On the 
 10th day of May, the general features of the 
 plans presented were approved by the Board, and 
 referred back to the Committee for completion. 
 
14 
 
 On the 25th of May, at the request of the Com- 
 mittee, the Board reconsidered its resolutions 
 approving the plans, and resolved to authorize 
 the Committee to invite plans, specifications, and 
 estimates from the architects of this city. A 
 prize of $800 was offered to the first in merit, 
 $400 to the second, and $300 to the third. 
 
 On the 20th of September, the Committee pre- 
 sented plans to the Board from Mr. "Windrim and 
 Mr. Richards, both of such merit that the Board 
 resolved to divide the first and second premiums 
 equally between them. Mr. T. "W. Richards was 
 at this meeting elected the architect. 
 
 As neither plan exactly met the views of the 
 Committee and the Board, they were at this 
 meeting referred back to the Committee to report 
 a revised plan, accompanied by proposals from 
 contractors for the completion of the same. 
 
 Under the supervision of the Committee, Mr. 
 Richards proceeded to prepare a revised plan; 
 and on the 28th of February, 1871, it was laid 
 before the Board, together with the proposals 
 and estimates of thirteen contractors. 
 
 The Board resolved to adopt the plan, and 
 awarded the contract to Messrs. Wm. Struthers 
 & Sons, for the sum of $231,900, the building to 
 be completed by the 1st of August, 1872. 
 
 Of the manner in which the architect has exe- 
 cuted his work as an artist, you to-day can form 
 your own opinion ; but of his energy, devotion, 
 and conscientiousness, which have contributed 
 so much to the general result, the members of the 
 
15 
 
 Committee who have been in constant inter- 
 course with him are the best, as they are the 
 most willing, witnesses. 
 
 At the meeting of the Board held March 7th, 
 1871, a Building Committee was appointed, con- 
 sisting of Messrs. Sellers, Cresson, Fraley, Henry, 
 "Welsh, Browne, and Merrick; and on the 15th 
 of June, 1871, the corner stone of the new build- 
 ing was laid with appropriate ceremonies. On 
 the 17th of September, 1872, the building as it 
 now stands was accepted by the Committee from 
 the contractor, and the work of completing the 
 furnishing for its intended purpose has been for- 
 warded as rapidly as possible, under the super- 
 vision of the architect. During the construc- 
 tion it was found necessary to make certain 
 additions amounting to $4010 t 4 o 6 q; so that the 
 cost of the entire building, exclusive of the 
 special fittings required for the different labora- 
 tories, museums, cabinets, and the furniture, has 
 been $235,910 T 4 oV 
 
 The design of the building is what is known 
 as Collegiate Gothic. The structure consists of 
 a main central building, with connecting eastern 
 and western wings, which are completed by 
 towers. 
 
 The front is on Locust Street, and extends 
 254 feet in length, by a depth of 102 feet 2 
 inches. These measurements are exclusive of 
 towers, bay windows, buttresses, &c. By the 
 projection of the central building there is an ad- 
 dition to the depth at that point of 21 feet 10 
 
16 
 
 inches; the whole depth at the centre being 124 
 feet. The western wing has been arranged for 
 the use of the Department of Arts, the eastern 
 for that of the Department of Science, whilst 
 certain portions of the centre building are in- 
 tended for the common use of both departments, 
 such as the Chapel, Library, Assembly-room, &c. 
 Beside these, the building contains sixteen rooms, 
 devoted to instruction in Chemistry and its appli- 
 cations, four to Physics, six to Geology and Min- 
 ing, four to Civil and Mechanical Engineering, 
 three to Drawing, three to Mathematics, one each 
 to English Literature, History, Intellectual and 
 Moral Philosophy, Greek, Latin, French, Ger- 
 man, Rhetoric, and Oratory. The Laboratories 
 have been fitted up with the most complete 
 modern apparatus and models; museums and 
 other approved means of illustration have been 
 abundantly provided. 
 
 The object of the Trustees has been to con- 
 struct a building which would give the largest 
 and most convenient accommodation for the pur- 
 poses of instruction in both departments. Ac- 
 cording to the present system of instruction in 
 the Application of Science to the Arts, a large 
 number of rooms is required to illustrate fully 
 the various processes ; and the Committee have 
 not hesitated for such purposes to provide accom- 
 modations which they believe are as ample as 
 those to be found in any similar institution in 
 this country. Such arrangements are necessarily 
 
17 
 
 costly, but the constant desire of the Trustees 
 has been to do this work thoroughly and well. 
 
 While such extensive arrangements have been 
 made for instruction in the new Department of 
 Science, the Committee has not neglected the 
 claims of the other department, the oldest in the 
 University, that of Arts. Large recitation and 
 lecture-rooms, well-lighted and ventilated, have 
 been provided for the classes who attend the in- 
 struction given by the professors in this Depart- 
 ment. All that has been done has been under- 
 taken with a view of affording to young men the 
 best opportunity of receiving the highest train- 
 ing in the various branches of a liberal education. 
 
 In order to carry out fully the intentions of 
 the Trustees, the older department has been im- 
 proved, enlarged, and rendered more efficient ; 
 while a system of instruction has been carefully 
 matured for the new, based upon the experience 
 of the most successful schools of science in the 
 country, and differing in some respects from any. 
 To insure the success of all our plans, gentlemen 
 of the highest reputation as men of science have 
 been selected as professors in the new school, and 
 they are now giving their zealous co-operation in 
 completing our work. 
 
 But something more is needed besides a com- 
 modious building and a learned and zealous body 
 of professors. The expenditure of money, where 
 preparations have been made upon so liberal a 
 scale, must necessarily be large. The funds re- 
 quired for the erection and furnishing of the 
 
18 
 
 building were obtained by creating a mortgage 
 of $300,000 upon all the property of the Univer- 
 sity. It was expected that this debt would be 
 discharged whenever the Ninth Street property 
 could be disposed of, and it is believed this will 
 be accomplished at an early day. It was hoped 
 that the largely increased expenditure which the 
 new course of instruction will entail upon us 
 would be supplied by our endowment fund, hut I 
 regret to say this is not yet what we had hoped 
 for ; we feel assured, however, that, having now 
 provided ample accommodations and large facili- 
 ties for instruction, the necessary means for car- 
 rying on our work in a liberal manner will not be 
 withheld. 
 
 And now, Mr. Provost and gentlemen of the 
 faculties, I hand over our work to your care and 
 use, and, in so doing, permit me to thank you for 
 the assistance you have thus far rendered us, and 
 to promise for you, in advance, the thanks of all 
 men, as the importance of your labors and the 
 zeal with which you discharge your duties be- 
 come apparent to them. 
 
19 
 
 PROVOST’S ADDRESS. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen 
 
 of the Board of Trustees : — 
 
 The Faculties of the Department of Arts and 
 of the Department of Science desire to join most 
 heartily in the congratulations which are so fit- 
 ting on this auspicious occasion. What has been 
 to many of us a long-cherished dream has at last 
 assumed the shape of a living, actual reality. 
 
 To-day we come before the world with the 
 formal announcement that we have here at last a 
 true University, complete in all its parts, in 
 which men may receive in all the various depart- 
 ments of human knowledge that training and 
 liberal culture which shall fit them to be the 
 leaders and guides of their fellow-men. Such 
 an event is not only memorable in the history of 
 the University, but it is also one, if rightly ap- 
 prehended, of great significance in the history of 
 the community in which we live. For, if it be 
 true that we have here and now a University able 
 and ready to do the work which such an institu- 
 tion should do, and the people of Philadelphia 
 are fully impressed with that belief, then, indeed, 
 it is not easy to exaggerate the importance of 
 the event, or over-estimate the far-reaching re- 
 sults of what has been done, to us and to those 
 who are to come after us. 
 
20 
 
 The work of which we celebrate to-day the 
 completion was begun, gentlemen, by your pre- 
 decessors one hundred and seventeen years ago, 
 for the germ which your labors have developed 
 is found in the plan of the “ College or Seminary 
 of Universal Learning,” chartered in 1755. In 
 its earlier years, as was natural, the fruit borne 
 by the tree which sprang from that germ was not 
 very abundant, but, such a^ it was, it was the 
 choicest then grown on American soil. 
 
 In 1765, that illustrious body, the Medical 
 Faculty of the University — illustrious from the 
 fame of its founders and teachers, and illustrious 
 from the great number of eminent men who, for 
 more than a century, have received their earliest 
 professional training from it — was organized. 
 Still later, in 1789, the trustees, keeping in full 
 view the University idea, established another 
 learned Faculty, that of the Law Department. 
 It needed but one more link to complete the 
 circle of the human sciences (for with Theology, 
 Scientia divina , our charter forbade us to inter- 
 meddle), and that was a department in which 
 the sciences of nature should be taught in their 
 applications to the arts of life. The organization 
 of such a department has seemed to you not 
 only the natural outgrowth of the true Univer- 
 sity principle, but as eminently fitting for the 
 needs of the times. 
 
 We celebrate to-day not merely your fulfil- 
 ment of the promise held out by our earliest 
 charter, but, when you dedicate this noble build- 
 
21 
 
 in g to the use of the two Faculties, we gladly 
 hail it as the strongest proof of the earnestness 
 of your desire, that that promise shall he kept in 
 the largest and most liberal way. What has 
 been done in the erection of this building to aid 
 us to make our work here true, and real, and 
 fruitful, each one who hears me to-day may 
 judge for himself. 
 
 My colleagues and myself know something of 
 the unwearied zeal and devotion you have brought 
 to the accomplishment of this task. We know 
 that you have given us here convenient means of 
 instruction unsurpassed anywhere in this coun- 
 try. We know that you have been in constant 
 and active sympathy with all our needs, and our 
 hearts gratefully respond to all that has been 
 done for us. We are fully sensible that the 
 hopes which you cherish for the success of your 
 great enterprise rest mainly on your firm belief, 
 that we, who are the teachers here, are imbued 
 with something of your own earnestness and en- 
 thusiasm. You have rightly judged; we shall 
 help you to reap the reward you seek — the only 
 possible reward for such unselfish toil — the con- 
 sciousness that those for whose sake it has all 
 been done are enjoying fully the fruit of your 
 labors. 
 
 We accept, then, the trust which you have im- 
 posed upon us, and which you have given us such 
 ample means of executing. To these stately 
 halls an unexpectedly large number of } r oung 
 men, attracted by what you have done for them, 
 
22 
 
 have already come ; and there is no reason to 
 doubt that an increasing number will follow them 
 when it is known how liberally you have pro- 
 vided for an ever-increasing need. Be it ours to 
 train these young men in a knowledge and love 
 of Truth, of Bight, and of Duty. Let us not 
 merely unfold to them the mysteries of nature, 
 but let us teach them something of that grand 
 central figure in nature’s realm, of man, his capa- 
 cities, his history, his responsibilities, his destiny, 
 that so they may be led to attain to that higher 
 knowledge concerning the power and beneficence 
 of the Almighty Being by whom and in whom 
 both nature and man live, and move, and have 
 their being. Thus shall we best complete the 
 work which you have begun, and erect the most 
 enduring monument to commemorate your labors. 
 
23 
 
 ADDRESS OF PROFESSOR LESLEY, 
 
 Dean of the Faculty of the Department of Science. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees: — 
 
 ’Whatever is good and beautiful is worthy of 
 respect and atfection without comparison; and 
 the good and beautiful are of all ages, the com- 
 mon property of mankind, of common origin, 
 and harmonious. Philosophy, Belles-lettres, and 
 Physical Science have always been fruit of the 
 same tree. To observe, to speculate, to experi- 
 ment, and to construct are cognate and coequal 
 faculties of mind. In the dim dawn of history 
 we discern their complicated phenomena. No 
 man was ever more practical than Confucius the 
 father of Chinese letters. Medicine, Chemistry, 
 Architecture, Dentistry, Mining, Engineering, 
 and Metallurgy flourished in Egypt under the 
 influence of the most elaborate ritual of religion, 
 while Pentaour was inscribing his immortal poem 
 on the walls of Carnac. Greece was not more 
 glorified by Socrates, Plato, and Herodotus, than 
 by Aristotle, Anaximander, Democritus, and the 
 physicists who made collections of fossils, and 
 engineers who mined the lead veins of Laurium. 
 Poetry, history, chemistry, and the principles of 
 the mechanic arts flourished equally and together 
 under the califfs of Bagdad and the sheriffs of 
 Cordova. And when the long and slow proces- 
 
24 
 
 sion of human knowledge reached western and 
 northern Europe, gathering in its march the trea- 
 sures of fifty centuries to deposit them in univer- 
 sities and museums, the laboratories and factories 
 of the modern Christian world, they were carried 
 together by the same beasts of burden, and guided 
 by the same pioneers. In distributing the prizes 
 of renown, what judge could decide between 
 the merits of Paracelsus and Palissy, between 
 Boehme and Boerhaave ; between Eeuchlin and 
 Erasmus on one hand, and Verulam, Da Vinci, 
 Buonarotti, and Vasari on the other? Are not 
 the noblest men of our own day equally brilliant 
 for imagination and science ; for the wisdom of 
 practical life, and that love of fair expression 
 which makes the artist and the scholar? The 
 world is mature ; it feels its constitutional 
 powers ; it pants for action ; it devises and exe- 
 cutes a thousand monuments ; it criticises nature, 
 subjects the elements, demands service and use 
 of all things, inspires matter with its own ideas, 
 and sets the surface of the earth to rights for the 
 comfort and convenience of all. This is its sci- 
 ence. These are its physical sciences. 
 
 But does the manly time forget its boyhood’s 
 days ? When was ever so much loving thought 
 bestowed on the records of bygone times ? 
 Christendom resounds with poetry. The nine- 
 teenth century sings at its work. The old the- 
 ology is as fresh and dear as ever to human 
 hearts. Homer and Virgil can never be sup- 
 planted by Tennyson, Whittier, Lowell, and Long- 
 
25 
 
 fellow. More scholars now busy themselves with 
 the ancient languages than in any former age, 
 and translations of the choicest literature of India 
 and China are added to gratify the classical taste 
 of an age most wrongfully accused of forgetting 
 its old sweet joys to smother its soul in a slough 
 of gross materialism. This age of new-born 
 sciences is also an age of philosophies born again. 
 That apparent opposition to science, of which we 
 sometimes hear complaints, is neither more nor 
 less than the inextinguishable affection of the 
 intellect of our race for all noble thinking, for ail 
 exquisite expression, for the ideal and the abso- 
 lute outside the limits of experimental demon- 
 stration. Darwinism itself is but an unconscious 
 inward reaction against the supremacy of the 
 microscope of the naturalist and the chemist’s 
 scales. After all our nomenclatures have been 
 formulated ; after all the laws of nature have 
 been proved by facts, fresh outbursts of the 
 heart of the scholar astonish the sciences, and 
 the deep fires of aesthetic sentiment are seen pre- 
 serving their activity. Men will always be poets. 
 The University will never abandon its “ humani- 
 ties.” No incomings of physical science can 
 exile or dethrone learning. But as by the varied 
 immigrations to this new world a higher composite 
 society obtains existence, so the harmonious in- 
 terfusion of learning and science lifts the modern 
 University into a region of thought, sentiment, 
 and power above all that former ages have 
 thought possible. 
 
 3 
 
26 
 
 Gentlemen, in enlarging the instruction of this 
 institution, you have obeyed the wish of the times. 
 In doubling the range of its curriculum you have 
 placed it in harmony with the spirit of education 
 elsewhere ; you have answered a lawful call of 
 this large city, and of the State to which we owe 
 allegiance. Nor have you moved in the matter 
 a day too soon. The want of an adequate and 
 efficient apparatus for training the young scienti- 
 fically for business, as chemists, architects, en- 
 gineers, geologists, metallurgists, superintendents 
 of transportation, inventors, and discoverers of 
 new forces and applicable powers in the material 
 world, here in Philadelphia, has been emphasized 
 already by the conspicuous success of our New 
 Department of Science. You cannot go back; 
 the ships have been burnt ; the enterprise must 
 be pursued greatly ; all eyes are already watch- 
 ing your progress. 
 
 This is no new idea, however, but only a fresh 
 effort to realize the original thoughts of the 
 founders of this University. Philadelphia for 
 many years has been the acknowledged principal 
 centre of physical science in America. Prom 
 the time of Franklin, names of distinction have 
 been connected with its name ; some of them, 
 like Rittenhouse, Ewing, Smith, Bache, and Hare, 
 were connected personally with the University. 
 The principles of physical science have always 
 been taught within its walls. Before the break- 
 ing out of the late war, a special course of scien- 
 tific instruction was provided for those students 
 
27 
 
 who wished to fit themselves for the practical 
 arts. But no adequate accommodations could he 
 furnished for the purpose in the now deserted 
 building in Ninth Street. 
 
 Here a new and finer career is offered. We 
 have to thank the generous enthusiasm of en- 
 lightened citizens and the persevering courage of 
 the Board of Trustees for making that possible 
 which has been a long-cherished dream of the 
 Alumni of our venerable college. Now, at last, 
 we have room to work. Five chemical labora- 
 tories have been given to us. Two museums are 
 provided for the students’ use, with 15,000 choice 
 specimens of minerals and fossils. We have 
 already begun to organize collections of building 
 stones, coals, ores, furnace products, whatever 
 can illustrate work in the field, in the furnace, 
 and in the mine. We are provided with rooms 
 for drawing, for the construction of model build- 
 ings and machinery, and the processes of metal- 
 lurgy. 
 
 It is true that months of labor are still de- 
 manded for bringing this equipment to its high- 
 est efficiency, and we need a hundred thousand 
 dollars more to supplement it with a working 
 physical laboratory, and a complete museum of 
 comparative zoology and American palaeonto- 
 logy, such as is ready to be furnished on call from 
 the great collections of James Hall, as well as to 
 endow chairs of fossil botany and zoology, of 
 railroad transportation, etc., to make our faculty 
 complete. But the pride and sagacity of the 
 
28 
 
 business men of Philadelphia may be relied on 
 not to stop short of the ideal perfection of so im- 
 portant an instrumentality for the prosperity of 
 the city. 
 
 Gentlemen, none in our age needs to be re- 
 minded that while the acts of duty are fugitive, 
 their consequences penetrate time to the remotest 
 limits. How exalted then should be our views ! 
 how far-reaching our plans ! how wide and deep 
 our comprehension of the useful, and how abso- 
 lute our personal loyalty to the happy and honora- 
 ble responsibilities of the times in which God 
 casts our lot ! Among the monuments our fathers 
 built, this University is one ; and so long as it 
 can grow, like a royal palace of the middle ages, 
 by the commodious and splendid additions of 
 successive dynasties, we also may partake in the 
 work of our fathers, and, like them, be benefac- 
 tors of posterity. 
 
29 
 
 Hon. James E. Ludlow, LL.D., then made 
 the presentation of the Memorial "Windows and 
 Portraits to the Trustees, and in doing so said: — 
 
 Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees: — 
 
 Auspicious was that day upon which the Trus- 
 tees of the University of Pennsylvania deter- 
 mined to erect this building. With wise fore- 
 thought they selected this spot, and the City 
 Councils, with a liberality which will always be 
 commended, agreed to sell this tract of land to 
 this institution upon most liberal terms. As if 
 by magic the walls of this beautiful edifice have 
 been reared, and now it stands an ornament to 
 the city, and to be dedicated to the cause of en- 
 lightened education. Massive as is this struc- 
 ture, something more had to be accomplished. 
 To be complete, its history, in part at least, must 
 be written upon its walls ; this the friends of the 
 institution determined to do, and that work has 
 also been completed. The thought was a happy 
 one, for among the living you may look for the re- 
 production of the scenes and men of the past, not 
 only upon the printed page, but also on canvass, 
 in marble, and other works of art. Here, and at 
 a glance, shall the visitor learn of the past, as it 
 is inseparably connected with this institution. 
 Here, as the eye falls upon each window or upon 
 the walls of the building, the mind will instinc- 
 
80 
 
 tively revert to other days ; a familiar name or 
 form suggests at once, not only the actor hut that 
 which he accomplished, and thus, by the well- 
 known law of association, history shall be again 
 written as it is connected with this institution. 
 
 In the brief time allotted to me for the prepa- 
 ration of this discourse, I can do little more than 
 present to you a sketch of the men whose por- 
 traits adorn these walls, of the meaning of these 
 memorial windows, and of the deeds which are 
 here perpetuated. 
 
 The subject will be treated in its historical and 
 chronological order. 
 
 And first of all let us turn to the Franklin 
 memorial window — the gift of the Alumni of the 
 institution, in honor of the founder of the College 
 of Philadelphia. 
 
 Here and now it is only necessary to mention 
 the name of Benjamin Franklin. Who he was, 
 and what he did for science, for his country, and 
 for the world is known to every boy in the land. 
 What did he do for us is the point to which we 
 shall direct your attention. 
 
 In 1749, by the direct efforts of this illustrious 
 man, his friends subscribed £800 for the endow- 
 ment of an academy. A building had been 
 erected in Fourth Street below Arch ; it was used 
 for the school, and it stood until very recently, 
 when it was removed, and in its place the pre- 
 sent structure was built. 
 
 How well many of you, with the speaker, re- 
 member the old Academy; there we received our 
 
81 
 
 earliest education, and if we did not always re- 
 joice to enter its walls, it was not because its 
 earliest history was not dear to us. 
 
 In the year 1755, a charter was granted for the 
 “ College, Academy, and Charity School of Phi- 
 ladelphia.” An examination will establish the 
 fact that this institution was the sixth in order 
 of age of all the colleges in the United States, 
 William and Mary, Harvard, Yale, King’s (now 
 Columbia), at New York, and Princeton being 
 the only seniors. Franklin was not only a Trus- 
 tee until 1790, the year of his death, but when in 
 the country devoted his time, his talents, and his 
 energies to this institution. Even the early re- 
 cord books yet remain in his handwriting as 
 Secretary of the College. Look upon that por- 
 trait and behold your earliest benefactor and 
 friend. What a flood of history pours in upon 
 us from that memorial window! 
 
 See how upon the left hand the artist has re- 
 produced the past with its wonderful story. 
 
 There is the coat of arms of the Penn family, 
 by whom the first charter was granted, a represen- 
 tation of the devastation produced by lightning, 
 and, last of all, a picture of the hand-press used 
 by Franklin in London. 
 
 Now gaze upon the right-hand side of the 
 window, and the present is before you. 
 
 There is the coat of arms of the Common- 
 wealth of Pennsylvania, by which the present 
 charter was granted. 
 
 Look again, and you will not see the simple 
 
82 
 
 kite handled by Franklin, but a representation of 
 the telegraph — electricity made useful to man, 
 and in place of the old hand-press you will ob- 
 serve that most wonderful production of human 
 genius, the last improved steam printing press. 
 I am informed by a most competent judge, that 
 upon the machines now in use in any of our first- 
 class printing establishments, more than the 
 largest edition of any newspaper published in 
 Franklin’s time can be printed in one minute. 
 
 Reflect upon the past and the present, think 
 only of electricity and of the press, and then tell 
 me if this window does not beautifully, wisely, 
 and justly, do honor to the memory of the founder 
 of this College, the immortal Benjamin Franklin. 
 
 From the window we now turn to the portrait 
 of Rev. William Smith, D.D., the first Provost 
 of the College. The foremost scholar of his day 
 in this province, it was no wonder that Franklin 
 called him to the high office of Provost in the 
 year 1755, and although his active duties ceased 
 because of an attempted repeal of the charter in 
 1779, he held office until the year 1791. The 
 history of Dr. Smith is interwoven with the his- 
 tory of the College ; as a preacher he was distin- 
 guished for eloquence, as a teacher he was un- 
 surpassed, as a man he was not only indefatigable, 
 but what he designed to do he did with a will, 
 and with such a consummate skill that he gene- 
 rally accomplished his object. 
 
 Notwithstanding the unfortunate difficulties 
 which at one time embarrassed the Provost and 
 
83 
 
 the institution, the minutes and acts of the Board 
 of Trustees prove that his great merit was known, 
 and, to a certain extent, appreciated. Not only 
 did Dr. Smith devote his richly cultivated mind 
 and vast energy to the instruction of youth and 
 to the every-day wants of the College, but, by 
 request of the Trustees, he went abroad, and in 
 England raised £8000 for the institution in the 
 years 1762-3 ; while by other means and in other 
 places he added to this large sum £12,000, thus 
 by his individual efforts adding £20,000 to the 
 funds of the College. 
 
 As may be supposed, students flocked to the 
 city, and in 1773 as many as three hundred pupils 
 were instructed in the collegiate, medical, and 
 academic schools. 
 
 ITe must not forget now to turn our attention 
 to another memorial window. It has been erected 
 in honor to the Penn family. What more suita- 
 ble place than this could have been selected to 
 perpetuate the memory of William Penn? Of 
 comprehensive views, boundless liberality, large 
 benevolence, and unswerving integrity, William 
 Penn was a man imbued with deep religious 
 convictions ; he acted upon principle, and sought 
 by the gentlest means within his power to do 
 that which before had been accomplished only by 
 the sword. 
 
 Men may differ as to particular creeds and 
 forms of faith. The founder of this Common- 
 wealth believed in and acted upon a system of 
 faith which requires a strong intellect to com- 
 
34 
 
 prebend, for, while it dispenses with mere form, 
 without adventitious aid it appeals directly to 
 the intellect, the heart, and the soul of man, as it 
 deals with the unseen and with things eternal. 
 
 Here in this metropolis, in the city which he 
 founded and loved, and in this building dedicated 
 to the cause of human knowledge, let the name 
 of the founder of the Commonwealth be held in 
 reverence, and his fame be everlasting. 
 
 Of Thomas Penn, a son of William, we must 
 here speak, for the College owes him a debt of 
 gratitude it can never repay. Benjamin Frank- 
 lin and Dr. Smith labored with all their might, 
 but even the efforts of these giants might have 
 failed but for the aid of Thomas Penn. 
 
 The influence of this gentleman was freely 
 exerted with persons of rank and fortune in Eng- 
 land, when, in 1762-3, Dr. Smith raised a large 
 sum of money there, while this munificent patron 
 of learning contributed £4500 in money, and 2500 
 acres of land in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. 
 
 Hand down to posterity the name of the father 
 and son. What they did for mankind will live 
 when the sword shall be forgotten ; when the 
 nations of the earth shall assemble as one 
 brotherhood, and when their several emblems of 
 power and authority shall gracefully descend 
 before the advancing banner of the Prince of 
 Peace. 
 
 There is another name almost forgotten, and 
 another window in the main hall, by the stairway, 
 soon to be finished, which is to be constructed in 
 
35 
 
 honor of a man whose modest merit cannot, by 
 the learned world, be unknown. When, in 1746, 
 the wonderful properties of electricity were com- 
 paratively unknown, four young men, Benjamin 
 Franklin, Thomas Hopkinson, Philip Syng, and 
 another, devoted their leisure moments to the in- 
 vestigation of this wonderful subject ; each made 
 discoveries, and henceforth the name of Ebene- 
 zer Kinnersley became familiar to the scien- 
 tific men of Europe. 
 
 Dr. Franklin, the friend of Kinnersley, who 
 knew his eminent worth, induced him to accept 
 the position of head master in the English school, 
 at the College of Philadelphia, in 1753, and two 
 years afterwards, to wit, on the 11th of July, 
 1755, he was chosen professor of the English 
 tongue and of oratory, a position, I believe, after- 
 wards held by such men as Rev. Dr. Jacob 
 Duche, Rev. Dr. William Rogers, and our own 
 lamented Henry Reed. 
 
 Professor Kinnersley continued to hold his 
 professorship until October 17, 1772, when his 
 failing health caused him to resign his office, and 
 on February 2, 1773, the Trustees passed a reso- 
 lution regretting his loss to the College. Dr. 
 Smith, in his eulogy on Franklin, names Profes- 
 sor Kinnersley as the third professor, and then 
 adds, “ there is in the experiment-room an elec- 
 trical apparatus, the property of one of the pro- 
 fessors, chiefly his own invention, and perhaps 
 the completest of its kind in the world.” This 
 apparatus was afterward purchased by the Trus- 
 
86 
 
 tees, and a part is, I think, still preserved. Dr. 
 Priestly, in his history of electricity (pp. 187- 
 190), writing in 1767, says: “While we are at- 
 tending to what was done by I)r. Franklin at 
 Philadelphia, we must by no means overlook 
 what was done by Mr. Kinnersley, the doctor’s 
 friend,” and again “ some of his observations, of 
 which an account is given in the doctor’s letters, 
 are very curious, and some later accounts which 
 he himself has transmitted to England seem to 
 promise that, if he continues his electrical in- 
 quiries, his name, after that of his friend, will be 
 second to few in the history of electricity.” 
 
 Born in England on the 30th day of Novem- 
 ber, 1711, he, with his father, a Baptist clergy- 
 man, came to America and settled in Lower 
 Dublin, Pa. He was ordained as a Baptist minis- 
 ter in 1743, but was never the pastor of a church. 
 He died on the 4th day of July, A. D. 1778, at 
 the age of 67 years. His remains are interred in 
 the cemetery attached to the Lower Dublin Bap- 
 tist Church. 
 
 It has thus come to pass, that in this new 
 building, and in an institution in which he had 
 once been an honored instructor, and to the pros- 
 perity of which he had so greatly contributed, a 
 grateful generation, appreciating his modest 
 worth, perpetuates his name, and deems it a pri- 
 vilege so to do. 
 
 At this point in these remarks, we pause to say 
 that the windows and portraits heretofore speci- 
 
37 
 
 tied, illustrate the pre-revolutionary history of 
 this institution. 
 
 Next in order of time must he named the 
 great mechanician and astronomer, David Rit- 
 tenhouse. This very remarkable man deserves 
 something more than a passing notice. 
 
 He was not only an American, but a native 
 of this county, and was born upon the 8th of 
 April, 1732, in the then township of Roxborough, 
 now in the Twenty-first Ward of the city of 
 Philadelphia. His great-grandfather, William, 
 established, about the year 1690, the first paper- 
 mill in British America, upon a small stream 
 called “ Paper-Mill Run,” in Roxborough. When 
 the subject of this sketch was seventeen years 
 of age, he made a wooden clock, and soon after 
 constructed a twenty-four hour clock. 
 
 Such mechanical genius could not be over- 
 looked or neglected, and his wise father soon 
 purchased for him such tools as were required in 
 the business of clock-making. 
 
 This natural-born mechanic and man of real 
 genius, while following his pursuits, studied 
 mathematics, and soon invented his celebrated 
 Orrery or Planetarium . When this wonderful 
 piece of mechanism passed by purchase, I believe, 
 into the possession of Princeton College, its re- 
 moval was regarded as a public calamity, and a 
 new one was ordered by the Legislature of the 
 State, to be paid for at the public expense. 
 
 It was presented to the College, and now re- 
 mains in its possession. When the British occu- 
 
pied Philadelphia, Sir ‘William Howe detailed a 
 special guard to protect this valuable instrument 
 from possible injury. 
 
 On the 7th of January, 1769, the American 
 Philosophical Society appointed the great astron- 
 omer one of thirteen gentlemen to observe the 
 transit of V enus over the sun’s disk, which was to 
 take place on the 3d day of June, 1769. 
 
 An observatory was erected at Horriton, 
 Montgomery County, chiefly for this purpose. 
 Doctor William Smith, and John Lukens, the 
 Surveyor-General of the province, were appointed 
 to assist Mr. Rittenhouse. Dr. Rush, in his eu- 
 logy upon Rittenhouse, says : — 
 
 “ We are naturally led here to take a view of 
 our philosopher, with his associates, in their pre- 
 paration to observe a phenomenon which had 
 never been seen but twice before by any inhabi- 
 tant of our earth, and which would never be seen 
 again by any person then living, and on which 
 depended very important astronomical conse- 
 quences. 
 
 “ The night before the long-expected day, was 
 probably passed in a degree of solicitude which 
 precluded sleep. How great must have been their 
 joy when they beheld the morning sun, and the 
 whole horizon without a cloud. 
 
 “ In pensive silence and trembling anxiety they 
 waited for the predicted moment of observation. 
 It came, and brought with it all that had been 
 wished for and expected by those who saw it. In 
 our philosopher it excited in the instant of one of 
 
39 
 
 the contacts of the planet with the sun, an emo- 
 tion of delight so exquisite and powerful as to 
 induce fainting.” “This,” says Dr. Rush, “will 
 readily be believed by those who have known the 
 extent of pleasure which attends the discovery or 
 first perception of Truth.” 
 
 So great was the fame of our astronomer, that 
 we find him employed, at brief intervals, from 
 1763 to 1785, in establishing boundary lines, and 
 fixing the limits of great Provinces and States. 
 
 He was the Treasurer of this State for twelve 
 years, and a trustee of the loan office for ten. 
 
 In 1791, Dr. Rittenhouse (who had then re- 
 ceived the degrees of A.M. and LL.D., and who 
 had succeeded Dr. Franklin as President of the 
 American Philosophical Society) was a trustee 
 of the College ; he had held office as far back as 
 1779. 
 
 Upon the 7th day of January, 1780, he was 
 elected Vice-Provost of the University, having 
 been appointed Professor of Astronomy Decem- 
 ber 16th, 1779. Dr. Rittenhouse resigned these 
 positions on the 18th day of April, 1782. 
 
 Ten years afterward, in 1792, George ’Washing- 
 ton appointed Dr. R. the first Director of the 
 Mint, and the first coining-press ever constructed 
 here was made after his design. 
 
 In 1778, J efferson, in a letter written to Rit- 
 tenhouse, says: “You should consider that the 
 world has but one Rittenhouse, and that it never 
 had one before. The amazing mechanical repre- 
 sentation of the solar system (referring to the 
 
40 
 
 Planetarium or Orrery), which you conceived and 
 executed, has never been surpassed by any hut 
 the works of which it is a copy.” 
 
 In his Notes on Virginia , written in 1781, he 
 says : “In war, we produced a Washington. * * * 
 In physics, a Franklin. # # We have sup- 
 
 posed Mr. Bittenhouse second to no astronomer 
 living ; that in genius he must he the first, be- 
 cause self-taught. As an artist he has exhibited 
 as great a proof of mechanical genius as the world 
 ever produced. He has not indeed made a world, 
 but he has by imitation approached nearer its 
 Maker than any man who has lived from the cre- 
 ation to this day.” This great man died at his 
 house, at the northwest corner of Seventh and 
 Arch Streets, on Sunday, the 26th day of June, 
 1796, in the 65th year of his age. 
 
 How well yonder memorial window, the gift of 
 the alumni, perpetuates the name and fame of our 
 illustrious Yice-Provost you may judge, when I 
 tell you that you will find pictured there the coin- 
 ing-press, the Orrery, and a representation of the 
 transit of Y enus. What more can be said of the 
 man, of his genius, or of his deeds, all insepara- 
 bly associated with the University of Pennsyl- 
 vania ! 
 
 The Bev. John Ewing, D.D., whose portrait 
 looks down upon you from these walls, was the 
 first Provost of the University, as distinguished 
 from the College, under the charter of 1779, and 
 he held that position until the year 1802. 
 
 This most distinguished Presbyterian clergy- 
 
41 
 
 man was born in Nottingham township, Cecil 
 County, Md., June 22, 1732. It has been said of 
 him that in mathematics and astronomy, in Latin, 
 Greek, Hebrew, and Logic, in Metaphysics and 
 moral Philosophy, he was probably more accom- 
 plished than any man of his day in the United 
 States. As a mathematician, the remark is abso- 
 lutely true. When Dr. William Smith, the Pro- 
 vost, visited England, Dr. Ewing, at the age of 
 26, was employed to instruct the philosophical 
 classes in the College of Philadelphia. 
 
 In 1773 he visited England, and the University 
 of Edinburgh conferred upon him the degree 
 of D.D. 
 
 My friend, Horatio Gates Jones, Esq., of our 
 bar, to whom I am indebted for many facts and 
 dates connected with the most prominent men of 
 *the University, calls my attention to an anec- 
 dote which had escaped my observation ; it is 
 worthy of notice. When Dr. Ewing visited 
 England, he met the celebrated Dr. Johnson at 
 the house of Mr. Dilly, the wealthy and hospita- 
 ble bookseller of London. Dr. Johnson was bit- 
 ter against the colonies, and, as usual, was ex- 
 ceedingly crabbed and stern. The contest with 
 America came up for discussion, and when Dr. 
 Ewing, the only American present, was appealed 
 to, he began to defend the colonies. Dr. John- 
 son’s feelings were aroused, and the epithets 
 rebels and scoundrels were freely applied to the 
 colonists. At length Dr. Johnson rudely said to 
 Dr. Ewing, “Sir, what do you know in America? 
 
42 
 
 You never read; you have no books there.” 
 “ Pardon me, sir,” replied Dr. Ewing, “ we have 
 read the Rambler” This civility instantly paci- 
 fied the Doctor, and they thereupon sat up until 
 midnight in amiable, eloquent, and interesting 
 conversation. Dr. Ewing died Sept. 8th, 1802, 
 aged 71. 
 
 The vacant Provostship was not filled until 
 the year 1806, when John McDowell, LL.D., of 
 Pennsylvania, was elected to the professorship of 
 natural philosophy, and at the end of the year, or 
 early in 1807, he was elected Provost. I have 
 been unable to find any detail of facts in connec- 
 tion with this gentleman ; it is certain, however, 
 that his health was feeble, and in four years he 
 was obliged to resign. 
 
 His attachment, says Dr. Wood, in his history 
 of the University, remained unabated. He sup-* 
 plied a temporary vacancy caused by the resigna- 
 tion of his successor, and by his will he bequeathed 
 his books, which form a valuable portion of the 
 library, to the institution. 
 
 Dr. Andrews, who had for nearly twenty years 
 (from 1791 to 1810) occupied the position of Vice- 
 Provost, and had been a professor from 1789, 
 was in December, 1810, elected Provost. He 
 died March 29th, 1813, at the age of 67 years. 
 He was a native of Maryland, and an ordained 
 minister of the Protestant Episcopal Church. At 
 seventeen he was sent to the College and Acad- 
 emy of Philadelphia, and graduated in 1765. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is described as a man 
 
43 
 
 of rare classical knowledge ; an indefatigable 
 worker, and an excellent teacher ; if not endowed 
 with the splendid genius, he was nevertheless 
 amply qualified to discharge those duties which 
 develop strength of mind, high-toned morality, 
 and solid learning. 
 
 In the order of time, and of succession, we now 
 mention the name of Rev. Frederick Beasley, 
 D.D. Born in 1777, near Edinton, S. C., he gra- 
 duated at Princeton, with high honor, in 1797. 
 Under Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith, he studied 
 theology. In 1801, he was ordained a deacon in 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church, by Bishop 
 Moore, of New York, and a priest in 1802. As 
 a minister, he officiated at Elizabethtown, N. J., 
 St. Peter’s, Albany, and St. Paul’s, Baltimore, 
 where he remained until July, 1813, when he ac- 
 cepted the position of Provost of the University. 
 The degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by 
 Columbia College and the University. Respected 
 and learned, Dr. Beasley continued to discharge 
 his duties for fifteen years. He resigned his 
 office, to accept a pastorate at Trenton, N. J. 
 Failing health, after a time, obliged him to retire 
 from active duty, but he devoted his leisure mo- 
 ments to literary and theological studies until his 
 sudden death, upon November 1, 1845. 
 
 When the University, strictly so called, was 
 established, the new trustees met in December, 
 1779, and steps were at once taken to organize 
 the schools. 
 
 J ames Cannon was appointed to the chair of 
 
44 
 
 mathematics. He in a few years resigned, and 
 then the name of Robert Patterson appears as his 
 successor in office. Subsequently a reorganiza- 
 tion took place, and in the department of arts five 
 separate schools were established, each being 
 placed under the care of a professor. The math- 
 ematical school fell to the lot of Robert Patter- 
 son, LL.D. For thirty-five years he held the 
 office. 
 
 When Dr. McDowell died, he (Dr. P.) united 
 to the chair of mathematics that of natural phi- 
 losophy, and in 1810 was elected Vice-Provost, in 
 the place of Dr. Andrews, who had been made 
 Provost ; he held this office from 1810 to 1813. 
 The subject of this sketch was an Irishman by 
 birth. He came here before the Revolution, in 
 1768 ; was an Assistant-Surgeon and Brigade 
 Major in the Revolution, from 1776 to 1778 ; and 
 he clung with the utmost tenacity to those pure 
 principles of republican government which have 
 made his name, and those of more than one of his 
 relatives and descendants, dear to the American 
 citizen. Dr. Patterson was the President of the 
 American Philosophical Society in 1819, and the 
 Director of the Mint from 1805 to 1824. In the 
 last-named year he died, aged 82. With a bright 
 intellect, and a mind clear enough to comprehend, 
 and accurate enough to master the most difficult 
 problems in mathematics, he was renowned for 
 his solidity of understanding and skill as a 
 teacher, and, when at an advanced age he retired, 
 
45 
 
 Ills resignation was followed with the regrets and 
 benedictions of the public. 
 
 It has been said of him “ that he united the 
 Christian with the philosopher, and at a good old 
 age went down to the grave with the full assu- 
 rance that he would rise again to a happier and 
 more exalted existence.” 
 
 The elder Patterson died, but before his death 
 he enjoyed a privilege which seldom falls to the 
 lot of man. He lived long enough to see his son 
 fill his place, and under his own eye perpetuate 
 his virtues, talents, and learning. 
 
 Dr. Robert M. Patterson, the son, was born in 
 this city, March 23d, 1787. He graduated at the 
 University, as a Bachelor of Arts, in 1804, and 
 in a few years later, as a Doctor of Medicine. 
 His professional studies were pursued in Paris 
 and London. 
 
 From 1813 to 1814, he was a Professor of Nat- 
 ural Philosophy in the University, and from 1814 
 to 1828 he filled the chairs of Mathematics, Nat- 
 ural Philosophy and Chemistry, and in the spring 
 of 1814 was elected Vice-Provost. In 1828, he 
 removed to Virginia, where, from 1828 to 1835, 
 he occupied, with distinction, the chair of Natural 
 Philosophy in the University of that State. 
 
 Returning to Philadelphia, Dr. P. accepted an 
 appointment as Director of the Mint, an office 
 he held from 1835 to 1851. He was elected Pre- 
 sident of the American Philosophical Society in 
 1845, and declined the position, but subsequently, 
 
46 
 
 in 1849, he was re-elected, and accepted the office. 
 He died on the 5th of September, 1854. 
 
 Dr. Patterson was a gifted man, and in mental 
 characteristics so evenly balanced as to render it 
 a difficult task to do justice to his memory. 
 
 As a teacher, one of his most distinguished 
 pupils, now a professor here, testifies to his great 
 capacity, while, as a lecturer on science, no less 
 a man than the late Doctor Dunglison consid- 
 ered him one of the most successful he ever 
 heard. 
 
 Dr. Patterson’s thoughts were clear and to the 
 point, his style eloquent, his analysis almost per- 
 fect, his learning abundant. He was, moreover, 
 a modest man, and avoided mere ostentation and 
 display. 
 
 In social life his conversation was charming, 
 while his home was a centre of cultivation, re- 
 finement, and love. It makes me sad to think 
 that of the group of five distinguished men, who 
 were accustomed to meet for social intercourse, 
 all are gone — Bethune, Dallas Bache, Dunglison, 
 Kane, and Patterson, have passed into another 
 world. 
 
 In 1828, Rev. Vm. H. DeLancy, D.D., was 
 elected Provost. 
 
 In the city of Philadelphia, it is hardly neces- 
 sary for me even to sketch the history of this 
 learned and godly man. My eye can almost see 
 the lofty spire of the church in which he minis- 
 tered, and my ear is even now entranced with the 
 music of its sweet chime of bells. 
 
47 
 
 For six years, and until 1834, he went in and 
 out before his pupils, many of whom live to-day, 
 and must well remember his lessons of wisdom, 
 replete with learning, his words of wise counsel, 
 his pious example. 
 
 In 1834, Dr. DeLancy was elected the Episco- 
 pal Bishop of the then diocese of Western New 
 York; from that period, and until the day of his 
 death, his name and fame became the property of 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 
 States. 
 
 Just here I must pause, and for a few moments 
 postpone my remarks concerning the man who 
 was the successor of Bishop De Lancy as the 
 Provost of this University. Presently I shall 
 speak of him. 
 
 And now we have reached a period in the his- 
 tory of the University, when it seems to me as 
 though I am about to speak, not of the dead, but 
 of the living, for the remaining portraits and me- 
 morial windows remind me of the men who were 
 the instructors of my youth, and whose names are 
 signed to my own diploma. 
 
 I can see them now as one by one they enter 
 the chapel, or sit in the class-room. 
 
 There was that very learned man, Henry Veth- 
 ake, LL.D., born in 1792, in the Colony of Ese- 
 quibo, Guiana, South America. He removed to 
 the United States at four years of age. Having 
 graduated at Columbia College, New York, he 
 studied law. For one year he taught mathema- 
 tics in Columbia College. In 1813, he filled the 
 
48 
 
 chairs of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at 
 Rutgers, N. J., and of Chemistry and Mathema- 
 tics at Princeton, from 1817 to 1821. Dr. Veth- 
 ake was also a professor at Dickinson College and 
 the University of New York, while at one time 
 he was the President of Washington College, Vir- 
 ginia, and in 1859, the Professor of Higher Math- 
 ematics in the Polytechnic College in this city. 
 He was a professor in the University of Pennsyl- 
 vania from 1836 to 1859, while he was also its 
 Viee-Provost in 1846, and finally from 1854 to 
 1859 was the Provost. As a man Dr. Vethake 
 was kind, considerate, and the very soul of honor, 
 and in the republic of letters he deserves a high 
 rank. As a mathematician he was most eminent, 
 while his knowledge in almost every branch of 
 human learning was profound. Did time permit, 
 it would be a labor of love to trace in detail the 
 history of this remarkable man, and prove by in- 
 contestable evidence that he is justly entitled to 
 the position assigned to him in this discourse. I 
 have, however, said enough, and that very delib- 
 erately and advisedly, to perpetuate his fame in 
 so far as it is possible on this occasion so to do. 
 
 There was Rev. Samuel Brown Wylie, D.D., 
 who was born in Ireland, May 21, 1773, graduated 
 at the University of Glasgow in 1797, and was 
 a professor in the Theological Seminary of the 
 Reformed Presbyterian Church from 1809 to 
 1851. 
 
 Dr. Wylie was a Vice-Provost from 1834 to 
 1845, and he held the Professorship of Ancient 
 
49 
 
 Languages from 1838 to 1845, when he resigned 
 and was elected an Emeritus Professor. "When 
 I knew this Vice-Provost he was advanced in 
 years, hut his mind was as bright as ever, and 
 his Irish heart gushed out in expressions of ten- 
 derness and affection. 
 
 If he was not brilliant he was strong, and, as a 
 teacher, his instruction was most valuable. 
 
 As a classical scholar his learning was pro- 
 found, for his knowledge was built upon a founda- 
 tion so solid that it could not he shaken. Be- 
 sides all this, his acquirements in other branches 
 of knowledge were extensive, and he was most 
 thoroughly versed in moral philosophy and theo- 
 logy. Amid the lamentations of his students 
 and the public, he died on the 14th of October, 
 1852, in this city. 
 
 And now another of my teachers appears before 
 me, and, as I gaze upon his compact form and 
 pleasant face, I recognize Alexander Dallas 
 Bache, LL.D. 
 
 Born in Philadelphia, July 19, 1806, he died 
 at Newport, B. I., February 17, 1867. 
 
 His mother was a daughter of Alexander J ames 
 Dallas, and he was a grandson of Dr. Franklin. 
 
 He graduated at West Point in 1825, and until 
 1829 was a Lieutenant of Engineers, and was 
 employed in constructing Fort Adams, at the 
 entrance of Narragansett Bay. 
 
 From 1827 to 1832, he was the Professor ot 
 Mathematics in the University. Elected Presi- 
 dent of Girard College, he resigned his professor- 
 
50 
 
 ship, and in 1836 spent some time in Europe 
 inspecting the schools there, and on his return 
 prepared an elaborate report of great value. 
 
 In 1839 he resigned his connection with Girard 
 College, and from 1839 to 1842, was the principal 
 of the Central High School of Philadelphia. On 
 the 5th of August, 1842, he was again elected to 
 the chair of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry 
 in this institution. 
 
 The nation now demanded his services, and in 
 1843 he was appointed the Superintendent of the 
 Coast Survey, a position which he held until his 
 death. 
 
 In 1846 Dr. Bache was made a Regent of the 
 Smithsonian Institution. Long before that time 
 he had been elected President of the American 
 Philosophical Society; while the University of 
 New York in 1836, the University of Pennsyl- 
 vania in 1837, and Harvard in 1851, had each 
 conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. 
 
 The mere mention of the numerous positions 
 most acceptably filled by Dr. Bache proves that 
 he was no common man. Indeed one had but to 
 know him to be satisfied that he was not only a 
 cultivated gentleman, but an accomplished scien- 
 tist. Without a particle of parade or display, 
 with facility he imparted his knowledge to his 
 pupils, and thus illustrated the abundant stores 
 of learning at his command ; he was cautious 
 and accurate in his inductions, solid in his attain- 
 ments, and eminently practical ; altogether, this 
 
51 
 
 professor was a most worthy descendant of the 
 great Franklin. 
 
 Another of the professors was the gentle, cour- 
 teous, and dignified Henry Reed, LL.D. As a 
 lecturer and teacher he was distinguished for 
 clearness of thought and purity of style; well 
 versed in general literature, he was especially 
 eminent in the department of rhetoric and Eng- 
 lish literature, over which he presided. His pub- 
 lished essays, already familiar to the public, es- 
 tablished his reputation as a writer, critic, and 
 man of learning. The memorial window is the 
 gift of the alumni. Born in Philadelphia, July 
 11, 1808, he graduated here in 1825. 
 
 Having pursued the study of the law under the 
 direction of the Hon. John Sergeant, he was 
 admitted to the bar in 1829 ; soon after, in 1881, 
 he was appointed Assistant Professor of English 
 Literature in the University, and, in 1835, was 
 elected Professor of Bhetoric and English Lite- 
 rature. On the 7th of February, 1854, he was 
 chosen Vice-Provost. His professorship became 
 vacant, and, oh! how sad are the recollections 
 which now cluster around the subject. On his 
 return from Europe, the beloved professor took 
 passage upon the ill-fated “ Arctic/ 5 and with 
 that vessel was lost at sea on the 27th day of 
 September, 1854. Eighteen years have rolled 
 into eternity since the sad event, but the features 
 and form of my instructor live vividly in my 
 memory, and his name and fame, with that of his 
 colleagues, Wylie, Vethake, and Bache, are per- 
 
52 
 
 petuated together in the memorial windows and 
 portraits which adorn these walls. 
 
 Venerated and beloved professors, after a lapse 
 of nearly thirty years, it has fallen to the lot of 
 one of your pupils to proclaim your fame, to trace 
 imperfectly your history, and to associate your 
 names with this new building and this honored 
 institution. 
 
 I see you once more gathered together now 
 and here, and, as I pay this poor tribute to your 
 worth and learning, let me for the last time 
 exclaim, Hail and farewell ! 
 
 A delicate and difficult duty now devolves 
 upon me, for the true history of this institution 
 requires me to notice the Provost from 1834 to 
 1852. Born upon the banks of the Passaic, in 
 New Jersey, in 1793, at twenty.four years of age, 
 and from 1817 to 1823 he filled the Professorship 
 of Hebrew, Ecclesiastical History, and Church 
 Government in the Seminary of the Reformed 
 Dutch Church at New Brunswick, N. J. From 
 1823 to 1834 he was the pastor of the First Re- 
 formed Dutch Church at Albany, N. Y. 
 
 It has already been stated he was the Provost 
 of the University from 1834 to 1852, and he 
 served this institution for a longer consecutive 
 period of time than any other provost. 
 
 Having resigned his office in 1852, he chose to 
 spend the evening of his life among the associa- 
 tions and friends of his earliest years, and he 
 therefore accepted the Professorship of Ecclesi- 
 astical History and Church Government in the 
 
53 
 
 Seminary at New Brunswick, and of Mental 
 Philosophy in Rutgers College. He continued 
 in the active performance of his duties until his 
 death. He died in this city, on the 8th day of 
 September, 1857. 
 
 When, upon a pleasant afternoon in the early 
 autumn of 1857, “ devout men carried him to his 
 burial,” that eloquent and learned divine and 
 Christian gentleman, Rev. George W. Bethune, 
 D.D., as he stood and gazed upon the prostrate 
 form of his deceased friend, the late Provost, 
 addressed the sorrowing congregation which 
 crowded the ancient church at New Brunswick, 
 N. J. 
 
 Though that gifted orator, for many years one 
 of your trustees, has gone to his rest and his 
 reward, he shall speak now, and thus an impar- 
 tial tongue shall honor the memory of the dead. 
 
 Dr. Bethune, among other things, said : “ His 
 most striking characteristic was strength. His 
 person was strong, his frame, large, firmly knit, 
 and commanding, rose before you like a column 
 on which no ordinary weight of public burden 
 might be safely laid. 
 
 “His countenance was strong, the lines of 
 thought deeply traced, his eye clear and almost 
 stern. 
 
 “His voice was strong; no one who looked 
 upon him and heard his Boanergic eloquence 
 doubted his strength. 
 
 “His intellect was strong; culture and con- 
 victions of taste smoothed some of its rugged- 
 
54 
 
 ness; his grasp was vigorous, his logic direct and 
 determined, crushing the superficial semblancy 
 of sophistry and art. 
 
 “His will was strong; the prompt energy of 
 his convictions and the humility with which he 
 obeyed well-ascertained principles made him de- 
 termined, because he was sure. 
 
 “His affections were strong; if those who 
 looked upon his muscular frame and hard fea- 
 tures, or heard his stentorian voice, or were 
 beaten down by his unadorned argument, thought 
 him in temper harsh, or in spirit unkindly, they 
 knew him not ; to his friends, to all who knew 
 him in social life or sought his counsel and 
 sympathy, he was gentle, and kind, and con- 
 siderate. 
 
 “His truthfulness was remarkable, his theology 
 very grave. He chose ever the most liberal 
 policy, and inclined to the most charitable judg- 
 ment, hence fidelity in his duties and friendships 
 was a distinguishing trait of his life in all his re- 
 lations. 
 
 “His life was pure, grave, calm, consistent, 
 industrious, and kind.” 
 
 I can add nothing more, except to say that 
 the name of that Provost was John Ludlow, 
 D.D., LL.D. His surviving family tender their 
 thanks to the generous donors of the memorial 
 window, while they are most happy again to 
 present to the University that portrait which, 
 even now, as I speak, seems to cast upon me a 
 father’s smile and a father’s blessing. 
 
55 
 
 Haying now finished the history of Founder, 
 Provosts, Vice-Provosts, and Professors of the 
 College and University, whose portraits and me- 
 morial windows are here placed, let me call your 
 attention very briefly to the other memorial 
 windows which grace the building, and to the 
 gifts which adorn the library. 
 
 The literary societies, fired with a noble ambi- 
 tion, have each contributed a memorial window. 
 The one, the Philomathean, perpetuates its name 
 and that of its founders, from the year 1815. 
 
 The other, the Zelosophic, from the year 1829, 
 when it was established. 
 
 Loving hearts and willing hands have been 
 busy here, for the name and fame of a trustee 
 who held office for nearly sixty-one years (from 
 1774 to 1835), that venerable and ever-to-be- 
 beloved servant of God, Bishop White, lives 
 here, and so, too, do the name and fame of a 
 successor, another trustee, the godly and well- 
 learned Bishop Potter. 
 
 As you ascend the stairway you will observe 
 a most beautiful window. Its story is a simple 
 one, and its lesson instructive. Fraternal affec- 
 tion has there adorned this building with a 
 costly work of art, which preserves the name 
 and commemorates the virtues of Alexander 
 Benson, Jr. 
 
 Valuable collections of books have recently 
 been presented to the University by the families 
 of the late Stephen Colwell, Esq.; the late 
 Evans Rogers, Esq. ; and the late Dr. Charles M. 
 
56 
 
 "Wetherill, who died suddenly, and who therefore 
 did not live to enjoy the fruit of his own labor, 
 or to impart to his pupils and to the nation the 
 knowledge which he possessed, and which had 
 already made him eminent in the scientific world. 
 
 Portraits of the first and last named gentlemen, 
 and a bronze bust of the lamented Evans Rogers, 
 Esq., accompanied the gifts, and will be placed 
 in the library of the institution. 
 
 And now, on behalf of the several donors, I 
 present these precious memorials to the Board of 
 Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The University has entered upon a new era. 
 Its learned Provost (to whom I acknowledge my 
 obligations for most interesting information in 
 regard to the College) and its able professors 
 stand ready to sustain and advance its well- 
 earned reputation. 
 
 Kindred institutions elsewhere have noble 
 histories, and can point with pride to the emi- 
 nent men who have, from the remotest period, 
 been associated with them. The University of 
 Pennsylvania only remembers the past, and with 
 assured hope looks into the future, and where is 
 the man who, as he camly surveys the mighty 
 influence produced upon the human mind, in time 
 and for all eternity, by one such institution as 
 this, will refuse with the speaker to exclaim, 
 JEsto Perpetua. 
 
57 
 
 THE ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Morton, on behalf of the Trustees, 
 accepted the memorial windows and portraits in 
 the following remarks : — 
 
 In behalf of the Trustees of the University of 
 Pennsylvania, I accept, with thanks, the valuable 
 gift now offered. 
 
 That gift owes its value not only to its intrinsic 
 worth, but also to the priceless associations which 
 cluster around it. Consisting, as it does, of 
 “memorials” of great and good men, of striking 
 portraits of wise and worthy men, it is rich in 
 suggestions of practical import and moral power. 
 As the eye in its scrutiny passes slowly around 
 the walls of this chapel, and falls, first on the 
 stained windows, glowing with many-colored 
 lights, and revealing many familiar and honored 
 names, then follows the line of speaking portraits, 
 which seem to be looking at the admitted glory 
 of the autumnal sunshine — the past comes back 
 upon us with amazing power, and reads many a 
 lesson which the present may well lay to heart. 
 These good and noble and often great men have 
 departed. The places which knew them once 
 know them no more. But, though dead, they 
 still speak to us, and their lives and labors, pic- 
 tured on the casements, and their painted por- 
 traits ranged along the walls, seem to fill this 
 
 5 
 
58 
 
 chapel with solemn utterances and impressive 
 thoughts. 
 
 “Soldiers! (said Napoleon, before the great 
 battle which decided the fate of Egypt) soldiers ! 
 from the summit of those Pyramids forty centu- 
 ries look down upon you.” It was a sublime and 
 stimulating thought, w^ell calculated to stir up 
 the souls of the hearers to their lowest depths. 
 Yet the centuries which looked down from those 
 colossal structures were centuries of ignorance, 
 cruelty, and grinding oppression, and the deeds 
 to which those appealed to were stirred up were 
 deeds of violence and bloodshed. But, to-day, I 
 am able to say to this assembly, and especially 
 to those who shall be students in these halls : 
 Many years of grand efforts and noble achieve- 
 ments for the good of our race look down upon 
 you from these walls, and should stimulate you 
 to fight the good fight of faith, and virtue, and 
 patriotism, and philanthropy. Our own poet has 
 said : — 
 
 “ Lives of great men all remind us, 
 We may make our lives sublime, 
 And, departing, leave beliind us 
 Footprints on the sands of time, — 
 Footprints that perhaps another, 
 Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, 
 
 A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 
 Seeing, shall take heart again.” 
 
 The lives of great and good men are here re- 
 called by this noble gift of colored glass and pic- 
 tured canvass. May we not hope that they will 
 
59 
 
 have the influence they ought to exercise, and 
 gloriously fulfil the expectation of the poet? 
 
 In behalf, therefore, of the Trustees of the Uni- 
 versity, I again thank the generous donors. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 At the conclusion of Rev. Dr. Morton’s ad- 
 dress a benediction was pronounced by Rev. Dr. 
 Beadle, and the audience separated. 
 
PROCEEDINGS IN THE EVENING. 
 
 In order to give an opportunity to those who 
 had been unable to attend the ceremonies of the 
 morning, to inspect the building, the Trustees in- 
 vited a number of gentlemen to be present on the 
 evening of the day of the inauguration. The 
 building was brilliantly illuminated on this occa- 
 sion, and its beautiful architectural proportions, 
 and the spaciousness of its interior arrangements, 
 were seen to great advantage. After some time 
 passed in visiting the various rooms, the guests 
 were invited to proceed to the Assembly-room, 
 where a collation had been provided. 
 
 After the collation, Frederick Fraley, Esq., 
 of the Board of Trustees, invited the attention 
 of those present, and said that no arrangement 
 had been made for formal addresses at this time, 
 but that, still, the authorities of the University 
 would be glad to hear from gentlemen present 
 what impression had been made upon them by 
 the ceremonies of the day, and by their inspection 
 of the building in which they were assembled. 
 It was most important to know how far the great 
 work which they had undertaken was supported 
 by the sympathy of the public. 
 
62 
 
 The chairman then called upon Joseph Har- 
 rison, Jr., Esq., who spoke as follows : — 
 
 Mr. Provost, Professors, and Gentlemen : — 
 
 It may not be out of place when we consider 
 the past and present importance of The Univer- 
 sity of Pennsylvania, that outside people should 
 give utterance to such ideas as they may hold on 
 the subject of Education. 
 
 I may in some degree entertain heterodox views 
 on this subject, and, with all deference to your- 
 self, Mr. Provost, to the Faculty of this Institu- 
 tion, and to this company, I willingly leave them 
 with you for what they are worth, and do not in 
 any way invite or desire discussion. 
 
 That education of some kind is of value to all, 
 and absolute necessity to many, need not be 
 pointed out or insisted upon at this day; but we 
 may well consider what kind of education will 
 most conduce to the best uses of the individual 
 in the varied walks of life. 
 
 In one case, the youth who is well to do in the 
 w T orld, and has no apparent need to concern him- 
 self as to his means of living in the future, may 
 desire, and may look toward attaining, a very 
 high standard of education, not for the purpose 
 of using it for his material benefit in the battle of 
 life, but because he feels that it will be a pleasure 
 to him to know , — that it will be discreditable to 
 him to be ignorant , — The University of Penn- 
 sylvania is the place for him. 
 
63 
 
 Another with a natural bent toward abstract 
 science, with what is called genius too, if you 
 please, and with a full understanding that what 
 he may acquire in the schools must be his means 
 for future support, seeks the spot where such 
 necessary knowledge can best be found. The 
 University of Pennsylvania is the place for him! 
 
 I have been speaking of the few, in the great 
 mass of humanity; one class heaping up knowl- 
 edge as a gratification and an ornament, and that 
 other class, whose opportunities make it possible 
 to turn their acquirements to account in the 
 learned professions, as well as in other pursuits 
 needing such knowledge, and thereby conducing 
 to their pleasure as well as to their profit. 
 
 Let us now glance toward the practical toilers 
 of our race, that greater number who fill the 
 ranks of the grand army of producers ; they who 
 must strain body and brain to the utmost to first 
 conquer a living, and from whose number in the 
 past, as in the present, are recruited in almost 
 every instance the managers and masters of our 
 great industrial establishments. 
 
 Equal, perhaps, in all respects with those who 
 bear oft* the honors at college, they seldom have 
 time to spend at school after fifteen or sixteen, 
 and they or theirs as seldom have means to spare 
 above their ordinary wants. The University of 
 Pennsylvania is no place for them. 
 
 A good deal is written and said in these days 
 about a higher standard of education for those 
 who* fill the third place in this category — that 
 
64 
 
 they should be taught chemistry, mathematics, 
 and the other abstract sciences, so as to better fit 
 them for the work in which they must strive to 
 make a living. 
 
 I doubt very much the necessity or the value 
 of these acquisitions, and I think, under the pre- 
 sent condition of things, that the preachings and 
 in part the practices of the hour are toward too 
 high a standard of education for the man who 
 must, 'perforce , start in life with the stern neces- 
 sity of earning his daily bread without needless 
 loss of time. 
 
 Keep him too late at school, and it will be per- 
 haps too late for him to learn a trade. Keep him 
 too late at school, and he will beget a distaste for 
 such useful work as will best tend toward fur- 
 nishing him with the means to live. 
 
 To my mind the very best knowledge that a 
 young man can have at twenty-one, situated as I 
 have just described, is that which he can turn to 
 the best and most profitable account — that which 
 will always be in demand. 
 
 “Oh!” exclaims one, “you cannot make good 
 makers of machinery without this higher educa- 
 tion, nor can you make a good dyer or founder 
 without a full knowledge of the chemistry or the 
 metallurgy that bears upon his trade.” True, in 
 the main; but do not flatter yourself into believ- 
 ing that all those who achieve distinction in the 
 industrial arts come from the number of those 
 most highly educated, in the common sense of 
 these terms. 
 
65 
 
 That they might more easily have become mas- 
 ters and managers in their varied vocations had 
 they possessed, at the outset of their career, the 
 knowledge of a graduate of this University, or 
 of the Philadelphia High School, is possible, but 
 the chances might have been that those who fill 
 the highest and most profitable places to-day 
 might never have achieved distinction at all, in 
 their callings, ■ had they been kept out of the 
 workshop until at or near their manhood. Too 
 much education might have marred their fortunes 
 for life. 
 
 In mechanical and other trades, it is the edu- 
 cation of the workshop, and not the education of 
 the schools, that is most required. 
 
 Teaching by the rule of thumb, as some call it, 
 or rather by manipulation and practical applica- 
 tion, is more needed by the mechanic and artisan 
 at this day than theoretical science. 
 
 The most distinguished men now engaged as 
 masters in the industrial arts are not from 
 amongst the graduates of Universities or High 
 Schools, and I fear that they will never be found, 
 as a general rule, with those who have won high 
 scholastic honors. Polytechnic schools, and such 
 workshops as are sometimes found in colleges, 
 can never make the first-class practical workman. 
 
 If you will scan the wide field of the mechanic, 
 the engineer, and the manufacturer, you will find, 
 with but few exceptions, that at the present mo- 
 ment the ruling minds are from the class of the 
 early and persistent toilers in the workshop, and 
 
66 
 
 it seems necessary, for developing the mind in 
 practical things, that this kind of early training, 
 this rough and tumble sort of discipline, must 
 be encountered at first, to prepare the man for 
 the better and higher work thereafter. 
 
 Ask those who are engaged in making im- 
 provcments in machinery, and from whose labors 
 the world is now so largely benefited, how much 
 they depend upon the higher and more abstract 
 branches of science. They may have learned in 
 early life a smattering of mathematics only to be 
 forgotten, but, when they need abstract calcula- 
 tions or elaborately finished drawings, they get 
 others to do them. Their time is worth too much 
 for that. 
 
 And, again, in the use of a material like iron; 
 the theorist boasts, over his apparently unlearned 
 competitor, that his calculations are made to a 
 decimal, but the former has not yet learned that 
 there are hidden blow-holes in cast iron, and hid- 
 den defects in other material, as well as other 
 most important influences not calculable, that, if 
 not allowed for, will set at naught all these nice 
 calculations, and his work will be thus rendered 
 worthless. An intuitive idea of proportion comes 
 from practice in the workshop, which cannot be 
 learned in the schools. 
 
 There is much that bars and hinders the learner, 
 and a full supply of skilled labor is now a most 
 crying want. Let us not keep the lad who must 
 earn his own living out of the workshop by keep- 
 ing him too long at school, thereby losing valu- 
 
67 
 
 able time in acquiring a kind of knowledge that 
 he seldom or never can use. 
 
 As in the past so it will he in the future, the 
 bright boy and the brighter man will fill the best 
 places as managers and masters. Mediocrity and 
 stupidity will find their level, and they will con- 
 tinue to lament that they never had a chance. 
 
 The Chairman then called upon Rev. C. W. 
 Shields, D.D., Professor in the College of New 
 Jersey, and representing the Faculty. 
 
 Dr. Shields. I came from Princeton to-day, 
 sir, expecting the silent enjoyment of viewing 
 this beautiful building, and also the intellectual 
 entertainment which was afforded this morning ; 
 but of this part of the programme I had no 
 knowledge. I am very glad, however, to have the 
 opportunity, which you have so unexpectedly and 
 so kindly afforded, of thanking you, in the name 
 of the President and Faculty of the College of 
 New Jersey, for your courteous invitation to be 
 here to-day. More would have been glad to avail 
 themselves of this invitation if their college 
 duties had permitted. I beg to assure you, sir, 
 that that old institution, its elder sister in the sis- 
 terhood of colleges, takes the liveliest and most 
 cordial interest in the prosperity of the Univer- 
 sity of Pennsylvania. These two great institu- 
 tions, as we learn from the eloquent Memorial 
 Address this morning, have during all their his- 
 tory never maintained any other relations than 
 
68 
 
 those of good neighborhood and generous rivalry. 
 Some of the names which are most illustrious in 
 your own history are also to he found in the cata- 
 logue of the graduates and professors of Nassau 
 Hall. And the erection of such a building as 
 this is a subject of rejoicing not only to us, hut 
 to all the colleges of the land, to every friend of 
 learning and liberal education. Notwithstand- 
 ing what is often said in these times, and in many 
 cases justly said, in regard to the waste of money 
 on stone and mortar, yet an institution like this, 
 one which has a history and which has an assured 
 future, owes it to itself that it should have a 
 worthy visible embodiment before the public. 
 This elegant edifice, especially that beautiful 
 chapel, with its memorial windows, will itself 
 exercise an educating influence over the students 
 who are gathered within its walls ; and the whole 
 building will stand as a monument to connect 
 the present with former generations, and with 
 coming generations. 
 
 Colleges are among the most indestructible 
 forms of social organization that exist; and where 
 they have long existed it is surely but right that 
 the material embodiment which they present to 
 the public eye should be in keeping with their 
 usefulness, and with their traditions, and with 
 their prospects. 
 
 The opportunity which has been kindly afforded 
 me of viewing the rooms in this edifice has been 
 a great gratification. I know of nothing that 
 can compare with it for the purposes for which it 
 
69 
 
 is intended; and I am truly rejoiced to be able 
 to say, in behalf of the college that I happen to 
 represent this evening, that we are glad to wit- 
 ness the prosperity of this institution. And I 
 beg to add, in concluding, my own personal 
 gratification as a former resident of Philadelphia, 
 and for more than fifteen years a member of one 
 of the learned professions of the city, at the signs 
 of growth and progress. I am glad to see that 
 the University is keeping pace with the growth 
 of the city, and that this Faculty of Arts, with 
 its new sister Faculty of Science, is not falling 
 behind the older and more distinguished faculties 
 which have given this University such a world- 
 wide renown. May its prosperity in the future 
 be equal to that which it has enjoyed in the past! 
 (Great applause.) 
 
 SPEECH OF EX-MAYOR FOX. 
 
 The Chairman. Gentlemen, the Trustees of 
 the University feel that they owe, to one who re- 
 cently occupied the highest municipal position in 
 the city, some tribute of their gratitude for his 
 aid in promoting the erection of this building. 
 He participated in the ceremonies attending the 
 laying of the corner-stone, and he has taken since 
 that time a deep interest in the progress of the 
 work and in the welfare of that which was set in 
 motion. I call upon the Hon. Daniel M. Fox. 
 (Applause.) 
 
70 
 
 Hon. Daniel M. Fox responded in the follow- 
 ing words: — 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I rejoice to-day very much in 
 being present. I have had really a very happy 
 afternoon. The picture presented to me of this 
 magnificent pile, these spacious halls, the large 
 gathering in the chapel and the speeches made 
 there, seems to me to be sufficient for one day. 
 I expected this evening to have the pleasure of 
 listening to others rather than that I should be 
 called upon. I am glad to have the opportunity 
 of being here, however, and to say that I have 
 listened with interest and satisfaction to the his- 
 tory of this institution as given to us by some of 
 the eloquent gentlemen this afternoon. With 
 that history, with the associations surrounding 
 the University of Pennsylvania, with this wonder- 
 ful and spacious accommodation for students, 
 with Faculties now complete in every department 
 of liberal instruction, and supported by such 
 means of moral power as I see around me to- 
 night, who can doubt the success of this institu- 
 tion and the brilliancy with which it shall perform 
 the great work expected of it ? As a citizen of 
 Philadelphia, I should ask for it no better friends 
 than these respectable and influential gentlemen 
 who have evidently gathered here to-night to 
 testify by their presence the interest they feel 
 in the University by their recognition of the 
 ample provision made here for the present and 
 the generations that are to come. 
 
 It ought to be a proud day, and especially to 
 
71 
 
 us of Philadelphia. This is the great institution 
 of this part of our country. We ought all to be 
 glad that it has its home in our own dear city? 
 and that it has been planted just here. I am 
 satisfied that the judgment which located the 
 buildings west of the Schuylkill was the best 
 judgment, and time as it goes on will confirm it. 
 I believe the day will come — it may not be in 
 our time, but it will come — when all the public 
 institutions of learning and of benevolence in 
 Philadelphia will be located west of the river, as 
 they ought to be, away from the turmoil and 
 bustle of the business portion of the city; and it 
 seems to me that this has been a step in advance 
 in that direction. The very presence of this in- 
 stitution here will invite and induce others, per- 
 haps not of like importance, for there are not 
 many equal to it, but others with great public 
 objects, to come west of the river also. 
 
 Y ou, sir, were kind enough to say, and to flatter 
 me in saying, that I had something to do with 
 the location of the institution at this place, whilst 
 I occupied a public position. I can only say, sir, 
 it happened in my time. (Laughter and applause.) 
 
 The Chairman then called upon Rev. Dr. 
 Goodwin, formerly Provost of the University. 
 
 Dr. Goodwin, after referring to the pleasant 
 recollections of his former relations with the 
 Trustees and Faculty, went on to say : — 
 
 Dr. Goodwin. We have heard to-day of the 
 past, an illustrious, magnificent past; and now 
 
72 
 
 we have that before ns which leads us to look 
 forward to the future. May I not say, Mr. Chair- 
 man, that a more illustrious, more magnificent, 
 and more glorious future is before this University 
 than all that lies in the past? And it is some 
 satisfaction to me to feel that I may remain, 
 though connected with the past, yet still survi- 
 ving in the present, at least a link in some mea- 
 sure connecting that illustrious past with the 
 still more illustrious future. And I may say to 
 these young men who have been connected with 
 the University during the last ten or twelve years 
 — those who have graduated or have entered the 
 University between the years 1860 and 1871 — 
 that, as they look hack upon the past and look 
 forward to the future, there is much to stimulate 
 them to do well their work in life; and I say to 
 you, Mr. Chairman, what I have said to one of 
 them this evening, that I trust those young men 
 who have not yet had time to come forward to the 
 front will yet give a good account of themselves. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I said we have heard of the 
 illustrious past, and we think of the glorious 
 future. It is a magnificent thought and a gratifi- 
 cation that few men can have in their lives. A 
 new era for the University now begins. Now 
 we may say : “ Magnus ab integro saeclorum nas- 
 citur ordo and now: “ Incipient magni procedere 
 mentes and they will go on until the great ends 
 of this University are more and more fully ac- 
 complished. 
 
 But, Mr. Chairman, I understand that one more 
 
73 
 
 thing is wanting, and only one thing is not want- 
 ing ; and before I sit down I wish to say to the 
 gentlemen of the city who may be here present, 
 more or less interested in the University, one 
 thing is lacking — more funds. They will be fur- 
 nished. But I have to say one other thing to 
 these good friends of the University: they need 
 not hope or expect that they will finish this work 
 of giving by giving once. So surely as this 
 University lives, and prospers, and grows, it will 
 need more and more. An institution like this 
 that asks for nothing is making little progress. 
 A University, this University, like the daughters 
 of the horse-leech, will say — will never cease to 
 say — “give,” “give.” But, sir, like the fairest 
 of the fair daughters of Job, Keren-happuch — 
 cornucopia — the University will be an overflow- 
 ing source of blessing, and of beauty, and honor, 
 and glory, and light, and power, and knowledge, 
 to all around. Nay, more and better, the Uni- 
 versity will be like that attribute of mercy which 
 Portia eulogizes, which “blesses him that gives 
 and him that takes ;” blessing the giver in convey- 
 ing the multiplied benefits of his gifts to gene- 
 ration after generation of happy recipients. 
 
 May the University of Pennsylvania always be 
 able, with more pride than Cornelia, to point to 
 “her jewels ;” and may she never cease to be “a 
 joyful mother of children!” (Great applause.) 
 
 Theodore Cuyler, Esq., was then called 
 
 upon. 
 
 6 
 
74 
 
 Mr. Cuyler.— Mr. Chairman, for myself and 
 for you, too, and for those whom I see here, I am 
 afraid I must express regret that your eye lighted 
 upon me. However, sir, I will acknowledge 
 your courtesy, and endeavor by avoiding much 
 speaking not to abuse it. 
 
 It is thirty years and more since I left the 
 classic shades of this old University ; and now to 
 come back, foot- worn and weary in the pathway 
 of life, to meet again with old college friends, to 
 lay again together the embers of old college 
 friendship and strive to blow them into a flame, 
 is in some sense a delightful task and in others a 
 very painful one. It is painful, because when I 
 look around I scarce see familiar faces any more. 
 All those who occupied the chairs of Professors 
 in this University when I had the honor of being 
 a student in it, I think without an exception, 
 have passed away and gone to their reward. 
 Dr. Ludlow, the noble Provost of the institution 
 in the days when I was a student, I followed to 
 his grave in a neighboring city some years ago. 
 Dr. Wylie, our admirable instructor in the 
 classics, thorough, perfect, unsurpassed proba- 
 bly as an instructor in this country, rests from 
 his labors. The gentle and refined Professor 
 Courtenay, and the accomplished scholar, Pro- 
 fessor Vethake, who succeeded him, have passed 
 away. Alexander Dallas Bache, whom you knew 
 and loved and under whose instructions I sat, is 
 in his grave. And last of all, the noblest, purest, 
 and most refined scholar with whom I ever had 
 
75 
 
 the pleasure of association, Henry Reed, sleeps 
 in the blue Atlantic. 
 
 I think, sir, I have covered the whole list of 
 Professors here under whose instruction I sat; 
 not one survives. And then, when I pass from the 
 instructors and look around for my classmates, 
 those bright-faced, happy youths with whom I 
 met daily for so many years, some of them are in 
 their graves, some of them are adorning the po- 
 sitions they occupy in life, all of them hirsute, 
 gray, with faces wrinkled with the cares and 
 duties and responsibilities of life, so altered from 
 what they were when they wore the smiling faces 
 I was accustomed to meet that I look at them as 
 if they were almost strangers. 
 
 So you can well understand that I feel sad 
 when I come here and look around to-night and 
 see what changes have taken place. Why, the 
 very old family roof itself is gone ; the old halls 
 where I was accustomed to go, in which I was 
 accustomed to be instructed, have disappeared, or 
 rather, they have been replaced by a grander 
 and nobler structure — far, very far grander and 
 nobler than that to which I was accustomed to 
 go. But the associations are wanting; the 
 memories are gone ; and I look around and see 
 nothing scarcely that reminds me of what I once 
 knew and once felt when I was a student in the 
 University. But yet, sir, for all that, I am glad 
 it is gone, and I congratulate you from the 
 bottom of my heart on the change that has taken 
 place. Other students through long generations 
 
76 
 
 will throng the halls of this noble building which 
 you have erected here ; they will have memories 
 and associations connected with it ; and for a 
 long time to come, for generations, nay I hope 
 for centuries to come, the old institution trans- 
 planted to this place will grow, increase, and 
 flourish — I trust for all time. (Great applause.) 
 
 I thank you, sir, for the courtesy which called 
 upon me, and regret that I have detained you so 
 long. 
 
 Samuel Dickson, Esq., spoke on behalf of 
 the Alumni. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, very unexpectedly called upon 
 in this manner, I can only say that, in common 
 with all the Alumni, I have taken a deep interest 
 in the University since graduating, and that we 
 have all rejoiced in the erection of this edifice, 
 and that the successful completion of this work 
 would make it seem possible that that ideal which 
 we have had before us, and to realize which for 
 many years there seemed to be no effort made, 
 may yet be accomplished. It has seemed to us 
 that there was no reason why this University 
 should not be a great and splendid institution. 
 There has been an idea to some extent with the 
 people of Philadelphia and with the people of 
 this country that any college in a large city could 
 not succeed. It is not so in Europe. The Uni- 
 versities of Berlin and of Paris have been the 
 leading institutions of Europe. There is no 
 
77 
 
 reason why the citizens of Philadelphia, taking 
 a proper interest in this University, if they can 
 feel that it is a successful competitor with other 
 institutions in this country, should not send their 
 sons here to he educated, as well as to Yale or 
 Harvard or Princeton. And one means whereby 
 that end will be accomplished, perhaps, will be 
 for the Alumni of the University to he made to 
 take a deeper interest in the institution itself. 
 I believe that heretofore there has not been as 
 much unity of feeling among the Alumni as 
 there should be; the Alumni Society has not been 
 a very successful organization ; but in the future 
 we have reason to hope that there will be a change. 
 The French proverb says, “ nothing succeeds 
 like success and the prospects of the Uni- 
 versity now are such that the Alumni of the 
 University will feel a new and greater pride in 
 the institution, and I think there is every reason 
 to hope that they will take a deeper interest in 
 it, and that they will co-operate with the efforts 
 of the Trustees and of the Faculty to make it 
 what it should be. 
 
 On behalf of the Alumni, so far as it would 
 be proper for me to speak for them, I certainly 
 feel it a privilege to express our acknowledgments 
 to the Trustees for their efforts in putting up 
 this building and in securing the endowment for 
 the University, and they have, I think, the cor- 
 dial good-will and cordial sympathy of all the 
 Alumni. (Great applause.) 
 
78 
 
 The Chairman then called upon Coleman 
 Sellers, Esq., President of the Franklin Institute. 
 
 Mr. Sellers. Mr. Chairman, it is impossible 
 for me to express in fitting terms the feelings ex- 
 cited within me at the connection of the name of 
 the Franklin Institute with that of this Univer- 
 sity. I heard to-day that exceedingly interesting 
 description of the beautiful windows that adorn 
 your chapel. Prominent among those windows 
 is that which is intended as a memorial of Frank- 
 lin. In the matter of education, Franklin stood 
 preeminently forward in this country; and the 
 Franklin Institute has endeavored through its 
 whole course since its origin to educate the me- 
 chanics of the city of Philadelphia. All con- 
 nected with that Institute have felt the need of 
 some place where those who desired to succeed 
 as mechanics should have, what some of us too 
 much lacked, the means of obtaining a liberal 
 education. 
 
 I have heard this evening the remarks of my 
 friend, Mr. Harrison, and I must say that I feel 
 constrained to differ with him in some respects 
 with regard to the kind of instruction that me- 
 chanics should receive. There are now through- 
 out this country many eminent men who are 
 prominent as mechanics. If you inquire into 
 their career, you will find, in all probability, that 
 they had but a simple common-school education ; 
 but my word for it, sir, they have, every one of 
 them, regretted that they had not the means of 
 obtaining knowledge that is now offered by this 
 
79 
 
 noble institution. (Applause.) I myself have 
 felt this deeply. Leaving school at the early age 
 of fifteen to work upon a farm, and then finding 
 my way as best I could into the workshop, all 
 the time I could spare has been devoted to ac- 
 quiring in after-life that knowledge the founda- 
 tion of which should have been given to me when 
 I was young. I see in my own children — I think 
 of it every day — that what is wanted is some 
 means to make those who are to be the leading 
 mechanics of the country cultivated, well-edu- 
 cated men (applause) ; make them, not as I am, 
 afraid to address an audience like this, but able 
 to come forward and feel that they are speaking 
 properly, at least, their mother-tongue. 
 
 Now, it is natural for all mechanics to think 
 of that which produces a result in the light of a 
 machine ; they feel and know, that, when a need 
 exists for the production of a certain machine, it is 
 usually created. Pardon me, sir, for speaking of 
 this great University of Pennsylvania as a mechan- 
 ism, the object of which is to shape, to mould, 
 minds into usefulness. There has been a need of 
 this very machine, considered as a means of educa- 
 tion ; and it has been created not entirely new, but 
 to the old parts new movements have been added 
 to meet the requirements of the times. I see in it 
 something far better than the so-called technical 
 institutions of the country. I see science walking 
 hand in hand with art. I notice that those young 
 men who come here and enter the scientific course, 
 at once feel that they must endeavor to acquire 
 
80 
 
 something more than mere technical knowledge. 
 I find that invariably, while they are anxious to 
 acquire the knowledge that will aid them in their 
 profession, still they want to listen to the worthy 
 Provost in his instruction ; they want to go to those 
 Professors who will teach them something beyond 
 demonstrations in the particular branches they 
 are about to pursue. They feel that, if they can 
 acquire that kind of education which will fit them 
 to express properly what they know, they will be 
 of more use to the community. I must say that 
 the educated mechanic needs, beyond all things, 
 mathematics as a basis. I never have believed 
 in the u rule of thumb.” I never have believed 
 in that intuitive perception which would enable 
 a person to shape a machine without a knowledge 
 of the laws that govern matter and regulate its 
 durability. For my part I have not got it. I feel 
 that, step by step, and cautiously, each part must 
 be measured and each part must be adapted to the 
 purpose for which it is to be used, by careful ma- 
 thematical calculation. I notice now, talking day 
 by day to the students who are attending these 
 halls, that that kind of information best needed 
 for the mechanic is being imparted to them, and 
 at the same time I feel that they are getting a 
 taste for something which is more beautiful. They 
 have awakened in them the poetry of words, of 
 art, and of nature; and I can see, in the instruc- 
 tion they receive in the earlier part of their career, 
 when they enter as Freshmen, and while their 
 studies run parallel, as it were, with the tuition 
 
81 
 
 imparted to those designed for the learned profes- 
 sions, that they there learn what is needed to 
 enable them to properly express in language 
 what they may afterwards acquire in science. 
 
 I can hardly find words to express the respect 
 and esteem I have for this University. I feel 
 that it must succeed. I see in it features better 
 than in any institution of the kind in the world. 
 And I feel confident that the citizens of Philadel- 
 phia will come forward promptly to aid the gen- 
 tlemen who are so nobly and so diligently exert- 
 ing themselves to perfect this great school, and 
 give them the means to make it a decided success. 
 (Great applause.) 
 

 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
n 
 
 mxotmn 
 
 JOHN" F. FEAZEE, LL.D. 
 
 In strange and mournful contrast with the joyful con- 
 gratulations which were expressed on all sides on the 
 day of the inauguration was the event which saddened 
 all hearts on the succeeding day — the sudden death of 
 Professor Frazer. He had seemed to be in unusual 
 health and spirits during the ceremonies, and on the 
 next day had gone to the University to complete the 
 arrangement of one of his rooms. While entering his 
 cabinet of apparatus he fell dead without a moment’s 
 warning, his death having been caused by disease of the 
 heart. Thus died one whose loss to the University, 
 especially at this juncture, is well nigh irreparable. His 
 colleagues of the two Faculties stand awe-struck by the 
 blow which has deprived them of one who was not only 
 the Senior Professor in the University, but also one of 
 the most successful teachers of physics in the country ; 
 the world of science mourns the loss of one of its most 
 brilliant illustrations, while his family can only think of 
 him as the kindest and most devoted of husbands and 
 fathers. 
 
 It has been thought appropriate to place on record 
 here the action of the two Faculties and of the Alumni 
 of the University, on the occasion of Professor Frazer’s 
 death. 
 
84 
 
 The Faculties of Arts and of Science met in joint 
 session at the University, Monday, October 14. 
 
 In the absence of Dr. Stills, occasioned by severe ill- 
 ness, Professor Jackson, being called to the chair, stated 
 the mournful event which had called them together — 
 the death of the oldest member of the Faculty. 
 
 Professor Allen, LL.D., the next in seniority to Pro- 
 fessor Frazer, spoke with much feeling of the loss which 
 they had sustained. 
 
 Our deceased colleague, he said, was undoubtedly one of 
 those men whom we spontaneously recognize as unique. 
 "With the liveliest animal spirits, with the keenest en- 
 joyment at the same time of out-of-door activity and 
 of elegant society, he was always, even at the gayest 
 period of his life, an enthusiastic and systematic student. 
 His mind was quick in its action and penetration beyond 
 example. Ho man ever mastered a subject more rapidly, 
 or could explain it more clearly or gracefully to others. 
 He had received the most thorough classical training 
 under my learned predecessor, the venerable Dr. Wylie, 
 and did not merely keep up, hut constantly extended, 
 his acquaintance with the Greek and Latin authors. In 
 some departments of French literature he was also a 
 master. As a Professor no man ever performed his 
 duties with more alacrity and energy, or with more per- 
 fect command of his subjects. His lectures were models. 
 To his colleagues he was a delightful companion and a 
 friend ever ready to oblige. He was one of those who 
 attract and charm by an irresistible fascination. While 
 brilliant in society, and chivalrous in his deportment 
 towards women, he attached to himself, in the bonds 
 of solid friendship, many whose friendship it was an 
 honor to possess ; these he never neglected or forgot, 
 and they will never cease to cherish his memory. 
 
 Rev. Professor Krauth, D.D., spoke of his brief ac- 
 quaintance with the deceased as inspiring him with the 
 
85 
 
 largest respect for liis range of thought and study, and 
 his character as a thoughtful and serious man. He had 
 been struck especially with the thorough manliness of 
 Professor Frazer’s character. All the world knew where 
 to find him, and where he stood on every question. He 
 was especially gratified to find that Professor Frazer 
 heartily rejected many current scientific views, which 
 he himself regarded as loose and unsound. 
 
 Professor Lesley, Dean of the Faculty of Science, 
 spoke of the scientific life of Professor Frazer as recorded 
 in the Journal of the Franklin Institute , a life of un- 
 wearied industry and patient thoroughness of research. 
 He was not a brilliant discoverer, hut he mastered the 
 labors and writings of every class that bore on his own 
 work, reading omiiivorously in standard and periodical 
 literature, and profiting largely by his thorough mathe- 
 matical training, and his knowledge of French and Ger- 
 man. He grasped science in its vast historical develop- 
 ment, holding on with tenacity against mere innovations 
 to the assured results of the past, and yet ever ready to 
 admit the accuracy of new views and the superiority of 
 new formulae. In this historical study of the subject 
 he was a fanatic for truth and righteousness. He spared 
 no pretender, and acknowledged no lines of nation or 
 party in his zeal to secure to the real discoverer and 
 inventor the honor that was his due. The conscien- 
 tiousness with which he discharged his duties here left 
 him no time for the fresh researches and the public 
 appearances, which would have added so much to his 
 reputation, hut he only sacrificed fame to usefulness. 
 May his memory bind us more closely to each other. 
 
 After a few remarks by other professors, the follow- 
 ing resolutions, offered by Professor Allen, were seconded 
 and adopted : — 
 
 Resolved , That, as a mark of respect for the memory 
 of our deceased colleague, the exercises of the Univer- 
 
86 
 
 sity be suspended until the day after the funeral cere- 
 monies. 
 
 Resolved , That the members of the Faculties of Arts 
 and of Science attend the funeral in a body, and wear 
 the customary badge of mourning for thirty days. 
 
 Resolved , That the chair of our deceased colleague, in 
 the chapel, be draped in mourning for the remainder of 
 the present term. 
 
 Resolved , That the following minute be entered upon 
 the records of the respective Faculties, and that it be 
 communicated to the family of the deceased, with the 
 assurance of our sincere condolence with them in the 
 great loss they have sustained: “The Faculties of Arts 
 and of Science of the University of Pennsylvania have 
 learned with the deepest regret of the sudden death of 
 their colleague, Professor J. F. Frazer, LL.D., and desire 
 to record their appreciation of the remarkable accom- 
 plishments of the deceased in science and in literature, 
 and of the extraordinary services which he rendered to 
 the University during the more than twenty-eight years 
 of his professorship, as well as to the cause of sound 
 learning and of wholesome and manly discipline. Our 
 close and intimate relations to the deceased inspired us 
 with the liveliest regard for him as a scholar and a gen- 
 tleman, and we deeply feel his loss when we recall his 
 unmeasured devotion to the duties of his department, 
 his zeal for the interests of the University and its 
 students, and his keen insight and practical wisdom in 
 all matters of business. We unite with the scientific 
 men of the whole land in deploring the sudden removal 
 of a teacher and a master mind in the department of 
 physical science.” 
 
87 
 
 A special meeting of the Society of the Alumni was 
 held October 15, 1872, in the Chapel of the University, 
 to take action upon the death of Professor J no. F. Fra- 
 zer, LL.D., of the Class of 1880 ; Vice-President Rev. 
 Jno. W. Faires, D.D., in the chair. 
 
 The Chairman stated the object of the meeting, and 
 spoke of the deceased, whom he had known for many 
 years. He narrated many incidents of the early life of 
 Professor Frazer, showing the early development of 
 those great qualities which characterized his after life. 
 
 Dr. John Ashhurst, Jr., offered the annexed resolu- 
 tions, which were unanimously adopted. 
 
 Thos. A. Biddle, Esq., seconded the resolutions in a 
 speech highly eulogistic of Professor Frazer, and was 
 followed, in similar remarks, by the Rev. Dr. James 
 Clark (a classmate of Professor Frazer), Geo. D. Budd, 
 Esq., Geo. Harding, Esq., Alfred Stille, M.D., and the 
 Rev. Dr. T. W. J.' Wylie. 
 
 The Society also resolved to erect in the Chapel of the 
 University a memorial of Professor Frazer, and the Chair- 
 man was instructed to appoint a committee of five to 
 carry out the resolution. 
 
 The following gentlemen were appointed members of 
 the committee : T. A. Biddle, Esq., Rev. J. W. Robins, 
 John Ashhurst, Jr., M.D., Rev. T. W. J. Wylie, D.D., 
 I. Minis Hays, M.D. 
 
 Resolutions of the Alumni. 
 
 Resolved , That, by the death of our lamented friend 
 and associate, Professor John F. Frazer, LL.D., the 
 University of Pennsylvania has been at once deprived 
 of one of her most eminent sons and of one of her most 
 distinguished and successful teachers. 
 
 Resolved , That, as Alumni of the University, we feel 
 
88 
 
 most sensibly that by this sad event both she and we 
 have sustained a loss which is well nigh irreparable. 
 
 Resolved , That, as a teacher, and as a man of science, 
 Professor Frazer stood alike pre-eminent, as well by his 
 brilliant natural abilities as by his profound learning 
 and his great and diversified intellectual and philosophi- 
 cal acquirements. 
 
 Resolved , That, by his personal example, by the gene- 
 rous kindness of his disposition, by his high sense of 
 honor, by his hearty love and enthusiastic admiration 
 for what was noble and right, and by his manly abhor- 
 rence of whatever was base and mean, Professor Frazer 
 exercised over the minds of his students, and of all 
 with whom he came in contact, an influence as excellent 
 as it was powerful and enduring. 
 
 Resolved , That, feeling keenly our own loss of a loved 
 and cherished teacher and much valued friend, we can 
 thus more sensibly appreciate the yet greater and sadder 
 loss sustained by his bereaved family, to whom we beg, 
 hereby, to convey the assurance of our most respectful 
 and heartfelt sympathy. 
 
 JOIPN' W. F AIRES, 
 
 Vice-President. 
 
 J ohn GT. R. McElroy, 
 
 Recording Secretary. 
 
 \ 
 
I