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THE    HARVARD    BOOK. 


VOL.   I. 


THE    HARVARD    BOOK. 


A    SERIES    OF 


HISTORICAL,     BIOGRAPHICAL, 
AND     DESCRIPTIVE 


SKETCHES. 


J^stOn  public  llbkahy, 

various  authors. 


Illudrateb  toil^  WxtiaB  anb  portraits. 


COLLECTED   AND   PUBLISHED 


F.  O.  VAILLE  AND   H.  A.  CLARK, 

Class  of  1874. 


\Tmi  Najung  of  Aolms  Hall.  The  fol- 
lowmK  i3  an  extract  from  Pccsideut  Uol 
yoke's  diary  uoder  date  o£  Jan.  13,  17t;t,  giv 
iag  the  particulars  of  the  I'oriaal  adoption  of 
tL©  name: 

1  li'»  Da.T  Hollis  Ha:i  wa.s  nainad  by  Cinv- 
ertor  iTra  Bernard  in  tbe  l^'eseuca"  of  the 
Gen'l  Court,  hoth  Uouneil  &  hLouse  m  (he 
OBapel.  I'he  Go%'.  came  '.ip  about  one 
o'clock,  3000  »fter  wliioli  all  went  into  rlie 
Cbapel  at  the  tolling  ot  tlio  liell,  the  Presi- 
dent &  Cornnricion  preceding  ve  Goyornor  & 
General  Ooiirt  &  when  all  wore  well  searp.l, 
Che  I'resiflent  rising  up  said  "as  ilu-se  are 
hoe  present,  His  Excellency  the  Goyernor, 
The  Honourable  His  Majesties  Council  &  the 
Honourable  Hotase  cf  Kepresentativcs,  wUo 
bj  their  yoies  Have  to  ihe  CoUeae  tlie  Neiv 
BuildiufT,  in  our  vie\y  it  cannot  tUerefora  be 
an  improper  time  to  ask  w  name  to  ii:,  where 
fore  t  apply  to  ja  E.\-celleucv  to  fcivc  ibe 
name."  Upon  which  his  Exeell'v  staudiHE 
np  s£id  "Inow  Hire  to  thi':  new  buildinu  the 
I  ame  of  Hollis  Hall."  Upou  wijii;h  the 
Ptes'dtsaid  "There  is  nowexofcted  asi'ata- 
1  ■> tory  Ora tion  to  this  yeneiihle  Audieuc-, 
&  let  the  Ora.'or  ascend  tUe  Desk."  Upon 
which  the  Orator  (Tayl-r  a  jun'r  Sopr-i^i'r) 
accrdiutdy  ascended  &  pronounced  with 
suitable  and  proper  action  au  Enilisb  Ora- 
tion. After  which  the  Assembly  brake  up, 
Ihe  Pres'dt  &  Corporation  still  preceding  the 
Governor  &  General  Court  &  then  all  went 
into  the  New  Bnildins  toview  it  &  while  they 
were  there,  the  steward  sent  word,  tha  Divi- 
ner, to  whicD  all  had  been  inyiied,  wus  niiou 
the  Table,  all  then  repairintr  to  the  HiOl  sat 
down  to  Dinner  a  iitile  before  twj  o'clock. 

(Msm.)  The  Minister"  of  Boston  &c.  ihi. 
they  were  all  invited  the  Dav  belore,  i;t  this 
entertainment,  ye'  all  being  lii','hly  aifrnted 
rclused  to  come.  /'-  .   ■","<«-     \rfyQ     f' 


ii 


VOL.  I. 


^ 


0  -  )l-  oil 


CAMBRIDGE: 

WELCH,    BlGELOW,    AND    COMPANY, 


UNIVERSITY    PRESS. 


1875- 


3,63,).¥t^ 


COPYKIGHT,    1875. 

Jy   F.   O.   VAILLE  and   H.  A.  CLARK. 


^, 


J\^-A  ^^^ 


ID  1151 

V.  1 


The  Class  of  1874, 

FOR    WHOSE   MEMBERS 
THESE    SKETCHES    WERE    AT    FIRST    INTENDED, 

f  Ijis  mtovk 

IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED, 


PREFACE. 


In  the  middle  of  the  academic  year  1873-74,  when  the  subject  of  class 
photographs  was  being  discussed  by  that  class  which  was  to  graduate  at  the 
following  Commencement,  this  work  was  begun.  It  originated  by  considering 
the  possibility  of  securing,  in  some  more  durable  and  attractive  manner  than 
hitherto,  those  pictures  of  the  familiar  scenes  and  faces  of  College  days  which 
every  student  at  the  end  of  his  four-years'  life  at  Harvard  desires  to  carry  away 
with  him.  It  was  thought  this  object  might  be  best  attained  if  there  were  added 
to  the  usual  pictures  composing  a  class  album  descriptive  sketches  of  the  College 
grounds,  buildings,  and  those  institutions  which  enter  so  largely  into  the  social 
life  of  the  undergraduate. 

This  plan  was  attempted,  and  the  book,  started  essentially  for  the  Class  of  1874, 
was  intended  to  be  chiefly  limited  in  circulation  to  the  members  of  that  class. 
It  was  found,  however,  that  the  generous  interest  manifested  by  them  in  the  work 
at  its  inception  was  shared  to  a  great  degree  by  the  other  undergraduate  classes 
as  well  as  by  many  of  the  Alumni.  The  result  was,  that  the  sketches  began  to 
increase  both  in  length  and  number,  and  the  scope  of  the  work  to  be  more 
comprehensive.  These  volumes  must  not,  therefore,  be  regarded  as  completed 
in  accordance  with  the  plan  proposed  at  first,  but  they  should  rather  be  con- 
sidered as  the  outgrowth  of  an  originally  designed  class-book.  This  fact  must 
answer  the  question  why  some  few  more  or  less  remote  subjects  are  included  in 
a  work  which  mainly  relates  to  the  University,  —  they  are  such  as  usually  find 
illustration  in  the  student's  portfolio,  and  are  always  remembered  with  interest 
as  a  part  of  the  pleasant  associations  of  Cambridge. 

That  the  work  is  free  from  errors,  is  not  professed  ;  that  some  statements  may 
even  be  repeated,   is   not   denied  ;    indeed,   it  would   hardly  seem    to   be   possible 


viii  PREFACE. 

Otherwise,  for  the  different  articles,  written  by  various  authors,  give  the  separate 
histories  of  subjects  in  many  instances  closely  related  to  one  another.  The  fre- 
quent absence  of  records  often  made  recourse  to  memory  necessary,  in  order  to 
substantiate  many  facts  relative  to  some  of  the  societies  and  other  institutions 
of  the  College,  to  those  customs  which  flourished  for  a  short  time  only,  and  to 
those  tales  and  legends  which,  handed  from  one  class  to  another,  become  tra- 
ditional in  College  circles,  and  form  so  large  and  so  pleasant  a  portion  of  the 
fireside  conversation  of  students.  It  may  be  that  errors  of  fact  have  escaped 
detection,  but  great  care  has  been  taken  to  verify  every  statement. 

Tlicre  may  be  many  things  contained  within  these  pages  which  may  not  be 
appreciated  or  even  understood  by  the  general  public,  yet  they  may,  nevertheless, 
be  most  acceptable  to  and  welcomed  by  that  indulgent  public  for  whom  they  are 
principally  intended,  —  the  Alumni.  It  is  earnestly  hoped  that  the  work  may 
embrace  that  which  will  bring  to  the  older  and  the  younger  graduate  agreeable 
reminiscences  of  their  College  days  ;  that  which  may  afford  to  those  who  have 
not  been  enrolled  as  students,  or  who  may  contemplate  becoming  so,  a  glimpse 
of  the  inner  and  more  secluded  student-life  at  Cambridge  ;  that  which  may  give 
to  any  person  seeking  the  information  a  correct  account  of  the  foundation  of  the 
College,  its  growth  and  expansion  into  a  University,  —  in  brief,  a  truthful  repre- 
sentation of  Harvard's  past  and  present. 

To  thank  those  who  have  shown  a  generous  sympathy,  kindly  aid,  and  ready 
advice,  at  all  times  and  in  many  ways,  would  be  thanking  all  from  whom  sym- 
pathy was  claimed,  aid  needed,  or  advice  asked  :  they  are  so  numerous,  that  it  is 
wellnigh  impossible  to  mention  each  ;  but  to  every  one  the  reader  will  be  per- 
sonally indebted,  if  he  finds  that  the  attempt  to  make  these  pages  accurate, 
entertaining,  and  instructive  has  been  successful. 

Cambridge,  May,   1875. 


CONTENTS 


VOLUME     FIRST, 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH By  Samuel  Eliot. 

CHAPTER  I.  —  Previous  Histories  of  Harvard  College.  —  The  General  Court, 
1636,  VOTE  "to  give  ;£'4oo  towards  a  Schoole  or  Colledge." — The  College  origi- 
nally A  State  Institution. — Earlier  Provisions  for  a  similar  Institution  in  Vir- 
ginia.—  Vote  of  the  General  Court  in  1637. — Locating  the  College  at  New- 
town.—  Nathaniel  Eaton. — -The  General  Court,  1639,  vote  to  name  the  College 
"Harvard  College."  —  John  Harvard.  —  His  Bequest.  —  The  College  Buildings 
IN  1643.  —  President  Dunster.  —  Regulations.  —  Early  Customs.  —  Need  of  Funds. 

—  Charles  Chauncy.  —  Contributions  to  the  College.  —  The  Indian  College.  — 
Indian  Students.  —  Reforms.  —  Leonard  Hoar,  the  first  Alumnus  called  to  the 
Presidency,  1672 

CHAPTER  II.  —  Increase  Mather  the  first  President  of  American  Birth.  — ■ 
His  Absence  from  Cambridge.  —  His  Implication  in  the  Persecution  of  Witches 
at  Salem.  —  Robert  Calef.  —  His  Book  burned  in  the  College  Yard  by  Order  of 
THE  President.  —  Tutors  Brattle  and  Leverett.  —  Leverett  elected  President, 
1707.  —  An  Account  of  his  Inauguration.  —  Growth  of  the  College. — The  Col- 
lege Faculty  organized,  1725. —  Proceedings  of  Committees  appointed  by  the 
Overseers.  —  Commencements.  —  Corporal  Punishment  suspended  by  the  Corpora- 
tion, 1755.  —  Bi^rning  of  Harvard  Hall,  1764.  —  Resolve  of  the  General  Court 
to  rebuild  it.  —  Prizes  for  Compositions  in  Honor  of  George  HI. — -Vote  of  the 
Senior  Class  to  wear  Home-made  Suits  at  Commencements.  —  Rebellion  of  the 
Students.  —  The  Marti-Mercurian  Band.  —  The  General  Court  occupy  the  Col- 
lege Chapel.  —  James  Otis.  —  Spirits  of  the  Students  at  the  Prospect  of  War.- — 
President  Langdon's  Prayer  before  the  Revolutionary  Troops.  —  The  Students 
assemble  at  Concord  instead  of  Cambridge 

CHAPTER  HI.  —  Extract  from  the  Address  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis  to  his 
Class.  —  Professorships  founded.  —  Growth  of  the  College.  —  Standard  of  Ad- 
mission raised.  —  Annual  Examinations  cause  Discontent  among  the  Students.  — 
Class  Day. — College  Societies.  —  Address  of  the  Students  in  1798  to  the  Presi- 
dent OF  the  United  States.  —  Social  Relations  of  the  Students.  —  The  Engine 
Society.  —  The   Harvard  Washington  Corps.  —  The   Med.  Fac. — ^The   Navy  Club. 

—  College  Periodicals. — Expansion  of  the  College  during  President  Kirkland's 
Administration.  —  The  Second  Centennial  celebrated,  September  8,  1836.  —  The 
Elective  System  established  during  President  Quincy's  Administration.  —  The 
Observatory. — The  Scientific  School. — Extract  from  the  Poem  delivered  at  the 
Commemoration  of  July  21,  1865 


X  CONTENTS. 

MASSACHUSETTS    HALL        ...        By  Charles  Eliot  Norton. 

The  Hall  built  by  the  Province  ok  Massachusetts.  —  Various  Grants  to  the 
College.  —  Former  Uses  of  the  Hall.  —  Present  Uses. — -Danger  from  the  Fire 
WHICH  consumed  Harvard  Hall.  —  Occupancy  by  Revolutionary  Troops.  —  Esti- 
mate of  Damages. —  Associations  connected  vifiTH  the  Building. —  Repairs  in  Dr. 
Kirkland's  Time.  —  A  Portion  of  the  lower  Floor  formerly  devoted  to  Society 
Uses.  —  Alterations  in  1870 53 

HOLDENCHAPEL        .         .         .         .       By  Andrew  Preston  Peabody. 

Visit  of  Benjamin  Colman  to  England  in  1695.  —  Gift  of  Madam  Holden  and 
her  Daughters  to  the  College.  —  Erection  of  Holden  Chapel,  1744.  —  Conjec- 
tured Occupants  in  Early  Times.  —  Scenes  at  Prayers.  —  Uses  to  which  the 
Chapel  has  been  put  during  the  past  Fifty  Years 58 

HOLLIS    HALL By  John  Holmes. 

Thomas  Hollis. —  His  Benefactions  to  Harvard  College.  —  Liberality  of  the 
HoLLis  Family.  —  Character  of  the  third  Thomas  Hollis.  —  Thomas  Brand  Hol- 
lis, THE  SEVENTH  AND  LAST  BENEFACTOR  BEARING  THE  NaME  OF  HOLLIS. ThE  NUM- 
BER OF  Students  reduced  by  the  "Old  French  War,"  1756-63. — The  Corporation 
URGE  THE  Need  of  a  new  Building,  1761. —  The  General  Court  vote  ^2,000  for 
ANOTHER  Hall. —  A  further  Sum  of  ;^5oo  voted.  —  Site  selected. — The  Building 
completed,  December,  1763. — January  13,  1764,  the  Building  named  "Hollis  Hall." 

—  Rent  from  the  Cellars  and  Rooms  applied  to  different  Uses. ^Description  of 
Hollis  Hall.  —  Used  for  Barracks.  —  Account  of  Damages  done  to  Hollis  Hall 
DURING  ITS  Military  Occupation.  —  Room  No.  8. —  Rebellion  Tree. —  Class- Day 
Tree. —  The  Marti-Mercurian  Band. —  Harvard  Washington  Corps.  —  The  Engine 
Company. — The  Medical  Faculty. — Distinguished  Occupants  of  Rooms  in  Hollis 
Hall.  —  The  College  Wood-Yard. — The  College  Sloop,  the  "Harvard"       .         .         61 

HARVARD    HALL By  James  Freeman  Clarke. 

The  first  Harvard  Hall  the  Centre  of  College  Life. — Uses  of  the  Building. 

—  Anecdote  of  Dr.  Freeman.  —  Two  Scenes  taken  from  different  Periods  of  its 
History.  —  First  Harvard  Hall  burned.  —  Losses.  —  The  present  Harvae;d  Hall 
built  by  the  State. —  Cost.  —  Distribution  of  the  Rooms. — College  Clock.  —  Mr. 
McKean's  Leap  from  Harvard  to  Hollis  Hall. — Letter  from  Honorable  Horace 
Binney. — Damages  to  the  Hall  by  Revolutionary  Troops.  —  Present  Aspect         .         72 

STOUGHTON    HALL       .....       By  Samuel  Longfellow. 

William  Stoughton.  —  The  first  Stoughton  Hall. — Tablets  on  its  Front. — 
Stoughton's  Will. —  Printing-Office.  —  First  Stoughton  taken  down  1780. — The 
General  Court  authorize  a  Lottery  in  1794  to  raise  Money  for  a  new  Build- 
ing.—  Second  Stoughton  Hall. — Rooms  3,  17,  and  25. — Stoughton  first  called 
New  Hall.  —  Distinguished  Occupants  of  Rooms  in  Stoughton        ....         79 

HOLWORTHY    HALL By  Henry  Warren  Torrey. 

Bequest  of  Matthew  Holworthy.  —  A  Lottery  authorized.  —  Opening  of  the 
Building.  —  Extract  from  President  Kirkland's  Address.  —  Description  of  the 
Hall 82 


CONTENTS.  xi 

UNIVERSITY    HALL By  Henry  Lee. 

Preface. —  Initiatory  Measures  toward   erecting   University  Hall. — A  Grant 

FROM  THE  State. — Laying  of  the  Corner-Stone.  —  Description  of  the  Building. 

Criticisms.  —  The  Chapel. —  Entertainments  given  to  the  Students  by  Profes- 
sors.—  A  Concert   by   the  Students. — Daily  Life   at    University    Hall.  —  The 

Organ. — The  Harvard  Union. —The  Euphradian  Society.  —  The  Mock  Trial. 

Exhibition  Day. —  Class  Day.  —  Commencement. —  Reception  of  distinguished  Vis- 
itors.— Former  Professors. — -Melancholy  Changes.  —  Conclusion   ....        84 

OFFICES   OF   THE   PRESIDENT,  DEAN,  AND   SECRETARY. 

By  William  Reed,  Jr. 
Faculty   Meetings  formerly  held   in   the   old    President's  House.  —  Rooms  in 
University   Hall   taken   for   the   President  and   Regent. — Change  in  them. — 
The  Secretary's  Office.  —  Pictures. — -Office  Furniture 109 

GORE   HALL   AND   THE   COLLEGE    LIBRARY. 

By  John  Langdon  Sibley. 
Bequest  of  John  Harvard. — Gifts  till  the  End  of  the  Seventeenth  Century. 

—  Solomon  Stoddard  chosen  Library  Keeper.  — Regulations.  —  Stools  and  Chairs 
FOR  THE  Library. — Benefactions  of  Thomas  Hollis  and  Family. — Citations  from 
Letters  of  Thomas  Hollis.  —  First  Library  Catalogue.  —  Donations.  —  Descrip- 
tion and  Uses  made  of  Harvard  Hall,  in  vt^niCH  the  Books  were  kept.  —  Occu- 
pied by  THE  General  Court.  —  Burnt.  —  Rebuilt  by  the  Province.  —  Amounts 
paid  to  Occupants  of  Rooms  for  Losses  by  the  Fire. — Donors  and  Donations. — 
The  Books  sent  into  the  Country  Tovi^ns  vi^hile  the  British  occupy  Boston.  — 
Bequests  of  Samuel  Shapleigh,  Thomas  Brand  Hollis,  and  Thomas  Palmer.  — 
Gifts  of  Israel  Thorndike,  Samuel  Atkins  Eliot,  and  others.  —  Gore  Hall 
erected  with  Christopher  Gore's  Bequest.  —  Corner-Stone  laid;  the  Inscription. 

—  Account  of  the  Building.  —  Books  moved  into  it. — Twenty  Thousand  Dollars 
subscribed  for  Books.  —  Gift  of  William  Gray. — Gifts  and  Bequests  by  James 
Brown,  John  Farrar,  George  Hayward,  Clarke  Gayton  Pickman,  Stephen  Salis- 
bury, Charles  Sumner,  Charles  Minot,  Henry  Ware  Wales,  Frederick  Athearn 
Lane,  and  others. — Number  of  Volumes. — Need  of  a  new  Building  for  a  Library       112 

APPLETON    CHAPEL By  Edward  James  Young. 

The  Need  of  its  Erection. — The  Donor.  —  The  Original  Structure  and  its 
early  History. — Its  Renovation  and  present  Condition. — The  Associations  con- 
nected with  it  ..............       122 

BOYLSTON    hall       ....       By  Josiah  Parsons  Cooke,  Jr. 

Gift  and  Bequest  of  Ward  Nicholas  Boylston.  —  Terms  of  the  Bequest.  —  Ex- 
tract from  President  Walker's  Annual  Report,  1855-56.  —  Description  of  the 
Hall.  —  Apparatus  of  Laboratories  and  Cabinets 125 

PEABODY     museum     of     AMERICAN     ARCHEOLOGY     AND 
ETHNOLOGY By  Jeffries  Wyman. 

The  Foundation  of  the  Museum  by  a  Gift  of  the  late  George  Peabody. — The 
Conditions  of  the  Gift. — The  Professorship  provided  for  by  the  Gift  still  un- 
filled.—  The  Groups  into  which  the  Portion  of  the  Collection  arranged  for 
Exhibition  has  been  divided 127 


xii  CONTENTS. 

GRAYS    HALL By  William  Henry  Pettee. 

Location.  —  Description  of  the  Building. — The  Tablets.  —  Reasons  for  erect- 
ing THE  Building. —  The  Name 129 

THAYER   HALL By  William  Henry  Pettee. 

Erected  in  1S69-70.  —  Location.  —  Description  of  the  Hall. — Mr.  Nathaniel 
Thayer,  of  Boston,  the  Donor  of  the  Building. — Inscription  on  the  Tablet. — 
Nathaniel  Thayer,  D.  D.  —  Mr.  John  Eliot  Thayer 131 

MATTHEWS    HALL By  William  Henry  Pettee. 

Gift  of  Nathan  Matthews.  —  First  occupied,  1872-3.  —  Description  of  the 
Building. — Site.  —  Conditions  of  Mr.  Matthews's  Gift. — The  Indian  College      .       133 

WELD    HALL. 

Stephen  Minot  Weld.  —  His  Interest  in  Harvard  College. — Weld  Hall  erect- 
ed to  his  Memory  by  his  Brother,  William  F.  Weld.  —  Description  of  the  Hall. 
—  Inscriptions  on  the  Tablets 13S 

THE    OLD    PRESIDENT'S    HOUSE      ...     By  Charles  Deane. 

The  House  built  in  1726. — Interesting  Facts  connected  with  its  early  His- 
tory.— List  of  the  Presidents  who  have  resided  in  the  House: — Evidence  show- 
ing THAT  Washington  made  his  Headquarters  there  for  a  short  Time.  —  The 
Changes  made  in  the  House  since  its  original  Construction.  —  The  Uses  to 
which  the  House  has  been  put •        •      i37 

THE   DANA    HOUSE By  Joseph  Lovering. 

Erected  in  1823. — Alterations. — Estate  purchased  by  the  College.  —  Efforts 
TO  establish  an  Astronomical  Observatory.  —  Directors.  —  Meridian  Line  lo- 
cated.—  Apparatus  removed  to  the  New  Observatory.  —  Occupants  since  1844    .       143 

THE    PRESIDENT'S    HOUSE By  Thomas  Hill. 

Gift  of  Hon.  Peter  C.  Brooks,  in  1846. — Accumulation  of  the  Fund.  —  The 
President's  House  erected  in  1861.  —  First  occupied  by  President  Felton. — 
President  Eliot  gives  up  the  House  for  Use  as  a  Hospital. —  Location. —  Mag- 
netic Observatory. — Arrangement  of  Rooms.  —  Surroundings 145 

BIOGRAPHIES. 

Josiah  Quincy         .       .     ' By  Edmund  Ouincy  147 

Edward  Everett By  Edward  Everett  Hale  151 

Jared  Sparks By  Francis  Bowen  157 

James  Walker By  Joseph  Lovering  159 

Cornelius  Conway  Felton  ...        By  William  Watson  Goodwin  162 

Thomas  Hill ■        ...  164 

Charles  William  Eliot 166 


CONTENTS. 


xm 


John  Langdon  Sibley ^^ 

Andrew  Preston  Peabody    .         . 

Benjamin  Peirce 

Francis  Bowen 

174 

loSEPH    LoVERING  ....  r 

Evangelinus  Apostolides  Sophocles j.g 

Henry  Warren  Torrey   .... 

179 

Jeffries  Wyman ^g^ 

James  Russell  Lowell jg^ 

Francis  Tames  Child     .....  o 

J  •        •         ■         .         .  183 

George  Martin  Lane ^g 

Josiah  Parsons  Cooke,  Jr ^g 

Charles  Franklin  Dunbar        .....  ,q» 

William  Watson  Goodwin jgg 

Ferdinand  Bocher    .... 

•         ■         •         •         .         .         .         .190 

Ephraim  Whitman  Gurney j.^ 

James  Mills  Peirce 

Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow  ....'...  jn-j 

THE    DIVINITY   SCHOOL By  Oliver  Stearns. 

Early  Mode  of  Theological  Instruction  in  the  College. — Origin  of  the  School. 
—  First  Foundations  for  Professorships.  —  The  Society  for  the  Promotion  of 
Theological  Education  in  Harvard  University. — Past  Professors. — Divinity  Hall 
erected  1825-6.— Ceremonies  accompanying  the  Laying  of  the  Corner-Stone  and 
Dedication  of  the  Building.— Description  of  the  Building.  —  The  Association 
OF  Alumni  formed.  —The  Question  of  the  Transfer  of  the  Trust  of  the  School 
from  the  Corporation  to  the  Society  for  promoting  Theological  Education.— 
The  Library.  —  The  Present  Staff  of  Professors.  —  New  Foundations.  —  Occa- 
sional Lectures.  — Beneficiary  Funds.  —  Degree  of  Bachelor  of  Divinity.— Aims 
OF  Governors  and  Professors loy 

BIOGRAPHIES. 

Frederic  Henry  Hedge 2^2 

Oliver  Stearns     ... 

■         ■         •         •         •         •  2^3 

Ezra  Abbot        ••.....,....      21'; 

Edward  James  Young 217 

Charles  Carroll  Everett 219 

HARVARD  LAW  SCHOOL  AND  DANE  HALL.    By  Emory  Washburn. 

Legacy  of  Isaac  Royall  in  1779.  — Erection  of  Dane  Hall  in  1832. —Founda- 
tion of  Professorships. —John  H.  Ashmun's  Life  and  Character.  —  Professorship 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

OF  Simon  Greenleaf  ;  his  published  Works. — Judge  Story;  his  Connection  with 
THE  School  and  his  Works  on  Law. — Appointment  of  William  Kent,  and  after- 
wards OF  Joel  Parker,  to  the  Royall  Professorship.  —  Appointment  of  Theoph- 
iLUS  Parsons  to  the  Dane  Professorship  in  1848.  —  University  Professorships: 
Frederick  H.  Allen  and  Emory  Washburn.  —  Appointment  of  Nathaniel  Holmes 
to  the  Royall  Professorship. — Present  Professors. — Lecturers  at  the  School. — 
Gifts  of  Nathan  Dane  and  Benjamin  Bussey. —  Account  of  the  Law  Library. — 
Dedication  of  Dane  Hall  ;  its  Enlargement  and  Removal  to  its  Present  Site. 
—  Degrees.  —  Number  of  Students 223 

BIOGRAPHIES. 

Emory  Washburn 232 

Christopher  Columbus  Langdell         .......  233 

James  Bradley  Thayer 234 

THE    MEDICAL   SCHOOL      ...     By  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 

Foundation  of  the  School  at  Cambridge  in  1783.  —  Three  Professorships  es- 
tablished.—  Dr.  John  Warren,  Dr.  Aaron  Dexter,  and  Dr.  Benjamin  Waterhouse 
THE  first  Professors. — Transfer  of  the  Lectures  to  Boston  in  1810. — The  Build- 
ing IN  Mason  Street  erected  in  1816.  —  In  1821,  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital  opened  for  Patients,  and  made  accessible  to  the  Medical  Students. — 
Dr.  James  Jackson  resigns  in  1836,  and  is  succeeded  by  Dr.  John  Ware.  —  Dr. 
John  C.  Warren  resigns  in  1847.  —  The  same  Year,  Dr.  J.  B.  S.  Jackson  and 
Dr.  O.  W.  Holmes  appointed  to  Professorships.  —  Resignation  of  Drs.  Hayward, 
Channing,  and  Bigelow,  and  Appointment  of  Dr.  H.  J.  Bigelow,  Dr.  D.  H.  Storer, 
Dr.  E.  H.  Clarke  as  their  Successors.  —  Dr.  George  Parkman  gives  a  Piece  of  Land 
on  North  Grove  Street  as  a  Site  for  a  new  Building. — The  Present  Inadequacy 
of  the  Building  erected  on  this  Site.  —  Methods  of  Teaching  in  the  various 
Departments. — The  Number  of  Students  during  the  Years  from  1788  to  1867. — 
Changes  in  the  Mode  of  Instruction  made  in  1871.  —  Description  of  the  present 
Building. — The  Warren  Anatomical  Museum  and  Library. — Aims  of  the  Medical 
Department 239 

BIOGRAPHIES. 

John  Barnard  Swett  Jackson       "  .  '      .        .         .        .         .         .        .252 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes 253 

George  Cheyne  Shattuck 255 

Henry  Jacob  Bigelow 256 

George  Derby 257 

John  Eugene  Tyler 258 

Charles  Edward  Buckingham  .,.....••  259 

Francis  Minot 260 

Calvin  Ellis 261 

Henry  Willard  Williams    .......••  262 

David  Williams  Cheever 263 

James  Clarke  White    .        .        .        .        .        .        .         .        .        •  264 

Robert  Thaxter  Edes 265 


CONTENTS.  XV 

Henry  Pickering  Bowditch 266 

Reginald  Heber  Fitz 267 

Edward  Stickney  Wood 268 

THE    DENTAL    SCHOOL        .         .     By  Thomas  Henderson  Chandler. 

Extract  from  an  Address  of  Dr.  Nathan  C.  Keep.  —  Vote  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Dental  Society  regarding  a  Chair  of  Dentistry  in  the  Medical  School.  — 
Committee  appointed. —  Its  Report,  March  5,  1866.  —  A  Committee  appointed  to 

confer  WITH    the    COLLEGE. RePORT   OF   THE    COMMITTEE,   APRIL  I,   1867. COMMITTEE 

OF  Conference  from  the  Medical  School.  —  The  Corporation  petitioned  for  a 
Dental  School.  —  Vote  of  the  Corporation  thereon.  —  Professors  appointed.  — 
First  Meeting  of  the  Dental  Faculty.  —  Opening  of  the  School,  November,  1868. 

—  The  Degree.  —  Location  of  the  School.  —  Summer  Session  established.  — 
Changes  in  the  Examinations.  —  Course  of  Study  extended 271 

BIOGRAPHIES. 

Thomas  Henderson  Chandler 275 

George  Tufton  Moffatt 276 

THE    LAWRENCE   SCIENTIFIC   SCHOOL. 

By  Henry  Lawrence  Eustis. 

Foundation  of  the  School  in  1847,  by  a  Gift  of  Mr.  Abbott  Lawrence.  —  De- 
scription of  Lawrence  Hall. — Organization  of  the  School  under  Professors 
Horsford  and  Agassiz. — The  School  established  on  a  new  Financial  Basis  in 
1849.  —  Lieutenant  Eustis  of  West  Point  organizes  the  Engineering  Department. 

—  Zoological  Hall  erected.  —  Professor  Agassiz's  Collections  purchased.  —  The 
Observatory  made  a  distinct  Department  of  the  University  in  1854. — Contribu- 
tions for  the  Scientific  School.  —  Professor  C.  W.  Eliot  has  Charge  of  the 
Chemical  Department.  —  Mr.  Edward  Pearce  takes  Charge  of  the  Engineering 
Department  during  the  Absence  of  Professor  Eustis.  —  Professorship  founded 
BY  Hon.  Samuel  Hooper  in  1864.  —  Gift  of  Mr.  James  Lawrence. —  Plan  of 
Consolidation  with  the  Institute  of  Technology.  —  Lawrence  Hall  remodelled 

IN    1871.— Change  in  the  Organization  of  the  School 279 

BIOGRAPHIES. 

Henry  Lawrence  Eustis  .    •     .        . 294 

JosiAH  DwiGHT  Whitney 296 

WOLCOTT    GiBBS 298 

THE   ASTRONOMICAL    OBSERVATORY       .        By  Joseph  Winlock. 

Efforts  to  establish  an  Astronomical  Observatory  in  1839.  —  William  Cranch 
Bond  appointed  Astronomical  Observer  for  the  College. — The  Dana  House  used 
AS  AN  Observatory.  —  Nature  of  the  Work  done  there. —  Site  of  the  present 
Observatory.  —  Measures  taken  for  securing  a  Telescope  and  Building  suitable 
for  it. — The  Tablets. — List  of  Contributors. —  Removal  of  the  Instruments 
from  the  old  to  the  new  Observatory,  1844. — Gift  of  Instruments. — -Bequest  of 
Edward  Bromfield  Phillips. — Phillips  Professorship  founded,  1849. — Observatory 
completed,  1851.  — W.  C.  Bond  succeeded   at   his    Death,  1859,  by  his  Son,  G.   P. 


XVIU 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


DANE    HALL 223 

MEDICAL   COLLEGE,   AND   OPERATING  THEATRE  OF   MASS.  GEN.  HOSPITAL  239 

THE   LAWRENCE   SCIENTIFIC    SCHOOL 279 

THE  OBSERVATORY 303 

THE   BOTANIC  GARDEN 313 

THE   BUSSEY   INSTITUTION 321 

THE  MUSEUM   OF   COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY 329 


PORTRAITS. 

GROUP   OF   THE   FIVE   PRESIDENTS 147 

EX-PRESIDENT  THOMAS    HILL 164 

PRESIDENT   CHARLES   WILLIAM   ELIOT 166 

JOHN   LANGDON   SIBLEY 167 

ANDREW  PRESTON   PEABODY 170 

BENJAMIN    PEIRCE 172 

FRANCIS   BOWEN 174 

JOSEPH   LOVERING 176 

EVANGELINUS   APOSTOLIDES    SOPHOCLES 178 

HENRY  WARREN  TORREY 179 

JEFFRIES    WYMAN 180 

JAMES   RUSSELL   LOWELL 182 

FRANCIS  JAMES   CHILD 183 

GEORGE   MARTIN    LANE .  184 

JOSIAH   PARSONS   COOKE,  Jr 185 

CHARLES    FRANKLIN    DUNBAR 187 

WILLIAM   WATSON   GOODWIN 188 

FERDINAND   BOCHER 190 

EPHRAIM    WHITMAN    GURNEY 191 

JAMES   MILLS   PEIRCE 192 

HENRY  WADSWORTH   LONGFELLOW 193 

FREDERIC   HENRY   HEDGE 212 

OLIVER    STEARNS 213 

EZRA    ABBOT 215 

EDWARD    JAMES   YOUNG 217 

CHARLES    CARROLL    EVERETT 219 

EMORY   WASHBURN 232 

CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS   LANGDELL.        . 233 

JAMES    BRADLEY   THAYER 234 

JOHN   BARNARD    SWETT  JACKSON 252 

OLIVER  WENDELL   HOLMES 253 


ILLUSTRATIONS.  xix 

GEORGE   CHEYNE  SHATTUCK 255 

HENRY  JACOB   BIGELOW '     .        .        .        .  256 

GEORGE  DERBY 257 

JOHN   EUGENE  TYLER 258 

CHARLES   EDWARD   BUCKINGHAM 259 

FRANCIS  MINOT 260 

CALVIN   ELLIS 261 

HENRY  WILLARD   WILLIAMS 262 

DAVID  WILLIAMS   CHEEVER 263 

JAMES   CLARKE  WHITE 264 

ROBERT  THAXTER  EDES 265 

HENRY   PICKERING  BOWDITCH 266 

REGINALD   HEBER   FITZ .        .  267 

EDWARD   STICKNEY  WOOD 268 

THOMAS   HENDERSON  CHANDLER 275 

GEORGE  TUFTON   MOFFATT 276 

HENRY   LAWRENCE  EUSTIS 294 

JOSIAH   DWIGHT  WHITNEY 296 

WOLCOTT  GIBBS 298 

JOSEPH  WINLOCK 309 

ASA  GRAY 316 

DANIEL   DENISON   SLADE -324 

FRANCIS   HUMPHREYS   STORER 325 

JEAN  LOUIS   RODOLPHE  AGASSIZ 342 

HERMANN   AUGUST   HAGEN 345 

NATHANIEL   SOUTHGATE   SHALER 347 


WOOD- EN  CRAVINGS. 

FIRST  COLLEGE  SEAL 23 

HARVARD'S   MONUMENT 26 

SECOND   COLLEGE   SEAL 35 

FAC-SIMILE   OF   AN   OLD   ENGRAVING  OF  THE  COLLEGE   HALLS     ...  39 

THE  THIRD   AND   PRESENT  COLLEGE  SEAL 44 

COLLEGE  LOTTERY  TICKET 45 

PAVILION   ERECTED   FOR  THE   CELEBRATION    OF  THE   SECOND  CENTENNIAL 

IN   1836 51 

PLAN  OF   SEATS   IN  THE  PAVILION 5^ 

HARVARD,   STOUGHTON,  AND   MASSACHUSETTS  HALLS  IN  1755     .         .        .        -53 

HOLDEN  CHAPEL S^ 

HOLLIS   HALL 6» 


XX  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

FIRST  HARVARD   HALL 72 

SECOND  HARVARD   HALL 76 

FIRST   STOUGHTON   HALL 79 

HOLWORTHY   HALL 82 

UNIVERSITY  HALL 84 

LIBRARY  BOOK-PLATE 121 

THE  OLD  PRESIDENT'S   HOUSE 137 

DIVINITY   HALL ,97 

DANE   HALL 223 

THE   FIRST   "MASSACHUSETTS    MEDICAL   COLLEGE" 239 

ZOOLOGICAL   HALL 279 

INTERIOR    OF    THE    DOME    OF    THE    OBSERVATORY,    SHOWING    THE    EQUA- 
TORIAL, AND   OBSERVER'S  CHAIR 308 

THE  PROPOSED   MUSEUM 329 

LITHOGRAPHS. 

THE    SOUTH    ELEVATION    OF   THE    OBSERVATORY,    AND    SECTION    LOOKING 

NORTH 306 

PLAN   OF    THE  DOMES   AND   FIRST  AND   SECOND   FLOORS 307 


COPPER    ENGRAVING    OF    MASSACHUSETTS     AND    THE    FIRST     STOUGHTON 

HALL,   BY  PAUL  REVERE 27 


HARVARD   COLLEGE. 


HISTORICAL    SKETCH. 
CHAPTER    I. 

Previous  Histories   of   Harvard   College. — The  General   Court,  1636,   vote  "to  give  ;f4oo 

TOWARDS     a      SCHOOLE     OR      COLLEDGE." ThE     COLLEGE     ORIGINALLY    A     StATE    INSTITUTION. 

Earlier  Provisions  for  a  similar  Institution  in  Virginia. — Vote  of  the  General  Court 
IN  1637.  — Locating  the  College  at  Newtown.  — Nathaniel  Eaton.  — The  General  Court, 
1639,  vote  to  name  the  College  Harvard  College. — John  Harvard.  —  His  Bequest. — The 
College  Buildings  in  1643.  —  President  Dunster.  —  Regulations.  —  Early  Customs.  — 
Need  of  Funds. — Charles  Chauncy.  —  Contributions  to  the  College.  —  The  Indian  Col- 
lege. —  Indian  Students.  —  Reforms.  —  Leonard  Hoar,  the  first  Alumnus  called  to  the 
Presidency,  1672. 

The  history  of  Harvard  College  has  no  need  of  being  rewritten.  It  is  already 
as  accessible  as  any  history  requires  to  be.  The  legislative  acts  which  form  its 
Constitution  are  in  the  Catalogue  of  the  present  year.  Its  chronological  tables 
are  given  at  length  in  the  Triennial.  Its  details  appear  in  the  volumes  of  its 
historians  or  the  pamphlets  of  many  writers,  and  these  can  be  found  in  almost 
any  large  library  of  the  neighborhood.  Then,  too,  the  history  has  been  made 
interesting.  The  pens  employed  upon  it  have  been  touched  with  an  enthusiasm 
which  spreads  among  readers  prepared  to  sympathize  with  it,  and  to  regard  the 
subject  as  exceptionally  attractive. 

Jactamus  jampridem  omnis  te  Roma  beatura. 

One  writes  or  reads  about  the  College  as  if  it  were  a  world  apart,  where  men 
and  things  are  lifted  above  ordinary  levels,  where  scholars  are  more  scholarly, 
benefactors  more  beneficent,  purposes  nobler,  results  greater,  than  in  the  world 
at  large.  Now  and  then  a  shadow  falls,  officers  err,  students  break  out  in  dis- 
order, and   human  nature  asserts  itself  even  amidst  these  favoring  circumstances. 


24  HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 

But  the  cloud  quickly  passes  away,  and  only  heightens  by  contrast  the  glow 
which  generally  prevails.  On  the  whole,  the  only  excuse  for  attempting  a  fresh 
sketch  of  such  a  history  is,  that  it  may  lead  back  to  what  lies  in  fuller  propor- 
tions behind  it.  There  stands  the  sanctuary,  and  if  we  enter  its  cloisters,  we 
shall  soon  be  drawn  within  the  walls  where  the  dead  repose  and  the  living  fulfil 
the  offices  to  which  they  have  succeeded. 

The  beginning  was  the  vote  of  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  Oc- 
tober 28,  1636,  "to  give  400/  towards  a  schoole  or  colledge."  This  grant  not 
only  founded  the  institution,  but  gave  it  its  chief  characteristic  as  an  institution  of 
the  State,  which  it  continued  to  be  until  our  own  time.  What  we  are  accustomed 
to  see  ordered  or  executed  by  a  corporation,  a  board  of  overseers,  or  a  faculty,  was 
for  generations  the  work  of  a  legislature.  The  State,  that  is,  the  Colony,  was  the 
patron,  and,  more  than  this,  the  sovereign,  of  the  College.  Our  early  annals 
would  be  inexplicable  but  for  the  existence  of  this  political  bond ;  and  bond  it 
was,  necessary  perhaps,  certainly  serviceable,  but  as  certainly  trying,  and  at  times 
obstructive,  if  not  oppressive.  Every  academic  relation,  of  officer  to  officer,  offi- 
cer to  student,  student  to  student,  was  subordinate  to  this  supreme  relation  of  the 
whole  academic  body  to  the  colonial  government.  It  was  not  the  first  institu- 
tion of  the  kind  in  the  American  colonies.  Seventeen  or  eighteen  years  before, 
the  governing  company  of  Virginia  voted  to  establish  a  college  at  Henrico,  then 
a  town  not  far  from  the  present  Richmond.  Large  subscriptions  were  made  in 
England,  and  as  large,  proportionally,  in  Virginia,  where  one  clergyman,  Thomas 
Bargrave,  gave  his  library,  and  many  others  made  their  offerings  or  lent  their 
exertions.  The  College,  with  a  school  attached,  was  to  train  the  youth  not  only 
of  the  Virginians,  but  of  the  Indians.  Just  as  the  buildings  were  about  to  be 
begun,  in  1622,  the  Indians  suddenly  fell  upon  the  colonists,  massacring  a  great 
number,  alarming  all,  and  driving  the  College,  and  all  similar  plans,  far  off  into  the 
future.  In  a  corresponding  condition,  the  Massachusetts  College  might  have  had  a 
like  fate. 

In  November,  1637,  another  vote  of  the  General  Court  ordered  the  College  to 
be  established  at  Newtown,  to  which  the  more  collegiate  name  of  Cambridge  was 
given  in  the  following  year.  By  this  vote  the  institution  received  another  of  its 
most  deeply  marked  impressions.  For  at  that  time  of  difficult  communication 
between  one  place  and  another,  the  situation  at  Cambridge  was  one  of  compara- 
tive remoteness  from  the  principal  settlements  even  of  the  surrounding  country. 
Boston  could  be  reached  only  by  a  long  circuit  on  land  or  a  sluggish  ferry  over 
the  river,  while  towns  at  a  greater  distance  were  almost  as  far  off  as  the  Pacific 
is  now.  This  is  to  be  kept  constantly  in  mind  by  one  who  would  understand 
the  narrowness  he  seems  to  see  in  the  early  history.  Colonial  life  was  isolated, 
at  the   best,  and   when    it    included  life   yet    more  shut  up  within  itself,  as   that 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH.  25 

within  College  precincts,  the  isolation  must  have  been  profound.  As  for  the  sit- 
uation itself,  it  appears  to  have  been  better  thought  of  then  than  afterwards.  "  A 
place  very  pleasant  and  accommodate,"  says  the  writer  of  a  work  published  at 
London  in  1643.  Another  work,  of  1654,  says:  "The  situation  of  this  College 
is  very  pleasant,  at  the  end  of  a  spacious  plain  more  like  a  bowling-green  than  a 
wilderness,  near  a  fair  navigable  river." 

The  School,  as  mentioned  in  the  vote  of  1636,  preceded  the  College.  In  1637, 
Nathaniel  Eaton  was  appointed  "  professor  of  the  said  School,"  with  the  charge  of 
building  and  planting,  as  well  as  teaching  and  purveying.  He  appears  to  have 
been  more  successful  in  the  former  duties  than  in  the  latter;  and  there  soon 
arose  a  small  wooden  house,  with  a  little  more  than  an  acre  of  land  around  it, 
and  at  least  thirty  apple-trees  set  by  Eaton,  as  we  know  from  his  account.  The 
house  probably  stood  somewhere  near  the  site  of  the  Old  President's  House,  op- 
posite Holyoke  House.  Governor  Winthrop  —  who,  as  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
was  the  real  head  of  the  College  —  says,  in  his  History  of  New  England,  that 
Eaton  had  "  many  scholars,  the  sons  of  gentlemen  and  others  of  best  note  in  the 
country."  He  also  "  entertained  one  Nathaniel  Briscoe,  a  gentleman  born,  to  be 
his  usher."  But  alas  for  the  gentleman,  and  the  sons  of  gentlemen  ;  they  were 
very  soon  overtaken  by  the  troubles  that  would  seem  to  be  almost  inseparable 
from  boarding-schools,  and  particularly  new  ones.  The  scholars  complained  of 
bad  food  and  ill-treatment,  the  usher  of  being  "  entertained,"  after  but  three  days, 
with  "two  hundred  stripes  about  the  head";  and  Eaton  was  discharged  by  the 
General  Court,  and  fined.  His  wife's  sins  as  a  housekeeper  were  more  than  a 
match,  according  to  her  own  confession,  for  the  offences  of  the  husband;  and 
thus  the  Adam  and  Eve  of  the  College  fell,  and  were  driven  away. 

This  was  in  September,  1639.  In  March  of  that  year  the  General  Court  voted 
"  that  the  College  shall  be  called  Harvard  College."  The  great  event  in  all  this 
history  is  the  bequest  of  John  Harvard,  once  of  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge, 
who  came  to  Massachusetts  in  1637,  and  died  in  1638,  leaving  all  his  library  and 
half  his  estate  to  the  College,  which  has  since  borne  his  name.  It  could  bear  no 
better.  His  benefaction,  a  very  great  one  in  itself,  has  been  a  yet  greater  one  in  its 
effects.  It  secured  the  development  of  the  School  into  the  College.  It  loosened 
the  dependence  of  the  College  upon  the  government  by  this  unquestionable  assur- 
ance of  the  support  to  be  given  by  individuals.  It  brought  in  the  intellectual 
influences  and  opened  the  intellectual  resources  which  gave  the  College  a  better 
life  than  any  material  possessions  could  give.  That  library  of  Harvard's,  those 
three  hundred  volumes,  —  Chrysostom  and  Pelagius,  Duns  Scotus  and  Aquinas, 
Luther  and  Calvin,  Homer  and  Plutarch,  Horace  and  Pliny,  Bacon  and  Camden, 
—  were  the  first  real  teachers  in  the  College.  Nor  are  we  to  forget  the  value 
of  this  personal  presence,  shadowy  though  it  be,  which  has  always  been  the  centre 


26 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 


of  our  academic  community,  —  like  Washington  to  the  United  States,  like  Colum- 
bus   to    America,  —  the  leader  and   the   father   of  generations  grown  beneath  his 

name. 

In  1643,  the  writer  already 
quoted  describes  the  College 
buildings  thus  :  "  The  edifice  is 
very  fair  and  comely  within  and 
without,  having  in  it  a  spacious 
hall,  where  they  daily  meet  at 
Commons,  Lectures,  Exercises, 
and  a  large  library  with  some 
books  to  it,  the  gifts  of  divers 
of  our  friends  ;  their  chambers 
and  studies  also  fitted  for  and 
possessed  by  the  students,  and 
all  other  rooms  of  office  neces- 
sary and  convenient;  and  by  the  side  of  the  College  a  fair  Grammar  School  for 
the  training  up  of  young  scholars  and  fitting  of  them  for  academical  learning, 
that  still  as  they  are  judged  ripe  they  may  be  received  into  the  College."  This 
School  was  probably  the  one  of  Eaton's  building.  It  was  now  under  Master  Cor- 
let,  of  whom  it  is  encouraging  to  read  that  "  he  hath  very  well  approved  himself." 
The  other  building,  the  College  proper,  was  in  the  immediate  charge  of  the  Pres- 
ident. Henry  Dunster,  "  a  learned,  conscionable,  and  industrious  man,"  says  his 
contemporary.  He  began  his  labors  in  1640.  They  prospered  so  far  as  to  enable 
him  to  hold  his  first  Commencement  in  1642,  when,  as  Governor  Winthrop  writes, 
"  nine  bachelors  commenced ;  they  were  young  men  of  good  hope,  and  performed 
their  acts  so  as  gave  good  proof  of  their  proficiency  in  the  tongues  and  arts." 
The  Governor's  idea  of  proficiency  was  probably  moderate.  The  class  of  1642 
had  been  studying  perhaps  two,  perhaps  three  years,  with  very  few  teachers,  and 
those  few  changing;  but  Dunster  had  them  in  hand  long  enough  to  give  them 
some  claim  to  a  degree.  "  We  have,"  declares  his  contemporary,  "  to  our  great 
comfort,  and    in   truth  beyond   our  hopes,  beheld   their  progress  in  learning   and 


Note.  —  The  eastern  face  of  the  monument,  represented  above,  bears  the  name  "  Harvard  "  ;  beneath, 
on  a  marble  tablet,  is  the  following  inscription :  "  On  the  26th  day  of  September,  A.  D.  1828,  this  stone 
was  erected  by  the  Graduates  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  in  honor  of  its  Founder,  who  died  at 
Charlestown,  on  the  26th  day  of  September,  A.  D.   1638." 

On  the  western  side  of  the  shaft  is  another  inscription,  written  in  Latin :  "  In  piam  et  perpetuam 
memoriam  Johannis  Har\'ardii,  annis  fere  ducentis  post  obitum  ejus  peractis,  Academis  quae  est 
Cantabrigiae :  Nov.  Anglorum  alumni,  ne  diutius  vir  de  litteris  nostris  optima  meritus  sine  monumento 
quamvis  humili  jaceret,  hunc  lapidem  ponedum  curaverunt." 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 


27 


godliness  also."  Things  gradually  settled  into  a  system.  "  When  any  scholar  is 
able  to  understand  Tully,  or  such  like  classical  Latin  author,  extempore,  and  make 
and  speak  true  Latin  in  verse  and  prose,  Suo  ut  amnt  Marie,  and  decline  per- 
fectly the  paradigms  [spelled  paradigim's]  of  nouns  and  verbs  in  the  Greek  tongue : 
let  him  then,  and  not  before,  be  capable  of  admission  into  the  College."  So  runs 
the  first  law  of  the  Dunster  Code.  The  "  times  and  order "  of  the  College  studies 
are  laid  down  for  every  day,  from  eight  to  four  o'clock,  for  three  years.  They 
consist  of  the  Scriptures  and  their  languages,  Chaldee,  Syriac,  Greek,  and  Latin  ; 
Mathematics,  Physics  and  Astronomy,  Politics,  Ethics,  and  Logic,  Style,  Compo- 
sition, Imitation,  Epitome  and  Declamations,  History  "  in  the  winter,"  and  the 
Nature  of  Plants  "  in  the  summer."  "  Every  scholar  able  to  read  the  originals  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testament  into  the  Latin  tongue,  and  to  resolve  them  logically ; 
withal  being  of  godly  life  and  conversation,  ....  is  fit  to  be  dignified  with  his 
first  degree.  Every  scholar  that  giveth  up  in  writing  a  system,  or  synopsis,  or 
sum  of  Logic,  Natural  and  Moral  Philosophy,  Arithmetic,  Geometry,  and  Astron- 
omy, and  is  ready  to  defend  his  thesis  or  positions,  withal  skilled  in  the  originals 
as  above  said,  and  of  godly  life  and  conversation,  ....  is  fit  to  be  dignified  with 
his  second  degree."  Such  was  the  aspect  and  such  the  purpose  of  the  College 
at  the  time  of  its  first  Commencement. 

To  see  the  undergraduates  as  they  then  were,  is  not  very  easy.  One  of  the 
most  peculiar  usages  affecting  them  was  that  which  arranged  them  in  their  class 
according  to  their  social  position.  This  arose  naturally  from  the  character  of 
the  College  as  a  public  institution,  recognizing  the  same  distinctions  of  office 
and  rank  as  existed  in  the  state.  A  graduate  of  the  next  century  describes  the 
custom  as  it  was  in  his  day,  and  it  was  probably  much  the  same  from  the 
beginning.  He  says  the  Freshman  Class  was  usually  "  placed "  within  six  or 
nine  months  after  admission.  "  As  soon  as  apprised  of  their  places,  each  one 
took  his  station  according  to  the  new  arrangement,  at  recitation,  and  at  Com- 
mons, and  in  the  Chapel,  and  on  all  other  occasions."  This  could  not  be  done 
without  many  heart-burnings.  "  The  scholars,"  we  are  told,  "  were  often  enraged 
beyond   bounds   for   their   disappointment   in   their  place ;   and  it  was   some   time 

Note.  — The  accompanying  engraving,  made  by  Paul  Revere,  was  struck  from  a  portion  of  the  origi- 
nal plate  which  was  accidentally  preserved.  It  appears  that  the  State  engaged  Revere  to  engrave  some 
bank-notes  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  Copper  being  scarce,  he  took  the  plate  of  the 
College  buildings,  cut  it  into  two  parts,  and  executed  the  notes,  three  in  number,  bearing  date  July 
8,  1775,  on  the  back  of  one.  This  part  came  into  the  possession  of  the  State,  and  is  now  among 
the  archives  at  the  State  House. 

The  students  walking  with  their  hats  in  their  hand  are  probably  Freshmen  obeying  the  regulations 
of  that  period  to  go  with  heads  uncovered  in  the  presence  of  upper  classmen  or  College  officers.  —  Ed. 


28  HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 

before  a  class  could  be  settled  down  to  an  acquiescence  in  this  allotment 

The  higher  part  of  the  class  commonly  had  the  best  chambers  in  College 
assigned  to  them.  They  had  also  a  right  to  help  themselves  first  at  table  in 
Commons."  But  these  creature  comforts  were  by  no  means  the  only  advantages 
of  the  higher  part.  The  sense  of  superiority  in  rank  was  then  keen  enough  to 
affect  one  intellectually  and  morally,  as  well  as  physically.  Its  gratification  lent 
a  charm  to  the  hall  and  the  chapel,  as  well  as  to  the  chamber  and  the  table. 
It  continued  throughout  College ;  indeed,  it  continued  after  College,  as  appears  from 
a  letter  of  a  graduate  of  1696,  entreating  restoration  to  the  rank  from  which  he 
had  been  degraded  in  his  "  Sophymoreship."  "  Nothing  can  be  more  grateful," 
he  says,  "  to  my  father  and  mother,  nor  anything  more  encouraging  to  me." 
Another  influence  upon  the  students  came  from  outside.  The  severity  of  life 
was  then  at  its  maximum.  Not  only  was  it  a  matter  of  principle  to  repress 
one's  spirits  and  one's  manners ;  it  may  be  said  to  have  been  a  matter  of  neces- 
sity. The  new  country,  the  struggle  with  nature  and  man,  the  entire  absence  of 
luxury,  the  closing  in  of  labor  and  penury,  made  what  is  now  called  enjoyment 
simply  impossible.  It  was  no  abrupt  transition  from  the  strict  regimen  of  the 
family  to  the  strict  regimen  of  the  College.  Lines  were  as  sharply  drawn  in 
the  one  as  in  the  other.  The  Freshman  ran  the  errands  of  the  upper  classes 
as  he  would  have  run  those  of  his  elder  brother  at  home.  The  undergraduate, 
already  trained  to  show  the  utmost  respect  towards  his  elders,  would  have  won- 
dered had  he  not  been  compelled  to  take  off  his  hat  in  the  yard  when  any  of 
the  officers  were  there.*   There  was   nothing  offensive  in  the  law  which  subjected 


*  The  following,  contributed  by  Dr.  S.  K.  Lothrop,  shows  how  this  custom  was  finally  broken  up :  — 
"  In  a  conversation  about  obsolete  College  customs,  I   heard  my  uncle,  Dr.  Kirkland,  say  that  the 
usage,  which  required  a  Freshman  to  take  off   his  hat  if   one   of    the  higher  classes  was  in  the  Col- 
lege Yard,  and  remain  uncovered  till  he  had  entered  one  of  the  buildings,  or  was  out  of  the  College 
grounds,  was  broken  up  by  the  firmness  and  independence  of  the  late  Professor  Levi  Hedge  ;  and  he 

related  the  anecdote  as  follows  :    Mr.  D ,  having  found   Mr.  Hedge,  a  Freshman  of  a  few  weeks' 

standing,  refractory  upon  this  point,  called  on  President  Willard  and  complained  that  Freshman  Hedge 

violated  this   custom,  and  had  refused  several  times  when  he  (D )  met   him    and  asked   him  to 

take  off  his  hat.     After  considering  a  moment,  the  President   said,  '  D ,  do    you    go   to    Hedge's 

room  and  tell  him  that  I  want  to  see  him  immediately,  and   do   you   come   back  with  him.'     D ■ 

executed  his  errand  in  high  glee,  entering  Hedge's  room  with  the  exclamation,  '  Come,  Hedge,  you 
must  go  down  with  me  to  the  President's  study.  I  have  complained  to  him  about  your  not  taking 
off  your  hat,  and  he  told  me  to  come  and  tell  you  that  he  wanted  to  see  you  immediately,  and  he 
said  I  must  return  with  you.  I  guess  you  have  got  to  take  it  now.  Come  quick.'  '  Certainly,'  said 
Hedge;  'I  will  go  with  you  immediately.'     And  putting  on   his   hat   they  walked   out    of   the    room 

together.     The  moment  they  emerged   from   the  building  D stopped,  and    turning   to    him,  said, 

'  Come,  Hedge,  off  with  your  hat,  sir.  I  am  going  to  have  no  more  of  this  thing,  I  can  tell  you.' 
'  Very  well,  sir,'  said  Hedge,  and  immediately  uncovering  said,    '  There,    sir,  my  hat  is  off,  and  now,' 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 


29 


any  scholar,  "  if  not  adultus,  to  correction,"  that  is,  to  a  whipping ;  and  this, 
according  to  a  later  law,  was  to  be  "  in  the  hall,  openly."  Among  the  restraints 
laid  by  the  Overseers'  orders  of  1650  is  one  upon  taking  tobacco,  "unless  per- 
mitted by  the  President,  with  the  consent  of  parents  and  guardians,  and  on  good 
reason  first  given  by  a  physician  " ;  and  another  upon  being  present  at  "  courts  of 
justice,  elections,  fairs,  or  at  military  exercise,  in  the  time  or  hours  of  the  Col- 
lege exercise."  Fines  were  laid  for  absence  or  tardiness,  absence  from  town 
without  leave,  neglect  of  study,  playing  cards,  frequenting  taverns,  and  many 
other  offences,  which,  if  often  committed,  must  have  reduced  the  good  people  at 
home  to  sad  straits.  Money  was  very  scarce,  as  appears  from  the  manner  in 
which  College  bills  were  paid,  as  by  butter,  cheese,  fruit,  vegetables,  grain,  oxen, 
cows,  sheep,  boots,  shoes,  and  any  other  merchandise  which  the  student  or  his 
father  could  command.  It  is  not  unusual  to  find  two  entries  under  a  student's 
name,  such  as  two  bushels  and  a  half  of  Indian  corn  to  his  credit,  and  then 
a  charge  against  him  "  by  want  of  measure  of  the  Indian."  The  want  of  pocket- 
money  must  also  have  had  its  effect.  So  must  the  want  of  occasions  for  spending 
money.  Visits  home  were  infrequent,  even  when  the  home  was  near;  when  it 
was  distant,  they  were  difficult  and  sometimes  dangerous.  One  of  the  Class  of 
1 65 1,  who  became  a  Tutor,  and  while  such  went  to  New  Haven,  where  his  father 
lived,  was  upon  his  journey  "  from  Tuesday  afternoon  to  Dedham,  unto  Wednes- 
day the  next  week  at  night."  "  Near  Pequit  [New  London]  we  were  lost,  and 
past  through  a  craggy,  dangerous  way;  yet  God  kept  us  and  all  belonged  to  us, 
and  brought  us  safe  notwithstanding  the  rumors  of  the   Indian  plots."     All  these 


bringing  his  doubled  fist  in  close  proximity  to  D -'s  face,  —  'now  take  off  yours.'     D ,  surprised 

at  the  new  turn  affairs  had  taken,  hesitated  a  moment,  but  on  Hedge's  repeating,  with  a  tone,  a 
look,  and  an  expletive  that  evidently  meant  business,  —  'Take  it  off,  sir,  instantly,  or  I  will  knock 
you  down,'  —  quietly  took  it  off,  and  the  two  walked  along   uncovered.     Meeting   a   Senior    between 

Harvard  and  Massachusetts,  D was  disposed  and  made  a  movement  to  put  his  hat  on;  but  the 

stern,  determined  voice  came,  '  Keep  it  off,  sir,  or  I  will  knock   you  down.'     So   the   Senior    smiled, 

and  D ■  and   Hedge  passed  on  to  the  President's  study.     Immediately  on  entering,  the  President 

said,  '  How  is  this,  Hedge  ;    D says  you  do  not  take  off  your  hat  when   you  see  him,  or  meet 

him  in  the  College  Yard  ? '  Hedge  answered,  '  I  don't  like  the  custom  that  prevails  here.  There  is 
no  law  ordering  or  enforcing  it,  I  believe.  In  the  College  Yard  or  out  of  it,  any  where,  I  am  per- 
fectly ready  to  take  off  my  hat  to  any  gentleman  who  shows  me  the  same  courtesy.'     At  this  point 

D broke    in    with    an    account    of    what    had    just    occurred.       'Ah,    ha,'    says    the    President, 

'  Hedge  took  off  his  hat  the  moment  you  asked  him  to  do  so,  did  he  not  ? '  '  Yes,  sir.'  '  What  did 
he  do  then  ? '  '  He  told  me  to  take  off  my  hat,  or  he  would  knock  me  down.'  '  Well,  what  did 
you  do?'     'Why,  sir,  I  didn't  want  to  have  a  fight,  or  be  knocked   down,  so   I    took   off    my  hat' 

'  Very  well,  D ,  I  think  that  is  a  good  rule  for  you  and  others.     If  you  don't  want  to  be  knocked 

down,  take  off  your  own  hat  to  those  whom  you  expect  or  desire  should  render  a  like  courtesy  to 
you.'    And  so  the  custom  was  broken  up." 


30 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 


things   concentrated   the    undergraduate  upon  his   College    resources ;   whether   he 
used  them  well  or  ill,  they  were  all  he  had  for  the  time. 

When  he  graduated,  his  first  impulse  was  not  to  break  away,  but  to  stay  where 
he  was,  and  continue  the  life  to  which  he  had  become  habituated.  If  he  pro- 
posed, as  most  of  the  early  graduates  did,  to  enter  the  ministry,  the  simplest  way 
to  complete  his  preparation  was  to  go  on  with  his  studies.  A  Bachelor  in  resi- 
dence was  called  a  Sir,  and  the  class  of  Sirs  was  often  as  numerous  as  any  in, 
the  three  years'  course.  There  were  no  Professors.  The  President  was  the  prin- 
cipal teacher;  and  as  soon  as  there  were  any  Sirs  to  choose  from,  he  selected 
some  of  these  "to  read  to  the  Junior  pupils."  Thus,  in  1643,  Sir  Bulkley  and 
Sir  Downing,  graduates  of  the  first  class  the  year  before,  were  appointed  "  for  the 
present  help  of  the  President."  The  respect  which  the  younger  classes  were  accus- 
tomed to  pay  to  the  elder  secured  a  much  greater  degree  of  deference  to  these 
Tutors  than  would  be  felt  for  recent  graduates  nowadays.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  they  had  the  respect  of  their  pupils,  for  they  had  little  besides,  — "  4  /  per 
annum  to  each  of  them  for  their  pains."  One  of  the  two  was  among  the  most 
liberal  benefactors  of  the  College.  In  1645,  as  Bulkley  was  preparing  to  follow 
Downing  to  England,  he  conveys  an  acre  of  land,  covering  the  site  of  Gore  Hall,  to 
Henry  Dunster,  to  whom  the  giver  is  "  most  closely  bound  by  very  many  and  great 
benefits " ;  and  on  Dunster's  leaving  the  presidency,  to  the  College,  "  as  a  slight 
tribute  from  a  warmly  attached  (maxime  benevolo)  alumnus."  This  is  a  glimpse 
into  the  inner  and  happier  life  of  the  place.  Downing  and  Bulkley  were  by 
no  means  the  only  graduates  who  soon  returned  to  their  native  country.  Out  of 
twenty,  twelve  went  back,  and  eleven  of  the  twelve  remained  in  England.  It  was 
not  surprising  that  the  best-educated  young  men  of  Massachusetts  should  be  the 
least  contented  with  it.  Not  their  will,  but  their  fathers',  had  brought  them  over, 
and  when  left  to  themselves,  they  swung  back  to  the  greater  attractions  of  the  mother 
country.  A  Tutorship  at  the  Colonial  College  was  four  pounds  a  year ;  a  Fellow- 
ship at  one  of  the  English  universities  was  ten  times  as  much  ;  and  one  of  the 
Class  of  1650  appears  to  have  obtained  an  Oxford  Fellowship  of  sixty  pounds. 
Nor  was  money  the  chief  advantage.  All  opportunities,  save  those  of  hard,  self- 
denying  exertion,  were  superior  on  the  other  side,  and  exertion  itself  might  be  as 
hard  and  as  self-denying  there  as  here,  in  those  years  of  civil  war.  Such  was  the 
drift  of  our  alumni  towards  England,  that  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies 
of  New  England  recommended  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  to  take  some 
course  with  parents,  so  that  their  sons,  "  when  furnished  with  learning,  remove 
not  into  other  countries,  but  improve  their  parts  and  abilities  in  the  service  of  the 
Colonies."  Most  of  the  alumni  who  cleaved  to  their  Alma  Mater  appear  to  have  been 
highly  appreciated.  "  Such  was  the  love  of  all  the  scholars  to  him," —  Samuel  Mather, 
of  the  Class  of  1643,  and  successor  to  Bulkley  and  Downing,  —  "  that  not  only  when 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 


31 


he  read  his  last  Philosophy  Lecture  in  the  College  Hall,  they  heard  him  with  tears, 
because  of  its  being  his  last,  but  also  when  he  went  away  from  the  College,  they  jDut 
on  the  tokens  of  mourning  in  their  very  garments  for  it."  Mitchel  of  1646,  and  a 
Tutor  for  three  or  four  years  after,  married  a  young  widow  in  1650,  and  thought 
so  well  of  the  Commons,  with  which  he  had  long  been  familiar,  as  to  order  from 
it  "  a  supper  on  his  wedding-night " ;  while  "  the  Epithalamiums,"  as  they  are 
termed,  "  which  the  students  then  celebrated  that  marriage  withal,  were  expressive 
of  the  satisfaction  which  it  gave  unto   all  the  good  people  of  the  vicinity." 

But  all  did  not  go  merry  as  a  marriage-bell  with  the  College  or  its  officers. 
The  President  labored  heavily  under  the  want  of  means,  both  for  himself  and  for 
the  institution.  He  had  done  all  he  could.  He  gave  a  hundred  acres  of  land  in 
Billerica,  adjoining  a  farm  of  the  same  extent  which  was  given  by  the  town  of  Cam- 
bridge. He  obtained  •  subscriptions,  which  enabled  him  to  build  a  President's 
house,  wherein  he  hid  his  troubles,  as  far  as  he  could,  from  others'  eyes.  But  it 
was  in  vain.  The  College  buildings  were  already  decaying  for  want  of  repairs. 
His  income,  small  as  it  was  nominally,  was  smaller  actually,  paid  in  town  rates, 
which  he  was  obliged  to  collect  for  himself.  He  kept  up  nobly ;  and,  when  the 
old  resources  failed,  he  tried  to  create  new.  ones  by  appealing  to  the  Commissioners 
of  the  United  Colonies  to  make  the  College  a  New  England  institution.  This 
they  were  beginning  to  do,  and  fresh  hopes  were  rising  in  Dunster's  breast,  when 
he  fell  to  doubting,  and  then  to  condemning,  infant  baptism.  His  ideas,  as  Mitchel 
of  the  wedding  supper  thought  he  saw  clearly,  "  were  from  the  Evil  One."  The 
story  of  his  compulsory  resignation  is  sad  enough  ;  but  it  is  too  familiar  to  be 
repeated.  His  successor,  Charles  Chauncy,  was  not  supposed  to  be  altogether 
exempt  from  doctrinal  errors.  He  certainly  was  not  from  official  and  personal 
embarrassments.  Two  petitions  from  him  to  the  General  Court  —  the  first  in 
1655,  a  year  after  his  entrance  upon  office;  the  second  eight  years  later,  in  1663 
—  rehearse  his  "  many  grievances  and  temptations " ;  and  the  second  urges  the 
fact  "  that  there  are  no  colleges  in  our  English  universities,  wherein  the  petitioner 
hath  continued  long,  but  that  the  Presidents  thereof,  beside  their  yearly  stipend, 
are  allowed  their  diet,  with  other  necessary  provisions  according  to  their  wants." 
To  which  the  committee  on  the  petition  report,  as  their  reply,  that  "the  country 
have  done  honorably  towards  the  recompense  and  encouragement  of  the  petitioner, 
....  and  that  his  parity  with  English  colleges  is  not  pertinent."  So  the  struggle 
continues,  and  with  less  spirit  as  the  years  succeed,  until,  in  1669,  the  inhabitants 
of  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  then  under  Massachusetts  jurisdiction,  address  the 
General  Court  concerning  "  the  loud  groans  of  the  sinking  College,"  "  the  reliev- 
ing of  which  we  account  a  good  work  for  the  house  of  our  God,  and  needful  for 
the  perpetuating  of  knowledge,  both  religious  and  civil,  among  us  and  our  pos- 
terity after  us." 


32  HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 

There  was  no  occasion  for  despair.  Its  members  might  suffer,  but  the  insti- 
tution itself  was  sure  to  be  brought  safely  through  its  trials.  The  records  of  the 
half-century  following  its  foundation  —  from  1636  to  1686  —  show  grants  from  the 
General  Court  to  the  amount  of  ^  550  sterling,  and  £  2,870  currency,  not  in- 
cluding the  income  from  the  ferry  between  Boston  and  Charlestown,  which  was 
paid  into  the  College  treasury  from  1640.  During  the  same  period,  individual 
subscriptions  amounted  to  ^5,091  sterling,  and  ^4,640  currency.  Besides  all 
this,  seventeen  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land,  mostly  out  of  Cambridge,  were 
conveyed,  partly  by  the  town  of  Cambridge,  but  chiefly  by  individuals.  Among 
the  offerings  were  many  not  usually  associated  with  academic  endowments,  —  "a 
great  silver  salt,"  "  a  silver  beer  bowl,"  "  one  fruit  dish,  one  silver  sugar  spoon  and 
one  silver  tipt  jug,"  "  a  silver  tankard,"  "  a  pewter  flagon,"  "  corn  and  meat,"  "  thirty 
ewe  sheep  with  their  lambs,"  "  horses,"  and  "  lumber."  The  office  of  treasurer  was 
evidently  no  sinecure. 

About  midway  in  this  first  half-century  stands  the  foundation  of  the  Indian 
College  by  the  English  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  New  England. 
The  building  —  large  enough  to  hold  twenty  students,  and  costing  not  far  from 
four  hundred  pounds  sterling  —  stood  nearly  on  the  site  of  Grays.  Very  little  is 
known  about  the  Indian  undergraduates.  One  of  them,  from  Martha's  Vineyard, 
whose  Christian  name  was  Joel,  — "  our  young  prophet  Joel,"  as  he  was  called, 
—  perished  by  Indian  hands  on  Nantucket,  where  he  was  wrecked  on  his  return 
to  College  from  a  visit  to  his  kindred.  Only  one  Indian,  Caleb  Cheeshahteaumuck, 
took  his  degree,  and  he  died  the  very  next  year.  The  Indian  College  became  a 
printing-house,  where  the  Bible,  translated  by  John  Eliot,  was  printed  in  the  Indian 
tongue, — perhaps  the  greatest  work  of  any  done  in  connection  with  Harvard  Col- 
lege. Many  years  later,  in  the  beginning  of  the  following  century,  we  light  upon 
the  name  of  an  Indian  student,  Larnel.  He  was  dismissed  for  some  offence  in 
his  Junior  year,  but  taken  back  upon  public  confession,  which  the  President  men- 
tions as  of  "  a  peculiar  grace,"  which  "  ratified  wonderfully  that  which  I  had  con- 
ceived of  him."  He  died  soon  after,  before  completing  his  course ;  and  though 
but  twenty  years  old,  he  is  described  by  the  President  as  "  an  acute  grammarian,  an 
extraordinary  Latin  poet,  and  a  good  Greek  one." 

The  best  friends  of  the  College  were  less  intent  upon  enlarging  it  than  upon 
improving  it.  First  of  what  may  be  styled  the  early  reforms  was  the  three  weeks' 
visitation,  ordered  by  the  Overseers  in  1650.  "  Between  the  loth  of  June  and  the 
Commencement,  from  nine  o'clock  to  eleven  in  the  forenoon,  and  from  one  to  three 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  second  and  third  day  of  the  week,  all  scholars  of  two 
years'  standing  shall  sit  in  the  hall,  to  be  examined  by  all  comers  in  the  Latin, 
Greek,  and  Hebrew  tongues,  and  in  Rhetoric,  Logic,  and  Physics ;  and  they  that 
expect  to  proceed  Bachelors  that   year  [therefore  of  three  years'  standing]  to  be 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 


33 


examined  of  their  sufficiency  according  to  the  laws  of  the  College ;  and  such  that 
expect  to  proceed  Masters  of  Arts  to  exhibit  their  synopsis  of  acts  required  by 
the  laws  of  the  College."  Failure  in  these  requirements  delayed  promotion  or 
graduation  till  the  following  year.  In  1654,  the  course  hitherto  covering  three 
years  was  extended  to  a  fourth,  whereupon  "  no  fewer  than  seventeen  of  the  schol- 
ars," as  we  are  told  by  the  son  of  one  of  them,  "  withdrew  from  the  College  without 
any  degree  at  all."  This  seems  to  have  been  the  prototype  of  College  rebellions, 
—  not  the  only  rebellions  in  which  the  rebels  punish  themselves.  In  1666,  the 
Overseers  ordered  that  the  Fellows  who  received  salaries  from  the  Treasury  should 
reside  within  the  College,  "  and  be  present  with  the  scholars  at  meal-times  in  the 
hall."  These  were  the  Fellows  of  the  College,  or  the  House,  as  they  were  termed, 
in  contradistinction  to  Fellows  of  the  Corporation,  who  were  not  held  to  resi- 
dence. The  Fellows  of  the  House  were  the  Tutors  of  their  time,  and  to  this  title 
their  older  name  of  Fellows  gradually  gave  way.  Their  being  required  to  reside 
in  the  College  goes  to  show  that  they  had  not  always  resided  there,  or  that  some 
of  them  were  now  disposed  to  reside  elsewhere.  In  1674,  President  Hoar  appears 
to  have  suggested  some  reforms  which  led  to  the  withdrawal  of  every  student 
but  three,  encouraged,  as  is  well  known,  by  the  General  Court.  Leonard  Hoar, 
of  the  Class  of  1650,  was  the  first  alumnus  called  to  the  Presidency,  in  which  he 
succeeded  Chauncy  in  1672.  Ten  or  eleven  years  before,  he  wrote  from  England 
to  his  nephew  Flint,  a  Freshman,  giving  him  as  sound  advice  as  ever  graduate 
gave  to  undergraduate.     "  You  are  not  to  content  yourself,"  he  says,  "  with  doing 

that  only  which   you  are  tasked   to When  the  classes  study  only  logic   or 

nature,  you  may  spend  some  one  or  two  spare  hours  in  languages,  rhetoric,  his- 
tory, or  mathematics.  And  when  they  recite  only  the  text  of  an  author,  read 
you  some  other  of  the  same  subject,  or  some  commentation  upon  it,  at  the  same 

time As  you  must  read  much,  so  you  must  be  free  and  much  in  all  kinds 

of  discourse  of  what  you  read,  that  your  tongue  may  be  apt  to  a  good  expression 
of  what   you  do  understand.      And   further,  of  most  things  you  must  write   too, 

whereby  you  may  render  yourself  exact It  is  practice,  and  only  your  own 

practice,  that  will  be  able  to  perfect  you.  My  charge  of  your  choice  of  com- 
pany I  need  not  inculcate ;  nor,  I  hope,  that  for  your  constant  use  of  the  Latin 
tongue  in  all  your  converse  together,  and  that  in  the  purest  phrase  of  Terence 
and  Erasmus."  Latin  was  supposed  to  be  the  only  spoken  tongue  of  the  Col- 
lege. "  I  shall  add,"  says  the  uncle,  "  but  one  thing  more,  but  that  the  crown 
and  perfection  of  all  the  rest,  which  only  can  make  all  your  endeavors  success- 
ful and  your  end  blessed.  And  that  is,  something  of  the  daily  practice  of  piety 
and  the  study  of  the  true  and  highest  wisdom."  We  have  another  letter  from 
Hoar,  written  soon  after  he  became  President,  to  Robert  Boyle,  the  English  phi- 
losopher.    "It  hath  pleased  even  all  to  assign  the  College  for  my  Sparta.     I  de- 


34  HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 

sire  I  may  adorn  it,  and  thereby  encourage  the  country  in  its  utmost  throws  for 
its  resuscitation  from  its  ruins."  He  goes  on  to  mention  some  of  its  wants  :  "  A 
large  well-sheltered  garden  and  orchard,  for  students  addicted  to  planting ;  an 
ergasterium,  for  mechanic  fancies ;  and  a  laboratory  chemical,  for  those  philosophers 
that  by  their  senses  would  culture  their  understandings,  ....  for  readings  or 
notions  only  are  but  husky  provender."  No  wonder  that  the  General  Court  of 
1674  set  itself  against  such  an  innovator. 


CHAPTER     II. 

Increase  Mather  the  first  President  of  American  Birth.  —  His  Absence  from  Cambridge.  — 
His  Implication  in  the  Persecution  of  Witches  at  Salem.  —  Robert  Calef.  —  His  Book 

BURNED   IN  THE  COLLEGE  YarD  BY  OrDER  OF  THE  PRESIDENT. TUTORS  BrATTLE  AND  LevERETT. 

—  Leverett  elected  President,  1707. — An  Account  of  his  Inauguration. — Growth  of 
THE  College.  —  The  College  Faculty  organized,  1725.  —  Proceedings  of  Committees 
appointed  by  the  Overseers.  —  Commencements.  —  Corporal  Punishment  suspended  by  the 
Corporation,  1755-  —  Burning  of  Harvard  Hall,  1764. — Resolve  of   the  General  Court 

TO   REBUILD    IT.  PRIZES    FOR   COMPOSITIONS    IN    HONOR   OF    GeORGE    III.  VOTE   OF    THE    SENIOR 

Class  to  wear  Home-made  Suits  at  Commencements.  —  Rebellion  of  the  Students.  —  The 
Marti-Mercurian  Band.  —  The  General  Court  occupy  the  College  Chapel.  —  James  Otis. 

—  Spirits  of  the  Students  at  the  Prospect  of  War.  —  President  Langdon's  Prayer  before 
the  Revolutionary  Troops.  —  The  Students  assemble  at  Concord  instead  of  Cambridge. 


The  first  President  of  American  birth  was  Increase  Mather,  who  graduated  in 
1656,  and  became  Acting  President  in  1685.  He  was  then  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  men  in  Boston,  having  been  for  twenty  years  minister  of  the  Second 
Church,  and  identified  with  the  poHtical  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  movements  of 
the  town.  So  distinguished  a  head,  even  if  he  were  not  held  to  the  close  per- 
formance of  his  functions,  would  do  more  for  the  revival  of  the  institution  than 
any  ordinary  President.  It  was  not  so  much  by  teaching  or  governing  the  students, 
as  by  impressing  the  community,  that  the  present  wants  of  the  College  were  to  be 
met  ;  and  who  could  thus  meet  them  better  than  the  great  divine  whom  the 
people  of  Boston  had  made  their  adviser  when  they  were  threatened  with  the 
loss  of  the  Massachusetts  Charter,  and  to  whom  not  only  Boston,  but  the  country 
round,  would  listen,  when  he  preached,  "  with  an  awe,"  as  we  are  told,  "  like 
what  would  be  produced  on  the  fall  of  thunderbolts  "  ?  Such  was  the  reasoning 
which  led  to  the  anomaly  of  a  non-resident  President.  Of  the  sixteen  years 
during  which  Mather  held  the  office,  four  were  passed  in  England,  whither  he 
went  as  the  agent  of  Massachusetts  to  recover  her  Charter,  and  the  remaining 
twelve  in  Boston,  with  the  exception  of  a  week  at  one  time,  and  three  months  at 


36  HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 

another,  reluctantly  spent  in  Cambridge.  The  effect  was  natural.  Instead  of  pros- 
pering, the  College  suffered.  Instead  of  being  contented  with  the  great  man 
whom  they  had  called  to  their  aid,  the  College  government  and  the  Colonial  gov- 
ernment repeatedly  attempted  to  transfer  him  from  Boston  to  Cambridge,  and,  fail- 
ing in  that,  to  procure  his  resignation  of  the  Presidency.  But  he  held  his  ground. 
He  would  not  leave  his  flock,  he  said,  for  "  forty  or  fifty  children."  Nor  would 
he  give  up  the  children,  whose  studies  he  liked  to  direct,  and  to  whom  he  was 
wont  to  preach  a  weekly  sermon.  The  Treasurer's  books  are  reported  to  contain 
a  variety  of  charges  on  account  of  the  President's  journeys  between  Boston  and 
Cambridge.  "  Paid  for  shoeing  Mr.  Mather's  horse,  mending  saddle  and  new 
saddle  cloth ;  ....  for  keeping  the  President's  horse ;  ....  for  keeping  from  20 
Sept.  1694  till  he  died  12  April,  1696;  ....  to  purchase  a  horse  with,  for  the 
better  capacitating  the  President  to  make  his  visits."  Did  the  students  have  their 
joke  about  Caligula  and  the  horse  which  he  made  consul  ?  One  of  the  Presi- 
dent's chief  concerns  was  a  new  charter  for  the  College.  What  with  the  College 
and  the  Colony,  he  seems  to  have  had  charter  on  the  brain  ;  but  the  College 
escaped  the  blessings  he  designed  for  it,  and  made  its  way  toward  the  future 
under  the  charter  that  had  satisfied  it  in  1650,  and  satisfies  it  still.  One  of  the 
Mather  Acts  of  Incorporation  went  into  operation  for  a  short  time  in  1692.  It 
declared  him  President  (until  then  Acting  President),  and  gave  the  College  author- 
ity to  confer  degrees,  in  virtue  of  which,  as  we  are  informed,  "  this  University,  as 
now  it  was,  thought  it  their  duty  to  present  unto  their  President  a  diploma  for  a 
doctorate,  ....  being  the  first  and  sole  instance  of  such  a  thing  done  in  the  whole 
English  America."  Mr.  Sibley,  from  whose  very  valuable  volume  of  biographies 
this  statement  is  borrowed,  —  and  it  is  by  no  means  the  only  one  from  that 
source  in  this  sketch,  —  adds  that  seventy-nine  years  passed  before  another 
similar  degree  was  conferred.  A  ceremony  never  repeated  was  performed  a  few 
years  subsequently.  The  President  had  been  implicated  in  the  recent  persecution 
of  some  poor  women  as  witches  at  Salem.  So  had  others  of  the  Academic  and 
Colonial  magnates,  like  the  Lieutenant-Governor  and  Chief  Justice  Stoughton,  of 
the  Class  of  1650,  whose  Hall,  the  first  named  after  him,  was  completed  at  his 
charge  in  1699.  The  next  year  a  Boston  merchant,  Robert  Calef,  published  in 
London  a  book  on  the  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World,  in  which  the  witchcraft 
persecutors  were  handled  without  gloves.  As  soon  as  "  the  wicked  book  "  arrived 
in  Massachusetts,  it  was  burned  in  the  College  yard,  by  order  of  the  President,  — 
the  first  and  the  last  presidential  bonfire  in  our  history.  While  the  President  was 
more  intent  upon  witches,  charters,  and  other  matters  than  upon  the  routine  of 
recitations  or  lectures,  the  instruction  of  the  students  was  in  good  hands.  Two 
Tutors  of  the  Class  of  1680,  Brattle  and  Leverett,  were  appointed  in  1686,  —  the 
former  serving  for  ten  years,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Pemberton,  of  1691  ;  the 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH.  2,-j 

latter  for  some  time  longer.  To  these  men  the  College  owed  the  continuance  of 
its  usefulness. 

After  several  years  of  public  life,  in  which  Leverett  rose  to  high  distinctions,  he 
was  elected  President  in  1 707.  He  was  probably  better  fitted  for  the  office,  both 
as  a  scholar  and  as  an  administrator,  than  any  of  his  predecessors  ;  and  for  this 
reason,  as  for  others,  we  are  glad  to  have  an  account  of  his  inauguration  from  an 
eye-witness,  Chief  Justice  Sewall,  of  the  Class  of  1671.  "Went  to  Cambridge," 
says  his  diary,  January  14,  1708,  "in  Mr.  Briggs'  coach."  He  then  enumerates 
other  vehicles  and  parties,  among  them  "  Mr.  Pemberton  carried  Mr.  Brown  in  his 
sleigh  over  the  ice."  "  The  day  was  very  pleasant In  the  Library  the  Gov- 
ernor [Dudley,  of  the  Class  of  1665]  formed  a  meeting  of  the  Overseers,  according  to 

the  Charter  of  1650,  and  reduced  the  number  [of  the  Corporation]  to  seven 

The  Governor  prepared  a  Latin  speech,  then  took  the  President  by  the  hand,  led 
him  down  into  the  Hall.  The  books  of  the  College  records,  charter,  seal,  and 
key  were  laid  upon  the  table.  The  Governor  sat  with  his  back  against  a  noble 
fire.  President  sat  on  the  other  side  of  the  table,  over  against  him.  Mr.  Nehemiah 
Hobart  [Senior  of  the  Corporation]  was  called,  and  made  an  excellent  prayer  ; 
then  Joseph  Sewall  [of  the  Senior  Class]  made  a  Latin  oration.  Then  the  Gov- 
ornor  read  his  speech,  and  (as  he  told  me)  moved  the  books  in  token  of  delivery. 
The  President  made  a  short  Latin  speech,  importing  the  difficulties  discouraging,  and 
yet  that  he  did  accept.  Governor  spoke  further,  assuring  him  of  the  assistance  of  the 
Overseers.  Then  Mr.  Edward  Holyoke  [of  the  Class  of  1705,  afterwards  President] 
made  a  Latin  oration,  standing  where  Joseph  [Sewall]  did,  at  a  desk  on  the  table 
next  the  entry,  facing  the  Governor.  Mr.  Danforth  [probably  of  the  Class  of  1677] 
prayed.  Mr.  Paul  Dudley  [of  the  Class  of  1690]  read  part  of  the  13 2d  Psalm, 
in  Tate  and  Brady  version,  Windsor  tune.  Closed  with  the  Hymn  to  the  Trinity. 
Had  a  very  good  dinner  on  three  or  four  tables.  Mr.  Wadsworth  [of  the  Class 
of  1690,  afterwards  President]  craved  a  blessing.  Mr.  Angier  [of  the  Class  of 
1673]  returned  thanks.  Got  home  very  well.  Laus  Deo."  Another  of  these 
high  ceremonies  is  described  by  President  Leverett,  under  date  of  October  15, 
1 716.  "The  Governor  [Shute]  set  out  from  Boston  to  visit  his  government  of 
New  Hampshire,  passing  through  Cambridge.  He  was  pleased  to  visit  the  Col- 
lege, and  was  received  by  the  President  and  Fellows  at  the  gate,  and  by  them 
conducted  into  the  Hall,  where  he  was  saluted  by  Sir  Foxcroft  [171 4]  with  a 
Latin  oration,  to  his  Excellency's  good  acceptance,  and  with  the  just  applause  of 
the  learned  auditory ;  he  went  into  the  Library,  and  after  a  short  view  and  large 
commendation  of  the  place,  and  founders  and  patrons  of  it,  with  assurance  of 
his  favors  to  the  House,  and  blessings  upon  it,  he  proceeded  on  his  journey,  the 
President  accompanying  his  Excellency  to  New  Hampshire."  Evidently  the  con- 
nection between  the  College  and  the  Province  was  as  close  as  ever. 


38  HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 

The  seal  upon  the  table  at  which  the  Governor  and  the  President  sat  was  an 
object  of  much  greater  reverence  in  those  days  than  it  is  in  these.  At  the  very 
first  meeting  of  the  College  governors  under  the  first  charter,  December  27, 
1643,  it  was  "ordered  that  there  shall  be  a  Colledge  scale  in  forme  following," 
the  form  being  a  shield  bearing  three  open  books,  inscribed  "  Veritas."  This 
proving  too  simple,  apparently,  a  second  seal  was  adopted,  with  a  shield  of 
changed  shape  and  changed  inscription,  the  motto,  "  In  Christi  gloriam,"  being 
placed,  not  upon  the  books,  but  above  and  beside  the  shield,  outside  of  which 
we  read,  "Coll:  Harvard:  Cantab:  Nov:  Angl :  1650:  Sigill."  With  this  the 
College  contented  itself  for  almost  half  a  century,  and  then,  in  the  days  of  Mather, 
the  Corporation  leave  a  proposal  about  procuring  the  College  arms  to  the  Pres- 
ident, who  seems  to  have  decided  upon  the  seal,  in  use  at  Leverett's  inauguration 
and  ever  since,  with  the  motto,  "  Christo  et  Ecclesise,"  and  the  circumscription, 
"  Academise  :  Harvardina  :  in  :  Nov  :  Ang :  Sigillum,"  the  whole  being  brought 
into  accord  with  the  great  designs  then  visible  upon  the  academic  horizon.* 

In  1720,  Massachusetts  Hall  was  built  at  the  public  expense.  Opposite  stood 
the  old  Harvard  Hall,  built,  in  1682,  with  money  raised  from  various  towns  and 
individuals;  Sir  George  Downing,  of  the  Class  of  1642,  being  one  of  them,  and 
other  Englishmen  contributing.  On  the  third  side  of  the  quadrangle  was  the 
old  Stoughton  already  mentioned,  and  on  the  fourth  was  the  gate,  at  which  gov- 
ernors were  received,  and  through  which  academic  processions  passed  out  and  in 
on  Commencement  Days.  As  with  the  aspect,  so  with  the  work  of  the  College ; 
there  was  now  a  higher  degree  of  completeness.  In  1721,  the  first  Professorship 
was  founded.  It  was  the  foundation,  not  of  the  General  Court,  nor  yet  of  Mas- 
sachusetts men,  but  of  an  Englishman,  Thomas  Hollis,  who  wrote  to  one  of  the 
Corporation :  "  After  forty  years'  diligent  application  to  mercantile  business,  my 
God  whom  I  serve  has  mercifully  succeeded  my  endeavors,  and  with  my  increase 
inclined  my  heart  to  a  proportional  distribution."  The  Professorship  was  of  Di- 
vinity, and  the  choice  of  this  department,  as  the  first  to  be  constituted,  throws 
light  upon  the  character  of  the  College  as  well  as  upon  that  of  its  benefactor. 
During  the  century  approaching  towards  its  close,  nearly  one  half  of  the  alumni 
became  ministers ;  and  though  there  were  repeated  lamentations  over  the  prepara- 
tion they  made  while  undergraduates,  though  preaching  often  failed,  and  practice 
oftener,  according  to  contemporary  witnesses,  yet  the  deepest  lines  upon  the  insti- 
tution were  theological,  and  these  it  pleased  Hollis  to  deepen.  He  had  other 
purposes,  however,  which  ripened,  in  1726,  with  the  foundation  of  a  Professorship 
of  Mathematics;  and  in  1727,  with  the  gift  of  an  apparatus  for  experimental  phi- 
losophy. The  College  Faculty  was  organized  in  1725,  and  at  about  the  same  time 
visiting   committees  were   appointed   by  the  Overseers,  perhaps,  however,  with  as 

*  These  seals,  respectively,  head  the  three  chapters  of  this  sketch.  —  Ed. 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 


39 


40 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 


moderate  effect  as  in  later  times.  A  committee  in  1723  reports  that  "although 
there  is  a  considerable  number  of  virtuous  and  studious  youth  in  the  College,  yet 
there  has  been  a  practice  of  several  immoralities,  particularly  stealing,  lying,  swear- 
ing, idleness,  picking  of  locks,  and  too  frequent  use  of  strong  drink,  ....  that 
the  scholars  are  many  of  them  too  long  absent  from  the  College,  ....  that  the 
scholars  do  generally  spend  too  much  of  the  Saturday  evenings  in  one  another's 
chambers  ;  and  that  the  Freshmen,  as  well  as  others,  are  seen  in  great  numbers 
going  into  town  [Cambridge]  on  Sabbath  mornings  to  provide  breakfasts."  The 
committee  of  1732  recommend  new  provisions  against  absence  and  negligence, 
not  only  on  the  part  of  the  students,  but  also  on  that  of  Bachelors,  Masters,  and 
Tutors,  not  forgetting  the  steward,  for  whose  warning  it  is  proposed  "  that  com- 
mons be  of  better  quality,  have  more  variety,  clean  tablecloths  of  convenient  length 
and  breadth  twice  a  week,  and  that  plates  be  allowed."  The  course  of  study  was 
now  more  extensive  than  of  old,  and  that  nothing  might  be  left  undone  by  the 
Faculty,  the  students  were  daily  visited  in  their  rooms  by  the  Tutors ;  and  when 
other  measures  were  ineffectual,  fines,  admonitions,  degradations,  and  expulsions 
were  put  in  requisition.  Disorder  ran  highest  at  the  Commencements.  In  1722, 
the  Commencers,  so  called,  were  prohibited  from  providing  plum  cake,  meats,  pies, 
or  liquors,  and  their  rooms  were  visited  by  the  Corporation  in  order  to  enforce 
the  prohibition.  In  1727,  the  government  threatened  any  who  "go  about  to 
evade  it  [the  rub  of  1722]  by  plain  cake"  with  the  loss  of  their  degree.  To  keep 
off  the  crowds  which  were  wont  to  throng  Cambridge  at  Commencement,  the  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor of  Massachusetts  was  requested  to  order  the  Sheriff  of  Middlesex 
to  prevent  the  setting  up  of  booths  and  tents  ;  and  as  this  could  not  be  depended 
upon,  the  day  was  no  longer  to  be  fixed,  but  to  be  determined  from  time  to  time, 
and  then  kept  as  private  as  possible.  But  the  enormities  of  plum  cake  and  plain 
cake,  booths  and  tents,  paled  before  the  crying  evil  which  President  Wadsworth 
enters  in  his  diary  at  the  Commencement  of  1731  :  "  Three  of  the  Tutors  were 
absent,  two  of  them  purposely,  a  thing  never  known  before ;  a  third,  though  he 
stayed  at  College  and  went  to  the  meeting-house,  yet  did  not  appear  to  act  as 
Fellows  used  to  do,  in  keeping  good  order  in  the  Hall  at  dinner-time,  nor  in  walking 
in  the  procession  as  usual."  As  if  to  make  up  for  the  shortcomings  of  Commence- 
ment, which  long  continued.  Exhibitions  were  introduced;  the  first  in  April,  1756, 
when  six  students  "  pronounced,  in  the  respective  characters  assigned  them,  a  dia- 
logue in  the  English  tongue,  translated  from  Castalio."  The  Overseers,  who  were 
present,  voted  that  they  were  well  pleased,  and  desired  the  students  to  proceed  as 
they  had  begun,  that  they  might  not  only  render  themselves  ornaments  to  the 
College  and  an  honor  to  their  country,  but  also  excite  an  emulation  in  others  to 
excel  in  oratorical  attainments.  In  1766,  the  Exhibitions  were  made  semi-annual. 
They  took  place  in  the  chapel  built  in  1744  by  Mrs.  Holden  and  her  daughters. 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH.  41 

of  London.  But  of  all  the  signs  of  progress,  none  are  more  cheering  than  the 
relaxation  of  the  ancient  regime.  Unmanly  punishments  beget  unmanly  acts,  and 
doing  away  with  the  one  is  doing  away  with  the  other.  In  1755,  the  Corporation 
suspended  corporal  punishment  for  a  year,  and  it  was  never  restored.  In  1761, 
the  number  of  fines  was  abated,  and  a  more  rational  penal  code  was  drawn  up, 
including  warnings,  private  admonitions,  the  making  up  of  recitations,  and,  in 
case  of  special  disorder,  confinement  to  the  room.  An  attempt  was  made  to 
relieve  Freshmen  from  errand-running,  but  this  did  not  succeed  even  to  the  very 
moderate  degree  of  forbidding  their  being  sent  after  the  ringing  of  the  Commons 
bell  in  the  evening. 

The  greatest  disaster  which  ever  befell  the  College  occurred  in  January,  1764. 
Small-pox  being  epidemic  in  Boston,  the  General  Court  removed  their  sessions  to 
Harvard  Hall,  and  the  fire  kept  up  for  their  benefit  in  the  Library  was  supposed 
to  have  penetrated  to  a  beam  beneath  the  hearth.  In  the  middle  of  a  very 
tempestuous  night,  according  to  a  narrative  written  the  following  day,  and  a 
severe  cold  storm  of  snow  attended  by  high  wind,  the  fire  broke  out,  and  as  it 
was  vacation,  and  but  two  or  three  persons  were  left  in  that  part  of  Massachu- 
setts most  distant  from  Harvard,  the  flames  when  discovered  were  beyond  control. 
Massachusetts,  Stoughton,  and  the  new  Hollis  were  all  in  great  danger;  but  the 
town  engine  came,  "  the  gentlemen  of  the  General  Court,  among  them  his  Excel- 
lency the  Governor,"  were  "  very  active,"  and  the  fire  was  confined  to  Harvard. 
But  that  was  gone  ;  its  library,  the  books  of  John  Harvard  and  the  long  line  of 
benefactors  succeeding  him,  was  gone ;  the  apparatus  of  Hollis  and  other  donors 
was  gone ;  the  portraits  and  the  curiosities  were  gone ;  and  the  loss  must  have 
seemed,  as  indeed  in  some  respects  it  was,  irreparable.  But  so  far  as  a  new 
building  or  new  collections  could  replace  the  old,  they  soon  came.  The  Governor 
(Bernard)  told  the  General  Court  that,  as  this  event  happened  while  the  building 
was  in  their  occupation,  they  seemed  to  be  bound  to  make  it  good  ;  and  they 
resolved  unanimously  to  rebuild  it  at  the  expense  of  the  Province,  and  further- 
more voted  appropriations  for  the  benefit  of  students  who  had  suffered  by  the 
fire,  and  for  the  purchase  of  "  a  water-engine "  for  the  College.  Subscriptions 
to  a  much  greater  amount  soon  poured  in.  The  Corporation  and  the  Overseers, 
the  clergy  and  the  magistrates,  towns,  societies,  and  benefactors,  both  in  America 
and  in  Great  Britain,  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York,  the  Trustees  of 
the  British  Museum,  the  king's  printer  at  Edinburgh,  united  in  their  contribu- 
tions of  money,  books,  apparatus,  and  furniture ;  one  Englishman  sending  "  two 
curious  Egyptian  mummies  for  the  Museum." 

It  was  the  last  time  that  the  mother-country  had  an  opportunity  of  lavishing 
its  bounty  upon  the  College  as  one  of  its  own  colonial  institutions.  The  skies 
were  thick  with  the  signs  of  the  coming  separation.     A  little  while  before,  when 


42  HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 

George  III.  succeeded  to  the  throne,  the  undergraduates  read  on  the  wall  of  their 
chapel  an  invitation  to  compete  for  six  guinea  prizes,  to  be  given  for  Latin  and 
English  compositions  in  prose  and  verse,  in  honor  of  the  youthful  king.  Under 
the  title  of  Pictas  ct  Grahilatio  thirty-one  pieces  were  printed,  but  they  were  not 
the  composition  of  undergraduates.  The  Governor  (Bernard),  who  suggested  the 
work,  wrote  several ;  the  President  (Holyoke)  wrote  one,  perhaps  more  ;  the  mas- 
ter of  the  Boston  Latin  School,  John  Lovell,  a  graduate  of  1728,  wrote  two, 
and  possibly  others  ;  while  the  remainder  appear  to  have  been  composed  by  vari- 
ous alumni.  No  such  ambitious  effort  had  been  made  in  the  name  of  the  College; 
and  had  it  been  followed  up  by  years  of  unbroken  loyalty,  the  royal  favor  might 
have  been  propitiated  to  some  substantial  purpose.  But  it  was  not  long  before 
the  Senior  Class  voted  to  take  their  degrees  "  in  the  manufactures  of  the  coun- 
try," and  the  Massachusetts  Gazette  published  the  vote  as  reflecting  the  highest 
honor  on  the  College;  and  when  the  day  arrived,  the  Seniors  appeared  in  home- 
made suits,  symbols  of  the  independence  towards  which  the  Colonies  were  drifting 
fast.  That  same  year,  1768,  witnessed  the  most  serious  resistance  hitherto  offered 
by  the  students  to  the  College  government.  Rebellion  was  in  the  air;  and  while 
the  fathers  were  resisting  Parliament,  the  sons  resisted  the  Faculty.  When  it  was 
announced  that  excuses  for  absence  from  College  exercises  would  not  be  received 
unless  offered  beforehand,  the  students  met  under  a  tree,  which  they  called  the 
Tree  of  Liberty,  and  declared  the  rule  unconstitutional.  A  so-called  riot  followed; 
and  on  the  expulsion  of  several  rioters,  the  Senior  Class  asked  the  President  to 
transfer  them  to  Yale  College,  that  they  might  graduate  there,  and  the  three 
other  classes  requested  to  be  discharged.  This  rebellion,  like  others  before  and 
after  it,  ended  in  submission ;  and  the  Seniors,  consoled  by  their  home-made 
suits,  graduated  where  they  were.  The  next  year  a  military  company  was  formed 
among  the  undergraduates,  called,  from  its  motto  [Tarn  Marti  quani  Mercurio\ 
the  Marti-Mercurian  Band,  but,  unlike  the  ancient  deities,  wearing  blue  coats 
faced  with  white,  nankeen  breeches,  white  stockings,  top-boots,  and  cocked  hats. 
Popular  spirit  among  the  students  was  fanned  to  flame  by  the  sessions  of  the 
General  Court,  which,  complaining  of  the  British  troops  and  cannon  then  in  Bos- 
ton, was  transferred  by  the  Governor's  orders  to  Cambridge.  There  it  met  in 
the  College  Chapel,  and,  before  proceeding  to  business,  listened  to  one  of  the 
most  impassioned  of  James  Otis's  harangues,  in  the  course  of  which  he  turned  to 
the  students  gathered  in  great  numbers  as  spectators,  told  them  that  their  turn 
to  act  or  to  suffer  might  soon  come,  and  with  some  stirring  allusions  to  the 
patriotism  of  the  classic  ages  which  they  were  now  studying  and  must  hereafter 
imitate,  bade  them  remember  that  their  first  and  highest  duty  was  to  their  coun- 
try :  Duke  et  decorum  est  pro  patria  mori.  Not  an  eye,  we  are  told,  but  was  wet ; 
not  a  breast  but  throbbed  with  patriotic  emotion.      Otis  was  of  the  Class  of  1743, 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH.  43 

and  therefore  spoke  to  the  students  with  all  the  impressiveness  of  a  brother  as 
well  as  an  orator.  This  was  in  1769.  In  1770  the  General  Court  was  again 
summoned  to  the  College,  instead  of  to  Boston,  by  Lieutenant-Governor  Hutchin- 
son. We  have  a  contemporary  report  of  the  meeting  at  nine  in  the  morning; 
of  the  arrival  of  his  Honor  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  escorted  by  the  troop  of 
Guards  from  his  seat  at  Milton,  at  ten;  of  his  taking  the  chair,  and  receiving  the 
Speaker  elected  by  the  House  of  Representatives ;  of  the  procession,  preceded  by 
the  first  company  of  the  regiment  of  militia,  to  the  meeting-house,  where  a  ser- 
mon was  preached  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Cooke,  A.M.  (of  the  Class  of  1735); 
and  of  the  return  of  the  procession  to  Harvard  Hall,  where  an  entertainment 
was  provided,  let  us  hope  to  the  temporary  reconciliation  of  the  Governor  and 
the  General  Court.  Amid  these  scenes  the  still  air  of  delightful  studies  must  have 
been  much  disturbed.  As  a  Boston  minister  writes  to  England  concerning  "  the 
young  gentlemen,"  "  they  have  caught  the  spirit  of  the  times.  Their  declamations 
and  forensic  disputes  breathe  the  spirit  of  liberty.  This  has  always  been  encour- 
aged, but  they  have  sometimes  been  wrought  up  to  such  a  pitch  of  enthusiasm 
that  it  has  been  difficult  for  their  Tutors  to  keep  them  within  due  bounds;  but 
their  Tutors  are  fearful  of  giving  too  great  a  check  to  a  disposition  which  may 
hereafter  fill  the  country  with  patriots,  and  choose  to  leave  it  to  age  and  expe- 
rience to  check  their  ardor."  All,  however,  were  not  patriots,  or  disposed  to 
bear  themselves  as  such,  for  there  were  some  who  brought  tea  — "  India  tea " 
—  to  Commons,  and  drank  it,  without  regard  to  the  public  feeling  that  had 
recently  been  expressed  in  the  memorable  Tea-Party  of  Boston.  The  prevailing 
disposition  is  shown  in  the  Triennial,  where  the  graduates  of  1773  appear  in 
alphabetical  order;  and  this  implies  that  the  old  distinctions  of  rank  among  the 
undergraduates  were  abolished.  Other  changes  of  this  changing  period  were 
attended  with  grave  consequences.  May  i,  1775,  the  Massachusetts  Committee  of 
Safety  ordered  the  students  to  be  removed,  in  order  to  provide  barracks  for  the 
gathering  militia;  and  on  June  15  the  Massachusetts  Provincial  Congress  at 
Watertown  voted  that  the  library  and  apparatus  should  be  transported  to  Andover. 
In  the  evening  of  the  i6th,  twelve  hundred  men,  under  William  Prescott  of  Pep- 
perell,  formed  on  Cambridge  Common;  and  thither  came  President  Langdon  of 
the  College  to  pray  for  the  Divine  blessing  on  the  march  to  Bunker  Hill.  It 
was  not  till  September  that  the  students  were  gathered  at  Concord,  where  they 
remained  until  the  following  June,  and  then  returned  to  Cambridge.  They  were 
driven  out  again  in  the  autumn  of  1777,  to  make  room  for  the  troops  surren- 
dered by  Burgoyne  ;  but  the  College  buildings  were  saved  from  this  occupation, 
and  the  students  came  back  in  February,  1778.  The  library  and  apparatus  were 
restored  to  their  rightful  places  in  the  following  May.  No  further  disturbance 
of  the   academic  community  occurred  during  the    Revolutionary  War. 


CHAPTER    III. 

Extract  from  the  Address  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis  to  his  Class.  —  Professorships  founded.  — 
Growth  of  the  College.  —  Standard  of  Admission  raised.  —  Annual  Examinations  cause 
Discontent  among  the  Students.  —  Class  Day.  —  College  Societies.  —  Address  of  the 
Students  in  1798  to  the  President  of  the  United  States.  —  Social  Relations  of  the 
Students.  —  The  Engine  Society.  —  The  Harvard  Washington  Corps.  —  The  Med.  Fac. 
—  The  Navy  Club.  ■ —  College  Periodicals.  —  Expansion  of  the  College  during  President 
Kirkland's  Administration. — The  Second  Centennial  celebrated,  September  8,  1836. — 
The  Elective  System  established  during  President  Quincy's  Administration.  —  The  Ob- 
servatory. —  The  Scientific  School.  —  Extract  from  the  Poem  delivered  at  the  Com- 
memoration of  July  21,  1865. 


When  peace  came,  in  1783,  the  first  class  of  the  victorious  nation  received  their 
degrees  from  President  Willard  ;  and  their  first  scholar,  Harrison  Gray  Otis, 
spoke  of  the  future  as  it  then  opened  before  him  and  his  contemporaries.  It 
would  be  natural  to  presume,  he  said  half  a  century  later,  "  that  an  event  adapted 
to  kindle  enthusiasm  in  an  orator  of  the  gravest  character  and  age  would  stim- 
ulate the  fervid  imagination  of  eighteen  to  paint  in  somewhat  gorgeous  colors 
the  prospects  unfolded  to  our  country  by  this  achievement  of  its  liberties,  and  its 
probable  effect  upon  the  destinies  of  other  nations.  I  remember  that  I  did 
so,  and  indulged  the  impulse  of  a  sanguine  temperament  in  building  what 
doubtless  seemed  to  others,  and  perhaps  to  myself,  castles  in  the  air.  But  had 
it  been  in  my  imagination  to  conceive,  and  in  my  power  to  describe,  what  we 
now  know  to  be  reality,  I  should  have  been  considered  as  ballooning  in  the  regions 
of  bombast,  and  appeared  ridiculously  aiming  to  be  sublime." 

The  present  was  full  of  hope.  Four  new  Professorships  were  founded  in  the 
latter  third  of  the  century,  —  four  in  thirty-three  years,  when  there  had  been  but 
two  in  all  the  hundred  and  thirty  going  before.  In  1782,  the  establishment  of 
the  Medical  School  began  that  expansion  of  the  College  into  the  University  which 
has  interested  and  occupied  its  members  ever  since.     Stoughton  Hall,  taken  down 


^ 
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s 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 


45 


in  1780,  was  replaced,  but  not  till  1805,  by  another  Stoughton,  for  which  the 
General  Court  made  grant  of  a  lottery;   and  the  lottery,  multiplied  into  lotteries, 

Harvard  College  Lottery. 

THIS  TICKET  Tvill  entitle  tte  bearer  to  such  PrilZtl','as  may  be 
drawn  against  its  number ;  agreeably  to  an  act  of  the  General  Court? 
of  Massachusetts,  passed  the  14th  day  of  March,  1806.  < 

yielded  more  than  three  fourths  the  cost  of  the  building.  Another  lottery  was 
immediately  granted,  and  with  the  proceeds  of  this  the  other  fourth  of  the 
Stoughton  bills  was  paid,  and  Holworthy  erected  in  1812.  More  important 
building  was  that  of  an  intellectual  character.  The  course  of  studies  was  laid  out 
anew  in  1787,  the  standard  of  admission  was  raised  in  1803,  and  in  the  interval 
a  system  of  annual  examinations  was  gradually  elaborated.  Against  these  exami- 
nations the  students,  or  many  of  them,  set  their  faces.  "  To  animate  them  in  the 
pursuit  of  literary  merit  and  fame,  and  to  excite  in  their  breasts  a  noble  spirit 
of  emulation,"  such,  according  to  the  laws  of  1 790,  was  the  object  of  their  rulers. 
For  their  own  part,  they  preferred  other  means,  perhaps  other  ends.  The  Seniors 
and  Juniors  of  1791  petitioned  to  be  exempted  from  examination,  and,  on  being 
refused,  some  of  them  emptied  a  package  of  tartar  emetic  into  the  kitchen  boilers 
on  the  morning  of  the  day  appointed  for  them  to  be  examined.  Coffee  was 
made  with  the  water  from  the  boilers,  and  soon  after  it  was  served,  officers  and 
students  brought  their  breakfast  to  a  sudden  close.  Trapier  was  rusticated, 
Sullivan  suspended  to  Groton  for  nine  months,  and  Ely  suspended  to  Amherst 
for  five  months  for  assisting  the  other  two.  Discipline  was  not  of  a  high  char- 
acter in  those  days.  Some  lines,  attributed  to  John  Quincy  Adams,  of  the  Class 
of  1787,  tell  how 

"  The  Government  of  College  met, 
And  Willard  ruled  the  stern  debate." 


The  cases  under  consideration  were  those  of  two  Juniors  who  had  given  wine- 
parties,  to  the  great  disturbance  of  the  Faculty. 

Note.  —  A  lottery  for  the  benefit  of  the  College  was  established  as  early  as  1745,  and  another  in  1794, 
in  which  the  College  was  the  holder  of  the  lucky  ticket.  No.  18,547,  drawing  a  prize  of  ten  thousand 
dollars.  The  ticket  represented  on  this  page  is  a  fac-simile  of  those  used  in  the  lottery  of  181 1,  which 
was  authorized  to  raise  funds  for  the  erection  of  Holworthy  Hall.  —  Ed. 


46  HISTORICAL  SKETCH. 

"  Quotli  Joe,  the  crime  is  great,  I  own, 
Send  for  the  Juniors  one  by  one. 
By  this  almighty  wig  I  swear, 
Which  with  such  majesty  I  wear, 
Which  in  its  orbit  vast  contains 
My  dignity,  my  power  and  brains, 
That  Wier  and  Prescott  both  shall  see 
That  College  boys  must  not  be  free. 
He  spake,  and  gave  the  awful  nod, 
Like  Homer's  Dodonean  god. 
The  College  from  its  centre  shook, 
And  every  pipe  and  wineglass  broke." 

Class  Day  dates  back  to  these,  perhaps  to  still  earlier  times.  The  earliest 
mention  of  an  oration  and  poem  occurs  in  1771,  when  they  are  spoken  of  as  not 
delivered,  because  the  Class  was  divided  and  several  had  left  College ;  doubtless 
in  consequence  of  the  examination  troubles  of  that  year.  In  1792  a  poem  was 
followed  by  an  oration  in  Latin,  and  Latin  was  the  language  of  the  orators  for 
many  subsequent  years.  In  1 793  the  social  element  waxed  strong.  "  We  then 
[after  the  literary  exercises]  formed,"  writes  one  of  the  class,  "  and  waited  on  the 
government  to  the  President's,  where  we  were  very  respectably  treated  with  wine, 
etc.  We  then  marched  in  procession  to  Jackson's  [the  orator]  room,  where  we 
drank  punch.  At  one  we  went  to  Mr.  Moore's  tavern,  and  partook  of  an  elegant 
entertainment,  which  cost  *V^  a  piece.  Marching  then  to  Cutler's  [the  poet]  room, 
we  shook  hands  and  parted  with  expressing  the  sincerest  tokens  of  friendship." 
Almost  half  a  century  passed  without  any  material  change  in  the  observance  of 
Class  Day,  until,  in  1838,  dancing  beneath  the  trees  in  front  of  Hollis  succeeded 
the  afternoon  revelries. 

Before  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century.  College  societies  became  very  nu- 
merous. The  Speaking  Club,  now  the  Institute  of  1770,  and  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa,  were  the  chief  literary  societies;  the  Porcellian  was  social;  the  Adelphi 
religious;  and  the  Hasty  Pudding  a  mixture  of  the  three,  for  debates  were 
mingled  with  its  puddings,  and  the  meetings,  held  on  Saturday  evenings,  were 
closed  with  a  hymn  to  the  tune  of  St.  Martin's.  One  of  the  Class  of  1797, 
speaking  of  Channing,  who  graduated  in  1798,  as  he  was  in  College,  says  that 
his  connection  with  these  societies  must  have  had  nearly  equal  influence  with  the 
College  studies.  "  The  arrangement  of  the  exercises,"  continues  the  writer,  "  was 
then  so  wisely  ordered,  that  the  morning  of  every  day  after  the  breakfast-hour 
was  almost  wholly  left,  to  the  two  upper  classes  especially,  for  uninterrupted 
study.  Having  thus  secured  the  best  hours  of  the  day  for  close  and  vigorous 
application,  ....  and  having  the  evenings  also  at  their  command,  whether  for 
study  or  the  enjoyment  of  its  most  interesting  results  at   their  literary  meetings. 


HISTORICAL    SKETCH. 


47 


they  had  ample  time  for  all  their  prescribed  and  voluntary  pursuits."  One  of 
the  strongest  intellectual  interests  at  that  time  was  the  study  of  Shakespeare. 
He  was  read,  committed  to  memory,  recited,  and  commented  on  with  something 
akin  to  passion.  Politics  continued  as  engrossing  as  they  had  long  been,  and 
now  and  then  came  an  outburst  of  unwonted  excitement.  In  1798  the  students 
held  a  meeting,  and  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  an  "  address  to  his  Excel- 
lency, John  Adams,  President  of  the  United  States."  "  We  do  not  pretend  to 
great  political  sagacity ;  we  wish  only  to  convince  mankind  that  we  inherit  the 
intrepid  spirit  of  our  ancestors,  and  disdain  submission  to  the  will  of  a  rapacious, 
lawless,  and  imperious  nation,"  that  is,  France,  against  whom  the  President  had 
recently  recommended  Congress  to  put  the  country  in  a  state  of  defence.  "  We 
cannot  but  admire  and  venerate  the  unsullied  integrity,  the  decisive  prudence  and 
dignified  firmness,  which  have  uniformly  characterized  your  administration.  Im- 
pressed with  these  sentiments,  we  now  solemnly  offer  the  unwasted  ardor  and 
unimpaired  energies  of  our  youth  to  the  service  of  our  country."  This  address, 
signed  by  one  hundred  and  seventy  students,  nearly  the  whole  number,  received 
a  written  reply,  "  in  a  very  commendatory  style,"  from  the  President,  and  was  as 
much  applauded  by  his  supporters  as  it  was  condemned  by  his  opponents.  Its 
writer  was  Channing,  and  he  was  so  wound  up,  politically,  as  to  refuse  the  first 
part  at  the  following  Commencement,  because  he  was  forbidden  to  introduce  poli- 
tics. The  government  yielded,  and  allowed  him  to  express  himself  as  he  desired 
upon  the  Present  Age,  that  is,  upon  the  French  Revolution.  He  used  his  privi- 
lege with  moderation ;  and  as  he  drew  towards  the  close  of  his  oration  he  checked 
himself,  and,  with  a  glance  toward  the  Faculty,  he  exclaimed,  "  But  that  I  am 
forbid,  I  could  a  tale  unfold  which  would  harrow  up  your  souls."  Judge  Story, 
of  the  same  class,  gives  us  additional  glimpses  into  the  College  of  his  time. 
"  The  different  classes,"  says  he,  "  were  almost  strangers  to  each  other ;  and  cold 
reserve  generally  prevailed  between  them.  The  system  of  fagging  was  dying  out, 
and  I  believe  that  my  own  class  was  the  first  that  was  not  compelled  to  perform 
this  drudgery  in  the  most  humble  services  at  the  command  of  the  Senior  class. 
The  students  had  no  connection  whatsoever  with  the  inhabitants  of  Cambridge 
by  private  social  visits.     There  was    none  between   the   families  of  the  President 

and  Professors  and  the  students West  Boston  Bridge  had  been  completed 

but  a  short  period  before ;  the  road  was  then  new,  and  not  well  settled,  the 
means  of  communication  from  Cambridge  were  almost  altogether  by  walking,  and 
the  inducements  to  visit  in  private  circles  far  less  attractive  than  at  present. 
Social  intercourse  with  the  young,  and  especially  with  students,  was  not  much 
cultivated  ;    and  invitations  to  social   parties  in  Boston  rarely  extended  to  College 

circles The  intercourse  between  us   and   foreign   countries  was   infrequent ; 

and  I  might  almost  say  that  we  had  no   means    of  access   to    any  literature   and 


48  HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 

science  except  the  English.  Even  in  respect  to  this,  we  had  Httle  more  than  a 
semi-annual  importation  of  the  most  common  works  ;  and  a  few  copies  supplied 
and  satisfied  the  market.  The  English  periodicals  were  then  few  in  number,  and 
I  do  not  remember  any  one  read  by  the  students,  except  the  Monthly  Magazine." 

There  was  one  mode  of  intercourse  between  the  students  and  the  outer  world, 
known  long  before  this  time,  but  perhaps  more  frequent  at  a  much  later  period. 
This  was  school-keeping,  which  occupied  most  of  the  winter  with  those  who  un- 
dertook it,  the  seven  weeks  of  vacation,  and  as  much  or  more  than  as  much 
besides,  for  which  a  student  could  easily  obtain  leave  of  absence.  School-keeping 
then  was  like  a  scholarship  now,  less  remunerative  perhaps,  certainly  much  less 
easy,  but  full  of  experience  that  had  much  to  do  with  the  making  of  men  as  well 
as  scholars.  While  it  lasted,  indeed,  it  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  influences 
of  college  life;  and  more  than  one  student  who  had  no  need  of  it  pecuniarily, 
availed  himself  of  it  for  the  intellectual  and  moral  good  it  was  capable  of  doing 
him.  Henry  Ware,  of  the  Class  of  1812,  kept  school  at  Beverly  in  his  Junior 
year.  He  describes  his  long  journey  from  Cambridge  by  stage,  chaise,  and  on 
foot.  "  There  awaited  my  arrival  two  of  the  school  committee,  who  gave  me  much 
sage  advice,  and  administered  many  admirable  admonitions  and   instructions  and 

directions It  was  thought  best  that  I  should  be  examined,  in  order  to  satisfy 

the  district I  keep  seven  hours  a  day,  from  half  past  eight   to  twelve,  and 

from  one  to  half  past  five.     I  shall  soon  keep  eight  hours,  as    the  committee  say 

it  is  usual I  have  sixty-five  children,  men  and  women  together.     There  are 

four  boys  older  and  larger  than  myself,  and,  from  what  I  can  hear,  there  are  yet 
to  be  more  of  the  same  genus.  Girls  there  are  many,  as  much  as  fifteen,  seven- 
teen, or  eighteen  years  of  age ;    but  it  luckily  happens   that  they  are  disposed  to 

be  peaceable  and  orderly When  one  of   these   young  ladies  the  other   day 

came  to  me  with  her  pen,  I  gallantly  rose  from  my  chair  and  made  my  very 
best  bow ;  at  which  the  boys  laughed.  However,  I  have  learned  here  to  think  a 
little  better  of  girls  than  I  used  to  ;  for  after  they  have  been  out,  the  boys  never 
come  till  they  are  called,  but  the  girls  always  return  of  their   own    accord  before 

their  time  is  out I  feel  myself  more  like  a  man,  in  company  and  in  school, 

than  I  expected.     I  really  believe  there  is  some  magic  in  the  mighty  word  «V." 

It  was  mentioned  that  the  destruction  of  Harvard  Hall  called  forth  the  gift  of 
an  engine.  A  company  to  work  this  was  formed  from  the  students ;  and  as  there 
were  no  more  fires  among  the  halls,  the  firemen  exercised  themselves  abroad, 
particularly  in  Boston,  where  a  dinner  or  a  supper  almost  always  followed  a  fire. 
At  one  time  the  Engine  Society  was  organized,  apparently  as  a  burlesque,  and 
among  the  poems  prepared  for  it  was  the  most  famous  of  all  undergraduate 
flights,  the  Rebelliad  or  Rebelliard,  in  which  the  Sophomore  rising  of  18 19  is 
told    with    flowing    humor.     The    Engine    Society  lasted  only  three    years  longer. 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH.  49 

being  disbanded  in  consequence  of  its  having  flooded  tlie  room  of  the  College 
Regent.  Its  members  consoled  themselves,  probably,  in  the  Harvard  Washington 
Corps,  organized  at  the  close  of  181 1,  with  arms  loaned  by  the  State,  and  a  uni- 
form of  blue  coat,  virhite  vest,  trousers  and  gaiters,  a  black  hat  for  the  privates, 
a  chapeau  for  the  officers.  This  uniform  was  afterwards  modified,  the  coat  being 
black,  and  the  chapeau  laid  aside.  A  flag,  with  the  College  and  State  arms,  was 
given  by  the  women  of  Cambridge ;  and  as  their  fair  spokeswoman  made  the  pres- 
entation, the  professor  to  whom  she  was  engaged  to  be  married  recited  an  im- 
promptu :  — 

"  The  standard  's  victory's  leading  star, 

'T  is  danger  to  forsake  it ; 
How  altered  are  the  scenes  of  war ! 

They  're  vanquished  now  who  take  it." 

The  chief  parades  were  on  the  three  Exhibition  Days,  in  October,  May,  and 
July;  and,  though  occasional  marches  were  made  to  Boston  and  other  places,  the 
effect  was  always  greatest  upon  academic  ground.  There  are  various  traditions 
to  account  for  the  disbanding  of  the  Corps.  Some  tell  of  service  to  Bacchus, 
rather  than  to  Mars  or  Mercurj'^ ;  others  of  combats  between  rival  captains  and 
their  supporters  ;  one,  at  least,  of  a  terrible  moment  when  the  troops  joined  the 
insurgents  of  1834,  and  hurled  the  State  arms  from  the  windows  of  the  armory 
in  University  Hall.  That  same  year  brought  to  an  end  the  Medical  Faculty, 
commonly  called  Med.  Fac,  which  began  in  18 18  with  a  mock  lecture  in  Hollis 
13,  and  continued,  for  sixteen  years,  with  mock  lectures,  mock  experiments, 
mock  initiations,  and  mock  degrees.  Five  mock  Triennials  were  printed,  in 
which  the  names  of  Alexander  I.,  Andrew  Jackson,  the  Siamese  Twins,  and  the 
Sea-Serpent  ("  Magnus  Serpens  Maris,  suppositus,  aut  porpoises  aut  horse-mack- 
erel ")  are  singularly  mixed.  The  Russian  Emperor,  supposing  his  degree  to  come 
from  the  University,  sent  a  case  of  instruments  in  return,  much  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  genuine  Medical  Faculty,  which  secured  the  gift.  Another  of  these 
merry-making  associations  was  the  Navy  Club,  originating  at  the  close  of  the  last 
century,  and  culminating  with  the  Class  of  181 5.  Their  marquee,  "the  good  ship 
Harvard,"  was  erected  not  far  from  Divinity  Hall.  Its  floor  was  divided  into  a 
quarter  and  a  main  deck,  under  the  command  of  an  admiral,  and  hither  the 
Club,  forming  in  procession,  at  the  boatswain's  whistle,  before  Holworthy,  were 
wont  to  repair  during  several  weeks  for  their  peculiar  naval  manoeuvres.  Other 
Navy  Clubs  went  on  harbor  excursions  ;  others  still  on  voyages  as  distant  as  the 
shores  of  Cape  Cod ;  and  when  they  returned  they  generally  made  all  Cambridge 
aware  of  it.  An  annual  procession  on  shore  was  also  among  the  rules  of  the 
Navy  Club,  and  was  frequently  diversified  with  banners,  costumes,  and  emblems. 
The  true  sailor  was  he  who  had  had  no  part  at  the  Exhibitions ;  and  he  appeared 


5°  HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 

in  sailor-rig.  Marines  and  horse-marines  were  those  who  had  had  one  part  only; 
and  they,  or  some  of  them,  carried  guns.  The  digs,  who  had  been  honored  with 
two  parts,  wore  Oxford  caps,  and  carried  small  spades ;  the  second  and  third 
scholars  of  the  class,  larger  spades;  while  the  first  scholar  bore  a  shovel  two  feet 
square :    such,  at  least,  was  his  burden  for  one  year. 

A  more  sober  record  is  that  of  the  periodicals  issued  by  our  undergraduates. 
The  Harvard  Magazine  for  January,  1858,  gives  a  full  account  of  them  to  that 
time.  The  Class  of  181 1  are  entitled  to  the  honor  of  pioneers.  At  the  close  of 
their  Junior  year,  in  July,  1810,  they,  or  their  members  who  associated  them- 
selves for  the  purpose,  published  the  first  number  of  the  Harvard  Lyceum.  The 
principal  contributors  were  Edward  Everett,  Samuel  Oilman  (author  of  "  Fair 
Harvard  "),  and  Nathaniel  L.  Frothingham,  known  as  a  good  writer  both  in  prose 
and  verse  to  the  close  of  his  life.  "  A  deficiency  in  the  subscription  list  "  brought 
this  enterprise  to  a  close  in  March,  181 1;  and  the  editors,  in  their  concluding 
address,  advise  future  classes  "  that  they  enjoy  all  those  exquisite  pleasures  which 
literary  seclusion  affords,  but  that  they  do  not  strive  to  communicate  them  to  oth- 
ers." The  advice  was  followed  until  1827,  when  the  spirits  of  the  undergraduates 
got  the  better  of  it,  and  brought  out  The  Harvard  Register,  of  which  C.  C.  Felton, 
afterwards  President,  George  S.  Hillard,  Charles  C.  Emerson,  and  others  were  the 
principal  writers.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  was  the  ornament  of  The  Collegian  in 
1830.  Harvardiana,  which  lasted  from  1834  to  1838,  had  James  Russell  Lowell 
for  one  of  its  editors.  Sixteen  years'  silence  again  followed,  to  be  broken  by  the 
Harvard  Magazine  and  its  successors,  of  which  there  is  no  need  to  speak  here. 

President  Kirkland's  administration,  from  18 10  to  1828,  opened  with  the  depres- 
sion caused  by  the  war  with  Great  Britain,  but  continued  with  a  greater  degree 
of  expansiveness  than  had  marked  any  previous  years.  In  fact,  it  was  under  his 
genial  influence  that  the  old  barriers  at  last  gave  way,  and  officers  and  students, 
the  College  and  the  community,  found  themselves  in  wholly  new  relations  towards 
one  another.  This  was  his  great  work,  and  one  essential  to  all  the  work  that 
followed  his,  so  that  the  place  he  holds  in  our  history  is  very  high.  It  was 
during  the  same  smiling  period  that  the  College  actually  budded,  and  began  its 
growth  as  a  University.  The  Divinity  School  in  1815,  the  Law  School  in  181 7, 
with  the  Medical  School  already  in  existence,  offered  better  opportunities  for  pro- 
fessional training  than  had  been  brought  together  in  any  part  of  the  country. 
The  culture  of  the  College  itself  was  very  much  improved,  particularly  under  the 
Greek  professorship  of  Edward  Everett,  and  the  Modern  Language  professorship 
of  George  Ticknor.  To  the  latter  eminent  scholar  is  due  the  earliest  advocacy 
of  the  elective  system  here ;  and  though  it  was  too  early  to  be  at  once  successful, 
it  prepared  for  the  success  of  subsequent  movements.  Many  new  professorships 
were  founded  or  first  filled ;   large  additions  to  the  library  and  the  apparatus  were 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 


51 


made ;  and  the  donations  of  the  seventy  years  amounted  to  nearly  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  —  a  very  much  larger  sum,  proportionally,  then  than  now.  One 
of  the  graduates  of  this  period  writes  with  an  emotion  which  we  readily  share  : 
"  The  previous  history  of  the  College  offers  no  parallel  in  brilliancy  and  useful- 
ness to  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Kirkland  ;  and  the  ambition  of  any  future  president 
may  well  be  satisfied  in  attaining  an  equal  elevation  of  renown,  an  equal  in- 
fluence with  the  community,  a  like  affectionate  respect  from  his  contemporaries, 
and  as  strong  and  universal  a  love  for  his  memory  in  those  who  come  after  him." 
There  lay  the  secret,  and  there  lies  still  the  glory  of  Kirkland's  success.  He 
loved  his  work,  he  loved  his  students  ;  they  were  not  merely  students,  but  his 
students,  his  sons,  and  as  he  loved  them,  so  they  loved  him.  For  this  the  Col- 
lege had  been  waiting  almost  two  centuries. 

The  second  Centennial  was  celebrated  September  8,  1836,  a  few  weeks  in 
advance  of  the  exact  date,  but  not  an  hour  in  advance  of  the  great  tide  of  affec- 
tionate enthusiasm  which  rose  with  the  completion  of  the  second  century.     Never 

before,  never  since,  was 
such  a  celebration.  It 
showed  the  strength  of 
the  foundations  on  which 
the  College  rested ;  and 
as  it  lighted  up  the  past 
with  a  glow  of  veneration 
and  gratitude,  so  it  threw 
into  the  future  a  hope 
and  a  courage  which 
have  not  once  failed  in 
the  thirty-eight  years  suc- 
ceeding, and  of  which  it 
is  rather  historic  than  pro- 
phetic to  say  that  they 
never  will  fail.  The  five  presidents  following  Kirkland,  photographed  in  one  living 
group  when  the  last  of  the  five  was  inaugurated  in  1 860,  and  now  all  gone  but  one, 
—  Serus  in  coelum  redeat !  —  carried  forward,  each  a  degree  further,  the  develop- 
ment of  the  University.  The  chief  hindrance  to  their  work  was,  with  most  of  them, 
one  of  their  own  raising,  namely,  the  shortness  of  their  terms  of  office.  President 
Quincy,  who  had  served  seven  years  when  the  Centennial  took  place,  served  nine 
years  more,  holding  the  reins  long  enough  and  firmly  enough  to  make  a  decided 
advance,  not  only  in  the  material  interests  of  the  institution,  but  still  more  in  its 
immaterial,  particularly  in  relation  to  the  elective  system,  which  was  then  for  the 
first  time  effectually  established;  vi'hile  a  new  department,  in  sympathy  with  the 


52 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH. 


educational  tendencies  of  the  period,  was  established  in  the  Observatory.  Another 
of  kindred  purpose  —  the  Scientific  School  —  was  founded  under  President 
Everett.  In  speaking  of  the  presidents  especially,  let  us  not  forget  their  fellow- 
laborers.  The  king's  name  stands  for  the  people,  but  it  is  they,  not  he  alone,  who 
make  the  great  movements  of  his  reign.  Among  the  members  of  the  governing 
bodies,  Fellows,  Overseers,  and  Professors,  during  the  last  half-century,  were 
many  to  whom  the  University  owes  as  much  at  least  as  to  any  man.  Nay,  there 
have  been  those  outside  the  academic  pale,  those  who  never  ruled  or  taught  or 
even  studied  within  our  walls,  by  whose  wise  counsels  and  liberal  endowments 
the  progress  of  these  recent  years  has  been  largely  secured.  The  work  is  great 
enough  for  many  workers.  Much  as  has  been  done,  much  is  to  be  done,  —  done 
with  the  common  sympathies  and  the  common  exertions  of  boards  and  faculties, 
graduates  and  undergraduates,  —  done  by  those  who  are  the  University,  and  who 
perfect  it  in  perfecting  themselves.  No  nobler  approach  to  this  has  been,  none 
nobler  can  be,  made  than  that  of  the  students  who  served  in  the  army  or  navy  of 
the  United  States  during  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  Their  roll  is  in  the  Triennial 
of  1 869 ;  the  lives  of  some  of  them  are  in  the  Memorial  Biographies  of  1 866 ; 
the  spirit  of  them  was  concentrated  in  the  Commemoration  of  July  21,  1865;  and, 
as  the  poet  said  that  day, — 

"  In  every  nobler  mood 

We  feel  the  orient  of  their  spirit  glow, 

Part  of  our  life's  unalterable  good, 

Of  all  our  saintlier  aspiration ; 

They  come  transfigured  back, 

Secure  from  change  in  their  high-hearted  ways, 

Beautiful  evermore,  and  with  the  rays 

Of  morn  on  their  white  shields  of  Expectation." 


Harvard,  Stoughton,  and  Massachusetts  Halls  in  1755 


MASSACHUSETTS    HALL. 


The  Hall  built  by  the  Province  of  Massachusetts.  —  Various  Grants  to  the  College.  — 
Former  Uses  of  the  Hall.  —  Present  Uses.  —  Danger  from  the  Fire  which  consumed 
Harvard  Hall.  —  Occupancy  by  Revolutionary  Troops.  —  Estimate  of  Damages.  —  Asso- 
ciations connected  with  the  Building.  —  Repairs  in   Dr.  Kirkland's  Time.  —  A  Portion 

OF   THE   LOWER   FLOOR   FORMERLY  DEVOTED  TO   SOCIETY  UsES.  —  ALTERATIONS   IN    1870. 


The  name  of  the  oldest  of  the  buildings  now  standing  in  the  College  yard 
commemorates  the  bounty  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  to  the  institution  to 
which,  from  its  beginning,  she  owed  more  than  she  could  give  to  it.  During  the 
first  three  quarters  of  a  century  from  the  foundation  of  the  College  the  Legisla- 
ture of  the  Province  had  shown  its  good-will,  and  "its  care  to  promote  good 
literature,  without  which  religion  will  not  be  upheld,"  by  annual  grants,  at  first 
of  ;^ioo,  and  later  of  ^150,  as  well  as  by  a  grant  of  the  profits  of  the  ferry  over 
Charles  River,  and  by  occasional  donations  of  land,  all  of  which  proved  valueless. 

During  President  Leverett's  administration,  1708-24,  the  annual  grants  were 
insufficient  to  provide  for  his  proper  support ;  and  in  spite  of  reiterated  and 
pathetic  appeals  to  the  General  Court,  he  was  left  to  struggle  with  poverty,  while 
zealously  performing  efficient  service,  and  doing  much  to  maintain  the  credit  of 
the  College,  which,  owing  to  its  narrow  means,  was  hardly  able  to  answer  to  the 
needs  of  the  community.* 

*  The  grants  for  President  Leverett's  "salary  never  exceeded  ;^20o,  and  probably  did  not  average 
the  sum  of  ;^  180  a  year."     Quincy's  Hist  of  Harv.  Univ.,  II.  227. 

In  1715  the  College  stock  amounted  to  ;^  3,767,  and  its  revenue  from  rents  and  annuities  to 
;^ii4,  including  ;^72,  the  income  from  the  ferry.     lb.,  p.  235. 


54 


MASSACHUSETTS    HALL. 


Leverett  was  a  man  of  ability  and  energy,  and  though  he  could  not  obtain 
from  the  authorities  of  the  Province  a  suitable  livelihood  for  himself,  he  did  not 
fail  to  press  the  claims  of  the  College  upon  the  attention  of  the  General  Court. 
The  Earl  of  Bellamont,  when  governor  of  Massachusetts  in  1699,  had  declared, 
"  It  is  a  very  great  advantage  you  have  above  other  provinces,  that  your  youth 
are  not  put  to  travel  for  learning,  but  have  the  Muses  at  their  doors  " ;  but  it  was 
becoming  plain  that  the  Muses  would  not  stay  there,  unless  greater  hospitality 
were  shown  them. 

Although  the  classes  were  small,  averaging  but  twelve  students  each,  during 
the  first  ten  years  of  President  Leverett's  administration,  the  accommodations  for 
them  were  insufficient;  and  in  November,  171 7,  the  Corporation  addressed  a 
memorial  to  the  General  Court,  stating  that  "  a  considerable  number  of  students 
were  obliged  to  take  lodgings  in  the  town  of  Cambridge  for  want  of  accommo- 
dations in  the  College,  and  praying  the  assistance  of  the  General  Court  for  erect- 
ing a  suitable  building."  The  prayer  of  the  Corporation  was  warmly  seconded 
by  the  governor.  Colonel  Shute,  who  made  two  special  recommendations  on 
the  subject  in  messages  to  the  Legislature;  and  in  May,  171 8,  the  General 
Court  ordered  a  building  three  stories  high,  fifty  feet  in  length  and  forty  in 
breadth,  to  be  erected  at  the  expense  of  the  Province.*  The  work  was  at 
once  taken  in  hand,  but  the  dimensions  of  the  proposed  hall  did  not  satisfy 
the  College  authorities,  and,  in  November  of  the  same  year,  a  fresh  memo- 
rial was  addressed  to  the  Legislature,  praying  that  the  building  might  be 
enlarged  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  feet  in  length.  The  General  Court  favored 
the  petition,  the  increase  in  size  was  ordered,  and  in  1720  the  new  building 
was  completed  at  a  cost  of  about  three  thousand  five  hundred  pounds  in  the 
currency  of  the  Province.  The  liberality  of  the  Legislature  in  thus  providing 
for  the  needs  of  the  College  was  the  more  commendable,  because  the  affairs 
of  the  Province  were  in  these  years  greatly  embarrassed.  Taxes  were  heavy, 
and  the  people  were  suffering  all  the  evils  of  a  depreciated  and  fluctuating  cur- 
rency, owing  to  the  emission  of  paper-money  without  adequate  funds  for  its 
redemption.t 

The  name  of  Massachusetts  Hall  was  appropriately  given  to  the  new  edifice. 
It    contained    thirty-two    rooms,   each  apparently  intended    for   occupancy  by   two 

*  In  Harvard  College  Papers,  Vol.  I.  p.  g,  is  a  plan  inscribed  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Prince,  "  Plan 
of  the  New  College."  It  has  no  date,  but  it  appears  to  be  the  original  plan  of  Massachusetts 
Hall. 

t  Governor  Hutchinson,  in  speaking  of  these  times,  says,  "  The  influence  a  bad  currency  has  upon 
the  morals  of  the  people  is  greater  than  is  generally  imagined."  If  Massachusetts  has  in  later  years 
learned  to  resist  the  temptations  of  a  fictitious  currency,  it  is  in  part  due  to  the  sound  discipline  and 
training  of  thought  which  many  of  her  foremost  sons  have  received  in  the  College. 


© 


MASSACHUSETTS   HALL.  55 

students,  for  each  was  provided  with  two  (so-called)  studies,  or  closets  on  cither 
side  of  the  chimney.  It  was  at  once  occupied,  and  for  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  it  continued  to  be  the  home  of  successive  generations  of  students.  Its  use 
is  now  changed  ;  but,  rich  in  accumulated  memories,  it  still  renders  good  service, 
while  its  modest  proportions  are  not  less  attractive  than  the  more  ambitious 
forms  of  some  of  its  younger  neighbors. 

The  rent  derived  from  the  rooms  was  for  a  long  period  one  of  the  main 
sources  of  College  revenue.  The  rate  of  rent  varied  with  the  value  of  the  fluc- 
tuating currency,  and  a  curious  instance  of  the  depreciation  of  the  paper-money 
at  the  close  of  the  Revolution  is  afforded  by  two  votes  of  the  Corporation  in 
1781.  At  a  meeting  in  May  of  that  year  it  was  voted  "that  each  study  in 
HoUis,  and  the  second  and  third  stories  in  Massachusetts,  shall  be  charged  at 
;^40  per  quarter,  and  the  rest  of  the  studies  at  ;£  52.  10."  In  the  following 
August  the  rates  were  fixed  at  twenty  and  sixteen  shillings  per  quarter,  but  they 
were  to  be  paid  in  solid  coin. 

In  1764  Massachusetts  ran  great  danger  of  destruction  from  the  disastrous  fire 
which  consumed  the  old  Harvard  Hall.  The  fire  broke  out  in  the  middle  of  the 
night  of  January  24-25.  "The  other  Colleges,  Stoughton  Hall  and  Massachu- 
setts, were  in  the  utmost  hazard.  The  wind  driving  the  flaming  cinders  directly 
upon  their  roofs,  they  blazed  out  several  times  in  different  places,  nor  could  they 
have  been  saved  by  all  the  help  the  town  could  afford  had  it  not  been  for  the 
assistance  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  General  Court  (then  in  session  at  Cambridge), 
among  whom  his  Excellency  the  Governor  was  very  active;  who,  notwithstand- 
ing the  extreme  rigor  of  the  season,  exerted  themselves  in  supplying  the  town 
engine  with  water  which  they  were  obliged  to  fetch  at  last  from  a  distance,  two 
of  the  College  pumps  being  then  rendered  useless."* 

Far  better  could  the  College  and  the  Commonwealth  have  spared  Massachu- 
setts or  the  new-built  Hollis  Hall  than  the  old  Harvard,  within  whose  walls 
were  stored  her  chief  treasures,  —  her  books,  her  instruments,  and  her  collections. 
Some  of  the  losses  of  that  calamitous  fire  can  never  be  made  good. 

During  the  Revolution,  Massachusetts,  like  the  other  buildings  in  the  yard,  had 
her  experience  of  war.  After  the  battle  of  Lexington,  when  the  troops  were  col- 
lecting at  Cambridge,  the  students  were  ordered  to  quit  the  hall,  and  it  was  given 
up  to  the  occupancy  of  the  soldiers.  But  the  soldiers  were  of  the  same  stock 
as  the  scholars,  and  the  humanizing  associations  of  the  place  were  not  lost  upon 
them.  The  rooms  in  Massachusetts  served  as  barracks  till  March,  1776,  when 
the  troops  were  withdrawn  from  Cambridge.  A  committee  was  soon  afterward 
appointed   by   the    General    Court   to   estimate   the   damages   which    remained    to 

*  Massachusets  Gazette,  Thursday,  February  2,  1764. 


56  MASSACHUSETTS   HALL. 

be   made   good   after  the  first  repairs,  previous  to  the  return  of  the  scholars,  and 
reported  as  follows  in  regard  to  Massachusetts :  —  * 


To  29  Brass  Knob-locks  for  Chamber  doors  @  9/ 

£12 

3 

0 

I  Knob  latch  for  do. 

3 

60  Box  locks  for  studies                              @  4/ 

12 

0 

0 

I  large  Stock  lock  for  a  cellar  door 

12 

62  Rolls  of  Paper                                         @  5/6 

17 

I 

0 

60  yards  of  Paint                                          @  2/ 

6 

0 

0 

Other  damages 

I 

5 

0 

£49       4     o 

Since  the  Revolution,  Massachusetts  has  had  its  share  of  the  usual  experiences 
of  a  college  lodging-hall.  Its  rooms  have  been  witness  to  hard  study,  to  ex- 
uberant mirth.  All  of  us  elder  living  graduates  have  many  pleasant  associations 
with  the  old  chambers,  which,  though  little  suited  to  modern  standards  of  com- 
fort and  elegance,  had  a  charm  of  their  own  from  their  old-fashioned  quaintness, 
and  from  the  memories  that  belonged  to  them.  The  list  of  youths  who  had 
rooms  in  Massachusetts  and  who  became  distinguished  in  after  years  is  a  long 
one,  but  the  dearest  college  associations  are  not  always  with  men  famous  in  after 
life.  The  writer's  own  most  cherished  remembrance  connected  with  Massachu- 
setts is  of  the  cheerful  and  studious  chamber  of  a  modest,  gentle,  upright  class- 
mate, who  never  became  widely  known,  but  who  was  much  loved,  and  whose 
name  is  inscribed  on  one  of  the  tablets  of  honor  in  Memorial  Hall. 

In  Dr.  Kirkland's  time  the  building  was  thoroughly  repaired  and  renovated, 
and  it  was  then  that  a  portion  of  the  lower  floor  was  devoted  to  the  uses  of  Col- 
lege societies  and  recitation-rooms.  Here  for  years  the  Institute  had  its  regular 
meetings  for  debates,  which  should  train  the  future  orators  and  statesmen  of 
which  the  country  stood  in  need.  Here  the  Natural  History  Society  kept  its 
collections  and  held  its  meetings,  encouraged  by  the  sympathy  and  counsel  of 
Wyman  and  of  Gray.  And  here  class  meetings  were  held  for  the  election  of 
ofiicers  or  the  transaction  of  other  affairs,  —  the  scene  at  times  of  tumultuous 
confusion  and  of  vehement  party  spirit,  in  which  traits  of  character  often  dis- 
played themselves  that  might  have  served  as  sure  prognostics  from  which  to  fore- 
cast the  future  fortunes  of  the  youthful  disputants. 

In  1870  Massachusetts  underwent  a  transformation.  The  whole  interior  ar- 
rangements were  changed.  No  "  studies  "  for  the  undergradutes  now  remain.  The 
old  chambers  have  given  place  to  public  uses.  With  a  flooring  between  the 
former  second  and  third  stories,  the  whole  of  the  upper  story  is  an  examination- 

*  The  report  is  to  be  found  in  Harvard  College  Papers,  Vol.  II.  p.  44. 


MASSACHUSETTS   HALL.  57 

hall;  and  the  lower  story,  diminished  only  by  a  narrow  entrance-way  and  a  very 
small  recitation-room,  serves  the  double  purpose  of  a  reading-room  and  an  exami- 
nation-hall. 

May  the  old  building  long  continue  to  stand,  sacred  from  its  age  and  its  mem- 
ories, connecting  by  its  visible  sign  the  latest  generations  of  the  sons  of  Harvard 
with  those  of  the  early  small  days  of  the  College.  May  it  suggest  liberality  to 
the  Commonwealth  that  has  always  owed  more  than  it  has  given  to  the  Univer- 
sity. It  is  our  oldest  monument.  It  is  "the  good  old  Angel  Inn"  of  our  Col- 
lege yard. 


HOLDEN   CHAPEL. 

Visit  of  Benjamin  Colman  to  England  in  1695.  —  Gift  of  Madam  Holden  and  her  Daugh- 
ters TO  THE  College. — Erection  of  Holden  Chapel,  1744.  —  Conjectured  occupants  in 
Early  Times.  —  Scenes  at  Prayers.  —  Uses  to  which  the  Chapel  has  been  put  during  the 
past  Fifty  Years. 


In  1695  Benjamin  Colman  (H.  U.  1692),  then  an  unordained  preacher,  and 
subsequently  the  first  pastor  of  the  Brattle  Street  Church  in  Boston,  embarked  for 
England,  as  his  biographer  says,  to  "  make  improvement  by  what  he  could  see 
and  learn  there."  There  being  war  between  England  and  France,  the  vessel  in 
which  he  sailed  was  taken  by  a  French  privateer,  and  carried  into  a  French  port; 
and  Mr.  Colman  arrived  in  London,  after  several  weeks  of  detention  and  cruel 
treatment,  in  a  state  of  utter  destitution.  He  was  warmly  received  by  the  dis- 
senting clergy  and  laity  of  the  metropolis;  and  Mr.  Parkhurst,  an  eminent  book- 
seller in  Cheapside,  invited  him  to  lodge  gratuitously  at  his  house  for  half  a  year, 
during  which  Mrs.  Parkhurst  was  "  a  kind  and  loving  mother  to  him."  Her  son 
was  the  Honorable  Samuel  Holden,  a  member  of  Parliament,  Governor  of  the 
Bank  of  England,  and  regarded  as  at  the  head  of  the  English  Dissenters.  Through 
Dr.  Colman,  with  whom  he  maintained  a  constant  correspondence  after  his  return 
to  America,  Mr.  Holden  became  deeply  interested  in  the  cause  of  learning  and 
religion  in  New  England,  and  from  1730  till  his  death  in  1740  disbursed  through 
his  friend's  agency  little  less  than  five  thousand  pounds  in  various  charities  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  —  a  sum  even  exceeded  by  the  benefactions  of  his  wife 
and  daughters  after  his  decease. 

For  the  first  century  and  more  of  its  existence  the  College  had  no  chapel,  and 


Q 


HOLDEN   CHAPEL.  59 

religious  exercises  were  performed  in  the  Commons  Hall  or  the  Library.  In 
1 74 1  Madam  H  olden  and  her  daughters  offered  to  supply  this  deficiency,  and  the 
sum  of  four  hundred  pounds  sterling  was  bestowed  for  that  purpose.  The  build- 
ing, named  for  its  donors,  was  ready  for  occupancy  in  1744.  Externally  it  pre- 
sei-ves  its  original  aspect,  except  that  a  porch  fronting  on  the  Common,  through 
which  was  the  entrance  to  the  Chapel,  has  been  removed,  and  a  door  has  been 
cut  in  what  was  the  rear  of  the  Chapel.  The  edifice  is  of  brick,  plain,  substan- 
tial, and  of  singularly  beautiful  proportions,  with  three  round-arched  windows  on 
each  side,  and  with  wooden  pediments,  that  looking  toward  the  Common  being 
adorned  with  the  arms  of  the  H  olden  family. 

There  may  be  found  in  an  old  number  of  the  "  Harvard  Magazine  "  a  spirited 
sketch  of  the  session  of  the  Provincial  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  as  convened 
in  Holden  Chapel  on  the  30th  of  May,  1770.  The  sketch  is  no  less  veracious 
than  life-like ;  but  the  site  lies  open  to  serious  doubt.  The  Legislature  assembled 
on  that  day  "  in  Harvard  College,"  but  no  account  that  we  can  find  states  directly 
in  what  building.  The  newspaper  narrative  says  that  the  Legislature  met  "  in 
Harvard  College,"  went  to  the  meeting-house  to  hear  the  election-sermon,  and 
"  returned  to  Harvard  Hall,"  where  entertainment  was  provided  for  them.  To  re- 
turn is  to  go  to  the  place  whence  one  started  ;  and  if  the  word  is  literally  used 
in  •  this  narrative,  the  Legislature  must  first  have  gone  from  Harvard  Hall,  in 
order  to  return  to  it.  Moreover,  as  there  were  two  houses  of  the  Legislature,  that 
body  was  much  more  likely  to  have  sat  in  Harvard  Hall,  where  there  were  sev- 
eral apartments,  than  in  Holden  Chapel,  which  was  then  a  single  apartment. 

But  if  the  old  chapel  was  not  the  theatre  of  civic  display,  it  must  have  wit- 
nessed not  a  few  scenes  that  would  seem  strange  to  our  present  associations  with 
a  religiously  consecrated  edifice.  Whether  flagellation  had  been  inflicted  for  the 
last  time  before  the  erection  of  Holden  it  is  impossible  to  say;  but,  so  long  as 
it  remained  a  part  of  College  discipline,  it  was  one  of  the  edifying  exercises  con- 
nected with  evening  prayers.  Public  admonitions,  too,  were  actually  public  then 
(whence  their  name),  and  were  given  by  the  President  in  the  hearing  of  the 
students  assembled  at  prayers ;  nor  were  they  always  tamely  submitted  to,  but 
there  are  several  cases  on  record  in  which  the  President  encountered  an  angry,  and 
even  profane  rejoinder,  and  was  forced  into  a  wordy  altercation  with  the  offending 
youth.  There  was,  also,  in  the  last  century,  a  much  wider  latitude  than  now 
exists  as  to  the  notices  fit  to  be  given  at  prayers.  Thus,  on  one  occasion,  after 
the  Faculty  had  sat  in  solemn  deliberation  ovej  a  keg  of  rancid  butter,  listened 
to  the  report  of  a  tasting  committee,  and  determined  that  the  butter  should 
thenceforth  not  appear  in  propria  forma,  but  should  be  used  only  in  the  making 
of  sauce,  it  was  voted  that  the  President  should  announce  this  decree  at  prayers 
on  the  following  morning. 


(5o  HOLDEN   CHAPEL. 

How  long  Holden  was  used  as  a  chapel  the  writer  of  this  sketch  is  not  able 
to  ascertain.  The  present  Harvard  Hall  was  completed  in  1766,  and  either  im- 
mediately on  its  completion,  or  a  very  short  time  afterward,  an  apartment  in  that 
building  was  occupied  for  religious  uses.  Holden  subsequently  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Medical  department  of  the  University,  which  at  first  shared  its  occu- 
pancy with  the  College  carpenter,  and,  at  a  later  period,  with  the  Professor  of 
Chemistry. 

Fifty  years  ago  Holden  was  divided,  as  now,  into  two  stories,  and  each  story 
into  two  apartments.  On  the  lower  floor  were  the  chemical  laboratory  and  lec- 
ture-room, the  former  about  half  as  large  as  the  latter,  and  fronting  on  the  Col- 
lege yard.  In  the  second  story,  above  the  laboratory,  was  an  anatomical  museum, 
containing  a  set  of  very  delicate  wax  preparations,  adjoining  which  was  a  lecture- 
room,  then  occupied  but  for  a  short  period  each  year,  for  the  delivery  of  a  course  of 
lectures  on  Anatomy  to  the  Senior  Class  by  Dr.  Warren.  This  lecture-room  was 
the  handsomest  and  brightest  room  within  the  College  precincts.  Lighted  by  sky- 
lights, and  with  its  simple  furniture  nearly  white  and  undefaced  by  autographs,  it 
presented  the  broadest  contrast  to  the  rooms  below,  which  were  dark,  dank,  almost 
slimy  from  a  moisture  which  no  sun-rays  ever  seemed  to  reach,  still  less  to  dry. 

Since  the  erection  of  Boylston  Hall,  the  two  stories  of  Holden  have  been  made 
each  into  one  spacious  recitation-room.  They  retain  much  of  their  former  charac- 
ter, —  the  lower  room  so  damp  that  many  years  have  not  sufficed  to  dry  the  last 
coat  of  bad  varnish  put  upon  it;  the  upper,  presenting  a  cheerful  aspect  by  day, 
and  being  a  favorite  room  for  evening  use.  It  has  lately  been  fitted  up  for  the 
occupancy  of  the  Everett  Athenaeum,  and  it  is  doubted  whether  a  College  society 
could  be  more  pleasantly  accommodated,  unless  in  an  apartment  prepared  for  its 
sole  use  and  under  its  undivided  control. 


MOLLIS    HALL. 

Thomas  Hollis.  —  His  Benefactions  to  Harvard  College.  —  Liberality  of  the  Hollis  Family. 

Character  of  the  third   Thomas   Hollis.  —  Thomas   Brand    Hollis,  the  seventh  and 

last  Benefactor  bearing  the  Name  of  Hollis.  —  The  Number  of  Students  reduced  by 
the  "Old  French  War,"  1756-63.  —  The  Corporation  urge  the  Need  of  a  new  Build- 
ing, 1 76 1. — The  General  Court  vote  ;^  2,000  for  another  Hall. — A  further  Sum  of 
;^  500  voted.  —  Site  selected.  —  The  Building  completed,  December,  1763.  —  January  13, 
1764,  the  Building  named  Hollis  Hall.  —  Rent  from  the  Cellars  and  Rooms  applied  to 
different  Uses.  —  Description  of  Hollis  Hall.  —  Used  for  Barracks.  —  Account  of 
Damages  done  to  Hollis  Hall  during  its  Military  Occupation.  —  Room  No.  8.  —  Rebel- 
lion Tree.  —  Class-Day  Tree.  —  The  Marti-Mercurian  Band.  —  Harvard  Washington 
Corps. — The  Engine  Company.  —  The  Medical  Faculty. — Distinguished  Occupants  of 
Rooms  in  Hollis  Hall.  —  The  College  Wood-Yard.  —  The   College   Sloop,  the  Harvard. 

Hollis  Hall  derives  its  name  from  a  family  well  deserving  remembrance 
among  the  friends  of  Harvard  College. 

Thomas  Hollis,  son  of  a  London  merchant,  born  in  1659,  educated  a  Baptist, 
and  through  life  adhering  to  that  belief,  founded  two  Professorships  in  Harvard 
College,  one  of  Divinity,  and  another  of  Natural  Philosophy,  and  established  a 
fund  for  the  aid  of  indigent  scholars.  "  The  immediate  occasion  of  his  own 
benefactions  seems  to  have  been  furnished  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Colman,  of  Boston. 
While  this  gentleman  'was  pursuing  the  recovery  of  a  legacy  of  ;^  160  sterling, 
for  two  poor  orphans  in  the  years  171 7  and  1718,  his  letters  fell  into  the  hands 
of  Mr.  Hollis,  whose  heart  was  devising  liberal  things,'  and  the  consequence  was 
that  from  that  time  the  main  course  of  his  bounty  was  directed  towards  New 
England,  and  particularly  to  Harvard  College."  *     His  first  gift  was  made  March  2, 

*  Pierce's  History,  p.  97. 


62  HOLLIS   HALL. 

1 719,  when  he  consigned  an  invoice  of  hardware  to  a  merchant  in  Boston  for  the 
benefit  of  the  College.  His  endowments  amounted  to  nearly  five  thousand  pounds, 
New  England  currency.  His  gifts  of  books  and  instruments  also  amounted  to  a 
considerable  sum. 

These  benefactions  were  bestowed  on  an  institution  whose  first  President, 
Dunster,  had  been  dismissed  from  his  office,  indicted,  and  publicly  admonished, 
for  an  honest  but  ill-timed  protest  against  the  practice  of  infant  baptism. 

The  test  of  qualification  for  the  Divinity  Professorship,  proposed  by  Hollis, 
was  such  as  to  prevent  the  exclusion  of  any  avowed  believer  on  account  of  his 
particular  form  of  faith.  The  candidate  was  required  only  to  subscribe  to  "  his 
belief  that  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  are  the  only  perfect  rule  of  faith  and 
manners." 

The  following  unconscious  sketch  of  a  beautiful  character  appears  in  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Hollis  to  Dr.  Colman,  dated  August  i,  1720:  "  I  love  them  that  show 
by  their  works  that  they  love  Jesus  Christ.  While  I  bear  with  others  who  are 
sincere,  in  their  more  confined  charity,  I  would  that  they  would  bear  with  me 
in  my  more  enlarged.  We  search  after  truth.  We  see  but  in  part.  Happy  the 
man  who  reduces  his  notions  into  a  constant  train  of  practice.  Charity  is  the 
grace  which  now  adorns,  and  prepares  for  glory.  May  it  always  abide  in  your 
breast  and  mine,  and  grow  more  and  more." 

One  of  his  letters  contains  what  seems  a  premonition  of  the  events  which  took 
place  half  a  century  later.  In  July,  1724,  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Colman:  "You  have 
enemies  in  London  and  at  court,  who  greatly  aggravate  your  faults,  and  would 
rejoice  in   the  ruin  of  your  civil   and  religious  liberty,  and  who  say  that  some  of 

your  actions  are  high  treason Boston  is  represented  as  in  actual  rebellion, 

and  some  speak  of  sending  over  regular  troops  to  keep  you  in  subjection." 

Mr.  Quincy  says,  in  his  History  of  the  College,  from  which  w^e  draw  our  facts : 
"  Scarce  a  ship  sailed  from  London  [for  New  England]  during  the  last  ten  years 
of  his  life,  without  bearing  some  token  of  his  affection  and  liberality."  Mr.  Hollis 
died  in   1731. 

John  and  Nathaniel  Hollis,  his  brothers,  Timothy,  his  nephew,  Thomas,  his 
nephew  and  heir,  and  Thomas,  the  third  of  the  name,  son  of  the  preceding 
Thomas,  continued  in  various  degrees  the  liberality  of  their  relative  to  the 
College. 

The  third  Thomas  Hollis  was  born  in  London,  in  1720.  At  the  age  of  four- 
teen he  was  sent  to  Holland  to  acquire  the  Dutch  and  French  languages,  and 
after  fifteen  months'  residence  there,  returned  to  England.  After  his  father's 
death,  in  1735,  he  was  placed  under  the  tuition  of  Professor  Ward,  a  name  not 
yet  crowded  out  of  its  "  narrow  cell  "  in  general  biography.  In  1 740  he  entered 
at   Lincoln's   Inn,  and   studied   law,  apparently  with    a   view    to    political    life,  on 


HOLLIS   HALL. 


63 


which,  however,  he  never  entered.  In  1748  he  travelled  with  his  friend,  Mr. 
Brand,  on  the  Continent,  which  he  visited  again  in  1750,  and  finally  settled  at 
his  estate  of  Corsecombe,  in  Dorsetshire,  where  he  died  January  i,  1774.  He 
was  a  man  of  study  and  reflection.  In  a  letter  of  the  5th  of  October,  1783,  to 
Thomas  Brand  Hollis,  Dr.  Franklin  mentions  having  met  him  "  at  the  Royal 
Society  and  the  Society  of  Arts,"  and  expresses  a  high   opinion  of  his  character. 

He  was  something  of  an  antiquarian;  he  loved  the  past  while  he  modestly 
worked  for  the  future  with  other  men's  thoughts  and  words,  and  in  all  relations 
he  betrayed  his  "  strong  benevolence  of  soul."  He  was  abstemious  in  his  habits, 
never  drinking  wine  or  beer,  and  simple  in  his  amusements.  "  In  London  he 
visited  only  the  opera  and  oratorio ;  and  in  the  country,  when  he  had  read 
enough  in  the  evening,  he  loved  to  play  upon  the  flute."  He  transferred  his  his- 
torical associations  to  his  fields,  giving  them  such  names  as  Magna  Charta,  Lu- 
ther, Wycliffe,  and  Shaftsbury.  He  was  a  great  admirer  of  Milton.  When  a  fire 
occurred  in  his  house  in  London,  his  first  act  was  to  rescue  the  portrait  of  Mil- 
ton as  a  boy.  As  a  final  trait  of  character,  he  was,  by  his  own  desire,  buried  in 
one  of  his  fields  ten  feet  deep,  and  the  ground  was  ploughed  over  and  sown 
with  grain. 

Mr.  Hollis  does  not  seem  to  have  published  any  writing  of  his  own ;  he  preferred 
to  propagate  his  opinions  by  circulating  the  works  of  others.  Thus  he  published, 
or  helped  to  publish,  editions  of  the  works  of  Milton,  Sidney,  and  Locke,  and 
others  of  the  like  tendency.  He  printed  and  distributed  the  writings  of  Jonathan 
Mayhew ;  the  "  Rights  of  the  British  Colonies  Asserted  and  Proved,"  by  James 
Otis ;  and  John  Adams's  "  Dissertation  on  the  Canon  and  Feudal  Law."  He  cor- 
responded with  Mayhew,  and  used  such  influence  as  he  might  have  with  the  min- 
istry, in  favor  of  colonial  rights.  It  is  not  surprising  that  he  was  considered  in 
England  as  encouraging  colonial  aspirations  to  independence. 

He  had  a  strong  desire  to  enter  Parliament.  .He  said,  "  I  would  almost  give 
my  right  hand  to  be  chosen  into  Parliament,  but  cannot  give  a  single  crown  for 
it  by  way  of  bribe."  He  therefore  contented  himself  with  modest  indirect  efforts 
at  proselytism,  corresponded  with  Mayhew,  pleaded  the  cause  of  the  Colonies  at 
home,  and  collected  books  for  Harvard  College.  His  benefactions  to  the  College 
began  in  1758,  after  reading  some  publication  of  Mayhew  which  particularly 
pleased  him ;  and  he  continued  them  to  the  end  of  his  life. 

He  had  the  fancy  of  designating  the  character  of  his  own  books  and  of  those 
which  he  gave  away  by  gilt  devices  stamped  on  the  covers.  "  The  owl  indicates 
wisdom ;  the  caduceus  of  Mercury,  eloquence ;  the  wand  of  ^sculapius,  medical 
lore."  He  frequently  inserted  in  writing,  on  the  blank  leaves  and  margins, 
sentiments  which  he  wished  to  circulate,  or  remarks  illustrative  of  the  author. 
The  handsome  bindings  and  quaint  devices  of  his  books  in  the  College  Library 


64  HOLLIS   HALL. 

pleasantly  recall  his  memory  at  this  day.  His  gifts,  including  a  bequest  of  five 
hundred  pounds,  amounted  to  nearly  two  thousand  pounds  sterling. 

Such  was  the  third  Thomas  Hollis,  —  in  general  benevolence  of  character,  and 
in  his  special  regard  for  Harvard  College,  a  reproduction  of  the  first.  He  be- 
queathed the  bulk  of  his  fortune  to  his  friend,  Thomas  Brand,  who  thereupon 
added  the  name  of  Hollis  to  his  own. 

Thomas  Brand  Hollis  was  born  in  1719.  He  resided  at  "the  Hyde,"  near 
Ingatstone,  in  Essex.  He  made  frequent  donations  of  books  to  Harvard  College, 
and  left  it  a  bequest  in  his  will  of  one  hundred  pounds  sterling,  "  to  be  laid  out 
in  Latin  and  Greek  classics."  He  was,  like  his  predecessor,  an  antiquarian,  a 
lover  of  art,  and  perhaps  we  may  say  a  hero-worshipper.  From  a  few  notes  fur- 
nished to  the  "  Defence  of  the  American  Constitution,"  by  his  friend  John  Adams, 
we  may  infer  that  he  was  something  of  a  political  theorist.  His  ideal  in  history 
was  Marcus  Aurelius,  whose  likness,  Mr.  Adams  informs  us,  "he  had  in  busts, 
and  many  other  shapes."  He  was  also  a  particular  admirer  of  the  Emperor  Julian. 
We  are  pleased  to  learn  from  the  journal  of  Mr.  Adams  that  among  the  antique 
figures  which  abounded  in  his  house  appeared  also  "  the  bust  of  the  late  Thomas 
Hollis,  Esq.  [the  third  of  the  name],  in  beautiful  white  marble."  He  denied  the 
claim  of  chronology  to  separate  men  whose  virtues  were  independent  of  time  and 
place.  Mr.  Hollis  died  in  1804,  the  last  of  seven  of  that  name  whose  benefactions 
to  the  College  extended  over  a  period  of  eighty  years. 

The  "Old  French  War"  (1756  to  1763)  had  reduced  the  number  of  Harvard 
scholars.  The  demand  for  men  was  heavy,  and  the  rate  of  taxation  correspond- 
ingly severe,  amounting  in  Boston  to  two  thirds  of  one's  income,  beside  poll-tax 
and  excise.  The  virtual  conquest  of  Canada,  in  1760,  gave  the  country  a  near 
prospect  of  release  from  its  heaviest  burdens. 

The  Corporation  of  the  College,  in  1761,  urged  on  the  Overseers  the  need  of 
a  new  building,  stating  that  "  more  than  ninety  students  were  obliged  to  board 
in  private  families,  and  that  they  were  less  orderly  and  well  regulated  than  those 
within  the  walls."  A  petition  was  accordingly  presented  to  the  General  Court, 
which,  with  a  liberality  due  probably  to  the  new  era  of  hope,  immediately  voted 
two  thousand  pounds  for  a  new  college,  to  be  of  the  dimensions  of  Massachusetts 
Hall.  Committees  were  appointed,  in  which  appear  on  the  part  of  the  Council 
the  names  of  Danforth,  Brattle,  Bowdoin,  Hubbard,  and  Russell ;  and  on  the 
part  of  the  House,  of  Tyler,  Phillips,  James  Otis,  Gushing,  and  Boardman.  On 
the  same  day  the  General  Court  passed  another  vote,  authorizing  "  a  further  sum 
of  five  hundred  pounds  sterling  to  be  paid  to  Royall  Tyler,  Esquire,  towards  pur- 
chasing nails,  glass,  and  other  materials,  in  England,  for  the  building  of  the  new 
College  in  Cambridge,  which  materials  the  said  Royall  Tyler  had  generously 
offered   to   procure  for  the   Province   free   from   any  advance  of  profit."     On  the 


MOLLIS   HALL. 


65 


30th  of  June  the  Committee  met  the  Corporation  on  the  College  grounds,  and 
determined  the  site  of  the  building.  The  father  of  Judge  Dawes,  well  known 
and  respected  in  Boston  some  sixty  years  since,  was  the  master  builder.  In 
December,  1763,  the  new  building  was  completed,  and  the  Committee  delivered 
the  keys  to  the  General  Court,  with  a  statement  of  the  extraordinary  expense, 
which  went  beyond  the  estimate  and  appropriation  more  than  five  hundred  and 
thirty  pounds.  Provision  was  immediately  made  for  this  excess,  and  votes  passed 
declaring  the  building  "  to  be  well  completed  and  finished  in  the  best  manner," 
and  expressing  thanks  to  the  Committee  for  their  assiduous  and  faithful  services, 
and  gratitude  for  those  of  John  Phillips,  deceased.  On  the  13th  of  January,  1764, 
both  branches  met  in  the  College  Chapel,  and,  the  name  having  been  fixed,  "  the 
President  opened  the  assembly,  by  mentioning  the  occasion  of  the  present  meet- 
ing, and  requested  the  Governor  to  give  a  name  to  the  new  house.  Then  the 
Governor  said,  '  I  name  it  Hollis  Hall,'  after  which  they  listened  to  a  gratulatory 
oration  in  English,  'pronounced  with  suitable  and  proper  action,  by  Taylor,  a 
Junior  Sophister,  and  then  dined  with  the  Corporation  in  the  College  Hall.' "  In 
March,  1765,  the  General  Court  voted  that  the  cellars  and  rooms  of  the  new 
building  should  be  let  at  a  rate  to  produce  one  hundred  pounds'  annual  rent, 
of  which  sum  ten  pounds  should  be  reserved  to  keep  it  in  repair,  and  the  residue 
be  applied  to  the  support  of  Tutors  and  the  purchase  of  books  for  the  Library. 

Hollis  Hall  is  built  of  brick,  is  one  hundred  and  three  feet  long,  forty-three 
broad,  and  thirty-two  high,  and  contained  originally  thirty-two  rooms,  with  two 
small  studies  in  each  and  two  small  closets. 

On  both  fronts  the  line  of  the  roof  is  broken  by  a  pediment  somewhat  orna- 
mental, in  the  centre  of  which  is  a  common  window,  with  a  circular  window  on 
each  side  of  it.  The  spaces  between  the  stories  are  relieved  at  intervals  by 
narrow  belts  of  brick.  The  underpinning  of  granite,  which  appears  but  little 
above  ground,  is  continued  with  brick,  and  its  projection  of  a  few  inches  beyond 
the  main  wall  is  covered  at  the  junction  with  a  moulding  of  the  same  material.  A 
very  respectable  portal  in  the  centre  of  each  front  harmonizes  with  the  inter- 
nal arrangements  by  denying  admittance.  On  the  moulding  above  mentioned, 
at  the  northwest  corner,  appears  the  date,  1763.  Upon  view  of  the  whole  build- 
ing, one  concludes  that  good  taste  has  probably  bestowed  all  the  ornament  upon 
it  warranted  by  the  amount  of  the  legislative  grant. 

The  cellars  were  formerly  divided  into  bins  in  which  the  students  kept  their 
fuel,  liquors,  and  other  stores.  At  the  southwest  corner  of  the  ground-floor  a 
door  once  opened  into  a  shed  or  passage-way  leading  into  the  building  on  the 
eastern  end  of  Harvard  Hall,  which  was  used  for  commons.  This  door  has  been 
removed,  and  a  window  takes  its  place. 

In  1768  we  are  sure  that  Hollis  Hall  had  its  full   quota  of  patriotic   students. 


66  HOLLIS   HALL. 

who  appeared  on  Commencement  Day  clad  in  homespun  manufactures.  It  was 
struck  by  lightning  in  this  year,  with  small  damage  to  building  or  inhabitants. 
On  the  19th  of  April,  1775,  one  might  have  seen  from  its  northerly  windows,  as 
it  was  actually  seen  from  the  Holmes  House  near  at  hand,  the  smoke  of  the  long- 
drawn-out  fight.  Its  rooms  and  entries  doubtless  resounded  with  horrid  rumors 
begotten  of  uncertainty  and  alarm.  In  the  afternoon  some  pale  student  saw  from 
a  westerly  window  the  bodies  of  the  Cambridge  dead  thrown  hastily  over  the  fence 
into  the  graveyard,  to  wait  for  burial  till  the  result  of  the  conflict  reassured  their 
townsmen. 

"  Immediately  after  the  battle  of  Lexington  the  students  were  ordered  to  quit 
the  College  ;  some  of  the  buildings  were  turned  into  barracks."  Hollis  Hall  was 
one  of  these.  Cartridges  displaced  the  classics,  and  logic  was  superseded  by  the 
great  syllogism,  "Load!  Aim!  Fire!"  On  the  17th  of  June  these  new  tenants 
of  Hollis  Hall  may  be  presumed  to  have  contributed  their  full  share  to  the  smoke 
which  the  Cambridge  people  watched  rising  from  Bunker  Hill. 

The  following  document,  kindly  furnished  by  Mr.  Sibley,  shows  the  effect  of 
military  occupation  on  Hollis  Hall  :  — 

"Account  of  Damages  done  to  the  Colledges  by  the  Army  after  April  19'!"  1775,  which  remained  to 
be  made  Good,  after  the  first  repairs  were  made,  previous  to  the  return  of  the  Scholars  to  Cambridge ; 
as  per  Estimate  of  us  the  Subscribers  a  Committee  appointed  for  that  purpose  by  the  General  Court. 

Damages  to  Hollis  Hall  .  .  .   Vis'. 
To  31  brass  Knob  locks  @  9//  .         .         .         .         .         ■      ;^  13  ,,   19 

To  63  Study  locks  ®  aI  P      ■         •         •         •         ■         •         •     12  „   12 

To  94  Rolls  of  paper       @  5/6/ 25  „   17 

To    2  Window  blinders 1  „  — 

To    4  Window  Shutters  &  1  Window  Casing      .         .         .         .  2  „   10 

To  81  Yards  of  Paint       @  2// 8  „     2 

To  Sundry  other  Damages 2  „  — 

Abraham  Watson 
Samuel  Thatcher 
Cambridge,  April  6'h  1777.  Abraham  Fuller." 

The  account  was  allowed  by  the  Legislature  in  April,   1778. 

Between  1789  and  1793  No.  8  Hollis  was  occupied  by  Mr.  Charles  Angier.  He 
conceived  the  grand  idea  of  a  perpetual  entertainment  and  a  standing  invitation. 
The  legend  says,  "  His  table  was  always  supplied  with  wine,  brandy,  and  crackers, 
of  which  his  friends  were  at  liberty  to  partake  at  any  time."  This  scheme  is  second 
only  to  the  Everlasting  Club  of  the  Spectator.  We  take  upon  us,  in  the  absence 
of  historical  evidence,  to  vouch  for  the  constancy  of  Mr.  Angler's  friends.  No  better 
goal  of  pilgrimage  for  a  graduate  of  convivial  turn  can  be  imagined.  The  shrine 
is  gone,  but  the  flavor  of  a  transcendent  hospitality  will  always  pervade  No.  8. 

Hollis  Hall  came  into  existence  with  the  first  symptoms  of  the  pre-Revolution- 


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HOLLIS   HALL.  67 

ary  troubles.  Probably  some  of  its  bricks  were  laid  with  rhetorical  emphasis, 
accompanying  a  patriotic  argument  or  protest.  It  was  not  inaptly,  therefore,  that 
an  elm-tree,  planted  in  1792  near  the  southerly  entry  on  the  eastern  front,  be- 
came the  nucleus  of  College  revolt.  It  has  been  known  for  half  a  century  as 
the  "  Rebellion  Tree."  Hollis  has  heard  the  florid  eloquence  and  seen  the  defiant 
processions ;  it  has  witnessed  the  rising  flame  and  the  melancholy  extinction. 
The  round  eyes  in  the  triangle  at  the  top  have  borne  an  expression  of  wonder, 
as  they  beheld  blows  aimed  at  fancied  oppressors,  to   take  effect  only  on  friends. 

Another  tall  elm,  outspreading,  fraternal,  shading  the  western  front,  of  jocund 
aspect,  has  long  been  the  centre  around  which  the  graduating  students  dance  on 
Class  Day.  We  saw  the  Class  of  18 19  there  perform  its  gyrations.  Top-boots, 
shorts,  and  trousers  collided  amicably  on  that  occasion.  We  saw  also  the  Class 
of  1832  in  its  turn  drawn  into  the  annual  maelstrom,  and  perform  its  revolu- 
tions. On  that  occasion  the  class  "  membra  sub  {ulmo)  strati^''  in  conformity  to 
the  Overseers'  vote  of  1 760,  drank  punch  "  in  a  sober  manner "  from  buckets, 
and  a  voice,  still  sonorous,  sang   "  The  Tea-Tax." 

A  military  company,  the  Marti-Mercurian  Band,  was  formed  in  College  about 
the  year  1769.  It  died  out  in  1787,  but  was  revived,  under  the  auspices  of 
Governor  Gerry,  in  181 1,  as  the  Harvard  Washington  Corps,  its  standard  still 
bearing  the  motto,  "  Tam  Marti  quam  Mercurio."  It  was  finally  disbanded  by 
the  College  authorities  in  1834.  The  blue  coat,  skirts  turned  up  with  white,  the 
cocked  hat  and  top-boots,  of  1769,  gave  place,  in  181 1,  to  "common  black  hat, 
white  gaiters,"  etc.  The  chapeau  and  sabre  of  the  officers  of  1820  were  afterward 
and  finally  exchanged  for  the  shako  and  straight  sword.  Its  armory  was  at  one 
time  in  the  attic  of  Hollis  Hall.  The  members  were  taken  from  the  Senior 
and  Junior  classes,  and  a  certain  height  was  necessary  for  admission.  The  squad 
and  company  drills,  for  the  training  of  the  reorganized  corps  of  each  year,  were 
frequent  and  quite  exacting.  Fifty  years  ago  the  rub-a-dub  of  the  College  Com- 
pany in  the  September  evenings  was  considered  by  children  as  natural  to  Cam- 
bridge Common  as  the  chirp  of  the  crickets.  As  time  elapsed,  the  company 
declined,  recruits  were  admitted  from  all  the  classes  and  without  regard  to 
stature.     The  martial  gaiter  disappeared  from  the  equipment. 

In  our  time  the  company  was  paraded  on  the  Common,  in  front  of  Hollis 
Hall,  whence  the  officers  issued  in  state  to  take  command  ;  and  was  dismissed 
on  the  same  spot,  or  in  front  of  University  Chapel,  where  the  armory  then  was. 
The  corps  in  former  time  made  various  expeditions,  carrying  its  banners  as  far 
as  Medford  on  the  north  and  Boston  and  Charlestown  on  the  east.  In  conse- 
quence of  a  visit  to  Charlestown,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Manning,  which 
incurred  the  disapproval  of  the  government,  it  was  thenceforth  restricted  to 
Cambridge  limits.     It  appears   from   Hall  (Coll.  W.  and  C.)  that,  in   181 5,  on  the 


68  HOLLIS   HALL. 

arrival  of  the  news  of  peace,  "  the  H.  W.  Corps  paraded  and  fired  a  salute.  Mr. 
Porter  treated  the  company." 

Immediately  after  the  burning  of  Harvard  Hall,  in  1764,  the  College  purchased 
a  "water  engine."  In  1820  there  existed  an  "Engine  Company"  among  the 
students.  It  was  enterprising,  always  eager  for  action,  and  was  said  to  do  good 
service  at  fires  in  Boston  and  elsewhere.  It  indulged  in  the  irregularity  of  occa- 
sionally leaving  the  machine  in  the  highway  on  its  return,  to  be  brought  home 
"  by  whom  it  might  concern."  It  had  its  regular  parade  days,  on  which  the 
members  appeared  in  fancy  dresses,  among  which  ancient  and  venerable  costumes 
were  conspicuous.  The  rendezvous  was  at  Hollis  pump,  where  the  engine  was 
filled.  At  a  remote  period,  returning  one  afternoon  from  school,  where  the  female 
sceptre  was  used,  like  Agamemnon's,  to  correct  as  well  as  to  awe,  we  beheld 
the  show  which  included  the  following  performance.  When  the  firemen  were 
mustered  and  the  engine  filled,  a  powerful  stream,  "  with  the  whole  force  of  the 
Company,"  was  directed  into  the  open  window  of  Hollis  No.  7,  supposed  to  be  then 
occupied  by  a  College  officer.     The  victim,  or  a  friend,  soon  closed  the  window. 

We  are  inclined  to  believe  that  this  was  the  suicidal  performance  which 
led  to  the  suppression  of  the  Company,  as  recorded  by  Hall.  We  never  saw  the 
association  again  in  the  field.  It  was,  during  its  existence,  a  great  centre  of  Col- 
lege fun.  It  had  a  literature  of  its  own,  consisting  of  Engine  Poems  and  Orations. 
Its  nectar  was  "  black  strap,"  rum  sweetened  with  molasses ;  history  hopes,  but 
cannot  aver,  qualified  with  water.  On  the  above  occasion,  if  our  memory  is  cor- 
rect, the  captain  bore  a  sword,  long,  straight,  two-edged,  fit  to  smite  equally  remiss- 
ness or  revolt.  The  name  of  "  Sam  Alden,"  the  ever-ready  and  always-inspired 
"  Engine  Poet,"  ought  to  be  inseparably  attached  to  these  memories  of  the  Company. 

The  Medical  Faculty  in  Harvard  College  originated  in  Hollis  13,  in  the  year 
1 81 8.  "  Four  students,  James  F.  Deering,  Charles  Butterfield,  David  P.  Hall,  and 
Joseph  Palmer,  members  of  the  Class  of  1820,  being  together  in  that  room  one 
evening  after  commons,  it  was  proposed  that  Deering  should  deliver  a  mock  lec- 
ture, which  he  did,  with  great  applause.  He  in  his  turn  proposed  an  initiation 
of  members  into  their  society  by  solemn  rites  and  ceremonies."*  This  proposal 
resulted  in  the  creation  of  the  Medical  Faculty,  usually  abbreviated  to  Med.  Facs. 
"  Frequent  meetings  were  called  by  the  President  to  carry  out  the  object  of  the 
institution.  They  were  always  held  in  some  student's  room  in  the  afternoon. 
The  room  was  made  as  dark  as  possible,  and  brilliantly  lighted.  The  Faculty 
sat  around  a  long  table  in  some  singular  and  antique  costumes,  almost  all  in  large 
wigs  and  breeches  with  knee-buckles." 

Some  twelve  years  later  the  meetings  were  held  in  the  evening.  There 
were  but  two  of  these  sessions,  and  they  were  devoted   to  the  initiation  of  such 

*  Hall's  College  Words  and  Customs. 


HOLLIS   HALL.  69 

members  of  the  Junior  or  Senior  Class  as  were  invited.  The  notes  of  invitation 
were  in  more  or  less  barbarous  Latin,  and  any  little  weakness  or  eccentricity  of 
the  candidate  was  particularly  alluded  to.  The  demeanor  of  the  Faculty  was 
profoundly  grave,  and  their  speech  sonorous  and  authoritative.  The  President 
wore  the  academic  square  cap,  perhaps  of  abnormal  size.  The  table  at  which 
he  presided  was  covered  with  specimens  of  anatomy,  collected  by  the  Faculty 
themselves,  or  under  their  inspection.  The  candidate  was  examined  with  refer- 
ence to  these.  He  was  occasionally  required  to  repeat  his  alphabet,  to  prove 
that  his  preliminary  education  had  not  been  neglected.  If  suspected  of  being  a 
"  fish,"  that  is,  of  specially  courting  the  favor  of  the  College  Faculty,  he  was  or- 
dered to  swim,  that  being  an  art  collaterally  related  to  medical  science  in  its 
tendency  to  preserve  life.  For  want  of  water,  he  was  required  to  show  his  skill 
proximately  on  the  floor.  The  Faculty,  foreseeing  the  possibility  of  resistance  to 
its  decrees,  and  remembering  how  the  Church  had  summoned  the  civil  power  to 
its  aid,  had  called  in  the  military  arm.  Two  tall  "  gendarmes,"  armed  with  musket 
and  bayonet,  guarded  the  door  and  compelled  specific  performance  of  its  decrees. 

One  medical  question,  propounded  by  the  original  Faculty,  has  been  imparted 
to  us  by  one  of  their  College  contemporaries,  and  deserves  record :  "  In  the  case 
of  a  patient  with  a  very  bad  leg,  —  sphacelated,  oedematous,  and  gangrened,  — 
how  would  you  avoid  taking  his  leg  off  his  body  ?  "  A  variety  of  suggestions 
were  offered  by  the  respondent.  "  No ! "  said  the  examiner  (Keating)  sternly,  "  by 
taking  his  body  off  his  leg."  This  answer,  if  not  strictly  scientific,  meets  the 
question  conclusively. 

The  medical  gatherings  degenerated,  on  the  part  of  the  neophytes,  into  noisy 
masquerades,  and  were  suppressed  by  authority  in  1834.  Justice,  however,  de- 
mands the  acknowldgement  that  the  Faculty  proper  —  the  Examining  Board  — 
retained  its  dignified  character  to  the  last.  Its  awful  gravity,  its  decisive  com- 
mand, its  firm  announcement  of  truths,  however  eccentric  to  the  popular  ear,  its 
lofty  exposure  of  errors,  however  specious,  committed  by  ignorance,  —  all  these  re- 
mained to  the  last.  So  far  as  historical  evidence  appears,  no  member  of  the 
Faculty  ever  smiled  while  sitting  in  his  official  character. 

The  anatomical  collection  was  dispersed.  It  was  megalotheric  in  character, 
large  specimens  being  deemed  best  to  impress  the  uninstructed  mind.  The 
Catalogue  of  the  Faculty  is  now  rare.  The  copy  before  us  is  of  the  year  1827. 
We  find  in  it  the  Professorships  Obstericologice,  Bugologice,  Craniologise,  Vitse 
et  Mortis,  Intelligentlse  Generalis,  and  others.  The  list  of  honorary  members  is 
quite  miscellaneous.  Moses  Stuart,  the  learned  Hebraist,  who,  as  stated  in  the 
Catalogue,  refused  degrees  offered  him  by  Harvard,  Yale,  and  Brown,  stands  here 
complacently  as  "  M.  D.  Med.  Fac.  honorarius."  "  Day  et  Martin  Angli,  qui  per 
quinquaginta  annos  toto  Christiano  Orbi,  et  prsecipue   Univ.  Haw.  optimum  Real 


^o 


MOLLIS    HALL. 


Japa7i  Atranienttmi  ab  'XCVII  Alta  Holbornia'  Subministrarunt.  M.  D.  et  M. 
U.  D.  Med.  Fac.  honorarius."  Such  is  the  shine  given  to  the  great  Atramen- 
tarians.  The  Emperor  Alexander,  for  alleged  generosity  to  the  Faculty,  and 
"  Andreas  Jackson  "  as  "  Major-General  in  bello  ultimo  Americano,  et  Nov.  Orleans 
Heros,  foi'tissimus  .  .  .  .  et  'Old  Hickory'"  have  a  place  among  the  honorary 
members.  Eccentricities  and  absurdities  have  an  equal  chance  with  dignities  for 
the  honorary  M.  D.,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  put,  D.  M.  We  find  a  person  once 
known  indifferently  as  Orator,  Pop,  or  Pickle,  Emmons  thus  registered :  "  Guliel- 
mus  Emmons,  prsenominatus  Pickleius,  qui  orator  elequentissimus  nostrse  aetatis, 
poma,  nuces,  panem-zingiberis,  suas  orationes,  '  Egg-popque '  vendit.  D.  M.,  Med. 
Fac.  honorarius." 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  give  the  list  of  Engine   Orators  and  Poets  found  in 
this  Catalogue.     They  are  as  follows,  omitting  the  other  titles  and  dignities :  — 


i8 


Jacobus  Ferdinandus  Deering,  Enginae  Societatis 

Augustus  Pierce,  "  " 

Samuel  Alden,  "  " 

Oliver  Hunter  Blood,  "  " 

GuuELMUs  Bradlee  Dorr,  "  " 

Johannes  Bovnton  Hill,  "  " 

Theodorus  Keating,  "  " 

Edvardus  Kent,  "  " 

Georgius  Tyng,  "  " 

Nathaniel  Wood,  "  " 


Orator. 

Orator. 

Orator  Poetaque. 

Orator. 

Poeta. 

Poeta. 

Orator  Poetaque. 

Orator. 

Poeta. 

Orator. 


Probably  College  fun  never  ran  higher  than  at  this  period,  when  the  Enginae 
Societas  appears  to  have  closed  its  career. 

The  Med.  Fac.  Catalogue  parodies  the  Harvard  Triennial,  in  its  summing  up 
at  the  end,  as  follows.     We  quote  but  a  part :  — 

Numerus  integer  (suppositus)             9865 

E  vivis  cesserunt  stelligeri  (cognitum  est) 25 

Supersunt  adhuc 9840 

Quorum  nomina  ignota 9482 

Supersunt 368 

Ecclesiarum  pastorura  alumnorum  numerus  integer  (suppositus)    .        .         .  1762 

E  vivis  cesserunt  stelligeri  (cognitum  est)         .......  o 

Supersunt  adhuc 1762 

This  is  a  proper  point  at  which  to  record  a  few  names  connected  with  Hollis 
Hall,  as  evidence  that  the  amusements  and  frivolities  of  College  life  are  no  bar 
to  the  growth  of  character  and  energetic  purpose. 


MOLLIS   HALL.  7 1 

Edward  Everett,  HoUis  20,  Sophomore  year;  Mollis  24,  Junior  year.  W.  H.  Pres- 
cott,  Hollis  6,  Sophomore  year;  Hollis  11,  Junior  year.  J.  G.  Palfrey,  Hollis  22, 
Sophomore  year.  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  Hollis  5,  Sophomore  year;  Hollis  15, 
Junior  year;  Hollis  9,  Senior  year.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Hollis  15,  Freshman 
year.  B.  R.  Curtis,  Hollis  2,  Freshman  year.  Wendell  Phillips,  Hollis  18,  Fresh- 
man year ;  Hollis  16,  Sophomore  year;  Hollis  11,  Junior  year.  Charles  Sumner, 
Hollis  17,  Freshman  year.  H.  D.  Thoreau,  Hollis  20,  Freshman  year;  Hollis  32, 
Sophomore  year;    Hollis  31,  Junior  year;    Hollis  23,  Senior  year. 

It  remains  to  give  a  brief  account  of  certain  institutions,  in  full  vigor  fifty 
years  since,  but  now  already  become  obscure  antiquities. 

The  College  Wood-Yard  was  situated  in  the  rear  of  the  land  now  covered  by 
the  Unitarian  Church,  —  perhaps  occupied  a  part  of  it.  Mr.  Royal  Stimson,  the 
Superintendent  some  forty  years  since,  occupied  the  old  house,  gable-end  to  the 
street,  whose  front  line  coincided  nearly  with  that  of  the  present  church.  The 
wood  brought  from  the  College  Wharf  was  here  sawed  and  split,  and  the  official 
cart  was,  during  a  good  part  of  the  year,  in  constant  transit  to  and  from  the 
College  yard.  This  wood  was  brought  from  parts  unknown,  but  somewhere 
"down  east,"  by  the  College  sloop,  the  Harvard.  This  ancient  craft  consti- 
tuted the  navigation  of  Old  Cambridge.  Inquiry  has  revealed  only  the  date  (1827) 
of  her  discontinuance  as  carrier  for  the  College.  Her  origin  is  unknown,  and  her 
history  lost,  beyond  a  few  facts  recorded  only  in  memory.  As  remembered,  she  had 
great  breadth  of  beam,  an  old-fashioned  quarter-deck,  no  topmast,  and  on  no 
occasion  showed  a  strip  of  bunting.  She  had  perhaps  as  much  as  anything  the 
appearance  of  being  behind  the  age.  Any  assertions,  however,  such  as  that  she 
was  accustomed  to  load  with  the  wood  that  grew  during  the  intervals  of  her 
trips,  or  that  her  master  avoided  showing  his  colors  on  account  of  French  priva- 
teers which  he  apprehended  might  be  still  sailing  out  of  Louisburg,  are  entirely 
unwarranted.  She  was  clearly  not  a  fast  vessel,  but  regular,  easy-going,  roomy, 
and  of  great  capacity  in  a  calm. 

The  logs  which  her  sober  crew  piled  on  the  wharf  put  to  shame  the  wood  of 
these  degenerate  days.  The  small  boys  of  that  day  took  note  of  her  arrival  and 
departure ;  otherwise,  she  caused  no  visible  excitement.  Occasionally  a  little  boy, 
or  possibly  one  of  larger  growth,  who  undertook  to  climb  the  mast,  was  lashed 
to  the  shrouds ;  perhaps  ransom  was  demanded,  but  tradition  reports  none  as 
paid.  An  impression  of  repose  is  attached  to  the  memory  of  the  venerable  sloop. 
Silently  she  came  into  her  berth,  on  the  west  side  of  the  wharf,  and  subsided 
with  the  ebbing  tide  into  the  mud,  and  as  silently,  in  due  time,  rose  with  the 
flowing  tide  and  departed.  There  was  a  very  little  yo-heav-o-ing  when  she  hauled 
out  into  the  stream  and  hoisted  her  sails,  and  the  calm  that  succeeded  seemed 
only  the  more  profound. 


First  Harvard  Hall. 


HARVARD  HALL. 

The  first  Harvard  Hall  the  Centre  of  College  Life.  —  Uses  of  the  Building.  —  Two  Scenes 

TAKEN    FROM     DIFFERENT    PERIODS    OF    ITS    HiSTORY.  FiRST    HARVARD    HaLL    BURNED.  —  LoSSES. 

—  The  Present  Harvard  Hall  built  by  the  State.  —  Cost.  —  Distribution  of  the  Rooms. 

—  College  Clock.  —  Mr.  McKean's  Leap  from  Harvard  to  Hollis  Hall.  —  Letter  from 
Honorable  Horace  Binney.  —  Damages  to  the  Hall  by  Revolutionary  Troops.  —  Present 
Aspect. 

During  a  century  and  a  third,  from  the  time  that  the  first  Harvard  Hall  was 
finished  until  University  Hall  was  opened,  all  the  life  of  the  College  circulated 
around  Harvard  Hall.  This  was  the  social  centre  where  Professors  met  their 
pupils,  where  the  scholars  met  each  other.  This  was  the  heart  of  the  com- 
munity, pouring  out  its  intellectual  life,  and  receiving  it  again.  Here  the  stu- 
dents came  to  the  chapel  for  their  religious  exercises,  their  exhibitions,  their 
lectures.  Here  was  the  library,  where  they  met  in  search  of  the  books  they 
needed.  Here  was  the  dining-hall  to  which  they  came  to  breakfast  and  to  dine ; 
and  here  were  the  kitchen  and  buttery,  which  they  visited  with  their  pitchers 
and  tin  pails  to  receive  from  the  butler  milk,  chocolate,  or  hot  water  for  their 
evening  repast.  I  have  heard  my  grandfather,  Dr.  Freeman,  say,  that  when  he 
was  first  sent  by  his  Senior  to  bring  hot  water  from  the  kitchen  for  tea,  and 
was  charged  to  be  sure  that  it  was  boiling,  and  the  cook  told  him  that  it  was, 
his  inexperience  in  culinary  affairs  led  him  to  ask,  "  Has  it  boiled  long  enough  ? " 
which  caused  him  to  be  laughed  at  by  the  officials  who  were  serving  him.  This 
was  in  1773,  two  years  before  the  College  was  dispersed  by  the  Revolution. 


HARVARD   HALL. 


12, 


Perhaps  the  best  picture  of  the  busy  life  of  which  Harvard  Hall  was  so  long 
the  centre  can  be  gained  by  attempting  to  depict  two  scenes,  taken  from  different 
periods  of  its  history. 

Instead  of  the  present  beautiful  College  yard,  with  its  numerous  and  stately 
buildino-s  and  graceful  elms,  let  us  imagine  it  as  it  was  on  Commencement  Day 
about  1725. 

There  were  then  three  buildings  in  the  College  yard.  First,  there  was  Harvard; 
next,  Massachusetts,  which  now  seems  so  venerable,  but  which  was  then  in  the 
freshness  of  its  youth,  being  only  five  years  old.  These  two  buildings  stood  then 
as  they  remain  now ;  but  about  where  University  Hall  now  is,  was  the  original 
Stoughton  Hall,  a  large  building,  then  twenty-five  years  old.  The  students,  in 
their  breeches  and  flowing  calico  gowns  and  pointed  shoes,  are  talking  together 
in  busy  groups.  There  is  a  young  rogue  with  mischievous  eyes  who  is  a  "  Com- 
mencer"  to-day;  his  name  Mather  Byles,  probably  known  then  as  afterward  for 
a  joker  of  jokes,  such  as  they  were.  "  Well,  Mather,"  says  his  companion,  "  what 
do  you  mean  to  do  about  having  plum-cake  in  your  room  to-day  ? "  and  Mather 
Byles  answers  that,  in  spite  of  Corporation  and  Overseers,  he  will  have  cake, 
"  yea !  and  mince-pies  also,  and  baked  meats  as  well ;  and  if  it  be  found  out,  he 
will  pay  his  fine  of  twenty  shillings,  and  much  good  may  it  do  them ! "  For  the 
Corporation  and  Overseers  had  passed  a  law  a  few  years  before,  forbidding  any 
such  luxurious  repasts  to  the  "  Commencers,"  under  fearful  penalties.  But  sump- 
tuary laws  are  always  hard  to  enforce;  and  so  the  ingenuous  youth  continued  to 
provide  plum-cake  and  distilled  liquors  as  before.* 

And  who  is  this  young  gentleman,  who  is  now  only  a  Sophomore,  but  looks  as  if 
he  considered  himself  equal  to  the  best?  He  is  one  who  is  to  play  a  conspicuous 
part  hereafter,  though  on  the  wrong  side.     Simple  as  the  boy  looks,   he  is  to  be 

*  Plum-cake  seems  to  have  the  Mie-noir  of  the  Corporation  in  those  days  ;  not  because  it  was 
indigestible,  but  because  it  was  disreputable.  June  22,  1693,  is  this  record:  "The  Corporation  hav- 
ing been  informed  that  the  custom  taken  up  in  the  College,  not  used  in  any  other  Universities,  for 
the  commencers  to  have  plumb-cake,  is  dishonorable  to  the  College,  not  grateful  to  wise  men,  and 
chargeable  to  the  parents  of  the  commencers,  do  therefore  put  an  end  to  that  custom,  and  do  here- 
by order  that  no  commencer,  or  other  scholar,  shall  have  any  such  cakes  in  their  studies  or  cham- 
bers ;  and  that  if  any  scholar  shall  offend  therein,  the  cakes  shall  be  taken  from  him,  and  he  shall 
moreover  pay  to  the  College  twenty  shillings  for  each  such  offence." 

The  meals  in  commons  were  simple  enough.  Judge  Wingate,  of  the  Class  of  1759,  says:  "As  to 
the  commons,  there  were  in  the  morning  none,  while  I  was  in  College.  At  dinner  we  had,  of  rather 
ordinary  quality,  a  sufficiency  of  meat  of  some  kind,  either  baked  or  boiled ;  and,  at  supper,  we 
had  either  a  pint  of  milk,  and  half  a  biscuit,  or  a  meat  pie,  or  some  other  kind." 

During  the  Revolution,  in  1777,  salt  had  become  so  scarce  that  the  ancient  New  England  Satur- 
day dinner  of  salt  fish  was  abolished  by  vote  of  the  Corporation,  and  the  steward  was  permitted  to 
furnish  fresh  fish  instead. 


74  HARVARD    HALL. 

Representative  in  the  General  Court  from  Boston,  Speaker,  Judge  of  Probate, 
Councilor,  Chief  Justice,  and  at  last  Governor  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts. 
Yes !  young  gentleman !  this  may  seem  fine ;  but  your  troubles  are  to  come  then. 
You  will  be  denounced  by  James  Otis  for  taking  a  pension  from  the  crown ;  you 
will  have  a  visit  from  Sam.  Adams,  and  others  with  him,  which  will  not  please 
you.  Your  house  will  be  sacked,  your  furniture  burned  in  the  street,  your  valu- 
able papers  destroyed !  You  will  have  Dr.  Franklin's  keen  eye  following  your 
course,  and  detecting  your  duplicity ;  and,  after  the  Boston  tea-party,  you  will  have 
to  go  to  England  and  live  there  on  your  pension ;  forever  regretting  your  native 
land,  and  casting  lingering  looks  towards  your  favorite  home  on  Milton  Hill. 
For  the  name  of  this  bright-looking  Sophomore  is  —  Thomas  Hutchinson. 

And  there,  by  the  side  of  Thomas,  is  a  classmate  of  his,  by  name  Jonathan, 
who  is  to  have  a  somewhat  similar  career.  He  is  also  to  be  Judge  and  Governor, 
in  a  neighboring  Province,  but  will  take  his  country's  side,  and  not  the  King's. 
Washington's  great  arm  will  lean  on  him  for  support.  From  him  shall  the  future 
Union  receive  its  humorous  title  of  "  Brother  Jonathan,"  —  for  this  is  Jonathan 
Trumbull,  future  friend  of  Washington,  father  of  the  painter,  and  of  another 
governor. 

And'  here  is  a  Freshman,  little  Belcher,  who  now,  like  other  Freshmen,  has  to 
run  errands  for  all  College,  though  himself  son  of  a  governor  of  Massachusetts, 
and  to  be  Chief  Justice  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  its  Lieutenant-Governor  hereafter. 

But  now  these  future  governors  and  judges  are  only  excited  over  the  question 
of  plum-cake  at  Commencement,  and  the  smaller  politics  of  College.  Meantime, 
what  tumult  out  there  on  the  Common !  For  Commencement  at  Cambridge  was 
then  a  great  holiday,  and  long  lines  of  tents  and  booths  were  built  on  the  Com- 
mon, and  great  was  the  drinking,  rioting,  gambling,  and  dissipations  of  all  sorts 
which  there  prevailed.  Dinners  and  dancing  went  on  in  the  Colleges,  not  merely 
on  Commencement  Day,  but  on  the  following  days. 

Let  us  come  down  nearly  forty  years  later,  and  take  a  look  at  Harvard  Hall 
under  other  circumstances,  and  very  sad  ones. 

It  is  a  winter  night.  There  is  a  New  England  northeast  snow-storm,  with  the 
wind  blowing  a  gale.  A  red  light  begins  to  color  the  sky,  and  the  cry  of  "  Fire  !  "  is 
heard.  Harvard  Hall  was  on  fire.  Being  vacation,  the  students  were  absent,  and 
no  one  in  the  buildings,  except  one  or  two  persons  in  that  part  of  Massachusetts 
Hall  which  was  farthest  from  the  fire.  When  first  discovered  it  had  gone  too  far 
to  be  stopped.  The  Hall  had  been  used  the  day  before  by  the  General  Court,  which 
borrowed  the  College  for  its  use,  on  account  of  the  small-pox  in  Boston.  Hollis 
Hall,  a  new  building,  caught  fire  several  times,  though  on  the  windward  side ; 
but  was  saved  by  the  efforts  of  Governor  Bernard  and  members  of  the  Legisla- 
ture.    Harvard  Hall,  with  all  its  contents,  was  totally  destroyed.     The  greatest  loss 


^ 
^ 


HARVARD    HALL.  75 

was  that  of  the  library,  the  best  then  in  America,  and  of  the  philosophical  appa- 
ratus. The  library  was  richest,  as  was  natural,  in  theological  works.  Then  went 
up  in  flame  all  the  Greek  and  Latin  Fathers,  and  all  the  choice  Hebrew  books 
bequeathed  to  the  College  by  Dr.  Lightfoot,  with  his  Talmuds  and  Targums,  his 
Rabbins  and  Polyglots.  He  was  the  greatest  Semitic  scholar  of  his  age,  and  his 
collection  of  Oriental  works  was  probably  unrivalled.  "  By  constant  reading  of 
the  Rabbins,"  says  Gibbon,  "  he  had  become  almost  a  Rabbin  himself"  No 
doubt  many  a  country  minister  in  New  England  was  in  the  habit  of  studying 
these  books  of  Lightfoot,  before  they  turned  to  smoke  on  that  sad  January  night. 
For  in  those  days  there  were  giants  in  the  land.  The  ardor  of  the  Renaissance 
for  the  knowledge  of  antiquity  had  not  wholly  died  out  in  New  England.  They 
might  not  know  as  much  of  Hebrew  and  Greek  philology  as  modern  scholars, 
but  they  were  often  better  read  in  the  literature  itself.  They  had  "  more  matter 
with  less  form."  In  the  noble  rage  of  their  hunger  they  devoured  whole  folios 
where  our  professors  skim  an  octavo.  In  many  an  obscure  town  in  Massachu- 
setts there  were  men  settled  over  a  parish  on  a  hundred  pounds  lawful  a  year, 
who  were  able  to  hurl  at  each  other  in  debate  mighty  fragments  of  Hebrew  or 
Syriac  learning,  which  ten  men  of  these  degenerate  days  could  scarcely  lift  from 
the  ground.  So  the  loss  of  Lightfoot's  library  and  that  of  Dr.  Theophilus  Gale, 
and  the  books  given  by  Bishop  Berkeley,  must  have  sent  gloom  into  numerous 
humble  parsonages  throughout  New  England. 

The  philosophical  apparatus,  which  also  perished,  was  more  extensive  than  we 
might  suspect.  There  were  several  telescopes,  one  of  twenty-four  feet  focal  dis- 
tance ;  an  orrery,  microscopes,  instruments  for  dialing ;  quadrants,  compass,  and 
dipping-needle ;  and  machines  and  instruments  for  illustrating  the  laws  of  me- 
chanics, hydrostatics,  pneumatics  and  optics.  There  were  also  globes,  maps,  ana- 
tomical preparations,  and  a  fount  of  Greek  types. 

The  first  Harvard  Hall  was  built  by  the  contributions  of  the  towns  of  New 
England.  Having  been  destroyed  while  in  the  use  of  the  State,  the  State  rebuilt 
it;  and  the  present  Harvard  Hall  was  erected  at  the  expense  of  the  Common- 
wealth. 

The  new  building  was  finished  in  June,  1766,  at  a  cost  of  ^23,000.  New  books 
and  apparatus  were  liberally  given  by  friends  in  America  and  England. 

For  many  years  the  rooms  in  Harvard  were  distributed  as  follows :  In  the 
basement  was  the  kitchen,  to  which  a  buttery  was  attached  at  the  east  end  of 
the  building.  On  the  first  floor,  the  room  toward  the  west  was  the  chapel,  that 
on  the  east  the  dining-room.  Over  the  chapel  was  the  library;  over  the  dining- 
hall  was  the  room  for  the  philosophical  apparatus  and  lectures.  When  University 
Hall  was  finished,  in  181 5,  the  chapel,  dining-hall,  and  kitchen  were  removed 
to   that  building.     After  this  the  library  occupied  both  of  the  large  rooms  in  the 


76 


HARVARD    HALL. 


second  story ;  *  the  eastern  room  below  was  used  for  a  mineralogical  cabinet,  and 
the  opposite  room,  on  the  west,  became  a  hall  for  philosophical  instruments  and 
lectures.     Here,  during  several  years,  Professor  Farrar  gave  his  interesting  courses 


Second  Harvard  Hall. 


of  lectures  on  Natural  Philosophy.  Half-way  down  stairs  was  a  small  room. 
In  1841  the  library  was  moved  to  Gore  Hall.  In  1842  the  two  lower  rooms 
were  thrown  into  one,  and  used  for  Commencement  dinner.  On  the  walls  hung 
the  historical  portraits  which  are  now  in  Memorial  Hall.  When  these  pictures 
were  being  removed  from  Gore  Hall  to  Harvard,  an  aged  gentleman  came  in, 
and  looked  at  the  portrait  of  Governor  Gore,  and  asked  Mr.  Sibley  if  he  knew 
who  painted  it.  Mr.  Sibley  replied,  "  It  was  painted  by  Trumbull."  "  Yes,"  said 
the  other,  "  I  did  it,"  —  for  it  was  Trumbull  himself. 

The  clock  which  governed  the  College  was  formerly  on  Harvard  Hall ;  but 
when  the  new  church  was  erected,  an  arrangement  was  made  by  which  the  church 
clock  was  to  be  under  the  control  of  the  University,  and  that  clock  still  regu- 
lates the  College  hours. 

The  first  bell,  hanging  in  the  cupola  of  Harvard,  was  said  to  have  been 
brought  from  an  Italian  convent.  The  present  bell  has  a  rather  cracked  voice, 
and  has  been  the  object  of  attack  by  many  generations  of  students,  who  have  un- 
justly held  it  responsible  for  the  summons  to  early  prayers,  in  the  cold  winter 
mornings.  Many  stories  are  current  of  the  attempts  made  to  blow  it  up  with 
gunpowder,   or   to   freeze   it   up   with    water ;    and   a   tradition   runs   to  the    effect 


*  At   present   the  western  room   on   this  floor  is    used  as  a  laboratory  in  Physics,  which  is  repre- 
sented in  the  accompanying  heliotype,  while  the  eastern  room  serves  for  recitation  purposes. 


HARVARD  HALL.  ']'] 

that  Professor  McKean,  when  a  student,  being  in  danger  of  being  caught  in  such 
an  attempt,  ran  down  the  roof  of  Harvard,  and  jumped  across  to  that  of  Hollis. 
The  following  interesting  letter  from  the  oldest  living  graduate  of  the  Uni- 
versity, Hon.  Horace  Binney,  of  Philadelphia,  was  kindly  sent  in  answer  to  one 
inquiring  about  his  knowledge  of  this  supposed  feat  of  McKean.  It  is  not  often 
that  one  can  read  a  letter  like  this  from  one  who  graduated  seventy -seven  years 
before  it  was  written. 

Philadelphia,  7th  December,  '74. 

Dear   Sir,  —  I   recollect  McKean  very  well.      He  was   in  the  Senior  class  when   I  was  in   the 

Freshman,    1793-4;    and   I   also    recollect  the    report  or  tradition   that  one    of    the   students  had 

passed  or  leapt  from  the  roof  of  Harvard  to  that  of   Hollis.     McKean  was  a  distinguished  scholar 

in  his  class,   and  of  a  resolute  spirit.     But  the  leap  could  not  have  occurred  while   I  was   in   the 

University;    for  when  I  first  knew  of  it,  it  was  not  spoken  of   as  very  recent,  nor  was  any  name  of 

the  actor  connected  with  it.     I  believe  the  tradition,   but  it  must  have  occurred,  if  at  all,  in  some 

year  before  I  entered.     McKean,  from  my  impression   of  him,  was  as  likely  to  have  done  the  thing 

as  any  of  his   class ;    but   I   have  had  a  shiver  more  than  once,  on  looking  at  the   opposite   corners 

of  the  two  structures,  at  their  height,  and  thinking  of  the  narrow  foothold  at  their  points 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

HORACE   BINNEY. 
James  Freeman  Clarke. 

Diligent  inquiry  among  the  antiquarians  of  Cambridge  gives  nothing  more 
definite  than  this.  In  the  College  days  of  Mr.  Binney  the  story  was  plainly  just 
the  same  vague  legend  that  it  is  now.  Can  it  then  be  a  myth,  based  on  the 
suggestion  of  some  bold  Sophomore,  that,  if  pursued,  he  could  and  would  leap 
from  Harvard  to  Hollis.?  Is  the  leap  of  McKean  to  follow  the  bow  of  William 
Tell  and  the  hatchet  of  George  Washington  to  the  land  of  myths  ?  It  is  sad  to 
find  the  deeds  of  heroes  melting  into  mist  under  the  relentless  criticism  of  his- 
toric research,  and  I  will  pursue  the  painful  subject  no  further. 

Days  have  changed  since  the  Freshman  class,  on  entering  College,  were  col- 
lected in  Harvard  Hall  to  hear  "  the  customs  "  read  to  them. 

According  to  these  "customs"  the  Freshman  was  regarded  as  an  inferior  ani- 
mal. He  was  not  to  wear  his  hat  in  the  College  yard  unless  it  rained;  he  was 
not  to  speak  to  a  Senior  with  his  hat  on ;  he  was  to  go  on  errands  for  any 
of  the  upper  classes,  except  in  study-hours,  and  was  to  make  no  unnecessary 
delay  in  doing  the  errand ;  he  must  not  tell  any  one  for  whom  he  was  going ; 
if  any  one  knocked  at  his  door  he  must  open  it  at  once,  without  asking  who 
was  there  ;  and  he  must  pay  for  all  the  bats  and  balls  used  in  College.  Happy 
are  the  Freshmen  of  the  present  time  —  "sua  si  bona  norint"  —  if  they  only 
know  the  tyranny  they  have  escaped.  It  is  a  fact  that  as  late  as  1772  the  Cor- 
poration refused  to  repeal  these  "  customs "  when  requested  so  to  do  by  the 
Overseers.      Even   the   truths   which  were  in  the  air,  of  the  equality   of  all  man- 


78  HARVARD   HALL. 

kind,  could  not  satisfy  them  that  it  was  safe  to  abolish  this  time-honored  usage 
of  making  Freshmen  the  servants  of  the  other  classes.  And  these  customs  finally 
dropped  away  of  themselves,  without  being  repealed. 

During  the  Revolution,  Harvard  Hall  was  occupied  by  the  American  army ; 
and  after  the  Colleges  were  restored  to  the  use  of  the  students,  they  were  found 
to  have  been  somewhat  injured.  A  bill  was  rendered  for  these  damages  to  the 
amount  of  ^342,  including  one  thousand  pounds'  weight  of  lead  cut  from  the 
roof  and  carried  away,  fences  burned,  and  both  Holden  Chapel  and  Stoughton 
Hall  being  so  damaged  as  to  be  unfit  for  use.  But  the  war  left  worse  traces  than 
these,  as  all  wars  do,  even  the  most  necessary.  It  disturbed  the  regular  course  of 
study,  and  drew  the  whole  attention  of  the  community  to  political  affairs.  The 
Muses,  silent  in  war,  gradually  resumed  their  influence,  and  Harvard  Hall  became 
once  more  the  centre  of  an  active  College  life.  Since  then,  by  the  steady  increase 
of  the  University,  it  has  lost  its  relative  importance.  Its  clock  has  been  replaced 
by  that  on  the  church,  its  library  has  migrated  to  Gore  Hall,  its  Commencement 
exercises  and  dinner*  have  established  themselves  in  the  new  Memorial  building ; 
and  of  all  its  past  glories  scarcely  anything  but  its  shrill-sounding  bell  remains. 

*  The  following  is  from  the  diary  of  Rev.  Frederic  A.  Whitney :  — 

1842.  "  Wedtiesday,  2i,th  August.  A  hot  and  dusty  day.  Commencement  at  Harvard  University. 
The  Governor  and  suite  were  escorted  to  Cambridge  as  usual  by  the  '  Lancers.'  Exercises  in  the 
church  much  better  than  usual.  Our  first  Commencement  dinner  in  Harvard  Hall.  By  the  removal 
of  the  books  to  the  new  Library,  Gore  Hall,  last  summer,  a  portion  of  Harvard  Hall  was  left  un- 
occupied. Accordingly  a  spacious  dining-hall  had  been  made  this  summer  on  the  lower  floor,  em- 
bracing the  whole  length  and  width  of  the  building,  and  was  opened  yesterday  for  the  first  time  at 
the  dinner  of  the  Alumni.  Here  we  dined  to-day ;  and  here  to-day  we  sang  our  wonted  Psalm  in  the 
tune  of  St.  Martin's.  A  brick  close  porch  has  been  erected  on  the  front  side,  to  give  an  entrance  to 
both  floors.  The  piazza  has  been  taken  away  from  the  front  of  University  Hall,  and  the  large 
commons  halls  in  the  same  converted  into  lecture-rooms.  Commons  will  now  be  served  in  the 
basement  of  University  Hall 

"  In  the  evening  President  Quincy  held  his  accustomed  levee,  which  was  fully  attended." 


^ 


® 

!2Q 


First  Stoughton  Il.i:i, 


STOUGHTON    HALL. 

William  Stoughton.  —  The  first  Stoughton  Hall.  —  Tablets  on  its  Front.  —  Stoughton's 
Will.  —  Printing-Office.  —  First  Stoughton  taken  down  1780.  —  The  General  Court 
authorize  a  Lottery  in  1794  to  raise  Money  for  a  new  Building.  —  Second  Stoughton 
Hall.  —  Rooms  3,  17,  and  25.  —  Stoughton  first  called  New  Hall. — Distinguished  Occu- 
pants of   Rooms  in   Stoughton. 

In  the  year  1692,  under  the  charter  of  William  and  Mary,  William  Stoughton 
was  appointed  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts.  The  son 
of  one  of  the  early  emigrants  to  the  Province,  he  had  graduated  at  Harvard 
College  in  1650;  had  been  a  preacher  for  twenty  years,  though  never  taking 
charge  of  a  parish ;  had  entered  political  life,  and  had  been  a  magistrate  of  the 
Colony  and  its  agent  in  England.  Soon  after  his  accession  to  the  Lieutenant- 
Governorship,  he  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  in  the  Special  Commission  estab- 
lished for  the  "  Witchcraft  Trials,"  and  Mr.  Quincy  says  that  on  none  does  the 
responsibility  for  their  tragic  termination  rest  more  heavily  than  on  him.  Sharing 
this  delusion  with  many  other  educated  men  of  the  time  in  England  and  Amer- 
ica, he  shared  also  what  was  more  honorable  to  them,  their  interest  in  Harvard 
College,  of  which  Increase  Mather  was  then  the  President.  In  1698  he  an- 
nounced his  purpose  of  erecting  a  new  building  for  the  accommodation  of  its 
students.  This,  the  first  Stoughton  Hall,  was  commenced  the  next  year,  and 
completed  in  1 700.  Its  cost,  as  stated  in  the  "  Donation  Book  "  of  the  Univer- 
sity, was  one  thousand  pounds,  Massachusetts  currency.  It  was  placed  at  a  right 
angle  with  Harvard  Hall,  at  its  southeastern  corner,  and,  as  will  be  seen  from  our 
engraving,  was  a  brick  building  of  three  stories,  with  an  attic  lighted  by  dormer- 


8o  STOUGHTON   HALL. 

windows.*  It  had  but  sixteen  chambers.  Two  tablets  were  inserted  in  the  front. 
One  bore  tlie  arms  of  the  founder ;  the  other  the  Latin  inscription,  "  Deo  Opt. 
Max.  Bonisque  Literis  Gulielmus  Stoughton  Armiger  Provinciae  Massachuset. 
Novanglorum  V.  Gubernator  Collegii  Harvardini  Olim  Alumnus  semper  Patronus 
Fecit  A.  D.  1699."! 

By  the  will  of  Stoughton,  who  died  in  1701,  a  part  of  the  income  of  the  Hall 
was,  with  the  rent  of  twenty-seven  acres  of  land  in  the  town  of  Dorchester,  to  be 
appropriated  for  the  benefit  of  a  scholar  of  that  town,  or  of  Milton ;  or  "  in  want 
of  such,  to  any  well  deserving  that  shall  be  most  needy." 

"  In  May,  1775,  the  Provincial  Congress,  having  taken  possession  of  the  Col- 
lege, assigned  a  chamber  in  Stoughton  to  Samuel  and  Ebenezer  Hall,  who 
printed  there  the  New  England  Chronicle  and  Essex  Gazette,  until  the  removal 
of  the  army  from  Cambridge.  '  From  this  press,'  says  a  contemporary,  '  issued 
streams  of  intelligence,  and  those  patriotic  songs  and  tracts  which  so  pre-eminently 
animated  the  defenders  of  American  liberty.'  "  t 

Stoughton  Hall  received  and  sheltered,  during  the  occupation  of  the  College 
by  the  Revolutionary  troops,  two  hundred  and  forty  men. 

On  a  certain  occasion  Stoughton  had  been  charged  with  "  having  more  of  the 
willow  than  the  oak  in  his  constitution."  There  was  certainly  a  defect  of  stability 
in  the  constitution  of  his  Hall.  The  Records  declare  that  it  proved  "an  unsub- 
stantial piece  of  masonry."  After  many  repairs,  it  was  taken  down  in  1 780.  In 
1794  (Hollis  Hall  having  been  built  in  the  mean  time)  the  General  Court  of 
Massachusetts  authorized  a  lottery  to  raise  money  for  a  new  college  building, 
finding  it  "  inconvenient  at  present  to  make  a  grant  from  the  public  treasury 
therefor."  Commenced  in  1804,  this  edifice  was  completed  the  next  year,  and 
the  name  of  Stoughton  was  given  to  it  in  1806.  This  is  the  building  which 
now  stands  next  north  of  Hollis  Hall,  of  which  it  is  nearly  a  fac-simile.  It  cost 
about  $23,700;  $18,400  being  derived  from  the  lottery,  and  the  rest  from  the 
general  fund  of  the  College.  There  were  originally,  as  we  are  told,  two  flights  of 
stairs  in  each  entry,  one  from  each  door.  This  arrangement  must  have  materially 
increased  the  labors  of  the  Proctors,  who  were  in  this  year  for  the  first  time  ap- 
pointed to  reside  in  the  buildings  to  keep  order  therein.  In  each  room,  also, 
there  was  originally  a  small  closet  partitioned  off  from  the  corner  near  the  door, 
and  taking  in  a  half  of  one  of  the  windows.  These,  which  were  called  "  studies," 
have  all  been  removed.  One  flight  of  stairs  in  each  entry  was  long  ago  taken 
away  to  make  room  for  the  bedrooms  in  the  upper  stories. 

*  A  view  of  the  Hall  is  introduced  in  the  background  of  Copley's  portrait  of  Stoughton,  now  in 
the  dining-hall.  There  may  also  be  seen  a  representation  of  the  building  in  a  tapestry  in  the  rooms 
of  the  Historical  Society,  in  Boston. 

t  Harvard  Magazine,  X.  92. 

t  S.  A.  Drake,  Historic  Fields  and  Mansions. 


STOUGHTON   HALL.  gl 

A  graduate  of  1815  informs  us  that,  in  his  time,  room  3  was  used  as  a  read- 
ing-room. We  learn  from  him  also  that  it  was  the  custom  for  an  annual  auction 
to  be  held  in  Stoughton  by  the  students,  at  which  their  disused  text-books  were 
sold  for  the  benefit  of  poor  scholars. 

Room  17*  is  at  present  occupied  by  the  Natural  History  Society.  In  the 
upper  story  of  the  north  entry  the  "  Hasty  Pudding  Club  "  has   its  rooms. 

On  the  panels  of  the  two  closet  doors  in  25  are  four  oil-paintings  of  an  owl, 
a  frog,  a  gull,  and  a  turtle,  very  cleverly  executed  by  W.  S.  Haseltine,  of  1854. 
The  story  runs  that  the  College  carpenter,  threatening  the  artist-student  with  a 
fine  for  the  damage  done  to  the  room,  was  about  to  destroy  the  pictures,  when 
the  President,  hearing  of  the  affair,  came  up  and  saved  them. 

In  the  year  1805,  the  year  of  the  completion  of  Stoughton  Hall,  was  printed 
the  first  College  Catalogue!  which  gave  the  rooms  occupied  by  the  students.  It 
is  upon  a  single  broad  sheet,  —  a  fashion  which  continued  till  the  year  181 9.  Upon 
this  Catalogue,  the  building  just  finished  is  called  New  Hall,  and  referred  to  by 
the  letter  "  N."  Among  its  first  occupants  we  find  the  names  of  Alexander  H. 
Everett,  afterward  Minister  to  Spain  (in  room  25),  and  of  Judge  Preble  of  Maine, 
Minister  to  the  Hague  (in  room  15).  In  following  years  we  find  Edward  Everett 
in  his  Senior  year  in  room  23 ;  Josiah  Quincy,  as  Freshman,  in  3 ;  the  twin 
brothers  Peabody,  as  Juniors,  in  14 ;  Caleb  Cushing,  as  Sophomore,  in  26 ;  W. 
H.  Furness,  as  Junior,  in  10,  as  Senior,  in  28  ;  Horatio  Greenough,  as  Freshman, 
in  2  ;  C.  C.  Felton,  as  Sophomore  and  Junior,  in  31  ;  G.  S.  Hillard,  as  Junior,  in 
16;  Charles  Sumner,  as  Sophomore  and  Junior,  in  12;  G.  T.  Bigelow,  as  Sopho- 
more and  Junior,  in  27  ;  O.  W.  Holmes,  as  Senior,  in  31  ;  C.  T.  Brooks,  as  Junior, 
in  12  ;    E.  R.  Hoar,  as  Junior,  in  25  ;    E.  E.  Hale,  as  Freshman,  in  22. 

*  It  will  be  remembered  that  this  is  the  room  which  was  blown  up  on  the  night  of  December 
15,  1870.  The  basement  was  entered  and  a  box  very  finely  made,  containing  powder,  was  placed 
underneath  the  floor;  running  from  the  box  to  a  window  was  a  fuse,  the  length  of  which  gave 
ample  time  for  the  escape  of  those  igniting  it.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  perpetrators  underrated 
the  explosive  force  of  the  powder,  and  did  not  intend  so  much  harm.  The  explosion  materially 
damaged  the  entire  northern  end  of  the  building  and  completely  destroyed  the  furniture  of  some 
of  the  rooms.  —  Ed. 

t  The  first  Catalogue  was  printed  in  1804,  without  the  rooms.  Before  this  time  the  students'  names 
had  been  put  up  in  the  Butter}'. 


HOLWORTHY    HALL. 


Bequest  of  Matthew  Holworthy. — A  Lottery  authorized.  —  Opening  of  the  Building.  —  Ex- 
tract FROM  President  Kirkland's  Address.  —  Description  of  the  Hall. 


Matthew  Holworthy,  a  charitable  English  merchant  of  Hackney  in  Mid- 
dlesex, was  knighted  in  1665  and  died  in  1678.  By  his  will  he  left  to  the 
"  College  or  University  in  or  of  Cambridge  in  New  England "  one  thousand 
pounds  sterling  "  for  promoting  of  learning  and  promulgation  of  the  Gospel 
in  those  parts."  This  bequest,  the  largest  pecuniary  gift  received  by  the  Col- 
lege in  the  seventeenth  century,  was  not  forgotten,  though  it  waited  very  long 
for  a  solid  and  permanent  recognition.  Early  in  the  present  century  the  Col- 
lege, having  need  of  additional  rooms  for  its  students,  and  being  unable  to 
defray  from  its  own  funds  the  cost  of  a  new  building,  was  empowered  by  the 
General  Court  of  Massachusetts  to  raise  by  means  of  a  lottery  (a  form  of  specu- 
lation in  better  repute  in  those  days  than  now)  a  sum  of  money  to  be  applied 
to  the  erection  of  a  hall.     The  main  fruit  of  the  enterprise  was  Holworthy  Hall. 

On  the  1 8th  of  August,  181 2,  the  building,  though  not  quite  finished,  was 
formally  opened  by  President  Kirkland,  with  an  apt  and  graceful  speech. 
He  referred  to  the  "  elegant  simplicity  and  pleasing  appearance "  of  the  "  com- 
modious and  ornamental  edifice,"  which  was  "  added  to  our  establishment."  He 
praised  Sir  Matthew  as  "  one  of  the  spirits  who  are  interested  in  human  nature 
and  human  happiness  wherever  found " ;  and  hoped  that  Holworthy  College 
might  contain  "  successive  bands  of  youths,"  who  should  be  "  examples  of  the 
happy  influence  of  goodly  discipline,"  who  should  "  form  friendships  with  each 
other  cemented  by  virtue,  and  make  acquisitions  in  science  and  literature  con- 
secrated  by   piety,   and    applied   under   the   guidance   of  the   best   principles,  and 


^ 
^ 


N 


© 


© 


HOLWORTHY   HALL. 


83 


go  forth  into  the  world  the  excellency  of  our  strength,  and  the  joy  of  our 
glory."  The  workmen  were  remembered  in  an  acknowledgment  of  their  zeal 
and  faithfulness,  and   in  a  vote  to  give  them  a  dinner. 

Holworthy  is  the  latest  built  of  the  four  older  dwelling-halls  in  the  College 
enclosure.  The  following  account  of  it  is  extracted  from  a  description  given 
in  print  by  Mr.  Baldwin,  one  of  the  gentlemen  who  superintended  its  erection :  — 

"This  hall  is  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  feet  long,  thirty-four  feet  wide,  having  four  stories  of 
the  same  height  respectively  as  those  in  Stoughton,  to  the  eastward  of  which  it  is  placed ;  so  as  to 
form  a  right  angle  with  the  line  of  that  and  Mollis  Hall.  Its  front  is  south,  and  it  was  placed  in 
this  situation  so  as  to  form  the  north  side  of  a  quadrangle,  which,  when  completed,  will  be  nearly 
equilateral,  having  Hollis  and  Stoughton  for  its  west  side.  It  is  divided  into  three  parts,  separated 
by  two  partition  walls,  which  extend  from  the  cellar  to  the  roof.  On  the  south  side,  which  is  the 
front,  are  three  doors  with  entries,  and  staircases  from  the  lower  to  the  upper  rooms.  The  front  is 
divided  into  twenty-four  apartments,  being  six  on  each  floor,  sixteen  by  seventeen  feet.  On  the  back 
side  are  forty-eight  smaller  rooms,  eleven  by  thirteen  feet,  with  a,  window  in  each  opening  to  the 
north.  Two  of  these  rooms  belong  to  each  of  the  front  ones,  and  communicate  with  it.  This  gives 
to  two  students  a  warm  sitting-room  with  a  southern  aspect  in  winter,  and  to  each  in  summer  a 
separate  smaller  room,  with  a  pleasant  prospect  of    the    country,  and  a  circulation  of   fresh  air  from 

the  north  and  northwest The  distribution  of   the   apartments    in    this  hall  is  highly  approved. 

It  admits  a  free  circulation  of  air,  is  extremely  favorable  to  comfort,  retirement,  and  cleanliness,  and 

gives    each   student   the    advantage  of   his  separate  bed  or  study  in  an  apartment  by  himself 

The  building  occupies  an  area  a  few  feet  larger  than  Stoughton  or  Hollis." 

The  building  retains  its  old  appearance,  with  little  alteration  except  an  increase 
in  the  height  of  the  upper  story.  The  pleasant  prospect  of  the  country  is  some- 
what modified,  but  the  circulation  of  fresh  air  from  the  north  and  northwest 
continues. 

The  new  hall  at  once  assumed,  and  long  maintained,  a  sort  of  primacy  in 
the  College  Yard.  Its  superior  accommodations  made  it  very  attractive,  and  for 
half  a  century  or  more  it  was  reserved  chiefly  for  members  of  the  Senior  class. 
This  distinction  it  has  now  lost  or  is  losing. 

Note.  —  Heliotypes  of  Nos.  i  Little's  Block  and  12  Holworthy  Hall  are  inserted  as  representations 
of  students'  rooms. 

It  was  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  some  college  room  that  the  Prince  of  Wales  in  i860,  and  the 
Duke  Alexis  in  1871,  during  their  reception  by  the  College  authorities,  visited  No.  12  Holworthy. 
The  walls  of  this  room  are  adorned  by  pictures  of  these  royal  visitors  presented  by  themselves ;  and 
these  pictures  may  be  seen  in  the  accompanying  heliotype,  the  Prince's  at  the  left  and  the  Duke's 
at  the  right  of  the  book-case.  —  Ed. 


UNIVERSITY    HALL. 

Preface.  —  Initiatory  Measures  toward  erecting  University  Hall.  —  A  Grant  from  the  State. 

—  Laying  of  the  Corner-Stone.  —  Description  of  the  Building.  —  Criticisms.  —  The 
Chapel.  —  Entertainments  given  to  the  Students  by  Professors.  —  A  Concert  by  the 
Students.  —  Daily  Life  at  University  Hall.  —  The  Organ.  —  The  Harvard  Union.  —  The 
Euphr.\dian  Society.  —  The  Mock  Trial.  —  Exhibition  Day.  —  Class  Day.  —  Commencement. 

—  Reception  of  distinguished  Visitors.  —  Former  Professors.  —  Melancholy  Changes.  — 
Conclusion. 

"The  ruin  speaks  that  sometime  it  was  a  worthy  building." 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  sketch  may  call  forth  a  store  of  traditions  and 
chronicles,  which,  for  want  of  an  index,  are  not  now  accessible,  and  so  amplify 
this  meagre  account  into  a  fuller  history.  Besides  the  tantalizing  want  of  material, 
there  are  two  peculiar  embarrassments  in  writing  about  University  Hall. 

First,  that  while  the  other  College  halls,  associated  with  the  pleasures  of  the 
hearth  and  of  fellowship,  are  regarded  with  affection  by  all  the  Alumni ;  Univer- 
sity Hall,  the  Forum  and  Inquisition  of  the  College,  is  fondly  remembered  by 
some  as  the  scene  of  their  youthful  triumphs,  its  walls  still  ring  with  the  echoes 
of  the  stimma  cum  laude  of  the  Faculty  and  the  plaudits  of  their  classmates; 
while  by  others,  who  figured  neither  as  orators  nor  poets  nor  musicians,  it  is 
looked  back  upon  in  many  cases  as  a  place  of  past  tribulations  and  defeats,  and 
this  respectable  fraction  of  the  Alumni  do  not  care  to  refresh  their  memories 
concerning  it. 

The  second  embarrassment  encountered  by  the  writer  is  the  separate  treat- 
ment of  all  the  interesting  events,  occasional  and  periodical,  in  the  life  of  the 
Hall,  so  that  scenes  in  the  various  Rebellions,  Class  Days,  Exhibitions,  Com- 
mencement feasts,  can  hardly  be  alluded  to,  much  less  dilated  upon,  without 
trenching  upon  the  domains  of  fellow-laborers,  who,  more  happy  in  their  themes. 


UNIVERSITY  HALL.  85 

can  expatiate  freely  without  fear  of  trespass  and  with  hope  of  general  sympathy. 
The  present  endeavor  should  therefore  be  regarded  as  a  mutilated  fragment  of 
the  history  of  University  Hall. 

"The  early  period  of  the  administration  of  President  Kirkland,"  writes  President  Quincy,  in  his 
History  of  Harvard  University,  "was  pre-eminently  distinguished  for  bold,  original,  and,  in  many 
respects,  successful  endeavors  to  elevate  the  standard  of  education  in  the  University,  and  to  extend 
the  means  of  instruction  and  multiply  accommodations  in  every  department. 

"  To  give  space  for  the  accommodation  of  the  increasing  library,  philosophical  apparatus,  and  min- 
eralogical  cabinet,  it  became  desirable  in  1812  to  remove  the  Commons  Hall  and  kitchen  from 
Harvard  Hall." 

It  appears  by  the  records,  that  at  a  meeting  of  the  President  and  Fellows  of 
Harvard  College,  on  the  8th  of  November,  181 2,  "it  was  voted  that  a  committee 
be  appointed  to  devise  the  form  and  site  of  a  building  in  the  College  Grounds 
to  include  a  Commons  Hall ;  and  that  in  fixing  upon  the  site,  the  committee 
have  reference  to  other  buildings  which  may  in  future  be  erected,  and  that  they 
make  an  estimate  of  the  expense  of  such  building."  The  committee  chosen  were 
Hon.  Christopher  Gore,  John  Lowell,  and  Loammi  Baldwin,  Esqrs. 

December  28.  "The  Building  Committee,  through  Mr.  Gore,  reported  plans  and  designs  by  Mr. 
Charles  Bulfinch,  Architect,  and  recommended  the  external  walls  of  the  building  to  be  of  granite 
from  the  County  of  Middlesex." 

At  a  subsequent  meeting,  October  4,  181 3,  "it  was  voted  to  add  the  portico"; 
and  still  later,  "  to  leave  out  the  two  flights  of  stairs  on  the  east  side,  correspond- 
ing to  those  on  the  west,  on  account  of  the  expense." 

There  is  a  tradition  that  Professor  Wigglesworth,  whose  house  lay  east  of 
Wadsworth  House,  used  to  water  his  cow  at  a  spring  on  the  site  of  University 
Hall,  where  so  many  scholars  have  since  drunk  deep  of  the  Castalian  and  other 
springs.     President  Quincy  states  that  — 

"  A  Committee  was  appointed  by  the  Corporation  to  endeavor  to  obtain  by  subscription  an  amount 
sufficient  to  erect  for  these  objects  a  building,  which  should  also  contain  a  chapel.  Although  the  sub- 
scription failed  or  was  never  attempted,  the  Corporation  persevered,  and  in  July,  1813,  laid  with  great 
solemnity  the  corner-stone  of  University  Hall,  which  they  finished  in  1815,  at  an  expense  of  g  65,000. 

"The  heavy  pressure  of  this  expenditure  upon  the  unappropriated  funds  of  the  College  was  hap- 
pily relieved  in  part  by  the  grant  made  in  1814,  of  the  proceeds  of  the  tax  on  banks  for  ten  years; 
the  only  direct  grant  of  money  made  by  the  State  to  the  College,  since  the  year  1786." 

"  A  procession  was  formed  on  the  occasion  [of  laying  the  corner-stone],  consisting  of  the  Corpo- 
ration, the  Immediate  Government,  and  the  Students  of  the  College  ;  and  moved  from  the  front  of 
Harvard  Hall  to  the  new  building. 

"An  address  by  the  Rev.  President  explained  the  reasons  for  erecting  the  building,  the  necessity 
of  a  more  commodious  chapel  for  the  religious  exercises  and  other  occasions  of  the  society,  of  more 
convenient  rooms  for  the  public  tables,  and  of  providing  for  the  greater  security  and  better  arrange- 
ment of  the  Library  and  Philosophical  Apparatus.  A  silver  plate  was  then  deposited  under  the 
corner-stone,  with  the  following  inscription  engraven  upon  it :  — 


85  UNIVERSITY   HALL. 

FUNDAMENTA   IIUJUS  ^DIFICII,   CHRISTO   ET  ECCLESI^   DICATI,   IMPENSIS 

ACADEMICIS   ERECT!,   DIE  JULII  PRIMO,   ANNO   DOMINI   1813, 

FELICITEK  I'OSITA   AUSPICIIS   EXCICLLENTISSIMI   CALEB   STRONG,   ARMIGERI, 

LL.U.,   REIPUIILIC/E   MASSACHUSETTKNSIS   GUBERNATORIS,   IDEOQUE   INSPECTORUM 

PKINCIPIS,   ATQUE   REVERENDI  JOHANNIS   THORNTON   KIRKLAND, 

S.  T.  D.,   LL.  D.,   UNIVERSITATIS   NOSTRA   PR^SIDIS. 

"  Prayer  was  then  olTered  up  by  the  President." 

University  Hall  was  the  first  stone  building  erected  in  the  College  grounds.  It 
was  built  of  Chelmsford  granite,  the  basement  rusticated,  the  rest  of  the  wall 
smoothly  dressed.  A  portico  with  granite  pillars  along  the  centre  of  the  west 
front,  reached  by  two  flights  of  stone  steps,  gave  access  to  the  first  floor,  upon 
which  were  four  parallel  halls  running  east  and  west,  the  two  central  separated 
from  the  halls  in  the  wings  by  wide  corridors.  These  corridors  and  halls  were 
paved  with  coarse  red  hexagonal  tiles,  the  partition  walls  were  solid  and  of  brick. 
Staircases  of  granite,  miraculously  sustained,  led  up  to  the  corridors  on  the  second 
floor,  from  which  opened  doors  into  the  chapel,  occupying  the  second  and  third  sto- 
ries of  the  central  portion  of  the  building,  and  into  rooms  in  the  wings,  of  which 
those  in  the  north  wing  were  both  used  for  recitation-rooms,  those  in  the  south  wing 
devoted  to  the  Corporation.  The  corridors  on  the  third  story  opened  upon  the 
galleries  of  the  chapel  in  the  centre,  and  upon  two  recitation-rooms  in  each  wing. 

As  with  all  Mr.  Bulfinch's  public  buildings,  the  plan  was  simple  and  appropri- 
ate, and  the  elevation  well  proportioned.  The  eastern  and  western  facades  were 
divided  and  decorated  with  Ionic  pilasters  supporting  a  full  entablature  and  balus- 
trade, the  western  relieved  by  the  portico  along  its  centre,  the  eastern  partly 
concealed  by  a  high  wall  enclosing  out-buildings  around  the  kitchen  yard. 

Mr.  Cogswell,  College  tutor,  afterwards  Librarian  of  the  Astor  Library  in  New 
York,  stigmatized  the  Hall  as  the  white  spectre  of  $  80,000,  and  a  critic  in  the 
North  American  Review  denounces  its  exterior  as  follows  :  — 

"  But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  stone  edifice,  which  insults  us  with  its  long  piazza,  and  its  wooden 
Ionic  pilasters,  and  the  entablature  which  extends  part  way  across  the  front  ?  The  proportions  of  this 
wonderful  building  are  about  one  hundred  feet  by  forty  or  fifty ;  at  the  ends  it  is  three  stories  high, 
with  basement  rooms ;  the  sides  are  partly  two  stories  and  pardy  three  stories  high,  the  great  expanse 
of  wall  being  somewhat  relieved  by  the  pilasters  and  entablature. 

"  The  chef  d'ceiivre  of  the  whole  building,  however,  is  the  piazza  or  portico,  which  runs  along  part 
of  the  western  side  or  front.  It  is  approached  by  a  lofty  flight  of  stone  steps,  guarded  by  an  iron 
balustrade  ;  jiine  columns,  from  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  high,  each  of  a  single  block  of  granite,  and 
surmounted  by  a  Tuscan  capital  of  soapstone,  are  ranged  along  the  front  of  the  piazza,  and  sup- 
port a  flat  roof  eight  inches  thick,  and  so  light  and  insignificant  that  it  seems  as  if  a  breath  of  wind 
would  blow  it  away.  We  doubt  whether  the  world  contains  any  other  architectural  abortion  to  be 
compared  to  this." 

As  to  Mr.  Cogswell's  sobriquet  of  "  the  white  spectre  of  %  80,000,"  it  is  consoling 
to  know  that  the  Hall  cost   only  ^65,000,  that   its  spectral  appearance  has  van- 


UNIVERSITY   HALL.  87 

ished  with  age  and  the  environment  of  trees,  and  that  the  committee  who  desired 
to  distinguish  this  edifice,  containing  the  chapel,  the  commons  halls,  the  Cor- 
poration and  recitation  rooms,  from  the  other  College  buildings,  having  the 
alternative  of  the  funereal  perishable  Connecticut  freestone  or  the  durable  cold 
Chelmsford  granite  which  time  mellows,  chose  wisely,  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected of  a  committee  comprising  an  experienced  engineer  and  two  gentlemen 
of  demonstrated  rural  and  architectural  taste. 

In  reply  to  the  "  What  sJmll  we  say?"  of  the  North  American  critic,  we 
should  say  that  he  was  more  nice  than  wise;  that  the  Hall,  instead  of  being 
one  hundred  feet  by  forty  or  fifty,  is  really  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  long  by 
fifty  wide  and  forty  high,  and  is  well  proportioned,  the  apertures  well  varied  and 
distributed;  that  the  portico  was  a  most  fitting  appendage,  needed  for  shelter  and 
for  passage  from  one  end  of  the  building  to  the  other,  and  that  it  relieved  the 
western  facade;  that  the  meagre  treatment  of  the  wings  and  of  the  exterior  gen- 
erally, forced  upon  the  architect  by  the  unforeseen  lack  of  means,  does  not  jus- 
tify the  sarcastic  wonderful  of  the  critic ;  and  that  one  in  search  of  abortions  need 
go  no  farther  than  Mount  Auburn,  or,  indeed,  than  the  College  yard;  that  Uni- 
versity Hall,  free  from  pretension,  is  a  modest  achievement,  and  no  abortion. 

But  if  the  outside  was  bare,  the  chapel,  as  originally  arranged,  was  one  of 
Mr.  Bulfinch's  masterpieces. 

The  pulpit  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  east  side ;  the  organ,  the  gift  of  Mrs. 
Craigie,  on  the  west  side,  opposite  the  pulpit ;  and  the  ample  intervening  space  was 
reserved  for  the  chairs  of  the  College  government  and  of  distinguished  guests  on 
public  occasions.  On  each  side  of  this  space  were  ranged  the  Seniors  and  Juniors 
facing  east,  and  behind  them  upon  raised  seats  sat  students  of  the  professional 
schools,  resident  graduates,  and  the  choir.  The  Sophomores'  and  Freshmen's  seats 
were  at  the  sides  of  the  pulpit  facing  north  and  south.  There  were  deep  galleries 
at  the  ends,  in  which  were  pews  for  members  of  the  Faculty  and  their  families. 
The  pilasters  and  cornices  of  the  chapel  were  of  the  Ionic  order,  according  to 
Palladio,  the  walls  wainscoted  as  high  as  the  bases  of  the  pilasters,  and  the  gal- 
leries were  supported  by  columns  and  richly  panelled. 

The  floors  were  sanded,  —  a  questionable  arrangement,  as  many  a  chilly  or  ab- 
stracted student  has  thus  got  into  a  scrape  while  he  little  dreamed  of  it. 

The  new  Hall  suggested  new  schemes.  Some  of  the  professors  hazarded  even- 
ing levees  for  the  students  in  the  Corporation-rooms.  An  Alumnus  of  18 15,  who 
attended  one  of  these  socials  in  the  winter  of  1814-15,  given  by  Dr.  Popkin, 
says  that  there  was  a  repast  and  pleasant  conversation  and  that  he  enjoyed  himself 
I  conceive  that,  while  the  students  fully  appreciated  the  heroism  and  generosity  of 
the  dear  old  man  emerging  from  his  retirement  and  feasting  them  from  his  scanty 
stores,  neither  they  nor  the  Professor  derived  much  pleasure  from  the  effort. 


gg  UNIVERSITY   HALL. 

Not  tliat  students  arc  blind  to  tlie  talents  and  learning  and  attractive  qual- 
ities which  must  over  characterize  a  body  of  men  so  selected  and  so  occupied  as 
the  College  h'aculty.  As  graduates  they  would  seek  their  society;  but  to  be  re- 
ceived socially  as  shidcnts  by  the  professors  as  professors,  is  inconsistent,  embar- 
rassing, and  compromises  the  independence  of  both  parties.  One  may  pronounce 
a  hospital  well  aired,  sunny,  clean,  and  yet  shrink  from  being  a  social  guest,  espe- 
cially if  the  supper  is  to  be  given  in  the  operating-room ;  and  something  of  the 
same  shudder  must  have  crept  over  the  students  as  they  essayed  festivity  in  the 
rooms  of  University  Hall.  It  would  be  like  attending  a  party  in  the  Chamber 
of  the  Council  of  Ten.  It  must  have  been  a  Borgia  feast  at  best.  While  Vin- 
cent Crummies,  Esq.,  is  enacting  the  cruel  uncle,  and  Crummies,  Jr.,  one  of  the 
persecuted  nephews,  it  will  not  do  for  Vincent  to  indulge  his  paternal  yearnings, 
until  the  play  is  ended.  And  so,  at  the  hour  of  parting,  respectful  farewells  and 
fervent  good  wishes  may  be  naturally  and  wholesomely  exchanged ;  but  while 
teacher  and  learner,  master  and  pupil,  are  together,  the  blessing  of  Jaques,  "  God 
be  with  you,  let 's  meet  as  little  as  we  can,"  is  the  natural  utterance  of  the  mas- 
ter ;  and  Orlando's  "  I  do  desire  we  may  be  better  strangers,"  the  amen  of  the 
pupil.      So  our  fathers  felt,  for  the  socials  lasted  but  one  season. 

It  seems  that  the  musical  members  of  the  classes  gave  a  concert,  for  an  ac- 
count of  which  I  am  indebted  to  the  Diary  of  the  Rev.  Richard  M.  Hodges,  of 
the  Class  of  1815,  who  gave  me  also  the  account  of  the  socials:  — 

II  May,  1815.  "This  evening  there  was  a  concert,  composed  of  the  several  musical  societies  of 
College,  both  vocal  and  instrumental.  Performances  in  Senate  Chamber,  University  Hall.  The 
President,  Tutors,  and  many  distinguished  characters  of  Boston,  Cambridge,  etc.,  attended.  The 
students  did  not  attend  this  evening,  but  were  present  at  the  rehearsal.  An  original  song  by  Whitwell, 
and  hymn  by  Palfrey  for  the  occasion." 

There  was  but  one  concert  given,  as  Mr.  Hodges  says,  whether  because  of  the 
quality  of  the  music  or  the  fastidiousness  of  the  audience,  is  a  question. 

Although  these  novel  enterprises  failed  of  success.  University  Hall,  with  its 
hospitable  portico,  ample  corridors,  easy  stairs,  its  many  chambers,  seemly  chapel, 
lofty,  spacious  commons  halls,  vast  kitchens,  laundries,  larders,  and  storehouses, 
all  separated  by  solid  floors  and  walls  impermeable  to  sounds  and  smells,  proved 
well  fitted  for  its  daily  uses,  as  also  for  the  occasional  convening  of  the  College 
government,  the  becoming  reception  of  distinguished  guests,  and  the  accommo- 
dation of  the  large  assemblages  which  gathered  at  this  seat  of  learning  on  her 
great  festivals.  It  was  symmetrically  and  philosophically  arranged  to  supply  the 
daily  cravings  of  body,  mind,  and  soul. 

Theoretically,  the  student,  refreshed  by  sleep,  braced  by  his  bath  and  early 
walk,  his  good  resolves  strengthened  by  the  morning  services,  his  mind  stirred 
by  a  chapter  of  classic  wit   or   wisdom,  descended    from   the    recitation-room    to 


UNIVERSITY   HALL.  89 

enjoy  a  steaming,  appetizing  breakfast.  And  so  through  the  day  he  oscillated 
between  his  room  and  University  Hall,  finding  in  this  focus  of  the  College  phys- 
ical, mental,  and  spiritual  refreshment. 

Practically,  there  were  short-comings  incidental  to  all  human  administration,  and 
not  to  be  laid  to  the  door  or  any  other  part  of  the  Hall.  I  have  a  few  scattered 
items  of  an  earlier  date,  but  I  speak  mostly  of  the  working  of  the  machine  when 
I  was  in  College  forty  years  ago,  in  the  reign  of  President  Ouincy.  In  those 
days,  with  the  exception  of  the  hale  old  President,  who  came  to  prayers,  his  gray 
hair  curling  and  his  face  radiant  with  his  morning  bath,  looking  like  a  male 
Aurora  or  "a  sea  Cybele,  fresh  from  Ocean,"  —  with  this  notable  exception,  there 
were  few  "  shining  morning  faces  "  at  matins.  Pale,  heavy-eyed  youths,  with  un- 
kempt heads,  buried  in  the  fur  collars  of  their  long  camlet  cloaks,  —  perhaps  to 
keep  out  the  cold,  possibly  to  hide  the  deficiencies  of  toilet,  —  came  shuffling 
into  the  chapel,  looking  as  if  they  had  lain  dreaming  till  the  ominous  tolling  of 
the  bell  began. 

At  the  prse-prandial  recitation,  the  flesh  occasionally  overcame  the  spirit,  and  the 
student  sunk  to  slumber ;  and  I  remember  such  a  one,  who  was  making  good 
his  sleep  socially  sacrificed,  suddenly  called  up  to  read  a  passage  in  Horace. 
Blundering  along,  he  was  brought  to  a  stand  by  the  phrase  popina  uncta.  "  Poppy 
oil,"  whispered  his  faithless  Mentor,  and  "  poppy  oil "  repeated  the  confiding  pupil. 
Maecenas,  for  so  we  always  called  Tutor  McKean,  loved  a  joke  as  well  as  his 
father  of  saltatory  fame,  and  this  new  reading  was  too  much  for  him  ;  he  fairly 
cried  over  the  astonished  and  now  awakened  scholar,  and  we  politely  joined  in. 
It   must    have    been    in  a  similar  state  of  somnolence   that  a  student   made    that 

strange    reply    to    Dr.    Walker's    question,    "  P ,  what    does    Paley   say    about 

duelling  ?  "     P gazed  hopelessly  around ;    the  question   was   repeated,  and    at 

last  he  stammered  forth,  "  He  —  he  —  he  says  it 's  a  very  gentlemanly  practice, 
very  prevalent  in  South  Carolina."  As  to  the  appearance  of  these  fasters,  I  will 
not  say  they  were  hypocrites,  but  their  faces  were  certainly  disfigured  and  they 
were  of  a  sad  countenance. 

The  creature  comforts  set  before  the  commoners  were  not  always  thankfully 
received ;  sometimes  they  failed  to  go  round,  and  the  cry  for  more  arose,  or 
groans  and  improper  exclamations  greeted  the  reproduction  of  an  unsavory  dish. 
From  the  Diary  of  the  late  Rev.  George  Whitney,  of  the  Class  of  1824,  I  ex- 
tract the  following  unfavorable  comments  on  the  quality  and  quantity  of  com- 
mons :  — 

16  November,  1820.  "We  have  lately  had  very  bad  commons,  but  more  especially  this  day.  I 
hope  they  will  soon  be  better.     Several  have  gone  out  to  board." 

28  November.  "At  noon  commons  we  had  a  great  plenty  of  'roast  goose.'  Probably  every  one 
in  the  hall  (which  amounted  to  eight  or  ten)  might  have  been  bought  for  a  dollar.     Indeed,  I  never 


QQ  UNIVERSITY   HALL. 

saw  such  tough,  raw-boned,  shockinR,  ill-looking  animals  ever  placed  upon  a  table.     I  hope  something 
better  will  come  on  to-morrow." 

And  SO  this  sanguine,  good-hearted  young  student  keeps  on  hoping  against  hope. 

29  November.  "  Commons  still  remain  very  bad  indeed.  At  supper  the  bread  was  mere  dough  ; 
that  is,  it  was  not  half  baked.  I  have  not  eaten  in  commons  for  a  week  past  one  dollar's  worth  of 
anything  whatever." 

1S21,  26  June.  "In  commons,  Mr.  Cooley  gave  a  turtle-soup  to  the  four  classes,  to-day,  having 
invited  the  chief  of  those  who  boarded  out.  But  whether  it  was  turtle-soup  or  not,  I  am  unable  to 
say,  as  I  never  ate  any.  At  least,  no  one  appeared  to  like  it,  and,  as  for  myself,  I  never  dined  so 
poorly  in  my  life." 

29  yiine.  "This  morning  I  went  to  Mrs.  Dana's  to  board,  where  we  live  (that  is  to  say,  those 
who  board  there)  in  a  far  superior  style  to  commons.  Mr.  Cooley  has  put  up  an  advertisement  on 
the  Universit)'-board,  stating  that  he  has  now  employed  cooks  superior  to  any  in  the  United  States. 
This,  however,  is  only  to  keep  the  students  in  commons." 

It  is  evident  from  this  last  extract  that  the  dissatisfied  and  hungry  students 
were  deserting  commons,  and  that  Cooley  was  striking  out  boldly  for  custom. 

Contractor  succeeded  contractor,  reforms  were  promised  from  time  to  time,  but 
by  1830  the  number  of  students  boarding  in  commons  had  so  dwindled,  that 
the  Sophomores  were  placed  in  the  south  hall  with  the  Seniors,  the  Freshmen 
merged  with  the  Juniors  in  the  north  hall,  and  the  two  inner  halls  were  used  for 
lecture-rooms.  Across  the  west  end  of  each  hall,  upon  a  dais,  sat  members  of 
the  Law  and  Divinity  Schools,  with  a  sprinkling  of  tutors  and  proctors.  At  that 
period,  the  fare  was  meagre  but  generally  wholesome ;  the  cheer  superior  to  the 
fare.  Still  there  were  some  who  averred  that  the  frequent  hashes,  hot  rolls,  or 
tough  pastry  gave  them  the  dyspepsia,  and  that  the  prse-prandial  recitations  pro- 
moted this  complaint.  These  sufferers  probably  experienced  some  alleviation  from 
the  reform  in  the  service  introduced  by  the  energetic  President  Quincy.  Instead 
of  pewter  he  provided  silver  spoons  stamped  with  the  College  arms,  and  plates 
and  dishes  adorned  with  views  of  the  College,  instead  of  common  crockery,  there- 
by improving  the  manner  if  not  the  matter  of  meals,  and  solacing  the  philosopher 
for  the  bad  taste  of  the  viands  by  the  good  taste  of  the  dish. 

The  monastic  custom  of  having  a  brother  read  aloud  from  some  good  book 
while  the  others  eat  in  silence  never  obtained,  to  my  knowledge,  in  Harvard; 
but  in  the  olden  time,  grace  was  said  before  meals  by  the  presiding  officer. 
There  is  a  tradition  that  on  one  occasion,  when  the  repast  was  offensive  from 
its  "  ancient  and  fishlike  smell,"  and  the  presiding  tutor  gave  thanks  "  for  this 
fresh  instance  of  bounty,"  the  grace  was  not  well  responded  to ;  perhaps  this  was 
the  last  grace.  In  my  day  there  was  neither  grace  nor  book  nor  silence,  but 
lively  and  very  edifying  conversation. 

There  was  an  extensive  piggery  at  first  in  the  rear  of  University  Hall  (after- 
ward removed  to  the  eastward  of  the   Delta),   the  clamorous  occupants  of  which, 


UNIVERSITY   HALL.  9 1 

when  duly  fattened  by  the  College,  received  their  coitp  de  grace  in  the  kitchen-yard. 
One  day  on  entering  a  recitation-room  I  overtook  a  professor,  whose  habitual 
gaze  is  to  more  distant  and  aerial  regions,  perched  upon  the  high  window-seat, 
watching  a  huge  porker  in  his  death-struggle,  —  a  sight  as  tolerable  to  the  average 
New-Englander  as  a  bull-fight  to  the  average  Spaniard.  Somehow  or  other  I 
felt  more  sympathy  thenceforth  for  that  learned  man. 

On  the  28th  of  May,  1842,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  it  was  voted,  that  — 

"After  the  present  academic  year  terminates,  tlie  Corporation  will  take  no  responsibility  on  the 
subject  of  providing  commons  for  the  students." 

Upon  the  recommendation  of  the  committee  on  the  subject,  the  two  inner 
rooms  in  the  basement  were  fitted  up  to  be  rented  on  certain  conditions  to  the 
contractor  of  commons  for  the  accommodation  of  his  boarders,  the  two  basement 
wings  being  retained  as  kitchens;  and  this  boarding-house  system  lasted  till  1849. 

In  1832  the  north  inner  hall  on  the  first  floor  was  improved  by  Dr.  Barber, 
an  English  elocutionist,  who  taught  us  how  to  sound  and  explode  our  vowels, 
consonants,  and  diphthongs ;  and  it  was  not  his  fault  if  the  students  did  not  all 
become  decent  declaimers.  His  famous  cage,  or  sphere,  in  which  the  speaker  was 
placed  to  regulate  his  gestures  upon  the  great  circles,  was  no  longer  in  use ; 
when  last  seen  it  was  hanging  from  a  barbers  pole  projected  from  the  branches 
of  a  neighboring  elm.  It  was  whispered  that  this  cage  had  to  be  taken  apart,  as 
no  door  was  large  enough  to  pass  it  through,  and  then  again  joined  together; 
that  the  barbers'  poles  in  Cambridge  were  out  of  reach,  and  that  morning  dawned 
upon  two  youths  in  a  tree,  working  with  an  industry  worthy  of  a  better  cause. 

Dr.  Palfrey  (some  of  whose  reminiscences  I  have  already  incorporated)  informs 
me  that,  although  the  Hall  was  not,  according  to  President  Quincy,  completed 
till  1815,  the  chapel  was  opened  in  1814.  "It  was  my  chance,"  he  writes,  "to 
deliver  the  first  English  oration  there,  at  an  exhibition  in  the  autumn  of  18 14, 
and  the  first  class  poem  in  the  following  summer " ;  a  rare  combination  of  prizes, 
significant  of  his  future  varied  and  honorable  career.  The  Doctor  goes  on  to 
state  that,  "  At  the  Sunday  services  the  floor  of  the  chapel  was  occupied  by  the 
undergraduates,  galleries  by  the  officers  and  their  families,"  and  that  "previously 
to  the  occupation  of  University  Hall  in  18 14,  there  had  never  been  a  separate 
Sunday  worship  for  the  College,  which  had  till  then  attended  at  the  First 
Church  in  Cambridge." 

In  my  day  Dr.  Ware  officiated  at  morning  and  evening  prayers,  but  as  late  as 
1816  the  President  officiated  in  the  morning,  and  the  members  of  the  Faculty 
by  turns  in  the  evening. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  organ  as  a  gift  from  Mrs.  Craigie.  Such  is  the  tradi- 
tion, but  from  the  Corporation   records    I   have   only  gleaned  that  it  was  built  in 


92 


UNIVERSITY   HALL. 


iMiolaiul,  and  from    tlic   Diary   of  the    Rev.   George   Whitney  I  learn  that  it  was 
set  up  in   1821. 

1S21  16  April.  "This  afternoon  the  famous  organ  which  has  been  so  long  in  contemplation  was 
placed  in  the  chapel,  where  it  makes  a  very  stately  appearance." 

21  April.  "This  afternoon  Professor  Farrar  with  some  ladies  went  up  to  the  chapel  to  hear 
Cooper  of  our  class  play  on  the  organ." 

22  April.  "I  attended  chapel.  In  the  morning  heard  Dr.  Kirkland  from  the  19th  verse,  5th  chap- 
ter of  Ephesians.  '  Speaking  to  yourselves  in  psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  singing  and 
makin-^  melody  in  your  hearts  to  the  Lord.'  He  gave  us  a  very  fine  sermon  on  instrumental  music, 
probably  as  it  was  the  first  Sunday  the  organ  has  been  played.  It  sounds  excellently;  Cooper  of 
our  class  played  to-day." 

There  was  then  no  other  organ  in  Cambridge,  and  there  were  very  few  in  Boston. 

While  I  was  in  College,  the  rooms  in  University  Hall  were  at  the  service  of 
the  students  in  the  daytime  or  evening  for  meetings  of  societies.  The  "  Harvard 
Union,"  a  debating  society  composed  of  Seniors  and  Juniors  and  of  the  Law  and 
Divinity  students,  used  to  meet  in  one  of  the  large  commons  halls,  the  lower 
classes  being  admitted  as  hearers;  and  many  men  since  eminent  in  pulpits  and 
courts  were  wont  to  air  their  eloquence  there.  The  Euphradian  Society  there 
met  at  the  opening  of  the  academic  year,  to  listen  to  prose  or  poetry  declaimed 
by  ingenuous  Freshmen,  eager  to  be  enrolled  members  of  a  College  society.  I 
recollect,  on  two  occasions,  a  lecture  there  by  one  Dr.  Knight,  vi?ho,  poor  man, 
was  pronounced  hopelessly  insane,  because  he  pleaded  the  importance  and  feasi- 
bility of  a  railroad  across  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Thus  does  the  vs^orld  continue 
to  stone  its  prophets. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  performances  witnessed  by  me  was  a  mock  trial, 
held  one  Saturday  morning  in  the  north  inner  commons  hall.  It  was  the  last 
of  a  series  of  stupendous  jokes  practised  upon  a  queer,  conceited,  village  oracle, 
who,  having  in  his  country  home  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  Harvard  student 
keeping  school  there,  afterwards  volunteered  him  a  visit.  As  this  unbidden  and 
unwelcome  guest  lingered  after  the  usual  hospitalities  of  the  College  had  been 
exhausted,  extraordinary  efforts  were  made  for  his  especial  entertainment  and  dis- 
play. He  attended  meetings  of  learned  societies  and  took  part  in  abstruse  debates, 
by  invitation  ;  he  delivered  lecture  after  lecture  in  the  true  Fourth-of-July  style, 
which  were  boisterously  applauded ;  he  was  regaled  with  marvellous  tales ;  he 
was  introduced  to  distinguished  personages  who  chanced  to  be  sojourning  in 
Cambridge  at  that  epoch,  and  among  others  to  Dr.  Metternich,  nephew  of  the 
great  Austrian  statesman.  This  distinguished  foreigner,  clad  in  a  costume  which 
might  have  been  Hungarian,  but  which  looked  for  all  the  world  like  a  frock-coat 
with  an  extemporized  fur  collar,  a  pair  of  flannel  drawers  stuffed  into  his  boots, 
a  fancy  smoking-cap  on  his  head,  and  the  national  meerschaum  in  his  hand, 
received  his  guest  with  courtly  grace,  engaged  in  conversation  as  well  as  his  lim- 


m 


^ 
& 


UNIVERSITY    HALL. 


93 


ited  acquaintance  with  our  language  permitted,  pressed  upon  his  acceptance  sev- 
eral rare  books,  such  as  Tytler's  History  and  the  Grasca  Majora,  from  his  small 
but  select  library,  and  from  his  cabinet  bestowed  upon  him  an  image  of  the 
Apostle  Paul,  found  in  the  twelfth  century  under  Charlemagne's  chapel  upon 
Mount  Athos,  a  bottle  which  had  been  thrown  by  Mirabeau  at  the  head  of 
Robespierre,  and  other  priceless  curiosities.  Unfortunately  an  imprudent  remark 
upon  the  habit  of  duelling  so  inflamed  the  hospitable  but  sensitive  foreigner, 
that,  in  spite  of  explanations  and  attempts  at  pacification,  he  insisted  upon  in- 
stant satisfaction  from  the  horrified  rustic,  or  a  grovelling,  abject  apology  such  as 
he  had  received  from  the  Due  de  Broglie,  a  short  time  previously,  which  in- 
volved excessive  personal  humiliation.  At  last  the  raging  doctor  consented  to 
the  substitution  of  the  College  host  as  principal,  the  rural  guest  to  act  as  his 
second.  The  duel  came  off  in  a  grove  to  the  east  of  the  Delta,  his  host  fell 
writhing  to  the  ground,  and  the  rustic  was  urged  by  Dr.  Metternich's  second  to 
lose  no  time  in  fleeing  to  and  through  Boston.  He  fled,  his  green  plaid  cloak 
streaming  behind  him,  his  arms  well  filled  with  the  books  and  curiosities  given 
him.  That  night  he  was  discovered  in  the  pit  of  the  National  Theatre,  arrested 
by  two  constables  armed  with  a  formidable  warrant,  and  brought  back  to  Harvard, 
where  he  learned  that  the  College  government  had  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  all 
crimes  committed  within  its  precincts. 

On  the  morrow,  fortunately  Saturday,  the  captive  was  formally  arraigned  as 
aiding  and  abetting  in  the  duel,  and  placed  at  the  bar  to  be  tried  upon  his  plea 
of  not  guilty.  The  judge  was  selected  for  his  judicial  cast  of  features  and  portly 
figure,  made  more  impressive  by  his  Lord  Chancellor  wig  and  black  silk  gown. 
The  stoutest  man  in  the  class,  armed  with  the  "  intonitans  bolus "  of  Med. 
Fac.  celebrity,  acted  as  sheriff ;  good  men  and  true  were  sworn  as  jurors ; 
the  prosecuting  attorney  and  counsel  for  the  defence,  men  who  have  since  sat 
and  pleaded  in  more  permanently  established  courts,  argued  shrewdly ;  a  cloud  of 
witnesses  of  every  character,  veracious  and  otherwise,  were  there  to  throw  all 
possible  light  on  the  case.  The  attendant  surgeon  testified  to  the  wounds  and 
death  of  one  of  the  parties,  the  material  facts  were  very  sufficiently  made  out, 
and  the  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  of  guilty,  accompanied  by  a  strong  and  affect- 
ing recommendation  to  mercy.  The  trembling  culprit  prepared  himself  at  once 
for  the  awful  sentence  of  the  law,  which  was  in  mercy  postponed  till  the  ensuing 
Monday.  Just  as  he  reached  the  College  yard,  however,  he  was  rescued  from  the 
nervous  grasp  of  the  sheriff,  and,  after  a  vigorous  foot-race,  crammed  into  a  chaise 
and  driven  at  a  perilous  gallop  down  the  Charlestown  Road. 

The  chief  actor  in  this  series  of  entertainments  was  summoned  to  the  Presi- 
dent, when  it  was  ascertained  that  although  up  to  the  end  of  the  duel  he  had 
rather  humbugged  his  visitor,  there  the  offence  had  ended,  and  that  in  order  to 


94 


UNIVERSITY   HALL. 


secure  the  ends  of  justice,  the  prisoner  had  conspired  with  his  host  to  hoax  the 
students,  while  they  believed  they  were  hoaxing  the  rustic. 

This  chronicle  should  be  perused  only  by  Alumni.  To  many  sober-minded 
people,  who  have  never  experienced  the  contagion  of  numbers  closely  brought 
together,  engaged  in  the  same  pursuits,  especially  those  whose  youth  has  been 
spent  in  labor  or  studies  dearly  paid  for  by  heroic  self-denial,  these  College  tricks 
and  jokes  will  seem  trivial  and  inconsistent  with  the  dignity  of  an  institution 
of  learning,  with  the  high  character  claimed  for  its  Alumni.  Still  more  would 
these  good  folks  be  shocked  if  they  learned  that  not  a  few  of  the  perpetrators 
of  all  these  foolish  or  wicked  frolics  became  clergymen,  and  —  what  is  worse  — 
were  fond  of  recounting  their  exploits  to  their  latest  day.  That  a  joke  can  be 
carried  too  far,  till  it  degenerates  into  an  outrage  against  persons  or  property,  is 
true,  and  it  is  also  true  that  such  outrages  have  been  committed  by  thoughtless 
students  ;    but  such  excesses  are  rare  and  are  condemned  when  committed. 

A  good  illustration  of  the  mystery  of  College  fun  was  furnished  me  by  a  ven- 
erable gentleman  who  graduated  threescore  years  since.  Two  of  his  classmates, 
both  sons  of  wealthy  parents,  had  ingeniously  abstracted  a  ham  from  the  College 
larder,  and,  having  been  detected,  were  punished;  upon  which  transaction  my 
friend's  father  thus  commented :   "  Edward !   why  did  those  boys  steal  a  ham  ?    If 

Mr. or  Mr. had  known  that  their  sons  wanted  a  ham,  they  would  have 

bought  them  a  ham." 

The  red-letter  days  of  University  Hall  were  Class  Day,  Commencement,  and 
Exhibition  Day. 

Down  to  1839,  there  were  three  Exhibitions,  the  spring,  the  summer,  and  the 
fall.  The  governor  attended  two  of  the  three,  but  not  officially.  The  next  most 
august  dignitary,  the  President  in  his  Oxford  cap  and  gown,  the  Corporation, 
the  Overseers  and  the  Faculty,  marched  in  procession  from  the  Corporation- 
rooms  into  the  chapel,  —  already  well  filled  with  relatives  of  the  speakers,  ladies 
from  Boston,  Cambridge,  and  the  neighborhood,  youths  looking  forward  to 
College  as  a  happy  liberation  from  school-thraldom,  a  sprinkling  of  clergy  and 
scholars,  and  here  and  there  a  few  professional  loafers.  The  officials  took  their 
seats  in  the  space  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  the  President  in  the  great  Dunster 
chair,  prepared  to  listen  to  the  dialogues,  dissertations,  conferences,  and  orations, 
in  Greek,  Latin,  and  English,  declaimed  by  members  of  the  Senior  and  Junior 
classes  selected  for  their  scholarship.  "  Expectatur  oratio  in  lingua  vernacula  a 
Kittredge,"  thundered  the  President ;  and  the  youthful  orator,  in  a  toga  hired  of 
Ma'am  Dana,  ascended  the  rostrum.  Mothers  wept  and  sisters  and  cousins 
blushed  with  delight  at  the  applause  which  greeted  the  speaker  as  he  bowed  to 
the  President,  or  paused  after  a  burst  of  eloquence.  Grave  professors  laughed 
immoderately    and    sympathetic    auditors    felt    or   counterfeited    glee,   at    jokes    in 


UNIVERSITY   HALL. 


95 


Greek  and  Latin  which  would  have  sounded  tame  in  the  vernacular.  The  Picri- 
ans  in  the  north  gallery  filled  up  the  intervals  with  their  music. 

The  students,  not  then  clad  in  garbs  of  many  shapes  and  colors,  but  in 
the  prescribed  uniform,  which  consisted,  forty  years  ago,  of  a  square-collared, 
single-breasted  black  dress-coat,  with  three  crow's-feet  in  braid  upon  the  sleeve 
for  the  Senior,  two  for  the  Junior,  one  for  the  superb  Sophomore,  and  none 
for  the  immature  Freshman,  came  and  went  in  numbers  proportioned  to  the 
popularity  of  the  speaker,  or  strolled  up  and  down  the  portico  and  through  the 
College  grounds ;  the  members  of  the  clubs  displayed  their  medals  and  ribbons ; 
the  Harvard  Washington  Corps  sported  cockades  in  their  hats ;  the  Porcellians 
held  high  revel ;  the  orators  of  the  day  gave  "  spreads  "  (or  "  blows,"  as  they  were 
then  called)  to  their  friends,  including  as  many  of  the  fair  sex,  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  students,  as  now  grace  Class  Day  with  their  presence. 

After  dinner  the  roll  of  Dan.  Simpson's  drum,  and  the  squeaking  of  Sol. 
Smith's  fife,  summoned  the  "  Tarn  Marti,  quam  Mercurial'  Harvard  Washington 
Corps.  From  the  armory  in  the  northeast  attic  of  University  Hall  each  sergeant 
marched  his  squad  to  the  parade-ground  on  the  green,  to  the  westward  of  the 
College  yard,  not  then  encumbered  with  fences.  The  company  formed  by  the 
orderly  sergeant,  the  officers  marched  to  their  posts,  and  a  dress-parade  followed. 
The  uniform  was  simple  and  effective.  The  rank  and  file  wore  black  hats  with 
cockades,  white  trousers,  their  black  coats  relieved  by  white  waist  and  cross 
belts.  The  officers  were  distinguished  by  gilt  buttons,  a  star  on  each  collar, 
epaulets,  a  bell-shaped  beaver  shako  surmounted  by  a  black  fountain  plume,  and 
trimmed  with  gold  lace  and  cord,  a  crimson  sash  under  the  white  sword-belt, 
and  spotless  white  jean  trousers  and  gaiters.  They  were  selected  for  their  prow- 
ess and  symmetry,  —  such  men  as  now  compose  the  University  crew ;  and  their 
array  as  they  issued  from  the  west  door  of  Hollis  and  marched  in  stately  order 
to  their  posts,  to  the  music  of  the  Brigade  Band,  was  very  imposing.  It  was  a 
pretty  spectacle,  the  parade  of  from  one  to  two  hundred  young  fellows,  manoeu- 
vring in  the  College  yard,  or  marching  through  the  streets  of  Old  Cambridge, 
saluting  the  President  and  professors  as  they  passed  their  houses ;  and  the  mar- 
tial exercise  worked  off  the  mercurial  element  in  the  best  possible  mode,  and 
rounded  out  the  holiday. 

When  this  glittering  pageant  was  dissolved.  Exhibition  Day  lost  half  its  eclat 
and  its  chief  attraction  for  unscholastic  visitors,  not  included  among  the  guests  of 
the  exhibitors,  —  especially  for  the  Sub-Freshmen,  who  formed  a  considerable  frac- 
tion. The  Seniors  and  Juniors  still  attended  to  cheer  their  forensic  brethren ; 
but  the  younger  classes,  no  longer  taking  any  part  in  the  programme,  dispersed. 

Another  cause  of  the  decline  of  Exhibition  Day  was  the  conversion  of  Class 
Day  from  an  exclusive  and   too  protractedly  convivial   leave-taking  of  the   gradu- 


g6  UNIVKRSITY    HALL. 

ating  class  to  the  present  charming  succession  of  intellectual  and  social  delights, — 
an  ideal  midsummer  merrymaking  with  a  due  mingling  of  expressive  class  cere- 
monies. Down  to  1838,  the  friends  of  the  class  and  the  public  departed  after  the 
oration  and  poem  had  been  spoken  in  the  chapel,  and  the  afternoon  was  spent 
by  the  Seniors  in  drinking  punch  and  dancing  around  the  Liberty  Tree;  but  on 
that  year  the  Class  Comniittce  were  notified  by  the  President,  that  "  if  there  was 
any  drinking  or  dancing,  the  members  of  the  Committee  would  all  lose  their  de- 
grees." The  class  was  already  in  an  excited  state,  owing  to  the  dismissal  of 
some  of  their  favorite  members  late  in  the  Senior  year.  In  this  dilemma,  one  of 
the  Class  Committee  suggested  that  they  should  invite  ladies,  and  some  of  the 
class  agreed  to  provide  spreads,  and  for  their  further  entertainment  they  asked 
leave  of  the  Faculty  to  have  a  band,  which  was  granted.  While  promenading 
about  the  grounds  with  their  lady  guests,  listening  to  the  music,  a  friendly  pro- 
fessor suggested  dancing  on  the  green  and  was  informed  that  dancing  was  pro- 
hibited. Seeing  the  absurdity  of  this  restriction,  the  professor  hastened  to  head- 
quarters and  returned  with  President  Quincy,  who,  with  characteristic  good-nature 
and  obliviousness,  chid  the  students  for  their  want  of  gallantry;  and  thus  began 
the  first  dance  on  the  green. 

This  radical  change  expanded  Class  Day  into  a  great  festival ;  the  outgoing 
Seniors  issued  invitations  to  all  their  friends  to  teas  and  luncheons,  the  College 
provided  the  band,  and  the  attendance  so  increased  that  by  1856  the  class  ex- 
ercises, which  had  been  hitherto  held  in  the  chapel,  were  transferred  to  the  First 
Congregational  Meeting-House  for  better  accommodation. 

Thus,  gradually,  Exhibition  Days  were  thrown  into  the  shade.  For  some 
years  they  were  kept  up  with  more  or  less  spirit ;  the  College  dignitaries,  the 
scholars  and  the  clergy,  the  friends  of  the  orators  and  their  classmates,  rallied, 
but  little  by  little  they  declined. 

In  1855,  Professor  Sidney  Willard  notes  "  that  the  literary  excellence  was 
greater  than  in  his  time,  1 794  -  8,  but  the  same  public  interest  in  the  perform- 
ance, the  same  indulgent  and  generous  judgments  concerning  them  on  the  part 
of  parents  and  friends." 

In  1857,  ^ve  find  a  writer  in  a  Harvard  periodical  speaking  of  "a  group  of  Sub- 
Freshmen  in  jackets,  and  the  chapel  filling  with  the  fair  sex." 

In   i860,  "complaint  of  the  tediousness  of  four  long  hours  in  the  Chapel." 

In  1863,  "the  Exhibition  Day  in  October  passed  off  with  its  usual  monotony 
and  dulness.  The  attendance  of  the  officers  of  instruction  and  government  in 
the  College,  though  generally  quite  small,  on  this  occasion  was  a  beggarly  ac- 
count of  empty  boxes.  There  were  present  the  usual  number  of  the  fair  sex, 
and  there  was  the  usual  transient  attendance  of  students.  It  would  be  a  curious 
and   perhaps   profitable    investigation    to    try  to  determine  whether  a  part    at   an 


« 


UNIVERSITY   HALL.  97 

Exhibition  is  an  honor  or  a  punishment.  If  the  whole  proceeding  were  not  a 
bore,  and  even  if  it  were,  would  not  the  Government  of  the  College  be  repre- 
sented in  stronger  force,  if  they  really  meant  to  honor  those  who  perform  ? " 

22  October  1867.  Mr.  Sibley  attended  College  Exhibition.  "  Speakers  for  the  first  time  delivered 
their  parts  on  the  stage  without  their  black  silk  gowns,  as  has  hitherto  been  customary  on  Class 
Days,  Commencement,  and  Exhibition  Days." 

Evidently  the  end  was  near  at  hand;  the  College  Government  cared  nothing 
about  it,  the  students  thought  it  a  bore,  and  the  audience  was  fluctuating  and 
much  dwindled.  This  was  the  last  Exhibition  held  in  University  Hall;  the  west 
lecture-room  in  the  second  story  of  Harvard  Hall  was  large  enough  for  the  few 
who   attended,  and  there,  on  the 

26  October,  1869,  "  College  Exhibition  instead  of  being  two  and  one  half  to  three  hours,  the  exer- 
cises were  finished  in  a  little  more  than  an  hour.     This  was  the  last  College  Exhibition." 

There  were  general  as  well  as  special  causes  of  this  decrease  of  interest,  not 
only  in  Exhibition,  in  Commencement,  and  Phi  Beta  Kappa  days,  but  also  in 
school  exhibitions,  church  dedications  and  ordinations,  Thursday  lectures.  Ar- 
tillery-election sermons,  Fourth-of-July  orations.  With  the  introduction  of  rail- 
roads, people  migrated  to  the  distant  country  and  sea-shore  and  could  not  con- 
veniently attend  summer  celebrations  ;  and  when  at  home  in  the  winter  months, 
the  great  multiplicity  of  entertainments  absorbed  the  spare  time,  and  diverted 
many  from  these  old-time  festivals  and  solemnities  of  a  circumscribed  and  staid 
community. 

If  the  Exhibition  Days  were  the  peculiar  property  of  University  Hall,  it  took 
its  share  in  the  great  annual  Festival  of  the  College,  one  of  the  few  legal  holi- 
days of  this  working-day  community.  Upon  the  south  steps  of  the  Hall,  the 
Corporation  and  Overseers  welcomed  His  Excellency  the  Governor,  who  came 
escorted  by  a  troop  of  horse,  preceded  by  trumpeters,  and  accompanied  by  his 
Staff  and  the  Executive  Council.  Thence,  after  the  convening  of  the  two  Boards 
of  Government,  the  procession  marched  to  the  meeting-house,  escorted  by  the 
graduating  class ;  and,  the  literary  exercises  over  and  the  diplomas  given  out,  the 
four  great  halls  were  thrown  into  one  by  opening  the  wide  doors  and  great  round 
windows,  and  therein  the  tables  were  spread  for  the  officials,  the  guests,  and  the 
Alumni. 

As  a  rule,  great  public  dinners  are  tedious  at  the  time  and  sickening  in  the 
retrospect ;  the  want  of  interest  and  the  absence  of  fellowship  drives  men  to 
gluttony  and  guzzling  and  to  false  after-dinner  speeches,  which  are 

"  Full  of  sound  and  fury,  signifying  nothing." 

A  Commencement  dinner  certainly  precludes  the  possibility  of  excess,  but  it  is 


gg  UNIVERSITY   HALL. 

full  of  interest  and  of  fellowship  ;  indeed,  it  is  pathetic,  not  only  because,  materi- 
ally, it  is  one  of  those  occasions 

"  That  keep  the  word  of  promise  to  our  ear, 
And  break  it  to  our  hope," 

but  because  of  its  peculiar  and  suggestive  composition.  The  young  and  old,  with 
a  range  of  threescore  years  :  these  who  look  forward  to  life  as  if  it  were  lasting, 
those  who  look  back  upon  it  as  upon  a  "  watch  in  the  night  " ;  these  "  whom 
time  paces  withal,"  and  those  "  whom  he  gallops  withal  "  ;  these  who  have  won 
against  heavy  odds,  those,  the  favorites  at  the  start,  who  never  reached  the  goal ; 
these  who  believe  that  things  seen  are  eternal,  those  who  look  to  another  world 
for  the  rewards  not  here  bestowed ;  rich  and  poor,  titled  and  untitled,  famous  and 
obscure,  weak  and  strong,  side  by  side,  upon  a  level  here,  and  here  alone  ;  chil- 
dren of  one  well-beloved  mother,  their  daily  cares  and  masks  and  titles  cast  aside, 
coming  back  to  their  common  home  to  meet  the  ever-thinning  ranks,  to  mark 
the  ever-growing  gaps,  to  be  called  by  names  seldom  or  never  heard  elsewhere, 
to  be  humbled  or  cheered  by  the  old  relations,  refreshed  by  the  old  memories 
which  come  thronging  back  upon  the  return  to  this  scene  of  their  early  days. 

All  are  not  equally  happy  ;  there  are  classes  in  which  there  is  little  cohesion, 
and  which  never  come  together ;  and  there  are  classes  which  meet  each  year ; 
some  have  been  decimated  by  rebellion ;  some,  like  soft-wooded  trees,  go  early  to 
decay,  while  others  are  full  of  vitality.  And  so  small  a  fraction  of  Alumni  come 
to  Commencement,  that  one  may  not  find  his  most  cherished  classmates ;  but  in 
the  family  group  he  feels  at  home,  and  is  warmed  in  the  general  glow.  Latin 
and  Greek,  conic  sections,  logic  and  metaphysics,  are  all  needed  to  educe  and 
train  and  store  the  mind  ;  and  the  boy  who  wastes  the  "  shining  hours  "  of  his 
College  life  will  repent  it  bitterly ;  but,  after  all,  the  great  privilege  is  to  be  bar- 
racked with  your  fellows,  far  from  the  partial  influences  of  home,  subjected  to 
their  keen  criticisms,  quickened  by  their  company  in  study  and  in  play,  fortified 
by  friendships,  matured  by  all  the  experiences  of  four  years  when  years  are  long. 
This  is  a  boon  denied  to  those  who  have  not  been  wise  or  fortunate  enough  to 
run  a  college  career. 

A  larger  proportion  of  the  Alumni  came  to  Commencement  formerly  than 
now ;  so  many,  at  times,  that  tables  were  laid  in  the  portico.  Wine  was  supplied 
by  the  College,  until  President  Everett,  at  his  inauguration  dinner,  April  30, 
1846,  excluded  "all  stimulating  drinks,  even  to  wine,  taking  a  very  strong  stand 
against  it." 

"Quite  a  storm  at  the  meeting  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  August  27th,   1846,  because  wine 
was  not  provided,  though  a  decided  majority  were  in  favor  of  discontinuing  it." 
"At  Commencement,  26th  August,  1846,  all  ardent  spirits  and  wine  excluded." 


UNIVERSITY   HALL. 


99 


Mr.  Sibley,  from  whose  Diary  I  gather  these  facts,  adds  slyly,  that  "con- 
noisseurs did  not  consider  the  College  wine  quite  equal  to  champagne,  if  I  remem- 
ber the  remarks  often  made  at  the  table." 

The  exclusion  of  wine  has  continued  to  this  day;  and  as  this  exclusion  drove 
off  one  member  at  least  from  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  dinner,  it  probably  drove  away 
many  Alumni  from  the  Commencement  feasts.  But  this  asceticism  did  not 
diminish  the  company  in  University  Hall,  it  was  an  innovation  of  a  later  date. 
The  hymn  was  sung  as  now,  led  off  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Pierce,  who,  as  student,  tutor, 
overseer,  genealogist,  historiographer,  and  precentor,  was  completely  identified  with 
the  College  for  sixty  years.  On  the  day  of  his  graduation,  1 793,  he  was  re- 
quested by  President  Willard  to  set  the  tune,  and  he  continued  so  to  do  until 
1849,  with  the  exception  of  1808,  when  Dr.  Alden  of  that  class  led  off.  In  1849 
Mr.  John  Langdon  Sibley,  of  the  Class  of  1825,  upon  whom  the  mantle  of  Dr. 
Pierce  fell  naturally,  took  up  the  tuning-fork  and  has  held  it  ever  since.  After 
the  hymn  there  were  songs,  the  wine  perhaps  stimulating  the  company  to  make 
melody. 

Dr.  Pierce  informed  Mr.  Sibley  that  when  he  graduated,  in  1793,  it  was  the 
custom  for  the  graduating  class  to  wait  upon  the  Commencement  table ;  how 
long  this  custom  continued  I  cannot  ascertain. 

The  Rev.  Frederic  A.  Whitney,  of  the  Class  of  1833,  in  his  Diary,  describes 
the  last  Commencement  and  last  Phi  Beta  dinner  in  University  Hall. 

"  Wednesday^  2<,th  August,  1841.  A  comfortable  day;  excellent  dinner  in  University  Hall.  We  sang 
the  usual  psalm  to  St.  Martin's,  led  by  Rev.  Dr.  Pierce,  of  Brookline,  and  then  songs  and  glees  as 
usual  in  the  halls.  Of  these,  the  principal  singing  was  from  the  Class  of  1832,  chiefly  distinguished 
for  musical  talent." 

"  The  procession  was  formed,  for  the  first  time,  at  Gore  Hall,  the  new  Library.  The  books  have 
been  moved,  during  the  present  summer,  from  the  old  Library  in  Harvard  Hall." 

There  were  a  few  extraordinary  events  in  the  history  of  University  Hall;  cele- 
brations, and  visits  of  distinguished  guests,  which  should  be  commemorated  here. 
The  Rev.  Richard  M.  Hodges,  to  whom  I  am  already  much  indebted,  takes  from 
his  Diary  this  notice  of  the  celebration  of  the  peace  of  181 5:  — 

"When  it  was  announced  on  the  13th  of  February,  1815,  that  a  treaty  of  peace  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States  had  been  signed,  there  was  immediately  a  demonstration  of  joy  by 
the  Harvard  Washington  Corps,  a  students'  military  company.  At  evening  prayers,  a  '  Te  Deum ' 
was  sung  and  appropriate  lessons  from  the  Scriptures  were  read.  In  the  evening,  the  Colleges  oc- 
cupied by  students  were  brilliantly  illuminated. 

"  2id  February.  Peace  celebrated  in  Cambridge.  The  procession  moved  from  University  Hall  at 
II  o'clock,  under  escort  of  Cambridge  Light  Infantry,  to  Dr.  Holmes's  meeting-house,  where  an 
address  was  delivered  by  the  President  and  a  poem  read  by  Henry  Ware,  Jr.  Devotional  exercises 
by  Drs.  Holmes   and   Ware,    and  Rev.  T.  B.  Gannett.     An  extraordinary  public  dinner  on  the  occa- 


lOO  UNIVERSITY    HALL. 

sion.  Original  songs.  Two  Latin  Odes,  one  by  Kliot,  Senior  [William  H.  Eliot,  1815],  and  one  by 
Gardiner,  Junior  [W.  H.  Gardiner,  1816].  In  the  evening  the  College  public  buildings  were  ele- 
gantly illuminated.  Flags  were  flying  all  day.  College  exercises  were  suspended  three  days,  begin- 
ning the  22d." 

In  July,  181 7,  President  Monroe,  making  the  tour  of  the  States,  paid  Harvard 
College  a  visit,  thus  recounted  in  the  books  of  the  Corporation :  — 

"yuly  7,  1817.  The  President  of  the  United  States  having  signified  his  intention  of  visiting  the 
University  on  this  day,  it  became  the  desire  of  the  Corporation  that  he  should  be  received  with  the 
distinction  which  such  an  occasion  required  and  the  limited  time  which  the  numerous  demands  on 
his  attention  would  permit. 

"  About  ten  o'clock,  a.  m.,  he  proceeded  from  Boston  to  Cambridge,  attended  by  a  numerous  pro- 
cession of  carriages.  He  was  received  by  the  Corporation  at  the  entrance  of  University  Hall  and 
conducted  to  the  drawing-room,  where  all  the  professors,  tutors,  lecturers,  and  instructors  were 
severally  introduced  by  the  President  of  the  University,  and  a  procession  was  formed  to  the  Chapel, 
where  the  students,  graduates,  and  undergraduates  had  assembled  at  the  tolling  of  the  bell  and 
taken  their  accustomed  places.  No  persons  excepting  the  students  were  admitted  to  the  lower  floor 
until  after  the  procession  had  entered.  But  the  galleries  had  been  open  at  an  early  hour  for  the 
admission  of  ladies  introduced  by  the  members  of  the  government  and  by  the  students,  and  were 
completely  filled. 

"The  company  being  seated,  the  Reverend  President  addressed  the  distinguished  visitor  in  a 
highly  impressive  manner. 

"  The  reply  of  President  Monroe  to  the  above  address  was  energetic,  eloquent,  and  satisfactory ; 
at  the  close  of  which  he  said  he  should  embrace  another  opportunity  to  return  a  more  full  and 
formal  answer  in  writing. 

"The  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was  then  conferred  on  the  President  of  the  United  States;  and 
the  Reverend  President  of  the  University,  in  his  exordium,  expressed  his  satisfaction  in  bestowing 
upon  him  this  first  and  highest  mark  of  collegiate  honor. 

"An  oration  in  Latin  by  Caleb  Cushing  of  the  Senior  class  succeeded,  which  was  much  admired 
for  its  classic  purity. 

"The  President  and  attendants  then  passed  through  two  ranks  of  students  from  the  Chapel  to 
Harvard  Hall,  where  he  examined  the  library,  philosophy  room,  chemical  apparatus,  etc.,  and 
then  witnessed  some  evolutions  of  the  Harvard  Washington  Corps,  who  afterwards  escorted  him  to 
President  Kirkland's  house,  where  a  collation  was  prepared,  of  which  he  partook,  and  at  one  o'clock 
he  returned  to  Boston.    The  company  present  in  the  Chapel  exceeded  six  hundred." 

On  this  occasion  President  Monroe  was  so  much  struck  with  the  appearance 
of  the  Harvard  Washington  Corps  that  he  offered  the  commander  (afterward 
Lieutenant-Colonel  James  W.  Sever)  an  appointment  for  West  Point,  which  cir- 
cumstances compelled  him  to  decline. 

There  is  a  tradition  (and  here  I  beg  to  state  that  I  only  repeat  and  do  not 
vouch  for  traditions),  that  at  a  Faculty  meeting  held  upon  the  eve  of  President 
Monroe's  visit,  some  of  the  members  were  discussing  the  suspension  of  Sever. 
The  name  roused  the  occupied  President.     "  What  is  that .?  what  is  that }     Sever, 


UNIVERSITY   HALL.  lOI 

turn  away  Sever  ?  No !  no !  we  can't  get  along  without  Sever " ;  and  the  gallant 
commander  of  the  Harvard  Washington  Corps  was  rescued,  and  testified  his  grat- 
itude half  a  century  later  by  founding  the  Sever  scholarship,  in  memory  of  John 
Thornton  Kirkland.  There  is  another  anecdote  which  illustrates  so  well  the 
genial  wisdom  of  this  most  paternal  President  and  beloved  man,  who  exemplified 
the  wise  precept  laid  down  by  President  Quincy  for  his  successor, 

"Be  to  their  faults  a  little  blind, 
Be  to  their  virtues  very  kind," 

that  1  take  the  liberty  to  insert  it. 

At  a  dinner,   he   and   Dr.   B were  smoking,  when   B flung   his   cigar 

into  the  fire,  exclaiming,  "It  is  a  bad  habit;  I  will  smoke  no  more."  "  It  is  a  bad 
habit,"  echoed  the  President;  "  I  will  smoke  no  more,"  and  flung  away  his  weed. 
Some  little  time  after  they  met  at  a  dinner  again,  the  cigars  came  round  and  the 
President  was  quietly  enjoying  his,  when,  upon    the    cigars    being   passed  to  Dr. 

B ,  he  answered  sharply,  "  No  !  I  don't  smoke ;  when  /  make  a  resolution,  I  keep 

it."      "  Well !   I  don't  know.  Brother  B ,"  said  the  President,  —  "I  don't  know 

about  this  pursuit  of  virtue  under  difficulties  ;  what  one  gains  by  self-denial  one 
is  apt  to  lose  by  self-conceit." 

In  1 821  the  West  Point  Cadets,  under  command  of  Major  (afterwards  Major- 
General)  Worth,  made  a  camp  tour  to  Boston,  and  were  invited  to  pay  a  visit 
to  the  College  and  dine  in  University  Hall.  The  Rev.  George  Whitney  has 
preserved  this  record  of  their  visit  in  his  Diary  :  — 

1821,  Sunday,  ^t/i  August  "Heard  this  evening  that  the  West  Point  Cadets  spent  the  day  at 
Framingham,  where  they  had  religious  services  with  their  chaplain.  They  will  enter  Boston  on 
Tuesday. 

"Monday,  kth.     Pitched  their  tents  in  Roxbury,  opposite  General  Dearborn's  house. 

"  Tuesday,  ith.     Entered  Boston,  a  cavalcade  escorting  them,  and  encamped  on  the  Common. 

"  Wednesday,  %th.     Several  of  the  Cadets  were  over  from  Boston  to-day. 

"  Thursday,  i)ih.  I  was  in  Boston  and  witnessed  on  the  Common  the  exercises  of  the  Cadets, 
wonderfully  correct.  In  the  evening  our  class  met,  and  chose  Cooper  and  Izard  marshals  for  to- 
morrow. 

"  Friday,  lotk.  Our  class  met  this  morning  at  10  a.  m.,  at  the  recitation-room  of  Mr.  George  Otis, 
Tutor,  and  arranged  ourselves  for  the  procession.  The  escort,  composed  of  the  three  classes  now  in 
College  [the  custom  being  for  the  Seniors  to  leave  College  some  weeks  before  Commencement], 
met  the  Cadets  at  the  President's  house,  and  escorted  them  with  the  Government  around  the  Square 
by  Professor  Stearns's  to  University  Hall.  After  going  through  some  military  exercises  here,  they 
were  conducted  by  the  professors  and  tutors  to  see  the  library,  philosophy  chamber,  etc.,  in 
Harvard  Hall,  also  Holden  Chapel.  At  two  o'clock,  they,  together  with  the  Government  and  stu- 
dents, partook  of  a  very  handsome  dinner  in  the  College  dining-rooms  in  University  Hall.  The 
dinner   was   provided   by   Mr.  Cooley.      After   the    cloth  was  removed  some  very  appropriate    toasts 


I02  UNIVERSITY   HALL. 

were  drunk,  in  wliich  the  Government  joined,  in  such  a  manner  as  rendered  it  very  pleasant  to  the 
students.  A  toast  given  by  a  Cadet  in  our  hall  was  received  with  loud  applause.  It  was  given  by 
him  to  their  section  of  the  party  in  particular  and  was  as  follows:  'The  Government  and  students 
of  Harvard  University  ;  may  their  hospitality  and  attention  to  us  remain  forever  engraven  on  our 
memories.' 

"  At  4  o'clock  the  Cadets  proceeded  to  the  Common,  where  they  again  evinced  their  skill  by 
performing  many  very  handsome  evolutions,  and  going  through  the  rifle  exercise.  They  left  Cam- 
bridge about  S  o'clock  and  proceeded  to  Boston,  where,  to-morrow  forenoon,  two  standards  are  to  be 
presented  them  by  the  town.  On  Tuesday  morning  next  they  will  march  out  to  Quincy  over  Ne- 
ponset  bridge  and  breakfast  with  the  venerable  President  John  Adams,  and,  returning,  will  dine  with 
Mr.   Smith  on  Milton  Hill. 

"  In  the  evening,  the  Harvard  Washington  Corps  paraded." 

In  1S24,  Lafayette  revisited  the  United  States,  to  the  great  excitement  and 
delight  of  all;  and  while  in  Boston  attended  Commencement,  as  appears  by  the 
following  record,  and  dined  in  University  Hall:  — 

"  1824,  August  25.  At  a  meeting  of  the  President  and  Fellows  of  Harvard  College,  on  Wednes- 
day, August  25,  1824,  it  being  Commencement  Day. 

"By  reason  of  the  ceremonial  for  the  reception  of  General  Lafayette,  the  exercises  of  the  day 
were  delayed  beyond  the  ordinary  time.  On  his  arrival,  escorted  by  a  volunteer  troop  of  horse, 
accompanied  by  His  Excellency  the  Governor,  His  Honor  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  the  Honorable 
Council,  the  Mayor  and  Municipality  of  Boston,  the  sheriffs  of  Suffolk  and  Middlesex,  the  Reverend 
and  Honorable  Board  of  Overseers,  strangers  of  distinction  and  a  large  number  of  the  most  respect- 
able citizens,  he  was  received  at  the  portico  of  University  Hall  by  the  Corporation,  the  students 
being  assembled  in  their  classes  on  the  College  ground  in  front.  He  received  a  cordial  welcome  to 
this  country  and  to  this  University  in  a  short  and  appropriate  address  by  the  President  of  the  Uni- 
versity, who  welcomed  him  as  '  the  patron,  the  champion,  and  the  benefactor  of  America '  ;  to  which 
he  returned  an  affectionate  and  well-adapted  answer.  After  introducing  him  to  the  officers  of  the 
Institution  and  those  citizens  who  had  attended  for  that  purpose,  the  procession  was  formed  to  the 
meeting-house,  where,  after  the  usual  exercises  and  performances,  the  degrees  were  conferred  and 
the  company  returned  to  University  Hall  to  dinner. 

"  As  the  procession  moved  to  the  meeting-house,  one  of  the  marshals  opened  an  umbrella  over 
the  head  of  the  General  to  protect  him  from  the  August  sun ;  but  the  old  man  declined,  saying, 
'  Thank  you,  young  gentleman,  but  I  love  the  sun  in  all  its  warmth  and  all  its  brightness.' " 

In  1833,  President  Jackson,  on  a  journey  through  New  England,  visited  the 
College  and  received  due  honors,  as  per  records :  — 

"  yune  26,  1833.  The  President  of  the  University  having  received,  about  7  o'clock  this  morning, 
information  from  the  Secretary  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the 
President  to  visit  the  University  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.  this  day,  notices  were  immediately  sent  to  the 
Corporation,  to  His  Excellency  the  Governor,  His  Honor  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  to  all  the 
members  of  the  Board  of  Overseers  resident  in  Boston  and  the  vicinity,  and  to  all  the  students  and 
members  of  the  Law  and  Divinity  Schools,  and  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Cambridge,  whose  interest 
in  or  connection  with  the  College  made  such  notice  proper  or  expedient. 


UNIVERSITY   HALL. 


103 


"The  President  of  the  United  States  proceeded  to  Cambridge  at  the  hour  appointed,  accompanied 
by  the  Governor  and  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Commonwealth,  the  great  body  of  Overseers, 
and  by  a  numerous  procession  of  carriages.  The  immediate  suite  of  the  President  also  attended, 
consisting  of  Mr.  Donelson,  his  private  Secretary,  Mr.  Van  Buren,  Vice-President  of  the  United  States, 
Governor  Cass,  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  Woodbury,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  others. 

"  He  was  received  on  the  steps  of  the  south  door  of  University  Hall,  as  he  descended  from  his 
carriage,  by  the  President  and  Fellows  of  the  University,  and  conducted  to  the  Corporation-room, 
•where  he  was  introduced  severally  to  the  professors,  tutors,  lecturers  and  instructors,  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  University. 

"At  a  quarter  before  10  o'clock  the  students  had  been  collected  by  tolling  the  bell  in  the  Chapel 
of  the  University,  and  were  concentrated  in  close  order  upon  the  front  seats  so  as  to  leave  as 
much  space  in  the  rear  as  possible  for  strangers  and  visitors ;  the  galleries  having  been  opened 
at  9  o'clock  for  ladies,  they  were  filled  by  them,  and  tlie  students  in  their  seats,  with  the  members 
of  the  Divinity  and  Law  Schools  immediately  behind  them,  ready  for  the  reception  of  the  Pres- 
ident. 

"Accordingly  after  the  ceremony  of  introduction  had  terminated,  the  President  of  the  United  States 
entered  the  Chapel  with  the  President  of  the  University,  and  followed  by  the  Governor  and  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor of  the  Commonwealth,  the  suite  of  the  President,  the  Corporation,  Faculty,  and 
immediate  instructors,  overseers,  and  strangers ;  no  person  having  been  as  yet  admitted  on  the  floor 
of  the  Chapel,  except  the  members  of  the  schools  and  the  undergraduates.  On  the  entry  of  the 
President  into  the  Chapel,  all  the  students  and  members  of  the  schools  rose  and  continued  stand- 
ing until  he  was  seated.  During  the  entrance  of  the  President,  and  until  he  and  all  the  distinguished 
visitors  present  were  seated,  a  voluntary  continued  playing  on  the  organ. 

"The  Chapel  being  completely  filled,  and  the  galleries  with  ladies,  and  silence  attained,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  University  addressed  the  distinguished  visitor.  .... 

"To  this  the  President  of  the  United  States  made  a  short  and  appropriate  reply,  reciprocating 
the  kind  wishes  of  the  President  of  the  University,  expressing  his  gratification  at  its  flourishing  state, 
and  his  admiration  of  the  system  of  public  education  established  in  New  England. 

"  An  oration  in  Latin,  by  Francis  Bowen  of  the  Senior  class,  then  succeeded. 

"After  which  the  President  of  the  University,  seated  in  the  chair  which  has  been  for  more  than 
a  century  appropriated  as  the  seat  from  which  degrees  are  given,  gave  an  explanatory  exposi- 
tion in  Latin,  of  the  grounds  on  which  the  distinguished  individual  present  had  entitled  himself  to 
the  gratitude  of  the  community,  expressing  the  honor  conferred  on  the  University  by  his  presence; 
declaring  the  universal  custom  of  universities  on  similar  occasions,  and  his  happiness  that  in  the 
present  instance  this  distinction  was  about  to  be  conferred  on  one,  on  so  many  accounts  worthy  of 
it.  He  then  in  the  usual  form  conferred  on  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  An  appropriate  and 
solemn  ode,  composed  to  the  tune  of  Old  Hundred,  in  singing  which  the  whole  assembly  joined, 
finished  the  ceremonies  within  the  Chapel. 

"  A  procession  was  then  formed  by  the  members  of  the  two  schools  and  the  undergraduates,  through 
which  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  suite  and  attending  State  officers  and  officers  of  the 
University  passed,  after  it  had  opened  into  two  ranks,  to  the  library,  philosophy,  chemical  and  miner- 
alogical  rooms,  which  having  examined,  he  was  again  received  by  the  same  procession  of  students 
and  escorted  to  the  house  of  the  President  of  the  University,  where  he  was  introduced  to  the  lady 
of  the  President  and  his  family,  and  to  a  great  collection  of  ladies  of  the  town  of  Cambridge,  who 
had  assembled  on  the  occasion.  Having  partaken  of  suitable  refreshments,  the  President  of  the 
United  States  and  suite  took  leave,  after  expressing  a  grateful  sense  of  the  kindness  with  which  he 
had  been  received,  and  his  ardent  wishes  for  the  prosperity  of  the  Institution." 


I04 


UNIVERSITY   HALL. 


The  Rev.  I'"rcclcric  A.  VVliitney  says,  in  his   Diary, — 

"The  rattling  of  the  grape-shot  at  New  Orleans  was,  I  fancy,  a  more  interesting  sound  to  the 
sturdy  old  general  than  the  well-turned  Latin  periods  of  my  classmate  Bowen  [now  Professor], 
which  he  .seemed  to  regard  with  blank  amazement." 

A  sketch  of  University  Hall  is  incomplete  without  some  mention  of  the  learned 
professors  who  have  sat  there  year  after  year  to  drill  their  pupils,  haply  to  inoc- 
ulate them  with  a  love  of  learning  and  a  correct  method  of  study. 

But  I  can  only  treat  of  those  who  composed  the  Faculty  during  my  sojourn, 
and  there  is  the  risk  of  wounding  the  susceptibilities  of  their  relatives.  One 
only  of  all  that  body  of  rather  remarkable  men  is  living,  and  he  a  three  years' 
graduate  when  I  entered.  Why  we  should  have  given  him  the  affectionate 
diminutive  of  "  Benny "  I  cannot  say,  unless  as  a  mark  of  endearment,  because 
he  could  fling  the  iron  bar  upon  the  Delta  farther  than  any  undergraduate,  or 
perhaps  because  he  always  thought  the  bonfire  or  disturbance  was  outside  the 
College  grounds  and  not  inside,  and  conducted  himself  accordingly.  His  softly 
lisped  sufficient  brought  the  blunderer  down  from  the  blackboard  with  a  con- 
sciousness of  failure  as  overwhelming  as  the  severest  reprimand.  There  was  a 
delightful  abstraction  about  this  absorbed  mathematician  which  endeared  him  to 
the  students,  who  hate  and  torment  a  teacher  always  on  the  watch  for  offences, 
and  which  confirmed  the  belief  in  his  peculiar  genius. 

In  the  same  entry  sat  the  Grecian,  Dr.  Popkin,  or  "  Old  Pop,"  as  he  was 
always  called,  a  dear  old  man  with  a  traditional  romance  investing  him  with  inter- 
est and  accounting  for  his  odd,  shy  ways ;  an  old  man,  full  of  humor  and  benevo- 
lence, stalwart  and  hale,  seeming  always  to  remember  that  his  father  had  served 
as  an  officer  in  the  Revolution.  He  would  sit  balancing  his  pencil  up  and  down 
upon  the  table,  nursing  his  leg  and  chirruping  every  now  and  then,  sometimes 
making  a  quaint  remark  on  the  recitation.  His  biographer  relates  that,  passing 
along  the  street  with  a  friend,  he  heard  some  one  at  a  window  exclaim,  "  There 
goes  Old  Pop."  "What  right  has  he  to  call  me  Old  Pop.?  He  never  was  in 
College." 

One  day  at  recitation  he  asked  a  favorite  pupil,  "  Who  was  the  next  in  order 
of  the  Greek  archons  ?  "  "  Joe  Sniggers,"  was  the  softly  spoken  answer.  "  Who  ?  " 
shouted  the  Doctor.  "  Joe  Sniggers,"  repeated  the  scholar  softly.  "  What  did 
you  say?"  shouted  louder  the  Doctor,  throwing  up  his  spectacles  and  leaning 
forward.  "  Joe  Sniggers,"  again  whispered  the  tormentor.  "  Can't  hear,  s'pose 
you  're  right,  you  may  sit." 

While  I  was  in  College  he  retired  to  the  North  Cambridge  Road,  by  the  side 
of  Dr.  Hedge,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Logic,  and  the  students  named  it  "  Resigna- 
tion Row." 


UNIVERSITY   HALL. 


105 


On  the  same  floor  in  the  upper  northeast  chamber  sat  Dr.  Beck,  a  short,  ath- 
letic, fiery-looking  man,  with  close-cut  black  hair,  brilliant  eyes,  and  a  clean-shaven 
face,  terrible  in  anger,  but  charming  when  at  some  sudden  stupidity  it  relaxed 
into  a  smile,  showing  the  whitest  of  teeth.  His  graceful,  compact,  soldierly  figure, 
set  off  by  scrupulously  cut  and  brushed  garments,  was  in  striking  contrast  to 
the  scholastic  aspect  of  some  members  of  the  Faculty.  He  was  not  a  man  to 
be  trifled  with,  but  a  master  of  his  art,  an  admirable  teacher  of  Latin,  and 
one  of  the  most  delightfully  courteous  gentlemen,  with  a  flavor  of  Old  World 
grace. 

So  bare  was  Cambridgeport  of  trees  and  houses  in  those  days  and  so  bare 
was  the  west  side  of  Mount  Vernon,  or  "  Nigger  Hill,"  as  it  was  called,  in 
Boston,  that,  sitting  in  Dr.  Beck's  room,  I  could  see  the  western  window  of 
a  house  on   Mount  Vernon   Street,  just  above  what  is  now   Louisburg  Square. 

Of  all  the  professors,  the  most  tormenting  and  the  most  amusing  was  "  Old 
Channing,"  an  appellation  not  opprobious  in  the  mouth  of  collegians,  who  call 
every  teacher  old,  without  exception.  His  course  was  interesting,  —  Lowth's  Eng- 
lish Grammar,  which  we  all  sadly  needed,  Whately's  Logic  and  Rhetoric,  themes 
and  declamations.  Throwing  himself  back  in  his  chair,  closing  his  eyes  as  if 
to  exclude  the  outer  world  and  concentrate  his  mind,  he  would  request,  in  his 
coaxing  treble  tones,  "  Smith  !  won't  you  be  so  good  as  to  read  that  passage," 
selecting  your  most  florid  effort,  which  you  had  to  read  aloud  before  a  dozen 
grinning  classmates  enjoying  your  mortification.  Light  would  at  once  break 
into  the  Professor's  brain.  "  O,  I  see,  I  see,  to  be  sure ;  I  did  not  quite  un- 
derstand ;  perhaps  it  would  be  as  well  to  express  the  thought  thus,"  etc.  It 
was  good  drill,  and  we  all  owed  him  a  great  debt  for  his  masterly  criticisms 
and  comments  upon  the  text-books  as  well  as  upon  our  compositions  and 
declamations.  Once,  an  unfortunate  student  of  infirm  memory  declaimed  a  pas- 
sage  from  Shakespeare,  and,  as   he   sat   down,  the   Professor  observed,  "  M , 

what  little  of  that  was    Shakespeare's  was   pretty  good." 

In  the  southeast  chamber  sat  old  Dr.  Ware,  the  senior  clergyman,  and  the 
expounder  of  Paley  and  Butler.  He  was  the  Senior  Professor  of  the  College, 
and  had  been  one  of  the  champions  of  Unitarianism  when  that  sect  was  first 
established  here.  He  was  known  only  as  "  Old  Sykes,"  so  called  from  one  of 
his  favorite  authors  constantly  quoted  in  his  sermons,  and  he  had  gone  by  that 
name  from  a  remote  period.  A  learned,  earnest,  and  most  guileless  and  benev- 
olent man,  profoundly  interested  in  the  subjects  expounded  by  him,  he  never 
dreamed  of  the  apathy  or  weariness  of  his  hearers.  They  tell  a  story  of  his 
producing  his  watch  by  way  of  illustrating   Paley's  Evidences,  and   presenting  it 

to  one  of  the  most  irreverent  wags.      "J ,  do  you   see  any  marks  of  design 

in  this  watch  ?  "     J ,  taking  the  massive  old-fashioned  chronometer,  and   turn- 


I06  UNIVERSITY   HALL. 

iiig  it  over,  then,  as  if  uncertain,  again  inspecting  it,  replied,  "  Well !  no,  sir, 
I   cannot   say    I   do." 

One  day  our  section  before  recitation  made  a  mutual  vow  that,  whatever 
question  was  put,  we  would  all  insert,  "  the  labors,  dangers,  and  sufferings 
voluntarily  undergone,"  etc.,  —  a  phrase  in  the  headings  of  all  the  chapters  in 
Paley's  Evidences. 

The  vow  was  kept.  Unfortunately  I  was  the  last  in  the  section,  and  the 
accumulated  absurdity  of  the  replies,  and  the  good  old  Doctor's  utter  uncon- 
sciousness of  the  plot,  so  overcame  me  at  last,  that,  by  the  time  I  was  called 
up,  I  was  in  a  fit  of  hysterics.  I  struggled  in  vain  ;  I  could  only  stifle,  but  not 
utter  a  word,  and  stood  there  shaking  with  laughter. 

Of  course  I  had  to  remain  and  apologize,  for  explanation  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion ;  it  would  have  involved  the  rest  in  my  outbreak.     I  had  to  suffer  vicariously. 

The  jokes  were  not  always  with  us.  The  Doctor,  not  easily  provoked  and 
thinking  no  evil,  did  sometimes  give  a  sly  hint.  One  day  a  windy  student,  in 
reciting,  got  loose  and  bestowed  upon  the  Doctor  a  good  deal  of  original  matter, 
to  which  he  listened  patiently,  and  then,  quietly  remarking,  "  The  author  thinks 
differently,"  proceeded  to  expound  the  ideas  of  the  author,  to  the  utter  confusion 
of  the  youth  and  to  the  delight  of  his  comrades. 

Another  professor,  whose  lecture-room  was  in  Harvard  Hall,  was  Mr.  Farrar, — 
why  "  Jack  Farrar,"  would  be  difficult  to  explain ;  certainly  not  from  disrespect, 
for  he  was  not  only  respected,  but  regarded  with  affection.  He  was  Professor 
of  Natural  Philosophy ;  his  lectures  were  always  interesting,  and  he  himself  quite 
absorbed  in  his  subject,  with  just  that  abstractedness  which  befits  a  scholastic,  and 
secures  a  pleasant  relation  with  his  pupils.  His  face  was  finely  cut,  his  figure 
and  bearing  harmonious,  perhaps  elegant,  —  altogether  a  most  attractive  man,  in 
or  out  of  the  lecture-room. 

Then  there  was  Dr.  Follen,  our  German  Professor ;  one  who,  like  Dr.  Beck, 
had  come  here  to  breathe  a  freer  air,  —  the  most  placid,  benignant,  simple-hearted, 
single-minded  man.  He  never  gave  a  miss,  he  never  saw  a  bonfire,  he  exacted 
the  prescribed  task  which  he  knew  how  to  make  interesting,  he  secured  the  obe- 
dience and  attachment  of  every  student.  There  would  not  be  a  rebellion  in  a 
century,  if  every  member  of  the  Faculty  could  be  endowed  with  the  tact,  justice, 
rectitude,  and  benevolence  which  characterized  Dr.  Follen. 

There  were  some  instructors  and  tutors  of  eminent  quality.  Dr.  BachI,  our  Ital- 
ian teacher,  had  all  the  spirit  and  grace  and  fascination  which  Italians  only  and 
always  possess.  Metastaslo,  Tasso,  and  Dante  were  no  tasks,  read  by  the  light 
of  his  lucid  explanations.  With  his  crisply  curling  hair,  his  flashing  eyes,  his 
beautiful  smile,  his  graceful  figure,  he  looked  like  one  of  Titian's  or  Bronzino's 
portraits,  and  his  voice  —  O,  how  unlike  ours !  —  was  music.      He  had  a  perfervidum 


UNIVERSITY    HALL. 


107 


ingenmm,  as  I  discovered  when  a  little  misunderstanding  occurred  between  him 
and  an  attached  but  resolute  student.  I  really  felt  alarmed  at  such  a  power  of 
anger  and  such  sensitiveness  to  the  shadow  of  an  insult ;  but  it  passed  away  and 
never  recurred. 

Who  that  ever  saw  that  foreign  phenomenon  in  Old  Cambridge,  that  French- 
man of  the  ancien  regime,  with  his  powdered  hair  and  cue,  his  pudding-like  white 
cravat,  his  shirt  frill,  —  who  can  forget  "  Old  Sales,"  his  explosions  of  laughter, 
his  "  By  George !  "  his  stories,  his  gayety,  his  politeness .?  What  wonder  if  he  did 
win  an  American  wife  by  the  gallantries  and  blandishments  so  profoundly  under- 
stood by  Frenchmen,  so  totally  unpractised  by  us ! 

A  gaunt,  sallow,  melancholic-looking  man,  with  very  prominent  chin  and  dark 
eyes  deep-set,  was  Tutor  McKean,  with  the  nicest  sense  of  humor  playing  over 
his  face,  and  sometimes  almost  convulsing  him.  One  night  a  student  had  con- 
structed a  monster  locust  drum,  by  substituting  a  parchment  for  the  tin  bottom 
of  a  huge  coffee-pot,  and  was  making  night  hideous  by  swinging  the  instrument 
round  at  the  end  of  a  cord  fastened  upon  a  broomstick,  when  Maecenas  caught 
him,  and  finding  him  dumb,  dragged  him  into  the  moonlight  for  identification. 

"  What  is  this,  B ? ""  asked  Mscenas. 

"  A  coffee-pot,  sir,"  demurely  replied  B . 

The  tutor  gave  way,  the  humorist  laughed  over  the  invention  of  the  young 
technologist,  and  his  gentle  reproof  lost  none  of  its  force  because  he  discharged 
his  duty  as  a  human  being,  and  not  as  an  amateur  inquisitor.  No  one  could 
come  under  Henry  McKean  without  recognizing  his  sensibility  alike  to  pleasure 
and  to  pain,  his  appreciation  of  pathos  and  humor. 

The  famous  Class  of  1829,  that  collection  of  all  the  talents  annually  commem- 
orated, contributed  two  teachers,  one  already  mentioned ;  the  other  I  never  have 
met  without  a  sense  of  grateful  recognition  for  the  quiet,  sensible,  clear  exposi- 
tion given  by  him  of  Dugald  Stewart's  philosophy,  and  Story's  Commentaries  on 
the  Constitution.  There  was  something  in  the  name  of  Joel  Giles  which  fitted  his 
broad,  solid  figure,  and  honest,  steadfast,  friendly  countenance  so  exactly,  that  a 
sobriquet  was  impracticable. 

Hard-worked,  poorly  paid,  much-tormented  martyrs,  watched  by  sharp  eyes 
which  never  grow  dim,  hemmed  in  by  light-armed  archers  with  their  quivers 
always  full,  bound  to  the  stake  and  pierced  with  a  thousand  arrows,  a  company 
of  St.  Sebastians,  how  much  more  tried  than  your  brethren  of  the  bar,  the  pulpit, 
the  scalpel,  or  the  exchange!  They  all  have  only  their  clients,  or  their  parish- 
ioners, or  their  patients,  or  their  customers  to  please,  linked  to  them  by  lighter 
and  longer  chains;  they  go  from  strength  to  strength,  and  earn  their  rewards 
with  more  varied  drudgery ;  their  weaknesses  and  oddities  pass  comparatively 
unheeded ;  many  of  them  emerge  from  their  toil  while  you  are  still  plodding  the 


,o8  UNIVERSITY    HALL. 

weary  round,  and  gratify  longings  you  share  but  cannot  indulge.  One  prize 
remains  to  you  and  you  alone,  — the  contact  with  youth  and  freshness,  which, 
to  a  man  born  to  the  position  and  endowed  with  the  combination  of  rare  quali- 
ties to  command  the  love  and  not  compromise  the  respect  of  his  clear-eyed,  light- 
hearted,  mischievous,  but  manly  and  kindly  young  critics  and  pupils,  is  of  itself 
a  great  compensation  for  all  you  lose  of  the  so-called  prizes  of  life ;  it  keeps  you 
young  when  your  comrades  have  grown  old,  it  keeps  you  green  when  they  have 
dried  up  with  work  at  the  desk's  dead  wood. 

"  Delenda   est   Carthago." 

Up  to  1833,  University  Hall  was  suffered  to  stand  as  the  architect  had  planned 
it;  but  in  July  of  that  year,  the  chapel,  recommended  by  its  just  proportions, 
admirable  arrangement  and  tasteful  architecture,  and  associated  with  classic  tri- 
umphs and  memorable  visits  of  national  heroes,  was,  by  a  vote  of  the  Corpora- 
tion, twisted  out  of  shape  and  hideously  transformed. 

In  1842,  commons  were  discontinued  in  the  halls  on  the  first  floor,  and  the 
Commencement  dinner  was  given  in  Harvard  Hall;  the  convenient  portico  was 
wrenched  off  the  western  front,  to  admit  more  light  to  the  rooms  in  the  base- 
ment; and  in  1849  these  lower  rooms  were  metamorphosed  into  recitation- 
rooms,  the  out-buildings  which  walled  in  the  large  yard,  storehouses,  wood-sheds, 
and  other  minor  offices,  torn  away,  and  the  grove  of  pines  which  embowered 
them  cut  down. 

Later  still,  in  1867,  the  mangled  chapel,  disused  for  daily  worship  since  1858, 
was  divided  horizontally,  and  cut  up  into  lecture-rooms  above  and  below. 

And  so  the  poor  old  Hall,  once  the  sanctuary,  the  refectory,  the  forum  of  the 
College,  the  scene  of  all  her  festivals,  the  porch  of  her  hospitality,  was  left  bare 
without  and  desolate  within,  a  sort  of  Harvard  Niobe. 

What  ghosts  might  be  seen  and  heard  within  its  walls'!  The  prayers  of  the 
venerable  preacher,  the  swelling  music  of  the  choir,  the  sonorous  "  expectatur 
oratio"  of  the  august  President,  the  eloquent  appeals  of  the  speaker,  the  ringing 
applause  of  his  classmates,  the  fluting  of  the  Pierians,  the  tramp  of  the  martial 
band  as  they  marched  forth  to  glory,  the  clamor  of  the  commons  hall,  the  ten- 
der words  of  the  class  orator,  the  smooth  cadences  of  the  poet,  the  strange 
Babel  of  languages  murmuring  through  the  chambers,  the  French  accents  of  the 
welcome  Lafayette,  the  harsh,  brief  words  of  "  Old  Hickory,"  the  quavering  strains 
of  St.  Martin's,  and  the  cheers  and  choruses  of  the  Commencement  feasters, 
the  images  of  all  those  grave  officials,  illustrious  guests.  Commencement  pilgrims, 
ladies  young  and  old,  generations  of  sojourners,  —  all  the  life  of  the  College  for 
half  a  century  there  concentrated  and  now  vanished,  could  be  conjured  up,  —  but 
not  by  me. 


N 


Q© 
^ 


K2 


OFFICES  OF  THE  PRESIDENT,  DEAN,  AND  SECRETARY. 

Faculty  Meetings  formerly  held  in  the  Old  President's  House.  —  Rooms  in  University  Hall 

TAKEN    for    the    PRESIDENT    AND    REGENT.  —  CHANGE   IN   THEM.  —  ThE   SECRETARY'S    OFFICE.  — 

Pictures.  —  Office  Furniture. 

In  the  southern  end  of  University  Hall  there  are  three  modest  rooms  which 
would  not  attract  the  attention  of  the  casual  observer,  but  become  of  immediate 
interest  to  the  student  from  the  time  his  preliminary  examination  is  over  until 
his  last  deduction  is  scored  and  his  last  mark  recorded.  Faculty  meetings  were 
held  in  the  rooms  occupied  by  Presidents  Kirkland,  Ouincy,  and  Everett  as  a 
study,  in  the  Old  President's  House,  previous  to  the  Presidency  of  Mr.  Sparks, 
who  preferred  to  live  in  his  own  house  at  the  corner  of  Quincy  and  Kirkland 
Streets.  His  study  was  too  small  for  the  use  of  the  Faculty,  and  besides  was 
at  an  inconvenient  distance ;  moreover,  he  wished  to  have  office  hours,  and 
reserve  a  portion  of  the  day  from  interruptions  for  his  private  study,  and  he 
therefore  took  the  second-story  rooms  in  the  southern  end  of  University  Hall  for 
their  present  purpose.  For  his  own  use  he  chose  the  room  facing  on  the  yard, 
and  the  other  was  occupied  by  Professor  C.  C.  Felton  as  Regent,  —  an  office 
which  was  then  created  (1849).  Mr.  Felton  remained  Regent  until  1857,  with 
the  exception  of  the  academic  year  1853-4,  when  he  was  absent  in  Europe, 
during  which  time  his  place  was  filled  by  Professor  Joseph  Lovering,  who  finally 
succeeded  him  and  held  the  office  until  1870,  when  its  duties  were  merged  in 
those  of  the  Dean,  —  a  new  creation.  Professor  E.  W.  Gurney  was  the  first 
Dean,  and  still  (1875)  holds  the  position.  The  rooms  known  during  President 
Sparks's  administration  as  the  President's  and  Regent's  were  of  equal  size,  and 
corresponded  to  the  present  condition  of  the  rooms  similarly  situated  at  the 
northern  end  of  the  building.  Until  the  winter  vacation  after  the  inauguration 
of  President  Eliot,  in  1869,  these  rooms  remained  unchanged.  Then  they  were 
reversed,  the  President  taking  the  room  in  the  southeast  end,  and  the  Dean  the 
one   facing  the  yard.     Up   to   this  time   the   Secretary   had  been  in   a  state  of 


no 


OFFICES   OF  THE   PRESIDENT,   DEAN,   AND   SECRETARY. 


perpetual  vibration  between  the  Steward's  office,  the  Regent's  office,  and  the 
Library.  By  the  division  of  the  Dean's  room  and  the  absorption  of  a  small  ante- 
room cutting  off  the  window  in  the  end  of  the  hall,  where  students  who  had 
been  summoned  by  the  President  or  Dean*  used  to  gather,  a  habitation  was 
made  for  this  official,  and  his  triangular  perigrinations  were  ended. 

By  reference  to  the  accompanying  illustration,  the  position  of  these  three  offices 
can  be  seen  at  a  glance.  The  room  in  the  foreground  is  that  of  the  Secretary. 
The  visitor  passes  through  the  folding-doors  into  the  Dean's  office,  or  turns  to 
the  left  to  call  upon  the  President. 

The  Corporation  formerly  held  some  of  their  meetings  here,  and  the  rooms 
were  called  the  Corporation  Rooms.  Dinners  were  served  in  them  to  the  examin- 
ing committees.  The  Faculty  regularly  assemble  here  weekly,  oftener  if  the 
affairs  of  the  College  demand  it.  The  Academic  Council,  instituted  in  1862, 
also  meet  in  these  rooms. 

It  was  the  intention  of  President  Sparks  to  place  the  pictures  of  the  former 
Presidents  in  these  apartments.  A  crayon  of  President  Ouincy  was  given  for 
carrying  out  this  design ;  this,  together  with  engravings  of  Presidents  Everett  and 
Kirkland,  constitute  all  the  single  pictures  of  the  Presidents.  A  group  of  five 
living  Presidents,  Ouincy,  Everett,  Sparks,  Walker,  and  Felton,  photographed  in 
1 86 1,  hangs  on  the  southern  wall.  Including  those  in  the  group  there  had  been 
but  twenty  Presidents  of  the  College;  it  seems  remarkable  that  one  fourth  of  the 
entire  number  should  be  living  at  one  time. 

Copley's  engravings  from  his  pictures  were  kept  here.  On  the  north  wall  of 
the  President's  office  hang  two  large  oil-paintings  of  the  College  yard  and  build- 
ings. Upon  the  back  of  the  one  showing  more  especially  the  yard  is  the 
following  inscription,  "A.  Fisher  Pinx't.  1821.  A  view  of  the  interior  of  the 
College  yard  Taken  from  the  President's  House " ;  and  on  the  other,  "  Alvan 
Fisher  Pinx't.  182 1.  A  view  of  the  Colleges  in  Cambridge  Taken  from  a  situ- 
ation between  the  Charlestown  and  Craigie  Bridge  roads." 

While  painting  one  of  them,  the  artist   sat   on   the  top  of  the  Old  President's 

*  The  duties  of  this  officer  are  defined  by  the  following  statute,  enacted  in  1870  :  — 
"  The  Dean  of  the  College  Faculty  is  appointed  by  the  Corporation,  with  the  consent  of  the  Overseers, 
from  among  the  members  of  the  Faculty.  It  is  his  duty  to  preside  at  the  meetings  of  the  Faculty,  in  the 
absence  of  the  President ;  to  administer  the  discipline  of  the  College ;  to  take  charge  of  all  petitions 
from  undergraduates  to  the  Faculty ;  to  keep  the  records  of  admission  and  matriculation ;  to  furnish 
such  lists  of  students  as  may  be  required  by  the  Faculty  or  the  several  teachers  ;  to  prepare  all  scales 
of  scholarship,  and  preserve  the  records  of  conduct  and  attendance  ;  to  submit  each  year  to  the  Faculty 
lists  of  persons  to  be  recommended  for  scholarships  and  beneficiary  aid,  and  likewise  a  list  of  those  who 
appear,  from  the  returns  made  to  his  office,  to  have  complied  with  all  the  regular  conditions  for  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts ;  and,  in  general,  to  superintend  the  clerical  and  administrative  business  of 
the  College." 


OFFICES   OF  THE  PRESIDENT,   DEAN,   AND  SECRETARY.  m 

House,  and  President  Kirkland  on  one  occasion  accompanied  him,  and  conversed 
for  some  time  about  the  picture.  Copies  of  these  paintings  were  executed  in 
india-ink  by  Fisher,  from  which  engravings  were  made,  and  from  these  the  helio- 
types  on  the  nineteenth  page  of  Volume  Second  were  obtained. 

An  old  clock,  formerly  standing  in  the  lower  hall  of  the  Old  President's  House, 
was  placed  by  President  Quincy  in  the  entry  leading  to  the  study  in  the  same 
building ;  it  was  afterward  moved  by  President  Sparks  to  the  rooms  in  Univer- 
sity, and  now  fills  the  northeast  corner  of  the  President's  office.  A  smaller  clock, 
given  about  1830  by  Willard,  the  famous  clock-maker  of  Roxbury,  to  President 
Quincy  for  the  College,  was  kept  in  the  President's  library,  and  subsequently 
placed  in  the  Secretary's  office,  where  it  now  is. 

The  long  desk  at  the  right  of  the  Secretary's  office  used  to  be  a  sideboard  in 
the  Old  President's  House,  and  President  Sparks  converted  it  from  its  convivial 
usefulness  into  a  receptacle  for  blanks,  Faculty  documents,  old  examination- 
papers,  and  other  stimulating  food. 

At  General  Sumner's  death  a  carved  oaken  sideboard  came  by  bequest  into 
the  possession  of  the  College,  and  now  forms  part  of  the  President's  office  fur- 
niture. It  was  once  the  property  of  the  Apostle  Eliot,  whose  initials,  J.  E.,  with 
the  date  1681,  are  cut  upon  the  front. 

It  is  in  these  unpretending  rooms  that  the  discipline  of  the  University  is 
administered,  official  consultations  held,  plans  of  study  marked  out,  and,  in  fine, 
the  daily  and  yearly  routine  laid  down  and  recorded. 


GORE    HALL    AND    THE    COLLEGE    LIBRARY. 

Bequest  of  John  Harvard.  —  Gifts  till  the  End  of  the  Seventeenth  Century.  —  Solomon 
Stoddard  chosen  Library  Keeper.  —  Regulations.  —  Stools  and  Chairs  for  the  Li- 
brary. —  Benefactions  of  Thomas  Hollis  and  Family.  —  Citations  from  Letters  of 
Thomas  Hollis.  —  First  Library  Catalogue.  —  Donations.  —  Description  and  Uses  made 
OF  Harvard  Hall,  in  which  the  Books  were  kept.  —  Occupied  by  the  General  Court.  — 
Burnt.  —  Rebuilt  by  the  Province.  —  Amounts  paid  to  Occupants  of  Rooms  for  Losses 
BY  the  Fire.  —  Donors  and  Donations.  —  The  Books  sent  into  the  Country  Towns  while 
the  British  occupy  Boston.  —  Bequests  of  Samuel  Shapleigh,  Thomas  Brand  Hollis, 
and  Thomas  Palmer.  —  Gifts  of  Israel  Thorndike,  Samuel  Atkins  Eliot,  and  others.  — 
Gore  Hall  erected  with  Christopher  Gore's  Bequest.  —  Corner-Stone  laid  ;  the  In- 
scription. —  Account  of  the  Building.  —  Books  moved  into  it.  —  Twenty  Thousand  Dol- 
lars subscribed  for  Books. — Gift  of  William  Gray. — Gifts  and  Bequests  by  James 
Brown,  John  Farrar,  George  Hayward,  Clarke  Gayton  Pickman,  Stephen  Salisbury, 
Charles  Sumner,  Charles  Minot,  Henry  Ware  Wales,  Frederick  Athearn  Lane,  and 
others.  —  Number  of  Volumes.  —  Need  of  a  new  Building  for  a  Library. 


Gore  Hall  contains  the  College  Library,  the  first  books  of  which  were  given 
when  the  College  was  founded. 

A  Catalogue  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  volumes,  bequeathed  by  John 
Harvard,  who  died  14th  September,  1638,  is  entered  on  the  College  Records  in 
the  handwriting  of  President  Dunster.  "  The  Hon'^  Magistrates  &  Rev"*.  Elders 
gave  .  .  .  out  of  their  own  libraryes  to  the  vallue  of  Two  hundred  pound." 
President  Dunster  records  the  titles  of  twenty  volumes  given  by  Richard  Belling- 
ham,  of  thirty-seven  by  the  Reverend  Peter  Bulkley  of  Concord,  and  of  forty 
"  choice  books "  valued  at  twenty  pounds,  by  Governor  Winthrop.  William  Hib- 
bins,  the  Reverend  Thomas  Welde,  and  the  Reverend  Hugh  Peters  "  procured 
from  diverse  Gentellmen  &  Merchants  in  England  .  .  .  books  to  the  vallue  of  an 
hundred  &  fifty  pounds." 

All  these  gifts  were  placed  in  "the  building  called,"  loth  December,  1654,  "the 
old  CoUedge,  conteyning  a  Hall,  Kitchen,  Buttery,  Cellar,  Turrett  &  5  Studyes 
&  therin  7  Chambers   for   students   in   them,     a    Pantry  &  small  corne  Chamber. 


GORE   HALL  AND   THE   COLLEGE  LIBRARY. 


"3 


A  Library  &  Books  therin,  vallued  at  400''."  President  Chauncy  subsequently 
records  the  titles  of  twenty-nine  books,  "vallued  at  Sixty  pounds,"  a  gift  "Equitis 
D"'  Kenelm  Dighby  an°  D"'  1655."  "Some  Mathematicall  Books"  were  given  by 
"M^  Thomas  Graves,"  Biblia  Polyglotta  by  "  M"'  Ralfe  ffreik,"  "  Books  to  the  vallue 
of  ten  pounds  "  by  "  M'  John  ffreiks,"  and  "many  books  "  by  "S'  Richard  Daniell, 
Knight."  A  part  of  the  library  of  the  Reverend  Ezekiel  Rogers,  of  Rowley,  was 
bequeathed  in  1660,  and  in  1675  the  entire  collection  of  the  learned  Orientalist, 
John  Lightfoot.  October  27,  1675,  I  find  a  charge  for  "a  case  of  Bookes  from 
London  a  gift  of  mr.  Rich^  Baxter."  About  the  year  1675  or  1676,  President 
Chauncy  made  on  the  College  Records  "  A  copy  of  m'  Dunsters  note  given  to 
M'  Scotow.  Thes  p'sents  witnesse  that  wheras  Joshuah  Scottow  of  Bosto  march' 
hath  of  his  owne  free  accord  procured  for  the  library  of  Harvard  Colledge  Henry 
Stephan  his  Thesaurus  in  foure  volumes  in  folio,  and  bestowed  the  same  theron  : 
it  is  on  this  condicon,  and  w*  this  pomise  following,  that  if  euer  the  said 
Joshuah  during  his  life  shall  haue  occasion  to  use  the  said  booke  or  any  parcell 
therof,  he  shall  haue  free  liberty  therof,  and  accesse  therto :  and  if  God  shall 
blesse  the  said  Joshuah  w"'  any  child  or  childre  that  shalbee  students  of  the 
Greeke  tongue,  the"  the  said  bookes  aboue  specifyed  shalbee  unto  them  deliuered, 
in  case  that  they  will  not  otherwise  be  satisfyed  w*  out  it.  In  Witnesse  wherof 
this  p'sent  writing  is  signed  by  me  Henry  Dunster  p'sident  of  the  Colledge 
abouesaid  made  at  Boston,  this  twenty  eight  of  the  eight  moneth  1649.  Henrie 
Dunster. "  The  donor's  privilege  of  borrowing  was  made  use  of,  for  the  rec- 
ords say :  "  Recev''  of  M'  Uryan  Oakes,  pVt  y^  above  Expressed  Thesaurus  in 
foure  volumes  acc''ding  to  Condition  aboue :  upon  the  demand  of  my  Sonn 
Thomas  Scottow  I  say  received ;  pr  me  Josh :  Scottow  this  30""  of  August." 
By  the  addition  of  the  bequest  of  the  library  of  Theophilus  Gale,  D.  D.,  in 
1678,  the  number  of  the  volumes  was  more  than  doubled.  In  1681  Edward 
Jackson  gave  Brough ton's  Chronology.  In  1682  Sir  John  Maynard  gave  eight 
chests  of  books,  valued  at  four  hundred  pounds. 

These,  with  a  few  other  volumes,  constituted  the  entire  College  Library  at  the 
close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Though  few  persons  would  now  accept  the  col- 
lection as  a  gift  on  condition  of  providing  shelf-room  for  it,  many  of  the  volumes, 
being  "  choice  books  "  of  the  time,  did  good  service,  and  have  an  interest  as  show- 
ing the  subjects  of  inquiry  in  those  days. 

March  27,  1667,  "M'  Solomon  Stoddard  was  chosen  Library  keeper."  "For 
the  rectifying  of  y=  Library  &  Rules  for  the  Library  Keeper,"  sixteen  "orders 
were  made."  "  No  p''son  not  resident  in  the  Colledge,  except  an  Overseer,"  and 
"  no  Schollar  in  the  Colledge,  under  a  Senio',"  could  borrow  a  book,  and  "  no 
one  under  master  of  Art  (unless  it  be  a  fellow)  .  .  .  without  the  allowance  of  the 
President."     August  31,  1676,  "Dan^  Gookin,  one  of  the  Fellowes,"  was  paid  fifty 


114  GORE   HALL   AND   THE   COLLEGE   LIBRARY. 

shillings  for  "removing  the  library  to  the  new  Colledge  [Harvard  Hall]  & 
placeing  them."  November  i,  1677,  Harvard  College  appears  indebted  to  Mr. 
Ammi  Corlitt  for  "washing  &  Sweeping  the  library  in  new  Colledge,  55." 
August  23,  1679,  there  was  "paid  to  Jn°  Palfry  36J.  .  .  for  i  doz.  Stooles  made 
for  y'  Colledge  Library."  April  8,  1695,  it  was  voted  "that  six  leather  Chairs  be 
forthwith  provided  for  y=  use  of  y^  Library,  &  six  more  before  y'  Commencement, 
in  case  y"  Treasury  will  allow  of  it."  January  22,  1697-8  there  was  "paid  m' 
Tho  Fitch  for  6  Russia  chairs  had  of  him  last  Commencment  for  y^  Colledg 
Library  ^4  10  s." 

But  little  more  was  done  to  improve  or  enlarge  the  Library  till  Thomas  Hollis, 
of  London,  in  1719,  began  a  series  of  benefactions  to  the  College,  the  importance 
of  which  can  hardly  be  overestimated,  either  as  to  their  pecuniary  value  at  the 
time,  their  catholic  spirit,  or  their  consequences.  Besides  founding  ten  scholar- 
ships, two  professorships,  contributing  an  astronomical  and  philosophical  apparatus, 
and  procuring  Hebrew  and  Greek  types  and  other  donations,  he  gave  special 
attention  to  the  Library.  It  has  been  stated  that  his  gifts  "  must,  in  the  whole, 
have  reached  nearly  ^6000."  From  1720,  the  date  of  his  earliest  benefactions  to 
the  Library,  till  near  the  time  of  his  death,  he  sent  books  and  made  appeals  in 
its  behalf  to  authors,  publishers,  and  corporate  bodies.  Among  the  persons  moved 
by  his  influence  and  example  were  six  of  his  family,  whose  gifts  were  continued 
from  time  to  time  till  near  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  A  large  portion 
of  the  edition  of  the  College  Library  Catalogue  of  1723,  with  its  Supplement,  the 
printing  of  which  was  urged  by  him  and  the  historian  Daniel  Neal,  was  carefully 
distributed  by  his  own  hands.  In  his  correspondence  with  Benjamin  Colman, 
H.  U.  1692,  a  member  of  the  Corporation,  he  speaks  of  the  College  Library  as 
"  our "  Library,  and  enters  into  details  as  to  means,  making  purchases,  selecting 
books,  and  taking  care  of  them. 

March  28,  1724.  Mr.  Jeremy  Dummer  "tells  me  your  College  Catalogue  of 
your  library  came  very  oportunely,  there  is  one  gives  ^60.  star — wch  he  will 
lay  out  in  valluable  books,  he  had  begun  to  draw  out  the  books  by  his  head,  but 
not  examind  the  Catalogue,  because  he  had  noted  down  some,  wch  I  told  him 
you  have  alreddy,  and  it  is  to  prevent  duplicates,  I  prayd  him  to  consult  M'  J 
Hunt  who  has  read  it,  and  valines  a  good  publick  Library,  He  said  he  would  do 
so.     I  wish  he  dont  forget  it " 

May  8,  1724.  "My  Deare  Freind  &  Companion  M'  I  Watts  sends  now  a 
little  parsel  of  books  for  our  College  library,  I  think  all  that  are  published  and 
bound  of  his  printing,  pray  be  so  good  as  to  receive  and  forward  them  to  the 
College  and  accept  them  as  kindly,  as  they  were  reddily  given  upon  my  asking. 
.  .  .  Our  good  Freind  my  Neibor  Harris  .  .  .  has  promisd  me  reddily  on  ask- 
ing,   he   would   present   the   library  with  what    books   he    has    publisht,    that   are 


m 


GORE   HALL   AND   THE   COLLEGE   LIBRARY.  1 15 

bound,  .  .  .  and  he  bidds  me  to  hope,  I  shall  succeed  with  M'  Evans,  for  his 
works  also.  —  but  these  are  small  presents,  to  what  I  am  laboring  for,  if  I  may 
be  so  happy  to  succeed  in  what  I  am  projecting.  Mr.  Newman  seems  to  have 
the  same  at  heart,  and  has  some  hopes  of  success,  he  tells  me." 

Auo-ust  I,  1724.  "I  forward  to  you  about  ^100  —  Star  in  books  for  your 
library  at  College  —  there  is  roome  to  lay  out  £  500  Star  more  for  to  furnish  it 
well  for  a  publick  library  now  if  you  have  moneys  to  spare,  why  should  not  yee 
see  to  lay  it  out  in  such  books  as  you  are  sensible  are  wanting." 

January  6,  1724-5,  he  asks  for  a  Supplement  to  the  Catalogue,  "for  my  ease 
to  know  what  you  most  want,  and  avoid  duplicates,  |  if  some  of  your  N  E 
Marchants  had  the  good  of  your  College  at  heart  you  might  have  a  great 
number  of  books  sent  unto  you  in  a  little  time,  but  one  in  my  Neiborhood 
has  discouraged  one  I  expected  a  present  from,  telling  him  how  Rich  and 
able  &  flourishing  you  are  to  Buy  Books  your  selves,  if  you  want  them  and 
some  think  that  M'  Sam  Mathers  book  of  his  fathers  life  has  some  passages 
in  it,  tending  to  discourage  others,  wch   I  am  sorry  for." 

January  1 5.  "  As  to  your  motion  about  Exchanging  Bales  french  dictionary  for 
an  English  one,  I  a  little  admire  at,  we  have  few,  next  to  none  of  our  valluable 
Students  at  London,  who  sincerely  indevour  after  knowlege,  but  they  easily 
attaine  to  read  French  as  well  as  Latin  —  and  that  because  so  many  very  vallu- 
able books  in  History  &  Philosophy  are  written  in  French,  it  is  very  easy  for 
one  verst  in  Lattin  to  read  French  —  and  that  sett  of  books  are  —  esteemd  very 
valluable.  However  upon  your  notice,  I  may  discorage  any  more  French  books, 
by  my  hand ;  tho  I  should  think  such  ought  to  be  estemed  in  a  publick  Library. 
M'  Hunt  tells  me  Bayles  Dictionary  in  y°  french  is  worth  two  of  them  in 
English  —  and  yet  they  are  in  such  demand  now,  that  tney  ask  11.  or  12.  ginees 
for  them  —  he  has  been  much  displeased  with  me  or  the  Bookseller,  several  times 
for  sending  Montfaucons  Antiquities  in  English,  he  would  have  had  the  french 
been  sent  you  —  but  according  to  your  remark  upon  Baile  —  I  perceive  you  like 
what  you  have  best,  as  it  is  English." 

February  1 5,  he  sends  "  some  books  &  Letters  from  M'  Guise.  Minister  at 
Harford  —  I  have  expectation  of  another  parsel  of  books,  to  send  by  this  or  next 
shipping,  and  if  there  happen  to  be  some  books  not  quite  Orthodox,  in  search 
after  truth  with  an  honest  design  dont  be  afraid  of  them  a  publick  library 
ought  to  be  furnished  if  they  can  with  Con.  as  well  as  Pro  —  that  students  may 
read,  try,  Judg  —  see  for  themselves  and  beleive  upon  Argument  and  Just  reason- 
ings of  the  Scripturs  —  thus  saith  Aristotle,  thus  saith  Calvin  —  will  not  now 
pass  for  proof  in  our  London  disputations." 

April  28,  1725,  he  speaks  of  an  acquaintance  who  had  bought  about  twenty- 
five  volumes  of  the  publications  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Paris,  in   French,  for 


Il6  CORK   HALL   AND    rilE   COLLEGE  LIBRARY. 

a  present  to  the  I.ibrar)'.  "  I  tolcl  my  frcind  how  little  you  esteemd  Bayles  Dic- 
tionary because  in  French -he  rcplycd-he  would  waite  — and  not  send  them 
till  he  heard  from  you,  that  you  estemed  such  performances  &  Desired  them, 
pray  Sir  consult  my  Professor  and  send  me  both  your  opinions,  so  soon  as  you  can, 
because  if  you  dont  like  these,  he  will  send  some  other  books,  but  not  so  costly." 

June  7.  "  Your  library  is  reckond  here  to  be  ill  managed,  by  the  account  I 
have  of  some  lliat  know  it,  you  want  seats  to  sett  and  read,  and  chains  to  your 
valluablc  books  like  our  Bodleian  library,  or  Sion  College  in  London,  you 
know  their  methods,  whch  are  approved,  but  do  not  imitate  them,  you  let 
your  books  be  taken  at  pleasure  home  to  Mens  houses,  and  many  are  lost,  your 
(boyish)  Students,  take  them  to  their  chambers,  and  teare  out  pictures  &  Maps  to 
adorne  the  Walls,  such  things  are  not  good;  if  you  want  roome  for  modern 
books,  it  is  easy  to  remove  the  less  usefull  into  a  more  remote  place,  but  not  to 
sell  any,  they  are  devoted." 

June  21.  "When  your  library  keeper  shall  send  me  a  printed  Supplement  to 
your  first  Catalogue  of  your  library,  perhaps  it  might  be  of  use  if  you  drew  out 
a  Cataloo-ue  of  what  books,  you  yet  want,  and  would  be  most  acceptable  unto 
you  —  if  any  new  benefactions  should  offer  to  my  cognisance." 

January  27,  1726-7.  "I  am  this  day  applied  unto  at  the  N  E  coffehouse  by 
M'  OUiver  in  a  letter  he  shewed  me  from  M'  Prince  of  the  South  Church  in 
Boston  (I  think  it  is  called)  to  help  furnish  a  library  for  their  private  use — 
usino-  this  as  a  motive,  we  did  not  know  what  hands  the  great  library  at  Har- 
vard Colleo-e  might  fall  into,  but  this  private  one  would  be  secure  to  posterity  — 
I  was  diso-usted  at  the  Suggestion  and  refusd  to  read  on,  and  bid  him  write 
M'  Prince  word.     I  disliked  his  motion  and  would  not  be  concernd." 

In  addition  to  the  rich  gifts  from  Hollis  and  his  relatives,  donations  were  made 
by  the  divines  Joseph  Hussey,  Daniel  Neal,  Dr.  Avery,  Richard  Mead,  Bishop 
Berkeley,  by  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel,  by  William  Dummer,  by 
William  James  of  Jamaica,  who  gave  medical  books  to  the  value  of  twenty-five 
pounds,  and  by  many  others. 

As  the  Library  was  greatly  enlarged  and  improved  by  these  donations,  the 
Cataloo-ue  of  1723  furnishes  an  inadequate  idea  of  its  value  and  extent  in  1764, 
a  century  and  a  quarter  after  the  College  was  founded. 

The  edifice  in  which  the  books  were  kept  was  exposed  to  greater  danger  by 
being  used,  like  the  first  Harvard  Hall,  for  other  than  library  purposes.  The 
middle  room  on  the  lower  floor,  extending  through  the  building,  was  the  hall 
where  the  students  dined  in  commons,  six  at  a  table,  each  carrying  his  own  knife 
and  fork,  which  he  wiped  on  the  tablecloth.  The  northeast  corner  was  a  kitchen, 
and  the  southeast  was  the  buttery,  where  the  butler  sold  bread,  butter,  eggs,  etc., 
to    collegians.      The   room    over    the    buttery  was    occupied    by   a   tutor.      The 


GORE  HALL  AND   THE   COLLEGE  LIBRARY.  II7 

Library  and  a  few  ordinary  articles  for  a  museum  were  kept  in  the  room  over 
the  hall.  In  the  west  chamber,  the  Hollis  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural 
Philosophy  kept  his  apparatus  and  delivered  lectures  ;  and  in  the  dining-hall  lec- 
tures were  delivered  by  the  Hollis  Professor  of  Divinity.  The  other  rooms  in 
the  building,  including  the  cockloft,  were  occupied  by  students.  The  hall  and 
library  were  used  for  meetings  on  public  occasions. 

In  consequence  of  the  prevalence  of  small-pox  in  Boston,  the  General  Court 
adjourned  i6th  January,  1764,  to  Cambridge.  The  Governor  and  Council  took 
possession  of  the  Library,  and  the  Representatives  of  the  hall  below.  In  the 
middle  of  the  night  preceding  25th  January,  it  being  vacation  and  the  students 
absent,  "  except  two  or  three  in  the  part  of  Massachusetts  most  distant  from 
Harvard,"  a  fire,  conjectured  to  have  begun  in  a  beam  under  the  hearth  of  the 
Library,  broke  out,  while  a  cold  snow-storm  and  high  wind  were  raging,  and 
made  such  progress  before  it  was  discovered  as  to  defy  all  efforts  to  subdue  it. 
"  Harvard  College  suffered  the  most  ruinous  loss  it  ever  met  with."  The  build- 
ing contained  the  treasures  and  apparatus  accumulated  during  a  century  and  a 
quarter.  The  Records  of  the  Library,  and  all  of  its  five  thousand  volumes,  except 
a  few  which  were  in  the  hands  of  members  of  the  Legislature,  were  burnt. 
Among  the  books  saved  was  one  of  those  given  by  John  Harvard,  —  John 
Downame's  "  Christian  warfare  against  the  Deuill  World  and  Flesh,"  —  a  sug- 
gestive title  for  the  initial  volume  of  our  present  collection. 

Measures  were  taken  immediately  to  repair  the  loss.  January  26,  a  day  and 
night  only  intervening  after  the  calamity,  Governor  Bernard  sent  a  message  to 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  they  voted  unanimously  that  "  Harvard  Hall 
be  rebuilt  at  the  charge  of  the  Province."  The  Governor  subscribed  liberally, 
and  gave  more  than  three  hundred  volumes.  Of  the  present  Harvard  Hall, 
erected  on  the  old  site,  and  a  model  of  strength  and  beauty  before  it  underwent 
any  alterations,  it  is  said  he  furnished  the  plan,  and  would  not  allow  the  builder 
to  make  the  least  deviation  from  it. 

"  A  Committee  of  Correspondence  for  obtaining  benefactions  from  Great  Britain, 
or  other  places,  in  order  to  restore  the  Library  and  Apparatus,  and  a  Committee 
for  procuring  subscriptions  for  the  same  objects,  were  speedily  appointed."  To 
make  up  losses  sustained  by  occupants  of  rooms,  the  Legislature  ordered  about 
;if  188  y s.  S^d.  to  be  paid  to  Belcher  Hancock,  Tutor;  ;^  57  12  s.  to  Timothy 
Langdon;  ^15  6  s.  8d.  to  Samuel  Farrar;  ^^13  4^.  6d.  to  Joseph  Farrar ;  ^  14 
10 5.  2d.  to  Isaac  Morrill;    and  ^16  35.  10 d.  to  Increase  Sumner. 

To  procure  books,  the  General  Assembly  of  New  Hampshire,  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  Governor  Benning  Wentworth,  gave  ^  300,  John  Hancock  gave  more 
than  ^  550,  and  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  New  England  and 
Parts  Adjacent,  of  which  Jasper  Mauduit,  a  long-tried  friend  of  the  College,  was 


1,8  GORE   HALL  AND   THE   COLLEGE  LIBRARY. 

Secretary,  gave  £  300.  Clergymen  and  scholars  with  limited  means,  feeling  that 
the  loss  to  Christianity  and  learning  demanded  personal  sacrifices,  sent  from  their 
small  private  collections  volumes  which,  from  the  autographs  and  notes  in  them, 
appear  to  have  been  cherished  gifts  of  ancestors  and  friends.  A  number  of  dona- 
tions were  made  by  English  authors  and  publishers.  Thomas  Hollis,  the  grand- 
nephew  of  the  early  benefactor  of  that  name,  sent  boxes  after  boxes  of  the  best 
books  which  he  could  select,  bound  sumptuously  and  substantially,  containing 
curious  and  valuable  bibliographical,  biographical,  and  other  notes  in  the  donor's 
handwriting.  Many  of  the  volumes  are  now  so  scarce  that  they  are  eagerly 
sought  for  as  rarities,  he  always  taking  "  immense  Pains  in  examining  into  y' 
merits  before  he  sent  'em." 

The  names  of  the  benefactors  and  the  sums  given  to  repair  the  loss,  made  with 
much  care,  are  preserved  in  the  College  archives.  The  result  was  highly  gratifying. 
Though  treasures  which  could  not  be  replaced  had  been  destroyed,  a  new  library, 
greatly  exceeding  the  other  in  value,  was  collected.  When  Boston  was  occupied 
by  British  troops,  it  was  sent  in  separate  parcels  to  clergymen  and  others  in  the 
country  towns  for  safe  keeping.  In  June,  1781,  the  number  of  volumes  was 
10,059,  of  which  at  least  2,156  were  from  the  last  Thomas  Hollis. 

Besides  five  hundred  pounds  sterling,  left  for  a  permanent  fund  by  Hollis,  who 
died  ist  January,  1774,  Samuel  Shapleigh,  a  graduate  in  1789,  Librarian  from  1793 
till  his  death  in  1800,  bequeathed  a  farm  and  property  to  the  value  of  three 
thousand  dollars,  directing  that  the  income  should  "  be  sacredly  appropriated  to 
the  purchase  of  such  modern  publications  as  the  Corporation,  Professors,  and 
Tutors  shall  judge  most  proper  to  improve  the  students  in  polite  literature;  the 
books  to  be  deposited  in  the  Library  of  the  University,  and  to  consist  of  poetry 
and  prose,  but  neither  in  Greek  nor  Latin." 

Thomas  Brand  Hollis,  inheriting  the  greater  part  of  the  estates  of  his  uncle, 
Thomas  Hollis,  dying  in  1804,  bequeathed  one  hundred  pounds  to  be  laid  out  in 
Greek  and  Latin  classics. 

To  these  are  to  be  added  Israel  Thorndike's  gift  of  several  thousand  maps 
and  about  thirty-five  hundred  volumes  relating  to  America,  constituting  the 
Ebeling  Library,  secured  to  the  College  through  Joseph  Green  Cogswell,  H.  U. 
1806;  and  supplementing  it,  the  Warden  collection,  given  by  Samuel  Atkins  Eliot, 
H.  U.  181 7.  Thomas  Palmer,  H.  U.  1761,  also  bequeathed  to  the  College  his 
choice  library  of  about  twelve  hundred  volumes.  These,  with  other  donations 
not  mentioned,  and  a  few  additions  by  purchase,  made  a  library  of  about  forty- 
one  thousand  volumes,  for  the  history  of  which,  thus  briefly  noticed,  there  are 
ample  materials. 

There  was  no  room  for  more  books  in  Harvard  Hall,  and  this  valuable  col- 
lection,  much   of  which,  if  lost,  could  not  be  replaced,  was   in    danger   from   fire 


I  1  T  E  K  I 


A  L  ]L 


GORE  HALL   AND   THE   COLLEGE  LIBRARY.  II9 

within,  as  well  as  from  its  proximity  to  other  buildings.  After  various  unsuc- 
cessful appeals  to  the  public  and  to  the  State  Legislature  for  aid,  the  Corpora- 
tion, with  the  approbation  of  the  heirs  of  Christopher  Gore,  H.  U.  1776,  the 
greatest  of  the  benefactors  of  the  College,  determined  with  his  bequest,  amount- 
ino-  to  about  seventy  thousand  dollars,  to  erect  a  building  for  a  library  that  should 
bear  his  name.  The  structure  was  begun  in  1837,  and  the  corner-stone  was  laid 
25th  April,  1838.  In  a  cavity,  formed  upwards  in  the  bottom  of  the  stone  which 
constitutes  the  plinth  of  the  buttress  upon  the  northeast  corner  of  the  building, 
was  deposited  a  silver  plate,  contained  in  a  leaden  box,  the  whole  imbedded  in 
resin,  bearing  the  following  inscription:  — 

HUJUS    ^DIFICII, 
PECUNIA,     QUAM 

CHRISTOPHORUS   GORE,  LL.  D., 

UNIVERSITATI    HARVARDIANjE    MUNIFICE    LEGAVERAT, 

EXTRUCTI, 

FUNDAMENTUM  JACTUM    EST 

A.    D.   VII.    KAL.    MAI.   ANNI   MDCCCXXXVIII.  ; 

EDVARDO   EVERETT,   LL.  D., 

REIPUBLICjE  massachusettensis  gubernatore, 
curatorum  preside  ; 

JOSIA  QUINCY,   LL.  D., 

UNIVERSITATIS    PRjESIDE  ; 

JOSEPHO   STORY,   LL.  D.,    LEMUELE   SHAW,    LL.  D., 

CAROLO    GREELY   LORING,    A.  M.,     JACOBO    WALKER,    S.  T.  D., 

JOANNE    AMORY   LOWELL,   A.  M.,    THOMAS   WREN   WARD,   JEraru  Pr^fecto, 

SOCIIS. 

THADD^O  GULIELMO   HARRIS  RICARDO   BOND 

ARCHITECTO. 


The  edifice,  built  of  Quincy  granite,  in  the  Gothic  style  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, and  with  modifications,  after  the  design  of  King's  College  Chapel  at  Cam- 
bridge, England,  is  in  the  form  of  a  Latin  cross,  the  length  of  the  body  being 
140  feet,  and  of  the  transepts  81 J  feet.  The  principal  fronts  are  south  and  north, 
with  octagonal  towers  originally  83  feet  high.  In  the  interior  is  a  space  112  feet 
long,  with  a  row  of  ten  columns  on  each  side,  rising  35  feet  to  the  ceiling,  which 
is  formed  of  groined  vaults,  ornamented  by  ribs  rising  from  the  columns  and  inter- 
secting each  other  in  various  points.  The  alcoves  are  formed  by  partitions  ex- 
tending from  the  floor  to  the  ceiling  between  the  pillars  and  the  walls,  there 
being   a   gallery  floor    supported    entirely  by  bars    of  wrought-iron,  passing  from 


I20  GORE   HALL   AND  THE   COLLEGE   LIBRARY. 

one  partition  to  another  across  tlie  alcoves  at  the  height  of  12}  feet  from  the 
floor.  In  every  part  of  the  structure  wood  is  rejected  where  its  place  could  be 
supplied  without  great  increase  of  cost  in  the  construction,  or  inconvenience  of 
some  kind  in  the  use,  by  stone,  brick,  or  iron.  No  timber  is  used  in  the  main 
floor,  which  is  formed  by  brick  vaults,  filled  to  a  level  upon  the  spandrels,  and 
covered  by  boards.  The  roof  contains  no  wood  whatever,  except  the  boards  or 
laths  to  which  the  slates  are  fastened.  The  place  of  rafters  is  supplied,  through- 
out, by  trusses  made  of  light  bars  of  wrought-iron,  which  are  supported  by  the 
walls  and  by  iron  purlins  ranged  through  the  building  upon  the  tops  of  the 
Gothic  columns  which  rise  through  the  ceiling  for  this  purpose,  the  thrust  of 
these  trusses  being  prevented  by  iron  rods,  which  take  the  place  of  the  tie-beams 
of  wooden  roofs. 

Into  this  edifice,  designed  specially  for  a  library  instead  of  being  also  a  store- 
house for  college  apparatus  and  other  objects  of  value  and  interest,  the  books  were 
moved  in  the  summer  vacation  of  1841.  To  increase  the  collection,  and  especially 
to  supply  the  great  want  of  recent  publications,  twenty  thousand  dollars  were  soon 
raised  by  subscription.  This  was  followed  by  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for  the 
same  purpose,  given  by  William  Gray,  a  graduate  of  1829,  —  the  largest  gift 
which  the  Library  had  ever  received  from  an  individual,  and  specially  opportune. 

Besides  numerous  smaller  donations,  there  have  been  gifts  or  bequests  of  five 
thousand  dollars  from  James  Brown,  John  Farrar,  H.  U.  1803,  George  Hayward, 
H.  U.  1809,  Stephen  Salisbury,  H.  U.  181 7,  and  Frederick  Athearn  Lane,  H.  U. 
1849,  respectively,  in  addition  to  the  rich  libraries  of  Clarke  Gay  ton  Pickman, 
H.  U.  181 1,  Charles  Sumner,  H.  U.  1830,  and  Henry  Ware  Wales,  H.  U.  1838. 
To  these  benefactions  are  to  be  added  the  amount  of  sixty  thousand  dollars  in 
seven  per  cent  bonds  from  Charles  Minot,  H.  U.  1828,  and  the  large  pecuniary 
bequest  of  Charles  Sumner. 

To  the  forty-one  thousand  volumes,  of  which  the  Library  consisted  at  the  time 
of  removal,  about  one  hundred  and  nine  thousand  have  been  added,  making  the 
total  number  in  Gore  Hall  at  this  time  (1874)  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand,  besides  as  many,  or  more,  pamphlets  ;  filling  to  repletion  the  building 
which  was  thought  to  be  of  "  sufficient  capacity  to  contain  the  probable  accumu- 
lation of  books  during  the  present  century,"  —  the  College  having  in  addition 
probably  sixty  thousand  or  more  volumes  belonging  to  other  departments  and 
kept  in  other  buildings. 

This  "probable  accumulation,"  so  far  exceeding  the  expectations  of  the  most 
sanguine  friends  of  the  Library,  and  the  magnanimous  spirit  in  which  benefac- 
tors have  not  only  given  their  treasures,  but  provided  for  an  increase,  make  an 
appeal  for  the  safe  keeping  of  the  trusts,  which  ought  not  to  go  unheeded.  Not- 
withstanding  the    pains   taken    in    the    construction    of   Gore    Hall,   every  year's 


GORE  HALL  AND  THE   COLLEGE  LIBRARY.  I21 

experience  during  a  third  of  a  century  strengthens  my  conviction  of  its  unsuit- 
ableness  for  a  library.  It  is  not  perfectly  secure  against  fire,  is  at  no  time  of  the 
year  entirely  free  from  dampness,  and  is  so  ill  planned  as  to  require  all  the  work 
of  the  Library  to  be  done  under  great  disadvantages.  There  is  not  a  private 
room  in  it,  not  even  one  for  the  Librarian.  The  immediate  want  is  a  convenient 
fire-proof  edifice  with  hollow  walls,  so  built  as  to  admit  of  indefinite  enlargement. 
Such  a  structure  is  needed  to  store  the  literary  treasures  already  intrusted  to 
the  guardianship  of  the  College,  and  which,  if  lost,  could  never  be  replaced,  and 
to  provide  for  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  volumes  which  must  accumulate  in 
the  course  of  a  century.  The  building  should  be  so  well  fitted  for  its  purpose  as 
to  induce  persons  to  prefer  it  to  any  other  place  as  the  depository  for  collections 
on  which  they  have  spent  years  of  labor,  and  about  the  preservation  of  which 
they  feel  much  anxiety. 


APPLETON    CHAPEL. 

The  Need  of  its  Erection.  —  The  Donor.  —  The  Original  Structure  and  its  early  History. 
Ixs  Renovation  and  present  Condition.  —  The  Associations  connected  with  it. 

Appleton  Chapel  is  the  second  building  which  has  been  erected  in  the  Col- 
lege yard,  designed  solely  for  public  worship.  For  twenty-two  years,  from  1744 
to  1 766,  religious  services  were  held  in  Holden  Chapel ;  but,  as  for  more  than  a 
century  before  the  erection  of  Holden  there  had  been  no  house  set  apart  ex- 
clusively for  this  object,  so  nearly  a  century  passed  before  another  edifice,  conse- 
crated to  this  purpose  alone,  was  provided.  The  need  of  such  a  structure,  suited 
for  devotional  exercises,  was  great.  Since  these  exercises  depend  for  their  im- 
pressiveness  very  much  on  their  surroundings  and  on  the  power  of  association, 
no  hall  which  is  continually  used  for  many  different  purposes  can  ever  awaken 
the  same  emotions  of  reverence  as  a  church.  Harvard  Hall,  where  the  students 
met  for  prayers  after  Holden  Chapel  was  devoted  to  other  uses,  was  also  occu- 
pied by  the  library,  the  philosophical  apparatus,  and  the  culinary  department. 
University  Hall,  which  was  next  taken  for  divine  service,  contained,  besides  the 
chapel,  lecture  and  recitation  rooms,  dining-rooms,  kitchen,  and  store-rooms ;  and 
it  was  impossible  for  those  who  had  remembrances  of  failure  or  frolic  in  those 
places  to  enter  the  building  with  the  same  feelings  which  they  would  have  in  an 
ordinary  house  of  worship.  Rushing  up  the  flights  of  stone  steps,  over  the  brick 
floor,  through  the  narrow  doors,  into  the  uncarpeted  room,  the  noise  of  the 
hurrying  feet  of  the  belated  ones,  as  they  pushed  and  jostled  one  another,  was 
not  very  favorable  to  the  spirit  of  devotion.  The  number  of  undergraduates, 
moreover,  which  was  steadily  increasing,  filled  the  little  chapel  to  overflowing ; 
and,  since  it  could  not  be  enlarged,  a  new  one  was  absolutely  necessary. 

The  present  building  was  erected  in  the  year  1858,  at  a  cost  of  nearly  sixty- 
eight  thousand  dollars.  It  was  named  in  honor  of  Samuel  Appleton,  of  Boston, 
who  died  July  11,  1853,  and  bequeathed  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  scien- 
tific, literary,  and  charitable  purposes.  Of  this  amount,  his  executors,  in  Novem- 
ber, 1854,  gave  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  the  College  for  the  erection  of  a  chapel. 
The  ground  was   broken  in  July,   1856;   the  corner-stone  was    laid  May  2,  1857; 


« 


^ 


APPLETON   CHAPEL. 


123 


and  the  building  was  dedicated  October  17,  1858,  President  Walker  offering  the 
dedicatory  prayer,  and  Professor  Huntington  preaching  the  sermon. 

The  original  design  and  plans  for  the  edifice  were  furnished  by  a  German 
architect.  The  material  is  a  light  sandstone,  brought  from  Pictou,  in  Nova 
Scotia.  The  building,  which  stands  on  a  line  running  very  nearly  east  and  west, 
is  situated  so  as  to  form  a  right  angle  with  Gore  Hall  and  Holden  Chapel. 
Thayer  Hall  did  not  then  exist,  and  the  appearance  of  the  Chapel  was  very 
pleasing  and  picturesque,  especially  to  one  approaching  it  from  the  main  gate. 
It  has  three  doors  in  front,  one  on  each  side,  and  one  in  the  rear  for  the  minis- 
ter. The  tower  supports  a  vane,  and  over  the  principal  entrance  is  a  cross. 
Within,  at  the  east  end  of  the  building,  there  is  a  deep  recess,  and,  at  first,  two 
pulpits  were  placed,  one  on  each  side  of  the  arch  which  spans  it,  facing  the  audi- 
ence. Afterwards,  the  pulpit  on  the  north  side  was  taken  away,  and  a  lower  one 
or  reading-desk  was  substituted,  which  was  used  by  Dr.  Huntington  at  morning 
prayers  and  on  Sunday  afternoons,  while  the  other  was  used  on  Sunday  mornings. 
At  a  subsequent  period,  in  order  to  enable  the  audience  to  hear  more  distinctly, 
the  pulpit  which  had  been  taken  away  was  replaced  in  the  centre  of  the  recess, 
with  a  sounding-board  above,  leaving  the  other  pulpit  and  reading-desk  unchanged. 
Originally  there  were  seats  only  on  the  floor  of  the  building,  which  was  capable 
of  containing  about  seven  hundred  persons. 

The  early  history  of  the  Chapel  is  one  of  prolonged  disaster,  and  scarcely 
anything  seems  wanting  to  the  series  of  calamities  which  from  the  very  beginning 
have  befallen  it.  The  building-plans  were  inadequate,  and  some  of  the  work  was 
poorly  done.  The  framework  of  the  roof  separated  and  became  insecure,  and  after 
every  winter's  storm  the  snow  collected  in  such  large  quantities  that  it  became 
necessary  that  it  should  be  carried  out  in  casks,  since  otherwise  it  would  have 
melted,  and  ruined  the  ceiling.  Meantime,  there  was  no  way  for  entering  this 
part  of  the  edifice,  so  that  a  passage  had  to  be  cut  through  the  wall  of  the 
tower.  The  organ  also,  which  was  described  as  "  a  large  and  fine  instrument, 
such  as  seemed  to  be  required  by  the  place  and  the  increased  attention  of  the 
students  to  sacred  music,"  was  of  unsatisfactory  workmanship,  and,  being  in  a 
recess  over  the  porch,  it  was  seriously  affected  by  the  moisture  and  by  the  vary- 
ing temperature  of  the  building.  It  was  repaired  repeatedly,  and  nine  years 
after  it  had  been  purchased,  five  thousand  dollars  were  expended  upon  it;  but  the 
repairs  were  unsuccessful,  and,  through  some  defect  of  construction,  it  was  con- 
stantly getting  out  of  order.  In  addition  to  these  annoyances,  it  was  found  that, 
notwithstanding  various  expedients  which  had  been  tried  to  improve  the  acoustic 
properties  of  the  building,  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that  the  preacher  could  be 
distinctly  heard;  and  it  was  estimated  that  fifteen  thousand  dollars  would  be  re- 
quired to  put  the  house  in  a  thoroughly  satisfactory  condition. 

A  new  era,  however,  in  the  history  of  the  Chapel   opened  under   the    adminis- 


124 


APPLETON   CHAPEL. 


tration  of  President  Eliot.  Whilst  the  exterior  had  been  made  storm-proof,  the 
interior  was  entirely  reconstructed.  Studs  and  furring  were  placed  against  the 
walls,  on  which  laths  and  plastering  were  set,  whereby  the  resonance  of  the  build- 
ing, which  had  occasioned  so  much  vexation  to  the  hearers,  was  almost  entirely 
counteracted.  Galleries  were  put  in,  which  enlarged  the  number  of  sittings  to 
nine  hundred.  New  windows,  of  richly  stained  glass,  bearing  the  motto  "  Christo  et 
Ecclesiae  "  below,  and  "  Veritas  "  above,  were  substituted  for  the  former  plain  ones, 
and  added  much  to  the  elegance  of  the  place.  A  handsome  screen  was  erected 
behind  the  pulpit,  and  the  walls  and  ceiling  were  decorated  in  colors.  The  organ 
likewise  was  rebuilt,  and  it  is  now  one  of  the  most  powerful  of  its  size.  The 
pulpit  which  was  used  last  still  stands  in  its  former  position,  but  the  others, 
with  the  railing  in  front,  have  been  removed ;  and  the  sounding-board  has  been 
taken  down,  as  it  was  no  longer  needed,  the  speaker's  voice  being  easily  heard  in 
every  part.  Connected  with  the  pulpit  is  a  signal-wire,  extending  to  the  door, 
which,  pulled  when  the  bell  has  ceased  to  ring,  indicates  to  the  officiating  minis- 
ter that  the  exercises  should  begin.  In  front  of  the  pulpit  is  the  communion- 
table, and  at  the  side  of  it  is  the  baptismal  font,  of  carved  stone,  and  bearing  on  the 
top,  as  an  inscription,  the  last  half  of  Matthew  xxviii.  19,  in  Greek  capital  letters. 

These  improvements,  which  were  completed  February  22,  1873,  were  brought 
about  by  the  liberality  of  the  children  of  the  late  Nathan  Appleton,  of  Boston. 
No  building  belonging  to  the  University  has  undergone  a  greater  transformation 
than  this,  and  from  being  the  least  satisfactory,  it  has  become  one  of  the  most 
attractive  and  commodious  of  all.  It  truly  fulfils  its  purpose,  speaking  at  once 
to  the  eye  and  to  the  spirit,  the  outward  form  being  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
idea  which  it  embodies,  and  appealing  to  the  aesthetic  as  well  as  the  religious 
sentiment.  Certainly,  in  this  instance,  the  glory  of  the  latter  house  is  far 
greater   than   that   of  the    former. 

Appleton  Chapel  is  used  for  daily  prayers  and  for  Sunday  services,  and  it  has 
been  opened  also  on  week-days  for  weddings  and  funerals.  Here  the  obsequies 
of  General  C.  R.  Lowell,  President  Felton,  Professor  Agassiz,  and  Professor  Jeffries 
Wyman  were  performed.  There  is  a  church  connected  with  the  University,  which 
was  organized  November  i,  18 14,  and  the  Lord's  Supper  is  statedly  observed. 
Baptism  likewise  has  been  administered  from  time  to  time.  In  the  winter  of 
1873-4  evening  services  were  introduced,  conducted  by  eminent  preachers  of 
various  denominations,  and,  being  open  to  the  public,  they  were  frequently  attended 
by  large  congregations.  During  the  last  two  years  also  the  public  performances  of 
Class  Day,  Commencement,  and  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  have  been  held  in  this 
place,  it  being  found  that  nearly  as  many  persons  could  be  accommodated  in  it 
as  in  the  meeting-house  of  the  First  Parish.  When  Memorial  Hall  shall  have 
been  completed,  these  exercises  will  probably  take  place  there,  and  the  Chapel  vi'ill 
then  have,  as  is  to  be  desired,  only  strictly  religious  associations  connected  with  it. 


BOYLSTON    HALL. 

Gift  and  Bequest  of  Ward  Nicholas  Boylston.  —  Terms  of  the  Bequest.  —  Extract  from 
President  Walker's  Annual  Report,  1855-56.  —  Description  of  the  Hall.  —  Apparatus 
of  Laboratories  and  Cabinets. 

In  1856  there  was  in  the  hands  of  the  College  Treasurer  an  accumulating  fund, 
amounting  to  twenty-three  thousand  dollars,  for  building  an  Anatomical  Museum 
and  Chemical  Laboratory.  This  fund,  which  had  been  accumulating  during  a 
long  series  of  years,  originated  in  gifts  of  Ward  Nicholas  Boylston  during  his 
lifetime,  and  was  at  a  later  period  increased  by  a  bequest  of  one  thousand  dol- 
lars, which  accrued  to  the  College  after  his  death,  in  1828.  This  bequest  was 
made  in  the  following  terms  :  — 

"  I  also  give  to  said  President  and  Fellows  one  thousand  dollars,  to  be  added 
to  the  accumulating  fund  for  building  an  Anatomical  Museum  and  Library 
Room,  together  with  a  Lecture  Room  and  Chemical  Laboratory;  said  fund  is  to 
accumulate  until  it  amounts  to  thirty-five  thousand  dollars,  when  said  edifice  is  to 
be  built  of  stone  properly  secured  from  fire  both  from  within  and  from  without." 

In  his  Annual  Report  for  1855-56,  President  Walker,  after  stating  the  facts 
connected  with  the  origin  of  the  fund  just  referred  to,  adds :  "  At  present,  accord- 
ing to  the  Treasurer's  statement,  this  fund  amounts  to  a  little  less  than  twenty- 
three  thousand  dollars,  but  as  subscriptions  have  been  obtained  which  will  raise 
it  to  forty  thousand  dollars,  it  is  proposed  to  go  on  with  the  building  without 
further  delay.  This  step  is  the  more  necessary  and  urgent,  because  the  space 
now  occupied  by  the  Chemical  Department  in  University  Hall  is  needed  for  addi- 
tional recitation-rooms,  and  because  the  laboratory  which  has  been  temporarily 
fitted  up  in  that  building  is  neither  convenient  nor  safe." 

The  building  was  begun  in  the  spring  of  1857,  and  was  first  occupied  at  the 
opening  of  the  term  in  September,  1858.  It  is  built  of  Rockport  granite,  and  in 
order  to  obtain  security  against  fire,  all  the  partition  walls  were  made  of  brick, 
and    plastered  without  furring,  dampness   being   avoided   by  vaultings.     The  first 


J  26  BOYLSTON    HALL. 

cost  of  llic  building,  iacluding  the  furniture,  was  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The 
orio-inal  building,  however,  had  only  two  stories,  and  the  present  Mansard  roof 
was  added  in   1871,  at  an  additional  cost  of  twelve  thousand  dollars. 

Boylston  Hall  is  one  hundred  and  seventeen  feet  long  by  seventy  wide.  The 
basement,  which  is  twelve  feet  in  height,  contains  store-rooms,  furnaces,  boilers, 
batteries,  and  various  appliances  for  rough  chemical  work.  The  second  story, 
fifteen  feet  high,  has  a  laboratory  for  Quantitative  Analysis, — with  balance-room 
and  assistant's  room  adjoining,  —  a  large  lecture-room,  a  recitation-room,  besides 
three  smaller  rooms,  —  at  present  occupied  by  the  Curator  of  the  Peabody 
Museum.  The  second  story,  which  is  twenty-two  feet  high,  and  in  most  of  the 
rooms  is  divided  by  galleries,  contains  an  anatomical  cabinet,  a  museum  of 
mineralogy,  a  cabinet  of  chemical  apparatus,  a  large  chemical  lecture-room,  and 
the  private  laboratory  of  the  Erving  Professor.  In  the  third  story  there  is  a 
large  chemical  laboratory  for  Qualitative  Analysis,  a  lecture-room,  an  assistant's 
room,  a  store-room,  and,  in  addition,  the  Peabody  Museum  of  Archaeology,  which 
temporarily  occupies  one  third  of  the  story.  In  the  attic  there  is  a  room  for 
organic  analysis,  also  a  photographic  laboratory,  and  an  additional  assistant's 
room. 

The  laboratories  and  cabinets  of  Boylston  Hall  are  well  furnished  with  the 
apparatus  required  in  the  study  both  of  chemistry  and  of  mineralogy.  In  the 
laboratory  for  Quantitative  Analysis  there  are  forty  desks,  and  in  that  for  Quali- 
tative Analysis  one  hundred.  From  the  store-room  the  students  borrow  all  the 
apparatus  required  in  their  work,  and  they  pay  only  for  the  destruction  or  de- 
terioration while  in  their  keeping.  The  chemical  cabinet  is  supplied  both  with 
a  very  complete  apparatus  for  illustrating  chemical  phenomena,  and  also  with  a 
large  collection  of  chemical  preparations  and  commercial  products.  The  mineral 
cabinet  is  elegant  as  well  as  extensive.  The  nucleus  of  this  collection  was  a 
cabinet  of  minerals  purchased  in  Vienna  and  presented  to  the  College  by  the  late 
Theodore  Lyman ;  and  the  collection  has  recently  been  very  greatly  increased  and 
improved  by  the  addition  of  the  cabinet  of  the  late  Von  Liebener  of  Innsbruck, 
Tyrol,  purchased  with  funds  raised  by  subscription.  Besides  the  general  collection, 
there  is  a  hand-collection  for  the  use  of  students,  and  large  sets  of  crystal  models 
both  in  glass  and  in  wood.  There  is  also  an  extensive  lithological  collection, 
which,  however,  for  want  of  room,  cannot  be  displayed. 


N 


^ 

^ 
-< 
« 


PEABODY   MUSEUM    OF   AMERICAN   ARCHEOLOGY 
AND   ETHNOLOGY. 

The  Foundation  of  the  Museum  by  a  Gift  of  the  late  George  Peabody.  —  The  Conditions  of 
THE  Gift. — The  Professorship  provided  for  by  the  Gift  still  unfilled.  —  The  Groups 
into  which  the  Portion  of  the  Collection  arranged  for  Exhibition  has  been  divided. 

This  Museum  was  founded  by  the  late  George  Peabody,  the  Letter  of  Gift 
and  the  Instrument  of  Trust  both  bearing  date  October  8,  1866.  He  gave,  in 
all,  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  under  the  following  conditions,  namely, 
that  sixty  thousand  dollars  be  set  aside  as  a  separate  fund  until,  with  the  accrued 
interest,  it  amounts  to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  "  when  it  may  be  employed 
in  the  erection  of  a  suitable  fire-proof  museum  building  "  ;  forty-five  thousand  dol- 
lars shall  form  a  fund  "  the  income  of  which  shall  be  applied  to  forming  and 
preserving  collections  of  antiquities  and  objects  relating  to  the  earlier  races  of  the 
American  continent,"  or  "  such  as  shall  be  requisite  for  the  investigation  and  illus- 
tration of  Archaeology  and  Ethnology  in  general,  in  main  and  special  reference, 
however,  to  the  aboriginal  American  races  "  ;  the  income  of  a  further  sum  of  forty- 
five  thousand  dollars  shall  be  applied  to  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  a 
Professorship  of  American  Archaeology  and  Ethnology  in  Harvard  University. 
"  Until  this  professorship  is  filled,  or  during  the  time  it  may  be  vacant,  the  in- 
come of  the  fund  appropriated  to  it  shall  be  devoted  to  the  care  and  increase  of 
the  collections." 

The  Trustees  have  not  thought  it  desirable  to  fill  the  Professorship  as  yet, 
and  consequently  the  income  of  the  Professor  fund  has  been  used  agreeably  to 
the  directions  contained  in  the  last  paragraph.  The  object  of  the  Trustees  hav- 
ing been  to  bring  together  collections  as  rapidly  as  possible,  these  now  form  a 
very  valuable  series,  pertaining  to  the  Ethnology  and  Archaeology  of  both  the  Old 
World  and  the  New.  That  portion  which  is  arranged  for  exhibition  is  contained 
in  the  room  over  the  Anatomical  Museum,  in  Boylston  Hall,  and  has  been 
divided  into  the  following  groups  :  — 

1.    Implements  and   personal  ornaments   made   of  stone,  shell,  bone,  wood,  and 


128  PEABODY   MUSEUM. 

copper,  all  at  present  or  formerly  used  by  the  North  American  Indians.  The 
collection  made  in  Alaska  by  Captain  Edward  G.  Fast  is  very  valuable,  and  com- 
prises a  great  variety  of  tools,  ornaments,  weapons,  dresses,  masks,  carvings  in 
wood,  bone,  etc. 

2.  Objects  from  Mexico,  consisting  chiefly  of  the  interesting  collection  of 
tcrra-cottas  presented  by  the  Hon.  Caleb  Cushing,  and  casts  of  various  Mexican 
sculptures  presented  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 

3.  Objects  from  Central  and  South  America,  including  a  valuable  series  of 
terra-cotlas  from  the  former,  obtained  by  Dr.  Berendt,  and  of  pottery  and  imple- 
ments from  Brazil  by  Professor  C.  F.  Hartt. 

4.  An  extensive  collection  of  stone  implements  from  Denmark,  chiefly  of 
chipped  flint,  and  representing  nearly  every  variety  of  form  wrought  by  the  pre- 
historic inhabitants  of  that  country. 

5.  Implements  from  the  unpolished  stone  period  in  France,  derived  from  the 
gravels  of  the  Somme ;  also  implements  of  the  polished  stone  periods,  and  a 
great  variety  of  objects  made  of  bone,  and  antler  of  the  deer,  skilfully  ornamented 
with  engravings ;  also  fragments  of  the  floors  of  the  caves  and  rock-shelter  dwell- 
ings of  Dordogne.     They  are  chiefly  from  the  Mortillet  and  Christy  collections. 

6.  Pottery,  implements  of  stone,  bone,  and  wood,  fragments  of  textile  fabrics, 
fruits,  grains,  etc.,  from  the  lake-dwellings  of  Switzerland.  They  were  mostly 
obtained  by  the  late  Dr.  Clement  at  the  stations  of  Concise  and  St.  Aubin,  on 
Lake  Neufchatel.  To  these  have  been  added  the  collections  made  by  Professor 
Agassiz  and  presented  to  the  Peabody  Museum  by  the  Museum  of  Comparative 
Zoology. 

7.  Fragments  of  pottery  and  stone  implements  from  the  lake-dwellings  of 
Northern  Italy. 

8.  The  Nicolucci  collection  of  stone  implements  from  Middle  and  Southern 
Italy,  presented  by  Colonel  Theodore  Lyman. 

9.  A  collection  of  Etruscan  vases,  presented  by  Signor  Augusto  Castellani  of 
Rome. 

10.  Paddles,  spears,  bows  and  arrows,  and  other  weapons  from  different  parts 
of  the  world. 

11.  A  collection  of  nearly  four  hundred  human  crania  from  various  sources, 
but  chiefly  from  Peru,  the  mounds  of  the  West  and  South,  the  Hawaian  Islands, 
and  Italy,  those  from  the  last  being  a  part  of  the  Nicolucci  collection. 

12.  Aboriginal  American  pottery,  both  ancient  and  modern,  from  the  mounds 
of  the  West,  Peru,  and  from  the  existing  tribes. 

Besides  the  above,  there  are  considerable  collections  from  various  parts  of  the 
worid,  which  are  at  present  kept  in  storage,  for  want  of  sufficient  room  to 
exhibit  them. 


1^ 


an 


© 


GRAYS    HALL. 


Location.  —  Description  of  the  Building.  —  The  Tablets.  —  Reasons  for  erecting  the  Build- 
ing. —  The  Name. 

Grays  Hall  stands  at  the  southern  end  of  the  quadrangle  of  brick  buildings, 
directly  opposite  Holworthy  Hall  at  the  northern  end.  It  has  a  frontage  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty-eight  feet  and  eight  inches,  and  consists  of  a  central  pavilion 
and  two  wings.  There  is  no  internal  communication  between  the  three  portions 
of  the  building.  The  central  portion  has  a  frontage  of  forty-two  feet  and  eight 
inches,  and  is  fifty  feet  deep.  It  is  four  stories  high,  with  a  Mansard  roof  form- 
ing a  fifth  story.  In  the  centre  between  the  second  and  third  story  windows, 
there  is  a  stone  tablet  representing  the  College  seal ;  and  in  the  fourth  story  there 
are  two  tablets,  one  on  each  side  of  the  central  window:  the  one  on  the  left 
giving  the  date  of  the  founding  of  the  College,  1636;  the  one  on  the  right,  the 
date  of  the  erection  of  the  Hall,  1863.  The  wings  have  each  a  frontage  of 
forty-three  feet,  and  a  depth  of  forty-five  feet  and  eight  inches.  They  are  one 
story  lower  than  the  central  portion,  and  have  Mansard  roofs.  The  whole 
building  contains  fifty-two  suites  of  rooms,  twenty  in  the  central  portion  and 
sixteen  in  each  of  the  wings.  Each  suite  consists  of  a  study  and  an  alcove 
bedroom.  The  studies  in  the  central  portion  are  fifteen  feet  by  eighteen  feet 
eight  inches ;  those  in  the  wings,  sixteen  feet  by  sixteen  feet  six  inches.  The 
bedrooms  are  all  eight  feet  square.  There  are  fireplaces  in  all  the  large  rooms, 
and  ventilating  flues  in  every  room  throughout  the  building.  The  material  is 
brick  with  granite  trimmings. 

When  Grays  Hall  was  built,  the  number  of  rooms  in  the  College  buildings  for 
the  accommodation  of  students  was  less  than  half  what  it  now  is  ;  the  amount 
charged  for  rent  was  the  same  for  all  the  rooms  ;  and  an  assignment  of  rooms 
was  made  every  year,  according  to  a  principle  which  gave  to  those  students  who 
had  been  the  longest  time  in  College,  or  who  had  been  occupying  the  poorest 
rooms,  the   first   choice.     There  were    not  rooms  enough   to   supply  the  demand, 


I30 


GRAYS    HALL. 


and  Grays  Hall  was  erected  by  the  Corporation  as  an  investment  of  College 
funds.  A  higher  rent  was  charged  for  the  rooms,  and  students  were  under  no 
obligation  to  change  their  rooms  every  year.  The  name  of  "  Grays  "  was  given  to 
the  Hall,  to  commemorate  the  munificence  of  three  of  the  more  recent  (two  of 
them  still  living)  benefactors  of  the  College,  Francis  Galley  Gray,  John  Chipman 
Gray,  and  William  Gray;  the  last  of  whom,  besides  other  gifts,  had  contributed, 
for  five  years,  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  the  purchase  of  books 
for  the  Library,  while  the  first  is  known  by  the  magnificent  collection  of  engrav- 
ings that  bears  his  name,  and  the  second  furnished  for  a  series  of  years  funds 
for  valuable  prizes  in  the  mathematical  department. 


=^ 


THAYER    HALL. 


Erected  in  1869-70.  —  Location.  —  Description  of  the  Hall.  —  Mr.  Nathaniel  Thayer,  of 
Boston,  the  Donor  of  the  Building.  —  Inscription  on  the  Tablet.  —  Nathaniel  Thayer, 
D.  D.  —  Mr.  John  Eliot  Thayer. 


Thayer  Hall  was  built  in  the  years  1869  and  1870,  and  was  first  occupied 
by  students  in  the  fall  of  the  latter  year.  It  stands  nearly  on  a  line  with 
University  Hall  and  directly  in  front  of  the  Chapel.  The  selection  of  this  site 
gave  rise  at  first  to  considerable  unfavorable  comment.  This  arose  from  igno- 
rance of  the  plans  which  had  been  formed,  before  the  erection"  of  the  Chapel, 
for  the  completion  of  the  quadrangle,  whenever  an  increase  in  the  number  of 
students  should  make  an  additional  number  of  dormitories  necessary.  The  build- 
ing is  divided  into  three  entirely  distinct  portions  by  two  brick  walls,  extending 
from  the  basement  to  the  roof.  The  central  portion,  which  rises  one  story  higher 
than  the  other  two,  is  entered  from  the  side  facing  the  College  yard.  The  en- 
trances to  the  other  portions  are  at  the  ends  of  the  building.  The  general  form 
of  the  building  is  that  of  a  parallelogram,  two  hundred  and  thirteen  feet  long 
and  forty-six  feet  wide,  but  the  width  is  not  the  same  at  all  points.  It  contains 
sixty-eight  suites  of  rooms,  with  accommodations  for  one  hundred  and  sixteen  stu- 
dents. The  material  of  the  building  is  brick,  with  freestone  trimmings ;  and  its 
cost  was  about  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

Thayer  Hall  was  a  gift  to  the  College  from  Nathaniel  Thayer  of  Boston.  In 
making  his  gift  in  this  form,  Mr.  Thayer  was  influenced  by  three  considerations: 
a  pressing  need  of  increased  accommodations  for  students  would  be,  in  part,  sup- 
plied ;  a  large  addition  to  the  annual  income  of  the  College  would  be  secured, 
so  long  as  the  building  was  new  enough  to  need  few  repairs;  and  an  additional 
monument  would  be  erected  to  the  memory  of  two  persons,  one  of  whom  had 
been  a  distinguished  graduate  of  the  College,  and  the  other  a  prominent  benefac- 
tor. A  tablet  in  the  interior  of  the  building,  upon  the  right  hand  of  the 
entrance  to  the  central  portion,  has  the  following  inscription  :  — 


1-2  THAYER   HALL. 

THIS    HALL   IS    ERECTED    BY 
NATHANIEL    THAYER 

IN    MEMORY    OF    HIS    FATHER 

NATHANIEL    THAYER    D.  D. 

AND   OF    HIS    BROTHER 

JOHN    ELIOT    THAYER 
1870 

Rev.  Dr.  Thayer  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  in  the  Class  of  1789,  and 
held  the  position  of  tutor  during  the  College  year  1792-3.  In  the  summer  of 
the  latter  year  he  accepted  a  call  to  preach  at  Lancaster,  Mass.,  where  he 
remained  as  a  pastor,  greatly  esteemed  by  his  congregation,  and  universally 
respected  as  a  man  of  unusual  tact  and  sagacity,  until  his  death  in   1840. 

John  Eliot  Thayer  was  the  founder  of  the  scholarships  which  bear  his  name. 
He  had  never  been  a  student  in  College  nor  been  connected  in  any  way  with 
the  management  of  College  affairs,  but,  upon  his  death,  he  bequeathed  to  three 
trustees  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  the  income  of  which  was  to  be  paid 
to  the  ten  most  meritorious  scholars  needing  such  aid.  Previously  to  this 
bequest  the  number  of  scholarships  which  had  been  founded  in  the  College  was 
only  six,  and  the  aggregate  income  from  them  all  was  less  than  one  thousand 
dollars ;  but  Mr.  Thayer's  example  has  been  since  followed  by  other  liberal  givers, 
until  the  number  of  scholarships  now  amounts  to  ninety-two. 


1=3 


m 


^ 
^ 


MATTHEWS   HALL. 


Gift  of  Nathan  Matthews. — First  occupied,  1872-3.  —  Description  of  the  Building.  —  Site. 
. —  Conditions  of  Mr.  Matthews's  Gift.  —  The  Indian  College. 


In  November,  1870,  Mr.  Nathan  Matthews,  of  Boston,  expressed  to  the  Cor- 
poration his  wish  to  build,  under  certain  conditions,  a  College  Hall  of  the  value 
of  at  least  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  conditions  were  readily  accepted 
by  the  Corporation,  and  work  was  begun  on  the  building  in  the  spring  of  1870. 
It  was  first  occupied  by  students  at  the  beginning  of  the  academic  year  1872-3. 
It  is  about  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet  long  by  fifty  feet  wide,  and  is  five 
stories  high,  the  fifth  story  being  in  the  gables  and  roof  It  is  built  in  Gothic 
style,  of  Nova  Scotia  stone  and  face  brick.  A  solid  wall  through  the  centre 
divides  the  building  into  two  distinct  portions,  between  which  there  is  no  com- 
munication on  the  inside.  There  are  sixty  suites  of  rooms,  each  consisting  of  a 
study  about  fourteen  feet  by  seventeen,  and  two  bedrooms,  each  about  eleven  by 
six  and  a  half  feet.  There  are  closets  to  all  the  bedrooms,  and  double  doors, 
with  vestibule,  to  all  the  suites.  There  are  also,  to  nearly  all  the  suites,  vesti- 
bule closets.  The  interior  finish  of  the  entries  and  of  the  rooms  in  the  three 
lower  stories  is  of  chestnut.  The  view  given  shows  the  east  front,  and  exhibits 
to  advantage  the  masonry  of  the  terrace  and  the  bay-windows,  which  form  the 
distinctive  features  of  the  building.  Upon  the  west  front,  facing  the  street,  there 
are  similar  windows  and  a  corresponding  terrace.  The  total  cost  of  the  Hall 
was  not  far  from  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars. 

In  conformity  with  the  general  plan  of  completing  a  quadrangle  of  buildings 
in  the  College  yard,  a  site  for  Matthews  Hall  was  chosen  in  the  gap  between 
Massachusetts  and  Dane  Halls.  This  gap  was  originally  not  long  enough  to  re- 
ceive so  large  a  building,  and  it  was  found  necessary  to  move  Dane  Hall  seventy 
feet  towards  the  south,  and  to  make  certain  changes  in  the  Old  President's  house, 
now  known  as  Wadsworth  House,  in  order  to  enlarge  and  improve  the  site  and 
furnish  room  for  such  a  building  as  Mr.  Matthews  wished  to  erect. 


134 


MATTHEWS   HALL. 


The  conditions  imposed  by  Mr.  Matthews,  when  making  his  liberal  gift  to  the 
College,  were  that  one  half  of  the  net  income  from  the  Hall  should  be  used  to 
provide  scholarships  for  students  who  enter  College  with  the  intention  of  becoming 
ministers  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  while  the  other  half  should  be  applied 
to  the  general  uses  of  the  College,  or  to  some  special  object  to  be  afterwards 
determined.  In  accordance  with  these  conditions  twelve  Matthews  Scholarships, 
with  an  annual  income  of  three  hundred  dollars  each,  have  been  established.  The 
gross  receipts  per  year  for  rent  of  rooms  in  this  Hall,  when  all  are  occupied, 
exceeds  twelve  thousand  dollars. 

Matthews  Hall  is  not  the  first  College  building  which  has  stood  upon  this 
site.  As  long  ago  as  1666  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  erected 
here  a  dormitory  of  brick  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Indian  students.  The 
graduation  of  one  of  that  race  the  previous  year  had  given  rise  to  the  hope  that 
success  would  crown  the  efforts  made  to  elevate  them  in  the  scale  of  civilization ; 
but  the  hope  was  delusive,  and  the  Indian  College,  no  longer  needed  for  its 
original  purpose,  was  afterward  used  for  the  College  printing-press.  It  is  probable 
that  the  second  edition  of  the  Indian  Bible,  in  1685,  was  printed  in  this  building. 
When  the  excavations  were  made  for  the  foundations  of  Matthews  Hall,  a  line 
of  ancient  wall  is  said  to  have  been  unearthed,*  which  may  have  once  formed  a 
part  of  the  Indian  College ;  but  of  this  there  can  be  no  certainty,  on  account 
of  the  absence  of  records  to  establish  beyond  a  doubt  the  exact  situation  of  the 
old  building. 

*  Thomas  Coffin  Amory  in  the  New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register  for  July,  1871. 


fc3 


WELD    HALL. 

Stephen  Minot  Weld. — His  Interest  in  Harvard  College. — Weld  Hall  erected  to  his 
Memory  by  his  Brother,  William  F.  Weld.  —  Description  of  the  Hall.  —  Inscriptions  on 
THE  Tablets. 

The  Honorable  Stephen  Minot  Weld,  of  the  Class  of  1826,  in  whose  memory 
Weld  Hall  was  built,  was  born  September  29,  1808,  and  died  December  13,  1867. 
For  a  number  of  years  he  was  an  active  and  successful  teacher.  His  sagacity  in 
the  management  of  affairs,  his  practical  good  sense,  his  admirable  tact,  and  above 
all  his  genial  and  sympathetic  nature,  endeared  him  to  a  large  circle  of  friends, 
and  inspired  implicit  confidence  in  his  character.  He  held  many  important  pub- 
lic trusts,  and  no  name  was  more  conspicuous  in  the  community  than  his.  His 
interest  in  the  College  was  deep  and  untiring.  As  an  overseer,  he  took  a  hearty 
part  in  all  measures  for  the  good  of  the  College ;  to  his  exertions  the  acquisition 
of  the  Circle  of  the  Harvard  College  Observatory  was  mainly  due ;  he  was  also 
one  of  the  first  to  conceive  the  idea  of  erecting  a  Memorial  Hall,  and  pushed  the 
project  with  earnestness  and  success.  Among  the  benefactors  of  the  College,  he 
was  one  of  the  most  liberal. 

Weld  Hall  is  a  hall  of  chambers,  begun  March  i,  1871 ;  and  completed  Septem- 
ber 4,  1872.  It  was  built  by  Mr.  William  F.  Weld,  of  Boston,  elder  brother  of 
Stephen  M.  Weld.  Its  extreme  dimensions  are  one  hundred  and  forty-three  feet 
by  fifty-one  feet  in  plan,  and  it  contains  fifty-four  studies,  averaging  sixteen  feet 
by  seventeen  feet  each ;  of  these,  twenty-two  studies  are  connected  with  single 
bedrooms,  seven  feet  by  thirteen  feet,  and  the  rest  communicate  each  with  a 
large  double  bedroom  or  two  single  bedrooms.  Each  study  is  provided  with  an 
open  fireplace,  all  the  rooms  have  large  closets,  and  each  suite  is  provided  with  an 
outer  and  an  inner  door  and  an  intermediate  vestibule,  on  which  also  opens  a 
closet  containing  bins  for  fuel. 

The  building  has  two  central  staircase  halls,  fifteen  feet  by  thirty-one  feet, 
lighted   and  ventilated  each  by  a  lantern   or  louvre  which   rises   above  the  roof 


136  WELD   HALL. 

The  main  entrance,  wliicli  is  on  the  west  front,  is  by  two  wide  arches  opening 
on  a  large  porch  or  loggia,  twenty-one  feet  by  twenty-five  feet,  paved  with  mar- 
ble tiles.  This  porch  has  a  heavily  panelled  ceiling  in  wood,  brick  walls,  and  in 
the  panels  opposite  the  entrance  arches  are  inserted  stone  tablets  bearing  the 
following  inscriptions  :  — 

[On  the  Left-hand  Tablet.) 
STEPHANO  .  MINOT  .  WELD 
VIRO  .  DE  .  VNIVERSITATE  .  OPTIME  •  MERITO 
FRATRI . FRATER 

[On  the  Right-hand  Tablet.] 

MORTVVS  .  EST  .  A  •  CIO  •  ID  •  CCC  •  XXVII 

J.X  .  ANNOS  .  NATVS 

AEDIFCATVM  .  A  .  CIO  .  10  •  CCC  •  XXXI 

The  porch  communicates  with  the  two  staircase  halls  by  doors  opening  in  its 
right  and  left  walls.  The  staircase  halls  have  also  rear  exits.  A  large  double 
lift  for  coal,  etc.,  is  provided  in  a  closet  opening  from  each  staircase  hall  on  every 
stoiy ;  this  closet  also  contains  a  large  public  sink. 

All  the  studies,  excepting  the  sixteen  in  the  central  part  of  the  building,  and 
all  the  double  bedrooms,  are  provided  with  windows  looking  in  two  directions, 
and  no  rooms  receive  an  exclusively  north  light. 

The  building  is  built  of  brick  with  belts  of  light  sandstone,  with  two  gabled 
projections  on  the  west  and  two  opposite  on  the  east  side,  each  projection  being 
provided  with  an  oriel-window.  The  sky-line  is  further  broken  by  the  two  stair- 
case towers  and  by  clustered  chimney  shafts.  The  decorative  features  of  the  ex- 
terior are  Elizabethan  in  character. 


iwi  !H    House,    CAMBBmsn.     Th'- 
mmbridse     is    Harvn'fl    - 


THE    OLD    PRESIDENT'S    HOUSE. 

The  House  built  in  1726.  —  Interesting  Facts  connected  with  its  early  History.  —  List  of 
THE  Presidents  who  have  resided  in  the  House.  —  Evidence  showing  that  Washington 
MADE  his  Headquarters  there  for  a  short  Time.  —  The  Changes  made  in  the  House  since 
its  original  Construction.  —  The  Uses  to  which  the  House  has  been  put. 


This  venerable  building,  now  called  "  The  Wadsworth  House,"  fronting  on 
what  was  formerly  known  as  Braintree  Street,  now  Harvard  Street,  just  opposite 
the  newly  built  "  Holyoke  House,"  was  erected  in  1726.  President  Wadsworth 
was  inaugurated  on  Commencement  Day,  July  7,  1725.  The  General  Court,  six 
months  afterwards,  passed  an  order  making  his  salary  four  hundred  pounds  for 
one  year ;  and  further  to  provide  for  the  future  wants  of  the  President  of  the 
College,  they  resolved,  that  one  thousand  pounds  should  be  paid  to  the  Corpo- 
ration by  them,  to  be  used  for  building  a  handsome  wooden  dwelling-house, 
barn,  and  outhouses,  on  some  part  of  the  College  lands,  "  for  the  reception  and 
accommodation  of  the  Reverend  the  President  of  Harvard  College  for  the  time 
being."  *  The  sum  voted  was  inadequate  for  the  purpose,  and  the  Corporation, 
in  an  address  to  the  General  Court,  January  18,  1726,  express  a  willingness  to 
employ  the  funds  for  the  object  named  as  well  as  they  are  able,  "  unless  the 
General  Court  should  see  meet  to  entertain  a  new  thought,  and  build  it  by  a 
committee  of  their  own  choosing."  This  suggestion  the  General  Court  did  not 
see  fit  to  entertain,  and  the  College  itself  entered  upon  the  work.  The  site  se- 
lected was  upon  the  line  which  divided  two  lots  of  land,  of  an  acre  and  one 
eighth  each,  owned  by  the  College  many  years  before,  known  as  the  Eaton  and 
*  See  the  Journals  of  the  House  for  December  31,  1725,  and  January  i,  1726. 


138  THE  OLD   PRESIDENT'S   HOUSE. 

the  Goffc  lots,  on  a  plan  to  be  seen  on  the  twentieth  page  of  Volume  Second. 
The  width  of  both  lots  on  the  street  was  considerably  less  than  two  hundred 
feet,  and  embraced  all  the  land  the  College  then  owned  on  that  street,  if  we  ex- 
cept one  piece  of  about  an  acre,  called  the  "Fellows  Orchard,"  with  a  frontage 
of  perhaps  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet,  on  the  rear  part  of  which  Gore  Hall 
was  afterwards  built.  The  house  was  "raised"  in  the  following  May.  In  Presi- 
dent Wadsworth's  MS.  "  Book  relating  to  College  Affairs,"  in  the  College  Library, 
is  this  entry  in  his  own  hand :  "  The  President's  house  to  dwell  in  was  raised 
May  24,  1726.  No  life  was  lost,  nor  person  hurt  in  raising  it;  thanks  be  to  God 
for  his  preserving  goodness.  In  y°  Evening,  those  who  raised  y"  House,  had  a 
Supper  in  y°  Hall;  after  wch  we  sang  y'  first  stave  or  staff  in  y'  127  Psalm." 

But  the  pecuniary  embarrassments  under  which  the  College  had  to  struggle 
were  not  ended.  "  The  sum  granted  by  the  General  Court,  as  had  been  antici- 
pated, proved  insufficient,  and,  being  expended,  the  Corporation  had  no  other 
resource  than  to  apply  to  them  again  for  relief  Accordingly,  in  August,  1726, 
they  addressed  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature,  acknowledging  thankfully  their 
bounty  in  granting  a  thousand  pounds,  which,  although  they  had  expended  with 
'  the  utmost  care  and  frugality,'  the  President's  house  was  not  yet  finished ;  and, 
after  proffering  an  exhibition  of  their  accounts  to  whomsoever  the  General  Court 
should  appoint,  they  '  humbly  entreat  the  Court  to  enable  them  to  obey  their 
former  order,  viz.,  to  build  and  finish  a  handsome  house  for  the  President ' ;  and 
they  terminate  their  urgent  request  for  an  additional  grant  with  the  following 
graphic  account  of  the  difficulties  in  which  President  Wadsworth  and  his  family 
were  involved :  '  He  can  nowhere  hire  a  convenient  house  for  himself,  and  his 
family  is  divided,  some  dwelling  in  one  house  and  some  in  another.  His  house- 
hold goods  are  disposed  of  in  several  houses  and  barns.  These  difficult  circum- 
stances render  the  speedy  finishing  a  house  for  his  reception  very  necessary, 
which  have  obliged  us  to  take  the  first  opportunity  to  lay  this  representation 
before  the  Honorable  Court,  which  we  do  in  all  humility.'"* 

This  appeal  to  the  General  Court  was  without  effect,  and  in  October  the  Over- 
seers recommended  to  the  Corporation  to  proceed  to  finish  the  house  before 
winter  for  the  reception  of  the  President.  This  advice  was  acted  on,  the  Cor- 
poration using  its  credit  with  the  workmen.  But  winter  was  approaching,  and 
President  Wadsworth's  family  were  subjected  to  so  many  inconveniences  for  want 
of  a  suitable  residence,  that  they  took  possession  of  the  house  when  not  half 
finished  within.  In  his  diary,  before  referred  to,  he  says:  "27  Oct.,  1726.  This 
night  some  of  our  family  lodged  at  y'  New  House  built  for  y^  President.  Nov.  4, 
at  night  was  y"  first  time  y'  my  wife  &  I  lodg'd  there.  The  House  was  not 
half  finished  within."     The  house  was  completed  in  the  following  January,  and  an 

*  Quincy's  Hist,  of  Harvard  University,  I.  381. 


32 
0 


^ 

^ 


CO 


m 

EN 


THE  OLD   PRESIDENT'S   HOUSE.  139 

account  of  the  debt  incurred  by  the  Corporation  was  presented  in  a  memorial  to 
the  General  Court,  asking  for  relief  None  was  granted,  and  the  amount  was  paid 
out  of  the  College  treasury.  The  building  cost  eighteen  hundred  pounds,  of  which 
the  General  Court  paid  one  thousand  pounds,  and  "  have  enjoyed  the  credit  ever 
since,"  says  Mr.  Quincy,  "  of  building  a  house  for  the  President  of  the  College." 

This  house  continued  to  be  the  residence  of  the  Presidents  of  the  College 
down  to  and  including  the  Presidency  of  Mr.  Everett,  who  continued  to  reside 
in  it  for  some  time  after  he  had  ceased  to  be  President,  in  1849.  President 
Wadsworth  died  in  1737,  and  the  following  is  a  list  of  succeeding  Presidents  who 
have  occupied  the  "  President's  House,"  with  the  date  of  their  acccssus :  Edward 
Holyoke,  1737;  Samuel  Locke,  1770;  Samuel  Langdon,  1774;  Joseph  Willard, 
1781  ;  Samuel  Webber,  1806;  John  Thornton  Kirkland,  18 10;  Josiah  Quincy, 
1829;  Edward  Everett,  1846.  On  the  accession  of  Mr.  Sparks,  in  1849,  he,  hav- 
ing a  large  and  convenient  house  of  his  own  in  Cambridge,  in  which  he  was 
residing,  chose  to  remain  in  it;  and  no  President  of  the  College  has  since  re- 
sided in  the  old  official  residence. 

After  the  battle  of  Lexington,  April  19,  1775,  and  during  the  whole  period  of 
the  siege  of  Boston,  Cambridge  was  made  the  headquarters  of  the  American 
army ;  it  was  a  large  camp.  The  College  buildings  were  surrendered  to  the  troops. 
The  library  was  removed  to  a  safer  place  of  deposit ;  the  students  and  the  teach- 
ers were  dispersed.  President  Langdon  remained  for  a  time  in  Cambridge, 
preached  occasionally  to  the  soldiers,  and  was  once  chosen  chaplain  pro  tempore. 

In  anticipation  of  General  Washington's  arrival,  to  take  command  of  the  army 
here,  the  Provincial  Congress,  sitting  at  Watertown,  on  June  26th,  "  Resolved,  that 
the  President's  house  in  Cambridge,  excepting  one  room  reserved  by  the  Presi- 
dent for  his  own  use,  be  taken,  cleared,  prepared,  and  furnished  for  the  reception 
of  General  Washington  and  General  Lee,  and  that  a  committee  be  chosen  imme- 
diately to  carry  the  same  into  execution."  On  the  ist  of  July  the  Congress 
"  Ordered,  that  the  committee  for  the  procuring  and  furnishing  a  house  for  Gen- 
erals Washington  and  Lee  be  directed  to  purchase  what  things  are  necessary 
that  they  cannot  hire."  On  the  following  day,  Sunday,  "  a  little  after  1 2  o'clock 
at  noon,"  Washington  and  Lee  arrived,  and  took  possession  of  the  quarters  as- 
signed to  them. 

The  opinion  has  hitherto  prevailed  for  many  years  that  Washington's  only 
headquarters  in  Cambridge  were  at  the  Vassall  House,  now  the  residence  of  Mr. 
Longfellow;  but  we  shall  see  that  this  house  was  not  assigned  to  him,  nor  occu- 
pied by  him,  till  some  time  after  his  arrival  here. 

There  seems  to  have  been  some  delay  in  properly  furnishing  the  house  first 
assigned  to  Washington.  The  materials  probably  could  not  easily  be  procured, 
and  it  may  not  have  been  known  of  whom,  and  of  how  many,  his  military  family 


140 


THE   OLD   PRESIDENT'S    HOUSE. 


would  consist.  On  the  5th  of  July  the  Congress  "  Ordered,  that  the  committee 
api)ointcd  to  jjrocure  necessary  furniture  for  the  house  provided  for  General 
Washington,  complete  the  business  by  purchase  or  by  borrowing."  On  the 
same  day  a  committee  was  appointed  by  the  Congress  "  to  confer  with  General 
Washino-ton  on  the  subject  of  furnishing  his  table,  and  know  what  he  expects 
relative  thereto,  and  that  they  sit  forthwith." 

On  the  6th  of  July,  four  days  after  Washington's  arrival,  it  was  by  the  Con- 
gress "  Ordered,  that  the  Committee  of  Safety  [the  real  Executive  of  the  Congress] 
be  a  committee  to  desire  General  Washington  to  let  them  know  if  there  is  any 
house  at  Cambridge  that  would  be  more  agreeable  to  him  and  General  Lee  than 
that  in  which  they  now  are ;  and  in  that  case  the  said  committee  are  directed  to 
procure  such  house,  and  put  it  in  proper  order  for  their  reception."*  On  turn- 
ing to  the  records  of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  we  find,  under  the  date  of  July  8th, 
the  following :  "  Whereas  it  is  necessary  that  the  house  of  Mr.  John  Vassall,  or- 
dered by  Congress  for  the  residence  of  his  Excellency  General  Washington,  should 
be  immediately  put  in  such  condition  as  may  make  it  convenient  for  that  purpose, 
therefore.  Resolved,  that  Mr.  Timothy  Austin  be  and  he  is  hereby  empowered  and 
authorized  to  put  said  house  in  proper  order  for  the  purposes  above  mentioned; 
and  that  he  procure  such  assistance  and  furniture  as  may  be  necessary  to  put  said 
house  in  proper  condition  for  the  reception  of  his  Excellency  and  his  attendants." 

This  house  of  John  Vassall  is  the  one  subsequently  known  as  the  "  Craigie 
House"  and  "Washington's  Headquarters."  Sabine  tells  us  that  "early  in  1775" 
Vassall  "  was  driven  from  his  seat  by  mobs  and  took  up  his  residence  in  Boston." 
Congress  had,  some  time  previously,  appropriated  the  house  to  the  use  of  the 
Committee  of  Safety,  and  as  early  as  the  26th  of  May  that  body  had  directed  it 

*  On  the  7th  it  was  "  ordered  that  the  committee  appointed  to  procure  a  steward  for  General 
Washington  be  directed  to  procure  him  two  or  three  women,  for  coolcs."  It  was  also  ordered,  at 
the  same  time,  "  that  the  committee  appointed  to  inquire  how  General  Washington's  table  should  be 
furnished  be  a  committee  to  bring  in  a  resolve  for  the  purpose  of  complying  with  the  requisition  of 
General  Washington  relative  thereto,"  etc.  It  was  also  ordered  that  certain  persons  named  "  be  a 
committee  to  wait  upon  General  Lee,  to  know  of  him  what  provision  he  expects  should  be  made  by 
this  Congress  for  the  furnishing  of  his  table."  On  the  8th,  a  committee  previously  appointed  re- 
ported an  order,  which  was  accepted,  directing  "  a  committee  to  make  inquiry  forthwith  for  some 
ingenious,  active,  and  faithful  man  to  be  recommended  to  General  Washington  as  a  steward  ;  like- 
wise, to  procure  and  recommend  to  him  some  capable  woman,  suitable  to  act  in  the  place  of  a 
housekeeper,  and  one  or  more  good  female  servants."  Mrs.  Washington  was  now  at  Mt.  Vernon. 
She  joined  her  husband  in  Cambridge  on  the  nth  of  December  following,  and  remained  till  the 
next  spring.  Ebenezer  Austin  was  appointed  Washington's  steward  soon  after  the  passage  of  the 
order  above  given,  and  served  as  long  as  Washington  remained  in  Cambridge.  On  the  gth  of  July 
the  Congress  "resolved  that  Deacon  Cheever  be  a  committee  to  bring  in  a  resolve,  empowering  the 
committee  of  supplies  to  furnish  General  Washington  with  such  articles  of  household  furniture  as  he 
had  wrote  to  said  committee  for." 


THE   OLD    PRESIDENT'S    HOUSE.  141 

to  be  cleared  immediately  of  "  the  souldiers  now  lodged  there."  Although  this 
house,  as  well  as  others  in  Cambridge  belonging  to  refugees,  had  been  taken 
possession  of  for  the  use  of  the  government,  it  was  not  formally  confiscated  till 
some  years  later.  We  find  no  date  to  determine  precisely  when  Washington  took 
possession  of  his  new  quarters.  It  was  probably  during  the  month  of  July.  It 
would  require  some  days  to  put  the  house  in  order  for  him.  In  Washington's 
own  account-book,  under  date  of  July  15,  is  a  charge  for  having  himself  paid  a 
sum  of  money  for  cleaning  the  house  assigned  for  his  quarters,  it  having  been 
occupied,  he  says,  by  the  Marblehead  regiment.  In  Thatcher's  "  Military  Journal " 
—  which  is  not  a  diary,  but  a  record  of  events,  sometimes  under  a  particular 
month,  and  sometimes  under  the  day  of  the  month  —  we  find  under  the  date  of 
"  July,"  when  the  record  is  supposed  to  have  been  made,  an  account  of  the  battle 
of  Bunker  Hill,  and  of  the  arrival  of  Washington  in  Cambridge,  which  latter 
event  he  did  not  witness  personally.  Thatcher  entered  upon  his  duties  as  assist- 
ant surgeon  in  the  hospital  there  on  the  15th  of  July,  and  in  his  record  of  that 
month  he  says  that  Washington  had  "  established  his  headquarters  in  a  con- 
venient house  about  half  a  mile  from  Harvard  College,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  our 
hospital "  (the  latter  is  supposed  to  be  the  house  now  owned  and  occupied  by 
the  venerable  Samuel  Batchelder).  This  is  followed  by  an  entry  under  the  date 
of  July  20  ;  and  if  we  may  suppose  the  entries  to  have  been  originally  made  as 
in  the  printed  volume,  it  would  show  that  Washington,  at  this  time,  was  already 
settled  in  his  new  quarters.  However  that  may  be,  there  still  seems  to  have 
been  delay  in  furnishing  Washington's  new  quarters,  or  perhaps  new  exigencies 
called  for  new  supplies.  As  late  as  the  2  2d  of  July,  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives (the  Provincial  Congress  having  been  dissolved  on  the  1 9th)  "  Resolved, 
that  the  Committee  of  Safety  be  desired  to  complete  the  furnishing  General 
Washington's  house,  and  in  particular  provide  him  four  or  five  more  beds." 

In  this  venerable  mansion  —  the  President's  House  —  were  undoubtedly  penned 
the  first  despatches  of  the  Commander-in-Chief  to  Congress,  to  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  and  to  General  Schuyler,  of  date  July   10. 

After  the  siege  of  Boston  was  raised,  in  March,  1776,  the  camp  at  Cambridge 
was  broken  up,  and  on  the  21st  of  June  the  students  had  reassembled  within 
the  walls  of  the  College,  after  an  absence  of  fourteen  months. 

There  have  been  some  additions  made  to  the  President's  House  since  its  origi- 
nal construction.  The  enlargement  of  the  dining  and  drawing  rooms,  by  the 
addition  of  the  wings  on  each  side  the  building,  was  made  under  the  direction 
of  Mr.  Treasurer  Storer,  whose  office  embraced  the  long  period  from  1777  to 
1807.  "  The  room  in  the  rear  of  the  drawing-room,  on  the  right  hand  as  you 
enter,  was  the  President's  study,  until  the  presidency  of  Webber,  when  the  end 
of  the   house  was  added,  with  a   kitchen    and    chamber    and    dressing-room   very 


142  THE  OLD   PRESIDENTS   HOUSE. 

commodiously  arranged,  I  was  told,  under  the  direction  of  Mrs.  Webber."*  The 
brick  building,  which  stood  on  the  left  hand  of  the  mansion  as  the  spectator 
faces  it,  and  communicated  with  it,  "  was  built  at  the  same  time  for  the  Presi- 
dent's study  and  Freshman's  room  beneath  it,  and  for  the  preservation  of  the 
College  manuscripts."!  Mrs.  Dana,  the  daughter  of  President  Webber,  now  liv- 
ing in  Cambridge,  informs  the  writer  that  the  brick  building  was  erected  during 
her  father's  administration,  and  under  his  supervision,  but  that  he  died  before  it 
was  ready  for  occupation.  In  1871,  it  was  moved  back,  turned  round  at  right 
angles,  and  joined  to  the  extreme  rear  part  of  the  house.  The  steward's  office 
has  for  several  years  been  kept  in  it ;  and  the  College  has  there  its  printing-press. 
After  Mr.  Everett  left  the  Presidential  mansion,  it  was  leased  for  some  years 
as  a  students'  boarding-house,  and  at  the  present  time  it  is  used  partly  as  a 
dormitory  for  students,  some  of  its  rooms  being  let  to  professors  and  teach- 
ers. A  new  President's  House  was  built  in  Ouincy  Street  during  President 
Felton's  administration,  and  the  old  mansion  is  now  known  as  the  "  Wadsworth 
House."  No  house  in  Cambridge,  and  but  few  houses  in  this  country,  have  received 
within  their  walls  so  many  distinguished  men  and  women  as  has  the  old  President's 
House,  t  When  we  think  of  the  eminent  men  whose  official  residence  it  has 
been  for  so  many  years,  and  who  have  made  it  the  centre  of  literary  and  social 
attraction  to  illustrious  guests  ;  when  we  remember  that  it  is,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  "  Massachusetts,"  the  oldest  of  the  College  buildings,  —  we  are  led  to 
express  the  hope  that  the  venerable  mansion  will  not  be  allowed  to  perish,  and 
be  numbered  with  the  things  that  were. 

*  Miss  Quincy  to  the  writer.     See  Proceedings  Mass.  Hist.  Society  for  September,  1872.      t  Ibid. 

t  The  following  note  from  Miss  E.  S.  Quincy,  daughter  of  the  late  President  Quincy,  will  find  an 
appropriate  place  here :  — 

"  In  October,  1830,  Dr.  Holbrook,  of  Milton,  visited  President  and  Mrs.  Quincy,  and  gave  an  ac- 
count of  his  residence  at  Cambridge  during  the  siege  of  Boston,  in  1775,  when  he  was  attached  to 
the  medical  staff  of  the  American  army.  '  The  President's  House  was  given  to  the  commissary  of 
the  army,'  said  Dr.  Holbrook,  '  and  I  was  quartered  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Phips,  in  this  neighborhood. 
The  Colleges  were  much  injured  by  the  garrison.  The  apartments  of  Harvard  Hall,  except  the  one 
used  as  the  Library,  were  filled  with  barrels  of  salt  beef,  brought  by  the  country  people  for  the  army. 

"'During  the  siege  a  shell,  thrown  by  the  British  from  Copp's  Hill,  struck  the  Square  near  the 
President's  House  :  the  fuse  was  yet  burning,  and  a  soldier  went  and  stamped  it  out  at  the  peril  of 
his  life.  General  Washington  rode  round  the  camp  every  day,  and  I  have  often  seen  him  here  in 
the  President's  house.' 

"  Dr.  Holbrook  was  an  eminent  physician,  and  was  past  eighty  years  of  age  when  he  gave  this  ac- 
count His  usefiU  and  honorable  life  soon  after  ended.  The  incident  he  related  of  the  shell  thrown 
by  the  British  from  Copp's  Hill,  and  which  must  have  passed  very  near  the  President's  House, 
proved  that  it  was  not  an  eligible  residence  for  the  Commander-in-Chief. 

"ELIZA  SUSAN  QUINCY. 
"S  Park  Stkeet,  Boston,  May  14,  1874." 


^ 


THE    DANA    HOUSE. 

Erected  in  1823.  —  Alterations.  —  Estate  purchased  by  the  College.  —  Efforts  to  establish 
AN  Astronomical  Observatory.  —  Directors.  —  Meridian  Line  located.  —  Apparatus  re- 
moved to  the  New  Observatory.  —  Occupants  since  1844. 

The  house  on  the  southwestern  corner  of  Harvard  and  Quincy  Streets,  now 
occupied  by  Rev.  Dr.  A.  P.  Peabody,  was  built  by  the  family  of  Richard  H. 
Dana,  Esq.,  in  1823,  and  was  occupied  by  them  from  that  time  until  1832.  The 
external  appearance  and  the  internal  arrangements  of  the  house  remain  essentially 
the  same  as  when  it  was  first  built,  the  only  changes  being  the  addition  of  a 
cupola,  and  of  a  small  wing  on  the  western  side,  both  designed  for  uses  hereafter 
to  be  mentioned.  At  the  time  when  the  house  was  built,  the  College  grounds 
extended  eastward  scarcely  beyond  the  line  on  which  Gore  Hall  now  stands.  A 
few  years  afterwards  Quincy  Street  was  laid  out,  and  Dr.  Beck,  Professor  Chan- 
ning,  and  Mr.  Buckingham  erected  dwelling-houses  on  the  eastern  side  of  it.  In 
1835  the  Corporation  of  the  College  purchased  the  estate  belonging  to  the  Dana 
family,  and  also  the  land  belonging  to  the  heirs  of  Abraham  Bigelow,  at  the 
western  corner  of  Quincy  Street  and  Broadway,  including  the  triangle  on  which 
the  Gymnasium  now  stands,  and  thus  extended  the  College  grounds  to  Quincy 
Street.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  growth  and  future  wants  of  the  College 
could  not  have  been  foreseen  at  a  still  earlier  period.  A  less  expenditure  of 
money  than  that  which  extended  the  College  line  to  Quincy  Street  in  1835, 
would  have  carried  it  to  Trowbridge  Street  in  1820.  But  at  this  period  the 
College  was  supposed  to  need  money  more  than  land. 

Earnest  but  unsuccessful  movements  towards  the  establishment  of  an  Astro- 
nomical Observatory  were  made  at  first  in  1816  by  Professor  Farrar  and  Dr. 
Bowditch,  and  again  in  1823  by  John  Quincy  Adams,  then  Secretary  of  State  of 
the  United  States.  They  preferred  for  this  purpose  a  position  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  the  College  grounds,  and  negotiations  were  begun  for  the  pur- 
chase of  two  and  one  half  acres  of  the  Dana  estate,  which,  in  different  branches 
of  the  family,  had  extended  to  the  top  of  Dana  Hill.  In  the  division  of  the 
property,  the  land  between  the  old  College  line  and  Trowbridge  Street  (with  the 


144  THE   DANA  HOUSE. 

exception  of  the  parsonage  a  little  west  of  Dr.  Peabody's  present  residence  and 
the  lot  at  the  corner  of  Quincy  Street  and  Broadway,  already  mentioned)  fell  to 
the  share  of  Rev.  Edmund  Dana,  uncle  of  Richard  H.  Dana,  Esq.,  the  venerable 
poet  and  author,  still  living  in  a  green  old  age.  It  was  on  that  part  of  the  di- 
vided estate  which  was  in  closest  proximity  to  the  College  that  it  was  proposed 
to  place  the  Observatory,  in  order  to  make  it  of  convenient  access  to  professors 
and  students.  Nothing,  however,  was  accomplished  in  this  direction  until  the 
autumn  of  1839,  when  the  house  at  the  corner  of  Quincy  and  Harvard  Streets 
was  appropriated  by  the  College  to  this  object,  the  cupola  with  a  revolving  dome 
was  placed  upon  the  roof  for  the  accommodation  of  a  reflecting  telescope,  and  a 
long  range  of  low  buildings  was  erected  on  the  western  side  of  the  house  to  ac- 
commodate the  transit  instrument  and  a  complete  set  of  Lloyd's  apparatus  for 
obsei-ving  the  elements  of  terrestrial  magnetism.  This  rudimentary  Observatory  was 
placed  under  the  charge  of  Professor  Joseph  Lovering  and  William  C.  Bond,  Esq., 
and  they  occupied  the  old  house  as  a  residence.  The  Observatory  was  furnished, 
partly  by  instruments  belonging  to  the  College,  partly  by  others  which  were  the 
private  property  of  Mr.  Bond,  with  the  addition  of  new  ones  purchased  by  sub- 
scription. Some  valuable  work  in  Astronomy,  Meteorology,  and  the  Physics  of 
the  Globe  was  done  at  this  primitive  observatory,  in  co-operation  either  with 
the  South  Sea  Expedition  of  the  United  States  Government,  or  with  the  other 
magnetic  observatories,  which,  at  the  instigation  of  Gauss  and  Humboldt,  had 
suddenly  sprung  up  all  over  the  earth. 

The  meridian  line  of  the  transit  instrument  intersected  the  top  of  Blue  Hill 
in  Milton,  where  a  substantial  tower  of  solid  masonry  was  built,  on  the  top  of 
which  was  placed  the  meridian  mark,  at  a  distance  of  eleven  miles  in  an  air-line 
from  the  transit-room.  After  this  meridian  line  had  been  established,  an  old  barn 
was  moved  to  the  southern  side  of  Main  Street,  and  placed,  either  by  accident 
or  design,  exactly  south  of  the  transit  instrument,  so  as  to  obstruct  the  view  of 
the  meridian  mark.  It  was  necessary  to  purchase  the  right  of  way  for  the  light 
to  come  through  this  barn,  and  a  tunnel  was  cut  out  in  the  roof  In  the  autumn 
of  1844  the  new  Observatory  was  finished,  and  Mr.  Bond  took  possession  of  the 
house  connected  with  it  as  the  residence  of  its  director.  Most  of  the  additions 
which  had  been  made  to  the  house  in  Quincy  Street  were  removed  to  the  grounds 
of  the  new  Observatory,  and  the  house  itself  was  rented.  Professor  Felton  occu- 
pied the  house  for  a  few  years,  beginning  probably  with  1844,  and  ending  cer- 
tainly in  the  summer  of  1849,  when  the  new  house,  at  the  corner  of  Quincy 
Street  and  Broadway,  which  the  Corporation  of  the  College  built  for  him,  was 
completed.  Between  the  autumns  of  1855  and  i860  Rev.  F.  D.  Huntington 
occupied  the  house  which  is  the  subject  of  this  notice:  since  i860  Rev.  A.  P. 
Peabody  has  lived  in  it.  At  various  intervals,  not  covered  by  this  narrative,  the 
house  was  rented  to  persons  in  no  way  connected  with  the  College. 


m. 


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M 

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aa;i«»a.»«.n,  ,nn.  ^.. .Ak^^itw^^.Jfc-v^^^^^L::.^--  X  /t^  /^i 


THE     PRESIDENT'S     HOUSE. 

Gift  of  the  Hon.  Peter  C.  Brooks,  in  1846.  —  Accumulation  of  the  Fund.  —  The  President's 
House  erected  in  1861.  —  First  occupied  by  President  Felton.  —  President  Eliot  gives 
UP  the  House  for  Use  as  a  Hospital. — Location.  —  Magnetic  Observatory.  —  Arrange- 
ment of  Rooms.  —  Surroundings. 

In  April,  1846,  a  few  months  after  the  accession  of  President  Everett,  the 
Hon.  Peter  C.  Brooks  gave  to  the  President  and  Fellows  of  Harvard  College 
the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  "  in  aid  of  the  erection  of  a  dwelling-house 
for  the  President  of  the  University,  and  his  successors."  This  fund  was  accumu- 
lating until  August,  i860,  when  it  amounted  to  $20,060.83.  Meanwhile,  in  April 
of  that  year,  just  after  the  accession  of  President  Felton,  the  treasurer  had  been 
authorized  to  contract  for  building  a  President's  house,  to  cost,  including  "fix- 
tures, and  fencing  and  grading  of  the  grounds,  and  architect's  commissions,  not 
to  exceed  fifteen  thousand  dollars."  The  plans  were  drawn  and  the  work  super- 
vised by  Edward  C.  Cabot,  architect,  and  the  whole  finished  in  July,  1861,  at  a 
cost  of  $16,452.90.  President  Felton  occupied  it  until  his  lamented  death  in 
February  of  the  succeeding  year.  President  Hill  lived  there  during  the  six  years 
of  his  administration;  and  in  July,  1867,  the  porch  was  erected  over  the  front 
door,  by  vote  of  the  Corporation.  President  Eliot  has  occupied  it  since  his 
accession,  except  for  the  brief  period  during  which  he  generously  gave  it  up  for 
use  as  a  hospital  for  students  suffering  under  infectious  disease.  During  his 
occupancy  the  house  has  been  further  improved   by  an  additional  skylight. 

The  site  of  this  building  is  on  Quincy  Street,  which  it  faces,  next  to  the 
corner  house  on  Harvard  Street.  Professor  William  C.  Bond  occupied  this  corner 
house  on  his  first  coming  to  Cambridge,  in  1840;  and  during  the  magnetic  cru- 
sade of  the  following  three  years,  a  magnetic  observatory  stood  nearly  on  the 
site  of  the  new  President's  house,  the  magnetic  observations  being  principally 
taken  by  a  volunteer  corps  of  undergraduates. 

The  house  stands  well  back  from  the  street,  and  has  open  space  on  all  sides, 
the   lawn   sloping,  on  the  west,  down  to  Gore  Hall.     Within  the  front  door   is   a 


146  'I'ME  PRESIDENT'S    HOUSE. 

vestibule,  five  feet  by  ten,  which  opens  by  a  small  door  into  a  little  office  on  the 
left,  and  by  a  large  door  into  the  entry,  ten  feet  by  twelve.  From  this  entry 
you  may  go  to  the  left  into  the  same  office,  or  to  the  right  into  a  sitting-room 
thirteen  feet  by  fifteen ;  or,  keeping  your  back  to  the  front  door,  you  may  enter 
the  drawing-room  to  the  left,  eighteen  feet  by  twenty-eight;  or,  passing  under 
an  archway,  on  the  right,  enter  the  dining-room,  sixteen  feet  by  twenty-two;  or, 
turn  to  the  right  beyond  the  sitting-room,  and  find  the  front  stairs,  and  by  the 
side  of  them  a  passage  to  a  convenient  kitchen,  fifteen  by  twenty,  pantiy  ten 
by  ten,  and  other  rooms  and  back  entry. 

The  drawing-room  has  a  large  bay-window  on  the  south  toward  Harvard 
Street,  and  a  French  window  opening  westward  upon  the  College  yard.  It  also 
connects  by  a  wide  door  with  the  dining-room.  Upon  the  second  story  are  five 
chambers  in  the  main  building,  and  two  in  the  wing  over  the  kitchen  and  pantry, 
where  there  are  also  a  convenient  bath-room  and  a  cedar  closet,  for  storing  wool- 
lens and  furs.  In  the  attic  of  the  main  house  are  four  chambers.  All  the  rooms 
in  this  and  in  the  second  story  are  well  furnished  with  closets,  and  are  warmed 
by  heated  air,  the  principal  ones  having  also  open  fireplaces.  The  furnace  is 
in  the  cellar,  which  is  thoroughly  drained,  and  underlaid  thickly  with  broken 
stone,  and  a  concrete  floor.  Over  this,  under  the  wing,  a  floor  is  laid,  with 
every  convenience  given  for  a  laundry. 

The  cellar  walls  are  well  laid  of  stone ;  the  walls  of  the  first  story  are  hollow 
walls  of  brick,  standing  on  a  granite  underpinning ;  over  the  front  door  the 
brick  is  carried  up  to  the  gable,  and  the  College  seal,  cut  in  brown  freestone, 
inserted.  The  second  story  is  formed  by  a  French  roof,  the  lower  pitch  being 
sufficiently  steep  to  give  the  chambers  upright  walls,  and  the  upper  pitch  steep 
enough  to  make  the  attic  rooms  very  convenient.  The  brick  walls  are  very 
plain,  but  of  fine,  smooth,  hard  brick,  and  are  surmounted  by  a  somewhat  orna- 
mental fascia  and  eaves  in  wood.  The  roof  is  covered  with  plain  slates.  Seen 
from  Quincy  Street,  as  one  approaches  from  Broadway,  the  effect  of  the  archi- 
tecture is  pleasing,  or  would  be  so  for  a  private  dwelling;  but  as  it  is  seen  from 
the  College  yard  and  from  Harvard  Street,  there  is  an  unpleasant  effect  pro- 
duced by  the  steepness  of  the  first  pitch  of  the  roof,  and  by  the  break  of  the 
material,  and  of  the  lines  in  the  end  toward  Gore  Hall.  As  a  place  of  residence, 
its  charms  consist  in  the  sunny  aspect  of  the  office  and  drawing-room  (and  the 
corresponding  chambers),  and  in  the  beauty  of  its  situation,  looking  out,  on  all 
sides,  upon  trees,  shrubbery,  and  grass,  near  enough  to  be  seen,  without  being 
near  enough  to  give  dampness  to  the  air. 


JOSIAH     QUINCY. 

JosiAH  OuiNCY,  the  sixteenth  President  of  Harvard  University,  was  born  in 
Boston,  on  the  4th  of  February,  1772.  He  was  the  son  of  Josiah  Ouincy,  Jr., 
an  active  patriot  of  the  pre-Revolutionary  period,  who  died  on  his  return  from 
a  visit  to  England,  undertaken  partly  for  health  and  partly  for  political  pur- 
poses, when  his  son  was  barely  three  years  old.  At  six  years  of  age  the  future 
President  was  sent  to  Phillips  Academy  at  Andover,  whence  he  proceeded  to 
Cambridge  in  1786,  graduating  at  the  head  of  his  class  in  1790.  He  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1793,  and  was  elected  Representative  of  the  Suffolk  District 
to  Congress  in  1804.  He  took  his  seat  in  1805,  and  remained  in  Congress  for 
eight  years.  He  was  active  and  prominent  in  resistance  to  the  policy  of  Mr. 
Jefferson  and  Mr.  Madison,  and  may  be  said  to  have  been  the  leader  of  the 
Federalist  opposition  to  their  administrations  for  the  chief  part  of  his  member- 
ship. The  interval  of  sixteen  years,  from  his  withdrawal  from  Congress,  in  181 3, 
until  his  inauguration  as  President  in  1829,  was  filled  up  with  public  sei-vice  in 
various  capacities.  He  was  State  Senator,  Speaker  of  the  Massachusetts  House 
of  Representatives,  Judge  of  the  Municipal  Court  of  the  town  of  Boston,  —  a  jury 
court  for  criminal  trials, — and  Mayor  of  Boston  for  six  years  of  great  activity 
and  of  many  useful  reforms. 

In  the  winter  of  1829  he  was  nominated  unanimously  by  the  Corporation,  and 
confirmed  by  a  large  majority  of  the  Overseers,  as  President  of  the  University. 
For  various  reasons,  fully  appreciated  at  the  time,  it  was  thought  desirable  that 
a  man  of  business  should  be  placed  at  the  head  of  academical  affairs.  His 
judicious  administration  of  discipline,  and  his  wise  direction  of  the  methods  of 
instruction,  showed  that,  however,  his  fitness  for  his  place  was  not  limited  by  his 
experience  in  the  business  of  the  world.  He  introduced  a  freedom  of  personal 
intercourse  with  the  undergraduates  such  as  had  not  been  attempted  before,  and 
endeavored  to  act  upon  their  conduct  through  their  sense  of  honor  and  of  the 
value  of  character.  He  thus  greatly  endeared  himself  to  the  better  sort  of  the 
young  men,  and  the  relations  of  reverent  affection  then  established  with  many  of 


148  JOSIAH   QUINCY. 

tlicni  remained  long  after  they  had  gone  forth  into  the  world.  But,  though  con- 
siderate and  indulgent  within  proper  limits,  he  was  strict  and  stern  when  the 
interests  of  the  institution  demanded  a  just  severity.  He  established  the  prin- 
ciple, in  the  face  of  much  obloquy,  within  and  without  the  walls  of  the  Univer- 
sity, that  the  academic  status  of  one  who  had  committed  a  crime  against  the 
State  as  well  as  against  the  College,  by  acts  of  violence  or  outrage,  should  not 
shield  him  from  the  prosecution  and  punishment  which  would  be  meted  out  to  a 
like  offender  in  civil  life. 

President  Ouincy's  success  in  dealing  with  the  students  was  largely  owing  to 
his  practical  application  of  the  maxim  that  "  prevention  is  better  than  cure."  For 
instance,  the  commons  had  always  been  a  not  unreasonable  ground  of  complaint 
to  the  students,  and  the  occasion  of  some  of  the  most  serious  academic  disturb- 
ances. These  complaints  he  removed  by  causing  the  fare  to  be  improved,  and 
by  providing  a  service  of  porcelain  and  plate  that  made  the  table  respectable. 
The  determination  of  their  academic  rank  and  the  distribution  of  College  hon- 
ors formed  another  source  of  dissatisfaction  to  the  undergraduates.  These  dis- 
tinctions were  bestowed  upon  a  general  estimate  of  the  merits  of  the  candidates 
for  honors,  which  gave  rise  at  times  to  suspicions  of  partiality  and  personal 
favoritism  on  the  part  of  the  authorities.  President  Ouincy  sought  to  remedy 
this  dissatisfaction  by  a  system  which  should  make  academic  rank  a  matter  of 
mathematical  certainty.  By  this  plan  the  merit  of  every  academic  exercise  was 
valued  according  to  a  numerical  scale,  the  sum  of  the  whole,  after  certain  deduc- 
tions for  minor  delinquencies,  such  as  absence  from  lectures  or  from  chapel,  de- 
ciding the  rank  of  each  student.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  students  on  an 
average  forty  years  ago  were  much  younger  than  those  of  the  present  day,  and 
it  may  well  be  that  this  system  was  adapted  to  conditions  which  have  passed  or 
are  passing  away.  President  Ouincy  promoted  the  adoption  of  a  system  of 
elective  studies  as  extensive  as  the  means  of  instruction  would  allow,  and,  indeed, 
the  voluntary  experiment  was  tried  more  fully  in  his  time  than  ever  before  or 
since,  until  the  very  recent  changes  under  the  present  eminent  head  of  the  Col- 
lege. To  this  fact  his  third  successor.  Dr.  Walker,  bears  emphatic  testimony, 
declaring  that  he  did  more  in  the  direction  of  this  reform  "  than  the  College 
had  been  able  to  retain,"  twenty  years  after  his  death. 

The  three  permanent  monuments  of  President  Ouincy's  administration  of  the 
University  are  the  Law  School,  Gore  Hall,  and  the  Observatory.  The  Law 
School,  indeed,  had  a  name  to  live  when  he  took  charge  of  the  affairs  of  the 
College,  and  but  little  more  than  a  name.  The  first  event  after  his  accession  to 
the  presidency  was  the  reorganization  of  the  Law  School,  under  the  charge  of 
Mr.  Justice  Joseph  Story,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  of 
John    Hooker   Ashmun,  shortly  afterward   succeeded   by  Simon    Greenleaf,  under 


JOSIAH   QUINCY.  1 49 

whose  auspices  it  grew  into  proportions  worthy  of  its  great  office,  —  the  formation 
of  sound  lawyers,  learned  judges,  and  able  statesmen.  In  1829,  and  for  years 
afterwards.  President  Ouincy  was  justly  anxious  for  the  safety  of  the  library,  at 
that  time  the  most  valuable  in  the  country,  which  was  exposed  to  great  danger 
of  fire,  in  Harvard  Hall.  He  wrote  a  pamphlet  to  draw  attention  to  the  subject, 
and  petitioned  the  General  Court  to  make  an  appropriation  for  a  new  and  fire- 
proof building.  This  application  failing  of  effect,  he  induced  the  Corporation  to 
apply  the  munificent  legacy  of  Governor  Gore,  left  to  the  College  without  con- 
ditions, to  this  object.  The  library  thus  secured,  he  procured  subscriptions  to 
the  amount  of  more  than  twenty-one  thousand  dollars  for  the  purchase  of  books, 
while  the  fire-proof  character  of  Gore  Hall  has  induced  liberal  donations  by  indi- 
viduals, so  that  the  building  which  was  thought  sufficient  for  the  needs  of  the 
rest  of  the  century  has  been  long  calling  for  enlargement.  The  importance  of 
an  astronomical  observatory  at  Cambridge  had  engaged  the  attention  of  Presi- 
dent Ouincy  before  he  even  thought  any  official  connection  with  the  College 
possible,  and  he  had  endeavored  without  success  to  obtain  the  means  for  erecting 
one.  During  his  presidency  he  kept  the  plan  constantly  in  view,  and  under  his 
superintendence  the  Observatory  grew  from  very  small  beginnings  to  nearly  its 
present  proportions.  It  was  by  his  personal  exertions  that  the  subscriptions  ne- 
cessary for  the  purchase  of  the  Equatorial  Telescope,  then  the  second  in  the  world, 
were  obtained.  After  his  resignation  it  was  through  his  suggestion  that  his  young 
relative,  Edward  Bromfield  Phillips,  left  to  the  Observatory  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars ;  and  he  himself  contributed  ten  thousand  dollars  as  a 
fund  for  its  publications.  His  experience  in  business  enabled  President  Ouincy 
to  purchase  on  very  favorable  terms  the  site  of  the  Observatory  and  several  other 
parcels  of  land  of  great  importance  to  the  College,  the  value  of  which  has  very 
greatly  increased  since  his  time. 

After  holding  the  presidency  for  more  than  sixteen  years,  Mr.  Ouincy  resigned 
it  in  1845,  ^"^d  took  his  leave  of  the  office  at  the  Commencement  of  that  year. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  he  left  the  College  in  the  most  flourishing  con- 
dition, both  as  to  prosperity  and  usefulness,  that  it  had  ever  been  in  from  its 
foundation.  Two  years  after  his  death,  July,  1866,  President  Walker  bore  this 
testimony  to  his  administration,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Alumni :  "  Sixteen  years 
of  more  devoted,  unremitting,  unwearied  work  in  the  service  of  a  public  institu- 
tion were  never  spent  by  mortal  man.  And  when  we  call  to  mind  the  state  of 
things  at  the  time  of  his  appointment,  it  seems  to  me  that  he  will  be  forever 
remembered  as  The  Great  Organizer  of  the  University."  Though  the  growth 
of  the  University  has  been  great  during  the  thirty  years  since  his  retirement, 
perhaps  it  would  have  been  neither  so  rapid  nor  so  substantial  had  it  not  been 
for  the   careful   preparation  of  the  ground   by  President  Quincy.      It  need  hardly 


I^O  JOSIAH   QUINCY. 

be  said  that  he  retained  his  profound  interest  in  the  College  as  long  as  he  lived, 
serving  it  in  whatever  his  hand  found  to  do ;  and  the  interest  of  the  graduates 
in  him  was  undiminished  to  the  last.  Whenever  he  appeared  at  Cambridge  on 
public  days,  he  was  always  received  with  the  most  cordial  enthusiasm,  the  audi- 
ence usually  rising  and  greeting  him  with  cheer  upon  cheer,  while  every  allusion 
to  him  was  received  with  rounds  of  applause.  His  last  public  appearance  there 
was  at  the  Meeting  of  the  Alumni  in  1863,  less  than  a  year  before  his  death, 
in  his  ninety-second  year,  when  he  spoke  in  a  manner  needing  no  allowance  for 
his  great  age. 

President  Quincy  was  in  his  seventy-fourth  year  when  he  resigned  his  office 
and  retired  to  private  life.  It  was  the  first  absolute  leisure  he  had  had  for  more 
than  forty  years,  and  it  was  leisure  well  and  profitably  spent.  His  specific  for 
happiness  during  his  active  life  had  always  been  work,  and  he  used  it  still  to 
guard  against  the  tedium  and  to  ward  off  the  worst  infirmities  of  old  age.  He 
laid  out  solid  tasks,  and  performed  them  conscientiously.  During  his  presidency 
he  had  written  his  elaborate  History  of  Harvard  College,  in  two  volumes,  and 
published  an  edition  of  the  Graham's  History  of  the  United  States,  with  a  Memoir 
of  the  author.  After  his  retirement  he  wrote  the  Municipal  History  of  Boston, 
the  History  of  the  Boston  Athenaeum,  a  Memoir  of  his  uncle  by  marriage,  Major 
Samuel  Shaw  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  Life  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  besides 
various  pamphlets  on  matters  of  temporary  interest ;  and  his  recreation  in  the 
intervals  of  his  labors  was  chiefly  reading  the  ancient  classics,  of  which  he  was 
a  studious  admirer.  In  the  public  affairs  of  his  later  years  he  took  an  intense 
and  an  active  interest.  From  the  first  of  his  public  life  he  had  watched  and  re- 
sisted the  predominance  of  the  slave  power  in  the  government  of  the  nation. 
This  jealousy  had  been  the  controlling  motive  of  his  whole  congressional  life, 
and  the  continued  encroachments  of  slavery  down  to  the  Civil  War  had  not  suf- 
fered his  zeal  to  grow  cold.  In  1856,  when  the  nation  seemed  aroused  to  its 
dangers  and  intent  on  putting  an  end  to  them,  he  lent  the  aid  both  of  voice  and 
pen  to  the  Republican  movement.  His  Address  to  the  Free  States,  written  in 
his  eighty-fifth  year,  and  printed  and  largely  circulated  at  his  own  expense,  it  was 
affirmed,  greatly  contributed  to  the  Republican  majority  in  New  England.  When 
the  Rebellion  broke  out,  he  never  doubted  for  a  moment  the  success  of  the  na- 
tion and  the  destruction  of  slavery.  He  lived  to  see  the  day  of  Emancipation, 
and  survived  that  illustrious  era  more  than  a  twelvemonth.  Retaining  his  mental 
faculties  to  the  last,  and  surrounded  by  all  that  should  accompany  old  age,  he 
died  at  Quincy  on  the   ist  of  July,   1864,  in  his  ninety-third  year. 


EDWARD    EVERETT. 

Edward  Everett  was  bom  in  Dorchester,  Massachusetts,  the  nth  of  April, 
1794.  He  was  a  younger  brother  of  Alexander  H.  Everett,  who  was  Minister 
to  Spain  during  the  administration  of  President  John  Ouincy  Adams,  and  who 
died  at  Canton  in  June,  1847,  as  Commissioner  of  the  United  States  to  China. 
The  two  brothers  descended  from  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Massachusetts, 
who  established  himself  more  than  two  centuries  ago  at  Dedham,  in  Norfolk 
County,  where  the  family  yet  remains.  Rev.  Oliver  Everett,  the  father  of  Alex- 
ander and  Edward  Everett,  was  in  his  youth  apprenticed  to  a  carpenter  in 
Dedham.  Finding  his  occupation  not  to  agree  with  his  health,  he  began  to 
prepare  himself  for  college,  after  he  had  attained  his  majority,  and  entered  at 
Cambridge  in  1775,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three.  In  1782  he  was  settled  as 
the  minister  of  the  New  South  Church  in  Boston.  He  was  succeeded  in  this 
church  by  President  Kirkland.  After  retiring  from  the  ministry,  Mr.  Oliver 
Everett  settled  himself  on  a  very  small  farm  in  Dorchester.  In  1799  he  was 
appointed  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  Norfolk  County,  which 
office  he  filled  to  general  acceptance  till  his  death,  in  1802.  He  left  eight 
children,    of  whom    Edward    Everett   was   the   fourth. 

Mr.  Everett  received  the  greater  part  of  his  schooling  at  the  public  schools  of 
Dorchester  and  of  Boston,  to  which  place  the  family  removed  after  his  father's 
death.  He  also  attended  in  Boston  a  private  school  kept  by  Hon.  Ezekiel 
Webster  (brother  of  Daniel  Webster),  and  passed  the  two  last  terms  of  the 
year  preceding  his  entrance  into  College  at  the  Academy  at  Exeter,  New  Hamp- 
shire, of  which  Dr.  Benjamin  Abbot  was  the  distinguished  principal.  Frequent 
allusions  are  made  by  Mr.  Everett  to  the  circumstances  of  his  early  education 
in  his  published  speeches  ;  and  an  affectionate  tribute  of  gratitude  to  Dr.  Abbot 
will  be  found  in  his  remarks  at  the  festival  at  Exeter,  an  occasion  of  the  jubilee 
of  the  beloved  and  revered  preceptor  held  at  the  Academy  by  his  pupils  in 
1838.* 

*  Everett's  Orations  and  Speeches,  Vol.  II.  p.  281. 


152  EDWARD   EVERETT. 

Mr.  Everett  entered  Harvard  College  in  1807,  when  he  was  a  few  months 
past  the  age  of  thirteen.  He  was  the  youngest  member  of  his  class,  and  gradu- 
ated with  the  first  honors.  His  own  sketch  of  his  College  life  has  been  pub- 
lished lately. 

On  leaving  College  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  the  professional  views  of  Mr.  Everett 
were  at  first  somewhat  undecided.  His  preference  was  for  the  law;  but  he  changed 
his  views,  under  the  advice  and  influence  of  Mr.  Buckminster,  then  the  minister  of 
Brattle  Street  Church  in  Boston,  of  which  his  mother,  Mrs.  Everett,  was  a  mem- 
ber. President  Kirkland  united  with  Mr.  Buckminister  in  urging  his  thoughts  to 
the  study  of  divinity.  He  pursued  this  study  for  two  years  at  Cambridge,  and 
during  a  part  of  that  time  filled  the  office  of  Latin  tutor.  In  the  year  181 3,  and 
before  he  was  twenty  years  of  age,  he  succeeded  his  friend  Mr.  Buckminster  in 
the  Brattle  Street  Church.  His  labors  in  this  arduous  position  were  far  beyond 
his  years  and  strength,  and  greatly  impaired  his  health.  In  addition  to  the  per- 
formance of  official  duties,  he  wrote  and  published  a  work  of  considerable  com- 
pass, entitled  a  "  Defence  of  Christianity,"  in  answer  to  a  work  of  the  late  Mr. 
English,  in  which  the  arguments  of  Collins  and  other  deistical  writers  were  re- 
viewed. Mr.  Everett's  treatise,  though  below  the  advanced  standard  of  critical 
learning  at  the  present  day,  was  regarded  at  the  time  as  an  eminently  successful 
effort,  and  is  quoted  with  respect  as  the  work  of  an  able  writer,  by  the  learned 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  (Dr.  Kaye),  in  his  Account  of  the  Writings  and  Opinions  of 
Justin  Martyr.* 

In  the  year  18 14,  a  foundation  for  a  professorship  of  Greek  Literature  was 
created  at  Cambridge  by  an  anonymous  benefactor,  since  known  to  have  been 
Samuel  Eliot,  Esq.,  a  much  respected  and  liberal  merchant  of  Boston,  the  grand- 
father of  the  present  President  of  the  University.  Mr.  Everett  was  invited  to  ac- 
cept the  office  as  first  professor  on  this  foundation.  This  proposal  was  rendered 
more  tempting  by  permission  to  visit  Europe,  with  a  view  to  recruit  his  impaired 
health.  He  was  inducted  into  his  professorship  before  he  had  attained  the  age 
of  twenty-one  years. 

In  the  spring  of  181 5,  and  before  commencing  his  duties  at  Cambridge,  Mr. 
Everett  embarked  at  Boston  for  Liverpool,  in  one  of  the  first  ships  that  sailed 
after  the  peace,  intending  immediately  to  repair  to  the  Continent.  On  the  arrival 
of  the  vessel  at  Liverpool,  news  was  received  of  the  escape  of  Napoleon  from 
Elba.  Mr.  Everett  was  detained  in  London  till  after  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  and 
was  the  near  witness  of  the  excitements  produced  by  it.  From  London  he  went 
by  the  way  of  Holland  to  the  University  of  Gottingen,  which  was  at  that  time 
the  most  famous  in  Germany.  He  remained  there  more  than  two  years  to  ac- 
quire the  German   language,  to  ascertain    the    state  of  philological   learning   and 

*  Christian  Examiner,  Vol.  VII.  p.  237. 


EDWARD   EVERETT. 


153 


the  mode  of  instruction  in  the  German  universities,  and  to  study  those  branches 
of  ancient  literature  appropriate  to  his  professorship.  While  he  remained  at  Got- 
tingen,  his  vacations  were  employed  in  travelling  to  Prussia,  Saxony,  and  Holland; 
which  furnished  him  the  opportunity  of  becoming  acquainted  with  many  of  the 
men  of  letters  in  those  countries. 

Having  completed  his  residence  at  Gottingen,  he  passed  the  winter  of 
1817-18  in  Paris,  devoted  to  the  studies  subsidiary  to  his  professorship,  and 
especially  to  the  acquisition  of  the  Romaic,  as  a  preparation  for  a  tour  in  mod- 
ern Greece.  At  this  time  he  formed  the  intimate  acquaintance  of  Koray,  whose 
writings  contributed  so  materially  to  the  regeneration  of  Greece.  It  was,  no 
doubt,  from  his  intercourse  with  this  eminent  Greek  patriot  that  Mr.  Everett 
derived  a  portion  of  that  interest  afterwards  manifested  by  him  in  the  fortunes 
of  Greece  and  the  progress  of  her  revolution.  In  the  spring  of  18 18  he  went  to 
London,  passed  a  few  weeks  at  Cambridge  and  Oxford,  and  made  the  usual 
tour  through  Wales,  the  Lake  country,  and  Scotland.  While  in  England  he 
made  the  acquaintance  and  acquired  the  friendship  of  some  of  the  most  eminent 
men  of  the  day ;  among  others  he  met  with  Scott,  Byron,  Jeffrey,  Campbell,  Gifford, 
Lord  Holland,  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  Sir  Humphry  Davy, 
and  other  persons  of  distinction  in  the  political  and  literary  world. 

In  the  autumn  of  1818,  in  company  with  Mr.  Theodore  Lyman,  he  began  an 
extensive  tour.  After  spending  the  winter  in  Italy,  they  crossed,  in  the  spring  of 
1819,  to  Albania,  and  visited  Ali  Pacha,  then  famous,  at  Yanina,  fortified  with 
letters  of  introduction  from  Lord  Byron.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  long  tour 
through  Greece,  from  which  they  returned  through  Wallachia,  Hungary,  and  Austria. 

He  arrived  in  America  in  1819,  and  immediately  entered  on  his  duties  as  Pro- 
fessor of  Greek  Literature.  It  will  be  observed  that  these  did  not  involve  the 
teaching  of  Greek,  for  there  was  another  professorship  of  the  Greek  language, 
filled  at  that  time  by  Professor  Popkin.  Mr.  Everett's  arrival  at  Cambridge  may 
almost  be  said  to  mark  an  era  in  the  College,  so  great  was  the  enthusiasm  which 
his  lectures  on  Greek  literature  aroused.  The  printed  syllabus  of  them,  still  ex- 
tant, shows  that  the  range  of  study  to  which  he  invited  his  pupils  was  indeed 
broad,  and  that  the  young  men  were  already  at  work  in  making  the  College 
something  very  different  from  what  he  found  it  in  181 1.  While  he  was  Professor 
he  delivered  a  complete  course  of  lectures  on  the  History  of  Greek  Literature,  con- 
taining an  account  of  the  life  and  works  of  every  Greek  classic  author  from  the 
earliest  period,  beside  several  shorter  courses,  among  them  two  on  Antiquities 
and  Ancient  Art.  The  latter  were  repeated  before  large  popular  audiences  in 
Boston.  Chemical  and  botanical  lectures  had  been  delivered  some  years  earlier 
by  Professors  Peck,  Bigelow,  and  Gorham,  but  the  courses  of  Mr.  Everett  are 
believed   to   have  been   the  first,  of  a  purely  literary  character,  delivered  to  large 


154 


EDWARD   EVERETT. 


audiences  in  Boston.  He  also  prepared  at  this  period  a  translation  of  Butt- 
mann's  smaller  Greek  Grammar,  and  a  class-book  on  the  basis  of  Jacob's  Greek 
Reader,  which  furnishes  the  text  to  some  of  the  Readers  still  in  use. 

Very  soon  after  Mr.  Everett's  return  he  assumed  the  charge  of  the  North 
American  Review.  He  made  it  a  quarterly,  gave  to  it  a  distinctly  national  char- 
acter, and  it  thenceforth  bore  an  important  position  in  forming  opinions  at  home 
and  in  reprimanding  careless  writers  abroad.  It  was  the  first  critical  journal  in 
the  country  which  earned  for  itself  any  such  position. 

In  1824,  Mr.  Everett  delivered  the  annual  oration  at  Cambridge  before  the  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  Society.  The  occasion  was  signalized  by  the  attendance  of  Lafay- 
ette, whose  acquaintance  Mr.  Everett  had  made  a  few  years  before  at  Paris. 
The  entire  discourse  was  very  favorably  received  ;  but  the  peroration,  being  an 
apostrophe  to  Lafayette,  touched  a  chord  of  sympathy  in  an  immense  audience 
already  highly  excited  by  the  unusual  circumstances  of  the  occasion.  This  was 
the  first  of  a  series  of  orations  and  addresses  delivered  by  Mr.  Everett  on  public 
occasions  of  almost  every  kind  during  nearly  half  of  a  century. 

Up  to  1824,  Mr.  Everett  had  taken  no  active  interest  in  politics.  In  this  year, 
Mr.  Fuller,  who  had  represented  the  Middlesex  District  in  Congress  for  eight 
years,  declined  a  re-election.  It  was  a  time  of  great  political  harmony,  the  ancient 
political  distinctions  having  almost  wholly  sunk  into  oblivion.  The  young  men 
of  the  district  (whose  fathers  had  belonged  to  both  the  former  political  parties) 
were  desirous  of  selecting  a  candidate  who  could  be  supported  on  higher  grounds 
than  mere  party  preference.  Mr.  Everett's  articles  in  the  North  American  Review, 
above  alluded  to,  had  evinced  his  acquaintance  with  the  great  interests  of  the 
country ;  the  oration  delivered  in  the  presence  of  Lafayette  had  brought  him 
prominently  before  the  public,  just  at  the  time  when  a  nomination  was  to  be 
made.  Under  these  circumstances,  and  without  having  been  himself  personally 
consulted  on  the  subject,  his  name  was  brought  forward  at  a  volunteer  conven- 
tion of  the  young  men  of  the  district.  The  nomination  was  received  with  great 
favor  by  the  people  of  the  district,  and  he  was  elected  by  a  handsome  majority 
over  the  regular  candidate.  The  tradition  is  that  his  political  supporters  sup- 
posed that  he  could  still  maintain  his  place  in  the  College,  —  and  perhaps  he 
supposed  so  himself  But  the  authorities  of  the  College  did  not  think  so,  —  and 
he  resigned  his  professorship. 

It  is  not  the  part  of  this  little  sketch  to  dwell  on  his  life  as  a  politician 
or  a  statesman.  After  serving  in  Congress  for  ten  years,  he  announced  his 
intention  of  withdrawing  in  the  summer  of  1834.  In  the  winter  of  1835  he 
was  nominated  as  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  was  chosen  the  next  autumn. 
He  was  re-elected  for  four  successive  years,  and,  after  a  brilliant  administration, 
was  defeated  by  a  majority  of  one,  in  an   election   entangled  by  temporary  and 


EDWARD   EVERETT. 


155 


local  dissensions  regarding  liquor  laws  and  the  militia.  In  this  administration 
he  was  able  to  bring  to  the  public  system  of  education  the  same  life  and 
spirit  which  he  and  his  friends  had  brought  into  the  College.  The  establish- 
ment of  the  Board  of  Education  and  the  State  Normal  Schools  was  his  work. 
Aided  by  the  late  Edmund  Dwight,  who  gave  himself  cordially  to  this  im- 
provement of  the  public  schools,  he  called  Horace  Mann  from  the  County  Bar 
of  Norfolk  County,  and  offered  to  him  the  new  post  of  Secretary  of  Education, 
which  he  afterwards  made  so  important.  Mr.  Everett  urged  the  Legislature  to 
use  the  "  Surplus  Revenue  "  for  paying  its  subscription  to  the  Western  Railroad, 
and  to  divide  the  remainder,  supposed  then  to  be  more  than  $  700,000,  between 
the  colleges,  the  schools,  and  an  observatory.  Instead  of  which  the  Legisla- 
ture divided  it  among  the  towns,  many  of  which  divided  it  among  the  voters ! 
Had  his  plan  obtained  favor,  Massachusetts  should  now  have  a  revenue  of 
$  150,000   annually   from   these    investments. 

While  he  was  Governor  in  1836,  the  second  centennial  of  the  College  was 
celebrated  with   great   consent.      He   presided   on    that   occasion. 

After  leaving  office  Mr.  Everett  took  his  family  to  Europe,  and  lived  in 
Italy  for  nearly  four  years.  On  the  election  of  General  Harrison,  he  was  named 
Minister  to  England,  and  there  remained  till  1845.  He  returned  to  Boston  just 
as  President  Ouincy  retired  from  the  oversight  of  the  College ;  and  by  almost 
general   consent   he   was    urged   to   become   his   successor. 

Indeed,  he  once  said  that  he  was  urged  to  accept  this  post  by  all  the  friends 
of  the  College,  excepting  three  of  his  nearest  personal  friends.  Every  one 
who  loved  the  College,  wished  to  have  him  undertake  the  duties  at  the  helm, 
except  those  who  loved  him  too  well  to  see  him  sacrifice  health  and  strength 
in  the  work.  He  was  President  but  three  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time 
he  found  that  this  coping  with  the  business  of  a  dozen  boards,  this  oversight 
of  every  detail  of  management,  from  the  spots  on  the  carpet  in  a  pew  of  the 
Chapel  to  the  reception  of  a  king's  son  on  an  occasion  of  ceremony,  was  more 
than  his  flesh  and  blood  could  stand,  and  he  withdrew.  No  such  combination 
of  detail  falls  upon  a  President  now.  But  the  President  then  was  expected  to 
care  personally  for  every  trifle  in  administration,  as  if  he  were  the  head  of 
a   family   boarding-school   to   whom   five   or   six   fathers   had    sent   their   boys. 

In  three  years  of  such  an  administration  he  led  the  way  in  those  changes 
which  have  made  the  College  really  a  University.  The  name  University  had 
been  given  to  it  sixty-six  years  before,  in  the  State  Constitution,  where  it  is 
called  "  The  University  at  Cambridge."  He  assumed  that  name,  and  during 
his  dynasty,  while  Harvard  College  was  called  Harvard  College,  the  University 
was  called  "  the  University  at  Cambridge."  The  midway  name,  "  Harvard  Uni- 
versity," has   no   authority   but   that  of  usage   and  custom. 


156  EDWARD   EVERETT. 

The  Observatory  was  established  on  its  present  site  in  his  administration,  and 
the  appointment  of  the  younger  Bond  gave  to  it  a  staff  capable  of  continued 
observations.  The  Scientific  School  was  established,  endowed  munificently  by 
Mr.  Lawrence,  and  put  in  working  order.  By  Mr.  Everett's  solicitation  Profes- 
sor Agassiz  was  induced  to  take  his  important  place  in  College  education,  and 
the  essential  beginning  was  made  which  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  Museum, 
for  which,  before  the  Legislature,  he  afterwards  pleaded  most  successfully. 

For  the  close  of  his  presidency  did  not  close  his  relations  with  the  College. 
One  or  two  of  his  speeches  before  the  Legislative  Committees  in  behalf  of 
the  College,  which  will  be  found  in  his  addresses,  were  made  after  he  resigned 
the  presidency.  In  1862  he  was  elected  Overseer,  and  he  filled  that  post  for 
two  years.  Indeed,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  crowded  life,  he  had 
always   taken   the   deepest   interest   in   the    fortunes   of  the   institution. 

Of  his  whole  life  indeed  it  has  been  said :  "  If  you  had  asked  him,  the 
last  day  he  lived,  what  was  the  essential  or  central  wish  of  his  life,  and  what 
work  he  had  most  wished  to  succeed  in,  he  would  not  have  named  states- 
manship, oratory,  or  learning.  He  would  have  named  '  the  education  of  the 
people.'  To  this  work  he  gave  himself  before  he  left  College,  when  he  un- 
dertook the  duty  of  a  district-school  teacher,  teaching  pupils  half  of  whom 
were  older  than  himself  He  held  to  it  to  the  last  hour  of  his  life,  when  the 
only  public  office  which  he  retained  was  his  charge  as  a  trustee  of  the  Public 
Library,  an  institution  which  in  its  very  birth  he  cherished,  and  for  which  he 
worked  and  studied  that  it  might  become  what  it  is,  —  the  fit  completion  of 
our  system  of  education.  He  meant  that  it  should  fulfil  and  complete  the  true 
catholic  purpose  of  a  Christian  city,  and  give  to  the  beggar  the  same  oppor- 
tunity for  mental  culture  as  has  any  prince  of  the  land.  From  that  begin- 
ning to  this  end,  the  idea  of  education  has  been  central  and  essential  in  his 
literary  works,  in  his  public  addresses ;  and  you  find  it  as  well  in  his  states- 
manship and  in  his  discharge  of  executive  duties.  In  his  orations  he  is  never 
satisfied  until  he  has  instructed  the  audience  in  the  facts  involved,  and  this 
in  no  general  way,  but  in  a  curious  —  almost  recondite  —  review  of  minute  in- 
cidents connected  with  them.  This  habit  sprang  from  his  determination  not  to 
let  those  concourses  of  people  separate  till  they  had  learned  something,  and 
had  been  imbued  with   the  passion,   or  the  determination,   to  learn   much  more." 

Mr.  Everett  was  candidate  for  Vice-President  on  the  Whig  ticket,  with  John 
Bell,  in  i860.  After  the  election  of  Lincoln,  he  devoted  himself  incessantly  to 
the  national  cause,  and  lived  to  see  its  triumph.  He  died  in  Boston  suddenly  on 
the  morning  of  January  15,  1865,  from  the  result  of  his  over-exertion  in  an  ad- 
dress delivered  at  a  public  meeting  held  for  the  relief  of  the  destitute  people  of 
Savannah,  after  Sherman's  triumphal  entry  there. 


JARED    SPARKS. 

Jared  Sparks  was  born  at  WilHngton,  Connecticut,  on  the  loth  of  May,  1789. 
He  early  displayed,  under  very  unfavorable  circumstances,  a  love  of  knowledge 
and  an  eager  desire  to  obtain  a  good  education.  After  learning  all  that  the  vil- 
lage school  could  teach,  he  was  obliged  to  work  for  his  own  support  at  the  trade 
of  a  carpenter.  While  thus  engaged,  and  endeavoring  to  continue  his  studies,  he 
was  recommended  by  some  kind  friends  to  go  to  Phillips  Academy  in  Exeter, 
New  Hampshire,  and  there  fit  himself  for  college.  Accordingly,  at  the  age  of 
twenty,  he  entered  Exeter,  where,  by  means  of  the  beneficiary  fund  for  poor  stu- 
dents, he  was  enabled  to  complete  his  preliminary  studies.  Among  his  com- 
panions at  Exeter  were  Governor  Dix  of  New  York,  and  Dr.  J.  G.  Palfrey. 

Mr.  Sparks  entered  Harvard  College  in  181 1,  and  graduated  in  181 5.  During 
his  College  course  his  exertions  for  his  own  support  were  unremitting,  necessi- 
tating his  absence  from  Cambridge  at  different  periods.  After  graduation  he  com- 
menced the  study  of  divinity,  under  the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ware.  In 
1 81 7  he  was  appointed  Tutor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy  at  Harvard, 
in  which  office  he  remained  for  two  years.  He  also  contributed  largely  to  the 
North  American  Review,  which  had  been  recently  established  in  Boston. 

In  1819,  having  finished  his  theological  studies,  Mr.  Sparks  was  ordained  as 
minister  of  the  Unitarian  Church  in  Baltimore.  He  remained  there  four  years, 
devoting  himself  to  his  pastoral  duties  and  to  literary  labors  of  various  kinds. 
But  his  health  was  -impaired  by  overwork,  and  in  1823  he  was  reluctantly  obliged 
to  leave  his  parish  and  to  give  up  the  profession.  He  returned  to  Boston,  where 
he  purchased  the  North  American  Review,  of  which  he  remained  the  sole  pro- 
prietor and  editor  for  seven  years.  At  this  time  he  began  to  collect  materials  for 
his  great  work,  the  editing  of  Washington's  Addresses  and  Correspondence,  to 
which  he  devoted  years  of  the  most  earnest  and  unwearying  labor,  undertaking  a 
transatlantic  voyage  and  residence  for  the  sake  of  acquiring  information  which 
could  not  be  had  in  this  country.  The  work  was  published  in  twelve  volumes, 
between   1834  and  1837,  and  was  received  with  the  admiration  for  its  fidelity  and 


158  JARED   SPARKS. 

thoroughness  which  it  has  ever  since  enjoyed.  This  was  the  first  of  that  series 
of  publications  in  which  Mr.  Sparks  threw  a  light  on  the  period  of  the  American 
Revolution  which  it  had  never  before  received.  By  his  efforts  the  fame  of 
Washington  was  established  on  a  firmer  and  wider  basis. 

This  publication  was  accompanied  and  followed  in  rapid  succession  by  other 
works  illustrative  of  the  same  period.  "  The  Diplomatic  Correspondence  of  the 
Revolution,"  in  twelve  volumes,  carefully  arranged  and  edited  by  him,  and  "  The 
Life  of  Gouverneur  Morris,"  in  three  volumes,  were  issued  before  the  completion 
of  the  Washington ;  and  a  Library  of  American  Biography,  begun  by  him  at  this 
time,  filled  twenty-five  volumes,  including  nearly  sixty  lives  of  men  remarkable  in 
the  history  of  this  country. 

Having  discovered  an  amount  of  valuable  unpublished  material  relating  to  Dr. 
Franklin,  Mr.  Sparks  determined  to  perform  the  same  service  for  him  which  he 
had  rendered  to  Washington,  and  in  1840  published  an  edition  of  his  complete 
works,  with  notes  and  corrections,  in  ten  large  volumes,  which  at  once  superseded 
all  previous  editions,  and  has  remained  without  a  rival  till  the  present  day.  In 
these  great  labors  the  unfailing  accuracy  and  clear  judgment  of  Mr.  Sparks  were 
as  conspicuous  as  his  patient  industry.  The  loving  service  which  he  rendered  to 
the  heroes  of  American  history  will  be  remembered  while  their  names  continue 
to  be  honored  as  they  deserve. 

In  1839,  Mr.  Sparks  was  appointed  McLean  Professor  of  History  in  Harvard 
College.  This  office  he  held  for  ten  years.  He  had  previously  married,  in  1832, 
Miss  Frances  Allen,  who  died  in  1835.  In  1839  he  married  Miss  Mary  Crown- 
inshield  Silsbee  of  Salem,  who  survives  him.  On  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Everett, 
in  1849,  Mr.  Sparks  was  chosen  by  the  Corporation  as  his  successor  in  the  Presi- 
dency of  the  College.  During  the  short  time  in  which  he  was  at  the  head  of 
affairs,  his  generous  kindness  and  encouraging  counsels  were  freely  bestowed  on 
all  young  men  who,  like  him,  were  struggling  for  an  education,  and,  like  him, 
were  in  need  of  a  friend.  Respected  and  beloved  by  all  who  came  in  contact 
with  him,  Mr.  Sparks  filled  the  office  of  President  for  three  years.  At  the  end 
of  that  time,  in  consequence  of  failing  health,  he  offered  his  I'esignation,  which 
was  reluctantly  accepted.  He  continued  to  reside  in  Cambridge,  and  to  devote 
his  time  to  his  favorite  historical  pursuits,  until  his  death. 

In  the  spring  of  1866,  Mr.  Sparks  was  attacked  by  pneumonia,  and  after  a 
week's  illness  he  passed  peacefully  away,  on  the  14th  of  March,  in  his  seventy- 
seventh  year.  On  all  who  knew  him  the  beauty  of  his  character  made  the  same 
impression ;  all  were  alike  struck  with  its  sweet  serenity  and  unswerving  upright- 
ness. The  excellences  of  his  private  life  were  also  shown  in  his  writings.  Un- 
disturbed by  petty  controversies  or  jealousies,  simple  and  serene,  they  reflect  the 
mind  of  their  author. 


JAMES    WALKER. 

James  Walker,  the  nineteenth  President  of  Harvard  College,  was  born  in 
Burlington  (at  that  time  a  part  of  Woburn),  Mass.,  on  the  i6th  of  August,  1794. 
He  fitted  for  college  at  Groton  Academy,  which  was  then  under  the  charge  of 
Mr.  Caleb  Butler.  This  preparation  extended  (with  several  interruptions)  from 
the  autumn  of  1807  to  that  of  1810.  He  entered  Harvard  College  in  1810,  and 
graduated  in  1814.  Though  he  held  no  prominent  rank  in  his  Freshman  year, 
on  account  of  his  imperfect  and  irregular  course  of  preparatory  studies,  at  the 
close  of  his   Senior  year  the  second  English  Oration  was  assigned  to  him. 

He  spent  the  first  year  after  his  graduation  at  Phillips  Exeter  Academy  as  an 
assistant  teacher.  He  then  returned  to  Cambridge,  and  began  his  theological 
studies  as  a  resident  graduate  on  the  15th  of  October,  181 5.  His  class  is 
entered  in  the  Triennial  Catalogue  as  the  first  in  the  Divinity  School,  graduat- 
ing from  it  in  181 7.  But  the  school  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been  organized 
at  that  time.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Boston  Ministerial  Association,  held  at  the 
house  of  Dr.  William  E.  Channing,  on  the  5th  of  May,  181 7,  Mr.  Walker 
received  the  usual  approbation  or  license  to  preach,  and  he  preached,  for  the 
first  time,  on  the  Sunday  following  (May  11),  in  his  native  town,  for  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Sewall. 

He  was  ordained  as  minister  over  the  Harvard  Church  in  Charlestown,  Mass., 
on  the  15th  of  April,  181 8.  The  history  of  this  society  may  be  thought  to  have 
begun  with  his  ministry,  as  his  only  predecessor,  Rev.  Thomas  Prentiss,  died  in 
about  six  months  after  his  ordination.  Dr.  Walker  preached  his  farewell  sermon 
to  his  society  on  the  14th  of  July,  1839,  after  a  devoted  and  eminently  success- 
ful ministry  of  twenty-one  years ;  during  which  the  society  had  grown  from 
ninety-five  families  to  about  two  hundred  and  twenty-five.  The  cause  of  his 
retirement  from  this  pulpit,  which  was  acquiesced  in  though  deeply  regretted  by 
the  church  and  congregation,  was  his  appointment  to  the  Alford  Professorship 
of  Natural  Theology,  Moral  Philosophy,  and  Civil  Polity  in  Harvard  College. 
His  services  to  the  College  had  begun,  however,  long  before,  as  an  Overseer  and 


l6o  JAMES   WALKER. 

a  member  of  one  of  the  examining  committees.  He  held  the  office  of  Overseer 
from  1825  to  1836.  He  was  chosen  into  the  Corporation  in  1834,  and  continued 
in  it  until  i860,  on  his  resignation  of  the  Presidency.  He  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  his  Professorship  in  the  autumn  of  1839,  and  discharged  them  with 
signal  ability  till  February,  1853,  when  he  was  made  President  of  the  University. 
He  resigned  this  office  in  January,  i860,  in  the  sixty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  to 
the  great  regret  of  all  the  friends  of  the  College,  and  sought  that  retirement 
from  active  life  which  he  had  so  justly  earned  by  his  long  and  honorable  ser- 
vice. But  his  wisdom  and  his  counsel  were  still  claimed  by  the  College;  and,  on 
the  first  opportunity,  in  1864,  he  was  again  chosen  into  the  Board  of  Overseers, 
where,  happily,  he  remained  to  the  last  day  of  his  life.  One  of  the  most  elabo- 
rate and  valuable  reports  ever  made  to  the  Overseers  was  prepared  by  a  com- 
mittee of  which  Ex-President  Walker  was  a  most  active  member,  namely,  that 
in   1869  on  the  "Condition,  Needs,  and  Prospects  of  the  University." 

This  prolonged  official  connection  with  the  College,  extending  over  half  a  cen- 
tury, and  always  in  places  of  the  highest  responsibility,  while  it  testifies  to  the 
great  confidence  reposed  in  his  abilities  and  his  judgment,  manifests  in  no  less 
degree  the  early  and  ever-growing  interest  which  he  himself  felt  in  the  Univer- 
sity. Next  to  his  profession  of  a  Christian  teacher,  which  he  first  chose  and 
never  relinquished,  the  cause  of  education,  in  all  its  grades,  from  the  school  to 
the  College,  and  spiritual  as  well  as  secular,  was  always  near  his  heart.  Even 
when  he  had  the  cares  of  a  large  and  growing  parish,  he  took  a  warm  and  active 
interest  in  the  common  schools  of  Charlestown  no  less  than  in  the  Divinity 
School  at  Cambridge  and  in  the  College.  He  regarded  the  common  schools  as 
the  nurseries  of  the  Church  and  the  College ;  and  of  those  young  pupils  who 
came  under  his  influence  no  one  ever  aspired  to  a  higher  education,  and  failed 
for  lack  of  encouragement  and  stimulus  from  him. 

As  a  Professor  and  teacher,  he  was  equally  respected  and  loved.  His  perfect 
equanimity  and  cheerfulness  of  temper,  his  sympathy  with  the  young,  the  liveli- 
ness of  his  wit,  and  the  commanding  grasp  which  his  favorite  studies  and  the 
strength  of  his  intellect  gave  him  of  the  difficult  subjects  embraced  in  his  teachings, 
secured  for  him  an  easy  ascendency  over  the  minds  and  hearts  of  his  pupils.  If 
to  these  qualities  and  acquisitions  are  added  his  prudence,  his  firmness,  his  pro- 
found knowledge  of  human  nature,  his  wise  conservatism  which  was  yet  not 
afraid  of  timely  changes,  and  his  careful  attention  to  the  details  of  business,  he 
will  be  seen  to  have  possessed  all  that  was  necessary  to  crown  his  administration 
of  the  College  as  President  with  success  and  dignity. 

But  his  throne  was  the  pulpit.  Wise  and  prudent  as  a  counsellor,  learned  as 
a  divine,  clear  and  profound  as  a  philosopher,  he  was  an  unsurpassed  master  of 
pulpit  eloquence.     That  influence  was  not  withdrawn  when   he  left  his  parish  for 


JAMES  WALKER.  i6i 

the  University.  While  he  was  Professor  and  President,  and  afterwards,  as  long 
as  his  health  permitted,  he  preached  frequently  in  the  College  Chapel  and  in 
other  pulpits ;  and  to  the  last  with  the  same  practical  wisdom  and  inspiring  look 
and  utterance.  Even  the  least  impressible  among  the  students  yielded  to  the 
charm  of  his  eloquence,  and  many,  long  after  their  graduation,  felt  and  confessed 
the  efficacy  of  his  preaching.  A  single  volume  of  sermons  to  the  students  was 
printed  in   1861  ;  and  it  is  hoped  that  others  may  yet  be  given  to  the  public. 

From  January  i,  1831,  to  March  i,  1839,  Dr.  Walker  was  either  sole  or  joint 
editor  of  the  Christian  Examiner,  and  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  its  pages. 
While  he  was  Professor  he  edited  an  edition  of  Reid's  Essay  on  the  Intellectual 
Powers:  abridged,  with  Notes  and  Illustrations  from  Sir  William  Hamilton.  He 
also  edited  a  new  edition  of  Dugald  Stewart's  Philosophy  of  the  Active  and 
Moral  Powers  of  Man.  During  the  same  period  he  delivered  four  courses  of 
Lowell  lectures  in  Boston  on  Natural  Religion  and  the  Philosophy  of  Religion. 
His  address  at  his  inauguration  as  President,  and  another  which  he  delivered  in 
1856  before  the  American  Institute  of  Instruction,  have  been  published.  During 
the  nearly  fifteen  years  which  have  passed  since  his  retirement  from  the  Presidency, 
he  has  responded  frequently  to  public  calls  which  have  been  made  upon  him. 
His  Memoir  of  Daniel  Appleton  White,  his  Memoir  of  Josiah  Quincy,  the  Address 
before  the  Alumni  of  the  College,  and  his  sermon  on  the  War  of  Secession, 
have  been  printed  and  extensively  circulated.  What  has  been  published,  however, 
expresses  but  partially  the  mental  activity  of  his  later  years,  and  the  ever-fresh 
vigor  of  his  intellect.  He  has  continued  to  read  and  write  on  the  great  questions 
in  theology,  philosophy,  and  science  which  have  always  interested  him,  and  has 
remained  familiar  with  the  latest  thought  of  others  upon  these  subjects ;  but 
most  of  what  he  has  written  has  never  been  given  to  the  public.  When,  on  the 
1 6th  of  August,  1874,  he  reached  his  eightieth  birthday,  with  increasing  bodily 
infirmities,  but  in  the  full  posession  of  his  clear  and  strong  intellect  and  his  sym- 
pathetic heart,  the  event  was  happily  commemorated  in  prose  and  verse,  and 
those  of  his  old  parishioners  who  are  still  living  united  with  other  friends  and 
younger  pupils  in  presenting  to  him  a  simple  but  permanent  memorial  of  the  love 
and  veneration  which  they  felt,  in  common  with  the  larger  public,  for  the  Christian 
graces  of  his  character,  and  of  their  gratitude  for  the  good  which  his  life  and 
labors  had  done  to  them  and  to  the  cause  of  education,  morality,  and  religion. 

The  hope,  confidently  felt  at  that  time,  that  years  of  happiness  and  usefulness 
still  remained  to  him,  has  been  disappointed.  After  a  brief  illness,  he  passed 
peacefully  from  the  world  on  the  23d  of  December,  1874. 


CORNELIUS    CONWAY    FELTON. 

Cornelius  Conway  Felton,  the  twentieth  President  of  Harvard  College,  was 
born  in  West  Newbury,  Mass.,  November  6,  1807.  His  early  education  was 
gained  in  spite  of  obstacles  which  would  have  discouraged  a  less  enthusiastic 
scholar  ;  and  although  he  had  the  advantage  of  good  instruction  in  the  classics 
only  one  year  and  nine  months  before  he  entered  college,  his  slender  opportunities 
were  most  conscientiously  improved.  When  he  entered  Harvard  College  in  1823, 
—  according  to  the  testimony  of  an  intimate  friend  and  classmate, — "his  acqui- 
sitions, especially  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  were  far  beyond  the  require- 
ments of  that  institution,  and,  under  the  circumstances,  quite  astonishing."  He 
graduated  in  1827,  with  high  rank  in  his  class.  After  teaching  school  two  years  in 
Genesee,  New  York,  he  was  appointed  Latin  Tutor  in  Harvard  College  in  1829, 
and  Greek  Tutor  in  1830.  From  1832  to  1834  he  was  College  Professor  of  Greek, 
and  from  1834  to  i860  Eliot  Professor  of  Greek  Literature.  He  was  made  Presi- 
dent of  the  University  in  1862,  and  held  this  office  until  his  death,  February  26,  1862. 

President  Felton's  contributions  to  literature  were  many  and  various.  He  pub- 
lished editions  of  the  Iliad,  the  Clouds  and  Birds  of  Aristophanes,  the  Panegyri- 
cus  of  Isocrates,  and  the  Agamemnon  of  ^schylus ;  besides  editing  a  Greek 
Reader,  with  selections  in  prose  and  verse,  and  a  volume  of  selections  from 
modern  Greek  writers.  He  translated  several  essays  and  larger  works  from  the 
German  and  French ;  and  contributed  numerous  articles  to  encyclopeedias,  reviews, 
and  newspapers,  as  well  as  to  the  published  memoirs  of  the  many  learned  societies 
with  which  he  was  connected.  He  edited  an  American  edition  of  Dr.  Smith's 
History  of  Greece,  and  added  to  it  a  continuation  covering  the  period  from  the 
Roman  Conquest  of  Greece  to  the  latest  times.  He  left  unfinished  the  com- 
mentary to  a  most  excellent  volume  of  selections  from  the  Greek  Historians. 
Since  his  death,  the  Lowell  Institute  has  published  two  large  volumes  containing 
his  four  courses  of  lectures  on  the  Greek  Language  and  Poetry,  the  Life  of  Greece, 
the  Constitutions  and  Orators  of  Greece,  and  Modern  Greece,  which  were  delivered 
in   1852,   1853,   1854,  and   1859  before  large  popular  audiences  in  Boston. 


CORNELIUS   CONWAY   FELTON.  1 63 

In  April,  1853,  he  left  home  for  a  year's  journey  in  Europe,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  spent  five  months  in  Greece,  where  he  made  a  most  careful  study  of 
the  topography,  the  remains  of  ancient  art,  the  historic  scenes,  and  —  what  to  his 
mind  was  always  highly  important  —  the  modern  population  of  Greece,  with  their 
strange  relic  of  the  Greek  language.  The  Greeks  of  to-day  have  never  found  a 
more  able  or  a  more  enthusiastic  defender  than  Mr.  Felton  against  the  various 
attacks  and  prejudices  to  which  they  have  been  subject.  His  ready  pen  and 
no  less  ready  wit  were  always  at  their  service ;  and  his  eloquent  advocacy  of 
their  cause  was  well  appreciated  at  Athens,  where  he  was  familiarly  known  as 
the  "  American  Professor."  A  volume  of  Familiar  Letters  from  Europe,  contain- 
ing the  impressions  made  on  his  mind  by  this  journey,  was  published  after  his 
death.  He  revisited  Greece,  as  well  as  the  rest  of  Europe,  in  1856,  when  his 
impaired  health  compelled  him  to  take  a  vacation. 

This  is  no  place  to  do  justice  to  so  varied  and  wide  a  literary  career  as  that 
of  President  Felton.  His  extensive  and  thorough  acquaintance  with  Greek  litera- 
ture, which  was  strengthened  and  illumined  by  an  unusually  wide  knowledge  of 
modern  literature,  was  the  inspiration  of  his  whole  life;  and  no  one  who  was  in- 
timately acquainted  with  him  could  fail  to  catch  some  of  his  enthusiasm.  While 
he  could  not  bear  to  use  his  beloved  classic  authors  as  a  means  of  forcing  un- 
willing youth  to  necessary  discipline,  he  was  an  overflowing  well  of  learning  and 
scholarship  to  all  who  sought  him  with  a  true  desire  to  learn.  No  modern 
scholar  was  ever  more  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  classic  antiquity,  and 
none  ever  better  understood  the  lessons  which  the  present  generation  may  learn 
at  the  various  schools  of  Athens.  The  great  poets,  historians,  orators,  and  phi- 
losophers of  Athens  spoke  to  him  not  merely  of  questions  which  affected  the 
ages  in  which  they  lived,  but  of  the  deeper  matters  which  interest  us  in  this 
distant  time  and  in  our  own  experiment  of  democratic  government.  His  favorite 
authors  were  Homer,  ^schylus,  Aristophanes,  and  Demosthenes.  His  early  love 
of  Homer  made  him  an  impatient  and  hardly  an  impartial  critic  of  modern 
Homeric  theories,  which  he  always  believed  could  be  exploded  by  a  thorough 
study  of  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey ;  and  it  was  difficult  in  his  presence  to  entertain 
even  the  most  conservative  doubts  of  the  existence  of  one  great  poet  who  wrote 
both  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  substantially  as  we  now  have  them.  He  was  a 
careful  student  and  a  great  admirer  of  Demosthenes,  whose  eloquence  he  often 
compared  with  that  of  Webster.  His  own  genial  humor  made  him  keenly  alive  to 
the  wit  of  Aristophanes,  to  whose  comedies  he  devoted  much  of  his  closest 
study.  He  was  indeed  a  scholar  of  the  most  genial  type,  with  unbounded  en- 
thusiasm and  true  love  for  the  great  masterpieces  of  antiquity  to  which  his  best 
strength  was  devoted.  The  services  of  such  a  scholar  to  the  cause  of  letters  in 
this  country  cannot  be  too  highly  estimated. 


THOMAS     HILL. 

Thomas  Hill,  the  twenty-first  President,  was  confirmed  October  6,  1862;  and 
resigned  September  30,  1868.  Born  at  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  June  7,  1818,  of 
English  parents,  who  had  been  in  this  country  for  thirty  years,  he  was  appren- 
ticed to  the  "  Fredonian"  newspaper  in  that  city  in  1830,  and  remained  connected 
with  it  until  1833.  After  a  year  at  school,  he  was  apprenticed  to  an  apothecary 
of  his  native  place,  with  whom  he  remained  until  1838,  when  he  left  to  prepare 
for  college.  He  entered  Harvard  in  1839,  graduated  in  1843,  with  rank  of  second 
scholar,  and  took  the  diploma  of  the  Divinity  School  in  1845.  Ordained  at 
Waltham  the  day  before  Christmas  of  that  year,  he  retained  his  pastorate  fourteen 
years,  and  then  was  called  to  succeed  Horace  Mann  at  Antioch  College,  Yellow 
Springs,  Greene  County,  Ohio.  When  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  crippled 
that  institution  and  forced  it  to  suspend.  Dr.  Hill  accepted  the  Presidency  of 
Harvard  University,  which  he  retained  until  failing  health  compelled  him  to  resign. 
After  two  years  of  rest  he  represented  the  town  of  Waltham  in  the  Legislature 
of  Massachusetts  for  the  year  1871,  and  spent  the  next  winter  on  the  United 
States  Coast  Survey  steamer  Hassler,  in  its  voyage  around  South  America.  Find- 
ing his  health  restored  by  the  voyage,  he  accepted  a  call  from  the  First  Parish 
in  Portland,  Maine,  and  was  installed  over  that  church.  May  18,  1873. 

Dr.  Hill's  literary  labors  have  been  mostly  of  a  fugitive  character,  contributions 
in  prose  and  verse  to  various  periodicals,  and  papers  printed  in  the  Proceedings  of 
the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science ;  with  occasional  Ad- 
dresses and  Sermons,  a  few  volumes  of  mathematical  text-books,  one  of  collected 
Sermons,  and  a  little  tract  on  Natural  Theology. 

During  his  pastorate  at  Waltham  he  interested  himself  greatly  in  the  public 
schools  of  the  town,  and  endeavored  to  bring  the  course  of  instruction  into  con- 
formity with  the  natural  order  of  studies  and  the  natural  affiliation  of  sciences. 
His  views  upon  this  subject  first  found  expression  in  a  scheme  of  the  natural 
order  of  studies,  drawn  up  by  him  in  January,  1843,  published  in  an  address  de- 
livered before  the   Harvard   Natural    History   Society,    more   fully   in   a  *   B    K 


^:^ 


THOMAS   HILL.  jg- 

address,  and  afterward  in  various  papers  in  Barnard's  Journal  of  Education  and 
the  Ohio  Common  School  Journal. 

Dr.  Hill  was  also  the  inventor  of  an  instrument  now  in  possession  of  the 
Observatory,  designed  to  represent  the  moon's  motions  as  affected  by  parallax, 
and  thus  to  project  oscillations  and  eclipses. 

Dr.  Hill  has  especially  distinguished  himself  as  a  mathematician,  and  at  the 
same  time  has  been  recognized  as  one  of  the  foremost  investigators  and  adepts 
in  various  departments  of  natural  science.  He  is  also  an  accomplished  classical 
scholar,  and  has  made  himself  conversant  with  the  Hebrew  and  cognate  Oriental 
languages.  His  present  position,  in  a  parish  containing  a  singularly  large  pro- 
portion of  professional  men  and  families  of  superior  culture,  is  eminently  con- 
genial to  his  tastes  and  his  mental  habits,  and  no  preacher  of  his  time  is  exerting 
a  more  substantial  and  healthy  influence  in  the  cause  of  an  enlightened  and 
conservative  Christian  faith,  and  in  those  great  social  interests  which  are  in- 
separably connected  with  the  cause  of  religion  and  the  work  of  the  Christian 
minister. 


CHARLES     WILLIAM     ELIOT. 

Charles  William  Eliot  was  born  at  Boston,  March  20,  1834.  He  was  the 
only  son  of  Samuel  Atkins  Eliot,  Treasurer  of  Harvard  College  from  1842  to  1853. 
The  boy  was  always  hearing  about  the  College  from  his  earliest  years,  partly  on 
account  of  his  father's  connection  therewith,  and  partly  because  many  of  the  officers 
of  the  College  were  friends  of  the  family.  He  was  prepared  for  college  at  the  Bos- 
ton Public  Latin  School,  and  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in   1853. 

He  was  appointed  tutor  in  mathematics  in  1854  by  the  advice  of  President 
Walker;  but  while  he  taught  elementary  mathematics,  he  devoted  his  spare  time 
to  the  study  of  chemistry  in  the  laboratory  of  Professor  J.  P.  Cooke,  under  whose 
guidance  he  had  already  studied  chemistry  and  mineralogy  during  several  years. 
In  1857  he  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on  chemistry  at  the  Medical  School  in 
Boston,  under  circumstances  which  gave  him  some  insight  into  the  resources, 
policy,  and  management  of  the  School.  In  1858  he  was  promoted  to  be  Assistant 
Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Chemistry  for  five  years,  the  grade  of  assistant 
professor  being  then  first  created.  In  1861  Mr.  Eliot  was  relieved  of  duty  in  the 
mathematical  department,  and  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  chemical  department  of 
the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  where  he  had  an  opportunity  during  the  two  fol- 
lowing years  of  becoming  well  acquainted  with  that  department  of  the  University. 
At  the  expiration  of  his  term  as  assistant  professor  in  1863,  he  went  to  Europe, 
where  he  spent  two  years  in  studying  chemistry,  and  in  making  himself  acquainted 
with  the  organization  of  public  instruction  in  France,  Germany,  and  England. 

While  at  Vienna,  in  the  summer  of  1865,  Mr.  Eliot  received  and  accepted  an  ap- 
pointment as  Professor  of  Analytical  Chemistry  in  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology,  a  new  school  of  industrial  science  which  was  then  being  organized  at 
Boston  under  the  charge  of  Professor  William  B.  Rogers.  He  held  this  professor- 
ship for  four  years;  but  in  1867-68  he  was  again  in  Europe  for  a  period  of  four- 
teen months,  the  greater  part  of  which  was  spent  in  France. 

In  the  spring  of  1869  he  was  chosen  President  of  Harvard  University. 

Mr.  Eliot's  printed  works  are  two  manuals  of  chemistry  and  certain  memoirs  on 
chemical  subjects,  all  of  which  were  prepared  with  Professor  F.  H.  Storer,  a  few 
essays  on  educational  topics,  and  his  annual  reports  as  President  of  the  University. 


U-t^c.^..^^^    //.   ^LX..^ 


^^?^    .5^?Z^^^5«^^    ^0^^^ 


JOHN    LANGDON    SIBLEY. 

John  Langdon  Sibley,  the  son  of  Dr.  Jonathan  and  Persis  (Morse)  Sibley,  was 
born  at  Union,  Maine,  December  29,  1804.  In  the  summer  of  1819  he  entered 
PhilHps  Exeter  Academy,  and  was  at  the  commencement  of  the  fall  term  placed 
on  the  Charity  Foundation,  whose  catalogue  is  pre-eminently  a  roll  of  honor,  con- 
taining a  large  proportion  of  the  New  England  names  that  have  acquired  high 
distinction  in  literature,  professional  life,  and  public  service.  In  1821  he  became 
a  member  of  Harvard  College,  and  was  made  President's  Freshman,  occupying 
officially  the  room  now  used  as  the  Bursar's  office,  over  which  was  the  Presi- 
dent's study.  At  an  early  period  in  his  College  life  he  commenced  his  services 
in  the  College  Library,  with  which  he  has  been  longer  connected  and  is  more 
closely  identified  than  any  other  man  in  the  past  or  present.  In  his  vacations 
he  was  employed  to  write  in  the  Library,  and  to  render  such  occasional  assistance 
as  the  Librarian  might  require.  He  aided  also  in  his  own  subsistence  by  correct- 
ing proof  and  by  other  not  unlike  occupations ;  and,  being  both  industrious  and 
economical,  he  passed  through  College  without  debt,  mainly  by  his  own  resour- 
ces, while  his  outside  labors  did  not  prevent  him  from  maintaining  a  high  rank 
in  his  class.  On  graduating,  in  1825,  he  entered  the  Divinity  School,  and  was  at 
the  same  time  appointed  Assistant  Librarian,  on  a  salary  of  $  150,  the  Librari- 
an's salary  being  then  but  $  300. 

In  May,  1829,  Mr.  Sibley  was  ordained  as  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Stow, 
Mass.,  where  he  remained  four  years;  with  what  success  and  reputation  may  be 
inferred  from  his  having  received,  in  1837,  an  urgent  invitation  to  resume  his 
parochial  charge.  He,  however,  had  formed  so  strong  an  attachment  to  Cam- 
bridge, that  he  ill  brooked  any  other  home.  For  several  years  after  his  return 
he  was  employed  in  various  kinds  of  literary  labor,  and  for  a  part  of  the  time  was 
editor  and  proprietor  of  the  American  Magazine  of  Useful  and  Entertaining 
Knowledge.  In  1841,  when  the  Library  was  removed  from  Harvard  to  Gore  Hall, 
he  was  again  appointed  Assistant  Librarian  under  the  administration  of  Dr.  T.  W. 
Harris,  whom  he  succeeded  in   1856. 


l6g  JOHN  LANGDON   SIBLEY. 

Mr.  Sibley  had  always  retained  a  grateful  remembrance  of  the  generous  pro- 
vision in  aid  of  the  necessitous  students  at  Exeter,  and  had  felt  the  obligation  of 
doing  for  others  what  had  been  done  for  him.  No  sooner  was  he  able  to  ren- 
der such  assistance,  than  it  was  whispered  in  College  circles  that  this  and  that 
student,  in  his  time  of  need,  had  received  loans  or  gifts  of  money  from  Mr.  Sibley, 
with  an  injunction  of  secrecy  which  was  regarded  in  the  light  of  an  imperfect 
obligation.  In  i860  he  commenced  a  series  of  gifts  to  Phillips  Exeter  Academy, 
—  now  represented  by  a  small  fund,  the  income  of  which  is  used  in  buying  text- 
books for  indigent  and  desei-ving  pupils,  and  a  fund,  at  first  $  5,000,  doubled  by 
a  second  gift,  and  now  amounting  to  not  far  from  ^18,000,  which  —  it  is  pro- 
vided —  shall  accumulate  for  a  series  of  years,  its  income  to  be  ultimately  em- 
ployed for  the  support  of  worthy  and  needy  students.  The  source  of  this  fund 
was,  by  Mr.  Sibley's  express  request,  concealed  from  the  knowledge  of  all  but 
the  Trustees  till  1872,  when,  on  the  opening  of  the  new  Academy  building,  the 
President  of  the  Board  obtained  the  donor's  reluctant  permission  to  make  him 
known.  None  who  were  present  on  that  occasion  will  ever  forget  the  touching 
expression  of  gratitude  and  loyalty  to  the  institution  elicited  from  Mr.  Sibley  by 
this  disclosure.     His  speech  was  the  speech  and  the  great  event  of  the  day. 

Mr.  Sibley's  services  to  the  College  Library  have  been  invaluable.  A  very  large 
portion  of  the  books,  money,  and  permanent  funds  that  have  been  bestowed  upon 
it  have  been  secured  through  his  efforts  or  influence;  while,  as  a  diligent  and 
faithful  custodian  of  its  property  and  interests,  he  has  been  all  that  could  be  desired. 

In  addition  to  his  regular  official  duties,  he  has  edited  all  the  Triennial  Cata- 
logues since  1840,  and  was  the  editor  of  the  Annual  Catalogue  from  1850  to  1870 
(inclusive).  For  the  last  twenty-six  years  he  has  officiated  as  chorister  in  the 
singing  of  the  78th  Psalm,  at  the  Commencement  dinner. 

Mr.  Sibley  received,  in  1856,  the  honorary  degree  of  A.  M.  from  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege. He  has  for  nearly  thirty  years  been  among  the  most  active  and  serviceable 
members  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

For  many  years  he  led,  not  indeed  a  solitary  or  unsocial,  but  a  celibate  life, 
occupying  a  room  at  Divinity  Hall  for  thirty-three  years,  and  the  same  room  for 
twenty.  In  1866  he  was  most  happily  married  to  Miss  Charlotte  Augusta  Lang- 
don,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Catherine  Amelia  (Langdon)  Cook. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  Mr.  Sibley's  published  works :  — 

A  History  of  the  Town  of  Union,  in  the  County  of  Lincoln,  Maine,  to  the 
Middle  of  the  Nineteenth  Century ;  with  a  Family  Register  of  the  Settlers  before 
the  Year  1800,  and  of  their  Descendants.     i2mo.     Boston,   1851.     pp.  ix,  540. 

Notices  of  Account-Books  of  Treasurers  of  Harvard  College,  from  1669  to  1752. 
Printed  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  November, 
1862,  pp.  337-356. 


JOHN  LANGDON   SIBLEY.  169 

Notices  of  the  Triennial  and  Annual  Catalogues  of  Harvard  University ;  with  a 
Reprint  of  the  Catalogues  of  1674,  1682,  and  1700.  8vo.  Boston,  1865.  pp.  67. 
Being  extra  copies  from  the  Proceedings  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society, 
13  October,   1864. 

Biographical  Sketches  of  Graduates  of  Harvard  University  in  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts.  Volume  I.  1642-58.  With  an  Appendix,  containing  an  Ab- 
stract of  the  Steward's  Accounts,  and  Notices  of  Non-Graduates  from  1649-50 
to   1659.     Royal  8vo.     Cambridge,   1873.     pp.  xvi,  618. 

This  last  work  is  the  fruit  of  an  incredible  amount  of  patient  and  judicious 
labor,  and,  while  of  special  value  as  a  record  of  the  College,  is  second  in  im- 
portance to  no  contribution  to  the  early  history  of  New  England. 


ANDREW    PRESTON    PEABODY. 

Andrew  Peabody,  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  a  native  of 
Middleton,  Mass.  He  was  classically  educated,  and  was  for  many  years  a  teacher 
in  Beverly.      He  married  Mary  Rantoul  of  Salem. 

Andrew  Preston  Peabody,  their  son,  was  born  in  Beverly,  Mass.,  March  19, 
181 1.  He  was  fitted  for  college  under  the  private  tuition  of  Mr.  (afterwards  Rev.) 
Bernard  Whitman.  At  the  age  of  twelve  he  passed  the  required  examination  for 
admission  to  Harvard  College.  He  continued,  however,  for  a  year  longer  under 
private  instruction,  and  during  that  time  went  over  the  studies  of  the  Freshman 
and  Sophomore  years.  The  year  following  he  entered  as  a  Junior,  and  gradu- 
ated in  1826,  at  the  age  of  fifteen;  the  class  with  which  he  graduated  having 
entered  College  the  same  year  in  which  he  began  his  preparatory  studies.  It 
may  be  remarked  that,  with  two  exceptions,  he  was  the  youngest  graduate 
that  ever  left  Harvard  College.  One  of  these  exceptions  was  Paul  Dudley,  who 
graduated  in  1690,  at  the  age  of  fourteen.  The  other.  Cotton  Mather,  who 
graduated  in  1678,  is  an  exception  only  because  the  College  Commencement 
occurred  a  month  or  two  earlier  in  the  season  in  his  day  than  in  that  of 
Peabody ;   otherwise  he  would  have  been  a  few  days  the  older. 

In  spite  of  the  rapidity  with  which  his  studies  had  been  pursued,  young  Pea- 
body took  honorable  rank  in  his  class.  After  graduation  he  passed  three  years 
in  teaching,  the  time  being  divided  between  Middleton,  Mass.,  Meadville,  Penn., 
and  Portsmouth,  N.  H.  He  entered  the  Divinity  School  of  Harvard  University 
in  1829,  and  graduated  in  1832;  for  a  considerable  portion  of  the  time  while  a 
Divinity  student  he  was  also  Proctor  in  the  College  and  Instructor  in  Hebrew; 
and  for  one  year  after  graduation  from  the  School  he  was  Tutor  in  Mathematics. 
In  1833  he  returned  to  Portsmouth  to  be  settled  as  minister  of  the  South  Parish, 
which  position  he  held  twenty-seven  years.  He  married,  in  1836,  Catharine 
Whipple,  daughter  of  Edmund  Roberts  of  Portsmouth,  who  died  in  1869.  In  i860 
he  renewed  his  connection  with  Harvard  College,  being  appointed  Preacher  to 
the   University  and    Plummer  Professor  of  Christian    Morals,  which   position   he 


V       0/—C-^^.^^1^-zy~2^^i^^y 


ANDREW  PRESTON   PEABODY.  j^j 

still  fills.  He  was  Acting  President  of  the  University  during  the  year  1862, 
and  again  during  the  academic  year  1 868  -  9.  He  was  one  of  the  editors  of  the 
Christian  Register  for  two  years.  He  was  editor  of  the  North  American  Review 
from   1854  to   1863. 

He  has  received  from  Harvard  College  the  degrees  of  A.  M.  and  D.  D.,  and 
from  Rochester  University  that  of  LL.  D.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
Society,  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  of  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  of  the  American  Oriental  Society,  and  of  the  American  Anti- 
quarian Society. 

He  published  a  Sunday  School  Hymn  Book  in  1840;  Lectures  on  Christian 
Doctrine,  in  1844;  Christian  Consolations,  in  1846;  Writings  of  James  Kennard, 
with  Memoir,  in  1847;  Sermons  of  Rev.  Jason  Whitman,  with  Memoir,  in  1849; 
Memorial  of  J.  W.  Foster,  in  1852;  Extracts  from  the  Writings  of  Charles  A. 
Cheever,  M.  D.,  with  Memoir,  in  1854;  Conversation,  in  1856;  Life  of  William 
Plumer  (left  unfinished  by  William  Plumer,  junior,  of  whom  also  it  contains 
a  notice),  in  1857;  Sermons  connected  with  the  Reopening  of  the  Church  of 
the  South  Parish  in  Portsmouth,  in  1859;  Christianity  the  Religion  of  Nature, 
in  1864;  Sermons  for  Children,  in  1866;  Reminiscences  of  European  Travel,  in 
1868;  a  Manual  of  Moral  Philosophy,  in  1873;  and  Christianity  and  Science, 
in   1874. 

He  has  also  published  from  one  to  two  hundred  sermons,  addresses,  etc.,  in 
pamphlet  form,  besides  many  articles  in  reviews  and  magazines. 


BENJAMIN    PEIRCE. 

Benjamin  Peirce,  son  of  Benjamin  and  Lydia  Ropes  (Nichols)  Peirce,  was  born 
at  Salem,  April  4,  1809.  Benjamin  Peirce,  senior,  the  first  scholar  in  the  class 
of  1801,  was  the  son  of  one  of  the  principal  merchants  of  Salem  (a  place  of  lead- 
ing commercial  importance  half  a  century  ago),  and  was  himself  a  merchant  in 
that  city  for  many  years.  "Through  his  whole  life  he  was  uniformly  distinguished 
for  that  first  of  all  the  social  virtues,  —  integrity."  He  took  an  active  interest  in 
public  affairs,  and  was  for  a  considerable  time  a  member  of  the  General  Court. 
A  devoted  love  of  letters  and  a  deep  attachment  to  the  place  of  his  instruction 
always  distinguished  him;  and  in  1826,  having  had  reverses  in  business,  he  gladly 
availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  of  indulging  his  cherished  tastes,  presented  in 
his  appointment  as  Librarian  to  the  University.  He  discharged  the  duties  of  that 
office  with  ability  and  zeal,  and  issued,  during  the  years  1830-31,  a  Catalogue  of  the 
Library  in  four  octavo  volumes,  a  very  important  publication  in  its  day.  He  died 
died  in  July,  1831,  leaving,  in  manuscript,  a  History  of  Harvard  University  down  to 
the  period  of  the  Revolution,  which  appeared  in  1833,  under  the  editorship  of 
the  author's  intimate  friend,  the  distinguished  John  Pickering. 

The  subject  of  this  notice  was  prepared  for  college,  which  he  entered  in  1825, 
at  private  schools,  —  first  under  the  instruction  of  Mr.  Walsh,  at  Salem,  and  after- 
wards at  Rev.  Mr.  Putnam's  academy,  at  North  Andover.  In  College  he  devoted 
himself  chiefly  to  mathematics,  carrying  his  study  far  beyond  the  then  narrow 
limits  of  the  College  course.  Thus,  he  attended  the  lectures  of  Francis  Grund  in 
the  higher  mathematics,  and  he  was  a  frequent  visitor  to  Dr.  Bowditch,  from 
whom  he  received  most  valuable  instruction  in  geometry  and  analysis,  as  well  as 
important  direction  'in  the  development  of  his  scientific  powers.  After  his  gradua- 
tion, in  1829,  he  took  the  position  of  mathematical  teacher  at  the  Round  Hill 
School,  at  Northampton,  then  under  the  charge  of  Joseph  G.  Cogswell  and  George 
Bancroft.  In  1831  he  returned  to  Cambridge,  having  been  appointed  Tutor  in 
Mathematics  in  Harvard  College,  where  he  was  at  once  intrusted  with  the  full 
charge  of  that  department.       In    1833   he  was   appointed  University   Professor  of 


{)3vyuC(/yv^  A^    O^^^c 


BENJAMIN   PEIRCE.  173 

Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy ;  and  on  the  23d  of  July  of  the  same  year 
he  was  married  to  Sarah  Hunt  Mills,  daughter  of  Hon.  Elijah  Hunt  Mills,  of  North- 
ampton, United  States  Senator  from  Massachusetts  from  1820  to  1827.  In  1842, 
on  the  establishment  of  the  Perkins  Professorship  of  Mathematics  and  Astronomy, 
Professor  Peirce  was  appointed  to  that  chair,  which  he  still  occupies.  From  the 
time  of  his  first  coming  to  Cambridge  as  a  tutor  Mr.  Peirce  exerted  himself  to 
improve,  modernize,  and  extend  the  teaching  of  mathematics  in  the  College  ;  to 
give  it  a  form  which  should  promote  the  development  of  real  mathematical 
power  and  the  serious  pursuit  of  mathematics  as  a  living  science ;  and  to  secure 
the  necessary  condition  of  the  attainment  of  these  objects  and  of  the  advancement 
of  higher  learning  in  all  its  branches,  in  the  establishment  and  extension  of  the 
elective  system,  of  which  he  has  always  been  one  of  the  warmest  advocates. 

On  the  foundation  of  the  American  Ephemeris  and  Nautical  Almanac  by  the 
United  States  government,  in  1850,  Professor  Peirce  was  made  the  director  of 
the  theoretical  department  of  that  work,  with  the  title  of  Consulting  Astronomer, 
a  charge  which  he  continued  to  hold  till  1867.  The  office  of  the  Almanac  was, 
during  the  greater  part  of  that  period,  at  Cambridge,  first  under  the  superintendency 
of  Lieutenant  (now  Admiral)  Davis,  and  afterwards  under  that  of  Professor  Winlock. 
From  1852  to  1867  he  had  the  direction  of  the  longitude  determinations  of  the 
United  States  Coast  Survey.  He  was  also  frequently  consulted  concerning  the 
whole  scientific  conduct  of  that  great  work,  and  he  was  appointed  its  Superintend- 
ent, on  the  death  of  Professor  Bache,  in  the  spring  of  1867.  The  Survey  made 
important  progress  under  his  administration.  In  March,  1874,  he  resigned  the 
office  of  Superintendent,  and  was  appointed  Consulting  Geometer  to  the  Survey. 

Professor  Peirce  has  published  a  "Treatise  on  Sound"  (1836),  a  "Course  of 
Pure  Mathematics,"  in  five  volumes  (1835  -  46),  "  Tables  of  the  Moon  "  (1853),  "  An- 
alytic Mechanics"  (1855),  "Linear  Associative  Algebra "  (lithographed,  1870),  and 
many  contributions  to  scientific  periodicals  and  to  the  publications  of  learned 
societies.  Among  these  may  be  specified  his  memoirs  on  the  discovery  of  Nep- 
tune, the  investigations  of  the  orbit  and  mass  of  that  planet  by  Professor  Peirce 
and  Mr.  S.  C.  Walker,  several  papers  on  the  constitution  of  Saturn's  rings,  and 
those  on  the  constitution  of  comets  and  on  the  criterion  for  the  rejection  of 
doubtful  observations. 

In  1847  the  University  of  North  Carolina  conferred  on  Professor  Peirce  the 
degree  of  LL.  D. ;  and  he  received  the  same  distinction  from  Harvard  University 
in  1867.  He  is  also  an  Honorary  Fellow  of  the  Imperial  University  of  St.  Wladimir, 
at  Kiev.  He  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  the 
American  Philosophical  Society,  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement 
of  Science  (of  which  he  was  President  for  1853,  the  fifth  year  of  its  existence), 
the  Royal  Societies  of  London,  Edinburgh,  and  Gottingen,  and  the  Royal  Astro- 
nomical Society. 


FRANCIS   BOWEN. 

Francis  Bowen,  born  in  Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  September  8,  1811,  received 
his  early  education  at  the  Mayhew  Grammar  School,  in  Boston.  For  a  few  years 
he  was  junior  clerk  in  a  publishing  office  in  Boston;  in  January,  1829,  he  became 
a  pupil  in  Phillips  Exeter  Academy,  and  in  August,  1830  he  entered  the  Sopho- 
more class  in  Harvard  College.  In  the  winter  of  1829-30,  he  taught  school  at 
Hampton  Falls,  New  Hampshire  ;  and  in  the  three  following  winters,  successively, 
at  Lexington,  Northboro,  and  Concord,  Massachusetts.  Graduating  at  Harvard  with 
the  first  honors  of  his  class  in  1833,  he  became  instructor  in  mathematics  in  Phil- 
lips Exeter  Academy,  and  continued  to  act  in  that  capacity  till  August,  1835. 
He  then  returned  to  Harvard,  where  he  was  first  made  Tutor  in  Greek,  and,  a 
year  afterwards,  was  appointed  Instructor  of  the  Senior  Class  in  Mental  Philosophy 
and  Political  Economy.  This  office  he  held  for  three  years,  being  much  occupied 
also  with  literary  pursuits.  In  1837  he  contributed  to  Sparks 's  "  Library  of  Ameri- 
can Biography "  a  Life  of  Sir  William  Phipps  ;  and  he  afterwards  furnished  for 
the  same  work  Lives  of  James  Otis,  Baron  Steuben,  and  Benjamin  Lincoln.  He 
was  also  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  literary  periodicals  of  that  day. 

In  August,  1839,  he  resigned  his  office  in  the  College  and  went  to  Europe, 
where  he  spent  a  year  in  study  and  travel.  On  his  return  he  established  his 
residence  in  Cambridge,  and  devoted  himself  for  the  next  twelve  years  to  litera- 
ture as  a  profession.  In  1842  appeared  his  edition  of  Virgil,  with  English  Notes 
and  a  considerable  amount  of  illustrative  and  critical  matter.  At  that  period  com- 
paratively few  American  editions  of  the  classics  had  appeared ;  and  this  work, 
though  never  revised  or  purged  of  numerous  errors  and  defects,  has  been  kept  in 
the  market  by  successive  issues  from  the  same  stereotype  plates,  and  is  still  in 
considerable  use.  In  the  same  year  he  published  a  volume  of  "  Critical  Essays 
on  Speculative  Philosophy,"  devoted  chiefly  to  the  systems  of  Kant,  Fichte,  and 
Cousin,  and  to  the  evidences  of  Christianity  as  affected  by  the  developments  of 
metaphysical  doctrines. 

In   1843   Mr.  Bowen  became   the   owner   and   editor   of  the    "North    American 


'V(7Z?^.^iA£/yZ^ 


FRANCIS   BOWEN. 


175 


Review,"  and  continued  to  conduct  this  work  for  the  next  eleven  years.  He  also 
edited  and  published,  for  six  years,  "  The  American  Almanac  and  Repository  of 
Useful  Knowledge."  In  1849  he  published,  in  an  octavo  volume,  two  courses  of 
"  Lowell  Lectures  on  the  Application  of  Metaphysical  and  Ethical  Science  to  the 
Evidences  of  Religion."  Six  years  afterwards,  this  work,  revised  and  enlarged,  ap- 
peared in  a  second  edition,  and  continued  in  use  for  a  considerable  time  as  a 
text-book  at  Harvard. 

In  1850  Mr.  Bowen  was  appointed  by  the  Corporation  to  the  McLean  Profes- 
sorship of  History  in  the  College,  but  held  this  office  only  six  months.  In  1853 
he  was  nominated  and  confirmed  as  Alford  Professor  of  Natural  Religion,  Moral 
Philosophy,  and  Civil  Polity,  and  still  continues  to  act  under  this  appointment. 
Besides  those  already  mentioned,  he  has  published  the  following  works :  — 

Behr's  Translation  of  Weber's  Outlines  of  Universal  History,  revised  and  cor- 
rected, with  the  addition  of  a  History  of  the  United  States.     1853. 

Dugald  Stewart's  Philosophy  of  the  Human  Mind,  revised  and  abridged,  with 
Critical  and  Explanatory  Notes.     1854. 

Documents  of  the  Constitution  of  England  and  America,  from  Magna  Charta 
to  the  Federal  Constitution  of  1789,  compiled  and  edited,  with  Notes.     1854. 

The  Principles  of  Political  Economy  applied  to  the  Condition  and  Institutions 
of  the  American  People.     1856. 

The  Metaphysics  of  Sir  William  Hamilton,  collected,  arranged,  and  abridged, 
for  the  Use  of  Colleges  and  Private  Students.     1862. 

De  Tocqueville's  Democracy  in  America,  edited  with  Notes,  the  Translation 
revised  and  in  great  part  rewritten,  and  the  Additions  made  to  the  recent  Paris 
editions  now  first  translated.     1862. 

A  Treatise  on  Logic,  or  the  Laws  of  Pure  Thought,  comprising  both  the 
Aristotelic  and  Hamiltonian  Analyses  of  Logical  Forms,  and  some  Chapters  of 
Applied  Logic.     1864. 

American  Political  Economy,  including  Strictures  on  the  Management  of  the 
Currency  and  the  Conduct  of  the  Finances  since  1861.     New  York,  1870. 


JOSEPH    LOVERING. 

Joseph  Lovering  was  born  in  Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  on  December  25, 
1 81 3.  He  was  the  son  of  Robert  Lovering,  surveyor  of  ice,  wood,  and  lumber. 
He  attended  the  ordinary  grammar  schools  of  his  native  town  until  he  was  four- 
teen years  of  age,  and  went  through  Colburn's  Algebra  by  himself  at  these  schools, 
his  teachers  having  no  knowledge  whatever  of  that  subject.  On  leaving  school, 
he  was  encouraged  by  his  pastor.  Rev.  Dr.  James  Walker  (afterwards  Professor 
and  President  of  Harvard  College),  to  fit  himself  for  College,  reciting  to  him 
daily  and  receiving  from  him  in  many  ways  the  most  valuable  aid.  He  entered 
the  Sophomore  class  of  Harvard  College  in  1830,  and  graduated  with  his  class 
in  1833.  At  the  Commencement  he  delivered  the  Latin  Salutatory  Oration,  which, 
at  that  time,  was  invariably  assigned  to  the  fourth  scholar  in  the  scale  of  rank. 
This  Commencement  was  made  interesting  by  the  fact  that  it  was  the  last  one  held 
in  the  old  church  which  stood  near  the  spot  now  occupied  by  the  Law  School. 
Two  years  later,  when  his  class  were  entitled  to  receive  the  Master's  degree,  he 
delivered  the  Valedictory  Oration  in  Latin,  according  to  the  custom  of  that  day. 

During  the  first  year  after  his  graduation  he  kept  a  small  private  school  in 
Charlestown.  In  the  autumn  of  1834  he  entered  the  Divinity  School  in  Cam- 
bridge, and  remained  there  for  two  years.  During  a  part  of  the  academical  year 
1834-5,  he  assisted  in  the  instruction  of  the  College  classes  in  Mathematics.  In 
1835-6  he  was  Proctor  and  Instructor  in  Mathematics,  and,  during  a  part  of 
the  year,  conducted  the  morning  and  evening  services  in  the  College  Chapel;  all 
those  who  usually  officiated  at  the  devotional  exercises  of  the  College  being  either 
sick  or  absent  from  Cambridge.  In  1836-7  he  was  Tutor  in  Mathematics  and 
Lecturer  in  Natural  Philosophy.  In  1838  he  was  made  Hollis  Professor  of 
Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy,  a  position  which  he  still  holds.  In  1853-4 
he  acted  as  Regent  during  Professor  Felton's  absence  in  Europe,  and  in  1857  he 
succeeded  him  in  that  office,  and  held  it  until  1870.  In  consideration  of  his  long 
and  uninterrupted  services  to  the  College,  he  was  offered  a  year's  leave  of 
absence  in   1868-9,  which  he  passed  in  Europe. 


JOSEPH   LOVERING.  I-- 

Although  his  best  time  and  thoughts  were  given  to  his  College  duties,  he 
found  some  leisure  for  other  work.  At  different  times  he  delivered  eight  courses 
of  lectures,  on  Astronomy  or  Physics,  before  the  Lowell  Institute  in  Boston,  five 
of  which  were  repeated  to  a  different  audience  on  the  days  following  their  first 
delivery,  according  to  the  original  practice  of  that  institution.  He  was  Permanent 
Secretary  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  for  nine- 
teen years  (between  1854  and  1873),  and  edited  fifteen  volumes  of  its  Proceedings. 
In  1842  he  edited  a  new  edition  of  Farrar's  "  Electricity  and  Magnetism,"  at  the 
request  of  the  author.  In  1873  he  published  a  thick  quarto  volume  on  the 
Aurora  Borealis  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 
Other  memoirs,  on  Terrestrial  Magnetism,  on  the  Aurora,  and  on  the  Determina- 
tion of  Transatlantic  Longitudes,  have  been  published  by  him  in  the  same  series. 
Besides  these  more  important  works,  he  has  contributed  a  large  number  of  scien- 
tific articles  and  reviews  to  the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Academy,  to  the 
Proceedings  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  to  the 
American  Journal  of  Science,  to  the  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  to  the 
American  Almanac,  to  the  North  American  Review,  the  Christian  Examiner,  Old 
and  New,  and  the  Popular  Science  Monthly. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 
and  was  its  Permanent  Secretary  for  nineteen  years,  and  its  President  in  1873. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  in  Boston,  was 
its  Corresponding  Secretary  for  many  years,  and  is  now  its  Vice-President.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences.  Since  1867  he  has  been 
connected  with  the  United  States  Coast  Survey,  and  has  had  charge  of  the  com- 
putations for  determining  differences  of  longitude,  in  the  United  States  and 
across  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  by  means  of  the  land  and  cable  lines  of  telegraph. 


EVANGELINUS    APOSTOLIDES    SOPHOCLES. 

EvANGELiNus  AposTOLiDES  SoPHOcLES  was  bom  at  Tzangarada,  ten  miles 
southeast  of  Mount  Pelion,  Greece,  in  1807;  he  resided  for  several  years  in  the 
convent  of  Mount  Sinai,  chiefly  in  the  Cairo  branch ;  emigrated  to  America 
under  the  patronage  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Mis- 
sions; and  in  1829,  after  studying  at  the  Academy  at  Monson,  Massachusetts,  en- 
tered Amherst  College,  but  did  not  remain  to  take  a  degree ;  subsequently  taught 
in  schools  at  Amherst,  Hartford,  and  New  Haven.  In  1842  he  was  appointed 
Greek  Tutor  at  Harvard  College,  and  held  that  position  till  1845,  when  he  re- 
signed it  in  consequence  of  sickness,  but  was  reappointed  in  1847;  in  1849  he 
visited  Greece,  and  on  his  return,  in  1850,  immediately  began  collecting  material 
for  his  Greek  Dictionary,  the  Glossary  being  merely  a  precursor  to  that  work; 
in  1859  he  was  made  Adjunct  Greek  Professor,  and  in  i860  he  received  the 
Professorship  of  Ancient,  Byzantine,  and  Modern  Greek,  which  he  now  holds. 
In  i860  he  again  visited  Greece. 

His  published  writings  are  as  follows  :  — 

838,  A  Greek  Grammar  for  the  Use  of  Learners.     Third  edition,   1847. 

839,  First  Lessons  in  Greek. 

841,  Greek  Exercises,  followed  by  an  English  and  Greek  Vocabulary  with   Key. 

Second  edition,   1842;  third  edition,   1848. 

842,  Romaic  Grammar,  second  edition.     Boston,   1857. 

843,  Greek  Lessons  for  Beginners.     Hartford. 

844,  Catalogue  of  Greek  Verbs  for  the  Use  of  Colleges. 

848,  History  of  the  Greek  Alphabet,  with  Remarks  on  Greek  Orthography  and 
Pronunciation.     Cambridge:    second  edition,  1854. 

860,  A  Glossary  of  Later  and  Byzantine  Greek.     Boston. 

870,  Greek  Dictionary  of  the  Roman  and  Byzantine  Periods.    Published  by  sub- 
scription.     A   continuation    of  the  Lexicon,  comprising   the    Period   from 
1 1 00  A.  D.  to  the  Present  Day,  is  in  course  of  preparation,  and  would  be  pub- 
lished in  a  short  time  if  there  were  sufficient  pecuniary  encouragement. 
He  has  written  many  articles  for  the  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 


JEFFRIES   WYMAN. 

Jeffries  Wyman,  the  third  son  of  Dr.  Rufus  Wyman,  physician  to  the  McLean 
Asylum  for  the  Insane  during  the  first  seventeen  years  of  its  existence,  was  born 
in  Chelmsford,  Massachusetts,  August  ii,  1814.  He  was  prepared  to  enter  Col- 
lege at  Phillips  Exeter  Academy,  of  which  Dr.  Benjamin  Abbot  was  at  the  time 
principal,  and  was  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in  the  Class  of  1833. 

In  1837  he  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  in  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment of  the  University,  and  soon  afterward  was  appointed  Demonstrator  of 
Anatomy,  under  Dr.  John  C.  Warren,  then  Hersey  Professor. 

In  1 84 1  he  delivered  a  course  of  twelve  lectures  on  Comparative  Anatomy 
before  the  Lowell  Institute,  and  soon  afterward  went  to  Paris,  where  he  studied 
Human  Anatomy  at  the  School  of  Medicine,  and  Comparative  Anatomy  and 
Natural  History  at  the  Garden  of  Plants,  attending  the  lectures  of  Flourens 
Magendie  and  Longet  on  Physiology,  and  of  De  Blainville,  Valensciennes, 
Dumeril,  Isidore  St.  Hilaire,  and  Milne-Edwards  on  Zoology  and  Comparative 
Anatomy.  After  leaving  Paris,  he  passed  several  weeks  in  studying  the  unrivalled 
Hunterian  collections  at  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  in  London. 

Dr.  Wyman  was  appointed  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology  in  the  Medi- 
cal Department  of  Hampden  and  Sidney  College,  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  in 
1843,  but  resigned  this  office  on  being  chosen  Hersey  Professor  of  Anatomy  in 
Harvard  College,  in  1847,  in  which  office  he  succeeded  the  late  Dr.  John  C. 
Warren.  He  has  given  annually  courses  of  lectures  to  the  undergraduates  on 
Comparative  Anatomy  and  Physiology,  and  on  Embryology,  and  instruction  in 
these  departments  to  special  pupils  in  his  laboratory. 

To  aid  in  teaching,  in  connection  with  the  lectures  and  special  instruction,  the 
Museum  of  Comparative  Anatomy  in  Boylston  Hall  was  begun,  and  has  been 
chiefly  made  by  him.  This  collection,  one  of  the  earliest  of  its  kind  in  this  country, 
is  intended  to  show  some  of  the  more  important  modifications  of  the  organs  of 
animals,  in  connection  with  the  physiological  processes  of  which  they  are  the 
seat,  as  well  as  the  conditions  of  the  embryological   development  and  the  succes- 


JEFFRIES  WYMAN.  jgj 

sive  phases  through  which  the  embryo,  both  animal  and  human,  passes.  Some 
of  the  more  important  materials  of  the  collection  were  obtained  during  voyages 
to  Surinam,  and  to  the  La  Plata  and  the  Uruguay  Rivers. 

The  late  George  Peabody,  of  London,  having  founded  the  Museum  of  Ameri- 
can Archceology  and  Ethnology  in  connection  with  Harvard  College,  Professor 
Wyman  was,  by  the  terms  of  the  foundation,  made  one  of  the  original  Trustees, 
and  immediately  after  the  collections  were  begun,  was,  by  the  Trustees,  appointed 
Curator.  In  helping  to  carry  out  the  plans  of  this  Museum,  he  has  made  several 
arch^ological  explorations,  especially  at  Damariscotta,  Mount  Desert,  and  Casco 
Bay,  in  Maine,  and  at  Ipswich,  Concord,  and  Cotuit  Port,  in  Massachusetts. 
During  several  successive  winters  he  has  made  similar  exploring  excursions,  on 
account  of  health,  to  the  St.  John's  River,  in  East  Florida,  where  the  many 
ancient  fresh-water  shell-heaps  of  that  region  have  been  examined.  The  results 
of  these  excursions  form  a  part  of  the  collections  of  the  Museum. 

Professor  Wyman  is  a  member  of  the  following  societies :  —  Linnsean  Society 
of  London,  Anthropological  Institute  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  American 
Philosophical  Society  of  Philadelphia,  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Phila- 
delphia, American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society,  etc. 

His  published  writings  consist  of  memoirs  and  essays  contributed  to  scientific 
societies  and  journals,  among  which  the  following  may  be  mentioned :  — 

On  the  Osteology  of  the  Gorilla,  and  the  Determination  of  its  Specific  Characters. 

Twelve  lectures  on  Comparative  Anatomy  before  the  Lowell  Institute. 

On  Unusual  Modes  of  Gestation  among  Fishes. 

On  the  Embryology  of  the  Skate. 

On  the  Cells  of  the  Hive-bee. 

On  Symmetry  and  Homology  in  Limbs. 

Observations  on  Crania. 

On  the  Nervous  System  of  the  Bull-frog. 

On  the  Shell-heaps  of  Maine  and  Massachusetts. 

On  the  Fresh-water  Shell-heaps  of  the  St.  John's  River,  East  Florida. 

Experiments  on  the  Effects  of  Heated  Water  on  Living  Organisms. 

Dr.  Wyman  died  at  Bethlehem,  N.  H.,  on  the  4th  of  September,  1874;  and  his 
remains  were  interred  at  Mount  Auburn  Cemetery  four  days  afterwards,  the 
funeral  services  being  held  in  the  College  Chapel. 


JAMES    RUSSELL    LOWELL. 

James  Russell  Lowell  was  born  at  Cambridge,  22d  February,  1819;  was  fitted 
for  college  at  the  schools  of  Mr.  W.  Wells  (H.  U.  1796)  and  Mr.  D.  G.  Ingra- 
ham  (H.  U.  1809),  and  graduated  in  1838.  He  read  law  in  the  Dane  Law 
School,  and  with  the  late  C.  G.  Loring,  Esq.  In  1841  he  published  a  volume  of 
poems  called  "A  Year's  Life."  Another  volume  of  poems  followed  in  1844,  and  a 
volume  of  prose,  "Conversations  on  Some  of  the  Old  Poets,"  in  1845.  I"  1848 
appeared  a  third  volume  of  poems,  the  first  series  of  "  Biglow  Papers,"  and  "  The 
Vision  of  Sir  Launfal."  In  July,  1851,  he  went  abroad,  returning  in  December 
of  the  following  year.  In  the  winter  of  1854-55,  he  read  a  course  of  lectures 
on  English  poetry  before  the  Lowell  Institute.  In  1855  he  was  appointed  to  the 
Chair  of  Belles-Lettres  and  Modern  Languages,  and  again  visited  Europe,  re- 
maining abroad  thirteen  months.  In  1854  he  published  "Fireside  Travels";  in 
1845,  a  second  series  of  "Biglow  Papers";  in  1869,  "The  Cathedral,"  and  "  Under 
the  Willows  and  other  Poems";  in  1870,  "Among  my  Books,"  and  in  1872,  "My 
Study  Windows," — two  collections  of  essays.  The  two  years  from  July,  1872,  to 
July,  1874,  he  spent  in  Europe,  where,  in  1875  he  received  the  honorary  degree 
of  D.  C.  L.  at  Oxford,  and  that  of  LL.  D.  at  Cambridge. 


"Tfik-^i:^ 


^. 


FRANCIS    JAMES    CHILD. 

Francis  James  Child  was  born  in  Boston,  on  the  ist  of  February,  1825.  He 
received  his  earlier  education  in  the  public  schools,  first  a  grammar  school,  then 
the  English  High  School,  and  finally  the  Latin  School.  He  entered  tlarvard  Col- 
lege in  1842,  and  was  appointed  Tutor  in  Mathematics  in  1846.  In  1848  he  re- 
signed this  place  to  be  Tutor  in  History  and  in  Elocution.  The  condition  of  his 
health  the  following  year  made  it  advisable  for  him  to  discontinue  work,  and  he  went 
to  Europe  for  a  few  months'  trip.  Meeting,  in  Berlin,  his  classmate  (now  Professor), 
Lane,  who  had  already  passed  three  years  at  the  German  universities,  he  could  not 
resist  a  desire  to  study,  though  only  for  a  short  time,  under  some  of  the  great 
German  teachers,  and  accordingly  entered  himself  at  Gottingen,  where,  for  one 
Semester,  he  heard  the  lectures  of  Ritter,  Schneidewinn,  Hoeck,  and  C.  F.  Her- 
mann. A  part  of  the  same  year  was  spent  in  travel  in  South  Germany  and  Italy. 
He  returned  to  Cambridge  in  August,  1851,  to  succeed  Channing  in  the  Boylston 
Professorship  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory.  His  ilistructions,  for  a  considerable  time, 
were  somewhat  strictly  limited  by  the  customs  of  the  department,  though  he  in- 
troduced at  an  early  date  the  study  of  Anglo-Saxon  and  other  of  the  Teutonic 
languages,  principally  with  voluntary  classes.  Of  late  his  work  has  been  extended 
so  as  to  include  English  Literature  and  the  Philology  of  the  English  Language. 
Whatever  Professor  Child  has  printed  relates  to  these  subjects. 


GEORGE    MARTIN    LANE. 

George  Martin  Lane  was  born  in  Charlestovvn,  was  educated  in  the  schools 
of  Cambridge,  and  entered  Harvard  College  in  1842.  Upon  his  graduation,  four 
years  later,  he  was  appointed  to  fill  the  place  of  Dr.  Beck,  University  Professor 
of  Latin,  during  Dr.  Beck's  temporary  absence  in  Europe.  After  holding  this 
position  for  one  year,  he  resigned,  in  order  that  he  might  pursue  a  course  of 
study  in  Germany.  After  four  years'  study  at  Gottingen,  Bonn,  and  Berlin,  he 
received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy;  and  upon  his  return  to  this  coun- 
try immediately  after,  was  appointed  Academic  (afterwards  Pope)  Professor  of 
the  Latin  Language,  which  office  he  holds  at  the  present  time.  He  has  pub- 
lished several  works  on  the  Latin  language,  and  is  a  frequent  contributor  to 
various   literary   publications. 


H  '  Jli^  J>/>^ 


In^e^  'P  ^chmcX^^ 


JOSIAH    PARSONS    COOKE,    JR. 

JosiAH  Parsons  Cooke,  Jr.,  was  born  in  Boston,  October  12,  1827.  He  was 
fitted   for  college  at  the  Boston  Latin  School,  and  graduated  with  the  Class  of 

1848.  After  passing  a  year  in  Europe,  he  became  a  tutor  of  the   College   in 

1849,  and  was  appointed  Erving  Professor  in  December,  1850.     He  has  published 
the  following  books  and  scientific  papers :  — 

BOOKS. 
Chemical  Problems  and  Reactions.     Boston,  1857. 
Elements  of  Chemical  Physics.     Boston,   i860. 

Religion  and  Chemistry;  or.  Proofs  of  God's  Plan  in  the  Atmosphere  and  its 
Elements.     New  York,   1864. 

Principles  of  Chemical  Philosophy.     Boston  and  London,  1870. 
The  New  Chemistry.      New  York  and  London,   1874. 

SCIENTIFIC   PAPERS. 

The  Relation  between  the  Atomic  Weights  of  the  Chemical  Elements.  Me- 
moirs of  the  American  Academy,  Vol.  V.     1854. 

On  Two  New  Crystalline  Compounds  of  Zinc  and  Antimony.  Memoirs  of  the 
American  Academy,  Vol.  V.     1854. 

Crystalline  Form  not  necessarily  an  Indication  of  Definite  Chemical  Compo- 
sition.    Philosophical  Magazine.     London,   i860. 

On  the  Dimorphism  of  Arsenic,  Antimony,  and  Zinc.  American  Journal  of 
Science,  Vol.  XXXI.     1861. 

On  Octahedral  Galena.     American  Journal  of  Science,  Vol.  XXXV.     1863. 

On  Childveite  from  Hebron,  Maine.  American  Journal  of  Science,  Vol. 
XXXVI.     1863. 

Crystallographic  Examination  of  the  Acid  Tartrates  of  Cassia  and  Rubidia. 
American  Journal  of  Science,  Vol.  XXXVIII.     1864. 


lS6  JOSIAH   PARSONS   COOKE,  JR. 

On  the  Heat  of  Friction.  Proceedings  of  the  American  Academy,  Vol.  VI. 
1865. 

On  the  Projection  of  the  Spectra  of  the  Metals.  American  Journal  of  Science, 
Vol.  XL.     1865. 

On  the  Construction  of  a  Spectroscope  with  a  number  of  prisms  by  which  the 
angle  of  minimum  deviation  for  any  ray  may  be  accurately  measured,  etc.  Ameri- 
can Journal  of  Science,  Vol.  XL.     1865. 

On  the  Aqueous  Lines  of  the  Solar  Spectrum.  Proceedings  of  the  American 
Academy,  Vol.  VIL     1866. 

On  Danalite,  a  new  mineral  species  from  the  granite  of  Rockport,  Massachu- 
setts.    American  Journal  of  Science,  Vol.  XLIL     1866. 

On  Cryophyllite,  a  new  mineral  species  of  the  Mica  Family,  with  some  associated 
minerals  in  the  granite  of  Rockport,  Massachusetts.  American  Journal  of  Science, 
Vol.  XLin.     1867. 

On  certain  Lecture  Experiments,  and  on  a  new  form  of  Eudiometer.  Ameri- 
can Journal  of  Science,  Vol.  XLV.     1867. 

A  Method  of  Determining  the  Amounts  of  Protoxyd  of  Iron  in  Silicates  not 
soluble  in  the  ordinary  mineral  acids.  American  Journal  of  Science,  Vol.  XLV. 
1867. 

Crystallographic  Determination  of  some  American  Chlorites.  American  Journal 
of  Science,  Vol.  XLV.     1867. 

On  Atomic  Ratios.     American  Journal  of  Science,  Vol.  XLVII.     1869. 

Memoir  of  Thomas  Graham.  Proceedings  of  the  American  Academy,  Vol. 
VIII.     1870. 

Absolute  System  of  Electrical  Measurements.  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Insti- 
tute.    1871. 

A  new  Theory  of  Electrical  Action  which  identifies  Electricity  with  the  Ether 
of  Space.  Several  Papers,  Journal  of  Franklin  Institute,  and  Chemical  Philosophy ; 
third  edition.     1872. 

The  Vermiculites :  their  Crystallographic  and  Chemical  Relations  to  the  Micas. 
Proceedings  of  the  American  Academy,  Vol.  VIII.     1873. 


^^^.^  ^.  t^ 


CHARLES     FRANKLIN     DUNBAR. 

Charles  Franklin  Dunbar,  son  of  Asaph  and  Nancy  (Ford)  Dunbar,  was 
born  in  Abington,  Massachusetts,  July  28,  1830.  His  first  teacher  was  Rev. 
Joseph  Pettee,  then  and  still  minister  of  the  Swedenborgian  society  in  Abington. 
He  entered  Phillips  Exeter  Academy  in  1844,  and  Harvard  College  in  1847, 
graduating  in  1851.  After  graduation  Mr.  Dunbar  engaged  in  mercantile  busi- 
ness in  New  Orleans  and  subsequently  in  New  York,  and  in  1853  became  part- 
ner in  a  commission  house  in.  Boston. 

Finding  himself  threatened  with  pulmonary  disease,  he  withdrew  from  business 
in  1855  and  established  himself  upon  a  farm  in  Lexington,  Massachusetts.  His 
health  being  improved  by  life  in  the  open  air  which  the  management  of  his  farm 
enforced,  he  began  to  read  law,  and  in  the  spring  of  1857  removed  to  Waltham 
for  greater  convenience  in  that  undertaking.  He  studied  for  a  time  in  the  Dane 
Law  School,  and  later  in  the  office  of  Messrs.  Hoar  and  Gray  in  Boston,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  and  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in   1858. 

But  with  tastes  which  perhaps  were  neither  mercantile  nor  legal,  he  had  for 
some  years  given  much  attention  in  his  leisure  hours  to  political  questions,  and 
since  the  year  1856  had  been  a  frequent  and  at  times  a  regular  writer  for  the 
editorial  columns  of  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser.  Finding  his  attention  more 
and  more  engrossed  by  this  pursuit,  he  availed  himself  of  an  opportunity  which 
was  presented  in  December,  1859,  and  became  an  associate  editor  and  part  pro- 
prietor of  that  journal  with  Mr.  Charles  Hale.  Upon  the  appointment  of  Mr. 
Hale  as  Consul-General  for  Egypt,  in  1864,  Mr.  Dunbar  became  the  sole  respon- 
sible editor,  and  continued  in  that  position  until  the  summer  of  1869,  when, 
finding  his  health  seriously  impaired,  he  sold  his  interest  in  the  Advertiser  and 
sailed  for  Europe  with  his  family. 

After  two  years  of  rest  and  travel  Mr.  Dunbar  returned  home,  and  in  Septem- 
ber, 1 87 1,  entered  upon  his  duties  as  Professor  of  Political  Economy,  to  which 
place  he  had  been  appointed  a  few  months  before. 


WILLIAM    WATSON    GOODWIN. 

William  Watson  Goodwin  was  born  in  Concord,  Mass.,  May  9,  1831.  His 
father,  Hersey  Bradford  Goodwin  (graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1826),  was  a 
Unitarian  clergyman,  and  from  1830  until  his  death,  in  July,  1836,  was  the  col- 
league of  the  venerable  Dr.  Ripley,  at  Concord.  ,His  mother,  Lucretia  Ann 
Watson,  died  in  November,  1831.  Both  his  parents  were  born  and  brought  up  in 
Plymouth,  Mass.,  and  among  his  ancestors  are  several  of  the  Pilgrims  of  the 
Mayflower.  He  lived  in  Plymouth  after  his  mother's  death  until  he  entered  Col- 
lege, with  the  exception  of  the  two  years  immediately  preceding  his  father's 
death,  which  he  passed  in  Concord.  In  August,  1847,  he  entered  the  Freshman 
class  at  Harvard  College,  where  he  took  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  1851. 
After  two  years  spent  in  teaching  private  pupils  in  Cambridge  and  Boston,  he 
went  to  Germany  in  1853  to  continue  his  studies,  with  the  intention  of  fitting 
himself  to  be  a  classical  teacher.  He  entered  the  University  of  Gottingen  in 
October,  1853;  removed  to  Bonn  in  April,  1854,  and  to  Berlin  in  October,  1854; 
and  returned  to  Gottingen  in  April,  1855.  He  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Philosophy  at  Gottingen  in  June,  1855,  after  presenting  a  dissertation  "  De  Po- 
tentiae  Maritimae  Epochis  apud  Eusebium,"  and  passing  an  examination  in  Classic 
Philology  and  Ancient  History.  The  dissertation  was  printed  in  Gottingen  in 
1855.  The  following  winter  he  spent  in  Italy,  chiefly  at  Rome,  where  he  lived 
three  months  in  a  house  on  the  Roman  Forum.  In  March,  1856,  he  visited 
Greece,  and  in  the  following  June  returned  to  the  United  States.  Immediately 
after  his  return  he  was  appointed  Tutor  in  Greek  and  Latin  in  Harvard  College, 
with  the  duty  of  teaching  the  Sophomore  class  in  both  languages ;  the  whole 
classical  instruction  of  the  three  higher  classes  having  previously  devolved  upon 
the  Eliot  Professor  of  Greek  Literature  and  the  University  Professor  of  Latin. 
The  increasing  size  of  the  College  classes  made  it  necessary  to  divide  the  duties 
of  the  new  office  at  the  end  of  the  first  year,  and  Mr.  Goodwin  remained  Tutor 
in  Greek  to  the  Sophomore  class  until  i860.  In  April,  i860,  he  was  elected  by 
the  President  and   Fellows  to  the   Eliot   Professorship  of  Greek  Literature,  made 


WILLIAM  WATSON   GOODWIN.  189 

vacant  by  the  recent  appointment  of  Professor  Felton  to  the  Presidency  of  the 
University.  The  election  was  confirmed  by  the  Overseers  in  June ;  and  he  en- 
tered on  the  duties  of  the  office,  which  he  still  holds,  in  August. 

In  April,  i860,  he  published  a  "Syntax  of  the  Moods  and  Tenses  of  the  Greek 
Verb";  of  which  a  second  edition  appeared  in  1865,  enlarged,  and  in  great  part 
rewritten.  In  October,  1870,  he  published  "An  Elementary  Greek  Grammar." 
In  November,  1870,  a  translation  of  Plutarch's  "  Morals,"  in  five  volumes,  was 
published  by  Messrs.  Little,  Brown,  &  Co.,  of  Boston,  on  which  he  had  spent  much 
time  and  labor  as  editor  during  several  years  :  this  was  a  revision  of  the  translation 
"  By  Several  Hands,"  made  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  which  exhibited 
every  variety  of  scholarship  and  skill  on  the  part  of  the  original  translators.  In 
partnership  with  Rev.  J.  H.  Allen,  of  Cambridge,  he  edited  a  Greek  Reader,  con- 
sisting of  selections  from  prose  writers,  which  was  published  in  September,  1871. 
He  has  been  a  Resident  Fellow  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences 
since  January,  1859,  and  has  contributed  several  articles  to  its  published  Pro- 
ceedings. He  has  also  been  a  member  of  the  American  Oriental  Society  since 
1857,  and  of  the  American  Philological  Association  since  1870.  He  was  chosen 
President  of  the  latter  body  in  1871,  for  the  ensuing  year;  but  was  prevented 
from  attending  the  meeting  in  July,  1872,  by  necessary  absence  in  Europe.  He 
has  contributed  several  articles  to  the  Transactions  and  the  Proceedings  of 
the  Philological  Association,  and  has  occasionally  written  for  the  North  American 
Review  and  other  periodicals. 


i 


FERDINAND    BOCHER. 

Ferdinand  Bocher  was  born  on  the  29th  of  August,  1832,  during  a  temporary 
residence  of  his  parents  in  New  York.  The  next  year  they  returned  to  France, 
where  he  passed  his  childhood  alternately  at  Vire  and  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Caen  in  Normandy.  Later  he  accompanied  his  father  on  several  voyages  to 
America.     His  education  was  not  regular. 

After  teaching  French  for  three  years  in  St.  Louis,  he  became  Instructor  in 
French  at  the  Washington  University  of  that  city  in  1857,  a  position  which  he 
gave  up  in  order  to  go  to  Europe  in  1859.  On  his  return,  in  1861,  he  was 
appointed  Instructor  in  French  in  Harvard  College,  a  place  which  he  held  until 
his  appointment,  in  1865,  as  Professor  of  Modern  Languages  in  the  Massachu- 
setts Institute  of  Technology,  Boston.  In  1869  he  delivered  a  course  of  Harvard 
University  Lectures  on  Moliere  and  French  Comedy,  and  the  next  year  on 
Early  French  and  Provencal  Literature.  In  1871  he  was  appointed  to  the  jDro- 
fessorship  which  he  at  present  fills,  that  of  Modern  Languages. 

The  more  important  of  his  publications  are,  — 

In  1865,  Otto's  French  Grammar,  translated  and  revised,  with  Additions;  several 
editions  of  which  have  been  issued. 

In  1 87 1,  A  Progressive  French  Reader. 

A  College  series  of  French  Plays,  published  during  the  last  ten  years. 

He  has  been  a  frequent  contributor  to  various  literary  publications. 


^X-^\^  t-A^t».4.^       J/^crxyU.  e 


fn.C^uy. 


EPHRAIM    WHITMAN    GURNEY. 

Ephraim  Whitman  Gurney  was  born  in  Boston,  on  the  i8th  February,  1829. 
He  attended  the  public  grammar  and  high  schools  of  the  city,  entered  a  count- 
ing-room, and  remained  in  business  for  three  years.  Having  then  decided  to 
go  to  College,  he  pursued  the  requisite  studies,  partly  under  the  supervision 
of  a  private  teacher  and  partly  by  himself,  and  entered  the  Freshman  class  in 
Harvrard   College   in    1848. 

After  his  graduation  in  1852  he  took  private  pupils,  and  taught  Latin  and 
Greek  in  a  private  school  in  Boston  until  1857,  when  he  received  an  appoint- 
ment as  Tutor  in  Latin  in  the  College.  He  held  this  position,  giving  instruc- 
tion to  the  Sophomore  class,  until  1863,  when  he  was  appointed  Assistant 
Professor  of  Latin.  In  1867  he  was  appointed  Assistant  Professor  of  Philosophy, 
and  taught  that  subject  for  one  year ;  but  a  vacancy  having  then  occurred  in  the 
historical  department,  he  was  appointed,  in  1868,  Assistant  Professor  of  History. 
In  1869  he  was  made  University  Professor  of  History;  and  in  1870,  Dean  of 
the   College   Faculty. 


JAMES    MILLS    PEIRCE. 

James  Mills  Peirce,  eldest  son  of  Professor  Benjamin  Peirce,  was  born  at  Cam- 
bridge, May  I,  1834.  He  was  prepared  for  college  at  the  Hopkins  Classical 
School  (E.  B.  Whitman,  principal),  and  was  graduated  in  1853.  He  was  a  Tutor 
in  Mathematics  in  this  University  from  1854  to  1858,  and  was  a  proctor  (occasion- 
ally serving  as  a  tutor)  from  1858  to  1861.  During  the  year  1853-4,  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Dane  Law  School;  and  for  the  three  years  1856-9,  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Divinity  School.  He  was  made  Assistant  Professor  of 
Mathematics  in  1861,  and  in  1869  was  appointed  to  the  office  which  he  now 
holds,  of  University  Professor  of  Mathematics. 


.^C^^n.^:-^ 


0 


^OA/u^  '^/V.,4o^-v^.c4^<UUL«^. 


HENRY    WADSWORTH    LONGFELLOW. 

Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow  was  born  at  Portland,  Maine,  on  the  27th  of 
February,  1807.  He  received  his  early  education  at  the  academy  of  that  town; 
entered  Bowdoin  College  in  1821,  and  graduated  in  the  class  of  1825. 

In  the  spring  of  1826  he  went  to  Europe,  and  passed  three  years  and  a  half 
in  France,  Spain,  Italy,  and  Germany.  On  his  return  in  the  autumn  of  1829 
he  became  Professor  of  Modern  Languages  in  Bowdoin  College,  and  remained 
there  till  1835,  when  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  French,  Spanish,  and  Belles- 
Lettres  at  Hai-vard. 

Before  entering  upon  the  duties  of  this  professorship  he  again  visited  Europe, 
passing  the  summer  of  1835  in  Denmark  and  Sweden,  and  the  following  winter 
and  summer  in  Germany,  Tyrol,  and  Switzerland. 

Returning  in  the  autumn  of  1836,  he  entered  upon  his  professorship  at  Har- 
vard. Since  that  time  he  has  resided  in  Cambridge,  though  he  resigned  the 
professorship  in   1854.     He  revisited  Europe  in  1842,  and  again  in   1868. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  his  writings,  with  the  dates  of  first  publication :  — 
1833,  Coplas  de  Manrique. 
1835,  Outre-Mer,  a  Pilgrimage  beyond  the  Sea. 
1839,  Hyperion,  a  Romance. 

"      Voices  of  the  Night. 

1842,  Ballads  and  other  Poems. 

1843,  Poems  on  Slavery. 

"  The  Spanish  Student. 

1845,  The  Poets  and  Poetry  of  Europe. 

"  The  Belfry  of  Bruges  and  other  Poems. 

1847,  Evangeline,  a  Tale  of  Acadie. 

1849,  Kavanagh,  a  Tale. 

"  The  Seaside  and  the  Fireside. 

185 1,  The  Golden  Legend. 

1855,  The  Song  of  Hiawatha. 


194 


HENRY   WADSWORTH   LONGFELLOW. 


1858,  The  Courtship  of  Miles  Standish,  and  Birds  of  Passage. 
1863,  Tales  of  a  Wayside  Inn.     Part  First;   and  Birds  of  Passage. 
1866,  Flower  de  Luce. 
1868,  The  New  England  Tragedies. 
"       The  Divine  Comedy  of  Dante. 

1872,  Three  Books  of  Song:   containing  Tales   of  a  Wayside  Inn,  Part  Second; 

Judas  Maccabasus;   and  a  Handful  of  Translations. 
"       The  Divine  Tragedy. 

1873,  Christus,  a  Mystery:  containing  The  Divine  Tragedy,  The  Golden  Legend, 

and  The  New  England  Tragedies,  with   Introitus  and  Interludes. 
"       Aftermath :    containing   Tales   of  a   Wayside    Inn,    Part  Third ;    and    Birds 
of  Passage. 

1874,  The  Hanging  of  the  Crane. 


THE    DIVINITY   SCHOOL. 


N 
^ 


> 


THE    DIVINITY    SCHOOL. 

Early  Mode  of  Theological  Instruction  in  the  College.  —  Origin  of  the  School.  —  First 
Foundations  for  Professorships.  —  The  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Theological  Edu- 
cation IN  Harvard  University.  —  Past  Professors.  —  Divinity  Hall  erected  1825-6.  — 
Ceremonies  accompanying  the  Laying  of  the  Corner-Stone  and  Dedication  of  the  Build- 
ing. —  Description  of  the  Building.  —  The  Association  of  Alumni  formed.  —  The  Ques- 
tion OF  the  Transfer  of  the  Trust  of  the  School  from  the  Corporation  to  the  Society 
FOR  promoting  Theological  Education.  —  The  Library.  —  The  Present  Staff  of  Profes- 
sors. —  New  Foundations.  —  Occasional  Lecturers.  —  Beneficiary  Funds.  —  Degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Divinity.  —  Aims  of  Governors  and  Professors. 

One  of  the  principal  objects  for  which  Harvard  College  was  founded  was  to 
provide  a  learned  clergy  for  the  churches,  as  is  shown  by  the  mottoes  upon  two 
of  its  seals,  "  In  gloriam  Christi,"  and  "  Christo  et  Ecclesi^."  From  early  times 
its  graduates,  with  those  of  other  colleges,  resided  in  Cambridge  to  complete 
their  education  for  the  ministry,  and,  instructed  by  the  College  Professors  and 
assisted  by  funds  held  in  trust  for  the  purpose  by  the  Corporation,  constituted  a 
kind  of  Theological  Department.  In  the  time  of  Edward  Wigglesworth,  the 
second  Hollis  Professor  of  that  name,  the  "  system  adopted,"  says  Ouincy,  "  in- 
cluded two  exercises,  denominated  lectures ;  the  first  a  dissertation  read  by  the 
Professor  on  some  topic  of  positive  or  controversial  Divinity,  the  second  a  cate- 
chetical exercise  on  the  preceding,  accompanied  with  instructions."  The  resident 
graduates  and  the  members  of  the  Senior  and  Junior  classes  were  required  to 
attend  both.  "  The  second  became  irksome  to  students  not  intending  to  qualify 
themselves  for  the  clerical  profession;   and  in   1784  only  those  were  required  to 


igS  THE    DIVINITY    SCHOOL. 

attend  who  purposed  to  make  Divinity  a  particular  study ;  the  second  exercise 
was  made  an  examination  on  the  theological  portion  of  Doddridge's  Lectures." 
This  was  the  first  step  in  separating  the  course  of  study  of  those  who  intended 
to  make  theology  a  profession  from  that  of  students  whose  views  were  directed 
to  other  pursuits. 

In  1805,  Rev.  Henry  Ware  was  elected  to  the  Hollis  Professorship  of  Divinity. 
In  the  first  years  of  his  official  life  it  may  be  presumed  that  he  only  delivered 
the  prescribed  lectures  in  the  College.  But  in  181 1  he  began  a  course  of  exer- 
cises with  the  resident  students  in  Divinity,  and  was  assisted  by  President 
Kirkland,  who  gave  some  lectures  on  Dogmatic  Theology;  by  Professor  Willard, 
in  Hebrew;  by  Mr.  Andrews  Norton,  after  his  appointment  as  Dexter  Lecturer 
in  1 81 3,  in  Sacred  Literature;  and  by  Professor  Frisbie,  in  Ethics,  after  his 
appointment  as  Alford  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  and  Civil  Polity  in  181 7. 
These  instructors,  who  all  had  duties  to  perform  in  the  College,  voluntarily 
undertook  to  direct  the  studies  of  theological  students,  among  whom  we  find, 
between  181 1  and  1818,  many  names  distinguished  afterward  in  the  clerical  and 
other  walks  of  life,  —  Joseph  Allen,  Eidward  Everett,  Samuel  Atkins  Eliot,  Samuel 
Oilman,  Henry  Ware,  Francis  William  Pitt  Greenwood,  Alvan  Lamson,  James 
Walker,  Convers  Francis,  Jared  Sparks,  John  G.  Palfrey,  and  John  Pierpont. 

Probably  the  impulse  to  this  movement  came  in  part  from  a  bequest  to  the 
College  by  the  Hon.  Samuel  Dexter  of  Mendon,  who  deserves  commemoration  for 
his  early,  liberal,  and  sagacious  provision  for  a  kind  of  theological  study  which  was 
just  beginning  to  receive  some  attention  proportioned  to  its  importance,  —  the 
elucidation  and  correct  translation  of  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, "  particularly  of  such  portions  as  relate  to  the  advent,  character,  and  offices 
of  the  Messiah."  Retiring  early  from  public  life,  he  devoted  himself  to  meditation 
and  study.  Theology  was  his  favorite  pursuit.  "  Resting,"  says  his  biographer, 
"  his  own  hope  of  a  future  existence  on  the  Divine  origin  of  the  Christian  .religion, 
and  believing  that  many  of  the  difficulties  which  lead  to  deism  and  infidelity  would 
vanish,  were  the  passages  objected  to  critically  explained,  he  established  his  lecture- 
ship for  that  most  useful  branch  of  learning,  a  critical  knowledge  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures."  By  the  consent  of  all,  the  first  lecturer  on  this  foundation  was  Joseph 
Stevens  Buckminster,  appointed  in  181 1,  who  died  too  early  for  the  interests  of 
sacred  learning,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  William  Ellery  Channing  in  181 2; 
on  whose  resignation  Mr.  Norton  was  elected  in   181 3. 

In  February,  181 3,  Samuel  Parkman,  a  rich  merchant  of  Boston,  gave  to  the 
College  a  township  of  land  in  the  District  of  Maine,  estimated  at  ^20,000  dollars 
in  value,  for  the  support  of  a  Professor  of  Theology.  The  gift  brought  no  imme- 
diate help  to  the  department,  but  it  tended  to  show  the  direction  of  public  opinion. 
The  want  of  aid  for  theological  education  being  deeply  felt,  in   181 5  the  Corpora- 


THE   DIVINITY   SCHOOL. 


199 


tion  addressed  a  circular  to  the  "  liberal  and  pious,"  proposing  to  raise  funds  to 
assist  students  in  theology  of  limited  means  to  reside  at  Cambridge;  and,  as  the 
best  method  of  attaining  the  object,  to  form  a  society  consisting  of  subscribers  to 
a  fund  "  for  the  education  of  candidates  for  the  ministry  in  Cambridge  University." 
The  long  list  of  subscribers  embraces  names  most  honored  at  that  time,  and  repre- 
sents a  weight  of  character  perhaps  never  exceeded  by  that  of  any  equal  number 
of  men  and  women  joining  in  a  common  enterprise.  At  the  head  of  the  life- 
subscribers  stands  the  name  of  the  venerable  Ex-President  John  Adams.  The  con- 
tributions amounted  to  more  than  ^27,000.  A  society  was  formed  which  adopted  a 
written  constitution,  of  which  it  was  a  fundamental  article,  and  ever  afterwards  recog- 
nized as  a  fundamental  article  in  the  constitution  of  the  Theological  School,  "that 
encouragement  (shall)  be  given  to  the  serious,  impartial,  and  unbiassed  investigation 
of  Christian  Truth ;  and  that  no  assent  to  the  peculiarities  of  any  denomination  of 
Christians  (shall)  be  required  either  of  the  students,  or  professors,  or  instructors." 
The  fund  raised  was  paid  into  the  College  treasury  to  be  appropriated,  by  a  joint 
Board  consisting  of  the  Corporation  and  five  Trustees  elected  by  the  society,  to 
the  education  of  candidates  for  the  ministry.  This  Board  had,  however,  only  the 
power  of  making  this  appropriation,  but  no  authority  over  the  instructors  or  pupils, 
who  continued  to  be  subject  to  the  Corporation  and  Overseers.  The  impelling  and 
guiding  power  of  this  noble  movement  was  John  Thornton  Kirkland.  To  him  first, 
and  then  to  the  Fellows  associated  with  him  and  to  other  solicitors  and  donors  of 
this  fund,  belongs  the  honor  of  founding  the  Theological  School  as  a  distinct  de- 
partment in  Harvard  University.  The  first  annual  visitation,  at  which  dissertations 
were  read,  is  believed  to  have  taken  place  December  17,  181 7.  Of  the  students 
who  read  at  that  time,  Andrew  Bigelow  alone  survives. 

The  inauguration  of  Mr.  Norton  as  Dexter  Professor  of  Sacred  Literature  was 
the  occasion  of  a  more  formal  organization  of  this  department;  with  him  being 
associated,  now  by  the  authority  of  the  College  government,  the  Hollis,  Hancock, 
and  Alford  Professors.  With  President  Kirkland  they  constituted  a  Faculty,  held 
regular  meetings,  and  the  journal  of  proceedings  begins  with  a  record  made 
October,  18 19,  by  Sidney  Willard,  secretary.  At  this  meeting  the  exercises  for 
the  year  were  arranged,  and  among  them  lectures  on  the  Septuagint  to  be 
given  by  (Edward)  Everett,  Eliot  Professor  of  Greek.  Mr.  Willard  himself 
had  entered  on  the  office  of  Hancock  Professor  of  Hebrew  and  other  Oriental 
Languages  in  1807.  He  continued  to  teach  Hebrew  in  the  School  and  in 
the  College,  until  he  resigned  his  office  in  1831.  He  had  respectable  learn- 
ing for  his  time,  was  a  felicitous  writer,  and  gave  the  valuable  services  of  his 
pen  occasionally  to  the  then  rising  Liberal  Christianity  and  to  general  literature. 
He  was  a  genial  man,  beloved  by  all,  and  called,  after  the  resignation  of  his 
professorship,   to   the   highest   honor   and   trust   his   native   city   had   to   bestow. 


200  THE   DIVINITY   SCHOOL. 

"  The  delightful  exercises,"  as  Dr.  Gannett  calls  them,*  "  of  the  Alford  Pro- 
fessor were  soon  closed  by  death."  The  other  two  members  of  this  first  Theo- 
logical Faculty  deserve  more  particular  notice  as  those  on  whom  the  efficiency 
and  reputation  of  the  Theological  Department  depended.  Henry  Ware,  D.  D., 
called  from  the  First  Parish  of  Hingham,  where  he  had  been  a  devoted  and 
very  successful  minister,  to  the  HolHs  Professorship,  served  the  Divinity  School 
until  1840,  about  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  the  College  for  thirty-five  years.  At 
his  resignation  the  Corporation  elected  him  Professor  of  Theology  Emeritus. 

Dr.  Ware  was  a  man  of  mark.  His  sound  judgment,  his  fairness  in  all 
statements,  his  freedom  from  dogmatism,  won  the  confidence  of  his  pupils  in 
theology.  No  man  ever  loved  truth  with  a  more  single  affection,  or  more  dis- 
dained to  maintain  it  by  ingenuity  or  sophism.  As  firm  a  believer  as  any 
man  of  his  generation  in  Divine  revelation,  he  could  yet  sympathize  with  the 
difficulties  of  a  mind  newly  roused  to  inquiry  upon  its  great  themes,  and  could 
hopefully  anticipate  the  benefit  which  might  flow  from  its  struggles.  When 
his  pupil,  Samuel  J.  May,  sought  his  counsel,  and  hesitatingly  told  the  doubts 
with  which  his  mind  was  beset  in  its  new  path  of  inquiry,  the  Professor's  play- 
ful words,  putting  his  visitor  at  ease,  and  showing  his  own  tranquil  earnestness, 
were,  "  Mr.  May,  I  congratulate  you  on  having  found  a  doubt."  As  a  teacher 
and  disciplinarian,  it  might  be  thought  that  he  did  not  exact  enough  of  his 
pupils  in  theology.  This  error,  if  error  it  were,  found  some  excuse  in  the 
fact  that  they  had  nearly  all  passed  through  the  discipline  of  College,  and 
had  reached  an  age  when  they  should  be  qualified  to  judge  of  the  most  profit- 
able use  of  their  time.  But  in  spite  of  their  deficiency,  they  never  left  the 
conversation  (which  was  the  form  the  exercise  was  apt  too  exclusively  to  take 
where  there  should  have  been  a  more  elaborate  response  to  his  written  ques- 
tions) without  carrying  with  them  some  memorable  expression  of  his  wisdom. 
In  all  relations  the  faithful  and  self-governed  spirit  of  this  man  was  conspic- 
uous. He  bore  his  full  part  in  the  internal  administration  of  the  Academic 
Department.  He  delivered  elaborate  lectures  in  the  College  Chapel.  He  admi- 
rably instructed  College  classes  in  Butler  and  Paley.  He  officiated  for  a  large 
portion  of  the  time  at  daily  prayers.  Twice,  after  the  decease  or  resignation 
of  a  President,  it  fell  to  him  to  preside  over  the  College.  In  this  position  his 
wisdom  never  failed,  and  he  was  the  very  embodiment  of  impartial  justice.  He 
entered  on  his  office  in  a  time  of  ecclesiastical  commotion.  His  election  had 
been  opposed  on  account  of  his  non-Calvinistic  opinions ;  during  his  professor- 
ship the  Corporation  was  charged  with  perversion  of  trust  in  the  case  of  the 
Hollis  Fund  (which  yielded  a  very  small  part  of  his  support),  a  charge  of  which 

*  See  his  Address  at  the  semicentennial  celebration  of  tlie  Divinity  School  in  1867. 


THE  DIVINITY   SCHOOL.  20I 

the  Professor  must  needs  feel  the  full  weight.  Dr.  Ware  left  it  to  others  to  an- 
swer this  and  kindred  charges,  and  steadily  devoted  himself  to  the  duties  he  had 
assumed.  By  temperament  he  was  averse  to  controversy.  Fifteen  years  after  his 
inauguration,  persuaded  by  friends,  he  replied  to  Dr.  Wood's  "  Letters  to  Unita- 
rians," and  afterwards  published  a  rejoinder  to  the  examination  by  that  divine  of 
his  own  "  Letters  to  Trinitarians  and  Calvinists."  Besides  these  works.  Dr.  Ware 
gave  to  the  press  a  few  years  before  his  death  portions  of  his  lectures  in  two 
volumes,  in  the  form  of  an  "  Inquiry  concerning  Religion." 

But  it  was  another  Professor,  exclusively  devoted  to  the  School,  on  whom 
devolved  chiefly  at  this  time  the  task  of  raising  its  character  and  usefulness. 
Andrews  Norton  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1804,  and  afterwards  resided 
mostly  in  Cambridge.  The  grandson  of  Rev.  John  Norton  of  Hingham,  he  was 
of  Puritan  blood  and  inherited  elements  of  Puritan  character.  He  was  touched 
with  the  spirit  of  the  time  in  which  he  came  to  manhood,  and  took  a  deep  interest 
in  the  theological  and  metaphysical  questions  then  discussed.  In  181 2  he  under- 
took to  conduct  the  General  Repository ;  and  in  this  periodical,  which  was  con- 
tinued but  two  years,  he  published  some  of  his  most  celebrated  papers,  indicating 
his  logical  power,  his  accurate  and  increasing  learning,  and  his  sturdy  determina- 
tion to  promote  rational  reform  in  theology.  All  signs  marked  him  as  the  fittest 
scholar  to  carry  out  thoroughly  the  objects  named  in  Samuel  Dexter's  legacy. 
From  his  inauguration  in  18 19  to  his  resignation  in  1830,  in  spite  of  bodily 
weakness  and  suffering,  he  was  the  strength  of  the  School.  He  brought  to  it 
the  needed  inspiration.  He  fired  the  souls  of  most  students  with  zeal  for  reform 
in  theology  and  with  love  of  ci^itical  inquiry.  He  urged  at  times  the  most  un- 
compromising opposition  to  error,  and  seemed  to  some  animated  with  the  spirit 
of  an  iconoclast ;  yet  he  was  impatient  with  other  critics  scarcely  bolder  than 
himself,  who  could  not  cast  their  minds  in  what  he  thought  the  right  mould, 
and  sometimes  spoke  of  honest  scholars,  like  De  Wette  and  Schleirmacher,  with 
a  severity  which  those  who  most  revere  his  memory  cannot  but  regret.  To  do 
this  for  the  cause  of  religion  is  a  justification  more  common  than  valid.  But 
Mr.  Norton  was  one  of  the  most  religious  of  men.  He  believed  with  no  mental 
reservation  in  Divine  Providence  and  in  prayer,  and  has  breathed  forth  his  faith  in 
immortal  hymns.  About  to  embark  for  Europe,  he  rose  one  Sunday  evening  after 
the  usual  preaching  in  the  Divinity  Chapel,  spoke  of  his  contemplated  absence, 
and  said,  "  I  wish  to  pray  with  you."  No  one  who  heard  it  has  lost  the  impres- 
sion of  that  prayer.  We  have  heard  Channing  pray.  We  have  heard  Henry 
Ware  and  Charles  FoUen  pray  in  the  College  Chapel.  And  we  were  brought  not 
only  into  communion  with  God,  but  into  depths  of  communion  with  men  which 
nothing  else  ever  opened.  And  we  know  that  the  prayer  of  our  revered  teacher, 
on  the  occasion  referred  to,  was  to  all  of  us  a  fresh  revelation  of  his  inner  life. 


202  'I'HE    DIVINITY    SCHOOL. 

Mr.  Norton  believed  in  a  supernatural  revelation  by  Jesus  Christ,  with  a 
conviction  probably  surpassing  that  of  most  men.  Though  a  Humanitarian,  he 
believed  in  the  miraculous  conception  of  Jesus.  Bold  critic  as  he  was,  he  was 
very  far  from  resolving  all  miracle  into  myth.  And  he  so  stamped  the  reality 
of  the  gospel  history,  with  its  wonderful  events,  on  the  minds  of  his  classes, 
that  in  very  few  who  listened  to  him  has  the  scepticism  of  the  age  removed  or 
even  weakened  the  impression.  Indeed,  the  power  to  impress  others  with  the 
reality  and  the  moral  grandeur  of  the  historical  life  of  Jesus  Christ  was  the  glory 
of  Andrews  Norton  as  a  teacher.  He  felt  a  profound  sympathy  with  the  subject 
of  his  teachings,  and  in  the  simplest  way  so  brought  out  the  spiritual  power  of 
that  Divine  life  that  his  classes  were  often  deeply  moved.  His  great  work  on  the 
Genuineness  of  the  Gospels,  and  his  unfinished  Translation  of  and  Notes  on  the 
same,  the  former  a  masterpiece  of  moral  reasoning,  the  latter  showing  great  crit- 
ical acumen  and  spiritual  insight,  scarcely  equal  the  greatest  impressions  he  made 
in  the  class-room,  but  they  are  elaborate  and  costly  offerings  of  his  mind  and  life 
to  the  Saviour  he  loved  and  the  Father  he  adored.  Besides  these  works,  which 
were  published  after  his  resignation,  he  gave  to  the  press  a  volume  on  the  Inter- 
nal Evidences  of  the  Genuineness  of  the  Gospels,  and  another  volume,  one  of 
his  most  elaborate  works,  entitled  "  A  Statement  of  Reasons  for  not  believing  the 
Doctrines  of  Trinitarians  concerning  the  Nature  of  God  and  the  Person  of 
Christ,"  which  was  a  revision  and  enlargement  of  his  review  of  "  Stuart's  Letters 
to  Channing." 

Another  teacher,  Charles  Follen,  J.  U.  D.,  was  added  to  this  Faculty,  and  will 
be  vividly  remembered  by  those  few  students  who  were  so  fortunate  as  to  come 
under  his  instruction  in  ethics  in  the  brief  period  of  his  employment  in  this 
department.  Having  been  a  teacher  of  the  German  language  in  College,  he  was 
in  1828  appointed  an  instructor  for  the  Divinity  School  in  Ecclesiastical  History 
and  in  Ethics,  but  remained  only  two  years  on  account  of  new  arrangements 
in  the  department  which  it  was  necessary  to  make  at  the  end  of  that  time.  An 
ardent  lover  of  liberty,  a  political  exile  from  Germany,  he  won  the  highest  respect 
in  his  adopted  country  by  his  extensive  learning  and  acute  mind,  united  with 
firmness  of  principle,  strong  Christian  faith,  the  most  gentle  manners,  and  the 
purest  character.  His  departure  from  the  institution  was  a  great  loss,  whether 
regarded  in  his  ability  to  excite  and  guide  an  interest  in  ethical  study,  or  in  his 
unconscious  influence  on  the  spirit  and  aims  of  those  around  him.  He  perished 
on  the  steamboat  Lexington,  destroyed  by  fire  in  1840.  Dr.  Channing  in  public 
eulogy  paid  a  tribute  of  friendship  and  genius  to  his  memory.  His  Life  and 
Works  have  been  published  in  five  volumes. 

Not  long  after  the  establishment  of  the  Divinity  School  as  an  organic  part  of 
the  University,  it  became  apparent  that  its  arrangements  were  deficient ;    and  it 


THE   DIVINITY   SCHOOL. 


203 


was  thought  necessary  that  there  should  be  a  more  efficient  organization  of  its 
government,  and  that  Directors  should  be  constituted  who  should  give  more 
constant  attention  to  the  wants  of  the  seminary  than  could  be  given  by  the  Cor- 
poration. We  have  also  the  authority  of  President  Sparks*  for  saying  tliat  the 
opinion  was  even  then  becoming  extensively  prevalent  and  earnest,  "  that  the 
interests  of  the  School  and  of  the  College  rendered  a  separation  of  them  desir- 
able, so  far  as  practicable."  Accordingly,  by  mutual  consent,  a  new  organization 
of  the  Society  for  promoting  Theological  Education  in  Harvard  University  was 
proposed,  "vesting  the  immediate  management  and  control  of  the  School  in  a 
Board  of  Directors  chosen  by  the  Society;  subject,  however,  to  certain  visitatorial 
powers  of  the  Corporation,  which  also,  as  they  supposed,  retained  the  right  of 
appointing  Professors,  subject  to  confirmation  by  the  Overseers."  The  Corpora- 
tion, together  with  five  Trustees  appointed  by  the  Society,  were  to  constitute  a 
joint  Board  for  the  appropriation  of  the  funds  of  the  School.  The  fundamental 
article  of  the  Constitution  already  mentioned  was  studiously  retained  in  this  and 
all  changes.  The  Corporation  had  by  formal  vote  accepted  the  new  Constitution 
of  the  Society,  and  an  Act  of  Incorporation  was  obtained  in  1826.  But  some 
difference  of  opinion  arose  between  members  of  the  two  bodies,  and,  at  the  criti- 
cal moment,  the  Corporation,  advised  thereto  by  a  committee  consisting  of  John 
T.  Kirkland,  Charles  Jackson,  and  Francis  C.  Gray,  withheld  their  assent  to  the 
Act,  and  it  never  became  a  law;  although,  practically,  the  Directors  bore  a  chief 
part  in  the  management  of  the  School,  and  exerted  themselves  in  its  behalf  At 
this  time  they  drew  attention  to  its  pressing  needs,  and  its  friends  contributed 
nearly  $  20,000  for  the  purchase  of  land  and  the  erection  of  a  building,  and  for 
the  aid  of  students.  As  the  Society  was  not  incorporated,  no  sale  of  land  was 
made  to  it  by  the  Corporation. 

The  principal  fruit  of  this  generous  contribution  was  the  erection  of  Divinity 
Hall. 

Under  the  auspices  of  the  above-named  Society,  chiefly  through  the  exertions 
of  the  late  Stephen  Higginson,  Jr.,  then  steward  of  the  College,  who  was  inde- 
fatigable in  forwarding  the  object,  this  edifice  was  erected  during  the  years 
1825  and   1826. 

On  Wednesday,  July  26,  1825,  with  appropriate  ceremonies,  the  corner-stone 
of  the  building  was  laid.  The  accompanying  exercises  consisted  of  a  prayer  by 
Professor  Henry  Ware,  an  address  by  Hon.  Benjamin  Pickman  of  Salem,  presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Institution,  the  singing  of  an  original 
hymn  composed  for  the  occasion,  and  a  benediction  by  the  President  of  the  Uni- 
versity.    Beneath  the  corner-stone  was  deposited  a  plate  bearing  the  inscription:  — 

*  See  A  Memorial  of  the  Corporation  addressed  to  the  Overseers  of  Harvard  College. 


204  THE   DIVINITY    SCHOOL. 

Auspice  Deo. 

Huj.  JEv.  Fund.     In  Usum  Schol.  Tiieol.  Cant,  posuerunt  Die 

SEXTO  jULii  A.  D.  MDCCCXXV. 

Ciiraions, 
Benj.  Pickman.  Car.  Lowell. 

Dan.  a.  White.  Hen.  Ware,  Jr. 

Jos.    TUCKERMAN.  JAC.    WaLKER. 

Steph.  Higginson,  Jr.  Sam.  A.  Eliot. 

Pro/essorilitts, 

Hen.  Ware,  Sid.  Willard,  Andrews  Norton. 

Univ.  Harv.  PrcES. 
JOH.  T.  Kirkland. 

The  completed  edifice  was  dedicated  on  the  28th  of  August,  1826.  Dr.  W.  E. 
Channing  preached  on  the  occasion  one  of  the  most  eloquent  of  his  sermons 
from  the  text,  "His  word  was  with  power"  (Luke  iv.  32).  It  was  preached  to  a 
large  audience  in  the  church  of  the  First  Parish,  which  then  stood  on  the  north 
side  of  Harvard  Square,  facing  the  head  of  what  is  now  Dunster  Street.  After 
the  services  in  the  church  the  assembled  company  proceeded  to  the  Hall,  where 
other  appropriate  exercises  completed  the  ceremony  of  dedication. 

At  the  close  of  the  following  September,  with  the  beginning  of  the  new  aca- 
demic year,  the  building  was  occupied  by  the  members  of  the  Divinity  School. 

Divinity  Hall  is  situated  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile  in  a  northeasterly  direction 
from  the  College  yard ;  it  faces  the  west,  and  stands  at  right  angles  with  the 
Zoological  Museum,  its  nearest  neighbor  of  the  University  buildings.  It  contains, 
beside  thirty-seven  chambers  for  the  accommodation  of  students  (each  chamber 
being  furnished  with  a  small  bedroom),  a  chapel,  a  library,  a  large  lecture-room, 
and  a  reading-room. 

In  1829  the  attention  and  generosity  of  friends  were  aroused  afresh  by  the 
obvious  need  of  more  full  provision  for  the  preparation  of  candidates  for  the 
ministry.  It  being  expected  that  Rev.  Henry  Ware,  Jr.,  of  Boston,  would  be 
appointed  to  the  new  chair,  a  subscription  of  more  than  $  1 3,000  was  easily  filled 
for  a  Professorship  of  Pulpit  Eloquence  and  the  Pastoral  Care,  and  he  was 
chosen.  By  request  of  the  Directors  of  the  School,  he  had  leave  of  absence  to 
visit  Europe  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  and  on  his  return,  in  the  autumn  of 
1830,  entered  on  his  duties.  "The  man  was  made  for  the  place,  as  the  place 
was  made  for  the  man."  His  inaugural  address,  delivered  in  the  Divinity  Chapel, 
was  captivating  in  its  ideal  of  the  Preacher  and  the  Pastor,  and  thrilling  in  its 
solemnity.  No  professor  has  ever  exerted  a  greater  influence  directly  tending  to 
imbue  his  pupils  with  the  spirit  of  the  sacred  profession.  He  was  naturally  a 
minister.     It  never  appears   to   have   occurred   to   him   to   be   anything   else.     He 


THE   DIVINITY   SCHOOL. 


205 


took  an  interest,  indeed,  in  every  good  cause,  and,  it  is  said,  had  some  trials  in 
his  professorial  life  on  account  of  his  interest  in  the  question  of  slavery,  his 
friends  "fearing  at  one  time  that  he  would  be  too  engrossed  with  it."  In  a 
Convention  Sermon  he  declared  his  belief  at  a  time  when  it  required  moral  cour- 
age to  make  the  declaration,  that  ministers  ought  to  bear  clear  testimony  against 
intemperance,  war,  and  human  bondage,  and  in  more  than  one  hesitating  young 
preacher  he  awakened  courage  for  public  duty.  But  his  zeal  for  the  gospel 
itself,  and  for  fitting  its  ministers  for  their  work,  never  flagged  in  all  his  years 
of  affliction,  infirmity,  and  over-work.  His  spiritual  influence  was  felt  not  only 
in  the  School  but  in  the  College,  where  he  had  duties  of  preaching,  instruction, 
and  daily  devotion.  "  For  twelve  years,"  says  Dr.  Gannett,  "  he  gave  to  this 
School  a  force  of  purpose,  a  consecration  of  heart,  and  an  amount  of  labor,  that 
no  testimony  of  ours  can  exaggerate.  When  I  think  of  his  life,  it  seems  to  me 
more  a  romance  than  a  reality.  It  was  so  full  of  goodness,  such  an  example  of 
faith,  such  a  pattern  of  industry,  so  self-contained  and  well  proportioned,  yet  so 
direct  an  impulse  of  help  to  others,  such  an  instance  of  what  a  man  may  be  and 
what  he  may  do  under  hindrances  suited  to  rob  him  of  efficiency,  that  I  am 
tempted  to  ask  if  it  is  the  actual  or  the  mythical  which  his  name  reiDresents." 
His  health  at  last  gave  way  entirely,  and  he  resigned  his  position  in  1842, 
leaving  his  pupils  bereaved  and  the  churches  in  sorrow  for  one  whose  place 
could  not  be  filled.  He  died  in  1843.  His  works  have  been  published  in  five 
volumes. 

Mr.  Norton's  resignation  of  his  office  of  Dexter  Professor  in  March,  1830,  gave 
occasion  for  a  new  organization  of  the  Theological  Department  in  the  Septem- 
ber following,  by  which  the  President  of  the  University,  the  Professors  of  Divin- 
ity, of  Biblical  Literature,  and  of  Puljoit  Eloquence  and  the  Pastoral  Care,  were 
constituted  the  Faculty,  and  were  clothed  "with  power  to  make  regulations  and 
enforce  laws ;  and  one  of  the  Professors  was  to  be  appointed  Dean."  The  con- 
nection between  the  Society  for  promoting  Theological  Education  in  Harvard 
University,  and  the  Corporation,  in  the  government  of  the  School,  was  dissolved 
by  mutual  consent ;  and  the  funds  and  estates  of  the  Society  were  transferred  to 
the  President  and  Fellows,  upon  the  trust  that  they  should  be  employed  to  ac- 
complish the  purpose  of  the  donors.  The  association  obtained  an  Act  of  Incor- 
poration under  the  title  of  "  The  Society  for  promoting  Theological  Education." 
Under  this  constitution  it  has  received  considerable  funds  in  trust  to  be  used  in 
assisting  meritorious  students  in  theology.  It  has  never  relaxed  its  zeal  for  the 
welfare  of  the  institution  it  did  so  much  to  build  up,  and  has  exerted  itself 
repeatedly  to  carry  it  through  difficulties. 

No  sooner  were  the  new  statutes  of  1830  adopted,  than  Rev.  John  Gorham 
Palfrey   was    elected    to    the    Professorship    of   Biblical    Literature,  and   appointed 


206  THE   DIVINITY   SCHOOL. 

Dean  of  the  Faculty.  The  time  has  not  come  —  may  it  be  long  deferred  —  for 
speaking  in  detail  of  his  services  in  this  institution  for  nine  years.  But  we  may 
recognize  "the  obligation"  —  to  use  the  words  of  Dr.  Gannett  —  "under  which  not 
only  liis  pupils,  but  the  churches  which  bear  this  School  upon  their  sympathies, 
were  placed  by  the  watchful  care  and  thorough  instruction  which  marked  his 
term  of  office."  His  pupils  love  to  speak  of  the  confidence  he  inspired.  A  more 
rigid  discipline  did  not  alienate  their  affection.  The  practice  was  discontinued 
of  leaving  the  School  at  all  stages  of  the  course  to  enter  the  pulpit,  we  presume 
through  Dr.  Palfrey's  influence.  Besides  the  great  labor  imposed  by  his  profes- 
sorship, he  preached  in  the  College  pulpit,  where  his  appearance  was  always 
welcome.  The  fruits  of  his  industry  and  great  learning  are  to  be  seen  in  two 
volumes  of  Lowell  Lectures  on  the  Evidences  of  Christianity,  four  volumes  of  Lec- 
tures on  the  Old  Testament,  and  a  work  on  the  Relation  between  Judaism  and 
Christianity. 

In  1839  was  formed  an  Association  of  the  Alumni  of  the  Divinity  School,  for 
the  purpose  of  "  strengthening  the  bonds  of  spiritual  brotherhood,  enlivening  mu- 
tual interest  in  the  great  cause  of  Liberal  Christianity,  and  especially  of  increasing 
the  number  of  preachers."  Rev.  James  Walker,  D.  D.,  was  chosen  the  first 
president.  The  first  Annual  Address  delivered  before  it  by  Mr.  Norton,  on  "  The 
Latest  Form  of  Infidelity,"  condemned  certain  forms  of  philosophical  and  theo- 
logical speculation  which  had  appeared  among  us,  and  which  the  orator  regarded 
as  destructive  of  religion.  A  memorable  correspondence  ensued,  in  which  an 
"  Alumnus,"  Rev.  George  Ripley  of  Boston,  vigorously  attacked  the  statements  of 
the  Address.  Rev.  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  had  in  the  preceding  year  given  his 
celebrated  discourse  to  the  graduating  class  of  the  School,  which  was  noticed 
by  Professor  Henry  Ware,  Jr.,  in  a  sermon  preached  in  the  College  Chapel,  on 
the  Personality  of  God,  which  also  gave  rise  to  a  correspondence  between  these 
scholars  very  honorable  to  both  for  its  entire  frankness  and  perfect  courtesy. 

In  1840  the  Rev.  Francis  Parkman,  D.  D.,  made  a  donation  of  ^5,000  to  be 
added  to  that  of  his  father,  from  which  the  treasury  had  realized  only  about  the 
same  sum,  to  carry  into  effect  his  father's  intention  to  found  a  Chair  of  Theol- 
ogy, and  accompanied  it  with  the  one  condition,  that  it  should  be  immediately 
used  to  support  a  professorship  named  for  the  first  donor.  It  was  accepted 
gladly,  and  applied  to  render  secure  the  Professorship  of  Pulpit  Eloquence  and 
the  Pastoral  Care,  which  henceforth  bore  the  name  of  Parkman.  In  the  same 
year  the  Hancock  and  Dexter  foundations  were  consolidated  into  one  for  a  single 
chair.  The  provision  thus  made  being  still  insufficient,  and  the  suspension  of 
the  School  being  in  prospect,  Dr.  Ware,  Sen.,  and  Dr.  Palfrey  having  resigned, 
and  the  Corporation  intending  not  to  fill  at  present  the  HoUis  Chair,  the  Society 
for   promoting  Theological    Education    came   to    the    rescue,  and  with    the    Berry 


THE   DIVINITY    SCHOOL.  207 

Street  Conference  again  appealed  to  the  churches,  which  responded  in  the  sum 
of  $  10,000  to  be  applied  to  the  Dexter  Professorship. 

The  attention  of  all  persons  interested  was  turned  towards  George  Rapall 
Noyes,  D.  D.,  as  the  scholar  most  competent  to  fill  the  chair  thus  provided  for. 
In  May  20,  1 840,  he  was  elected  with  the  title  of  "  Hancock  Professor  of  Hebrew 
and  other  Oriental  Languages,  and  Dexter  Lecturer  on  Biblical  Literature." 
His  "  Amended  Version  of  the  Book  of  Job,"  executed  while  resident  at  the  Uni- 
versity, had  at  once  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  scholars.  After  his  settle- 
ment as  a  minister,  his  critical  labors  were  continued  in  accordance  with  a  plan 
previously  formed,  and  produced  a  translation  and  partial  exposition  of  the  other 
poetical  books  of  the  Old  Testament.  Dr.  Noyes  had  won  a  unique  reputation 
as  a  critic  and  interpreter,  when  he  was  called  to  succeed  Dr.  Palfrey,  the 
accomplished  teacher  of  Sacred  Literature.  It  was  his  eminence  as  a  translator 
of  Hebrew  which  had  won  his  fame  while  pastor  in  a  country  parish.  But  the 
additional  duty  of  expounding  the  New  Testament  was  laid  upon  him  at  Cam- 
bridge, and  he  sedulously  prepared  himself  to  be  as  competent,  instructive,  and 
stimulating  in  this  branch  of  interpretation  as  in  the  other.  In  addition  he  held 
exercises  in  Systematic  Theology.  He  preached  a  fourth  of  the  year  in  the 
College  Chapel.  His  pupils  craved  more  exposition  of  the  New  Testament  than 
he  could  give.  Says  one  of  them,  in  an  appropriate  notice  of  him  after  his 
death:*  "During  this  long  period"  of  service,  "perhaps  the  most  interesting 
thing  to  witness  has  been  his  steady  growth  in  the  respect  and  attachment  of 
the  young  men  under  his  charge."  He  had  great  authority  in  the  lecture -room. 
His  opinions  were  carefully  formed,  and  delivered  with  precision,  and  often  accom- 
panied with  a  shrewd  practical  wisdom  long  remembered  by  his  pupils.  He  con- 
tinued in  office  until  his  death,  in  1868,  —  a  period  of  twenty-eight  years.  In  the 
two  last  years,  under  great  infirmity,  he  executed  a  Translation  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, which  has  received  general  praise,  and  increased  the  obligations  under 
which  he  had  already  placed  all  students  of  the  Bible. 

With  Dr.  Noyes  was  long  associated  Convers  Francis,  D.  D.,  appointed  after 
the  resignation  of  Dr.  Henry  Ware,  Jr.,  to  the  Parkman  Professorship.  The  con- 
troversy excited  by  what  was  called  "  Transcendentalism  "  caused  the  succession  to 
Professor  Ware  to  be  regarded  with  solicitude.  The  election  of  Dr.  Francis  probably 
gave  as  general  satisfaction  as  any  would  have  done.  He  had  much  sympathy 
undoubtedly  with  the  liberal  scholars,  Ripley,  Furness,  and  others.  He  had,  how- 
ever, been  one  of  the  most  successful  ministers  in  his  parish,  and  one  of  the  most 
acceptable  preachers,  and  had  the  confidence  of  the  churches.  His  unfeigned 
distrust  of  his  qualifications  for  the  position  was  overcome,  and  he  brought  to  it 
a  richly  stored   mind,  a  genial  and   sympathetic   spirit,  a  painstaking  industry,  a 

*  See  Christian  Examiner  for  July,  1868. 


2o8  THE    DIVINITY    SCHOOL. 

perfect  conscientiousness.  Dr.  Hedge,  who  knew  him  long  and  intimately,  charac- 
terizes him  as  "  the  most  accomplished  of  scholars  and  the  most  faithful  of  teach- 
ers." Without  any  interval  for  special  preparation,  he  was  compelled  to  assume 
at  once  a  multitude  of  duties,  and  his  papers  show  the  variety  and  extent  of  the 
work  he  undertook.  Ecclesiastical  History,  Natural  Theology,  Ethics,  and  preach- 
ing half  the  time  in  the  College  Chapel,  were  added  to  instruction  given  in  the 
Composition  of  Sermons  and  in  the  Pastor's  Work.  He  sought  in  every  way  to 
be  helpful  to  the  students  in  the  religious  life,  and  to  enlist  their  interest  in  every 
question  of  moral  reform.  His  frame  was  strong;  but  his  mind  was  distracted 
by  too  many  duties  to  enjoy  his  work  as  he  deserved.  His  method  —  which  is 
said  to  have  been  to  present  others'  opinions  on  all  sides  of  a  subject  rather  than 
his  own  —  was  criticised  in  the  School  and  out  of  it,  and  this  made  him  some- 
times unhappy.  But  this  method,  certainly  unsatisfactory,  scarcely  deserved  re- 
proach in  a  School  designed  to  be  unscctarian.  It  was  conscientiously  adhered 
to.  He  sought  to  keep  the  mind  and  heart  of  his  pupils  open  to  all  the  friends 
and  truths  of  God ;  and  he  undoubtedly  promoted  a  breadth  of  thought  and  sym- 
pathy among  the  ministers  trained  under  him  quite  as  valuable  as  the  qualities 
which  win  favor  with  narrow  minds.  "We  express,"*  said  the  Orator  before  the 
Alumni  soon  after  his  death,  "  all  of  a  Christian  scholar's  allegiance  in  speaking 
tenderly  and  gratefully  here  the  honored  name  of  Convers  Francis.  No  more 
hospitable  soul  has  lived  among  us." 

The  year  1852  and  those  immediately  following  are  memorable  for  an  agitation 
which  came  near  divorcing  the  School  from  the  University.  The  incentive  to  it 
was  the  alleged  embarrassment  arising  out  of  the  connection  of  the  College  with 
the  State,  and  the  part  which  the  State,  divided  into  jealous  religious  sects,  was 
called  to  take  in  the  management  of  the  schools  of  the  University.  A  committee 
of  the  Overseers  in  1845  had  reported  adversely  to  a  separation.  But  now  the 
President  and  Fellows  addressed  a  memorial  to  the  Overseers,  setting  forth  the 
inherent  evil  of  the  connection,  and  their  desire  to  surrender  this  part  of  their 
trust  into  other  hands.  A  committee  of  the  Overseers,  appointed  to  consider  this 
memorial  and  to  confer  with  the  Corporation,  recommended  the  adoption  of  suita- 
ble measures  to  obtain  a  judicial  decision  directing  the  school  funds  to  be  trans- 
ferred to  other  trustees.  After  various  delays,  in  1859  the  President  and  Fellows 
presented  a  petition  to  the  Supreme  Court  to  be  relieved  of  the  trusts  in  question. 
The  Court  doubting  its  jurisdiction,  an  enabling  Act  was  passed  by  the  Legislature. 
It  had  been  supposed  that  the  Society  for  promoting  Theological  Education  was 
ready  to  accept  the  trusts.  But,  happily,  this  Society,  at  the  critical  moment, 
while  claiming  to  be  the  trustees  to  whom  the  trusts  should  be  assigned  if  sur- 
rendered by  the  Corporation,   presented  a  remonstrance  against  this  surrender  so 

*  See  Discourse  before  the  Alumni  of  the  Theological  School,  July,  1863,  by  Samuel  Osgood,  D.  D. 


THE   DIVINITY   SCHOOL.  209 

strong  as  to  bring  the  agitation  to  a  stand.  In  their  able  answer,  they  assert  that 
the  School  and  its  trusts  have  materially  contributed  to  the  dignit)',  usefulness, 
and  advancement  of  Harvard  College,  and  that  "  it  would  be  false  to  all  our  tradi- 
tions, if  in  a  College  named  for  a  Puritan  minister,  fostered  by  a  Puritan  clergy, 
and  bearing  on  its  corporate  seal  the  motto,  '  Christo  et  Ecclesise,'  religion  should 
be  the  only  subject  deliberately  excluded."  The  Corporation  withdrew  their  peti- 
tion the  more  readily,  as  Mr.  Felton,  then  recently  chosen  President,  was  strongly 
opposed  to  it 

The  year  1856  was  marked  by  a  very  welcome  addition  to  the  resources  of 
the  School  in  the  purchase  of  the  Hbrary  of  the  late  Dr.  Luecke  of  Gottingen. 
Placed  in  a  separate  room,  it  is  called  the  Loring  Librar}%  in  honor  of  the  donor 
of  the  purchase-money.  Colonel  Benjamin  Loring  of  Boston.  The  most  consid- 
erable appropriation  which  had  ever  been  made  for  it  was  one  of  $  2,000  made 
by  the  Directors  in  1825,  which  was  really  its  foundation.  The  Loring  Library 
added  4,000  volumes.  Dr.  Convers  Francis  directed  in  his  will  that  such  vol- 
umes among  his  books  as  might  be  thought  valuable  for  the  School  should  be 
selected  for  it;  and  about  2,000  so  selected  were  deposited  in  a  separate  room 
and  called  the  Francis  Librar}\  Thus  the  Theological  Librar)-  has  grown  from 
a  small  beginning  to  about  16,000  volumes,  mostly  of  carefully  selected  works; 
further  contributions,  however,  are  desirable  to  furnish  it  adequately  with  the  works 
of  theological  scholars  of  former  times  and  vrith  the  best  works  which  are  published 
in  our  own  day ;  and  one  of  the  most  urgent  needs  of  this  department  is  a  fire- 
proof building  for  the  safe  keeping  of  this  invaluable  and  increasing  collection. 

In  1857  the  Society  for  promoting  Theological  Education  again  came  to  the 
help  of  the  School  and  its  overworked  instructors.  They  proffered  to  the  Corpo- 
ration an  annual  sum  for  sLx  years  for  the  support  of  two  non-resident  Profes- 
sors, one  in  Ecclesiastical  History  and  one  in  Dogmatic  Theologj-.  Frederic 
Henry  Hedge,  D.  D.,  was  appointed  to  the  former  chair,  which  he  now  fills,  and 
George  Edward  Ellis,  D.  D.,  to  the  latter.  WTien  the  time  of  this  appointment 
was  about  to  expire,  the  Corporation  appropriated  a  portion  of  the  income  of 
the  Bussey  bequest  to  the  remuneration  of  the  continued  sen-ices  of  Professor 
Hedge,  while  the  subjects  of  the  careful  instruction  of  Professor  Ellis  were  as- 
signed to  a  newly  appointed  resident  Professor.  Oliver  Stearns,  D.  D.,  was  elected 
to  fill  the  vacancy  made  by  the  death  of  Dr.  Francis  in  1863,  with  the  title  of 
Parkman  Professor  of  Pulpit  Eloquence  and  the  Pastoral  Care,  and  Lecturer  on 
Christian  Theolog}'.  The  title  was  changed  in  1869  to  that  of  Parkman  Pro- 
fessor of  Theology,  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  Samuel  Parkman's  donation. 
The  incumbent  now  gives  lectures  on  Systematic  Theology  and  Ethics,  and  is 
Dean  of  the  Facult}\ 

In  1867,  James  Freeman  Clarke,  D.  D.,  was  appointed  a  non-resident  Professor 


2IO  THE   DIVINITY   SCHOOL. 

of  Natural  Religion  and  Christian  Doctrine,  and  continued  in  office  four  years, 
visiting  the  School  twice  a  week  the  first  year,  afterwards  but  once  a  week.  In 
the  winter  of  1869,  to  fill  the  vacancy  created  by  the  death  of  Dr.  Noyes,  Rev. 
Edward  James  Young  was  elected  Hancock  Professor  of  Hebrew  and  other  Ori- 
ental Languages,  and  Dexter  Lecturer  on  Biblical  Literature,  and  still  holds  the 
office,  teaching  the  Hebrew  language  in  College  and  in  the  Divinity  School,  and 
in  the  latter  giving  lectures  on  the  Old  Testament. 

No  benefactor  of  the  School  has  given  it  so  large  an  amount  as  was  left  by 
the  bequest  of  Benjamin  Bussey,  Esq.,  of  Roxbury,  whose  will  was  approved  in 
1842.  As  the  income  became  available,  it  was  found  sufficient  to  warrant  the  estab- 
lishment of  two  professorships,  which  bear  his  name,  besides  assisting  in  the  support 
of  other  instructors.  In  the  autumn  of  1869,  Rev.  Charles  Carroll  Everett  was 
elected  Bussey  Professor  of  Theology.  Dr.  Everett  gives  lectures  on  the  Science 
of  Thought,  the  Philosophy  of  Religion,  the  Ethnic  Religions,  and  on  Preaching 
and  the  Pastoral  Care.  In  1872,  Ezra  Abbot,  LL.  D.,  was  elected  Bussey  Professor 
of  New  Testament  Criticism  and  Interpretation,  and  now  gives  lectures  in  the 
Textual  Criticism  of  the   New  Testament,  and  in  the  exegesis  of  its  writings. 

Occasionally  ministers  of  the  neighborhood  have  been  appointed  to  deliver 
brief  courses  of  lectures  on  special  subjects.  In  1869,  Rev.  Samuel  H.  Winkley 
delivered  a  course  on  the  "Ministry";  in  1871,  Rev.  Rufus  Ellis  gave  a  course 
on  the  "  Moral  Evidences  of  Christianity,"  John  H.  Morrison,  D.  D.,  a  course 
on  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  and  Samuel  Kirkland  Lothrop,  D.  D.,  delivered  lectures 
on    the  "  History  and    Principles  of  Congregationalism." 

Formerly,  giving  a  certificate  of  having  pursued  the  prescribed  course  of  study 
was  the  only  form  of  graduating.  Long  after  degrees  were  conferred  in  other 
departments,  students  left  the  Theological  Seminary  with  as  thorough  compara- 
tive scholarship  as  was  acquired  in  any  professional  school,  and  yet  received  no 
degree,  though  their  names  were  entered  on  the  Triennial  Catalogue.  Provision 
was  at  last  made  to  remedy  this  injustice,  and  at  the  Commencement  of  1870 
the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Theology  was  conferred  for  the  first  time  in  regular 
course.  Further  to  promote  good  scholarship,  annual  written  examinations  were 
introduced  at  this  period,  which  must  be  satisfactorily  passed  to  enable  a  student  to 
be  advanced  to  regular  standing  in  the  class  of  the  next  year.  The  course  of  study 
is  for  three  years.  It  has  been  proposed  to  add  to  it  a  fourth  year ;  but  at  pres- 
ent it  is  deemed  sufficient  to  provide  a  fourth  year's  study  for  those  who  desire  it. 

But  while  the  University  as  such  is  only  concerned  to  provide  instruction  in 
theology  as  a  science,  those  who  have  charge  of  the  institution  have  constantly 
in  view  the  preparation  of  candidates  for  the  Christian  ministry,  the  avowed  object 
of  the  founders.  They  have  therefore  provided  for  careful  and  copious  teaching 
and  practice  in  the  composition  and  delivery  of  sermons,  and  constant  instruction 


THE   DIVINITY   SCHOOL.  211 

by  the  Professor  of  Elocution.  They  have  instituted  weekly  exercises  for  prac- 
tice in  extempore  speaking,  in  which  all  who  intend  to  be  preachers  are  expected 
to  bear  their  part. 

In  1869  was  established  the  Divinity  Boarding  Club.  Contributions  towards 
this  object  and  towards  defraying  the  cost  of  board  for  indigent  students  were 
made,  to  the  amount  of  $  2,000,  by  friendly  churches  moved  by  the  persuasion 
of  Dr.  Ezra  S.  Gannett. 

From  time  to  time  liberal  men  and  women  have  given  or  bequeathed  money, 
the  income  of  which  should  be  devoted  to  the  support  of  meritorious  students  in 
this  department.  The  list  begins  with  Edward  Hopkins,  afterwards  colonial  gov- 
ernor of  Connecticut,  whose  bequest,  made  in  1652,  was  withheld  by  his  heirs,  and 
was  not  available  for  many  years,  but,  with  a  small  addition  in  land,  early  granted 
by  the  General  Court,  has  become  sufficient  to  sustain  liberally  six  scholarships. 
The  largest  benefactor  of  this  class  was  John  D.  Williams,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  whose 
legacy,  intrusted  to  the  Society  for  promoting  Theological  Education,  yields  an 
income  of  $  2,800.  Other  benefactors  have  given  funds,  some  of  which  have  been 
formed  into  nine  scholarships  varying  in  value.  All  these  funds  are  applied  with 
reference  to  the  combined  considerations  of  need,  of  effort  and  success  in  study, 
and  of  character. 

The  history  of  the  Divinity  School,  which  we  have  traced,  extends  over  a  little 
more  than  fifty  years.  It  shows  the  aims  of  its  founders  and  friends,  and  the 
principles  they  intended  to  incorporate  into  it.  It  shows  the  trials  which  it  has 
encountered  and  the  manner  in  which  they  have  been  overcome,  and  all  that  has 
been  done  to  make  it  an  adequate  instrument  of  theological  education.  Connected 
with  it  are  names  which  cannot  be  forgotten  in  the  history  of  the  progress  of  the- 
ological study  in  this  country.  Considered  in  view  of  what  it  has  done  to  promote 
biblical  learning  and  sound  Christian  doctrine,  it  has  been  worth  many  times  its 
cost.  It  has,  undoubtedly,  by  its  principle  of  requiring  from  Professors  and  stu- 
dents no  subscription  to  any  creed,  hitherto  represented  but  a  small  constituency. 
This  principle  has  been  more  honorable  to  it  than  popular.  We  trust  that  in  the 
period  already  begun  its  encouragement  of  free  investigation,  its  effort  to  preserve 
an  unsectarian  character,  its  disposition  to  emphasize  the  Christian  life,  and  its  zeal 
to  make  Christianity  a  power  of  moral  reformation  in  society,  will  prove  more  at- 
tractive, and,  with  its  noble  endowments,  its  five  Professors,  of  whom  four  devote 
to  it  all  their  labor,  its  free  access  to  all  the  lectures  of  the  University,  and  its 
means  of  aid  for  every  student  of  competent  talents  and  good  character,  will  draw 
to  it  more  patrons  and  students  in  the  second  half-century  just  opened  than  they 
have  done  in  the  half-century  just  closed.  And  its  governors  and  Professors  are 
united  in  the  aim  of  making  it  in  scholarship  and  character  worthy  of  the  Christian 
cause  for  which  it  stands,  and  of  the  University  of  which  it  is  an  organic  part. 


FREDERIC   HENRY   HEDGE. 

Frederic  Henry  Hedge,  son  of  Levi  Hedge,  was  born  at  Cambridge  on  the 
1 2th  of  December,  1805.  His  father  was  for  many  years  connected  with  the 
College,  first  as  Tutor,  then  as  College  Professor  of  Logic  and  Metaphysics,  then 
as  Alford  Professor  of  Natural  Religion,  Moral  Philosophy,  and  Civil  Polity. 
Frederic  Henry,  the  second  son,  at  the  age  of  twelve,  was  put  to  school  in  Ger- 
many, at  Ilfeld  and  Schulpforte,  where  he  remained  five  years.  On  his  return 
he  entered  Harvard  at  an  advanced  stage  of  the  College  course,  and  took  his 
Bachelor's  degree  in  1825.  His  Exhibition  and  Commencement  honors  were 
poems ;  he  was  also  chosen  poet  of  his  class. 

Immediately  after  graduating  he  passed  into  the  Divinity  School,  studied 
Theology  for  the  customary  term  of  three  years,  took  the  Master's  degree  in 
1828,  and  soon  afterward  was  settled  in  the  ministry,  first  in  West  Cambridge, 
then  in  Bangor,  Me.,  then  in  Providence,  R.  L,  and  finally  in  Brookline. 

In  1853  he  received  from  Harvard  the  honorary  degree  of  D.  D.  In  1857  he 
was  made  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History,  still  residing  in  Brookline ;  and  in 
1872,  resigning  his  pastoral  charge  in  that  town,  he  accepted  the  Professorship 
of  the  German  Language,  which  he  now  holds,  and  took  up  his  residence  in 
Cambridge.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  and 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

His  principal  works  are  the  Prose  Writers  of  Germany,  Reason  in  Religion, 
and  the  Primeval  World  of  Hebrew  Tradition. 


C^,^^^^^  J^- ^^^\ 


(^X-^^-^-t.^ 


OLIVER    STEARNS. 

Oliver  Stearns  was  born  June  3,  1807,  ^t  Lunenburg,  Worcester  County, 
Mass.  His  father  was  Thomas  Stearns,  a  farmer,  a  native  of  Lunenburg.  His 
mother  was  Priscilla  Gushing,  of  Hingham.  He  was  a  nephew  of  Asahel  Stearns, 
who  was  from  1817  to  1829  Royall  Professor  of  Law  at  Harvard  University.  His 
preparation  for  College  was  made  chiefly  at  the  district  school  of  his  native  town, 
under  masters  who  came  from  Cambridge  in  the  winter  vacation  to  take  charge 
of  it.  This  scanty  opportunity  for  instruction  was  pieced  out  by  a  few  weeks  of 
study,  now  and  then,  with  the  minister  or  other  educated  resident  of  the  town,  and 
an  occasional  attendance  for  a  single  quarter  at  the  Academy  of  New  Ipswich. 
During  the  summer  he  worked  upon  the  farm.  He  entered  Harvard  College  in 
1822,  and  graduated  in  1826.  He  met  the  expenses  of  College  life,  in  part,  by 
teaching  school  during  the  winter  vacations.  He  was  monitor  during  the  Junior 
year.  He  had  an  Oration  at  the  exhibition  of  the  Senior  class  and  at  Com- 
mencement. He  was  a  member  of  the  Hasty  Pudding  Club,  of  the  Institute  of 
1870,  and  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society. 

The  year  after  graduation  was  spent  as  usher  in  a  private  school  conducted 
by  Mr.  Charles  Green,  in  Jamaica  Plain,  then  a  part  of  Roxbury.  In  1827  he 
entered  the  Divinity  School  of  Harvard  University,  being  moved  to  this  step 
principally  by  impressions  received  while  listening  to  the  sermon  preached  by 
Dr.  Channing  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  Divinity  Hall.  At  the  time 
of  entering  the  Divinity  School  he  became  Tutor  of  Mathematics  in  Hai-vard 
College,  which  office  he  held  two  years.  He  graduated  at  the  school  in  1830. 
November  9,  1 831,  he  was  ordained  minister  of  the  Second  Congregational  Society 
of  Northampton.  This  charge  he  resigned  on  account  of  ill  health,  April  i, 
1839.  April  I,  1840,  he  was  installed  over  the  Third  Congregational  Society  in 
Hingham.  His  connection  with  the  society  as  its  minister  had,  however,  prac- 
tically commenced  nine  months  previously,  and  it  continued  more  than  seventeen 
years.  In  1856  he  became  President  of  the  Theological  School  of  Meadville, 
Penn.     Here  he  remained  till  1863,  when  he  became  connected  with  the  Divinity 


214 


OLIVER   STEARNS. 


School  of  Harvard  University  as  Parkman  Professor  of  Pulpit  Eloquence  and 
Pastoral  Care,  and  Lecturer  on  Christian  Theology ;  the  Professorship  having  been 
made  vacant  by  the  death  of  Convers  Francis,  D.  D.  As  Lecturer  on  Christian 
Theology  he  succeeded  George  E.  Ellis,  D.  D.  In  1870  the  title  of  his  Professor- 
ship was  changed  to  that  of  Parkman  Professor  of  Theology,  and  he  now  gives 
instruction  in  Systematic  Theology  and  Ethics.  He  has  received  the  degrees  of 
A.  M.  and  D.  D.  from  Harvard  College. 

In  1832  he  married  Mary  Blood,  of  Sterling;  and  in  1872,  Mrs.  Augusta  Hannah 
Bayley,  of  Boston. 

He  has  occasionally  pubHshed  articles  in  reviews  and  other  periodicals,  and  ser- 
mons and  addresses  in  pamphlet  form. 


(S,.^    o^5^^r?A) 


EZRA  ABBOT. 

Ezra  Abbot  was  born  in  Jackson,  Maine,  April  28,  1819,  the  son  of  Ezra  Abbot, 
a  farmer.  After  receiving  some  excellent  private  instruction  from  his  uncle, 
Rev.  Abiel  Abbot,  of  Peterboro',  New  Hampshire,  he  was  fitted  for  college  in 
1835-36  at  Phillips  Exeter  Academy,  New  Hampshire,  then  under  the  charge 
of  Dr.  Benjamin  Abbot;  graduated  at  Bowdoin  College  in  1840;  spent  five 
years  in  teaching,  —  first  in  Foxcroft  Academy,  then  in  Washington  Academy, 
East  Machias,  Maine;  in  1847  removed  to  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  where  he 
has  since  resided,  finding  employment  for  the  most  of  the  time  in  the  Libraries 
of  Harvard  College  and  the  Boston  Atheneeum,  and  pursuing  private  studies, 
chiefly  philological  and  theological.  In  1856  appointed  Assistant  Librarian  of 
Harvard  College,  with  the  exclusive  charge  of  the  cataloguing  and  classification 
of  the  books,  which  ofiice  he  resigned  in  1872  to  accept  the  Bussey  Professor- 
ship of  New  Testament  Criticism  and  Interpretation  in  the  Cambridge  Divinity 
School.  Elected  in  1852  a  member  of  the  American  Oriental  Society,  of  which 
he  has  been  since  1853  the  Recording  Secretary;  in  1861  a  member  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences;  in  1871  appointed  University  Lecturer 
on  the  Textual  Criticism  of  the  New  Testament.  In  1861  he  received  from  Har- 
vard College  the  honorary  degree  of  A.M.;  in  1869  that  of  LL.  D.  from  Yale 
College  ;  and  in  1872,  from  Harvard  College,  the  degree  of  S.  T.  D.,  though 
never  a  clergyman.  Published,  in  1853,  as  a  first  experiment  in  bibliography,  a 
"  Classed  Catalogue  of  the  Library  of  the  Cambridge  High  School,"  in  which  he 
had  been  for  about  a  year  a  teacher;  in  i860,  contributions  to  the  "New  Dis- 
cussion of  the  Trinity";  in  1864,  "  Literature  of  the  Doctrine  of  a  Future  Life," 
as  an  Appendix  to  the  Rev.  W.  R.  Alger's  "Critical  History"  of  the  doctrine, 
but  issued  separately  in  1871.  Edited,  with  notes  or  appendixes,  Norton's  "  Trans- 
lation of  the  Gospels,  with  Notes,"  1855,  and  his  "Statement  of  Reasons  for  not 
believing  the  Doctrines  of  Trinitarians,  etc.,  3d  edition,"  1856;  Lamson's  "Church 
of  the  First  Three  Centuries,  2d  edition,"  1865  ;  and  Orme's  "  Memoir  of  the  Con- 
troversy on  I  John  v.  7,"  1866.     Revised  and  enlarged  the  "  Pronouncing  Tables  of 


2i6  EZRA   ABBOT. 

Greek  and  Latin  Proper  Names,"  and  of  "  Scripture  Proper  Names,"  for  Worcester's 
large  "Dictionary  of  the  English  Language,"  i860;  assisted  Dr.  Hackett  in  the 
American  edition  of  Smith's  "Dictionary  of  the  Bible,"  1867-70;  Dr.  Noyes  in 
his  "Translation  of  the  New  Testament,"  1869;  and  Professor  C.  F.  Hudson  in 
his  "Critical  Greek  and  English  Concordance  of  the  New  Testament,"  1870,  3d 
edition,  1874,  editing  the  two  last-mentioned  posthumous  works.  He  has  also 
contributed  a  few  articles  to  the  "  Bibliotheca  Sacra,"  "  Christian  Examiner,"  and 
"  North  American  Review." 


<^^ 


^6^a^  oC 


^^T-t^c^-f^t-^O^  — 


EDWARD    JAMES    YOUNG. 

Edward  James  Young  was  born  in  Boston,  April  i,  1829.  His  father  was 
Alexander  Young,  D.  D.,  who  was  for  nearly  thirty  years  pastor  of  the  church 
on  Church  Green,  Boston,  and  for  sixteen  years  was  a  member,  and  for  several 
years  secretary,  of  the  Board  of  Overseers  of  Harvard  College.  His  mother  was 
Caroline  James,  daughter  of  Eleazar  James,  Esq.,  of  Barre,  Mass.,  who  was  Tutor 
of'  Greek  and  Latin  in  the  College  from  1 78 1  to  1 789. 

He  attended  Chauncy  Hall  School,  which  was  then  under  the  charge  of  Mr. 
Gideon  F.  Thayer,  and  also  the  Public  Latin  School,  of  which  Mr.  Epes  S. 
Dixwell  was  principal,  where  he  took  the  Valedictory  at  graduation.  He  entered 
Harvard  College  in  1844,  under  President  Quincy,  and  was  graduated  at  nineteen, 
in  1848,  under  President  Everett.  He  had  a  part  at  the  exhibition  in  his  Sopho- 
more year,  and  an  English  Oration  at  the  Senior  exhibition  and  at  Commence- 
ment. He  obtained  a  first  prize  from  the  Boylston  prizes  for  elocution.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Institute  of  1770,  of  the  Harvard  Natural  History  Society,  and 
of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  and  he  belonged  to  the  boat  club  Undine.  The 
year  after  graduation  he  was  usher  in  the  Mathematical  Department  of  the 
Brimmer  School,  Boston  ;  and  the  year  following  was  usher  in  the  Public  Latin 
School,  during  which  time  also  he  prepared  private  pupils  for  advanced  standing 
in  College.  Having  thus  earned  the  means  for  defraying  his  expenses,  in  1850 
he  entered  the  Divinity  School  of  Harvard  University,  but  after  two  years  left 
the  School,  in  order  to  pursue  his  theological  studies  in  Germany.  Here  he 
spent  four  years,  being  one  year  at  the  University  of  Goettingen,  where  he  heard 
the  lectures  of  Ewald,  Liicke,  and  Gieseler,  and  three  years  at  the  University  of 
Halle,  where  he  studied  under  Roediger,  Hupfeld,  Tholuck,  Erdmann,  and  others. 
While  in  Goettingen  he  secured  for  the  Cambridge  Divinity  School  the  valuable 
library  of  Dr.  Liicke.     He  returned  to  America  in  1856. 

He  was  ordained  pastor  of  Channing  Church,  in  Newton,  Mass.,  June  18, 
1857,  and  occupied  this  position  twelve  years.  On  leaving  Newton,  he  received 
a  testimonal,  signed  by  all  the  prominent  citizens,  in   recognition   of  his    services 


2l8  EDWARD   JAMES   YOUNG. 

in  behalf  of  the  public  schools  and  library  of  the  town.  He  married  July  14, 
1859,  Mary  Clapjj  Blake,  daughter  of  Mr.  James  Blake,  of  Boston,  by  whom  he 
has  had  five  children.  In  1868  he  was  appointed  Professor  in  the  Boston  School 
for  the  Ministry.  In  1869  he  accepted  the  position  of  Hancock  Professor  of 
Hebrew  and  other  Oriental  Languages,  and  Dexter  Lecturer  on  Biblical  Litera- 
ture, in  Harvard  University.  To  the  duties  proper  to  this  Professorship  he  at 
first  added,  as  his  predecessor.  Dr.  Noyes,  had  done,  instruction  to  the  Divinity 
students  in  the  criticism  of  the  New  Testament.  The  necessity  for  this  was, 
however,  removed  in  1872  by  the  foundation  of  the  Bussey  Professorship  of  New 
Testament  Criticism  and  Interpretation. 

He  has  received  the  degree  of  A.  M.  from  Harvard  College.  He  is  a  Fellow 
of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  a  member  of  the  American 
Oriental  Society.  In  1866  he  published  "Christian  Lessons  and  a  Christian  Life," 
containing  a  Memoir  of  Samuel  Abbot  Smith.  He  has  also  published  various 
addresses,  sermons,  and  articles  in  reviews  and  magazines. 


(^  c:  'to^^/c- 


CHARLES  CARROLL  EVERETT. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  son  of  Ebenezer  and  Joanna  B.  (Prince) 
Everett.  Ebenezer  Everett  was  a  native  of  Dorchester,  Mass.,  and  a  graduate  of 
Harvard  College,  of  the  class  of  1806.  He  established  himself  as  a  lawyer  in 
Maine,  while  it  was  still  a  part  of  Massachusetts.  Miss  Prince,  at  the  time  of  her 
marriage,  resided  in  Beverly,  Mass.  She  had  there,  in  connection  with  a  friend, 
in  1 8 10,  commenced  a  Sunday  school,  —  the  first  ever  held  in  New  England. 

Charles  Carroll  Everett  was  born  at  Brunswick,  Me.,  June  19,  1829.  He 
was  fitted  for  college  under  the  private  tuition  of  Professor  D.  R.  Goodwin,  D.  D., 
then  of  Bowdoin  College,  now  of  the  Episcopal  Theological  School  of  Philadelphia. 
He  entered  Bowdoin  College  in  1846,  and  graduated  in  1850.  After  graduation 
some  time  was  spent  in  foreign  travel  and  study.  In  Berlin  he  attended  the  lectures 
of  Gabler,  Hotho,  and  Michelet.  From  1853  to  1857  he  taught  the  Modern 
Languages  at  Bowdoin  College,  first  as  Tutor,  and  afterwards  as  Professor.  At 
the  end  of  that  period  he  began  the  study  of  theology.  This  was  pursued  one 
year  in  private,  in  company  with  a  friend  at  Eastport,  Me. ;  and  one  year  at  the 
Theological  School  of  Harvard  University.  He  graduated  from  the  school  in  1859, 
and  was  settled  the  same  year  as  minister  of  the  Independent  Congregational 
Society  of  Bangor,  Me.  Here  he  remained  till  the  autumn  of  1869,  when  he  was 
called  to  the  newly  founded  Bussey  Professorship  of  Theology  at  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, which  position  he  still  holds. 

In  1869  he  married  Sarah  Octavia,  daughter  of  Luther  Dwinel  of  Bangor. 

He  has  received  from  Bowdoin  College  the  degrees  of  A.  M.  and  D.  D.,  and 
from  Harvard  that  of  D.  D.  He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Oriental  Society, 
the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Fraternity,  and  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences.  He  is  the  author  of  the  Science  of  Thought,  published  in  1869; 
of  various  sermons  and  addresses  published  in  pamphlet  form,  and  articles  in 
reviews  and  magazines. 


THE    LAW   SCHOOL. 


^ 
•^ 


Dane  Hall  as  Erected  in  1832. 

HARVARD   LAW  SCHOOL  AND   DANE    HALL. 

Legacy  of  Isaac  Royall  in  1779.  —  Erection  of  Dane  Hall  in  1832.  —  Foundation  of  Profes- 
sorships. —  John  H.  Ashmun's  Life  and  Character.  —  Professorship  of  Simon  Greenleaf  ; 
HIS  published  Works. — Judge  Story;  his  Connection  with  the  School  and  his  Works  on 
Law.  —  Appointment  of  William  Kent,  and  afterwards  of  Joel  Parker,  to  the  Royall 
Professorship. — Appointment  of  Theophilus  Parsons  to  the  Dane  Professorship  in  1848. 

—  University  Professorships:  Frederick  H.  Allen  and  Emory  Washburn. — Appointment 
of  Nathaniel  Holmes  to  the  Royall  Professorship.  —  Present  Professors.  —  Lecturers 
AT  THE  School.  —  Gifts  of  Nathan  Dane  and  Benjamin  Bussey.  —  Account  of  the  Law 
Library. — Dedication  of  Dane  Hall;  its  Enlargement  and  Removal  to  its  Present  Site. 

—  Degrees.  —  Number  of  Students. 


Although  the  Law  Department  of  the  University  is  comparatively  of  recent 
origin,  it  was  the  first  school  of  law  in  this  country  connected  with  an  institution 
for  collegiate  or  general  education.  One  of  earlier  date,  conducted  at  first  by 
Judge  Reeves,  and  afterwards  by  Judge  Gould,  existed  at  Litchfield,  Connecticut ; 
but  it  was  a  private  enterprise,  and  depended  for  its  success  upon  the  distinguished 
learning  and  ability  of  its  instructors.  The  school  at  Litchfield  was  founded  in 
1784,  and  was  continued  until  1827.  In  fact,  there  was  also  a  Professorship 
of  Law  established  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  as  early  as  1792,  and  a 
course  of  lectures  was  afterwards  published  by  its  incumbent,  but  for  many 
years  afterwards  nothing  further  was  heard  of  this  professorship.  The  nucleus  of 
the  Law  Department  in  this  University  was  a  legacy  left  by  Hon.  Isaac  Royall 


224  HARVARD   LAW   SCHOOL   AND   DANE   HALL. 

to  the  College  in  1779.  A  professorship  bearing  his  name  was  first  established  in 
181 5,  and  its  first  incumbent  was  the  Hon.  Isaac  Parker,  Chief  Justice  of  Massachu- 
setts, who  was  appointed  in  1816.  His  duty  consisted  in  giving  a  course  of  Lec- 
tures annually  to  one  or  more  classes  in  the  College,  to  which  the  members  of  the 
Law  School,  when  established,  were  admitted.  The  Royall  Professor  had  no  further 
connection  with  the  School  than  this,  so  long  as  Chief  Justice  Parker  held  the 
place.  He  resigned  it  in  1827,  and  in  1829  a  new  arrangement  in  respect  to  the 
office  was  made,  whereby  it  became  united  with  the  Law  School,  which  had  been 
established  in  May,  181 7.  The  Hon.  Asahel  Stearns  was  elected  at  that  time  Uni- 
versity Professor  of  Law.  Mr.  Stearns  held  this  office  till  April,  1829,  when  he 
resigned  it.  Professor  Stearns  was  a  learned  lawyer,  a  faithful  instructor,  and  a 
courteous  gentleman.  He  published  a  volume  of  lectures  upon  the  subject  of  Real 
Actions,  which  evinced  great  learning  and  a  judicious  and  skilful  arrangement  of 
his  topics,  and  was  for  many  years,  and  until  the  whole  subject  was  essentially  modi- 
fied by  statute,  accepted  as  an  authority  by  the  profession  and  the  courts.  Whatever 
success  the  School  had  at  the  beginning,  it  owed  to  the  modest  merit  of  its  first 
professor. 

During  the  administration  of  Professor  Stearns,  the  locality  of  the  School,  so  far 
as  Its  library  and  lecture-room  were  concerned,  was  in  the  lower  story  of  what  was 
called  College  House,  No.  i,  which  was  opposite  the  present  site  of  Dane  Hall.  And 
this  continued  till  the  erection  of  this  Hall,  which  was  first  occupied  in  October,  1832. 

In  1829  there  was  a  reorganization  of  the  School.  The  Hon.  Nathan  Dane  pro- 
posed to  found  a  Professorship  of  Law,  which  was  accepted  by  the  Corporation,  and, 
in  accordance  with  the  expressed  wishes  of  the  founder,  the  Hon.  Judge  Story,  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  was  appointed  to  the  place.  At  the  same 
time  John  H.  Ashmun,  Esq.,  was  appointed  Royall  Professor  of  Law,  and  was  asso- 
ciated with  Judge  Story  in  the  conduct  and  instruction  of  the  School ;  both  were 
inaugurated  in  August,  1829.  Although  then  but  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  Mr. 
Ashmun  was  already  profoundly  learned  in  the  law,  and  had  attained  a  distinguished 
reputation  in  his  profession.  He  had  a  mind  of  great  grasp  as  well  as  quickness 
and  acuteness  and  a  happy  faculty  of  communicating  instruction  to  others.  As  a 
teacher  and  a  man  of  a  frank  and  ingenuous  spirit  he  commanded  the  respect 
and  won  the  esteem  of  his  pupils.  His  constitution  was  never  rugged,  and 
though  his  intellectual  powers  remained  unimpaired  to  the  last,  disease  termi- 
nated his  life  in  April,  1833.  He  left  no  memorial  of  his  learning  or  diligence 
in  the  form  of  published  works.  Previous  to  his  appointment  to  this  Law  School 
he  had  been  associated  with  the  Hon.  Mr.  Mills  and  the  Hon.  Judge  Howe  in 
a  private  School  of  Law  in  Northampton,  where  he  resided  before  his  removal 
to  Cambridge.  His  associate  professor,  Judge  Story,  pronounced  a  beautiful  and 
appreciative  eulogy  upon  his  life  and  character  on  the  occasion  of  his  death, 
which  was  published. 


i 


HARVARD  LAW  SCHOOL  AND  DANE  HALL.  225 

Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Ashmun,  the  vacancy  in  the  office  was  filled  by  the 
appointment  of  Simon  Greenleaf,  Esq.,  of  Portland,  whose  inaugural  address,  deliv- 
ered in  August,  1834,  was  published.  It  was  the  last  occasion  on  which  a  pro- 
fessor of  the  School  was  formally  inducted  into  office  by  a  public  address. 
Professor  Greenleaf  held  the  place  of  Royall  Professor  until  1846,  when  he  was 
made  Dane  Professor,  which  place  he  held  until  the  close  of  the  collegiate  year 
1848,  when  he  resigned  it  on  account  of  impaired  and  failing  health,  caused  by 
overwork.  The  Corporation,  in  accepting  his  resignation,  bore  unqualified  testi- 
mony to  the  value  of  his  services  to  the  University  with  which  he  had  been,  for 
so  many  years,  connected  with  great  credit  to  himself  and  advantage  to  the  Law 
School,  and  paid  him  the  just  mark  of  commendation  by  electing  him  "  Emeritus 
Professor  of  Law"  in  the  School.  The  relations  between  Professor  Greenleaf  and 
the  School,  and  the  estimate  in  which  he  was  held  by  its  members,  were  evinced 
by  a  communication  addressed  to  him  by  a  committee  of  their  number  upon  his 
retiring  from  office,  wherein  they  say,  "  With  a  grateful  appreciation  of  your  per- 
sonal kindness,  we  are  sensible  of  the  faithfulness,  ability,  and  eloquence  which 
have  marked  your  public  labors.  Nor  shall  we  remember  with  less  satisfaction 
that  the  clearest  and  most  comprehensive  views  of  jurisprudence  have  been 
blended  with  those  more  important  moral  principles,  entering  into  the  character 
of  the  upright  lawyer,  so  happily  illustrated  and  adorned  by  your  own  life."  A 
portrait  of  Professor  Greenleaf  adorns  the  Lecture-Room  in  Dane  Hall,  placed 
there  by  the  students  of  the  School. 

He  left  permanent  and  honorable  memorials  of  his  learning  and  diligence  in 
his  published  works.  When  appointed  to  the  School,  he  had  been  for  several 
years  Reporter  of  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Maine,  in  which  office  he 
evinced  distinguished  ability.  These  Reports,  with  a  digest  prepared  by  him,  fill  nine 
volumes.  His  great  work,  and  that  by  which  he  became  generally  known  in  the 
legal  world,  was  his  "Treatise  upon  Evidence,"  which  was  first  published  in  1842, 
and  still  holds  a  prominent  rank  with  the  Court  and  Bar  as  an  acknowledged 
authority.  A  twelfth  edition,  in  three  volumes,  published  in  1866,  serves  to 
indicate  the  high  character  and  success  it  has  attained.  In  1846  he  published 
"  An  Examination  of  the  Testimony  of  the  Evangelists,"  etc.,  with  an  account  of 
the  Trial  of  Jesus.  He  also  published  a  work  of  great  labor  and  research,  en- 
titled "  Cases  overruled  and  doubted."  Besides  these,  he  published  several  dis- 
courses and  shorter  treatises  upon  various  subjects;  and  in  1849  gave  to  the 
profession  an  edition  of  Cruise's  Digest,  with  ample  and  valuable  notes,  —  it  being 
at  that  time  the  text-book  of  the  School  upon  the  subject  of  Real  Property. 

The  transfer  of  Mr.  Greenleaf  from  the  Royall  to  the  Dane  professorship  was 
occasioned  by  the  death  of  Judge  Story,  and  the  precedence  which  that  profes- 
sorship gave  to  its  incumbent.     This  was  changed   in    1846,  so  that   the    Senior 


2  26  HARVARD   LAW   SCHOOL  AND  DANE   HALL. 

Professor  of  Law  has  been  subsequently  considered  as  the  head  of  this  depart- 
ment in  the  University.  It  may  be  added,  that  among  the  addresses  of  Professor 
Greenleaf  was  one  commemorative  of  the  life  and  character  of  Judge  Story, 
delivered  at  the  request  of  the  Law  School,  upon  the  occasion  of  his  death. 
To  the  connection  of  Judge  Story  with  the  School  it  is  impossible  to  do  ade- 
quate justice  in  the  brief  notice  to  which  we  are  necessarily  limited.  He  came 
to  the  office  of  Dane  Professor  with  a  more  than  national  fame  as  a  jurist, 
earned  as  a  judge  of  the  highest  court  in  the  United  States.  He  brought  to  it 
the  learning,  the  love  of  labor,  and  the  Indefatigable  zeal  for  which  he  had  been 
distinguished  as  a  judge,  added  to  a  decided  love  for  the  duties  it  required,  and 
a  lively  interest  in  its  fame  and  success.  With  an  inexhaustible  stock  of  general 
and  particular  knowledge  of  the  various  departments  of  jurisprudence,  a  marvel- 
lous fluency  of  language,  and  a  happy  power  of  explanation  and  illustration,  and, 
withal,  an  instinctive  courtesy  which  he  never  compromised,  he  never  tired  as  a 
lecturer,  or  failed  to  command  attention  in  his  teachings  of  the  law.  At  the 
time  of  his  death,  in  September,  1845,  he  was  making  arrangements  to  resign  his 
place  upon  the  Bench  and  devote  his  whole  time  to  the  interests  of  the  School. 
This  was  prevented  by  his  sudden  demise,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six,  after  having 
held  his  judicial  office  for  more  than  thirty-three  years,  and  that  of  Professor  of 
Law  sixteen.  To  give  a  list  of  the  published  works  of  Judge  Story,  including 
his  miscellaneous  addresses,  orations,  and  reviews,  his  judicial  opinions,  his  anno- 
tations of  treatises  prepared  by  other  law-writers,  and  the  twelve  volumes  of 
original  treatises  produced  by  him  during  his  connection  with  the  School,  would 
serve  better  than  anything  we  could  say  to  illustrate  the  miracles  of  labor,  as 
well  as  the  breadth  of  learning,  which  marked  his  career  in  both  these  capacities. 
We,  however,  shall  only  mention  the  published  treatises  which  he  prepared  while 
at  the  head  of  the  Law  School,  without  enumerating  the  successive  editions  of 
each  which  have  been  called  for  by  the  profession.  On  Bailments,  i  volume ; 
on  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  3  volumes;  on  the  Conflict  of  Laws, 
I  volume ;  on  Equity  Jurisprudence,  2  volumes ;  on  the  Law  of  Agency,  i  vol- 
ume ;  on  Equity  Pleadings,  i  volume ;  on  Partnership,  i  volume ;  on  Bills  of 
Exchange,   i  volume ;  and  on  Promissory  Notes,   i  volume. 

More  than  eleven  hundred  students  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  Judge  Story's 
instruction  during  his  connection  with  the  School,  and  the  number  in  attendance 
at  his  death  had  reached  to  about  one  hundred  and  sixty-five. 

Upon  the  transfer  of  Professor  Greenleaf  to  the  Dane  Professorship,  the  Hon. 
William  Kent  of  New  York,  a  distinguished  son  of  Chancellor  Kent,  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  Royall  Professorship.  He  had  been  one  of  the  Circuit  Judges  of 
New  York,  and  sustained  a  high  reputation  for  learning  and  ability.  He  held 
the  office  for  a  single  year,  and  then  resigned  it  and  returned  to  New  York.     His 


HARVARD   LAW   SCHOOL   AND   DANE   HALL.  227 

connection,  therefore,  with  the  School  was  too  brief  to  have  made  any  decided 
impression  upon  its  character.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  Hon.  Joel  Parker,  then 
the  distinguished  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  Hampshire,  who 
held  the  ofiice  of  Royall  Professor  until  January,  1868.  Happily  the  proprieties 
which  preclude  extended  comments  upon  the  living,  relieve  us  from  attempting 
to  do  justice  to  Judge  Parker  or  his  contemporaries  and  successors  in  their  con- 
nection with  the  School.  His  published  works,  next  to  the  numerous  and  able 
opinions  rendered  by  him  as  a  judge,  and  contained  in  the  volumes  of  New 
Hampshire  Reports,  consist  chiefly  of  addresses  and  treatises  upon  leo-al  and 
constitutional  questions,  and  essays  of  a  literary,  legal,  and  political  character,  which, 
if  collected,  would  form  two  good-sized  volumes.  And  to  these  we  may  add  the 
reported  revision  of  the  General  Statutes  of  Massachusetts  which  he  executed  with 
great  acceptance  in  connection  with  the  Hon.  W.  A.  Richardson,  under  a  com- 
mission from  the   Executive  of  that  State. 

Upon  the  resignation  by  Professor  Greenleaf  of  the  Dane  Professorship,  as 
above  stated,  the  Hon.  Theophilus  Parsons  was  appointed  his  successor.  This 
was  in  1848.  He  belonged  in  Boston,  and  was  a  son  of  Chief  Justice  Parsons, 
so  distinguished  in  the  judicial  annals  of  the  State.  In  notices  of  his  appoint- 
ment, at  the  time,  he  is  spoken  of  as  an  accomplished  lawyer  and  eminent  as  a 
scholar,  a  writer,  and  a  critic.  He  held  the  office  until  1869,  when  he  resigned, 
and  retired  from  public  life. 

His  printed  works  during  these  years  give  evidence  of  unremitted  labor,  as 
well  as  of  accurate  learning,  sound  analysis,  and  disciplined  skill  as  an  author, 
which  have  secured  for  them  a  wide  circulation,  and  the  force  of  acknowledo-ed 
authorities.  These  were,  in  addition  to  various  miscellaneous  addresses,  lectures, 
and  essays  more  or  less  extensive,  a  Biography  of  Chief  Justice  Parsons,  and  a 
popular  treatise  on  the  Laws  of  Business,  a  treatise  upon  Contracts,  of  which 
there  is  a  sixth  edition  in  3  volumes;  one  on  Maritime  Law,  2  volumes;  one  on 
Partnership,  i  volume ;  one  on  Bills  and  Notes,  2  volumes ;  one  on  Mercantile 
Law,  I  volume;  one  on  Shipping  and  Admiralty,  2  volumes;  and  one  on  Marine 
Insurance,  2  volumes. 

In  1849  the  Hon.  Frederic  H.  Allen  of  Boston  was  appointed  University  Pro- 
fessor of  Law  in  the  School,  and  held  the  ofiice  for  a  single  year,  when  he 
resigned  the  place.  No  one  was  appointed  to  a  similar  ofiice  till  1855,  when  the 
Hon.  Emory  Washburn  of  Worcester  was  chosen  University  Professor.  He  held 
this  office  till  1862,  when  a  professorship  upon  the  foundation  provided  by  Mr. 
Benjamin  Bussey  was  established,  bearing  the  name  of  the  founder,  and  Mr.  Wash- 
burn was  made  its  first  incumbent.  He  still  holds  the  ofiice.  He  has  published, 
besides  sundry  addresses,  lectures,  and  miscellaneous  works,  two  considerable  trea- 
tises on  law,  —  one  of  them  upon  the  law  of   Real  Property,  the  third  edition  of 


228  HARVARD  LAW  SCHOOL  AND  DANE  HALL. 

which  consists  of  three  volumes,  and  the  otlier  upon  Easements  and  Servi- 
tudes, in  one  volume,  which  has  also  passed  to  a  third  edition.  Besides  these 
he  published  a  volume  of  Lectures  upon  the  Study  and  Practice  of  the  Law, 
in   187 1. 

Upon  the  resignation  of  Judge  Parker,  the  Hon.  Nathaniel  Holmes  of  St.  Louis, 
then  recently  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Missouri,  was  appointed 
Royall  Professor,  and  held  the  office  till  his  resignation  at  the  end  of  the  collegi- 
ate year,  1872.  Aside  from  his  opinions  as  a  Judge,  contained  in  the  Missouri 
Reports,  we  are  not  aware  of  any  published  work  of  Professor  Holmes  upon  the 
subject  of  law. 

The  vacancy  in  the  Dane  Professorship,  occasioned  by  the  resignation  of  Pro- 
fessor Parsons,  was  filled  in  1870  by  the  appointment  of  Christopher  C.  Lang- 
dell,  Esq.,  then  of  New  York,  who  is  still  the  incumbent,  and  Dean  of  the  Law 
Faculty.  He  has  published  a  volume  of  cases  upon  the  Law  of  Contracts,  and 
another  upon  the  Law  of  Sales,  with  a  volume  of  Select  Cases  upon  Discovery. 
In  1873  Mr.  James  B.  Ames  of  Boston  was  appointed  Assistant  Professor  of  Law 
in  the  School,  and  still  holds  the  office.  James  B.  Thayer,  Esq.,  of  Boston  was 
appointed  Royall  Professor  in  1873,  and  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  at 
the  beginning  of  the  academic  year  1874-75. 

Besides  the  gentlemen  above  named,  lecturers  upon  various  subjects  of  law 
have  been  employed  for  longer  or  shorter  periods,  among  whom  may  be  men- 
tioned Charles  Sumner,  James  C.  Alvord,  Henry  Wheaton,  Franklin  Dexter, 
Luther  S.  Gushing,  Edward  G.  Loring,  Edward  Everett,  Richard  H.  Dana,  Jr., 
Benjamin  R.  Curtis,  Benjamin  F.  Thomas,  Charles  S.  Bradley,  Nicholas  St. 
John  Green,  John  Lathrop,  John  C.  Gray,  Edmund  H.  Bennett,  and  Oliver  W. 
Holmes,  Jr. 

The  foundations  for  professorships  in  the  School  have  been  already  mentioned, 
and  we  recur  to  them  to  present  them  in  a  connected  order.  The  donation  of 
Isaac  Royall  was  made  in  1779,  but  the  benefit  of  it  was  not  realized  till  many 
years  after;  its  amount  was  about  eight  thousand  dollars.  In  1829  Nathan 
Dana  of  Beverly,  a  name  illustrious  in  the  history  of  our  country,  devoted  the 
proceeds  of  an  Abridgment  of  the  Law,  —  a  work  of  immense  labor  and  of 
acknowledged  merit,  —  amounting  to  ten  thousand  dollars,  to  the  founding  of  a 
professorship  which,  as  we  have  said,  took  and  still  retains  his  name.  In  this 
act  he  evinced  his  loyalty  to  a  profession  of  which  he  was  long  a  pride  and  an 
ornament.  His  career  and  achievements  as  a  statesman  are  too  well  known  to 
need  a  word  of  comment  or  eulogy. 

In  1835  Mr.  Benjamin  Bussey  of  Roxbury,  a  wealthy  merchant,  made,  by  will, 
a  princely  benefaction  to  the  University,  a  share  of  which  was  to  come  to  the 
Law  School.     The  income  of  this  accruing  to  the  Bussey  Professorship  Fund  in 


HARVARD  LAW  SCHOOL  AND  DANE  HALL.  229 

1870-71  was  $1,022.62,  and  to  the  general  purposes  of  the  School,  the  same 
year,  it  was  $8,430.81.  The  Bussey  Professorship  was  established  in  1862,  as 
above  stated. 

The  library,  which  may  be  regarded  as  an  essential  requisite  to  the  success  and 
efficiency  of  any  Law  School,  has,  of  course,  been  an  object  of  special  interest 
to  the  friends  of  this  institution.  We  have  estimates  of  the  number  of  volumes 
contained  in  it,  from  time  to  time,  varying  considerably,  as  they  include,  or  other- 
wise, the  large  number  of  text-books  which  have  heretofore  been  provided  for 
the  use  of  the  students.  Among  the  sources  of  this  library  was  a  greater  part 
of  the  valuable  collection  of  law-books  of  the  late  Governor  Gore,  which,  in  fact, 
formed  the  nucleus  of  the  present  magnificent  body  of  law  literature  which  it 
contains.  Another  valuable  addition  was  made  by  the  purchase  of  the  large  and 
extensive  library  of  Judge  Story.  The  donation  of  the  Hon.  Samuel  Livermore 
of  New  Orleans,  by  his  last  will  and  testament,  in  1833,  deserves  more  than  a 
passing  notice.  It  embraced  more  than  three  hundred  rare  and  costly  volumes 
upon  the  Civil  and  Foreign  Law,  appraised  at  the  time  at  $6,000,  and  consti- 
tuted the  most  complete  collection  of  the  kind  in  the  country.  Many  valuable 
works  of  the  same  character  have  been  added  to  the  collection  since,  offering  the 
student  a  rich  store  of  civil  and  continental  law,  and  thus  supplying  a  want 
which  is  every  year  becoming  more  sensibly  felt  by  the  profession.  Including 
text-books,  the  whole  number  of  volumes  in  the  library  is  14,803;  exclusive  of 
text-books,  11,613.  It  contains  the  reports  of  the  various  American  courts  and 
the  leading  and  accredited  law  treatises  and  periodicals  published  in  the  coun- 
try. And  the  same  is  substantially  true  of  the  English  reports,  treatises,  and 
periodicals,  together  with  the  Irish  reports  complete,  and  a  large  proportion  of 
the  Scotch  decisions. 

In  1870  Mr.  William  A.  Everett  was  appointed  librarian.  Upon  his  resignation, 
the  following  year,  he  was  followed  by  Mr.  Abraham  W.  Stevens.  Mr.  John  H. 
Arnold  now  holds  the  office.  It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  cost  or  value  of  this 
library,  but  it  cannot  be  less  than  from  seventy  to  seventy-five  thousand  dollars. 
Additions  are  constantly  being  made  to  it  with  a  view  to  supplying  all  the  reason- 
able requirements  of  the  student  or  of  any  one  who  may  desire  to  pursue  a  thorough 
research  upon  any  subject  connected  with  constitutional  or  municipal  law.  It 
may  be  added  that  while  the  library  is  intended  for  the  common  use  of  the 
students  of  the  School,  it  is  also  freely  opened  to  all  who  desire  to  avail  them- 
selves of  its  resources  in  prosecuting  legal  inquiries. 

As  we  have  said,  the  locality  of  the  School  from  18 17  to  1832  was  in  the 
College  House,  No.  i.  As  the  number  of  students  and  the  library  increased 
these  accommodations  became  straitened,  and  preparations  were  made  in  1831  to 
erect  a  new  building  for  the  purposes  of  the  School.     For  this  purpose  Mr.  Dane 


230  HARVARD  LAW  SCHOOL  AND  DANE  HALL. 

advanced  $5,000,  which  was  subsequently  added  to  the  fund  for  a  professorship, 
and  loaned  the  University  #2,000  more.  The  building  was  at  once  begun,  and 
was  completed  and  occupied  in  October,  1832.  It  was  situated  about  seventy  feet 
to  the  north  of  the  present  locality  of  Dane  Hall.  It  was  of  two  stories  in 
height,  with  a  pediment  end  towards  the  street,  forming  a  lofty  portico  supported 
by  four  Ionic  columns.  It  was  of  brick,  and  substantially  the  same  with  the 
part  of  the  present  building  which  is  now  in  front  of  the  library  and  lecture- 
room,  which  were  added  in  1845,  at  an  expense  of  $12,700.  This  addition 
became  necessary  to  accommodate  the  still  growing  numbers  of  the  students  and 
of  the  volumes  of  the  library.  At  the  dedication  of  Dane  Hall  as  at  first  con- 
structed President  Ouincy  delivered  an  able  and  interesting  address  upon  the 
subject  of  Legal  Education,  which  was  published,  and  is  still  read  with  profit 
as  well  as  pleasure,  both  by  the  lawyer  and  the  man  of  letters. 

The  re-dedication  of  the  hall  in  1845,  upon  taking  possession  of  the  added  por- 
tion, was  an  occasion  of  great  interest,  and  drew  together  many  of  the  most 
distinguished  jurists  in  the  country.  Mr.  Choate  made  one  of  his  happiest  and 
most  brilliant  efforts  in  a  finished  and  eloquent  address  on  "  The  Profession  of 
the  Law  as  an  Element  of  Conservatism  in  the  State."  This  was  followed  by  a 
dinner  in  the  new  library,  at  which  Judge  Story  presided  in  a  manner  to  draw 
out  a  rare  display  of  eloquent  thought  as  well  as  cordial  good  feeling  from  the 
assembled  guests,  and  to  mark  it  as  one  of  those  occasions  of  convivial  unbend- 
ing when  judges,  statesmen,  and  scholars  find  themselves  drawn  to  each  other 
by  kindred  tastes  and  culture  and  a  feeling  of  generous  sympathy.  We  shall  be 
understood  when  we  name  among  the  guests  Judges  Davis,  Putnam,  and  Pit- 
man of  Rhode  Island,  Jeremiah  Mason,  President  Quincy,  Professor  Greenleaf, 
and  Charles  S.  Daveis  of  Portland. 

It  only  remains  to  describe  in  very  brief  terms  the  building  known  as  Dane 
Hall,  of  which  a  heliotype  representation  accompanies  this  sketch.  Upon  its 
removal  from  its  former  position  to  make  way  for  the  erection  of  Matthews  Hall 
in  1 87 1,  the  portico,  with  its  columns,  was  taken  down,  and  an  enclosed  brick 
porch  substituted.  The  original  building,  a  woodcut  of  which  heads  this  ac- 
count, was  forty  feet  in  front  by  fifty  feet  in  depth,  with  a  passage-way  extend- 
ing from  front  to  rear,  having  two  rooms  on  each  side,  and  a  like  passage  with 
the  same  number  of  rooms  in  the  second  story.  Three  of  these  are  occupied 
by  the  professors,  one  by  the  librarian,  one  as  a  reading-room,  another  as  a 
sitting-room  and  study,  and  one  of  the  remaining  rooms  is  designed  for  clubs 
and  lectures.  The  addition  made  in  1845  consists  of  a  library  in  the  lower 
story,  and  a  lecture-room  in  the  story  above  it,  each  sixty  feet  by  forty.  Its  length 
being  transverse  to  the  original  building.  One  half  of  the  library-room  Is  fitted 
with  alcoves  for  books.     Shelves  are   fitted  also  against  the  walls  outside  of  the 


HARVARD  LAW  SCHOOL  AND  DANE  HALL.  231 

alcoves,  leaving  a  space  between  these  which  is  arranged  with  tables  and  occu- 
pied for  purposes  of  study  and  writing  by  the  students.  The  rooms  are  all  high, 
light,  and  airy.  The  library  and  lecture-room  are  ornamented  by  busts  and  por- 
traits of  men  who  have  been  connected  with  the  School,  or  have  been  distin- 
guished jurists  in  Massachusetts  or  other  of  the  States.  Among  these  we  may 
mention  Mr.  Dane,  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  Mr.  Webster,  Judge  Story,  Professor 
Greenleaf,  Chancellor  Kent,  Jeremiah  Mason,  and  Chief  Justice  Shaw. 

Degrees  are  awarded  to  such  of  the  students  as  have  complied  with  the 
requirements  of  the  corporation  of  the  University.  At  first,  whoever  were  mem- 
bers of  the  School  for  the  period  of  eighteen  months  became  entitled  to  the 
degree  of  LL.  B.  In  1870  this  period  of  residence  was  extended  to  two  years, 
to  be  followed  by  an  examination  of  each  candidate  in  the  various  subjects 
taught  in  the  School  during  the  time  of  his  being  a  member.  And  these  are 
still  the  requisites  for  a  degree. 

The  numbers  composing  the  School  have  varied  materially  at  different  periods, 
often  independently  of  the  condition  of  the  School  in  the  matter  of  teaching  or 
instruction.  In  1833  the  number  had  risen  to  fifty-three.  In  1837  it  was  but 
forty-six.  In  1845  it  had  grown  to  one  hundred  and  sixty-five.  In  1849  it  was 
one  hundred.  In  January,  i860,  just  before  the  war,  the  number  was  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-six.  In  1862,  after  it  had  begun,  and  had  practically  excluded 
students  from  the  South,  it  was  reduced  to  sixty-nine,  while  in  1866  this  num- 
ber rose  again  to  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven.  In  1869  it  stood  at  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty,  in  1870  at  one  hundred  and  fifty-four,  in  1871  at  one 
hundred  and  thirty-four,  in  1872  at  one  hundred  and  thirteen,  and  in  1873  at 
one  hundred  and  thirty-eight.  The  entire  number  from  the  beginning  is  believed 
to  be  at  least  five  thousand.  The  School  is  national  in  its  character,  so  far  as 
a  large  majority  of  the  States  being  ordinarily  represented  by  the  students  who 
have  resorted  to  it  can  render  it  so,  taken  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  no 
code  or  system  of  local  law  is  embraced  in  its  course  of  instruction. 


EMORY  WASHBURN. 

Emory  Washburn  was  born  in  Leicester,  Mass.,  February  14,  1800.  He  was 
fitted  for  college  at  the  Leicester  Academy,  entered  Williams  College,  and  grad- 
uated in  1817.  In  18 19  he  entered  the  Harvard  Law  School  and  remained  a 
member  one  year.  From  182 1  to  1828  practised  law  in  Leicester,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Worcester,  where  he  continued  in  the  practice  of  law  until  appointed 
Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  in  1844,  which  office  he  held  till  1848. 
In  1854  he  received  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  from  Harvard  University,  and,  the 
same  year,  a  like  distinction  from  Williams  College. 

In  1826  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  filled  the  office  for  two  successive  years ;  he  was  again  elected  a 
member  of  the  House  in  1838;  and  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate 
for  two  years,  1841-3.  In  1853  he  was  elected  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  and 
held  the  office  for  one  year. 

In  1856  Governor  Washburn  was  appointed  University  Professor  in  Harvard 
Law  School,  and  still  fills  that  position. 

In  i860  Professor  Washburn  published  the  first  edition  of  his  work  on  the 
American  Law  of  Real  Property,  in  two  volumes ;  a  work  widely  known  and 
prized  as  an  authority  on  that  subject:  a  second  edition  was  pubhshed  in  1864, 
and  the  third,  and  last,  of  three  volumes,  in  1868.  He  also  published  a  work 
on  the  American  Law  of  Easements  and  Servitudes  in  1863,  which  has  passed 
to  a  third  edition.  In  addition  to  the  works  above  mentioned.  Professor  Wash- 
burn has  published  the  following: — ■ 

Sketches  of  the  Judicial  History  of  Massachusetts,  1630- 1755.  1840.  —  The 
Part  taken  by  the  Inhabitants  of  Leicester  in  the  Events  of  the  Revolution.  1849. — 
Address  at  the  Social  Festival  of  the  Bar  of  Worcester  County,  February  7,  1856. 
—  Address  at  the  Celebration  of  the  Two-hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Incorpora- 
tion of  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  June  3,  1856. —  Historical  Sketches  of  the  Town  of 
Leicester,  Mass.     i860.  —  Lectures  on  the  Study  and  Practice  of  the  Law.     1871. 

Professor  Washburn  has  also  been  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  American  Law 
Review,  Albany  Law  Journal,  and  other  leading  law  periodicals. 


^ ''^I^T.'-gr-y-y  //y^^^L-^^U-'f'^--^''^*-^ 


i 


'^.    ^Cx^r^C^i.^ 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS    LANGDELL. 

Christopher  Columbus  Langdell  was  born  in  New  Boston,  Hillsborough 
County,  N.  H.,  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  May,  1826.  In  April,  1845,  he  entered 
Phillips  Exeter  Academy,  and  began  to  prepare  for  college.  At  the  end  of  the 
academical  year  1846-7  he  had  finished  the  preparatory  course,  and  was  sup- 
posed to  be  qualified  to  enter  the  Freshman  Class  at  Harvard,  but  he  remained 
at  Exeter  an  additional  year,  and  became  a  member  of  what  was  then  known  as 
the  advanced  class.  In  September,  1848,  after  passing  the  usual  examinations, 
he  was  admitted  into  the  Sophomore  Class  at  Harvard  College,  being  the  Class 
of  1851.  In  November,  1849,  that  is,  in  his  Junior  year,  he  left  College  tem- 
porarily (as  he  then  supposed)  for  the  purpose  of  teaching;  but  he  afterwards 
decided  not  to  return,  and  hence  did  not  graduate  with  his  class.  In  May, 
1850,  he  entered  the  ofiSce  of  Messrs.  Stickney  and  Tuck,  in  Exeter,  N.  H., 
and  began  the  study  of  law.  He  remained  there  until  November,  1851,  when 
he  entered  the  Harvard  Law  School.  At  the  annual  Commencement  in  1853  he 
received  the  degree  of  LL.  B.  in  course,  and,  at  the  following  Commencement, 
the  honorary  degree  of  A.  M.  In  December,  1854,  he  left  the  Law  School,  hav- 
ing been  a  member  of  it  for  three  years  and  upwards,  and  took  up  his  residence 
in  New  York  City.  Soon  afterwards  he  there  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  and  continued  it  until  his  appointment  as  Dane  Professor  of  Law  in 
the  winter  of  1869-70,  when  he  returned  to  Cambridge.  He  entered  upon  his 
duties  in  the  Law  School  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  term  of  the  academic 
year  1869-70.  At  the  annual  Commencement  in  1870  he  received  the  degree 
of  A.  B.  as  a  member  of  the  Class  of  185 1.  At  a  Faculty  meeting  held  at  the 
beginning  of  the  academic  year  1870-71,  he  was  elected  Dean  of  the  Law  Fac- 
ulty, which  position  he  now  holds. 


JAMES    BRADLEY   THAYER. 

James  Bradley  Thayer  was  born  in  Haverhill,  Essex  County,  Massachusetts, 
January  15,  1831,  and  was  the  second  son  of  Abijah  Wyman  and  Susan  (Brad- 
ley) Thayer.  His  father's  family  moved  to  Philadelphia  in  1835.  In  1840  they 
returned  to  Amherst,  Massachusetts,  and  in  1841  moved  again  from  Amherst  to 
the  neighboring  town  of  Northampton.  He  attended  the  public  schools  at 
Northampton  until  the  summer  of  1845.  After  that  time  his  studies  were  much 
interrupted;  they  were  carried  on  mainly  without  the  help  of  a  teacher,  until  he 
entered  Harvard  College  in  1848  as  a  member  of  the  Freshman  class.  His 
brother,  William  Sydney  Thayer,  was  then  in  the  Junior  class. 

Mr.  Thayer  was  graduated  in  1852  as  the  ninth  scholar.  He  delivered  one 
of  the  two  orations  of  his  class  before  the  Hasty  Pudding  Club,  and  was  also 
the  class  orator. 

After  leaving  college  he  taught  a  private  school  at  Milton,  Massachusetts,  for 
two  years,  and  was  engaged  at  the  same  time  in  reading  law.  He  had  pre- 
viously taught  at  the  Academy  in  that  town  during  two  of  the  College  vacations. 

In  1854  Mr.  Thayer  entered  the  Law  School  at  Cambridge,  where  he  re- 
mained two  years,  and  received  the  degree  of  LL.  B.,  —  supporting  himself  while 
there,  in  part  by  the  earnings  of  the  previous  two  years,  and  in  part  by  teaching 
private  pupils.  In  1856  he  received  the  first  prize  of  his  class  at  the  Law  School 
for  an  essay  on  the  "  Law  of  Eminent  Domain."  This  essay  was  printed  in  the 
"  Law  Reporter "  for  September  and  October  of  that  year.  Having  continued 
his  studies  in  a  law  office  in  Boston  for  some  months,  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  of  Suffolk  County  in  December,  1856.  In  March,  1857,  he  began  business 
in  Boston  in  partnership  with  the  Hon.  William  J.  Hubbard,  and  maintained  a 
connection  with  Mr.  Hubbard  until  the  death  of  the  latter  in  the  fall  of  the  year 
1864.  In  November  of  that  year,  by  appointment  of  Governor  Andrew,  he  suc- 
ceeded Mr.  Hubbard  as  one  of  the  Masters  in  Chancery  for  Suffolk  County,  and 
held  that  office  until  his  resignation  of  it  in  1874.  In  March,  1865,  he  became 
a  partner  with    the  Hon.  Peleg  W.  Chandler   and    George  O.  Shattuck,  Esq.,   in 


^X'T/vUi    '^'  '"^na..<l.^,c/; 


JAMES   BRADLEY  THAYER.  235 

the  law  firm  of  Chandler,  Shattuck,  and  Thayer.  In  February,  1870,  Mr.  Shattuck 
retired  from  this  firm,  which  was  continued,  by  the  accession  of  John  E.  Hud- 
son, Esq.,  under  the  name  of  Chandler,  Thayer,  and  Hudson.  In  December, 
1873,  Mr.  Thayer  was  chosen  Royall  Professor  of  Law  in  the  Law  School 
at  Cambridge;  and  in  October,  1874,  entered  upon  the  active  duties  of  that 
office. 

Mr.  Thayer  resided  in  Cambridge  from  1854  to  1861.  On  the  24th  of  April, 
1 86 1,  he  married  Miss  Sophia  Bradford  Ripley  of  Concord,  Massachusetts,  and 
immediately  removed  to  Milton,  where  he  resided  until  September,  1874.  He 
then  returned  to  Cambridge  to  undertake  the  duties  of  the  office  which  he  now 
holds.     He  has  four  children. 

Mr.  Thayer  has  been  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  columns  of  the  Boston 
Daily  Advertiser,  and,  in  former  years,  to  those  of  the  New  York  Evening  Post. 
He  has  also  been  a  writer  in  Bouvier's  Law  Dictionary,  and  in  the  American 
Law  Review,  the  North  American  Review,  and  other  periodicals.  He  was  in- 
trusted with  the  editing  of  the  twelfth  edition  of  Kent's  Commentaries,  and  had, 
throughout,  the  sole  responsibility  for  that  work.  His  happy  selection  of  an 
associate,  however,  resulted  in  reducing  his  own  labors  mainly  to  those  of  simple 
revision,  and  the  work  appeared  without  the  addition  of  his  name. 


•\ 


THE    MEDICAL   SCHOOL. 


m 


S 


The  First  *'  Massachusetts  Medical   College.' 
[Erected  iu  1816.] 


THE    MEDICAL  SCHOOL. 

Foundation  of  the  School  at  Cambridge  in  1783. — Three  Professorships  established.  —  Dr. 
John  Warren,  Dr.  Aaron  Dexter,  and  Dr.  Benjamin  Waterhouse  the  first  Professors. 
—  Transfer  of  the  Lectures  to  Boston  in  1810.  —  The  Building  in  Mason  Street 
erected  in  1816.  —  In  1821,  the  Massachusetts  Generai;  Hospital  opened  for  Patients, 
and  made  accessible  to  the  Medical  Students.  —  Dr.  James  Jackson  resigns  in  1836, 
and  is  succeeded  by  Dr.  John  Ware.  —  Dr.  John  C.  Warren  resigns  in  1847.  —  The  same 
Year  Dr.  J.  B.  S.  Jackson  and  Dr.  O.  W.  Holmes  Appointed  to  Professorships.  —  Resig- 
nation of  Drs.  Hayward,  Channing,  and  Bigelow,  and  Appointment  of  Dr.  H.  J.  Bigelow, 
Dr.  D.  H.  Storer,  Dr.  E.  H.  Clark,  as  their  Successors.  —  Dr.  George  Parkman  gives  a 
Piece  of  Land  on  North  Grove  Street  as  a  Site  for  a  new  Building.  —  The  present 
Inadequacy  of  the  Building  erected  on  this  Site.  —  Methods  of  teaching  in  the  various 
Departments.  —  The  Number  of  Students  during  the  Years  from  1788  to  1867. — Changes 
in  the  Mode  of  Instruction  made  in  1871.  —  Description  of  the  present  Building.  —  The 
Warren  Anatomical  Museum  and  Library.  —  Aims  of  the  Medical  Department. 

The  first  step  towards  the  foundation  of  a  school  for  medical  instruction  in 
this  section  of  the  country  proceeded  from  the  "  Boston  Medical  Society,"  an 
association  formed  in  the  year  1780,  principally  under  the  lead  of  Drs.  Samuel 
Danforth,  Isaac  Rand,  Thomas  Kast,  and  John  Warren.  In  the  year  after  the 
formation  of  this  Society,  the  following  resolve  was  passed  at  the  meeting  of 
November  3d  :  — 

"  Voted,  That  Dr.  John  Warren  be  desired  to  demonstrate  a  course  of  Ana- 
tomical Lectures  the  ensuing  winter." 


240  THE    MEDICAL   SCHOOL. 

Dr.  John  Warren  was  the  younger  brother,  the  pupil,  and  afterwards  the 
assistant,  of  Dr.  Joseph  Warren,  the  first  distinguished  victim  of  the  Revolutionary 
struggle.  Joseph  Warren  was  the  pupil  of  James  Lloyd,  who  had  studied  his 
profession  in  England,  and  followed  the  lectures  and  the  visits  of  Cheselden,  of 
Sharpe,  of  William  Hunter,  and  other  famous  surgeons  and  physicians  of  the 
period  while  England  was  still  "  home  "  to  the  Colonies.  Inheriting  through  his 
teacher  the  best  professional  knowledge  of  that  day,  and  rich  in  the  experiences 
of  campaigning  life  which  he  had  learned  as  hospital  surgeon  during  the  war. 
Dr.  John  Warren  was  well  fitted  to  be  the  pioneer  in  the  task  of  public  medical 
instruction,  heretofore  unknown  in  New  England. 

The  course  which  he  delivered  was  so  successful,  that  President  Willard  and 
some  of  the  Corporation  of  the  College  who  had  attended  his  lectures  were  led 
to  think  of  organizing  a  Medical  School  in  connection  with  the  University,  and 
Dr.  Warren  was  requested  to  draw  up  a  plan  for  the  proposed  institution.  In 
accordance  with  this  request,  he  drew  up  the  outlines  of  a  plan  which,  after 
various  revisions  and  corrections,  was  presented  to  the  Corporation  at  their  meet- 
ing held  on  the  19th  of  September,  1782.  Twenty-two  articles  were  adopted  and 
afterwards  confirmed  by  the  Overseers. 

These  articles  provided  for  the  establishment  of  three  professorships,  namely, 
"  a  Professorship  of  Anatomy  and  Surgery ;  a  Professorship  of  the  Theory  and 
Practice  of  Physic ;  and  a  Professorship  of  Chemistry  and  Materia  Medica." 
Each  professor  was  to  be  "  a  Master  of  Arts,  or  graduated  Bachelor,  or  Doctor 
of  Physic ;  of  the  Christian  Religion,  and  of  strict  morals."  It  was  required 
"  that  the  professors  demonstrate  the  anatomy  of  the  human  body  with  physio- 
logical observations,  and  explain  and  perform  a  complete  system  of  surgical 
operations.  That  they  teach  their  pupils  the  theory  and  practice  of  physic, 
by  directing  and  superintending,  as  much  as  may  be,  their  private  studies, 
lecturing  on  the  diseases  of  the  human  body,  and  taking  with  them  such  as  are 
qualified  to  visit  their  patients  ;  making  proper  observations  on  the  nature  of  the 
diseases,  the  peculiar  circumstances  attending  them,  and  the  method  of  cure. 
And  whenever  the  professors  be  desired  by  any  other  gentlemen  of  the  Faculty 
to  visit  their  patients  in  difficult  and  uncommon  cases,  they  shall  use  their  en- 
deavors to  introduce  with  them  their  pupils  who  are  properly  qualified.  That 
they  deliver  lectures  on  Materia  Medica,  and  explain  the  theory  of  Chemistrjr, 
and  apply  its  principles  in  a  course  of  actual  experiments." 

The  School  first  went  into  operation  in  1783,  the  lectures  being  delivered  in 
Cambridge  before  a  small  number  of  medical  students,  and  those  members  of  the 
Senior  Class  in  College  who  had  obtained  the  consent  of  their  parents.  The 
first  professors  were  Dr.  John  Warren,  who  lectured  on  Anatomy  and  Surgery; 
Dr.  Aaron  Dexter,  on   Chemistry  and  Materia  Medica;  and  Dr.  Benjamin  Water- 


THE   MEDICAL   SCHOOL.  241 

house,  on  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine.  Two  courses  of  lectures,  or,  in 
special  cases,  one  only,  and  three  years  of  study,  were  required  before  a  student 
could  become  a  candidate  for  the  Medical  Degree.  In  default  of  a  previous  col- 
lege education,  a  knowledge  of  the  Latin  language  and  an  acquaintance  with  Natural 
Philosophy  were  to  be  shown  by  an  examination. 

The  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Medicine  was  first  conferred  in  1785,  and  seven 
years  later,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  that  of  Doctor  of  Medicine. 
The  first  name  on  the  catalogue  of  graduates  is  that  of  John  Fleet,  in  1788,  the 
only  one  of  that  year. 

The  practical  teaching  of  Anatomy  was  attended  with  great  difficulty  at  this 
time,  and  a  single  anatomical  subject  was  made  to  do  duty  during  the  whole  course 
of  lectures.  The  opportunities  for  clinical  instruction  must  have  been  confined 
very  much  to  the  individual  students  whom  the  professor  could  take  with  him  to 
see  his  private  patients.  Modern  Chemistry  was  just  shaping  itself  in  the  hands 
of  Lavoisier,  whose  great  treatise  on  the  science  was  not  published  until  the 
year    i 789. 

The  only  communication  of  Cambridge  with  Boston,  previously  to  the  build- 
ing of  the  bridge  in  1 786,  was  by  means  of  the  ferries  or  round  through  Roxbury. 
That  a  school  for  medical  teaching  could  maintain  itself  at  all  under  such  cir- 
cumstances shows  clearly  that  there  was  some  master-spirit  to  whose  energy  and 
capacity  it  owed  its  continuance.  It  is  evident  enough  that  John  Warren  was 
the  one  man  who  gave  it  its  success.  A  leading  practitioner  in  the  neighboring 
city,  celebrated  for  his  surgical  skill,  —  "a  much  better  surgeon  than  myself," 
said  his  more  widely  known  son.  Dr.  John  C.  Warren,  —  fervid,  eloquent,  inde- 
fatigable, to  him  the  Medical  School  of  Harvard  University  owes  its  being,  and 
its  triumph  over  all  the  difficulties  which  beset  its  early  career. 

Aaron  Dexter,  the  first  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Materia  Medica,  has  left 
little  record  of  himself  beyond  that  of  an  eminently  respectable  character  and 
some  reminiscences  of  those  "actual  experiments"  which  it  was  his  prescribed 
duty  to  perform  before  his  class,  still  lingering  in  the  memory  of  the  few  who 
live  that  have  listened  to  him. 

Benjamin  Waterhouse  —  whose  teaching  under  Monro  Secundus,  whose  remem- 
brance of  the  lectures  of  John  Hunter,  whose  Latin  thesis,  "  De  Sympathia  Partum 
Corporis  Humani,"  whose  medical  degree  bearing  the  words  Lugduni  Batavorum, 
carry  us  to  the  days  of  Cullen,  the  recent  remembrances  of  Albinus,  and  within 
reach  of  old  men's  recollections  of  the  great  Boerhaave  —  seemed  to  belong  to 
the  eighteenth  century,  though  he  lived  far  into  the  nineteenth.  Remembering 
the  botanical  garden  at  Leyden,  still  fragrant  with  the  memory  of  the  venerable 
Clusius,  and  flourishing  to-day  as  it  was  in  his  time,  almost  three  centuries  ago, 
he  was  instrumental  in  establishing   the    botanical   garden   at    Cambridge,  where, 


242  THE   MEDICAL   SCHOOL. 

during  the  past  thirty  years,  a  great  master  of  the  science  has  been  studying 
and  teaching.  He  also  procured  the  first  collection  of  minerals,  which  was  the 
foundation  of  the  present  cabinet.  His  memory  is  more  generally  connected  with 
the  introduction  of  the  practice  of  vaccination  into  tJTis  country  near  the  beginning 
of  this  century. 

Only  one  graduate  from  the  Medical  School  appears  in  the  lists  of  the  Harvard 
Triennial  Catalogue  for  each  of  the  first  four  years  ;  but  of  those  graduates  one 
was  Nathan  Smith,  an  admirable  and  very  widely  known  jaractitioner,  teacher, 
and  writer,  whose  name,  Dr.  Elisha  Bartlett  says,  and  with  justice,  "  stands 
worthily  by  the  side  of  those  of  Huxham,  Pringle,  and   Blaine." 

In  the  year  1806,  Dr.  John  Collins  Warren  was  appointed  Assistant  Professor 
of  Anatomy  and  Surgery,  and  in  1809,  Dr.  John  Gorham  was  appointed  Adjunct 
Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Materia  Medica. 

Up  to  this  time  the  lectures  had  continued  to  be  delivered  in  Cambridge. 
But  in  1809,  Dr.  John  C.  Warren  had  opened  a  room  for  the  pursuit  of  Practical 
Anatomy  at  No.  49  Marlborough  Street,  in  Boston,  where  demonstrations  were 
given,  which  were  attended  by  some  students  of  medicine  and  a  number  of  the 
younger  physicians  of  the  town.  This  prepared  the  way  for  the  transfer  of  the 
lectures  to  Boston,  an  arrangement  for  which  was  effected,  with  the  condition 
that  certain  courses  should  be  annually  given  at  Cambridge,  in  the  spring  months, 
to  one  or  more  of  the  College  classes.  Lecture-rooms  were  arranged  accordingly 
at  the  building  in  Marlborough  Street,  and  the  first  course  in  Boston  was  opened 
in  the  autumn  of  the  year  1810.  In  the  same  year  Dr.  James  Jackson  was  ap- 
pointed Lecturer  on  Clinical  Medicine,  the  patients  at  the  almshouse  being 
visited  by  the  students  in  company  with  their  teacher,  who,  on  the  resignation 
of  Dr.  Waterhouse  in  181 2,  was  chosen  Professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of 
Medicine. 

The  year  181 3  was  signalized  by  a  remarkable  change  in  the  condition  of  the 
School.  Until  that  year  the  classes  remained  very  small,  the  graduates  for  the 
twenty-two  years  during  which  any  are  recorded  on  the  Triennial  Catalogue 
averaging  between  two  and  three  only,  annually.  In  1813  the  number  of 
graduates  rose  to  thirteen,  and  never  fell  below  twelve  but   twice   after  this  date. 

A  building  specially  constructed  for  the  needs  of  medical  instruction  was  now 
required,  and  Drs.  James  Jackson  and  John  Collins  Warren  succeeded  in  inter- 
esting influential  members  of  the  community  in  this  object,  and  a  grant  was 
obtained  from  the  Commonwealth  for  the  erection  of  a  suitable  edifice.  In  1816, 
the  building  erected  in  Mason  Street  was  opened  for  lectures,  under  the  name 
of  the  "  Massachusetts  Medical  College."  The  Faculty  then  consisted  of  Drs. 
Jackson.  Warren,  Gorham,  Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow,  Professor  of  Materia  Medica,  and 
Dr.  Walter  Channing,  Professor  of  Obstetrics  and  Medical  Jurisprudence,  the  two 


THE   MEDICAL   SCHOOL.  243 

last-named  gentlemen  having  been  appointed  Professors  in  18 15.  In  this  same 
year,  1815,  Dr.  John  Warren  died,  and  his  son,  John  Collins  Warren,  succeeded 
him  in  the  Chair  of  Anatomy  and  Surgery.  The  only  other  changes  in  the 
Faculty  within  the  following  twenty  years  were  the  appointment  of  Dr.  John 
White  Webster,  in  1827,  as  the  successor  of  Dr.  Gorham,  and  of  Dr.  John  Ware 
as  Adjunct  Professor  of  Theory  and  Practice  in   1832. 

In  1 82 1,  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  in  Allen  Street,  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  which  the  leading  Professors  of  the  Medical  School  had  taken  an 
active  part,  was  opened  for  patients,  and  a  new  field  for  clinical  instruction  was 
offered  to  the  teachers  of  Surgery  and  Medicine,  which  proved  of  the  greatest  advan- 
tage to  the  cause  of  medical  education.  Dr.  Jackson  was  appointed  Physician,  and 
Dr.  Warren,  Surgeon,  to  the  institution  ;  and  many  subsequent  teachers  in  the 
Medical  School  have  succeeded  to  their  places,  and  filled  others  which  have  been 
created  in  the   Hospital,  since  this  excellent  establishment  has  been  in  operation. 

In  1835,  Dr.  George  Hay  ward  was  chosen  Professor  of  Surgery  and  Clinical 
Surgery,  dividing  with  Dr.  Warren  the  growing  duties  of  instruction  in  that 
important  branch. 

In  1836,  Dr.  James  Jackson,  for  twenty-four  years  Professor  of  Theory  and 
Practice  in  the  School,  resigned  his  office.  His  teaching  was  universally  recog- 
nized as  of  the  highest  character,  not  merely  for  the  practical  knowledge  it  im- 
parted, but  for  the  searching  and  thoroughly  honest  way  in  which  he  studied  his 
cases,  and  the  fairness  with  which  he  stated  his  results,  not  attempting  to  display 
his  own  skill  or  sagacity,  but  to  present  nature  as  truthfully  and  simply  as 
language  would  let  him.  While  he  studied  his  patients  with  all  the  inquisitive- 
ness  which  belongs  to  science,  he  cared  for  every  individual  among  them  as  one 
who  thought  only  of  them  and  their  welfare.  Those  who  enjoyed  the  privilege 
of  his  teaching  would  bear  testimony  that  no  man  more  entirely  forgot  himself 
in  his  duties ;  that  he  taught  them  to  rely  on  no  oracular  authority,  but  to  look 
the  facts  before  them  in  the  face ;  that  he  educated  them  for  knowledge  beyond 
his  own ;  and  that  while  they  recognized  in  him  a  master  of  his  art,  they  left  him 
with  minds  fully  open  to  new  convictions  from  fresh  sources  of  truth.  Dr.  John 
C.  Warren  says  of  him  :  "  His  abilities,  industry,  and  agreeable  manners  helped 
to  establish  him  wherever  the  impulse  of  his  friends  could  carry  him  ;  and  for  a 
number  of  years,  until  he  declined  practice,  he  had  as  much  as  he  could  do,  and 
became  the  head  and  leader  of  the  profession  in  that  department.  This  station 
he  continued  to  maintain  after  he  had  partially  retired  from  professional  business; 
and  was  well  entitled  to  it,  not  only  by  the  extent  of  his  experience  and  the 
constant  cultivation  of  medicine  as  a  science,  but  by  his  remarkably  good  judg- 
ment and  steady  pursuit  of  general  professional  improvement.  He  originated 
many  and  was  engaged  in  all  the  schemes   of  amelioration   and   advancement   in 


244  THE  MEDICAL   SCHOOL. 

the  medical  art,  and  in  many  otlier  departments  of  science ;  and  distinguished 
himself  always  by  an  enlargement  of  his  views  in  regard  to  the  new  arrange- 
ments which  the  state  of  the  profession  was  continually  requiring.  His  frankness 
of  character,  as  well  as  his  clearness  of  judgment,  acquired  the  confidence  of  his 
professional  brethren  to  an  almost  unexampled  extent." 

In  1836,  Dr.  John  Ware,  who  had  filled  the  place  of  Adjunct  Professor  of 
Theory  and  Practice  for  the  last  four  years,  was  appointed  to  the  chair  left 
vacant  by  Dr.  Jackson's  resignation.  Dr.  Ware  had  many  of  the  same  admirable 
traits  which  distinguished  Dr.  Jackson,  —  nice  observation,  great  fairness  of  mind 
and  calmness  of  judgment,  and  the  same  strict  fidelity  and  entire  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  his  patients.  Both  these  good  physicians  and  wise  teachers  went  through 
their  wards,  not  simply  as  curious  experimentalists,  or  as  skilful  diagnosticians,  but 
as  men  to  whom  the  patient's  welfare  was  the  first  object,  and  the  student's  instruc- 
tion in  useful  knowledge  second  only  to  this.  Dr.  Ware's  essays  on  Croup  and 
Delirium  Tremens  have  given  him  a  reputation  which  will  long  outlive  the 
recollections  of  those  who  listened  to  his  grave  and  weighty  teachings. 

In  1847,  Dr.  John  Collins  Warren  resigned  the  Chair  of  Anatomy  and  Surgery 
which  he  had  held  for  thirty-two  years,  having  been  Assistant  Professor  for  nine 
years  previously  to  his  election  to  that  office.  As  a  surgeon,  he  stood  at  the 
head  of  the  profession  in  New  England,  to  say  the  least.  Few  men  ever  de- 
voted themselves  more  laboriously  and  earnestly  to  their  work,  and  few  have 
succeeded  more  entirely  in  holding  the  highest  position  unquestioned  for  a  long 
series  of  years.  His  most  remarkable  endowments  were  a  resolute  will  and  a  self- 
possession  which  kept  him  cool  and  calm  in  the  most  trying  moments  of  a  diffi- 
cult operation.  Without  extraordinary  pretensions  to  learning,  he  was  fond  of 
books,  and  without  going  deeply  into  science,  he  had  a  taste  for  it  which  in  his 
later  years  he  cultivated  to  some  extent.  In  addition  to  the  business  which  his 
renown  as  a  surgeon  crowded  upon  him,  he  was  also  engaged  more  or  less  in 
medical  practice.  As  a  teacher,  he  was  diligent,  and  could  hardly  be  uninteresting 
on  subjects  like  Anatomy  and  Surgery,  though  he  had  no  claim  to  the  eloquence 
and  magnetic  enthusiasm  said  to  have  characterized  his  father.  His  great  gift  to 
the  College  of  the  collection,  which,  with  the  additions  it  has  since  received, 
constitutes  the  Warren  Museum,  and  of  the  fund  which  is  destined  for  its 
maintenance,  will  keep  his  memory  in  remembrance  as  one  of  the  conspicuous 
benefactors  of  the  University. 

In  1847,  a  new  Professorship,  that  of  Pathological  Anatomy,  was  established, 
and,  by  the  liberality  of  Dr.  George  C.  Shattuck,  Senior,  provided  with  a  special 
endowment.  Dr.  John  Barnard  Swett  Jackson  was  chosen  Professor,  and  still 
retains  that  office. 

In  the  same  year,  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  was  chosen  Professor  of  Anatomy 


THE   MEDICAL   SCHOOL. 


245 


and  Physiology.  Since  1864,  the  latter  branch  has  been  made  a  subject  of  special 
lectures  and  practical  instruction,  under  the  direction  of  teachers  appointed  for 
that  purpose. 

In  1849,  Dr.  George  Hayward,  who  had  filled  the  office  of  Professor  of  Surgery 
and  Clinical  Surgery  very  acceptably  since  1835,  resigned  his  office,  and  Dr. 
Henry  J.  Bigelow  was  appointed  his  successor.  Drs.  Jackson,  Holmes,  and 
Bigelow  still  occupy  the  chairs  to  which  they  were  elected. 

In  1854,  Dr.  Walter  Channing,  appointed  in  181 5,  resigned  the  office  he  had 
so  long  held,  and  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  David  Humphreys  Storer,  wJio  resigned 
in  1868,  and  was  followed  by  Dr.  Charles  Edward  Buckingham,  the  present  in- 
cumbent of  the  Chair  of  Obstetrics  and  IMedical  Jurisprudence. 

In  1855,  Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow,  after  forty  years  of  service,  resigned  the  Professorship 
of  Materia  Medica,  and  Dr.  Edward  Hammond  Clarke  was  chosen  to  succeed  him. 

Of  the  gentlemen  last  mentioned  who  are  still  living,  but  no  longer  connected 
with  the  Faculty,  it  is  needless  to  speak  where  they  are  known  and  honored  as 
in  this  community.  We  may  well  remember  the  counsel  of  a  wise  man,  —  not  a 
wiser  one  than  might  be  found  among  the  teachers  just  referred  to:  — 

TvBeiBr],  /i7)T   ap  fxe  /j,a\  avvee,  fn^rjTe  tl  veiKCf 
EiBocn  yap  rot  javTa  fjLST   Apjeioi?  ayopeveK, 

The  building  in  Mason  Street,  after  being  occupied  during  forty  years, 
was  no  longer  sufficient  for  the  growing  needs  of  the  School.  Dr.  George  Park- 
man  having  offered  a  piece  of  land  in  North  Grove  Street  as  a  site  for  a  Medical 
College,  it  was  determined  to  accept  his  offer  and  erect  a  new  edifice.  The 
estate  in  Mason  Street  was  sold  to  the  Natural  History  Society,  and  the  new 
structure,  known,  as  was  the  former  one,  under  the  name  of  the  Massachusetts 
Medical  College,  was  ready  for  occupation  in  the  autumn  of  1846.  The  grant 
of  the  State,  perpetuated  in  the  name  of  the  building  belonging  to  the  Harvard 
Medical  School,  though  not  sufficient  to  pay  for  its  erection,  was  an  evidence  of 
the  interest  of  the  Legislature  in  medical  education,  which  the  enlightened  statutes 
of  later  years  relating  to  the  furtherance  of  anatomical  studies  have  shown  to  be 
a  permanent  feeling  among  the  lawgivers  of  the  Commonwealth. 

The  locality  was  not  all  that  could  be  desired  ;  still  the  new  building  offered 
much  ampler  accommodations  than  the  old,  and  has  answered  its  purpose  for  one 
generation.  Every  effort  has  been  made  to  adapt  it  to  the  increasing  demands 
of  education.  The  chemical  laboratory  arrangements  have  been  extended  so  as 
to  occupy  a  large  part  of  the  basement,  and  at  this  time  furnish  working  room 
for  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  students,  each  of  whom  has  his  own  place  and 
his  own  apparatus  for  practical  work  in  analysis  and  other  chemical  processes. 
The  attic  story  has  been  fitted  up  for   physiological  and  microscopic  laboratories. 


246  THE    MEDICAL    SCHOOL. 

Whatever  could  be  done  to  make  the  building  worthy  of  the  University  of 
which  the  Medical  School  is  an  integral  part,  has  been  done.  But  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  a  new  edifice,  planned  with  reference  to  the  new  methods  of  teach- 
ing, of  a  dignity  of  aspect  and  position  worthy  of  the  University,  above  all, 
secured  by  its  construction  and  its  locality  from  the  imminent  danger  of  destruc- 
tion by  fire,  is  a  need  which  every  year  makes  more  and  more  felt.  Many  of 
the  most  valuable  preparations  belonging  to  the  Museum  are  kept  stored  under 
the  safer  protection  of  the  building  of  the  Society  of  Natural  History.  A  collec- 
tion like  that  of  the  Warren  Anatomical  Museum,  if  destroyed,  can  never  be 
replaced;  and  there  seems  at  present  to  be  no  more  urgent  need  in  our  inflam- 
mable cities  than  that  the  accumulations  of  the  past,  which  the  present  and  the 
future  can  never  duplicate,  should  be  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  the  destroying 
agent,  which,  from  the  days  of  the  Alexandrian  Library  to  those  of  the  Lawrence 
collection  of  armor  and  the  Pantechnicon,  has  so  frequently  undone  in  a  few 
hours  all  that  it  had  taken  generations  to  build  up.  It  is  a  little  more  than  a 
hundred  years  since  the  good  people  of  Cambridge  woke  up  "  in  the  middle  of 
a  very  tempestuous  night,  a  severe  cold  storm  of  snow,  attended  with  high 
winds,"  to  find  Harvard  Hall  in  flames.  They  spread  among  the  books  and  into 
the  Apparatus  Chamber,  and  "  in  a  very  short  time  this  venerable  monument  of 
the  piety  of  our  ancestors  was  turned  into  a  heap  of  ruins."  The  Medical  College 
should  have  an  edifice,  not  only  ample  enough  for  its  present  need,  and  capable 
of  enlargement  for  its  future  necessities,  but  also  as  indestructible  by  fire  as 
modern  skill  can  make  it.  Until  public  or  private  munificence  has  provided  such 
a  building,  the  training  of  those  who  are  to  care  for  the  life  and  health  of  the 
community  cannot  be  said  to  have  been  provided  for  with  the  same  liberality  and 
wise  forethought  as  we  may  see  in  many  other  branches  of  education  bearing  far 
less  directly  on  human  well-being. 

Since  the  year  1864,  as  has  been  already  mentioned,  a  separate  course  of  lec- 
tures has  been  delivered  annually,  embracing  a  part  or  the  whole  of  the  subject 
of  Physiology.  Dr.  Brown-Sequard,  Dr.  Lombard,  Dr.  Lusk,  and  the  present 
Assistant  Professor  of  Physiology,  Dr.  Henry  Pickering  Bowditcli,  have  been  the 
Lecturers  in  that  department.  It  is  proper  to  mention  here  the  new  and  great 
facilities  offered  to  the  student  for  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  in  the  several  ranges 
of  Physiology,  Chemistry,  and  Microscopy. 

The  Physiological  Laboratory  owes  its  existence  to  a  bequest  by  the  late 
George  Woodbury  Swett,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  in  1865,  and  of  the 
Harvard  Medical  School  in  1868,  who,  dying  in  a  foreign  land,  where  he  was 
ardently  and  successfully  pursuing  his  studies,  left  a  large  legacy  as  a  lasting 
token  of  his  remembrance  of  his  Alma  Mater,  and  his  interest  in  the  future  of 
science.     A  very  valuable  collection  of  apparatus  was  presented  to  the  University, 


THE  MEDICAL   SCHOOL. 


247 


by  Dr.  Josiah  Stickney  Lombard,  who  lectured  on  Physiology  with  "reat  accept- 
ance for  some  years.  The  present  Assistant  Professor  has  added  largely  to  the 
apparatus  of  instruction,  and  the  student  has  the  means  of  experimenting  for 
himself  and  becoming  acquainted  through  his  own  direct  observation  with  the 
laws  of  life  which  have  been  for  the  most  part,  and  are  still  often,  tauo-ht  by 
word  of  mouth  and  diagrams.  Not  a  few  original  investigations  have  been  car- 
ried on  under  these  new  auspices,  and  it  is  evident  that  the  inaugural  dissertations 
of  our  students  are  in  the  way  of  becoming  contributions  to  knowledge,  instead 
of  trivial  compilations  from  text-books  and  journals. 

The  practical  teaching  of  Chemistry  has  undergone  a  similar  expansion,  for 
which,  as  already  mentioned,  new  provision  has  been  made.  The  laboratory  is  a 
students'  workshop,  where  each  pupil  must  find  out  for  himself  what  is  contained 
in  the  substance  he  is  given  to  analyze,  and  where,  in  place  of  names  and  pre- 
arranged experiments  by  his  teacher,  he  deals  with  things  and  tries  for  himself 
and  sees  with  his  own  eyes  how  they  behave  with  reference  to  each  other.  The  ap- 
paratus for  teaching  this  branch  has  been  greatly  enriched  by  the  very  generous  gift 
of  Dr.  John  Bacon,  who,  retiring  from  office  after  many  years  of  most  faithful  and 
useful  service,  presented  a  large  number  of  costly  instruments,  in  addition  to  the  expen- 
sive fixtures  which  he  had  arranged  for  his  own  use  and  left  for  that  of  his  successors. 

The  study  of  Histology  has  assumed  such  dimensions  in  these  latter  years,  that 
its  literature  has  a  library  of  its  own,  and  its  implements  require  a  laboratory 
devoted  to  this  one  subject,  with  numerous  appliances,  to  carry  on  its  researches. 
A  special  apartment,  well  lighted,  and  spacious  enough  to  accommodate  a  con- 
siderable number  of  practical  workers,  has  been  arranged,  as  before  stated,  in  the 
attic,  and  a  collection  of  microscopes  has  been  presented  to  the  School  by  Dr. 
Ellis,  for  the  use  of  students  unable  to  provide  their  own  instruments. 

By  these  various  additions  to  the  apparatus  for  teaching,  the  School  has  been 
prepared  to  enter  upon  that  new  career,  the  success  of  which  must,  as  its  advo- 
cates believe,  herald  a  complete  revolution  in  the  province  of  American  medical 
instruction.     Some  account  of  this  will  be  given  in  the  following  pages. 

The  number  of  students  attending  the  lectures  had  remained  very  small,  as 
already  mentioned,  until  the  year  181 3.  Dividing  the  whole  period  since  the 
foundation  of  the  School  into  decades,  the  number  of  graduates,  which  may  be 
taken  to  represent  about  one  third  of  the  number  of  the  classes,  was  as  follows :  — 

From  1788  to  1797,  inclusive,  20.      Average,    2.0 

"  1798  to  1807,  "  23.  "  2.3 

"  1808  to  1817,  "  79.  "  7-9 

"  1818  to  1827,  "  163.  "  16.3 

"  1828  to  1337,  "  217.  "  21.7 

"  1838  to  1847,  "  298.  "  29.8 

"  1848  to  1857,  "  343-  "  34-3 

"  1858  to  1867,  "  563-  "  56-3 


248  THE  MEDICAL   SCHOOL. 

From   1868    to   1871,   inclusive,  the    number  was    294;  giving   an   average  of  73.5 
against  the  previous  maximum  of  56.3  of  the  last  decade. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  this  period  of  prosperity  of  the  School  that  a  great 
change  was  ventured  upon,  which  risked,  for  the  time  at  least,  its  financial  pros- 
pects, and  involved  for  its  instructors  no  small  amount  of  additional  labor. 

Medical  teaching  in  this  School,  as  in  most  others  of  this  country,  has  remained 
far  behind  that  in  other  departments  of  knowledge,  and  that  of  the  great  Euro- 
pean schools.  The  student  has  been  expected  to  attend  two  "courses  of  lectures," 
taking  tickets  for  all  the  branches,  and  being  of  course  expected  to  attend  daily 
five,  six,  or  more  lectures  on  as  many  different  subjects,  inasmuch  as  he  had 
paid  for  them  as  being  all  of  equal  importance  to  him.  In  addition  to  this,  he 
was  expected  to  devote  a  considerable  portion  of  his  time  to  practical  anatomy, 
if  not  to  other  special  work  in  the  laboratories  of  different  branches.  It  was  a 
great  feast  of  many  courses  to  which  the  student  was  invited,  but  they  were  all 
set  on  at  once,  which  was  not  the  best  arrangement  either  for  mental  appetite  or 
digestion.  Still,  such  was  the  almost  universal  practice  throughout  this  country, 
and  to  venture  upon  a  radical  change,  which  should  lift  medical  education  to  the 
same  level  as  training  in  other  callings,  was  a  hazardous  innovation,  which  caused 
some  of  the  instructors,  who  had  seen  the  School  struggle  up  by  slow  degrees  to 
its  existing  state  of  prosperity,  grave  apprehensions  lest  it  should  prove  a  failure. 
It  was  questioned  whether  the  necessarily  increased  cost  of  instruction  and  higher 
standard  of  acquirements  demanded  for  the  degree,  which  was  an  essential 
feature  of  the  proposed  change,  would  not  deter  large  numbers  of  young  men 
from  attempting  to  take  their  degrees  from  the  Harvard  Medical  School.  It  was 
in  the  face  of  these  grave  questionings  and  certain  risks  that  the  step  was  taken 
which  promises  to  begin  a  new  epoch  in  American  medical  education. 

Already  a  movement  had  been  made  which  much  facilitated  the  final  change. 
Until  the  year  1859,  the  winter  course  of  four  months  was  the  only  instruction 
furnished  by  the  College.  Two  seasons  spent  in  attending  these,  the  rest  of  the 
three  years  required  being  covered  by  a  physician's  certificate  that  the  candidate 
had  studied  with  him,  which  might  mean  a  good  deal,  and  too  often  meant  very 
little,  filled  the  measure  of  study  expected  of  the  young  man  about  to  enter 
upon  practice.  In  1859,  the  Professors  of  the  College  established  a  Summer 
School,  which  carried  on  the  instruction  of  the  Winter,  supplementing  it  in 
various  ways,  and  taking  the  place  very  advantageously  of  the  frequently,  if  not 
generally,  imperfect  teaching  the  student  had  previously  received  from  the  phy- 
sician with  whom  his  name  was  entered.  Other  teachers  besides  the  Professors 
were  invited  to  take  a  part  in  the  work,  and  thus  a  much  more  complete  course 
of  instruction  than  the  College  had  ever  before  offered  was  provided  for  the 
young  men  who  studied  in  Boston. 


THE   MEDICAL   SCHOOL. 


249 


The  changes  made  in  1871  may  be  briefly  stated  thus:  The  whole  academic  year 
is  now  devoted  to  medical  instruction.  It  is  divided  into  two  terms,  the  first  begin- 
ning in  September  and  ending  in  February  ;  the  second,  after  a  recess  of  a  week, 
extending  from  February  to  the  last  part  of  June.  Each  of  these  terms  is  more 
than  the  equivalent  of  the  former  winter  term.  The  most  essential  chano-e  of  all 
is  that  the  instruction  is  made  progressive,  the  students  being  divided  into  three 
classes,  taking  up  the  different  branches  in  their  natural  succession,  and  passing 
through  the  entire  range  of  their  medical  studies  in  due  order,  in  place  of 
having  the  whole  load  of  knowledge  upset  at  once  upon  them.  Practical  instruc- 
tions in  the  various  laboratories  have  been  either  substituted  for,  or  added  to,  the 
didactic  lectures,  and  attendance  upon  them  is  expected  of  the  student  as  much 
as  on  the  lectures. 

In  the  place  of  the  somewhat  hasty  oral  examinations  for  the  degree  which 
have  prevailed  in  this  College,  as  in  others,  written  examinations,  lasting  three 
hours  for  each  branch,  are  substituted.  The  student  may  be  examined  at  the 
end  of  each  year  in  the  branches  of  that  year,  and  if  he  fail  to  pass,  try  again 
at  the  next  or  any  subsequent  examination  ;  but  he  must  pass  a  satisfactory  ex- 
amination in  every  one  of  the  principal  departments  of  study  in  order  to  obtain 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  This  degree,  bearing  the  seal  of  Harvard 
University,  has  therefore,  necessarily,  a  significance  and  value  which  it  could  not 
have  under  the  old  system. 

The  anticipated  reduction  in  the  number  of  students  was  not  accompanied  with 
the  great  diminution  of  receipts  which  might  have  been  expected,  as  will  be  seen 
by  the  following  table  extracted  from  President   Eliot's  Report  for  1872-73:  — 


Year. 

No.  of 
Students. 

Receipts  from 
Students. 

Income  from 

Professorship 

Funds. 

Paid  for 
Salaries. 

General 
Expenses. 

Diiference  between 
current  Receipts 
and  Expenses. 

1870-71 
1871-72 
1872-73 

301 
203 
170 

$27,717.67 
24,104.59 
22,283.84 

$2,779.00 
3,404.62 
2,952.78 

$  19,476.82 
20,019.56 
18,783.32 

$10,039.31 
8,877.44 
7,820.50 

$     980.54  surplus 
1,387.79  deficit 
1,367.20       " 

The  prospect  for  the  present  year  is  of  a  large  increase  of  receipts,  rendering 
it  probable,  in  fact,  that  they  will  exceed  those  of  the  most  prosperous  year  under 
the  old  arrangement. 

The  Massachusetts  Medical  College,  the  building  belonging  to  the  Medical 
School  of  Harvard  University,  situated  in  North  Grove  Street,  Boston,  does  not 
require  a  very  extended  description.  It  is  lofty,  well  lighted,  and,  as  contrasted 
with  the  immediately  contiguous  edifices,  of  an  almost  imposing  architectural 
aspect.  The  ground-floor  is  devoted  to  the  working  laboratory  for  students  and 
the  janitor's  apartments.  A  separate  wooden  building,  in  connection  with  the 
principal  one,  is  devoted  to  Practical  Anatomy.     On  the  floor  above  are  the  Medi- 


250  THE   MEDICAL   SCHOOL. 

cal  and  Chemical  Lecture-Rooms  and  the  Library.  A  formidable  flight  of  thirty- 
two  steps  leads  to  the  second  floor,  where  are  the  Museum  Hall,  the  Anatomical 
theatre,  the  Professors'  and  the  Demonstrators'  rooms.  Above  these,  in  the  attics, 
are  the  Physiological  and  Microscopical  laboratories.  Beneath  the  seats  of  the 
Anatomical  theatre  is  a  spacious  but  obscure  and  irregular  crypt,  chiefly  occupied 
by  the  Professor  of  Anatomy. 

The  Warren  Anatomical  Museum  occupies  a  hall  extending  through  the  whole 
depth  of  the  building.  The  main  collection  was  presented  by  the  late  Dr.  John 
Collins  Warren,  and  was  accompanied  with  the  gift  of  six  thousand  dollars  for 
its  preservation  and  increase.  Many  valuable  donations  have  since  added  to  its 
value,  of  which  the  following  are  deserving  of  special  mention.  The  late  Dr. 
George  Hayward  presented,  in  the  year  1847,  a  series  of  Thibert's  models,  one 
hundred  and  sixty-seven  in  number,  illustrating  surgical  disease.  In  1849,  the  late 
Dr.  John  Ware  presented  a  set  of  ninety  models  by  the  same  artist.  Within 
the  present  year  Dr.  Edward  Wigglesworth  has  presented  a  very  fine  collection 
of  wax  models,  representing  a  great  variety  of  the  common  and  specific  forms 
of  cutaneous  disease. 

It  is  well  known  to  all  who  have  watched  the  growth  and  improvement  of  the 
collection,  the  care  with  which  the  specimens  have  been  preserved  and  displayed, 
the  order  which  has  been  introduced  into  their  arrangement,  the  labor  which  has 
been  expended  upon  individual  preparations,  the  constant  additions  which  have 
been  made  without  any  formal  presentation,  that  the  time  and  energies  of  one 
man  have  been  devoted  to  the  Museum  with  a  zeal,  constancy,  and  capacity 
which  alone  could  have  produced  the  results  they  now  witness.  To  Dr.  J.  B.  S. 
Jackson  the  Museum  owes  more  than  to  all  others,  except  its  founder.  As  Cu- 
rator he  was  expected  to  watch  over  its  interests;  but  his  disinterested  services 
have  far  surpassed  all  that  could  be  expected  of  the  most  careful  guardian.  The 
Catalogue  of  the  collection  prepared  by  him  and  published  in  1870,  in  a  volume 
of  seven  hundred  and  fifty  closely  printed  octavo  pages,  enumerating  and  often 
describing  the  history  connected  with  no  less  than  three  thousand  six  hundred 
and  eighty-six  specimens,  is  a  fitting  companion  for  that  other  Catalogue  of  a 
Museum,  chiefly  of  his  own  creation,  which  has  been  spoken  of  by  a  distinguished 
teacher  in  a  great  school  of  another  city  as  the  most  important  contribution  to 
the  department  of  Pathological  Anatomy  which,  at  the  time  of  its  publication, 
had  been  made  in  this  country.  Many  valuable  preparations  and  specimens  other 
than  those  already  mentioned  have  been  contributed  by  the  Professors,  the 
Demonstrators,  and  the  students. 

The  Library  of  the  Medical  College  contains  between  two  and  three  thousand 
volumes,  including  many  of  the  great  and  costly  illustrated  works  on  Anatomy 
and  Pathology.     It  has  been   largely  built   up   by  gifts   from   the    Professors   and 


THE   MEDICAL   SCHOOL.  251 

appropriations  from  their  fees ;  and  serviceable  as  it  is,  is  in  need  of  larger  ap- 
propriations and  ampler  contributions,  which  it  would  be  more  likely  to  receive 
if  lodged  in  a  fire-proof  building. 

During  the  first  seventy  years  following  the  foundation  of  the  School,  only 
fourteen  Professors  held  ofiice  in  this  branch  of  the  University.  At  the  jDresent 
time  twenty  teachers  are  on  the  list  of  the  ninety-first  Annual  Announcement, 
for  1874-75.  The  great  hospitals,  the  infirmaries,  the  Dispensary,  are  all  made 
useful  as  schools  for  clinical  teaching.  The  laws  of  the  Commonwealth  sanction 
and  favor  the  practical  study  of  Anatomy,  by  which  alone,  as  it  is  well  under- 
stood in  every  enlightened  community,  the  practice  of  surgery  and  medicine  can 
be  placed  on  a  sound  basis.  Many  special  branches  of  the  healing  art  are  taught 
by  men  who  are  masters  in  these  several  specialties. 

The  aim  of  the  Medical  Department  is  henceforth  not  the  largest  classes,  but  the 
most  thoroughly  taught  students.  This  School  has  attempted,  in  the  face  of  great 
difficulties,  and  standing  nearly  or  quite  alone  in  this  country,  to  bring  order  out  of 
the  chaos  of  instruction  into  which  the  young  student  had  found  himself  plunged 
at  the  outset  of  his  education.  Good  wishes  for  the  success  of  what  was  at  once 
recognized  as  a  forward  movement  in  medical  education  have  been  expressed  very 
generally,  sometimes  in  the  language  of  hearty  congratulation,  now  and  then  in 
the  minor  key  of  a  bland  approval  and  a  sympathizing  prediction  of  failure.  The 
success  of  the  new  plan,  now  assured,  may  well  induce  a  contemplative  mood 
in  many  of  those  who  are  personally  interested  in  medical  education.  If  it  means 
anything,  it  means  nothing  less  than  revolution.  If  graduated,  progressive  medical 
education  is  organic,  following  not  merely  the  precepts  found  true  in  all  other 
branches  of  knowledge,  but  the  first  great  law  of  evolution  and  growth,  then  the 
old  method  is  inorganic,  and  cannot  stand  much  longer  in  the  face  of  this  new 
order  of  things.  The  adoption  of  a  thorough,  carefully  arranged  course  of  studies, 
practical  to  a  large  extent,  beginning  with  the  underlying  parts  of  knowledge  on 
which  the  others  must  be  built,  building  upon  these  in  true  natural  sequence, 
making  sure  by  rigid  and  protracted  examination  that  each  branch  is  mastered 
before  the  overlying  one  is  begun,  must  sooner  or  later  take  the  place  of  the 
imperfect  methods  so  long  tolerated  rather  than  approved,  as  the  temporary  ex- 
pedients of  an  imperfect  civilization.  If  Harvard  University  has  not  been  one 
year  too  soon,  it  is  time  for  other  schools  to  follow  her  lead,  and  the  Profession 
throughout  the  country  will  not  be  slow  in  reminding  them  of  the  new  obliga- 
tions which  belong  to  a  new  era. 

The  view  of  the  Medical  School  which  accompanies  this  article  is  taken  from  within  the  grounds 
of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  so  as  to  include  the  large  operating  theatre  of  the  Hospital, 
which  is  also  used  as  the  clinical  lecture-room  of  the  school.  This  building  occupies  the  centre  of 
the  picture.     It  is  the  rear  of  the  Medical  College  which  is  seen  beyond  it  at  the  left. 


JOHN    BARNARD    SWETT    JACKSON. 

Dr.  Jackson,  the  Senior  Professor  of  the  Medical  Faculty,  was  born  in  Boston 
in  1806.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1825,  and  at  the  Medical  School 
in  1829.  His  medical  studies  were  continued  in  London  and  Paris  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  subsequent  three  years. 

On  his  return  he  commenced  practice,  but  gave  much  of  his  time  to  the  forma- 
tion and  care  of  the  Anatomical  Museum  of  the  Boston  Society  for  Medical 
Improvement. 

In  1842  the  leading  physicians  of  Boston  made  a  formal  request  to  Dr.  Jackson 
to  demonstrate  the  collection  of  this  Society,  —  a  compliment  which  he  has  always 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  valued  ever  received  by  him.  He  was  connected 
with  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  as  Pathologist,  Assistant  Physician,  and 
Physician  for  a  period  of  nearly  twenty-nine  years.  In  1847  his  present  title  was 
conferred  upon  him.  Dr.  Jackson  has  given  up  the  greater  part  of  his  life  to 
the  pursuit  of  Morbid  Anatomy,  and  the  results  of  his  labors  have  appeared  from 
time  to  time,  mainly  in  the  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal. 

In  1870  he  published  a  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  the  Warren  Anatomical 
Museum  belonging  to  the  Medical  School,  which  has  been  very  much  enlarged 
and  improved  under  his  constant  attention.  Dr.  Jackson  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  of  numerous  medical  societies. 


r    ^'^  '    J-  vj/^  cy^<^ '■!n/y=' . 


^-^ 


OLIVER    WENDELL    HOLMES. 

Dr.  Holmes  was  born  August  29,  1809,  at  Cambridge.  His  father  was  Rev. 
Abiel  Holmes.  His  residence,  until  fifteen  years  of  age,  was  at  Cambridge  ;  from 
the  age  of  fifteen  to  sixteen  at  Andover,  Mass.,  as  a  member  of  Phillips  Academy, 
of  which  John  Adams  was  the  principal.  Before  going  to  Andover  he  was  five 
years  in  attendance  at  a  private  school  at  Cambridgeport,  where,  during  a  part 
of  the  time,  Margaret  Fuller  and  Richard  H.  Dana,  Jr.,  were  his  schoolmates. 
Still  earlier  he  was  for  a  while  pupil  of  William  Biglow,  "  Gulielmus  Magnus- 
humilis,"  as  he  signed  himself  at  the  head  of  certain  Latin  verses  to  be  found  in 
the  contemporary  account  of  the  second  Centennial  celebration  of  the  founding 
of  Harvard  College,  —  a  man  somewhat  noted  for  his  humor. 

Dr.  Holmes  entered  Harvard  College  in  1825.  While  there  he  delivered  a 
poem  before  the  Hasty  Pudding  Club,  one  at  Exhibition,  one  at  Commencement, 
and  the  Class  poem. 

After  graduating  (1829)  he  studied  law  one  year  in  the  Dane  Law  School  of 
Harvard  University.  After  this  he  studied  medicine  in  Boston  from  the  autumn 
of  1830  to  the  spring  of  1833.  In  April,  1833,  he  went  to  Europe,  where  he 
remained  until  October,  1835,  engaged  in  the  study  of  medicine,  most  of  the 
time   in  Paris. 

His  medical  instructors  in  Boston  were  Drs.  James  Jackson,  Channing,  Ware, 
Lewis,  and  Otis ;  and  he  attended  the  lectures  of  the  Medical  School  of  Harvard 
University.  In  Paris  he  followed  various  courses  at  the  Ecole  de  Medecine,  and 
the  different  hospitals,  especially  at  La  Pitie  with  M.  Louis. 

He  took  the  degree  of  M.  D.  at  Harvard  in  1836.  In  1839  he  was  elected 
Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology  in  the  Medical  School  of  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege, and  held  the  office  two  years,  at  the  end  of  which  he  resigned  and  devoted 
himself  to  medical  practice  in  Boston. 

In  1848  he  was  chosen  Parkman  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology  in  the 
Medical  School  of  Harvard  University,  which  chair  he  has  occupied  to  this  time, 
except  that  Physiology  has  been  recently  taught  in  a  separate  course. 


254  OLIVER  WENDELL   HOLMES. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Historical  Society,  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  and  various 
other  associations. 

His  principal  writings  are,  — 

Boylston  Prize  Dissertations. 

Poems,  —  various  editions. 

Homoeopathy  and  its  Kindred  Delusions. 

Various  Medical  Essays  and  Addresses,  some  of  which  are  collected  in  a  vol- 
ume entitled  "  Currents  and  Counter-Currents." 

Another  volume  of  Essays,  etc.,  published  under  the  title  "  Soundings  from  the 
Atlantic." 

The  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast-Table. 

The  Professor  at  the  Breakfast-Table. 

Elsie  Venner  (the  Professor's  Story). 

The  Guardian  Angel. 

The  Poet  at  the  Breakfast-Table. 

Some  of  his  earliest  printed  verses  were  published  in  a  College  magazine 
edited  by  Mr.  John  O.  Sargent,  of  the  class  of  1830,  and  others,  called  "  The 
Collegian."  Since  the  publication  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly  a  large  part  of  all 
that  he  has  written  in  prose  and  verse  has  made  its  first  appearance  in  its  pages. 

He  has  not  practised  medicine  of  late  years,  but  has  devoted  himself  to  the 
duties  of  his  Professorship  and  to  literary  and  scientific  studies. 


c^  . 


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GEORGE    CHEYNE    SHATTUCK. 

Dr.  Shattuck  was  born  in  Boston  in  1813.  His  father  was  Dr.  George  C. 
Shattuck,  also  of  Boston.  He  was  educated  at  the  Latin  School,  and  at 
Round  Hill  School,  Northampton.  He  took  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  at 
Harvard  University  in  1831,  and  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  in  1835.  He  spent  the 
two  following  years  in  the  study  of  medicine  in  Paris,  and  the  next  year  in 
Great  Britain,  Germany,  and  Italy.  In  1839  he  translated  from  the  manuscript 
and  published  the  work  of  Louis  on  Yellow  Fever.  In  1850  he  was  appointed 
visiting  Physician  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  a  position  which  he 
still  holds.  In  1851  he  accepted  the  Professorship  of  the  Institutes  of  Medicine 
at  Trinity  College,  Hartford,  Conn.  In  1855  he  was  appointed  Professor  of 
Clinical  Medicine  in  the  Medical  Department  of  Harvard  University,  which  chair 
he  resigned  in  1858  to  accept  that  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine.  He 
was  President  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  from  1872  to  1874. 


4 


HENRY    JACOB    BIGELOW. 

Henry  Jacob  Bigelow,  born  in  Boston,  March  ii,  1818,  only  son  of  Dr.  Jacob 
Bigelow,  of  Boston,  was  fitted  for  college  at  the  Boston  Latin  School,  under  Mr. 
Leverett.  Entering  Harvard  College,  he  graduated  in  the  Class  of  1837.  He 
studied  medicine  in  the  Harvard  Medical  School  and  with  Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow  for 
three  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  time  he  went  abroad  for  his  health.  Re- 
turning home  to  graduate  in  medicine  in  1 841,  he  again  went  to  Europe  for  study, 
remaining  abroad  three  years,  chiefly  in  Paris,  but  also  visiting  the  East. 

In  1845,  on  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Reynolds,  he  was  appointed  teacher  of 
Surgery  in  the  Tremont  Street  Medical  School,  a  post  he  continued  to  hold 
until  this  School  was  merged  in  that  of  Harvard  University. 

In  1846,  a  few  months  before  the  ether  discovery,  he  was  appointed  Surgeon 
to  the  Massachusetts  General   Hospital,  an  office  which  he  still  holds ;   with  which,  ■ 

and  the  Professorship  of  Surgery  in  Harvard  University,  his  professional  life  has 
been  largely  identified.  In  1849,  the  nearly  simultaneous  resignation,  by  Dr.  John 
C.  Warren  and  Dr.  George  Hayward,  of  the  Surgical  Professorships  then  held 
by  them  in  Harvard  University,  created  a  vacancy,  to  which,  after  a  union  of  the 
teaching  in  the  various  departments  of  Surgery  and  Clinical  Surgery  under  a 
single  professorship.  Dr.  Bigelow  was  appointed.  Of  this  ofiice  he  performed  the 
duties  without  an  assistant  until  1866,  when  Dr.  R.  M.  Hodges  was  appointed 
Adjunct  Professor. 

Among  the  papers  and  publications  of  Dr.  Bigelow  may  be  mentioned,  A 
Treatise  upon  Orthopedic  Surgery;  on  the  Mechanism  of  Dislocation  and  Frac- 
ture of  the  Hip.  He  has  contributed  numerous  surgical  papers  to  medical  jour- 
nals, and  is  the  author  of  several  medical  addresses,  etc. 

Dr.  Bigelow  made  the  original  announcement,  November,  1846,  of  the  discovery 
of  Modern  Anaesthesia,  in  a  paper  entitled  Insensibility  during  Surgical  Operations 
produced  by  Inhalation. 


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GEORGE    DERBY. 

Dr.  Derby  was  born  at  Salem,  Mass.,  February  13,  1819.  His  father  was 
John  Derby,  an  East  India  merchant.  He  went  to  school  in  Salem,  and  gradu- 
ated at  Harvard  College  in  1838.  He  received  his  degree  in  medicine  H.  U. 
1844,  and  since  then  has  lived  in  Boston.  During  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  he 
served  in  the  army  four  years ;  first  as  Surgeon  of  the  23d  Massachusetts  In- 
fantry ;  later  as  Surgeon  and  Brevet  Lieutenant-Colonel  United  States  Volun- 
teers ;  Medical  Inspector  Department  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina ;  Surgeon- 
in-Chief  of  Divisions,  etc.  He  was  formerly  Surgeon  to  the  Boston  City 
Hospital. 

Since  1866  Dr.  Derby  has  been  editor  of  the  State  Registration  Reports.  He 
has  been  a  member  and  Secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Health  since  its  crea- 
tion, and  the  valuable  scientific  contributions  it  has  made  to  the  cause  of  public 
health,  as  well  as  the  practical  measures  it  has  enforced,  are  largely  due  to  his 
industry  and  sound  judgment. 

In  1872  the  chair  of  Hygiene  was  established  in  the  Medical  Department,  and 
he  was  appointed  to  the  Professorship.  He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Acad- 
emy of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

Dr.  Derby  published  a  volume  on  Anthracite  and  Health,  in  1868,  and  has 
written  many  papers  for  the  five  volumes  of  Reports  of  the  State  Board  of 
Health. 


Since  the  above  was  written,  the  University  and  the  community  have  sustained 
a  serious  bereavement  in  Dr.  Derby's  sudden  death. 


JOHN    EUGENE    TYLER. 

Dr.  Tyler  was  born  in  Boston,  December  9,  1819.  His  father,  a  Harvard 
graduate  (1786),  was  educated  as  a  physician,  but  afterwards  became  engaged  in 
mercantile  pursuits. 

Dr.  Tyler  resided  in  Westborough,  Mass.,  during  the  earlier  part  of  his  life, 
receiving  his  preliminary  education  in  that  town,  and  later  at  Phillips  Academy. 
While  studying  medicine  he  taught  school  for  some  time  in  Newport,  R.  I.  As 
Superintendent  of  the  New  Hampshire  Asylum  for  the  Insane,  his  special  devo- 
tion to  the  care  of  this  unfortunate  class  began,  since  which  time  he  has  with- 
drawn from  general  practice.  He  afterwards  was  appointed  Superintendent  of  the 
McLean  Asylum,  a  position  held  by  him  till  within  a  few  years.  During  his 
connection  with  these  institutions  he  published  an  extensive  series  of  annual 
reports.  Dr.  Tyler  was  made  Professor  of  Mental  Diseases  in  1871,  previously  to 
which  time  he  was  connected  with  the  Medical  School  as  University  Lecturer  on 
the  same  subjects.  He  has  been  a  State  Commissioner  in  New  Hampshire  and 
Massachusetts  for  the  establishment  of  reformatory  institutions,  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  of  various  medical  and  other  soci- 
eties. 


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CHARLES    EDWARD    BUCKINGHAM. 

Dr.  Buckingham  was  born  in  Boston  in  the  year  1821,  his  father  being  Joseph 
T.  Buckingham,  well  known  as  the  printer  and  subsequently  the  editor  of  the 
Boston  Courier.  Early  in  life  he  resided  in  Cambridge,  pursuing  his  studies  at 
the  Boston  Latin  School,  and  at  the  Cambridge  Classical  School.  In  1840  he 
graduated  at  Harvard  College,  and  at  once  began  the  study  of  medicine. 
Dr.  Morrill  Wyman  of  Cambridge  being  his  instructor.  During  the  subsequent 
four  years  his  medical  studies  were  continued  at  Cambridge  and  in  Boston,  his 
medical  degree  being  taken  in  1844. 

Since  then  Dr.  Buckingham  has  been  actively  engaged  in  practice  in  the  latter 
city,  and  has  been  a  frequent  contributor  to  medical  as  well  as  to  other  periodi- 
cals. He  was  among  the  first  of  the  Surgeons  appointed  to  the  City  Hospital, 
and  subsequently  became  Adjunct  Professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medi- 
cine in  the  Harvard  Medical  School.  Since  1868  he  has  held  his  present  position 
in  the  Medical  Faculty,  Professor  of  Obstetrics  and  Medical  Jurisprudence. 


FRANCIS    MINOT. 

Dr.  Minot  was  born  in  Boston,  April  12,  1821.  His  father  was  William 
Minot,  of  Boston.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1841,  and  three  years 
afterwards  received  the  degree  of  M.  D.  from  the  Medical  Department  of  the 
University.  After  three  additional  years  of  study  in  Paris,  he  returned  to  Boston, 
where  he  has  since  been  actively  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine.  He  is 
one  of  the  Physicians  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  and  was  formerly 
editor  of  the  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal.  In  1871  he  was  appointed 
Assistant  Professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine. 


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CALVIN    ELLIS. 

Dr.  Ellis,  son  of  Luther  Ellis,  was  born  in  Boston,  August  15,  1826.  He 
attended  school  in  Boston,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1846.  He  studied 
medicine  at  the  Tremont  Medical  School,  and  received  the  degree  of  M.  D.  from 
Harvard  University  in  1849.  The  two  subsequent  years  were  spent  at  the  medi- 
cal schools  of  Paris  and  Vienna,  and  since  then  he  has  been  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  medicine  in  Boston. 

Dr.  Ellis  is  one  of  the  Physicians  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital.  He 
has  been  Instructor  in  Pathological  Anatomy,  Adjunct  Professor  of  the  Theory 
and  Practice  of  Medicine,  Adjunct  Professor  of  Clinical  Medicine,  and  since  1867 
Professor  of  Clinical  Medicine  in  Harvard  University.  He  was  formerly  editor  of 
the  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal.  He  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  of  various  medical  societies. 


HENRY    WILLARD    WILLIAMS. 

Dr.  Williams,  son  of  Willard  Williams,  was  born  in  Boston,  December  ii,  1821. 
He  lived  in  Boston  until  he  was  thirteen  years  old,  when  he  removed  to  Salem. 
Compelled  by  illness  to  give  up  preparation  for  College,  he  entered  a  counting- 
room  in  Boston  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  continued  in  business  pursuits  until 
1844,  when  he  began  the  study  of  Medicine  in  Harvard  University.  Before  receiv- 
ing his  degree  of  M.  D.,  in  1 849,  he  spent  nearly  three  years  at  the  medical 
schools  and  hospitals  of  Europe.  He  has  since  then  practised  medicine  in  Boston, 
giving  his  attention  to  diseases  of  the  eye. 

Since  1864  he  has  been  Ophthalmic  Surgeon  to  the  Boston  City  Hospital.  In 
1868  he  received  from  Harvard  University  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts, 
and  in  1871  was  appointed  Professor  of  Ophthalmology.  He  has  been  President 
of  the  American  Ophthalmological  Society,  is  a  member  of  the  American  Acad- 
emy of   Arts  and  Sciences,  and  of   various  medical  and  other  societies. 

Dr.  Williams  has  published  a  Practical  Guide  to  the  Study  of  Diseases  of  the 
Eye,  Recent  Advances  in  Ophthalmic  Science,  and  several  other  contributions  to 
ophthalmology. 


DAVID    WILLIAMS    CHEEVER. 

Dr.  Cheever  was  born  at  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  November  30,  1831. 
He  is  a  son  of  the  late  Dr.  Charles  A.  Cheever,  of  that  place,  and  lived  there 
until  he  entered  Harvard  College,  at  which  he  graduated  in  1852.  After  gradua- 
tion he  spent  eighteen  months  in  Europe.  He  began  the  study  of  medicine  in 
1854,  and  received  the  degree  of  M.  D.  H.  U.  in  1858.  He  was  appointed  Dem- 
onstrator of  Anatomy  in  i860.  In  1866  he  was  appointed  Assistant  Professor 
of  Anatomy,  and  is  now  Adjunct  Professor  of  Clinical  Surgery  in  the  Medical 
Department. 

He  was  for  five  years  Physician  and  Surgeon  to  the  Boston  Dispensary,  and 
for  the  last  ten  years  has  been  Surgeon  to  the  Boston  City  Hospital.  During 
1868  he  was  editor  of  the   Boston   Medical  and  Surgical  Journal. 

Dr.  Cheever  has  published  several  papers  on  Surgery,  and  was  the  author  of 
the  first  Surgical  Report  of  the  Boston  City  Hospital. 


JAMES    CLARKE    WHITE. 

Dr.  White,  son  of  James  P.  White,  was  born  in  Belfast,  Maine,  in  1833.  He 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1853,  and  at  once  became  a  student  of  medicine 
at  the  Tremont  Medical  School.  He  graduated  in  the  Medical  Department  of 
Harvard  University  in  1856,  and  then  went  to  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
.tinuing  his  medical  studies.  After  a  year  thus  spent,  mainly  at  Vienna,  he  re- 
turned to  Boston  and  became  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine.  In  1858  he 
was  appointed  Instructor  in  Chemistry  at  the  Medical  School,  in  1864  University 
Lecturer  on  Skin  Diseases,  in  1866  Adjunct  Professor  of  Chemistry,  and  in  1871 
he  was  appointed  to  his  present  position. 

In  1867  Dr.  White  became  a  Physician  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital, 
he  having  been  for  some  years  previous  Chemist  to  this  institution.  In  1870  he 
resigned  his  former  position,  and  became  Physician  to  the  Department  of  Skin 
Diseases.  Dr.  White  was  editor  of  the  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  is 
a  member  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  of  various  medi- 
cal societies,  and  has  published  numerous  medical  contributions. 


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ROBERT    THAXTER    EDES. 

Dr.  Edes  was  born  in  Eastport,  Me.,  in  1838.  His  father  is  the  Rev.  Richard 
G.  Edes.  His  early  Hfe  was  spent  in  Eastport,  and  Bolton,  Mass.,  until  he  entered 
Harvard  College  in  1854.  After  graduating  he  entered  the  Harvard  Medical 
School,  receiving  his  medical  degree  in  1861.  He  at  once  entered  the  United 
States  Navy  as  Surgeon,  and  was  in  the  service  till  1864.  Before  entering  civil 
practice  he  made  a  trip  to  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  continuing  his  medical 
studies  there,  remaining  in  Vienna  during  the  greater  portion  of  this  interval. 
On  his  return  he  engaged  in  practice  at  Hingham,  Mass.,  but  soon  after  removed 
to  Boston.  In  1870  he  was  made  Assistant  Professor  of  Materia  Medica.  Dr. 
Edes  has  been  an  occasional  contributor  to  various  medical  periodicals,  and  is 
one  of  the  visiting  Physicians  to  the  City  Hospital. 


HENRY    PICKERING    BOWDITCH. 

Dr.  Bowditch,  son  of  J.  Ingersoll  Bowditch,  was  born  in  1840.  Until  he  entered 
College  he  lived  in  Boston  or  the  immediate  vicinity.  He  graduated  at  Harvard 
College  in  1861,  and  entered  the  army  as  Second  Lieutenant  of  the  ist  Massa- 
chusetts Cavalry.  He  eventually  became  Major  in  the  5th  Massachusetts  Cavalry, 
leaving  the  army  in   1865. 

He  then  commenced  the  study  of  medicine  at  Cambridge  with  Professor  Jeffries 
Wyman,  and  continued  his  studies  at  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  at  which  he 
graduated  in  1868.  The  subsequent  three  years  were  passed  in  France  and  Ger- 
many, where  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  Physiology. 

In  187 1  his  present  appointment  was  received,  and  since  this  time  Dr.  Bowditch 
has  been  engaged  in  the  duties  of  his  Professorship.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  of  various  medical  societies,  and  has 
contributed  articles  to  journals  in  this  country  and  in  Germany. 


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REGINALD    HEBER    FITZ. 

Reginald  Heber  Fitz,  M.  D.,  Assistant  Professor  of  Pathological  Anatomy, 
was  born  at  Chelsea,  Mass.,  on  May  5,  1843.  His  father  was  Albert  Fitz,  who 
was  a  consul  of  the  national  government.  Dr.  Fitz  lived  in  Chelsea  until  1853, 
and  afterwards  in  Brookline.  He  fitted  for  college  at  Chauncy  Hall  School  in 
Boston,  and  entered  Harvard  College  in  i860,  graduating  in  1864.  He  began 
his  medical  studies  immediately,  under  the  instruction  of  Professor  Jeffries  Wy- 
man  and  the  Medical  School  of  the  University.  He  was  Medical  House  Officer 
at  the  Boston  City  Hospital  in  1867-8,  and  graduated  in  medicine  in  1868. 
The  two  following  years  were  spent  in  Europe,  mostly  in  Berlin,  Vienna,  Paris, 
and  London,  in  the  study  largely  of  pathological  anatomy.  On  his  return  he 
settled  in  Boston  as  a  physician.  In  1870  he  was  appointed  Instructor  in  Patho- 
logical Anatomy  in  the  Medical  Department,  and  Microscopist  and  Curator  of 
the  Pathological  Cabinet  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital.  In  1873  he 
was  made  Assistant  Professor  of  Pathological  Anatomy.  He  is  one  of  the  phy- 
sicians to  the  Boston  Dispensary.  He  has  published  occasional  articles  in  the 
journals  of  medicine. 


EDWARD    STICKNEY    WOOD. 

Dr.  Wood  was  born  at  Cambridge,  April  28,  1846.  His  father  is  Mr.  Alfred 
Wood,  of  that  city.  He  has  always  lived  in  Cambridge,  graduating  from  Harvard 
College  in  1867,  and  from  the  Medical  Department  in  1871.  After  receiving  his 
degree  in  medicine,  he  was  appointed  Assistant  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the 
Medical  School,  and  soon  after  became  Chemist  to  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital.  In  1872  he  studied  Physiological  Chemistry  in  the  laboratories  of 
Berlin  and  Vienna ;  and  his  whole  time  is  ■  at  present  given  to  the  instruction 
in   his  department. 


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THE    DENTAL    SCHOOL 


THE    DENTAL    SCHOOL. 


Extract  from  an  Address  of  Dr.  Nathan  C.  Keep.  —  Vote  of  the  Massachusetts  Dental 
Society  regarding  a  Chair  of  Dentistry  in  the  Medical  School.  —  Committee  appointed. 
—  Its  Report,  March  5,  1866.  —  A  Committee  appointed  to  confer  with  the  College.  — 
Report  of  the  Committee,  April  i,  1867.  —  Committee  of  Conference  from  the  Medical 
School.  —  The  Corporation  petitioned  for  a  Dental  School.  —  Vote  of  the  Corporation 
thereon.  —  Professors  appointed.  —  First  Meeting  of  the  Dental  Faculty.  —  Opening  of 
THE  School,  November,  1868.  —  The  Degree.  —  Location  of  the  School. —  Summer  Session 
established.  —  Changes  in  the  Examinations.  —  Course  of  Study  extended. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Dental  Society,  held  May  18, 
1865,  an  address  was  delivered  by  its  President,  Dr.  N.  C.  Keep,  in  which  he 
used  the  following  words  :  — 

"  I  should  hope  that  the  degree  of  M.  D.  would  be  the  lawful  and  merited  appendage  to  the 
names  of  those  young  men  who  enter  our  specialty.  If  this,  however,  is  not  yet  attainable,  it  may 
not  be  out  of  place  to  inquire  whether  Harvard  University  might  not  appoint  professors  of  dentistry, 
and  confer  upon  proper  candidates  the  degree  of  '  Doctor  of  Dental  Surgery.' " 

On  November  6,  of  the  same  year,  at  a  regular  meeting  of  this  Society,  it  was 
voted,  — 

"That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  take  under  advisement  the  subject  of  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Chair  of  Dentistry  in  the  Harvard  Medical  College  in  accordance  with  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  President  in  his  annual  address." 

The  committee  appointed  were  Drs.  Keep,  Wetherbee,  and  Chandler. 

On  March  5,  1866,  Dr.  Keep  from  this  committee  reported,  recommending  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  to  confer  with  the  officers  of  that  College.  The  re- 
port was  accepted,  and  it  was  voted,  "  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  in 
accordance  with  the  report."  This  committee  were  Drs.  Keep,  Rolfe,  and  L.  D. 
Shepard. 

At  the  annual  meeting  on  May  24,  1866,  it  was  voted  to  amend  the  vote  of 
November  6,  so  as  to  make  it  read  "  Professorships  of  Dentistry,"  instead  of  "  a 
Chair  of  Dentistry."     On  April  i,   1867,  Dr.  Keep  reported, — 


272 


THE   DENTAL   SCHOOL. 


"That  the  committee  had  attended  to  its  duties;  had  had  several  meetings  with  the  committee  of 
the  Medical  Faculty,  consisting  of  Drs.  Bowditch,  Bigelow,  and  Ellis  ;  that  a  plan  had  been  agreed 
upon  which  was  satisfactory  to  each  committee,  and  had  already  been  unanimously  adopted  by  the 
Medical  P'aculty. 

In  the  Medical  Faculty  the  matter  was  brought  up  at  a  meeting  held  June 
2,  1866,  by  the  reading  of  a  letter  from  Dr.  Keep,  asking  for  a  committee  of 
conference.  Such  a  committee  was  appointed,  consisting  of  Drs.  Bowditch,  Bige- 
low, and  Clarke.  Several  preliminary  reports  were  made  at  as  many  meetings, 
and  on  March  22,  1867,  the  subject  was  referred  to  them  with  full  powers  to 
bring  the  matter  before  the  Corporation.  On  March  29,  1867,  as  the  result  of  a 
report  from  Dr.  Bowditch,  it  was  unanimously  resolved, — 

"  That  the  Dean  be  directed  to  petition  the  Corporation  of  Harvard  College  to  establish  a  Dental 
School  according  to  the  terms  proposed  in  the  second  report  of  the  committee  of  the  Massachusetts 
Dental  Society." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  March  30,   1867,  it  was  voted, — 

"  That  the  recommendation  of  the  Medical  Faculty  for  the  establishment  of  a  Dental  School  be 
referred  to  the  committee  on  the  Medical  School  " ;  and  at  the  next  meeting,  April  13,  1867,  this 
committee  recommended  "  the  establishment  of  a  Dental  College,  in  accordance  with  the  plan  pro- 
posed by  the  Medical  Faculty."  This  report  was  laid  upon  the  table.  On  June  29,  1867,  the  report 
was  recommitted  "  with  instructions  to  report  more  in  detail." 

At  a  meeting  held  July  17,  1867,  this  committee  submitted  a  report  recom- 
mending the  adoption  of  the  following  votes  :  — 

"Voted,  To  establish  a  Dental  School  in  the  University. 

"Voted,  To  establish  a  Professorship  of  Dental  Pathology  and  Therapeutics  in  this  School.  The 
professor  shall  be  a  graduate  of  a  medical  school,  with  a  medical  degree,  and  his  duties  shall  be  to 
investigate  and  teach  the  fundamental  laws  of  Anatomy,  Physiology,  and  Medicine,  with  their  special 
application  to  the  teeth  and  their  diseases,  and  to  dental  operations  and  treatment.  He  shall  hold 
office  during  the  pleasure  of  the  Corporation  acting  with  the  consent  of  the  Overseers,  and  be  sub- 
ject to  such  orders  and  statutes  as  shall  from  time  to  time  be  made  by  the  President  and  Fellows, 
with  the  consent  of  the  Board  of  Overseers.  His  salary  and  compensation  shall,  until  otherwise  or- 
dered, be  derived  wholly  from  the  fees  paid  by  the  students,  which  fees  shall  be  the  same  as  in  the 
Medical  School. 

"Voted,  To  establish  a  Professorship  of  Operative  Dentistry  in  the  Dental  School,  the  professor  to 
have  received  a  medical  degree,  and  to  have  graduated  from  a  medical  school  ;  his  duties  shall  be 
to  make  himself  acquainted  with  the  best  methods  known  at  any  time  of  performing  dental  opera- 
tions of  every  kind,  and  to  teach  the  same  in  lectures,  and  as  far  as  practicable  by  clinical  instruc- 
tion. His  tenure  of  office  and  his  compensation  to  be  determined  as  those  of  the  Professor  of 
Dental  Pathology  and  Therapeutics. 

"  Voted,  To  establish  a  Professorship  of  Mechanical  Dentistry  in  the  Dental  School  ;  the  professor 
to  have  received  a  medical  degree.  His  duties  shall  be  to  acquaint  himself  with  the  best-known 
mechanical  appliances  and  manufactures  which  are  subsidiary  to  the  art  of  dentistry,  and  to  teach 
the  modes  of  manufacturing  and  applying  them.  His  tenure  of  office  and  compensation  to  be  deter- 
mined as  those  of  the  Professor  of  Dental  Pathology  and  Therapeutics. 


THE   DENTAL   SCHOOL.  273 

"Voted,  That  the  Faculty  of  the  Dental  School  consist,  until  otherwise  ordered,  of  the  President 
of  the  University,  the  Professor  of  Dental  Pathology  and  Therapeutics,  the  Professor  of  Operative 
Dentistry,  the  Professor  of  Mechanical  Dentistry,  the  Parkman  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology> 
the  Professor  of  Surgery,  and  the  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  Medical  School. 

"Voted,  That  an  appropriate  degree  be  conferred  upon  each  candidate  of  adult  age,  of  good  char- 
acter, who  has  pursued  professional  studies  three  years  under  competent  instructors,  and  attended 
two  full  courses  of  lectures  in  a  dental  school,  or  medical  college  giving  dental  instruction,  of  which 
courses  the  second  shall  have  been  in  this  School ;  provided  such  candidate  maintain  a  thesis,  and 
convince  the  Professors  of  Operative  and  Mechanical  Dentistry  of  his  ability  to  perform  skilfully  the 
operations  of  his  art." 

The   report   was   accepted,   and   the   votes   recommended   were   adopted. 

On  November  30,  1867,  Dr.  Daniel  Harwood  was  chosen  Professor  of  Dental 
Pathology  and  Therapeutics ;  and  Dr.  Nathan  C.  Keep,  Professor  of  Mechanical 
Dentistry. 

On  March  19,  1868,  pursuant  to  a  call  from  President  Thomas  Hill,  was  held 
the  first  meeting  of  the   Dental   Faculty  in  the   Library  of  the  Medical  College. 

Present :  President  Thomas  Hill,  D.  D.,  Professors  Oliver  W.  Holmes,  M.  D., 
Henry  J.   Bigelow,   M.  D.,   John    Bacon,   M.  D.,   Daniel    Harwood,   M.  D.,   Nathan 

C.  Keep,    M.  D.      No  record   was   made  of  any   business    transacted,  except   the 
appointment   of  Dr.    Keep   to   be    Dean    of  the    Faculty. 

At  the  third  Faculty  meeting,  Dr.  Harwood,  whose  views  had  been  all  along 
at  variance  with  those  of  the  other  professors,  inasmuch  as  he  desired  the 
establishment  of  a  single  Chair  of  Dentistry  in  the  Medical  School  instead  of 
a  full-fledged  Dental  School,  sent  in  his  resignation,  which  was  accepted  by 
the  Corporation,  June  5,  1868.  The  Faculty  presented  the  name  of  Thomas 
Barnes  Hitchcock  to  the  Corporation  to  fill  Dr.  Harwood's  place,  and  that  of 
Dr.  George  T.  Moffatt  for  the  Chair  of  Operative  Dentistry ;  and  on  June  5, 
1868,  these  elections  were  made  by  the  Corporation.     On  the  same  day,  Luther 

D.  Shepard  was  chosen   Adjunct   Professor  of  Operative   Dentistry. 

On  July  15,  1868,  the  Corporation  amended  their  vote  of  July  17,  1867,  in 
regard  to  the  requisitions  for  the  degree  of  the  Dental  School  by  inserting 
therein  the  following  words :  "  But  five  years  passed  in  the  practice  of  dentis- 
try may  be  considered  a  substitute  for  the  first  course  of  lectures."  The  School 
opened   in    November,   1868,  with    a   full   corps   of  teachers  and  sixteen  students. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Corporation  held  Februaiy  27,  1869,  on  the  recommen- 
dation of  the  Dental  Faculty,  it  was  voted  that  the  degree  conferred  upon 
graduates  of  the  School  be  "  D.  M.  D.,  Dentaris  Medicinas  Doctor";  and  on 
March  6,  1869,  was  held  the  first  examination  for  this  degree.  Six  students 
were   passed   at   this   examination. 

On  October  26,  1869,  Thomas  H.  Chandler,  A.M.,  was  appointed  Adjunct 
Professor  of  Mechanical  Dentistry.  On  July  8,  1870,  Nathaniel  W.  Hawes  was 
appointed    Assistant    Professor   of  Operative    Dentistry. 


2  74  THE  DENTAL  SCHOOL. 

In  September,  1870,  the  house  No.  50  Allen  Street  was  bought  for  the  School, 
and  subsequently  altered  for  its  uses ;  and  the  School  thus  obtained  for  the 
first  time  a  permanent  habitation.  A  representation  having  been  made  to  the 
Corporation  that,  under  the  votes  of  July  17,  1867,  establishing  the  professor- 
ships, no  graduate  of  the  School  could  ever  be  one  of  its  professors,  unless  he 
was  also  a  graduate  of  a  medical  school,  it  was  voted  by  them,  October  16, 
1 87 1,  to  rescind  so  much  of  the  votes  as  required  the  Professors  of  Operative 
and    Mechanical    Dentistry    to    be   doctors   of   medicine. 

On  November  13,  1871,  Dr.  Keep  resigned  his  professorship,  on  account  of 
ill  health,  and  his  adjunct,  Thomas  H.  Chandler,  was  appointed  to  fill  his  place. 
Experience  had  shown  that  the  clause  in  the  statute  concerning  the  dental 
degree,  allowing  "  five  years  in  the  practice  of  dentistry  to  be  considered  a  substi- 
tute for  the  first  course  of  lectures,"  acted  injuriously  as  an  inducement  for 
taking  but  one  course  of  lectures  at  the  School ;  and  that  it  was  impossible  to 
distinguish  between  reputable  and  useful  practice  and  the  opposite ;  therefore,  on 
the  recommendation  of  the  Dental  Faculty,  the  clause  permitting  this  substitu- 
tion was  stricken  out  by  vote  of  the  Corporation  on  December  18,   1871. 

It  being  thought  advisable  to  give  such  students  as  wished  it  an  opportu- 
nity to  spend  their  whole  period  of  tuition  under  the  instruction  of  the  School, 
instead  of  forcing  them  into  private  offices  over  which  the  ofiicers  of  the  School 
had  no  control,  and  of  which  they  often  had  no  knowledge,  it  was  determined 
in  February,  1872,  to  establish  a  summer  session,  to  continue  four  months  after 
the  close  of  the  winter  session,  attendance  at  which  was  to  be  considered 
equivalent  to  private  pupilage  during  the  same  period.  At  the  examination  for 
degrees,  of  February  10,  1872,  important  changes  for  the  better  were  made,  the 
examination  being  written  instead  of  oral,  and  each  candidate  being  required  to 
pass  satisfactorily  in  all  the  subjects,  instead  of  in  a  majority  of  them  as  here- 
tofore. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Dental  Faculty,  held  February  24,  1875,  an  entire  change 
in  the  curriculum  of  the  School,  to  take  full  effect  in  1876,  was  recommended 
to  the  Corporation.  The  new  scheme  was  adopted  by  the  Corporation,  March 
I,  1875.  Instead  of  a  single  course  of  instruction,  covering  four  months,  and 
repeated  every  year,  two  terms  of  eight  and  a  half  months,  of  which  the  first 
term  is  identical  with  the  first  year  of  the  Medical  School,  are  to  be  provided. 
This  great  change  is  made  in  order  to  give  dentists  a  higher  education,  —  an 
object  which  the  School  has  steadily  pursued,  although  it  has  moved  only  so 
fast  as  seemed  warranted  by  the  expectations  of  the  profession  and  the  public. 
It  is  hoped  that  even  this  advance  will  prove  to  be  but  one  step  in  a  series, 
and  that  the  near  future  will  see  still  further  progress  in  the  same  direction. 


THOMAS  HENDERSON  CHANDLER. 

Thomas  Henderson  Chandler  was  born  in  Boston,  July  4,  1824.  After  pass- 
ing through  the  grammar  and  high  schools,  he  entered  the  Latin  School  in 
1841,  under  Mr.  Dixwell.  Entered  Harvard  College  in  1844,  and  was  graduated 
with  the  Class  of  1848.  Being  unable  to  continue  study,  through  weakness  of 
eyes,  he  applied  for  and  was  appointed  to  the  position  of  usher  in  the  Endi- 
cott  Grammar  School  in  September  of  that  year.  In  July,  1850,  he  resigned, 
and  entered  the  office  of  Davis  and  Sanger,  lawyers,  in  Boston;  and  in  Septem- 
ber, 1 85 1,  entered  the  Harvard  Law  School.  In  January,  1853,  having  taken 
the  degree  of  LL.  B.,  his  eyes  again  giving  out,  he  accepted  an  ushership  at  the 
Public  Latin  School  of  Boston,  under  Master  Gardner,  where  he  taught  three 
years.  In  December,  1855,  he  bought  the  private  school,  called  the  Park  Latin 
School,  kept  for  many  years  by  David  B.  Tower,  under  Park  Street  Church, 
in  Boston;  and  in  September,  1858,  sold  out  again,  and  began  the  study  of  den- 
tistry. In  1869  he  was  appointed  Adjunct  Professor  of  Mechanical  Dentistry  in 
the  Harvard  Dental  School,  and  Professor  in  1872,  upon  the  resignation  of  Dr. 
N.  C.  Keep,  at  which  time  he  also  received  from  the  corporation  the  honorary 
degree  of  D.  M.  D. 

On  the  death  of  Dr.  T.  B.  Hitchcock,  in  1874,  he  was  appointed  dean  of  the 
School.  He  was  President  of  the  Massachusetts  Dental  Society  from  1869  to 
1872.  His  literary  work  has  been  papers  in  the  dental  journals,  addresses 
before  dental  societies,  and  the  translation,  in  1873,  of  Leber  and  Rottenstein's 
Treatise  on  Dental  Caries. 


GEORGE  TUFTON  MOFFATT. 

George  Tufton  Moffatt  was  born  in  Roxbury,  August  7,  1836.  Was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools  of  his  native  town  until  thirteen  years  of  age,  when, 
removing  to  the  western  part  of  the  State,  he  completed  his  school  education  at 
Williston  Seminary  in  Easthampton,  and  at  the  high  school  in  Holyoke.  A 
natural  mechanical  and  manipulative  skill  seeming  to  point  to  the  pursuit  of 
some  of  the  useful  arts  as  a  profession,  he  finally  chose  the  pursuit  of  dentistry, 
and  commenced  his  studies  under  the  tuition  of  Dr.  Joshua  Tucker  of  Boston, 
in  1857.  He  also  entered  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  and  pursued  the  study 
of  medicine  under  the  private  instruction  of  Dr.  Winslow  Lewis.  Graduated  from 
the  Medical  School  in  the  Class  of  i860,  and  entered  immediately  upon  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession,  still  retaining  his  association  with  Dr.  Tucker,  —  an  asso- 
ciation which  has  remained  unbroken  to  the  present  time. 

Upon  the  establishment  of  the  Harvard  Dental  School,  in  1868,  Dr.  Moffatt 
was  appointed  to  the  chair  of  Operative  Dentistry ;  Dr.  Nathan  C.  Keep  occu- 
pying the  chair  of  Mechanical  Dentistry,  and  Dr.  Thomas  Barnes  Hitchcock  that 
of  Dental  Pathology  and  Therapeutics. 

Dr.  Moffatt  has  been  President  of  the  Massachusetts  Dental  Society,  is  a 
Fellow  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  is  an  officer  of  the  American  Acad- 
emy of  Dental  Science,  a  member  of  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  a 
member  of  the  American  Association,  corresponding  member  of  the  Odonto- 
logical  Society  of  New  York,  etc. 


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THE    LAWRENCE   SCIENTIFIC    SCHOOL. 


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Zoological  Hall. 


THE    LAWRENCE    SCIENTIFIC   SCHOOL. 


Foundation  of  the  School  in  1847,  by  a  Gift  of  Mr.  Abbott  Lawrence.  —  Description  of  Law- 
rence Hall.  —  Organization  of  the  School  under  Professors  Horsford  and  Agassiz.  — 
The  School  established  on  a  new  financial  Basis  in  1849. — Lieutenant  Eustis  of  West 
Point  organizes  the  Engineering  Department.  —  Zoological  Hall  erected.  —  Professor 
Agassiz's  Collections  purchased.  —  The  Observatory  made  a  distinct  Department  of  the 
University  in  1854.  —  Contributions  for  the  Scientific  School.  —  Professor  C.  W.  Eliot 
has  Charge  of  the  Chemical  Department.  —  Mr.  Edward  Pearce  takes  Charge  of  the 
Engineering  Department  during  the  Absence  of  Professor  Eustis.  —  Professorship  founded 
BY  Hon.  Samuel  Hooper  in  1864.  —  Gift  of  Mr.  James  Lawrence. — Plan  of  Consolidation 
with  the  Institute  of  Technology.  —  Lawrence  Hall  remodelled  in  1871.  —  Change  in 
the  Organization  of  the  School. 

A  QUARTER  of  a  cctitury  has  passed  since  the  first  great  step  was  taken  in  organ- 
izing that  new  system  which,  though  still  in  a  measure  undeveloped  and  tentative, 
has,  by  general  consent,  received  the  name  of  the  "  new  education."  Mr.  Abbott 
Lawrence,  of  Boston,  appreciating  the  "  necessity  of  education  bearing  on  the  great 
industries  of  the  country,  made  to  Harvard  College  what  in  those  days  was  called 
a  princely  gift.  Thus  was  founded  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School  at  Cambridge ; 
and  thus  did  industrial  studies  get  their  first  foothold  in  a  great  University." 
Mr.  Lawrence's  letter  to  the  Corporation  is  dated  June  7,  1847.  In  this  letter,  after 
stating  his   own  views  as   to  the   existing  need  of  education  in  practical  science, 


28o  THE   LAWRENCE    SCIENTIFIC    SCHOOL. 

and  sketching  a  plan  of  organization  for  the  new  School  which  he  proposes  to 
found,  he  offers  for  the  acceptance  of  the  President  and  Fellows  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Hon.  Samuel  A.  Eliot,  the  Treasurer  of 
the  College,  in  his  report  for  that  year,  says  :  "  It  has  met  with  that  universal  appro- 
bation which  its  magnitude,  its  generosity,  its  appropriateness  to  the  wants  of  the 
country,  its  wise  forecast  and  expansion  of  views,  deserve.  It  is  supposed  to  be 
the  largest  amount  ever  given  at  one  time,  during  the  lifetime  of  the  donor,  to  any 
public  institution  in  this  country ;  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  in  what 
way  fifty  thousand  dollars  could  probably  be  made  productive  of  greater  good 
than  in  the  cultivation  of  a  kind  of  knowledge,  the  want  of  which  is  beginning 
to  be  strongly  felt  in  this  country,  and  the  possession  of  which  will  develop  our 
resources,  both  intellectual  and  physical,  with  a  rapidity,  a  certainty,  and  an  ad- 
vantage which  will,  perhaps,  surprise  the  most  sanguine.  The  knowledge  acquired 
will  be  found  to  be  applicable,  not  only  in  the  ways  and  on  the  subjects  which 
are  now  known  to  be  open  to  its  use,  but  in  a  multitude  of  directions  and  on  a 
variety  of  subjects  in  relation  to  which  its  importance  cannot  at  present  be  ap- 
preciated, nor  even  foreseen." 

Hon.  Edward  Everett,  the  President  of  the  University,  in  his  report  for  the 
same  year,  speaking  of  the  plan  of  organization  of  the  new  School,  says  :  "  It  was 
the  object  of  the  government  of  the  University,  in  this  way,  to  meet  a  want 
more  and  more  felt  in  the  community,  —  that  of  a  place  ol  systematic  instruction 
in  those  branches  of  science  which  are  more  immediately  connected  with  the 
great  industrial  interests  of  the  country :  such  as  Chemistry  in  its  various  appli- 
cations to  the  arts  of  life  ;  Engineering  in  its  several  departments ;  Zoology  and 
Geology,  with  the  other  kindred  branches  of  Natural  History." 

No  time  was  lost  in  organization,  but  the  School  was  opened  at  the  next  aca- 
demic term,  although  only  two  of  its  departments  were  represented.  Professor 
Horsford,  then  Rumford  Professor  in  the  College,  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
Chemical  Department,  and  Professor  Agassiz  was  appointed  to  the  chair  of 
Zoology  and  Geology.  During  the  academic  year  1 847  -  48,  the  instructions  of 
the  Rumford  Professor  were  given  in  a  temporary  laboratory  fitted  up  for  the 
use  of  his  special  students  in  University  Hall.  Professor  Agassiz  gave  courses 
of  geological  and  zoological  lectures,  and  stored  his  collections  in  cellars  and  out- 
buildings, as  he  could  find  room  for  them.  In  his  report  for  that  year.  President 
Everett  remarks :  "  The  School  is,  of  course,  in  its  infancy.  Till  the  completion 
of  the  buildings  required  for  its  accommodation,  the  appointment  of  a  Professor 
of  Engineering,  and  the  commencement  of  the  scientific  collections  required  for 
the  illustration  of  its  various  departments,  it  cannot  be  seen  in  the  full  operation 
of  its  various  branches.  In  the  mean  time,  however,  a  beginning  has  been  made 
in  a  satisfactory  manner." 


THE   LAWRENCE   SCIENTIFIC    SCHOOL.  28 1 

About  the  middle  of  the  first  term  of  the  academic  year  1848-49,  the  labora- 
tory in  Lawrence  Hall  was  completed,  and  opened  to  the  occupation  of  the  class. 
This  entire  building  was  devoted  to  the  Chemical -Department.  It  was  considered, 
at  the  time,  a  model  building  for  its  purpose.  The  front,  or  south  end,  was  com- 
posed of  two  stories,  of  eighteen  feet  each,  the  lecture-room  below,  the  laboratory 
above.  The  north  end  of  the  building  was  composed  of  four  stories,  of  eight  and 
a  half  feet  each,  each  story  divided  into  a  number  of  small  rooms.  The  dwelling- 
house  which  was  united  with  it  on  the  east  was  the  Professor's  residence,  and 
his  study  and  private  laboratory  were  in  the  main  building.  Lawrence  Hall,  as 
it  now  stands,  is  really  only  one  wing  of  the  structure  which  Mr.  Lawrence  pro- 
posed to  erect.  The  full  project  contained  a  central  building  running  east  and 
west,  and  another  west  wing,  the  counterpart  of  the  present  building. 

In  September,  1849,  Lieutenant  Eustis,  of  the  United  States  Corps  of  Engi- 
neers, then  First  Assistant  Professor  of  Engineering  at  the  West  Point  Military 
Academy,  was  invited  to  come  to  Cambridge  and  organize  the  Department  of 
Engineering.  He  found  the  several  departments  of  the  School  involved  in  one 
general  bill  of  expenses  which  would  inevitably  swamp  the  whole  institution  in  a 
very  short  time,  and  the  invitation  was  respectfully  declined.  It  is  due  to  the 
memory  of  Mr.  Lawrence,  as  showing  the  interest  which  he  took  in  the  School, 
to  state  here  that,  although  he  was  then  just  on  the  point  of  departure  for 
Europe  as  Minister  of  the  United  States,  he  was  so  anxious  to  see  this  post 
filled,  that  he  offered  to  guarantee  to  Lieutenant  Eustis  $  2,500  a  year,  for  five 
years,  in  the  full  belief  that  the  success  of  the  institution  would  provide  for  the 
salary  after  that  time.  When  it  is  recollected  that  the  salary  of  a  professor  in 
the  College,  at  that  time,  was  only  $  1,800,  this  was  a  very  generous  proposition. 
The  financial  union  of  the  departments,  however,  was  regarded  as  fatal  to  their 
existence,  and  this  proposition  also  was  declined.  But,  as  the  result  of  a  confer- 
ence between  all  the  parties  interested,  Mr.  Lawrence,  just  before  his  departure 
for  Europe,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Corporation,  dated  September  20,  1849,  in 
which  he  proposes  to  withdraw  a  previous  letter  of  July  19,  1847,  in  which  he 
had  enumerated  certain  conditions  of  his  donation,  and  to  establish  the  School 
upon  a  new  financial  basis.  In  this  letter,  he  says :  "  Under  these  circumstances, 
I  feel  no  reluctance  to  acknowledge  that  some  of  my  expectations  have  proved 
erroneous,  and  that,  from  the  experience  of  the  last  two  years  of  efforts  and  ex- 
periment, a  better  plan  may  be  devised  than  that  which  was  arranged  at  the 
time."  He  then  proposes  to  set  aside  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  of  the  unex- 
pended balance  of  his  original  donation,  as  a  fund  for  the  Professorship  of  Engi- 
neering, in  order  to  place  this  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  Rumford  Professor- 
ship. He  offers  to  the  Corporation  $  1,500  a  year,  for  five  years,  as  the  salary 
of  Professor  Agassiz,  and  he  separates  the   departments   entirely,  in    all   financial 


282  THE   LAWRENCE   SCIENTIEIC   SCHOOL. 

matters,  making  each  responsible  only  for  its  own  current  expenses.  He  adds: 
"  I  make  this  provision,  fully  aware  that  little  or  nothing  will  remain  for  the  pur- 
pose I  formerly  entertained  of  erecting  a  building  of  considerable  size,  to  contain 
the  models  of  the  Engineer  and  the  collections  of  the  Geologist,  ....  but  I 
must  express  the  hope  that  the  government  of  the  College  will  find,  or  will  be 
supplied  with,  the  means  to  furnish  shelter,  at  least,  to  collections  of  such  value, 
by  hiring  or  erecting  some  building  which  may  answer  the  purpose  for  a  time. 
With  respect  to  a  fund,  the  income  of  which  should  be  reserved  for  de- 
fraying the  expenses  attendant  upon  making  scientific  collections,  it  is  not  pos- 
sible for  me  at  present,  in  the  hurry  of  my  engagements,  on  the  eve  of  my 
departure   for   several   years,  to   make   adequate   provision." 

The  appointment  was  again  offered  to  Lieutenant  Eustis,  and  in  November, 
1849,  he  resigned  his  commission  in  the  Corps  of  Engineers,  and  came  to  Cam- 
bridge to  organize  his  department.  It  would  amuse  those  who  only  know  our 
scientific  schools  as  they  now  are,  if  they  could  go  back  to  those  days  and  see 
how  very  indefinite  were  the  views  even  of  their  founders.  To  the  inquiry.  What 
is  meant  by  a  Department  of  Engineering,  what  instruction  does  it  comprise,  and 
how  shall  it  be  given  ?  no  definite  answer  could  be  obtained.  Finally,  in  despair, 
a  direct  appeal  was  made  to  an  ex-president  of  the  College,  as  one  who  was  sup- 
posed to  be  thoroughly  conversant  with  this  whole  movement  from  its  first  con- 
ception, and  this  was  his  reply :  "  Well,  my  idea  would  be,  that  you  should  come 
to  Cambridge  and  put  up  a  sign  as  a  surveyor,  and  receive  young  men  into  your 
office."  What  would  be  thought  to-day  of  such  a  standard  for  the  instruction  to 
be  given  in  even  the  lowest  of  our  engineering  schools  ? 

The  next  problem  to  be  solved  was.  Where  shall  the  necessary  exercises  of  the 
Engineering  Department  be  held.''  Lawrence  Hall  was  entirely  devoted  to  the 
Chemical  Department,  and  then,  as  now,  there  were  no  spare  rooms  to  be  devoted 
to  new  department's.  In  this  emergency  the  College  erected,  on  the  grounds  west 
of  Lawrence  Hall,  a  wooden  building,  which  was  then  nameless,  but  which,  since 
its  removal  to  its  present  situation  near  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology, 
has  received  the  name  of  Zoological  Hall.  It  will,  perhaps,  be  recollected  by 
some,  that  a  large  white  church,  belonging  to  the  Baptist  denomination,  and 
which  now  stands  on  North  Avenue,  a  short  distance  below  Porter's  Station, 
formerly  occupied  the  southwest  corner  of  what  is  now  the  Scientific  School  en- 
closure. The  wooden  building  referred  to  was  erected  in  a  respectfully  retired 
position,  between  this  church  and  Lawrence  Hall.  This  building  possesses  more 
than  ordinary  interest.  For,  not  only  the  Engineering  Department  here  got  its 
first  foothold  in  connection  with  the  University,  but  here  was  the  real  nucleus  of 
the  present  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology.  The  lower  story  of  this  structure 
was   devoted   to    the   Engineering  Department,  the   upper   to   the  Department   of 


THE  LAWRENCE   SCIENTIFIC   SCHOOL.  283 

Zoology  and  Geology ;  and  here,  for  the  first  time,  Professor  Agassiz  had  a  place 
for  his  collections.  In  his  report  for  the  year  1849-50,  President  Sparks  says: 
"  A  building  has  been  erected  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Engineering  Depart- 
ment, with  rooms  suitable  for  the  exercises  of  the  Professor  with  the  students. 
In  the  same  building  are  apartments  for  Professor  Agassiz's  valuable  collections 
illustrative  of  Natural  History  and  Geology,  consisting  of  many  thousand  speci- 
mens obtained  in  Europe  and  this  country.  These  specimens  are  now  in  the 
process  of  being  classified  and  arranged  in  appropriate  cases."  It  is  true  that  the 
President  goes  on  to  state  the  necessity  of  a  working  laboratory,  and  of  a  library 
for  the  special  use  of  the  students  in  the  Scientific  School.  But  it  may  be  in- 
structive to  those  who  only  know  the  University  as  it  is,  even  with  its  present 
wants,  to  compare  7iow  with  theti,  and  see  from  what  small  beginnings  things 
have  grown  to  their  present  stature.  The  zoological  collections  were  displayed  in 
one  room,  occupying  the  upper  story  of  this  wooden  building ;  and  a  little  room, 
about  ten  feet  square,  served  as  a  working-room.  On  the  lower  floor,  devoted  to 
the  Engineering  Department,  a  piece  was  cut  off  on  the  north  end,  and  its  walls 
graced  with  blackboards,  as  a  recitation-room.  A  drawing-room,  one  recitation- 
room,  and  a  case  of  surveying  instruments,  constituted  all  the  appliances  of  the 
Engineering  Department.  It  may  be  said  that,  as  all  the  instruction  was  to  be 
given  by  the  Professor  in  person,  one  recitation-room  was  enough,  with  an  addi- 
tional room  where  those  not  immediately  attending  a  lecture  or  recitation  might 
be  engaged  in  drawing.  This  might  be  true  for  the  first  term;  but  as  years  pro- 
ceeded, and  the  subdivisions  of  classes  multiplied,  it  was  found  to  be  as  inadequate 
as  the  one  room  was  for  the  accumulating  fishes  overhead. 

The  financial  condition  of  the  School  was  on  a  par  with  these  accommodations. 
One  half  of  the  original  donation  had  been  spent  on  Lawrence  Hall  for  the 
Chemical  Department,  the  other  half  was  set  aside  as  a  fund  for  the  Professor- 
ship of  Engineering.  The  salary  of  the  Professor  of  Zoology  was  temporarily 
provided  for  by  Mr.  Lawrence,  but  nothing  remained  for  carrying  on  the  School. 
In  fact,  the  Professor  of  Zoology  depended  upon  private  aid  in  making  his  col- 
lections, and  the  Professor  of  Engineering  imported  from  Europe,  at  his  own  ex- 
pense, models  of  stereotomy,  which  were  kept  for  many  years  in  his  private  house 
and  transported  to  the  School  as  they  were  needed.  All  the  books  purchased  at 
this  time  were  also  kept  in  his  private  house,  for  want  of  a  room  in  which  to 
place  them.  The  School  was  thus  left  entirely  dependent  upon  fees  for  its  sup- 
port, beyond  a  partial  provision  for  the  salary  of  the  several  professors. 

The  Engineering  Department  was  organized  in  March,  1850.  Nine  students 
appeared  on  the  first  day,  and  before  the  end  of  the  term  the  number  had  risen 
to  eighteen.  President  Sparks,  in  his  report  for  1850-51,  states:  "The  success 
of  the  Scientific  School,  since  the  new  arrangement,  has  thus  far   fully  answered 


284  THE  LAWRENCE   SCIENTIFIC    SCHOOL. 

the  expectations  of  its  friends.  The  number  of  special  students  in  all  the  branches, 
in  the  course  of  the  year,  has  been  seventy-four.  In  the  Chemical  Department 
the  present   number   is    twenty-three ;    in    the   Engineering    Department,  thirty-six. 

The  classification  and  arrangement  of  the  specimens  illustrative  of  Geology, 

Zoology,  and  other  parts  of  Natural  History,  have  been  completed.  The  collec- 
tion is  composed  of  thirty-five  thousand  specimens  from  Europe,  and  a  large 
number  procured  from  various  parts  of  America.  This  extensive  and  valuable 
cabinet  is  the  property  of  Professor  Agassiz,  but  it  is  open  to  the  inspection  and 
practical  use  of  all  students  in  the  Scientific  School  who  are  devoted  to  the 
studies  which  it  is  designed  to  illustrate." 

The  great  event  of  the  year  1852-53  was  the  purchase  of  Professor  Agassiz 's 
collections,  a  subscription  to  the  amount  of  $  10,000  having  been  raised  for  this 
purpose  among  the  friends  of  the  College. 

The  following  extract  from  President  Walker's  report  for  1853-54  gives  an 
account  of  the  next  change :  "  The  number  of  students  attending  the  Scientific 
School  continues  to  increase,  especially  in  the  Engineering  Department.  Last 
year  the  whole  number  was  seventy ;  now  it  is  eighty.  The  rapid  and  constant 
accumulation  of  the  Geological  and  Zoological  collections  by  Professor  Agassiz 
has  made  it  necessary  to  give  up  to  his  use  exclusively  the  building  which  was 
erected  a  few  years  ago  for  him  and  Professor  Eustis,  and  to  provide  temporary 
accommodations  for  Professor  Eustis  elsewhere.  Since  the  purchase  of  these  col- 
lections by  some  of  the  friends  of  the  College,  mentioned  in  the  last  report,  addi- 
tions have  been  made  by  Professor  Agassiz,  at  an  expense  of  several  thousand 
dollars,  which  belong  of  course  to  him.  Meanwhile,  the  Corporation  have  no 
funds  at  their  disposal,  either  at  present  or  prospectively,  for  the  support  of  this 
noble  institution,  so  necessary  to  science,  and  so  honorable  to  the  country." 

The  Engineering  Department  was  transferred  to  Lawrence  Hall.  The  large 
lecture-room  was  transformed  into  a  drawing-room,  accommodating  over  forty 
tables.  The  furnaces  were  removed  from  the  adjoining  laboratory  on  the  same 
floor,  and  a  partition  built  across  it,  converting  it  into  two  recitation-rooms. 
This  was  a  change  for  the  better,  and,  although  only  a  very  partial  remedy  for 
existing  evils,  it  was  a  change  which  had  become  absolutely  necessary.  There 
were  then  two  terms  in  each  year,  and  students  were  admitted  at  the  commence- 
ment of  each  term.  They  were  divided  into  classes  in  Descriptive  Geometry, 
Analytical  Geometry,  Surveying,  Field-work,  Drawing,  Differential  and  Integral 
Calculus,  Mechanics,  and  Constructive  Engineering.  The  student  who  entered  at 
the  second  term  did  not  come  in  as  an  advanced  student,  but  the  whole  of  this 
course  of  study  was  repeated  every  term  with  the  several  classes.  Here  were 
eight  classes  to  be  looked  after  and  provided  for  in  these  narrow  quarters.  The 
College  furnished  no  assistance  in    the  instruction ;   therefore   the   best   pupils   of 


THE  LAWRENCE   SCIENTIFIC   SCHOOL.  285 

advanced  classes  were  appointed  as  instructors  for  the  lower  classes.  Without 
such  assistance  the  work  could  not  have  been  carried  on ;  and  the  institution  may 
point  with  some  pride  to  the  record,  that  nearly  fifty  per  cent  of  those  who  have 
thus  served  as  assistants  here  have  since  their  graduation  filled  the  post  of  Pro- 
fessor or  President  in  other  colleges. 

In  addition  to  his  original  endowment  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  Mr.  Lawrence 
had  up  to  this  time  contributed  one  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  yearly  for  the 
salary  of  Professor  Agassiz ;  and  at  his  death,  which  took  place  August  18,  1855, 
he  bequeathed  to  the  College  fifty  thousand  dollars  more,  in  trust,  for  the  same 
general  objects.  The  income  of  this  new  fund  was  entirely  devoted  to  the  De- 
partment of  Geology  and  Zoology.  President  Walker,  referring  to  Mr.  Lawrence's 
death,  says :  "  He  lived  to  see  that  his  clear  and  practical  judgment,  as  regards 
the  wants  of  the  community  and  the  best  means  of  satisfying  them,  would  not 
be  disappointed.  With  one  of  the  best  appointed  Laboratories  in  the  world,  with 
large  and  continually  increasing  Geological,  Anatomical,  and  Mineralogical  Museums 
and  Cabinets,  with  all  the  necessary  facilities  for  the  study  of  Civil  Engineerino-, 
Botany,  Physics,  and  the  higher  Mathematics,  and  with  eminent  teachers  devoted 
severally  to  their  special  pursuits,  the  institution  cannot  fail  to  be  a  great  public 
blessing,  and  an  imperishable  monument  to  the  name  it  bears."  This  extract 
clearly  shows  that  all  the  scientific  collections  of  the  College  were  looked  upon 
as  forming  a  part  of  the  appliances  for  teaching  in  the  Scientific  School.  The 
Professors  who  had  charge  of  the  scientific  courses  for  the  undergraduates  of  the 
College  were  members  of  the  Faculty  of  the  Scientific  School ;  but  up  to  this 
time,  and  even  for  many  years  later,  their  connection  with  the  School  was  rather 
nominal  than  real.  The  teachers  were  ready,  but  the  students  did  not  present 
themselves.  All  students  were  "  special  students,"  both  in  fact  and  in  name,  and, 
with  very  few  exceptions,  they  were  found  in  the  three  Departments  of  Geology 
and  Zoology,  Chemistry,  and  Engineering.  The  triennial  catalogue  shows  that, 
up  to  the  year  1872,  the  degree  of  S.  B.  had  been  conferred  upon  one  hundred 
and  eighty-three  persons.  These  were  distributed  as  follows :  one  in  Compara- 
tive Anatomy ;  two  in  Mathematics ;  five  in  Botany ;  eleven  in  Geology  and 
Zoology ;  fifty-five  in  Chemistry ;  one  hundred  and  nine  in  Engineering.  As  the 
departments  with  the  largest  numbers  are  the  very  ones  in  which  the  smallest 
percentage  would  graduate,  no  further  proof  need  be  adduced  of  the  truth  of  the 
above  statements.  In  the  Engineering  Department  alone  the  whole  number  of 
students  during  this  period  was  four  hundred  and  sixty-one,  showing  that  less 
than  twenty-four  per  cent  have  reached  the  standard  required  for  a  degree. 

In  his  report  for  the  year  1855-56,  President  Walker  says:  "In  fulfilment  of 
the  purpose  of  its  founder,  and  of  the  just  expectations  of  the  community,  the 
Lawrence  Scientific   School   continues    to    afford    thorough   practical    instruction. 


286  THE  LAWRENCE   SCIENTIFIC    SCHOOL. 

under  the  best  facilities  and  advantages,  in  Cliemistry  and  Engineering.  At  the 
last  Commencement  the  number  of  students  admitted  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
in  Science,  after  having  passed  with  credit  a  severe  public  examination,  was 
greater  than  on  any  former  occasion.  The  geological  and  zoological  collections 
of  Professor  Agassiz  are  constantly  accumulating ;  but  as  there  is  no  proper  or 
safe  place  for  their  reception,  the  need  is  more  and  more  felt  of  a  spacious 
Museum  of  Natural  History,  such  as  would  be  an  honor  to  the  country,  reflect 
distinction  on  the  University,  and  essentially  promote  the  cause  of  science 
throughout  the  world.  During  the  past  year  the  Observatory  has  been  separated 
from  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  and  constituted  into  a  distinct  Department 
of  the  University;  this  change  being  understood  to  be  acceptable  to  all  the 
parties  interested,  and  also  in  accordance  with  the  declared  wishes  of  Mr.  Law- 
rence himself." 

During  the  next  two  years  nothing  occurred  materially  affecting  the  interests 
of  this  School.  In  December,  1858,  Mr.  William  Gray,  as  executor  of  the  will 
of  his  uncle,  Francis  C.  Gray,  gave  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  establishing  at 
Cambridge  a  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology.  This  led  to  other  contributions 
for  the  same  purpose,  and  on  the  31st  December,  1859,  President  Walker  re- 
ports :  "  The  great  event  of  the  year  affecting  the  condition  and  prospects  of  the 
Lawrence  Scientific  School  is  the  establishment  at  Cambridge  of  a  Museum  of 
Comparative  Zoology.  About  seventy-two  thousand  dollars  were  raised  by  sub- 
scription for  this  object;  to  which  the  State,  by  an  act  passed  April  2,  1859, 
has  added  a  grant  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  payable,  under  certain  con- 
ditions, from  the  avails  of  the  sales  of  lands  belonging  to  the  Commonwealth  in 
the  Back  Bay.  Out  of  the  funds  contributed  by  subscription  a  building  has 
already  been  erected  to  receive  the  collections ;  and  the  fitting  up  and  arrange- 
ment of  the  whole  are  in  such  a  state  of  forwardness  as  to  authorize  the  hope 
that  the  Museum  will  be  opened  for  purposes  of  instruction  the  next  term,  and 
for  public  exhibition  at  the  commencement  of  the  next  academic  year." 

The  property  of  the  Museum  now  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, but  the  free  use  of  the  collection  for  the  purposes  of  instruction  was  re- 
served to  the  College.  As  soon  as  the  collections  could  be  moved  into  the  new 
buildino-,  Zoological  Hall  also,  unwilling  to  be  left  behind  as  a  worthless  relic  of 
the  past,  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  its  former  occupants.  It  took  up  a  retired 
position  in  one  corner  of  the  Museum  grounds,  was  converted  into  a  dormitory, 
and  has  continued,  from  that  time,  to  give  shelter,  not  to  the  collections  them- 
selves, but  to  those  who  spend  their  time  in  arranging  and  classifying  them.  It 
is  not  an  imposing  structure,  and  can  hardly  be  called  handsome;  and  yet,  to 
the  multitudes  who  pass  down  Divinity  Avenue  to  visit  Agassiz's  Museum,  it 
would  have  an  interest  peculiarly  its  own,  could  they  realize  that  during  a  period 
of  ten  years  it  contained  all  his  collections. 


THE  LAWRENCE   SCIENTIFIC   SCHOOL.  287 

The  next  important  event  in  the  history  of  the  School  is  thus  announced  in 
President  Felton's  report,  dated  December,  1861  :  "At  the  close  of  the  last  aca- 
demic year,  a  change  was  made,  by  which  Professor  Horsford,  who,  since  the 
foundation  of  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  had  had  charge  of  the  Chemical 
Department  in  it,  was  placed  again  on  the  footing  of  his  predecessors  in  the 
Rumford  Professorship.  He  will,  hereafter,  deliver  lectures  on  the  Application  of 
Science  to  the  Arts  of  Life,  to  undergraduates  and  others,  as  was  done  by 
former  Rumford  Professors.  Professor  Charles  W.  Eliot  has  been  charged  with 
the  Chemical  Department  in  the  Scientific  School.  The  Scientific  Faculty  have 
at  present  under  consideration  a  plan  for  the  improvement  of  the  School  as  a 
place  of  scientific  and  practical  education.  They  hope  to  be  able  to  carry  it  into 
effect  the  next  year,  and  that  it  will  add  largely  to  the  utility  of  the  School; 
but  the  details  are  not  yet  sufficiently  matured  to  be  distinctly  stated  in  this  re- 
port. Some  other  measures  have  been  adopted,  in  the  hope  of  producing  a  more 
united  action  of  the  special  departments." 

Two  rooms  on  the  lower  floor  of  Lawrence  Hall,  at  the  north  end  of  the 
building,  which  had  up  to  this  time  been  used  by  Professor  Horsford  as  his 
study  and  private  laboratory,  were  now  given  up  to  the  Engineering  Department. 
The  private  laboratory  was  converted  into  a  lecture-room,  and  the  study  into  a 
recitation-room.  This  was  a  very  welcome  addition  to  the  facilities  for  carrying 
on  the  work  of  the  Department.  The  plans  for  improvement,  referred  to  in  the 
President's  report,  may  be  briefly  summarized  as  follows :  First,  a  general  two 
years'  course  of  study  was  proposed,  which  every  candidate  for  a  degree  was 
required  to  pursue,  before  entering  any  special  department ;  and,  secondly,  various 
schemes  for  a  preparatory  department  were  offered.  These  schemes  were  con- 
sidered and  reconsidered,  in  committees  and  by  the  whole  Faculty ;  the  new  regu- 
lations were  printed,  amended,  reprinted,  and  continued  to  occupy  the  time  and 
attention  of  the  Faculty,  during  the  next  two  years,  without  decisive  action. 
During  the  year  1862-63,  while  Professor  Eustis  was  temporarily  absent  on 
military  service,  his  Department  being  under  the  charge  of  his  assistant,  Mr. 
Edward  Pearce,  and  the  general  supervision  of  Assistant-Professor  Eliot,  a  partial 
trial  was  made  of  combining  certain  courses  of  study  for  the  Departments  of 
Chemistry  and  Engineering.  This  would  seem  to  have  been  a  move  in  the  right 
direction ;  for  every  one  must  admit  that  the  Engineer  needs  to  know  something 
of  Chemistry,  and  that  the  Chemist  should  have  some  knowledge  of  Mathematics. 
Nevertheless,  the  combination  did  not  outlast  that  single  year  of  experiment. 

The  term  of  ofifice  of  Assistant-Professor  Eliot  expired  upon  the  ist  of  March, 
1863,  but  at  the  request  of  the  Corporation  he  continued  his  duties  to  the  close 
of  the  second  term.  President  Hill  says,  in  his  report  for  1862-63:  "Mean- 
while, the  Rumford  Professorship  had  become  vacant   by  the  resignation  of   Pro- 


28S  THE   LAWRENCE  SCIENTIFIC   SCHOOL. 

fessor  Horsford,  and  been  filled  by  the  election  of  Dr.  Wolcott  Gibbs ;  and 
the  Corporation  was  forced,  through  want  of  funds  for  the  Chemical  Department, 
to  consign  it  again  to  the  care  of  the  Rumford  Professor,  and  thus  lose  the  ser- 
vices of  Assistant-Professor  Eliot,  whose  administrative  talent  had  been,  in  various 
departments,  so  valuable  to  the  University."  Professor  Eustis  was  still  absent  on 
military  duty,  and  the  Engineering  Department  remained  in  charge  of  Mr.  Edward 
Pearce.  The  subject  of  reorganization  and  of  a  union  of  the  departments  was 
again  referred  to  a  committee;  and  as  early  as  October,  1863,  in  a  full  meeting 
of  the  Faculty,  it  was  voted :  "  That  it  is  not  desirable  that  students  should  be 
permitted  to  attend,  during  the  same  term,  the  two  Departments  of  Engineering  and 
Chemistry ;  and  further,  that  the  rules  now  existing  are  sufiicient,  when  properly 
interpreted,  to  cover  the  whole  course  of  study  in  the  Scientific  School."  Thus, 
after  two  years  of  discussion  and  one  of  partial  experiment,  the  School  delib- 
erately returned  to  the  same  methods  of  instruction  which  were  adopted  at  its 
foundation. 

With  the  beginning  of  the  academic  year  1864-65,  Professor  Eustis  resumed 
the  charge  of  the  Engineering  Department.  The  dwelling-house  adjoining  Law- 
rence Hall  was  this  year  given  up  to  the  use  of  the  School,  —  the  Engineering 
Department  occupying  the  lower  story,  and  the  Chemical  Department  the  upper 
story  and  basement.  By  this  change  each  department  gained  an  addition  of  three 
good  rooms.  The  parlors  on  the  first  floor  were  converted,  one  into  a  model- 
room,  the  other  into  a  recitation-room.  The  rooms  over  these  became  the  private 
laboratories  of  the  Rumford  Professor  and  his  assistants.  The  former  dining-room 
became  the  library,  and  the  room  over  it  was  fitted  up  for  the  storage  of  chem- 
icals and  for  other  special  purposes.  Thus,  fifteen  years  after  its  organization, 
the  Engineering  Department  found  itself  for  the  first  time  supplied  with  rooms 
wherein  to  store  its  books  and  models. 

In  President  Hill's  report  for  1864-65,  we  read:  "Hon.  Samuel  Hooper  has 
made  the  munificent  gift  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  found  a  Professorship  of 
Geology,  named  the  Sturgis- Hooper  Professorship.  This  Professorship  is  in- 
tended to  be  the  nucleus  of  a  School  of  Mining  and  Practical  Geology,  which,  at 
least  for  the  present,  shall   be  in    close  connection   with  the  Lawrence    Scientific 

School The  like  princely  gift  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  was  made  in  January, 

1865,  by  Mr.  James  Lawrence,  in  aid  of  the  Chemical  and  Engineering  Depart- 
ments in  the  Scientific  School.  Not  content  with  this  munificence,  Mr.  Lawrence 
added  the  sum  of  three  thousand  dollars,  to  increase  the  equipment  of  the  Chem- 
ical Laboratory,  and  to  purchase  models  for  the  Engineering  Department.  By 
these  gifts  he  has  completed  the  work  begun  by  his  honored  father,  and  put 
these  two  departments  in  an  efficient  pecuniary  condition,  —  departments  which,  in 
addition  to  their  former  usefulness,  must  furnish  the  necessary  basis  for  the  School 


THE  LAWRENCE   SCIENTIFIC   SCHOOL.  289 

of  Mining."  It  will  be  noticed  that  this  fund  for  the  first  time  provides  any 
means  for  the  support  of  these  two  departments.  Beyond  a  partial  provision,  by 
funds  in  trust,  for  the  payment  of  the  salaries  of  the  Professors,  these  two  depart- 
ments had,  up  to  this  time,  been  entirely  self-sustaining.  Each  was  required  to 
pay  from  the  fees  of  instruction  all  its  own  current  expenses,  and  a  part  of  the 
salary  of  its  Professor,  limited  at  this  time  to  three  thousand  dollars.  Any  sur- 
plus was  carried  to  the  credit  of  its  own  special  fund.  This  gift  of  Mr.  Law- 
rence was  a  great  boon  to  both  departments.  Instruction  in  French  and  German 
was  at  once  provided  for;  and  for  several  years  the  greater  part  of  the  income 
of  this  fund  for  the  Engineering  Department  was  spent  in  providing  its  library 
with  much-needed  books  of  reference.  In  his  report  for  1866-67,  President 
Hill  remarks  :  "  The  Lawrence  Scientific  School  has  continued  successfully  the 
instruction  of  its  own  pupils,  and  also  given  the  preliminary  instruction  in  En- 
gineering, Chemistry,  and  Mineralogy,  which  occupy  the  first  and  second  years 
of  the  students  in  the  School  of  Mining  and  Practical  Geology.  The  Mineral- 
ogy has  been  taught  by  Professor  Cooke,  at  Boylston  Hall,  to  a  class  of  success- 
ful and  enthusiastic  students ;  the  Engineering  and  Chemistry  have  been  pursued 
at  the  Scientific  School,  under  Professors  Eustis  and  Gibbs,  whose  departments 
have  been  constantly  improving  for  the  last  two  years,  by  their  judicious 
use  of  the  munificence  of  Hon.  James  Lawrence."  And  again,  in  his  report 
for  1867-68,  he  adds:  "The  Scientific  School  has,  through  the  munificence  of 
Mr.  James  Lawrence,  been  within  a  few  years  put  in  much  better  condition,  and 
is  now  capable  of  giving  to  its  students  a  higher  education  in  Mathematics, 
Engineering,  Chemistry,  Botany,  and  Zoology  than  can  be  obtained  elsewhere ;  yet 
it  needs  additional  endowments,  and  with  the  requisite  funds  might  be  made  much 
more  efficient.  It  has  not,  for  example,  sufficient  funds  to  enable  it  to  make  in- 
vestigations in  Organic  Chemistry;  and  neither  the  Engineering  Department  nor 
the  Rumford  Professorship  has  any  means  whatever  for  laboratory  work  in 
Mechanical  Technology." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  overestimate  the  value  of  this  gift  to  the  School ; 
and  it  came  just  when  it  was  most  wanted,  and  gave  new  vitality  to  the  two 
departments  which  then  really  constituted  the  School.  The  establishment 
of  numerous  scientific  and  technical  schools,  of  various  grades,  throughout  the 
country,  made  the  government  of  this  School  more  than  ever  resolved  to  main- 
tain the  high  standard  which  they  had  set  before  themselves  at  its  organization  ; 
and  they  had  arrived  at  a  point  when,  without  external  pecuniary  aid,  this  stand- 
ard could  not  be  maintained.  Even  with  the  aid  thus  given,  instead  of  being 
able  to  extend  the  engineering  course  to  four  years,  as  had  been  for  a  long  time 
desired,  it  was  found  difficult  to  provide  the  necessary  instruction  for  the  numer- 
ous classes  involved  in  a  three  years'  course.  From  the  first  organization  of  the 
School,  this  Department  had  been  trammelled  by  the  want  of  a  fund  for  the  em- 


290  THE   LAWRENCE   SCIENTIFIC   SCHOOL. 

ployment  of  permanent  assistant  instructors.  Up  to  this  time  it  had  been  depend- 
ent upon  the  services  of  its  advanced  pupils.  With  the  help  of  Mr.  James 
Lawrence's  fund,  it  was  able  to  emplo)'-  its  recent  graduates ;  but  the  compensation 
it  could  offer  was  so  small,  that  they  were  soon  drawn  away  to  other  institutions 
by  more  lucrative  offers.  Dr.  Peabody,  Acting  President  of  the  College,  in  speak- 
ing of  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  says,  in  his  report  for  1 868  -  69 :  "  It  is 
believed  that  the  advantages  which  it  offers  cannot  easily  be  surpassed,  if  equalled, 
by  those  afforded  at  any  similar  institution ;  and  the  severe  examinations,  by  which 
alone  a  degree  can  be  obtained,  or  a  student  be  permitted  to  rise  from  a  lower  to  a 
higher  class,  give  assurance  that  its  graduates  are  fully  qualified  for  the  several 
departments  of  scientific  service  upon  which  they  enter.  That  this  is  the  case  is 
indicated  by  the  very  large  number  of  its  graduates  that  have  been  chosen  to  pro- 
fessorships in  colleges  and  scientific  institutions." 

The  years  1869-70,  1870-71,  were  uneventful  in  the  history  of  the  School. 
In  June,  1870,  the  President  and  Fellows  of  Harvard  University  invited  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Institute  of  Technology  to  co-operate  with  them  in  a  plan  for 
consolidating  all  the  schools  of  applied  science  in  this  vicinity  at  the  Institute  in 
Boston.  A  committee  of  conference  was  appointed,  but  the  negotiation  did'  not 
succeed. 

The  year  1871-72  includes  the  record  of  a  great  change  in  the  whole  method 
of  the  School,  and  an  equally  great  one  in  Lawrence  Hall.  The  plan  of  con- 
solidation with  the  Institute  of  Technology  had  failed.  President  Eliot  had  been 
a  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  Institute,  and  knew  as  well  as  any  one  could  know 
what  the  Institute  could  contribute,  and  what  Harvard  could  contribute,  towards 
any  plan  of  consolidation ;  but  all  negotiations  ended  in  failure.  The  next  steps 
taken  had  in  view  the  consolidation  of  all  the  scientific  teaching  in  the  Univer- 
sity. The  Bussey  Institution  had  just  been  organized,  Boylston  Hall  had  just  been 
remodelled,  and  this  seemed  to  be  a  fitting  time  for  uniting  and  concentrating  all 
the  means  which  the  University  possessed  for  the  teaching  of  science.  Instead 
of  employing,  as  heretofore,  separate  instructors  in  French  and  German  for  scientific 
students,  they  were  to  join  the  undergraduate  classes  in  the  modern  languages. 
Instead  of  maintaining  two  thoroughly  appointed  chemical  laboratories,  all  the  in- 
struction in  chemistry  was  to  be  consolidated  in  Boylston  Hall,  which  now  offered 
two  complete  laboratories,  —  one  for  qualitative,  the  other  for  quantitative  analysis. 
A  new  physical  laboratory  had  been  created  in  Harvard  Hall,  and  all  students  of 
science,  in  all  the  departments,  were  to  reap  its  benefits.  The  Rumford  Pro- 
fessorship was  not  only  restored  to  the  College,  but  also  directed  more  especially 
to  what  were  considered  its  legitimate  objects,  —  Light  and  Heat,  and  the  higher 
teaching  of  Physics. 

To  make  these  changes  possible,  it  was  necessary  to  entirely  remodel  Lawrence 
Hall.     This  was  done  in  the  summer  vacation  of  1871.     It  will  be  borne  in  mind 


THE  LAWRENCE   SCIENTIFIC   SCHOOL.  291 

that  Lawrence  Hall  constituted  only  one  wing  of  the  building  originally  planned, 
and  that  it  was  designed  for  the  Chemical  Department  only ;  also,  that  the  build- 
ing adjoining  it,  on  the  east,  had  been  designed  solely  as  a  private  residence. 
Both  buildings  were  unsuited  to  the  purposes  to  which  they  were  now  to  be  de- 
voted. The  changes  which  were  made  could  not  be  made  clear  to  the  reader 
without  illustrative  diagrams,  and  we  can  only  indicate  the  main  features.  The 
dwelling-house  was  given  up  to  the  Rumford  Professor,  and  all  the  doors  lead- 
ing from  it  to  Lawrence  Hall  were  permanently  closed.  The  lower  floor  con- 
tains a  private  chemical  laboratory,  and  a  room  for  apparatus  illustrating  the  laws 
of  light  and  heat.  The  second  story  contains  the  lecture-room.  All  the  interior 
work  of  Lawrence  Hall,  except  the  lower  floor,  was  removed,  leaving  only  the 
four  walls.  The  door  on  the  south  front,  with  its  quasi  porch,  and  the  back  door 
on  the  west  front,  were  closed.  A  porch  was  built  connecting  it  with  the  dwell- 
ing-house, with  doors  at  each  end  for  entrance  to  these  buildings.  By  utilizing 
the  hitherto  lost  space  under  the  roof,  three  good  stories  were  obtained  through- 
out. The  first  floor  contains  the  entrance-hall  and  stairway,  one  lecture-room  of 
very  large  dimensions  occupying  the  whole  width  of  the  building,  a  small  room 
adjoining  this,  and  two  recitation-rooms.  The  second  and  third  stories  are  at 
present  devoted  to  the  Engineering  Department.  The  second  story  has  six  rooms, 
—  an  admirably  arranged  library,  a  model-room,  three  recitation-rooms,  and  the 
Dean's  office.  The  third  floor  has  four  rooms,  namely,  drawing-rooms  occupying 
the  whole  width  of  the  building,  —  one  at  the  north  end  for  free-hand,  and  one 
at  the  south  end  for  mechanical  drawing,  and  two  rooms  devoted  to  the  classes 
in  surveying  and  field-work,  and  to  the  storage  of  surveying  instruments.  The 
rooms  are  well  arranged  and  convenient,  of  ample  size,  and  well  ventilated,  and 
so  far  as  mere  space  and  material  accommodation  go,  the  departments  now  pro- 
vided for  in  this  building  have  nothing  to  ask  for.  It  is  the  first  time  in  the 
history  of  the  School  that  even  this  could  be  said  with  truth. 

Thus  far  we  have  spoken  only  of  the  alterations  made  in  the  buildings ;  but 
these  alterations  were  made  necessary  by  the  fundamental  change  now  introduced 
into  the  organization  of  the  Scientific  School.  Up  to  this  time  each  department 
had  educated  its  own  special  pupils  in  its  own  special  way.  The  School  had 
sent  forth  geologists,  zoologists,  botanists,  mathematicians,  comparative  anatomists, 
chemists,  and  engineers  ;  and  that  it  sent  forth  graduates  well  qualified  is  suffi- 
ciently proved  by  the  simple  fact  that  the  new  scientific  and  technical  schools  all 
over  the  country  were  constantly  sending  here  for  professors  in  these  several 
branches.  The  demand  was  ever  in  advance  of  the  supply,  for  it  would  be  folly 
to  assert  that  every  graduate  was  qualified  to  fill  such  a  position.  Something 
more  than  knowledge  of  a  subject  is  needed  to  qualify  one  as  a  teacher.  The 
experiment  under  the  new  organization  is  yet  a  new  one,  and  time  only  will  show 
what  fruits  it  may  bring  forth. 


292  THE  LAWRENCE   SCIENTIFIC    SCHOOL. 

The  real  motives  for  this  great  change  in  the  plan  of  the  School  are  com- 
pletely set  forth  in  President  Eliot's  report  for  the  academic  year  1870-71,  and 
the  whole  case  would  be  much  more  comprehensively  set  before  the  reader  if  we 
could  quote  his  entire  remarks  upon  the  Scientific  School.  The  following  ex- 
tracts, however,  from  his  report  may  serve  the  purpose  of  this  sketch :  "  Plans 
for  the  reorganization  of  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School  were  actively  discussed 
in  the  Faculty  of  the  School,  and  in  the  Corporation,  during  the  spring  of  1871. 
The  objects  in  view  were  to  lengthen  the  term  of  residence  in  the  Department 
of  Engineering,  and  enlarge  the  course  of  instruction  on  that  subject;  to  consoli- 
date the  two  chemical  laboratories  then  supported  at  Cambridge ;  to  make  the 
teaching  of  Physics,  both  elementary  and  advanced,  an  important  part  of  the  in- 
struction offered  by  the  School ;  and  to  utilize  in  a  systematic  way  the  unrivalled 
facilities  of  the  University  for  teaching  Natural  History.  These  objects  have  been 
effected  by  the  plan  which  went  into  operation  at  the  opening  of  the  year 
1871-72.  A  very  thorough  four  years'  course  of  study  is  now  provided  for 
young  men  who  wish  to  be  well  trained  for  the  profession  of  Civil  and  Topo- 
graphical Engineering The  course  now  comprehends  not  only  the  Mathe- 
matics, Mechanics,  Field-Work,  and  Drawing  which  an  engineer  requires,  but  also 
as  much  of  Chemistry,  Physics,  Natural  History,  French,  and  German  as  he  needs 
to  know.  For  Practical  Astronomy  and  Geodesy  the  Observatory  supplies  the  in- 
struments and  the  instructors. 

"  The  consolidation  of  the  two  chemical  laboratories  had  two  motives.     The  first 

motive  was  economy The  undergraduates  who  resorted  to  the  laboratory  in 

Boylston  Hall  did  not  work  as  many  hours  a  week  in  the  laboratory  as  the  chem- 
ical students  did  in  the  Scientific  School  laboratory,  but  they  studied  in  the  main 
the  same  subjects,  namely,  General  Chemistry,  Qualitative  Analysis,  and  Quantitative 
Analysis.  It  had  become  necessary  to  enlarge  considerably  the  laboratory  in 
Boylston  Hall,  and  to  appoint  an  Assistant  Professor  of  Chemistry,  in  the  interest 
of  the  College  students ;  and  it  was  plain  that  after  this  enlargement,  and  this 
addition  to  the  teaching  force  had  been  made,  it  would  be  possible  to  give  in 
Boylston  Hall  all  the  chemical  instruction  which  the  Scientific  School  had  pro- 
vided, without  adding  materially  to  the  cost  of  maintaining  the  establishment  in 
charge  of  the  Erving  Professor,  thus  saving  to  the  Scientific  School  about  three 
thousand  dollars  a  year  in  current  expenses,  and  enabling  the  Rumford  Professor 
to  teach  in  the  Department  of  Physics,  instead  of  directing  a  laboratory  of  Chem- 
istry. The  saving  of  money  was  thus  very  considerable,  and  was  the  first  motive 
of  the  consolidation ;  but  the  accompanying  change  in  the  work  of  the  Rumford 
Professor  strongly  recommended  the  consolidation  to  the  Corporation,  and  was  the 

second  motive  for  the  consolidation The  Corporation  felt  that  it  was  much 

more  legitimate  to  use  Rumford's  gift  to  teach  Light  and  Heat,  and  their  applica- 


THE  LAWRENCE   SCIENTIFIC   SCHOOL. 


293 


tions,  than  to  teach  pure  Chemistry,  particularly  when  it  was  very  desirable  in  the 
interests  alike  of  the  Scientific    School    and  of  the  University  at  large  to   have 

the  great  subject  of  Physics  more  fully  taught The  desired  enlargement  of 

the  instruction  in  Physics  offered  by  the  Scientific  School  was  obtained  in  part 
by  the  transfer  of  the  Rumford  Professor  to  that  Department,  and  in  part  by  the 
creation  of  a  physical  laboratory  in  Harvard  Hall,  under  the  charge  of  Assistant- 
Professors  Trowbridge  and  Hill,  and  open  alike  to  students  of  the  College  and  of 
the  Scientific  School. 

"  Physical  Geography,  Mineralogy,  Geology,  and  Paleontology  make  part  of  the 
regular  course  of  study  in  Civil  and  Topographical  Engineering.  Special  students 
in  Botany  have  all  possible  facilities  at  the  Botanic  Garden  and  Herbarium.  The 
Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology  is  at  the  service  of  special  students  in  Zoology 
and  Geology.  The  Mineral  Cabinet  in  Boylston  Hall,  already  very  rich,  is  con- 
stantly growing  and  improving.  The  student  of  Mineralogy  has  free  access 
to  full  suites  of  specimens,  selected  expressly  to  facilitate  the  acquisition  of  an 
intimate  and  practical  knowledge  of  the  subject.  There  is  no  institution  in  the 
world  which  offers  richer  and  more  varied  opportunities  for  the  study  of  natural 
history  than  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School." 

Under  the  new  organization  the  School  offers:  i.  A  four  years'  course  in  Civil 
and  Topographical  Engineering.  2.  A  three  years'  course  in  Practical  and  Theo- 
retical Chemistry.  3.  A  one  year's  course  in  the  elements  of  Natural  History, 
Chemistry,  and  Physics,  intended  especially  for  teachers  or  persons  who  mean 
to  become  teachers.  4.  A  three  years'  course  in  Mathematics,  Physics,  and  As- 
tronomy. 5.  Thorough  instruction  for  advanced  students  in  Physics,  Chemistry, 
Zoology,  Geology,  Botany,  and  Mathematics. 

The  School  is  now  in  the  third  year  of  experiment  under  this  new  system,  and 
time  enough  has  not  yet  elapsed  to  show  how  far  the  expectations  of  its  founders 
will  be  realized.  Formerly  no  examination  for  admission  was  required,  except  in 
the  Engineering  Department  ;  but  experience  has  shown  that  young  men  of 
eighteen  or  nineteen  years  of  age,  who  have  had  no  systematic  training  before 
coming  here,  are  not  qualified  to  follow  to  advantage  the  prescribed  courses  of 
instruction  in  the  School.  With  a  view  to  remedy  this  evil,  the  Faculty  decided 
to  require  an  examination  for  admission  comparable  with  that  for  admission  to 
College. 

The  coalition  of  this  School  with  the  other  departments  of  the  University  is 
becoming  closer  day  by  day.  Its  students  can  now  obtain  rooms  in  the  College 
buildings ;  its  courses  of  study  are  thrown  open  as  electives,  and  are  already 
taken  up  by  Juniors  and  Seniors ;  and  some  of  the  undergraduate  courses  are 
made  preparatory  to  a  subsequent  degree  in  science.  The  degree  of  Doctor  m 
Science  has  been  established,  and  was  conferred  for  the  first  time  on  Commence- 
ment Day,  1873. 


HENRY    LAWRENCE    EUSTIS. 

Henry  Lawrence  Eustis  was  born  at  Fort  Independence,  Boston  Harbor,  Feb- 
ruary I,  1819.  He  was  the  son  of  Brigadier-General  Abram  Eustis,  United  States 
Army,  and  of  Rebecca,  daughter  of  Dr.  John  Sprague,  of  Dedham,  Mass.  He 
lost  his  mother  before  he  was  two  years  old.  His  father  being  ordered  to  St. 
Augustine,  Florida,  he  went  thither  with  the  family,  but  was  soon  after  placed 
under  the  charge  of  his  grandmother,  in  Cambridge,  Mass.  Here  he  remained 
until  he  was  six  years  old,  attending  first  a  private  school,  and  afterwards  the 
town  school,  which  then  stood  on  Garden  Street,  between  Appian  Way  and 
Mason  Street.  In  1825,  being  then  six  years  old,  he  rejoined  his  father,  who  was 
in  command  of  Fortress  Monroe,  Old  Point  Comfort,  Virginia ;  and  this  was  the 
only  year,  within  his  own  recollection,  that  he  ever  spent  at  home.  There  being 
no  schools  at  this  military  post,  a  private  teacher  was  engaged,  and  this  year 
was  spent  in  learning  to  read,  write,  and  speak  French. 

At  seven  years  of  age  he  was  sent  to  the  Academy  at  Lancaster,  Mass.  At 
this  place,  and  at  the  Academy  at  Stow,  Mass.,  he  passed  the  next  five  years. 
His  teachers  during  this  period  were  Messrs.  Kingsbury,  Caldwell,  and  Warland. 
At  twelve  years  of  age  he  was  placed  at  a  boarding-school  called  the  Highland 
School,  on  the  Hudson  River,  directly  opposite  West  Point.  The  head  of  the 
school  was  Mr.  John  Watson. 

He  entered  Harvard  College  in  1834,  being  then  fifteen  years  of  age.  He 
received  a  detur  of  books  and  the  usual  Junior  and  Senior  parts,  a  mathematical 
part,  and  an  Oration  at  Commencement.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Institute, 
I.O.H.,  Pierian  Sodality,  French  Club,  Chemical  Society,  Hasty  Pudding  Club, 
and  ^.  B.  K. 

Graduating  in  1838,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  entered  the  same  year  as  a 
cadet  at  the  West  Point  Military  Academy.  Here,  while  still  a  cadet,  he  was 
employed  as  Assistant  Instructor  for  the  lower  classes.  Graduating  in  1842,  he 
was  commissioned  a  Second  Lieutenant  of  Engineers,  and  ordered  to  Washington 
as  Assistant  to  the  Chief  Engineer.     In  the  summer  of  1843   he  was  ordered  to 


^^^S^2^tj^   "^   ^t,:^^^ 


■yt^ 


HENRY  LAWRENCE   EUSTIS. 


295 


Boston  Harbor  as  Assistant  to  Colonel  Thayer.  From  1843-5  ^^  served  as 
Assistant  Engineer  in  the  construction  of  the  sea  wall  at  Lovell's  Island  and  at 
Fort  Warren  in  Boston  Harbor.  From  1 845  -  7  he  was  the  Superintending  En- 
gineer of  Fort  Adams,  and  Goat  Island  Pier,  Dike,  and  Lighthouse,  Newport 
Harbor,  R.  I.  From  August,  1847,  to  November,  1849,  he  was  Principal  Assist- 
ant Professor  of  Engineering  at  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point. 

He  resigned  November  30,  1849,  and  was  appointed  Lawrence  Professor  of 
Engineering  in  Harvard  University.  Here  he  organized  the  Department  of  En- 
gineering in  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  with  which  he  is  still  connected. 
In  1 86 1  he  spent  eight  months  in  travelling  in  Europe  for  the  benefit  of  his 
health,  returning  in  time  to  resume  his  duties  at  the  commencement  of  the  year 
1861-2.  The  War  of  the  Rebellion  had  broken  out  during  his  absence  in 
Europe,  and  on  his  return  he  offered  his  services  to  the  governor  of  the  State, 
and  was  commissioned  as  Colonel  loth  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  August  15, 
1862.  His  military  history  is  given  in  the  following  quotation  from  Cullum's 
Register  of  the  Graduates  of  the  Military  Academy. 

"  Military  History.  —  Served  during  the  Rebellion  of  the  Seceding  States, 
1862-4;  in  the  Maryland  Campaign  (Army  of  the  Potomac,  Colonel  loth  INJassa- 
chusetts  Volunteers,  August  15,  1862),  September  -  November,  1862,  being  en- 
gaged in  the  skirmish  at  Williamsport,  September  20,  1862;  guarding  Upper 
Potomac  Fords,  September  -  November,  1862,  and  march  to  Falmouth,  Va.,  No- 
vember, 1862;  in  the  Rappahannock  Campaign  (Army  of  the  Potomac),  December, 
1862 -June,  1863,  being  engaged  in  operations  about  and  battle  of  Fredericks- 
burg, December  11- 15,  1862;  storming  of  Marye  Heights,  May  3,  1863;  battle 
of  Salem,  May  3,  4,  1863,  and  passage  of  the  Rappahannock,  June  10-13,  1863; 
in  the  Pennsylvania  Campaign  (Army  of  the  Potomac),  June,  July,  1863,  being 
engaged,  after  a  forced  march  of  thirty-five  miles,  in  the  battle  of  Gettysburg, 
July  2,  3,  1863,  and  pursuit  of  the  enemy  to  Warrenton,  Va.,  July,  1863;  in 
operations  in  (Brigadier-General  United  States  Volunteers,  September  12,  1863) 
Central  Virginia,  November,  1863,  to  March,  1864,  being  engaged  in  the  combat 
of  Rappahannock  Station,  November  7,  1863;  Mine  Run  operations,  November 
26 -December  3,  1863;  march  towards  Charlottesville  and  back,  February  27  to 
March  2,  1864;  and  in  the  Richmond  Campaign  (Army  of  the  Potomac),  being 
engaged  in  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness,  May  5,  6,  1864;  battles  around  Spott- 
sylvania,  May  9-21,  1864;  and  battles  of  Cold  Harbor,  June  3-5,  1864.  Re- 
signed June  27,  1864." 

He  resumed  his  duties  in  the  Scientific  School  with  the  beginning  of  the 
academic  year  1864-5.  He  spent  the  summer  vacation  of  1871  in  a  second  visit 
to  Europe.  He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
and  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science. 


JOSIAH    DWIGHT  WHITNEY. 

JosiAH  DwiGHT  Whitney  was  born  at  Northampton,  November  23,  18 19,  and 
graduated  at  Yale  in  1839.  Immediately  after  leaving  college  he  entered  the 
chemical  laboratory  of  Dr.  Robert  Hare,  in  Philadelphia,  as  an  assistant,  where 
he  remained  for  six  months.  He  was  then  appointed  Assistant  Geologist  on  the 
Survey  of  New  Hampshire,  with  which  work  he  was  connected  until  May,  1842, 
when  he  sailed  for  Europe,  for  the  purpose  of  continuing  his  scientific  edu- 
cation. Five  years  were  spent  in  travelling  over  the  Continent,  and  in  chemical, 
geological,  and  mineralogical  studies  at  the  Ecole  des  Mines  in  Paris,  and  at  the 
Universities  of  Giessen  and  Berlin.  At  Berlin  he  was  the  private  pupil  of  H. 
Rose  for  about  a  year.  Returning  to  America  in  the  spring  of  1847,  he  imme- 
diately engaged  in  the  geological  exploration  of  the  Lake  Superior  region,  and, 
in  connection  with  J.  W.  Foster,  was,  in  1849,  appointed  United  States  Geologist 
for  the  Lake  Superior  Land  District.  Their  joint  report,  in  two  volumes,  with 
an  atlas  of  maps,  was  published  in  1850-52.  After  this  Professor  Whitney  de- 
voted two  years  to  travelling  through  the  different  States  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
for  the  purpose  of  collecting  information  with  regard  to  the  development  of  our 
mining  and  mineral  interests.  The  results  there  obtained  were  published  in  1854, 
in  the  form  of  a  royal  octavo  volume,  entitled  "  The  Metallic  Wealth  of  the  United 
States,  described  and  compared  with  that  of  other  Countries."  In  this  work  very 
full  statistics  of  the  production  of  the  metals  in  the  different  countries  of  the 
world  were  given.  In  1855  Mr.  Whitney  was  appointed  State  Chemist  and  Pro- 
fessor in  the  State  University  of  Iowa,  and  was  associated  with  Professor  James 
Hall  in  the  geological  survey  of  that  State.  The  results  of  this  work  were  pub- 
lished in  two  royal  octavo  volumes  in  1858.  From  1858  to  i860  Professor  Whitney 
was  engaged  on  a  geological  survey  of  the  lead  region  of  the  Upper  Mississippi, 
in  connection  with  the  official  surveys  of  Wisconsin  and  Illinois.  His  reports 
were  published  by  the  legislatures  of  those  States,  and  are  accompanied  by  very 
complete  geological  and  mining  maps  of  the  regions  explored.  While  thus  em- 
ployed  in  Wisconsin,  Professor  Whitney  was  appointed  State  Geologist  of  Call- 


JOSIAH   DWIGHT  WHITNEY.  297 

fornia,  which  position  he  held  till  the  spring  of  1874,  engaged  in  conducting  a 
topographical,  geological,  and  natural-history  survey  of  that  State  and  of  the 
territory  adjacent  to  it.  The  results  of  this  work  were  intended  to  be  embraced 
in  a  series  of  ten  or  eleven  royal  octavo  volumes,  of  which  four  are  published, 
and  the  remainder  partly  printed  or  in  preparation,  but  the  work  was  suspended 
by  the  last  Legislature.  There  have  been  also  several  miscellaneous  volumes  and 
pamphlets  published  in  connection  with  this  survey,  as  well  as  elaborate  and 
important  maps.  In  1865,  Professor  Whitney  was  appointed  Sturgis-Hooper 
Professor  of  Geology  in  Harvard  University,  and  he  expects  shortly  to  enter  on 
the  active  discharge  of  the  duties  of  this  position.  At  present  he  is  travelling  in 
Europe,  and  he  contemplates  extending  his  journey  to  India,  and  perhaps  Aus- 
tralia and  South  America.  He  has  published  numerous  scientific  articles  in 
various  reviews  and  magazines,  and  has  made  a  specialty  of  collecting  a  library 
of  geological  and  geographical  books  and  maps. 


WOLCOTT   GIBBS. 

WoLcoTT  GiBBS  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York,  February  21,  1822.  He 
is  the  second  son  of  the  late  Colonel  George  Gibbs  of  Newport,  R.  I.,  one  of 
the  earliest  American  mineralogists.  He  was  educated  at  the  Grammar  School 
of  Columbia  College  in  New  York,  and  entered  college  at  the  age  of  fifteen, 
graduating  in  1841.  He  then  passed  some  months  in  the  laboratory  of  Pro- 
fessor Robert  Hare  in  Philadelphia,  and,  returning  to  New  York,  commenced  the 
study  of  medicine  in  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  He  obtained  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  in  1845,  ^^'^  shortly  afterward  went  to  Germany 
and  matriculated  in  the  University  of  Berlin,  where  he  pursued  the  study  of 
Chemistry,  at  first  in  the  laboratory  of  Professor  Rammelsberg  and  afterwards 
in  that  of  H.  Rose.  He  remained  in  Berlin  about  a  year  and  a  half,  travelling 
extensively  during  the  vacations,  and  then  went  to  Giessen  and  entered  the  lab- 
oratory of  Liebig,  where  he  remained  five  months.  In  the  spring  of  1848  he 
went  to  Paris  and  attended  lectures  at  the  College  de  France,  chiefly  those  of 
Regnault,  and  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  returned  to  America  and  gave  his 
first  course  of  lectures  at  Delaware  College,  Newark.  In  the  fall  of  1849  he 
was  elected  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Physics  in  the  Free  Academy,  now  the 
College  of  the  City  of  New  York.  In  i860  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
United  States  Sanitary  Commission,  serving  upon  the  Executive  Committee  as 
long  as  the  work  of  the  Commission  lasted.  In  1863  he  was  elected  Rumford 
Professor  in  Harvard  University,  the  position  which  he  now  occupies.  He  was 
appointed  a  Commissioner  of  the  United  States  at  the  Paris  Exhibition  of  1866, 
but  declined  the  appointment.  In  1873  he  was  appointed  Commissioner  at  the 
Vienna  Exhibition,  and  spent  some  weeks  in  that  city  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duties.  He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  of  the  American  Geographical  Society,  and 
is  Vice-President  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  and  Fellow  of  the 
Chemical  Society  of  London.  In  1873  he  received  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  from 
Columbia  College,  New  York.     His  published  writings  are  as  follows :  — 


^Ojl^Vm, 


WOLCOTT  GIBBS.  299 

1.  On   a  new  form  of  magneto-electric  machine,  and   an  account  of  a   carbon 

battery.     American  Journal,  etc.,  XXXIX. 

2.  Chemisch-mineralogische  Untersuchungen.     Pogg.  Ann.  LXXI. 

3.  Influence   of  temperature   on   the   absorption   of   light.      Proceedings  of  Am. 

Association,  etc.,   1850. 

4.  Contributions  to  Analytical  Chemistry.     Am.  Jour.  XIV. 

5.  Note  on  the  kakodyl  of  valerianic  acid.     Am.  Jour.  XV. 

6.  Note  on  a  new  electro-chronographic  method.     Proceedings  of  Am.  Associa- 

tion, 1854. 

7.  Report  on  the  recent  progress  of  organic  chemistry.     Proceedings  of  Am.  As- 

sociation,  1855. 

8.  Researches  on  the   Ammonia-Cobalt   bases   (with   F.  A.  Genth).      Am.    Jour. 

XXIII.,  XXIV. 

9.  Review  of  the  operations  and  results  of  the  United  States  Coast  Survey.     Am. 

Jour.  XXV. 

10.  On  the  constitution  of  organic  compounds.     Am.  Jour.  XXV. 

11.  On  the  theory  of  the  polyacid  bases.     Proceedings  of  Am.  Association,  1856. 

12.  Preliminary  notice  of  new  bases  containing   metals   associated  with  ammonia. 

Proceedings  of  Am.  Association,   1856. 

13.  Remarks  on  the  atomic  weights  of  the  elements.     Am.  Jour.  XXXI. 

14.  Researches  on  the  platinum  metals.     Am.  Jour.  XXXI.,  XXXIV.,  XXXVII. 

15.  On  the  relations   of  hyposulphite   of  soda   to   certain   metallic   oxyds.      Am. 

Jour.  XXXVII. 

16.  On  the  determination  of  nitrogen  by  weight.     Am.  Jour.  XXXVII. 

17.  On   the   separation   of  cerium   from   didymium   and   lanthanum.      Am.   Jour. 

XXXVII. 

18.  On  the  separation  and  estimation  of  cerium.     Am.  Jour.  XXXVII. 

19.  On    the   quantitative    separation   of   cerium    from   yttrium,    etc.      Am.    Jour. 

XXXVII. 

20.  On  the  employment  of  fluohydrate  of  fluoride  of  potassium  in  analysis.    Am. 

Jour.  XXXVII. 

21.  On  the  separation  of  chromium  from  aluminum,  etc.     Am.  Jour.  XXXIX. 

22.  On  the  employment  of  acetate  of  sodium  for  the  separation  of  iron,  etc.     Am. 

Jour.  XXXIX. 

23.  On  the   separation   of  manganese   from   cobalt,   nickel,  and   zinc.     Am.  Jour. 

XXXIX. 

24.  On  the  separation  of  cobalt  from  nickel.     Am.  Jour.  XXXIX. 

25.  On  the  electrolytic  precipitation  of  copper  and  nickel  as  a  method  of  analysis. 

Am.  Jour.  XXXIX.  ' 

26.  On  a  new  general  method  of  volumetric  analysis.     Am.  Jour.  XLIV. 


300  WOLCOTT  GIBBS. 

27.  On  the  precipitation  of  copper  by  hypophosphorous  acid.     Am.  Jour.  XLIV. 

28.  On  the  precipitation  of  copper  and  nickel  by  alkaline  carbonates.     Am.  Jour. 

XLIV. 

29.  On  the   employment  of  sand  and   glass   filters  in  quantitative  analysis.     Am. 

Jour.  XLIV. 

30.  On  the  estimation  of  manganese  as  pyrophosphate.     Am.  Jour.  XLIV. 

31.  On    the   construction    of  a   normal    map   of  the    solar   spectrum.     Am.  Jour. 

XLIII. 

32.  On  certain  points  in  the  theory  of  atomicities.     Am.  Jour.  XLIII. 

33.  On  the  molecular  structure  of  uric  acid  and  its  derivatives.     Am.  Jour.  XLIII. 

34.  On   the   measurement   of  wave-lengths   by  the    method   of  comparison.     Am. 

Jour.  XLV. 

35.  On  the  wave-lengths  of  the  spectral  lines  of  the  elements.     Am.  Jour.  XLVII. 

36.  On  the  action  of  the  alkaline  nitrites  on  uric  acid  and  its  derivatives.     Am. 

Jour.  XLVIIL 

37.  On  a  simple  method  of  avoiding  observations  of  temperature  and  pressure  in 

gas  analyses.     Am.  Jour.  XLIX. 

38.  On    the   application    of  Sprengel's    mercurial    pump    in    analysis.      Am.   Jour. 

XLIX. 

39.  On  the  measurement  of  wave-lengths  by  means  of  indices  of  refraction.     Am. 

Jour.  L. 

40.  On  liquids  of  high  dispersive  power.     Am.  Jour.  L. 

41.  On  an  advantageous  form  of  apparatus   for   the   study  of  the   absorption  of 

light  in  colored  liquids.     Am.  Jour.  L. 

42.  On  tests  for  the  perfection  and  parallelism  of  plane  surfaces  of  glass.     Am. 

Jour.  L. 

43.  On  the  quantitative  estimation  of  chromium,  etc.     Am.  Jour.,  3d  Series,  V. 

44.  On  the  estimation  of  magnesium  as  pyrophosphate.     Am.  Jour.,  3d  Series,  V. 

45.  On  some  forms  of  laboratory  apparatus.     Am.  Jour.,  3d  Series,  V. 

46.  On  the  hexatomic  compounds  of  cobalt.     Am.  Jour.,   3d  Series,  V. 

And  numerous  scattered  notes  and  criticisms  in  the  American  Journal  of  Arts 
and  Sciences. 


THE    OBSERVATORY. 


N 


THE    ASTRONOMICAL    OBSERVATORY. 

Efforts  to  establish  an  Astronomical  Observatory  in  1839.  —  William  Cranch  Bond  appointed 
Astronomical  Observer  for  the  College.  —  The  Dana  House  used  as  an  Observatory.  — 
Nature  of  the  Work  done  there.  —  Site  of  the  present  Observatory.  —  Measures  taken 
for  securing  a  Telescope  and  Building  suitable  for  it. — The  Tablets. — List  of  Con- 
tributors.—  Removal  of  the  Instruments  from  the  old  to  the  new  Observatory,  1844. 
—  Gift  of  Instruments.  —  Bequest  of  Edward  Bromfield  Phillips.  —  Phillips  Professor- 
ship founded,  1849.  —  Observatory  completed,  1851. — W.  C.  Bond  succeeded  at  his  Death, 
1859,  by  his  Son,  G.    P.    Bond.  —  Observations   previous   to    1866.  —  The   Observatory   in 

CHARGE     of     T.     H.    SaFFORD.  JOSEPH    WiNLOCK    APPOINTED     DIRECTOR,     1 866. NECESSITY    OF 

better  Instrumental  Equipment  met  by  the  Liberality  of  the  Friends  of  the  Observa- 
tory.—  The    Meridian    Circle,    Equatorial   Telescope,   and   other   Instruments.  —  Work 

DONE   AT   the    ObSERVATORY. EXPEDITIONS. CORRECT   TiME    TRANSMITTED    FROM    THE    OBSERVA- 
TORY TO  VARIOUS  Points  in  New  England.  —  Dimensions  of  the  two  large  Instruments. 

Although  the  project  of  establishing  an  astronomical  observatory  connected 
with  Harvard  College  had  originated  early  in  this  century,  the  first  effective  steps 
towards  its  execution  were  taken  in  1839,  during  the  Presidency  of  Mr.  Ouincy, 
to  whom  their  successful  result  was  mainly  due.  Mr.  William  Cranch  Bond  had 
already  undertaken  a  series  of  observations  designed  for  subsequent  comparison 
with  those  made  by  the  United  States  Exploring  Expedition ;  he  was  now  ap- 
pointed Astronomical  Observer  for  the  College,  and  the  Dana  House  (standing 
on  the  corner  of  Harvard  and  Quincy  Streets,  and  now  occupied  by  Professor 
Peabody)  was  fitted  up  for  the  continuance  of  his  observations.  President 
Quincy  justly  anticipated  that  this  "would  have  an  important  influence  in  clear- 
ing the  way  for  the  establishment  of  an  efficient  observatory ;  .  .  .  .  and,  by 
drawing  the  attention  of  the  citizens  of  Boston  and  its  vicinity  to  the  great  in- 
adequacy of  the  means  possessed  by  the  University  for  efficient  astronomical 
observations,  create  a  desire  and  a  disposition  to  supply  them."* 

The  work  carried  on  at  the  Dana  House  was  of  necessity  confined,  in  great 
part,  to   magnetic   and   meteorological   observations,  since   no   provision    could    be 

*  Walker's  Memoir  of  Josiah  Quincy,  pp.  57,  58. 


304 


THE   ASTRONOMICAL   OBSERVATORY. 


made  for  mounting  any  but  portable  astronomical  instruments.  With  a  view  to 
erecting  a  better  building  whenever  sufficient  funds  could  be  obtained  for  the 
purpose,  the  site  of  the  present  Observatory  was  soon  afterwards  bought  by  the 
College.  Twelve  acres  of  land  were  included  in  the  original  purchase,  but,  from 
considerations  of  economy,  only  about  six  acres  were  retained  for  the  Observa- 
tory. This  land  formed  part  of  the  rising  ground  called  Summer  House  Hill, 
on  the  Craigie  estate. 

The  celebrated  comet  of  1843,  by  awakening  an  unusual  interest  in  astronomy, 
did  much  to  hasten  the  establishment  of  the  projected  Observatory.  At  a  small 
meeting  held  in  the  office  of  Mr.  J.  Ingersoll  Bowditch,  measures  were  taken 
which  led  to  the  subscription  of  a  considerable  sum  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
a  large  telescope,  equatorially  mounted,  and  a  building  suitable  for  its  reception. 
This  subscription  was  commemorated  by  two  tablets  placed  in  the  large  dome  of 
the  Observatory.     The  inscriptions  on  these  tablets  are  as  follows :  — 

[Tablet  on  South  Wall.] 

LIST  OF  CONTRIBUTORS 
TO  THE   OBSERVATORY   AND   TELESCOPE   AT   CAMBRIDGE    IN   1843. 

Societies  and  Incorporated  Companies.  —  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Society  for 
the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge,  Merchants',  American,  National,  Washington,  Neptune,  Equitable, 
and  Tremont  Insurance  Companies,  Massachusetts  Humane  Society,  Revere  Copper  Company. 

INDIVIDUALS. 

Peter  C.  Brooks,  William  Rotch,  Jr., 

David  Sears,  James  Arnold, 

Joseph  Peabody,  John  Parker, 

Thomas  H.  Perkins,  N.  W.  Neal, 

John  P.  Cushing,  William  Pratt, 

William  Appleton,  John  Welles, 

George  C.  Shattuck,  Ezra  Weston  &  Sons, 

Robert  G.  Shaw,  Thomas  W.  Ward, 

Samuel  Appleton,  Francis  Parkman, 

Jonathan  Phillips,  Martin  Brimmer, 

Amos  Lawrence,  Thomas  Lee, 

Abbott  Lawrence,  Francis  C.  Gray, 

Nathan  Appleton,  Horace  Gray, 

Israel  Munson,  Henry  Oxnard, 

Theodore  Lyman,  William  Lawrence, 

Nathaniel  West,  Nathaniel  I.  Bowditch, 

Dudley  L.  Pickman,  George  W.  Lyman, 

George  Rowland,  Charles  Lyman, 

Gideon  Rowland,  George  F.  Parkman, 

John  A.  Parker,  Thomas  B.  Wales, 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  OBSERVATORY. 


305 


John  Q.  Adams, 
John  L.  Gardner, 
George  Hallett, 
William  Sturgis, 
Nathaniel  Silsbee, 
John  C.  Gray, 
Ozias  Goodwin, 
John  Codman,  D.  D., 
Daniel  P.  Parker, 
William  J.  Walker, 
Samuel  Fales, 
Edmund  Dwight, 
Josiah  Quincy, 
William  Shimmin, 
Henry  Plympton, 
Frederic  Tudor, 
Henry  Codman, 
Samuel  C.  Gray, 
William  Amory, 
J.  Ingersoll  Bowditch, 
Thomas  B.  Curtis, 
John  D.  Bates  &  Co., 


Joseph  Grinnell, 
John  J.  Dixwell, 
Samuel  Rodman, 
Dwight  Boydcn, 
Charles  H.  Mills, 
Samuel  Austin,  Jr., 
Francis  Bassett, 
James  S.  Amory, 
Samuel  T.  Armstrong, 
Jonas  Chickering, 
John  Ware, 
John  M.  Forbes, 
George  H.  Kuhn, 
Joseph  Whitney, 
Andrew  E.  Belknap, 
Richard  D.  Harris, 
Thomas  Wetmore, 
Charles  G.  Coffin, 
Jared  Coffin, 
John  W.  Barrett, 
George  B.  Upton. 


[Tablet  on  North  Wall.] 

THIS    TOWER 

WAS   THE   GIFT 

OF 

HON.  DAVID   SEARS. 


The  instruments  which  had  been  in  use  at  the  Dana  House  were  removed  to 
the  new  Observatory  in  September,  1844.  The  various  parts  of  the  equatorial 
telescope,  which  had  been  ordered  of  Messrs.  Merz  and  Mahler  of  Munich,  were 
received  in  1846  and  1847;  and  before  the  end  of  June,  1847,  the  instrument 
was  mounted  and  ready  for  use.  The  transit  circle,  made  by  Messrs.  Troughton 
and  Simms,  of  London,  was  received  in  1848.  Two  comet-seekers,  presented 
respectively  by  Mr.  Bowditch  and  by  President  Quincy,  had  previously  been  re- 
ceived and  very  successfully  used  at  the  Observatory,  which  was  now  suitably 
equipped  with  instruments  for  carrying  on  regular  astronomical  work.  But  no 
permanent  fund  as  yet  existed  for  the  payment  of  its  current  expenses,  or  even 
of  the  Director's  salary.  This  want  was  relieved  by  a  bequest  of  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  from  Mr.  Edward  Bromfield  Phillips,  who  directed  in  his  will 
that  the  interest  of  this  sum  should  be  annually  applied  to  the  payment  of 
salaries  at  the  Observatory,  and  to  the  purchase  for  it  of  books  and  instruments. 


3o6  THE   ASTRONOMICAL   OBSEUVATORY. 

The  Phillips  Fund  was  received  by  the  College  in  1849,  and  may  be  said  to 
have  insured  the  success  of  the  Observatory,  which  has  been  enabled,  however, 
greatly  to  extend  its  usefulness  by  the  aid  of  many  subsequent  donations  and 
bequests  from  various  friends  of  science.  A  Phillips  Professorship  of  Astronomy, 
to  be  held  by  the  Director  of  the  Observatory,  was  established  on  the  receipt  of 
the  legacy  of  Mr.  Phillips. 

In  1 85 1  the  Observatory  building  was  completed  by  the  addition  of  a  west 
wing,  provided  by  private  liberality.  An  equatorial  telescope  of  five  feet  in  focal 
length,  which  had  previously  stood  under  a  temporary  shelter,  was  now  mounted 
under  a  small  dome  in  this  west  wing  of  the  Observatory.  About  the  same  time 
the  Observatory  was  provided  with  a  chronograph  of  the  kind  contrived  by  Pro- 
fessor Bond,  who  had  been  among  the  first  successfully  to  apply  electric  signals 
to  the  registration  of  astronomical  observations. 

Professor  W.  C.  Bond,  the  first  Director  of  the  Observatory,  was  succeeded  at 
his  death,  in  1859,  by  his  son.  Professor  G.  P.  Bond,  who  directed  the  Observa- 
tory until  his  own  death,  early  in  1865.  The  results  of  the  principal  observations 
made  during  the  period  ending  in  1865  form  Volumes  I.  to  VII.  inclusive,  of  the 
Annals  of  the  Observatory  of  Harvard  College.  They  consist  of  an  extensive 
series  of  zone  observations  with  the  equatorial ;  elaborate  monographs  on  the 
planet  Saturn,  the  comet  of  1858,  and  the  nebula  in  Orion;  and  drawings  of  solar 
spots.  Besides  these  purely  astronomical  researches,  much  work  has  been  carried 
on  at  the  Observatory  from  the  time  of  its  foundation,  for  the  purpose  of  determin- 
ing terrestrial  longitudes  in  co-operation  with  the  United  States  Coast  Survey. 

For  about  a  year  after  the  death  of  Professor  G.  P.  Bond,  the  Observatory  was 
in  charge  of  Mr.  T.  H.  Safford,  now  Professor  of  Astronomy  and  Director  of  the 
Observatory  at  Chicago.  Early  in  1866  Professor  Joseph  Winlock  was  made 
Director  of  the  .Observatory  of  Harvard  College,  and  entered  upon  the  duties  of 
that  office  in  February  of  the  same  year.  By  this  time  the  increase  of  the  instru- 
mental equipment  of  the  Observatory  had  become  a  pressing  necessity.  The 
recent  advances  in  optical  science  made  it  desirable  to  obtain  the  means  of  study- 
ing the  character  and  relative  amounts  of  light  emitted  by  the  various  celestial 
objects.  It  was  equally  needful  that  the  transit  circle  of  the  Observatory  should 
be  replaced  by  a  better  instrument  of  the  same  kind.  Its  plan  was  now  obsolete ; 
and  its  circle  had  been  damaged  on  the  way  from  England,  so  that  it  had  never 
been  used  for  determining  declinations.  The  instrument  used  in  the  zone  obser- 
vations of  Professors  W.  C.  and  G.  P.  Bond  had  therefore  been  the  large  equa- 
torial, which  had  thus  been  unavoidably  diverted  from  its  proper  work.  Even 
if  observations  made  with  the  transit  circle  could  have  been  successfully  reduced, 
their  reduction  would  have  been  laborious,  and  would  consequently  have  required 
the  services  of  many  more  computers  than  could  be  paid. 


mil" 
inn  ^rff 


SOUTH     ELEVATION 


SECTION    LOOKING    NORTH. 


JE.Bnf  fords  WO  \tisK'?  Si-BosIoti. 


n 


PLAN    OF    DOM  ES 


SECOND     FLOOR 


FIRST      FLOOR 


THE  ASTRONOMICAL  OBSERVATORY.  307 

The  liberality  of  the  friends  of  the  Observatory  was  again  successfully  appealed 
to,  and  Professor  Winlock  was  soon  enabled  to  order  the  construction  of  a  meridian 
circle  upon  a  plan  of  his  own,  which  made  the  instrument  in  many  respects 
superior  to  any  one  previously  constructed  for  like  purposes.  During  the  four 
years  which  elapsed  before  it  was  received,  the  equatorial  was  employed  in  observa- 
tions of  double  stars,  nebulcE,  comets,  asteroids,  diameters  of  planets,  and  satellites, 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  new  double  stars  being  discovered.  A  spectroscope 
was  obtained  early  in   1868,  and  at  once  employed  upon  the  stars  and  nebulae. 

The  meridian  circle  was  received  and  mounted  in  the  summer  of  1870.  It  has 
since  been  in  constant  use  in  observing  the  stars  of  catalogues  prepared  at  the 
Observatory,  and  also  those  of  the  first  nine  magnitudes  contained  in  the  zone 
from  50°  to  55°  north  declination.  These  zone  observations  form  part  of  a  series 
jointly  undertaken  by  many  of  the  principal  observatories  in  the  northern  hemi- 
sphere, under  the  general  direction  of  the  Astronomische  Gesellschaft  of  Ger- 
many. The  object  of  this  work  is  the  determination  of  the  places  of  all  stars  of 
the  first  nine  magnitudes  north  of  the  equator. 

An  equatorial  telescope  of  five  and  a  half  inches'  aperture,  with  driving  clock, 
and  also  apparatus  for  photographing  the  sun  on  the  method  invented  by  Professor 
Winlock,  and  for  spectroscopic  observations  of  the  solar  spots  and  protuberances, 
have  likewise  been  added  to  the  equipment  of  the  Observatory,  and  have  been 
successfully  employed.  Much  of  the  meridian  and  equatorial  work  has  been  re- 
duced and  prepared  for  publication ;  but  the  publication  of  the  work  done  previous 
to  the  appointment  of  Professor  Winlock  has  hitherto  been  all  that  could  be 
undertaken.  Of  the  seven  volumes  of  Annals  already  mentioned.  Volumes  V., 
VI.,  and  VII.,  with  the  second  part  of  Volume  II.,  have  been  published  since  the 
death  of  Professor  G.  P.  Bond.  Two  more  volumes,  containing  the  results  of  observa- 
tions made  under  Professor  Winlock's  direction,  are  now  in  course  of  publication. 

An  extensive  series  of  photometric  observations  has  also  been  made,  and  a  set 
of  Astronomical  Engravings  has  been  prepared  for  publication,  the  greater  part 
of  which  has  already  appeared  and  been  delivered  to  subscribers. 

The  determination  of  longitudes  in  co-operation  with  the  Coast  Survey  has  re- 
cently, as  in  former  times,  occupied  much  time  at  the  Observatory.  Professor 
Winlock  has  twice  taken  charge  of  parties  formed  for  the  observations  of  total 
eclipses,  the  apparatus  for  the  observations  being  mainly  furnished  by  the  Ob- 
servatory. The  first  of  these  eclipses  was  observed  at  Shelbyville  and  other 
stations  in  Kentucky,  in  August,  1869;  the  second  in  December,  1870,  at  Jerez 
de  la  Frontera  in  Spain.  By  means  of  recent  arrangements,  the  time  shown  by 
one  of  the  clocks  of  the  Observatory  is  constantly  transmitted  by  telegraph,  at 
intervals  of  two  seconds,  to  numerous  points  in  Boston  and  throughout  New  Eng- 
land. The  annexed  plans  and  elevations  exhibit  the  general  arrangement  of  the 
Observatory  and  its  instruments. 


3o8 


THE   ASTRONOMICAL   OBSERVATORY. 


The  dimensions  of  the  two  large  instruments  are  tis  follows :  — 
East  Equatorial.  —  Effective   aperture,  14.95    i"-!    focal  length,  22  ft.  6  in. 
West  Meridian  Circle.  —  Aperture,   81   inches ;   focal  length,  9  ft.  4  in.      Its 
collimators  have   the   same   focal   length    and   8    inches'   aperture.     They  rest   on 
brick  piers,  marked  upon  the  plan,  north  and  south  of  the  principal  instrument. 


EQUATORIAL,    . 


^ 


JOSEPH  WINLOCK. 

Joseph  Winlock,  son  of  Fielding  and  Nancy  (Peyton)  Winlock,  was  born  in 
Shelby  County,  Kentucky,  February  6,  1826.  Fielding  Winlock  was  the  son  of 
General  Joseph  Winlock,  who  entered  the  American  army  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Revolutionary  War,  at  the  close  of  which  he  held  the  rank  of  Captain.  He 
also  served  in  the  War  of  181 2,  with  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General;  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Convention  which  drew  up  the  first  Constitution  of  the  State  of  Ken- 
tucky, and  was  subsequently,  for  many  years,  a  member  of  the  State  Senate. 
He  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-four.  Fielding  Winlock  received  the  education  of 
a  lawyer,  studying  first  in  the  office  of  Felix  Grundy,  and  afterwards  with  Heniy 
Clay.  During  the  preparations  for  the  War  of  181 2  he  was  for  a  time  Clerk  of 
the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs  of  the  State  Senate,  performing  also  most  of 
the  duties  of  Adjutant-General  relating  to  the  detailing  of  troops  and  issuing 
commissions.  He  then  became  Secretary  of  State  under  Governor  Scott,  leaving 
this  post  to  serve  in  the  army,  first  as  Aid  to  his  father,  and  then  on  General 
Shelby's  staff  in  the  campaign  which  ended  with  the  defeat  of  Proctor  and  Te- 
cumseh.  After  the  war  he  held  at  different  times  various  places  of  honor  and 
trust,  living  to  the  age  of  eighty-five. 

The  subject  of  this  notice  graduated  in  1845  at  Shelby  College,  Kentucky,  and 
was  immediately  appointed  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Astronomy  in  that  in- 
stitution. He  held  this  office  till  1852,  when  he  removed  to  Cambridge,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  took  part  in  the  computations  of  the  American  Ephemeris  and 
Nautical  Almanac,  at  that  time  under  the  superintendence  of  Admiral  C.  H. 
Davis.  In  1857  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the  United  States 
Navy,  and  for  several  months  afterwards  was  Assistant  in  the  United  States 
Naval  Observatory  at  Washington.  He  was  then  made  Superintendent  of  the 
American  Ephemeris,  and  returned  to  Cambridge.  In  1859  he  took  charge  of 
the  Mathematical  Department  of  the  United  States  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis, 
Maryland,  holding  this  position  until  the  removal  of  the  Academy  to  Newport, 
on  the  outbreak  of  war  in  1861,  when  he  was  again  appointed  Superintendent 
of  the  American  Ephemeris. 


3IO  JOSEPH  WINLOCK. 

He  continued  to  perform  the  duties  of  this  office  until  his  appointment  in 
1866  to  his  present  post  of  Phillips  Professor  of  Astronomy  and  Director  of  the 
Observatory  of  Harvard  College.  He  has  also  been  appointed  Professor  of 
Geodesy  in  the  Mining  School  of  Harvard  College  and  in  the  Lawrence  Scientific 
School. 

Professor  Winlock  is  a  member  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences,  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  and  of  the  Astronomische  Gesell- 
schaft.  He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from  Harvard  College 
in  1868.  His  published  works  consist  chiefly  of  a  set  of  Tables  of  Mercury,  of 
other  publications  from  the  office  of  the  American  Ephemeris,  and  of  brief  papers 
in  astronomical  journals  and  in  the  proceedings  of  the  American  Academy. 


THE    BOTANIC   GARDEN. 


m 


< 


Q 


m 


THE    BOTANIC    GARDEN. 

Foundation  of  the  Garden.  —  William  Dandridge  Peck  chosen  Professor.  —  Gift  of  Mr. 
Craigie.  —  Lack  of  Funds.  —  Mr.  Thomas  Nuttall's  Residence  at  the  Garden.  —  Dr.  Asa 
Gray  appointed  to  the  Fisher  Professorship  in  1842.  —  Present  Conservatory  built  in 
1857.  —  Herbarium  Building  erected  in  1864.  —  Income  for  the  Support  of  the  Garden. 
—  Completion  of  the  present  Establishment  in  1871. 

The  Botanic  Garden,  along  with  the  Massachusetts  Professorship  of  Natural 
History  to  which  it  was  attached,  was  founded  in  the  year  1805.  It  appears 
from  the  records  of  the  Corporation  that,  on  the  first  day  of  March  of  that  year, 
"  a  plan  for  a  professorship  of  Botany  and  Entomology  in  the  University  by  a 
number  of  subscribers  to  a  fund  for  that  purpose,  was  communicated  and  read  " ; 
the  proposed  statutes  and  regulations  were  discussed  at  subsequent  meetings  of 
the  Corporation,  and  on  the  28th  of  March  these  statutes  were  adopted  and  en- 
tered upon  the  records.  William  Dandridge  Peck  was  chosen  Professor  on  this 
foundation,  and  on  the  14th  of  May  was  formally  inducted  into  office,  when  he 
delivered  an  inaugural  oration  in  English.  "  Afterward,"  as  the  record  states, 
"  they  sat  down  to  a  decent  dinner  in  the  Hall." 

Dr.  Peck  must  have  laid  out  the  Botanic  Garden  that  same  year,  or  soon 
after.  The  next  year  he  went  to  Europe,  to  visit  the  principal  gardens,  etc.,  return- 
ing, it  is  to  be  inferred,  in  1808,  for  in  that  year  a  committee  of  the  Corporation 
made  some  regulations  for  his  lectures.  The  Conservatory  built  by  Dr.  Peck 
about  this  time  —  a  "  lean-to  "  structure  with  stone  foundation  and  brick  wall  — 
served  the  whole  purpose  of  the  establishment  until  the  year  1858,  and  its  foun- 
dations and  most  of  the  wall  form  a  part  of  the  present  structure.  There  appears 
to  have  been  a  house  for  the  gardener  on  the  premises.  The  Professor's  house 
was  finished  in  18 10.  The  land  for  the  garden,  about  seven  and  a  half  acres,  is 
said  to  have  been  given  by  Mr.  Craigie.  The  funds  for  its  formation  and  sup- 
port were  raised  by  subscription,  and  by  a  grant  from  the  State  of  certain  wild 
lands  in  Maine,  being  a  portion  of  the  grant  made  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Society 
for  Promoting  Agriculture.     These  Trustees  were  made  the  Visitors  of  the  estab- 


314  THE    BOTANIC    GARDEN. 

lishment,  and  for  many  years  they  took  the  principal  cliarge  of  it.  What  the 
original  funds  amounted  to  cannot  now  be  ascertained.  That  they  were  soon 
found  to  be  insufficient  appears  from  an  application  which  the  Visitors  made  to 
the  Corporation  in  1810  for  a  loan  of  five  thousand  dollars  on  interest;  from  their 
endeavors  (apparently  fruitless)  to  obtain  further  aid  from  the  State ;  and  from  a 
report  made  by  them  in  the  autumn  of  1822,  after  the  death  of  Professor  Peck, 
announcing  that  they  could  no  longer  pay  the  salary  of  a  professor.  During  the 
latter  half  of  his  incumbency,  Professor  Peck  was  unable  to  lecture  or  give  in- 
struction, owing  to  a  partial  paralysis.  The  chair  of  the  Massachusetts  Professor- 
ship, vacated  by  his  death,  was  never  filled  again.  The  residence  was  rented ; 
and  Mr.  Thomas  Nuttall,  a  distinguished  English  botanist,  who  had  been  for 
several  years  in  the  country,  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Garden,  and  of  such  in- 
struction in  Natural  History  as  was  then  given.  This  continued  until  the  winter 
of  1833-34,  when  Mr.  Nuttall  suddenly  resigned  his  curatorship,  and  made  an 
exploring  tour  across  the  continent  to  Oregon,  California,  and  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  The  Garden  remained  in  the  entire  charge  of  William  Carter,  the 
gardener  almost  from  the  beginning.  In  1835-36  his  dwelling-house  was  re- 
built and  enlarged.  This  worthy  man  brought  with  him  from  Yorkshire  a  ten- 
dency to  aspirate  his  vowels,  and  he  accordingly  alarmed  the  late  Mr.  Worcester, 
editor  of  the  Dictionary,  by  informing  him  that  he  was  going  to  make  the  house 
into  a  hell.  The  L-shaped  house  still  stands,  not  in  its  original  position,  on  Linnean 
Street,  but  on  Raymond  Street,  to  which  it  was  removed  when  the  former  lane 
was  widened  and  made  a  thoroughfare.  Mr.  Carter  resigned  the  place  he  had 
long  and  worthily  filled  in   1847,  ^'^d  died  six  or  seven  years  afterwards. 

After  Mr.  Nuttall's  departure,  some  botanical  instruction  was  annually  given 
by  Dr.  Harris,  the  University  Librarian,  or  by  Dr.  A.  A.  Gould  of  Boston,  until 
the  year  1842-43,  when  Dr.  Asa  Gray  was  appointed  Fisher  Professor  of  Natu- 
ral History,  upon  an  endowment  made  by  a  legac}''  of  the  late  Dr.  Fisher  of 
Beverly. 

In  the  year  1848,  a  study  was  added  to  the  Professor's  house,  which  contained 
his  herbarium,  and  was  used  more  or  less  for  botanical  instruction.  In  1857,  the 
present  Conservatory  was  built,  at  a  cost  of  nearly  four  thousand  dollars ;  half  of 
which  was  defrayed  by  a  gift  from  the  trustees  of  the  Dowse  estate,  the  remain- 
der by  private  donations,  supplemented  by  a  grant  from  the  Corporation  of  the 
University. 

In  1862,  the  invested  funds  of  the  Garden,  having  become  reduced  to  below 
twelve  thousand  dollars,  were  temporarily  replenished  by  a  subscription  raised  by 
the  late  Dr.  Hayward,  a  member  of  the  Corporation,  yielding  fifteen  hundred  dol- 
lars a  year  for  three  years. 

In   1864,  the  Herbarium  building  was  erected,  at   a  cost  (including   some   later 


THE  BOTANIC  GARDEN.  315 

additions  to  the  interior)  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  This  was  the  gift  of  Na- 
thaniel Thayer,  since  a  member  of  the  Corporation.  The  Herbarium  and  the 
Botanical  Library  of  the  Professor,  which  it  was  built  to  receive,  were  at  that  time 
presented  by  him  to  the  University,  and  a  fund  of  over  ten  thousand  dollars, 
raised  by  subscription,  was  collected  for  the  support  of  the  establishment. 

In  1866-67,  the  Professor  collected  by  subscription  seventeen  thousand  dol- 
lars, the  gentleman  who  built  the  Herbarium  contributing  five  thousand  dollars 
of  it,  to  replenish  the  funds  of  the  Garden.  From  that  time  to  the  present  the 
income  for  the  support  of  the  Garden,  from  all  sources,  has  amounted  to  about  four 
thousand  dollars,  one  third  of  which  is  the  annual  gift  of  an  anonymous  donor. 

Finally,  in  1871,  the  present  establishment  was  completed  by  the  construction 
and  fitting  up  of  a  lecture-room,  laboratory,  and  an  extension  of  the  Conservatory, 
thus  connecting  the  Herbarium  on  one  side  with  the  Conservatory  on  the  other 
into  a  continuous  range,  and  affording  the  means  of  giving  the  whole  botanical 
instruction  throughout  the  year  at  the  Botanic  Garden  in  connection  with  the 
materials  and  collections  which  illustrate  it.  This  important  addition  was  at  an 
expense  of  about  sixteen  thousand  dollars,  which  was  defrayed  by  another  anony- 
mous donor. 

The  Botanic  Garden  was  in  charge  of  Professor  Gray  from  1842 -1873,  since 
which  time  it  has  been  under  the  superintendence  of  C.  S.  Sargent,  A.  M., 
Curator  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum. 


ASA    GRAY. 

Asa  Gray  was  born  November  i8,  1810,  in  Paris,  Oneida  County,  New  York. 
He  pursued  his  preparatory  studies  in  the  CHnton  Grammar  School  and  in  Fair- 
field Academy.  Without  entering  College,  he  commenced  the  study  of  Medicine 
with  Dr.  J.  F.  Trowbridge,  Bridgewater,  New  York,  and  received  his  medical 
degree  from  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  Western  District, 
New  York,  in   1831. 

In  1834,  he  was  appointed  botanist  to  the  United  States  Exploring  Expedition, 
and,  soon  afterward.  Professor  of  Botany  in  the  University  of  Michigan.  He  did 
not,  however,  enter  upon  the  duties  of  either  of  these  positions,  but  devoted  him- 
self to  the  study  of  North  American  plants.  His  earliest  contributions  bear  date 
1834-35.  In  1836,  he  published  the  "Elements  of  Botany,"  the  forerunner  of 
the  "Botanical  Text-Book";  in  1838,  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Torrey,  the  first 
part  of  the  "  Flora  of  North  America."  In  the  spring  of  1 842  he  was  elected 
Fisher  Professor  of  Natural  History.  At  that  time  the  Botanic  Garden  was, 
through  deficiency  of  means,  struggling  to  live.  A  single  greenhouse  contained 
all  the  tender  exotics.  There  was  no  Herbarium  connected  with  the  University, 
and  the  list  of  botanical  works  in  the  Library  was  very  meagre.  At  the  present 
date  (1874)  the  following  results  may  be  spoken  of  as  among  those  which  Dr. 
Gray  has  secured  during  his  occupancy  of  the  chair. 

A  fund  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Botanic  Garden  has  been  obtained,  the 
grounds  have  been  conveniently  ordered  for  their  purpose,  six  greenhouses  have 
taken  the  place  of  one,  and  all  have  been  stocked  with  illustrative  plants.  In 
1862,  Professor  Gray  offered  to  the  University  his  Herbarium,  numbering  at 
that  time  more  than  two  hundred  thousand  specimens,  and  his  librar}'^  of  two 
thousand  two  hundred  botanical  works,  on  condition  that  a  fire-proof  building 
should  be  erected  for  their  reception.  This  condition  was  accepted,  and  through 
the  liberality  of  Nathaniel  Thayer,  Esq.,  a  suitable  structure  was  completed  in 
1864.  In  1 87 1,  in  order  that  students  might  more  conveniently  avail  themselves 
of  these  advantages,  a   botanical   lecture-room  and  laboratory,  the  gift  of  another 


ASA  GRAY.  317 

gentleman,  were  erected  on  the  grounds  of  the  garden,  and  the  botanical  instruc- 
tion is  wholly  given  there.  The  Herbarium,  now  largely  increased,  and  the 
library  of  three  thousand  five  hundred  works,  the  largest  in  America,  are  easily 
accessible  to  students  of  botany. 

Professor  Gray  has  visited  Europe  three  times,  for  purposes  of  botanical  study,  in 
the  autumn  of  1838,  in  1850-51,  and  in  1868.  His  first  visit  was  chiefly  devoted 
to  the  examination  of  European  Herbaria  containing  American  plants,  the  second 
to  the  investigation  of  the  plants  brought  back  by  the  United  States  Exploring 
Expedition,  the  third  to  the  renewed  study  of  the  North  American  Flora.  To 
the  elaboration  of  the  "  Flora  of  North  America"  has  been  given  his  latest  as  well 
as  earliest  study.  In  order  that  he  might  the  more  unreservedly  devote  himself 
to  this  work,  he  was  at  his  own  request  in  1873  relieved  from  the  burden  of  Col- 
lege instruction  and  the  direction  of  the  garden.  In  his  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  his  associate  of  forty  years,  —  the  late  Dr.  Torrey,  —  he  speaks  of  the  completion 
of  this  work  as  "the  most  pressing  want  of  the  science." 

The  more  important  publications  by  Professor  Gray,  besides  that  just  alluded 
to,  are :  —  Plantas  LindheimerianEe ;  Plantce  Fendlerianse  Novi-Mexicanas  ;  Plantse 
Wrightianse  Texano-Neo-Mexicanse ;  Plantse  Thurberianae ;  Genera  Florae  Americee 
Boreali-Orientalis  Illustrata ;  Botany  of  the  United  States  Exploring  Expedition  ; 
Memoirs  of  the  Botany  of  Japan ;  Botany  of  the  Northern  United  States,  now 
in  its  fifth  edition.  In  the  Royal  Society's  catalogue  of  scientific  papers  a  list 
of  his  contributions,  up  to  the  date  1863,  contains  seventy-three,  without  refer- 
ence to  the  numerous  critical  notices  furnished  by  him  as  associate  editor  of  the 
American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  during  the  last  thirty-eight  years.  The 
educational  series  published  by  him  comprises  the  following  works :  —  How  Plants 
Grow;  Manual  of  Botany;  Structural  and  Systematic  Botany  (Botanical  Text- 
Book)  ;  First  Lessons  in  Botany ;  Field  and  Garden  Book  of  Botany ;  How 
Plants  Behave. 

In  1863,  Dr.  Gray  was  elected  President  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences,  a  position  which  he  held  until  his  resignation  in  1873.  In  1872, 
he  was  President  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science. 
He  is  a  member  of  most  of  the  scientific  societies  of  the  United  States,  and  a 
corresponding  and  honorary  member  of  many  such  abroad;  of  which  the  earliest 
are:  Botanical  Society  of  Ratisbon ;  Academia  Naturae  Curiosorum,  Breslau  ;  and 
the  more  important,  the  Linnaean  Society,  London ;  Royal  Society,  London ;  Royal 
Academy  of  Sciences,  of  Berlin,  Stockholm,  Upsala,  and  Munich  ;  Imperial  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences  of  St.  Petersburg. 

Soon  after  accepting  his  Professorship,  Dr.  Gray  received  the  honorary  degree 
of  A.  M.  from  Harvard  University,  and  in  i860  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  from 
Hamilton  College,  New  York. 


THE    BUSSEY    INSTITUTION. 


i 


m 


i^ 


THE   BUSSEY  INSTITUTION. 

Benjamin  Bussey's  Will.  —  Foundation  of  the  Institution.  —  Buildings  and  Professorships.  — 
Gift  of  James  Arnold  of  New  Bedford.  —  The  Arboretum.  —  Course  of  Study  pursued 
in  the  School,  and  its  objects. 

The  Bussey  Institution,  at  Jamaica  Plain,  is  a  School  of  Agriculture  and 
Horticulture,  established  as  a  department  of  Harvard  University  under  the  trusts 
created  by  the  will  of  Benjamin  Bussey  of  Roxbury,  bearing  date  July,  1835. 
By  a  provision  of  the  will,  the  College  did  not  come  into  immediate  possession 
either  of  the  land  or  money  thus  granted;  but  in  May,  1861,  the  trustees  of  the 
will  transferred  to  the  President  and  Fellows  an  amount  of  property  estimated  at 
$413,000.  Half  of  the  Income  of  this  property  was  immediately  applied  in  accord- 
ance with  Mr.  Bussey's  directions, — one  quarter  to  the  uses  of  the  Divinity  School, 
and  one  quarter  to  the  uses  of  the  Law  School  at  Cambridge.  The  remaining 
half  was  left  to  accumulate  for  a  building  fund.  The  land  at  Jamaica  Plain  — 
about  three  hundred  and  sixty  acres  —  meanwhile  remained  in  the  possession  of 
a  relative  of  Mr.  Bussey,  to  whom  a  life  interest  had  been  given;  but  in  1870 
an  arrangement  was  made  by  which  seven  acres  of  the  estate  were  relinquished 
to  the  College,  and  the  organization  of  the  School  was  begun.  In  1871  a  com- 
modious building  was  erected  on  the  spot  designated  by  Mr.  Bussey,  and  in 
1 87 1  and  1872  greenhouses  and  sheds  were  built,  the  grounds  and  avenues  pre- 
pared, and  a  water-supply  constructed.  The  main  building  is  of  Roxbury  pudding- 
stone,  112x73  feet,  of  the  Victoria  Gothic  architecture,  and  contains  a  lecture-room, 
library,  office,  laboratory  with  storerooms  and  glass-house  attached,  and  recitation 
and  collection  rooms.  The  cost  of  putting  up  and  furnishing  these  buildings 
was  about  $62,000.  Professorships  of  Horticulture,  Agricultural  Chemistry,  and 
Applied  Zoology  were  established,  and  Instructors  of  Farming  and  Entomology 
were  appointed,  during  the  academic  year  1870-71.  A  Librarian  and  Curator 
of  Collections  was  appointed  in  1873.  The  building  was  partially  ready  for  occu- 
pation December,  1871,  and  since  then  scientific  researches  in  agricultural  chem- 
istry  have   been   constantly  carried   on   in   the   laboratory.      Lectures   on   applied 


322  THE  BUSSEY   INSTITUTION. 

zoology,  chemistry,  horticulture,  and  entomology  have  been  given ;  and  a  set  of 
field  experiments  have  been  conducted  by  the  Professor  of  Agricultural  Chem- 
istry. 

In  the  spring  of  1872  the  President  and  Fellows  received  a  gift  of  $  100,000 
from  the  trustees  under  the  will  of  James  Arnold  of  New  Bedford,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  establishing  in  the  Bussey  Institution  a  Professorship  of  Tree  Culture, 
and  creating  on  the  Bussey  estate  an  arboretum  which  shall  ultimately  contain 
all  trees,  shrubs,  and  herbaceous  plants  which  can  grow  there  in  the  open  air, 
At  least  two  thirds  of  the  income  is  to  be  accumulated  until  the  fund  amounts 
to  $  1 50,000,  and  the  Bussey  estate  passes  completely  into  the  hands  of  the  Pres- 
ident and  Fellows.  A  particular  portion  of  the  estate,  containing  about  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-seven  acres,  has  been  specified  as  the  site  of  the  arboretum,  which 
will  doubtless  be  laid  out  as  an  open  park,  with  walks  and  roadways.  This  can 
hardly  fail  to  become  a  delightful  resort,  as  the  natural  beauties  of  the  Bussey 
estate  are  very  great.  A  director  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum  was  appointed  in 
1872.  Many  trees  have  already  been  propagated  at  the  Bussey  Institution  and 
at  the  Botanic  Garden  for  the  arboretum. 

The  Bussey  Institution  has  received  aid  from  the  Massachusetts  Society  for 
Promoting  Agriculture,  in  the  form  of  yearly  grants  of  money,  to  be  used  for  the 
field  experiments  and  for  the  horticultural  department. 

The  regular  course  of  study  at  the  School  is  meant  to  fill  three  years.  During 
the  second  and  third  years  agricultural  chemistry,  useful  and  ornamental  gardening, 
agriculture,  and  applied  zoology  are  taught  at  Jamaica  Plain.  Instruction  is  given 
by  lectures  and  recitations,  and  by  practical  exercises  in  the  laboratory  and  green- 
house, and  by  the  inspection  of  field-work.  In  order  to  give  the  student  a  sound 
basis  for  a  thorough  knowledge  of  these  arts,  instruction  in  physical  geography, 
meteorology,  the  elements  of  geology,  chemistry,  physics,  botany,  zoology,  ento- 
mology, levelling,  and  road-building  is  given  the  first  year  at  the  Lawrence 
Scientific  School,  Cambridge.  Since  the  opening  of  the  School,  thirty  students 
have  attended  one  or  more  of  the  courses  of  instruction  at  Jamaica  Plain. 

The  single  object  of  the  School  is  to  promote  and  diffuse  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  agriculture  and  horticulture.  It  is  intended  especially  for  young  men 
who  mean  to  become  practical  farmers,  gardeners,  florists,  or  landscape  gardeners ; 
young  men  who  will  naturally  be  called  upon  to  manage  large  estates,  —  such 
as  the  sons  of  large  farmers  and  of  city  men  who  own  country-places  ;  young 
men  of  character,  good  judgment,  and  native  force,  who  have  neither  taste  nor 
aptitude  for  literary  studies,  but,  being  fond  of  country  life  and  observant  of  nat- 
ural objects,  would  make,  when  thoroughly  trained,  good  stewards  or  overseers  of 
gentlemen's  estates  ;  teachers,  or  young  men  preparing  to  be  teachers,  who  expect 
to  give  instruction  in  any  of  the  subjects  taught  in  this  School ;  and  persons  who 


THE  BUSSEY   INSTITUTION. 


323 


wish  to  familiarize  themselves  with  some  special  branch   of  agriculture,  horticul- 
ture, or  applied  zoology. 

Although  it  is  very  desirable  that  the  opportunities  and  facilities  provided  by 
the  Bussey  Institution  should  be  recognized  and  utilized  by  the  public,  and  that 
students  should  resort  thither  for  instruction  in  the  arts  and  sciences  which  sub- 
serve agriculture  and  horticulture,  yet  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  funds  provided 
by  Mr.  Bussey  will  enable  the  College  to  maintain  the  Institution  as  a  scientific 
station,  like  the  Observatory,  or  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology,  until  •  the 
time  shall  come  when  there  shall  be  a  demand  for  its  privileges  as  a  school. 


DANIEL    DENISON    SLADE. 

Daniel  Denison  Slade,  M.  D.,  the  son  of  J.  T.  Slade,  merchant,  was  born 
in  Boston,  May  lo,  1823.  He  attended  prmiary  schools  in  that  city  until  1833, 
when  he  was  placed  under  the  care  of  Hon.  Stephen  Weld,  of  Jamaica  Plain. 
Thence  he  was  removed  to  the  family  school  of  Rev.  Ezra  Ripley,  of  Waltham. 
In  1835,  he  was  sent  to  Northboro',  where  he  lived  two  years  in  the  charge  of 
Rev.  Joseph  Allen.  Returning  to  the  city,  he  became  a  pupil  of  the  Latin  School, 
where  he  was  fitted  for  college,  entering  Harvard  in  1840,  and  passing  the  examina- 
tion without  conditions.  While  at  this  school  he  received  a  prize  for  the  best 
Latin  poem.  Graduating  in  1844,  having  been  a  member  of  various  College  so- 
cieties, and  the  President  of  the  Harvard  Natural  History  Society,  he'  spent  a 
few  months  on  a  farm  near  Greenfield,  but  returned  to  Cambridge  in  the  early 
winter  of  1844,  entering  his  name  as  resident  graduate.  Here  he  was  occupied 
in  literary  pursuits,  and  in  copying  original  letters  relating  to  the  American  Revo- 
lution for  Rev.  Jared  Sparks,  which  gained  him  the  acquaintance  and  friendship  of 
that  eminent  historian.  In  1845  he  entered  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  received 
a  degree  in  1848,  and  the  appointment  of  House  Surgeon  in  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital.  In  the  autumn  of  1849  he  went  to  Europe  for  the  study  of 
his  profession.  Returning  in  1852,  he  commenced  practice  in  his  native  city, 
continuing  to  reside  there  until  1863,  when  he  removed  to  Chestnut  Hill,  gradu- 
ally relinquishing  his  profession  for  literary  and  horticultural  pursuits,  —  which  last 
were  always  peculiarly  adapted  to  his  tastes.  During  his  medical  career  he 
contributed  various  articles  to  medical  journals,  and  was  the  successful  competitor 
for  four  medical  prizes,  namely,  the  Boylston  of  1857,  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
for  1859,  the  Fiske  Fund  for  1850  and  1852,  two  of  which  have  been  published 
under  the  titles,  "  Diphtheria,  its  Nature  and  Treatment,"  Blanchard  and  Lee, 
New  York ;  "  To  what  Affections  of  the  Lungs  does  Bronchitis  give  Origin  ? " 
Boston.  He  was  appointed  during  the  war  one  of  the  inspectors  of  hospitals, 
under  the  Sanitary  Commission.  He  has  contributed  various  papers  to  agricul- 
tural and  horticultural  journals.  In  1870  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Applied 
Zoology  in  Harvard  University. 


.^. 


o^//Vo^^/2it^ 


FRANCIS    HUMPHREYS    STOKER. 

Francis  Humphreys  Storer  was  born  in  Boston,  March  27,  1832,  He  studied 
at  private  schools,  and  for  a  short  time  at  the  Latin  School  in  Boston,  but  on 
account  of  feeble  health  passed  several  years  on  farms  in  different  parts  of  New 
England,  and  made  several  voyages  to  Russia  and  to  the  coast  of  Labrador,  be- 
fore entering  the  Chemical  Department  of  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  Cam- 
bridge, at  eighteen.  In  1851  he  became  Assistant  to  Professor  J.  P.  Cooke,  and 
remained  two  years  in  his  laboratories  at  Cambridge  and  at  the  Medical  School 
in  Boston,  where  he  also  instructed  a  private  class  in  Chemical  Analysis,  until 
in  1853  he  received  his  appointment  as  Chemist  to  the  United  States  North 
Pacific  Exploring  Expedition,  under  Commander  Ringgold.  With  this  expedition 
he  visited  Madeira,  the  Cape  de  Verde  Islands,  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Australia, 
and  China. 

In  1855  Mr.  Storer  went  to  Europe,  and  studied  in  the  laboratory  of  Bunsen 
at  Heidelberg,  at  Freiberg,  at  the  Agricultural  School  at  Tharandt,  where  he 
worked  as  a  private  pupil  in  the  laboratory  of  Stoeckhardt,  and  at  Paris.  On 
his  return  to  America,  in  1857,  he  was  appointed  Chemist  to  the  Boston  Gas- 
Light  Company,  and  held  that  office  until  his  removal  from  the  city  in  1871. 
For  a  time  he  had  also  a  private  laboratory  in  Boston  as  Analytical  and  Con- 
sulting Chemist,  but  gave  up  this  occupation  in  order  to  devote  himself  to  scien- 
tific researches  in  the  laboratories  of  Professor  Cooke  and  Assistant-Professor 
Eliot  at  Cambridge.  In  1859  he  published  an  extended  memoir  on  the  Alloys 
of  Copper  and  Zinc,  in  i860  an  essay  on  the  History  of  the  Manufacture  of 
Parafifine  Oils,  in  1861  a  memoir  on  the  Impurities  of  Commercial  Zinc,  in  con- 
junction with  Professor  Eliot,  and  in  1862  his  Dictionar}'  of  the  Solubilities  of 
Chemical  Substances. 

On  the  opening  of  the  School  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
in  1865,  Mr.  Storer  was  appointed  Professor  of  Chemistiy  in  that  institution, 
where,  in  connection  with  Professor  Eliot,  he  devoted  himself  to  teaching  Chem- 
istry in  its  applications  to  the  arts,  and  as  a  means  of  mental  training  in  general 


326  FRANCIS   HUMPHREYS   STORER. 

education,  and  to  the  task    of  organizing  and  perfecting   a    system  of  instructing 
students  in  large  classes  by  the  experimental  method. 

The  Manuals  of  Inorganic  Chemistry  and  of  Qualitative  Analysis,  by  Professors 
Eliot  and  Storer,  and  the  Cyclopaedia  of  Quantitative  Analysis,  by  Professor  Storer, 
were  written  at  this  time.  In  1867  Professor  Storer  spent  several  months  abroad 
for  the  purpose  of  studying  the  chemical  departments  of  the  Paris  Exhibition  of 
that  year,  and  the  processes  actually  employed  in  the  chemical  manufactories  of 
Europe.  At  this  time  he  visited  a  large  number  of  chemical  works  in  England, 
Scotland,  France,  and  Germany.  In  1871  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Agricul- 
tural Chemistry  in  Harvard  University,  from  which  institution  he  had  previously 
received  the  honorary  degree  of  A.  M.  He  has  published  numerous  articles  on 
chemical  subjects  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  American  Academy,  in  Silliman's  Jour- 
nal of  Science,  in  the  Repertoire  de  Chimie  Appliquee,  of  which  he  was  for  some 
years  the  American  editor,  in  the  Chemical  News,  and  of  late  in  the  Bulletin 
of  the  Bussey  Institution. 


MUSEUM    OF    COMPARATIVE    ZOOLOGY. 


50 


The   Proposed   Museum. 


THE    MUSEUM    OF    COMPARATIVE    ZOOLOGY. 


Gift  of  Abbott  Lawrence.  —  Agassiz  accepts  a  Professorship  in  the  Lawrence  Scientific 
School.  —  His  Collections.  —  Samuel  A.  Eliot  raises  Money  to  arrange  and  preserve 
THEM.  —  Bequest  of  Francis  C.  Gray  for  establishing  a  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology. 
—  Action  of  William  Gray.  —  Vote  of  the  President  and  Fellows.  —  State  Aid.  —  Sub- 
scription List.  —  Plan  of  the  Building.  —  Laying  of  the  Corner-Stone.  —  Occupation  of 
the  Museum.  —  The  Museum  as  an  Educational  Institution.  —  The  Emperor  of  Brazil 
causes  a  Collection  of  Fishes  to  be  made  for  the  Museum.  —  The  Thayer  Expedition.  — 
Professor  Agassiz's  Reports.  —  The  Hassler  Expedition.  —  Plan  of  Arrangement.  —  Gift 
of  John  Anderson.  —  School  of  Natural  History  at  Penikese.  —  Death  of  Professor 
Agassiz. — The  Agassiz  Memorial.  —  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Trustees  for  1873. — 
Gift  of  Quincy  A.  Shaw.  —  A  Nucleus  for  a  Natural  History  Library  at  the  Museum. 


In  the  year  1847  the  late  Hon.  Abbott  Lawrence  gave  fifty  thousand  dollars 
to  Harvard  University,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  the  Lawrence  Scientific 
School.  At  that  time  Mr.  Lawrence  asked  Professor  Agassiz  if  he  would  accept 
a  professorship  in  the  School,  as  this  would  be  an  additional  inducement  for  him 
to  make  the  endowment.  Professor  Agassiz  did  accept,  and  was  appointed  Law- 
rence Professor  of  Zoology  and  Geology  in  the  Scientific  School  of  Harvard 
University.  On  entering  upon  his  duties,  he  found  that  there  were  no  collections 
in  the  University  with  which  to  illustrate  lectures  upon  Geology  and  Zoology, 
and  that  no  provision  had  been  made  to  obtain  such   by  purchase  or  otherwise. 


330  THE  MUSEUM   OF   COMPARATIVE   ZOOLOGY. 

He  was   therefore  obliged  to  make   them  at  his  own  expense,  which  he  did  until 
they  had  outgrown  his  individual  resources. 

In  1S52,  when  he  had  all  these  precious  collections  stored,  partly  in  his  own 
house,  partly  in  the  cellar  of  Harvard  Hall,  and  partly  in  a  shanty  on  the 
Brighton  Road,  the  late  Mr.  Samuel  A.  Eliot,  who  was  then  Treasurer  of 
Harvard  University,  raised  by  private  subscription  the  sum  of  twelve  thousand 
dollars  to  put  up  and  arrange  these  specimens  and  to  provide  for  their  main- 
tenance. Professor  Agassiz  then  presented  the  whole  to  the  Scientific  School ; 
but  he  still  continued  to  apply  all  that  he  could  spare  of  his  time  and  his  earn- 
ings to  their  increase,  until,  in  1858,  they  had  outgrown  the  wants  of  the 
College  and  the  scientific  students,  and  a  movement  was  made  to  build  up  and 
organize  the  Museum,  as  it  now  is,  as  an  independent  institution.  To  carry  out 
his  views  for  the  establishment  of  a  School  devoted  to  teaching  Natural  History, 
would  require  a  sum  far  beyond  the  means  at  his  disposal ;  but  the  indomitable 
perseverance  of  the  Teacher  was  not  to  be  discouraged.  With  a  sure  conviction 
that  the  good-will  of  the  thinking  portion  of  New  England  was  with  him,  he 
kept  steadily  on,  losing  no  opportunit}^  to  impress  upon  his  hearers,  at  the 
public  lectures  which  he  frequently  delivered,  the  advantage  of  the  study  of 
the  Woi'ld,  as  connected  with  the  pursuits  of  every-day  life.  In  1858  Mr. 
Francis  C.  Gray,  of  Boston,  died,  leaving  a  bequest  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  and  maintaining  a  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology, 
at  the  same  time  leaving  it  optional  with  his  nephew,  Mr.  William  Gray,  whether 
the  Museum  should  be  connected  with  Harvard  University,  or  with  some  other 
institution  of  the  same  kind.  On  the  20th  of  December,  1858,  Mr.  William  Gray 
informed  the  President  and  Fellows  of  the  University  that  he  presented  them 
with  fifty  thousand  dollars,  as  bequeathed  by  Mr.  Francis  C.  Gray,  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology ;  at  the  same  time  making  other 
valuable  donations  for  the  benefit  of  the  University.  The  President  and  Fellows, 
in  accepting  these  gifts,  voted  :  — 

"  That  the  Corporation  are  duly  sensible  that  the  final  determination  as  to  these  noble  charities 
was  left  to  William  Gray,  Esq.,  in  his  capacity  as  executor  and  residuary  legatee  of  his  uncle's 
estate ;  and  they  request  their  President  to  write  a  letter  of  acknowledgment  to  that  gentleman, 
thanking  him  for  a  liberality  of  conduct  and  a  generous  regard  for  the  interests  of  the  University 
which  will  forever  associate  his  own  and  his  uncle's  name  in  these  wise  and  munificent  endow- 
ments." 

In  1859  the  matter  of  State  aid  to  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology  was 
brought  to  the  notice  of  the  Legislature  through  the  message  of  Governor  Banks, 
and  the  Committee  on  Education  took  into  consideration  the  proposition  to  ap- 
propriate money  for  the  erection  of  a  suitable  building  at  Cambridge  for  the  use 
of  that  institution.     In  February  of   that   year   this    committee    invited    Professor 


THE  MUSEUM   OF   COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  33 1 

Agassiz  to  address  them  on  the  subject.  This  invitation  was  acccjsted,  and  in 
the  course  of  his  remarks  he  said :  — 

"  It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  state  to  you  that  the  great  object  I  have  in  view  in  appearing  before 
you  is  tlie  preservation  of  these  collections  of  zoological  specimens  which  I  have  been  for  a  long 
time  engaged  in  making.  But  I  have  merely  laid  the  foundation  of  a  great  museum  by  my  labors 
of  the  past  six  or  eight  years,  and  these  choice   specimens  are  now   in   a  building  which  is   totally 

unsafe The  specimens  are  preserved  in  alcohol,  and  this   alcohol    is    constantly  running  over, 

rendering  it  unsafe  to  have  fire  in  the  building  by  day  or  night.  My  great  object  is  to  have  a 
museum  founded  here  which  will  equal  the  great  museums  of  the  Old  World.  We  have  a  continent 
before  us  for  exploration  which  has  as  yet  been  only  skimmed  on  the  surface I  have  re- 
cently received  a  letter  from  the  Director  of  the  Museum  at  Vienna,  stating  that  he  had  sent  me 
several   hundred    specimens    of   fishes   from    the    Euphrates,   the    Nile,  and    elsewhere,  for  which   he 

wished  a  single  specimen  of   a  fish  of   which  I  had  duplicates My  earnest   desire  has  always 

been,  and  is  now,  to  put  our  universities  on  a  footing  with  those  of  Europe,  or  even  ahead  of  them ; 
so  that  there  would  be  the  same  disposition  among  European  students  to  come  to  America  for  the 
completion  of  their  education  that  there  always  has  been  among  our  students  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  advantages  of  European  universities  and  schools.  And  I  think  the  time  has  now  come  when 
this  object  can  be  gained.  This  is  evident  every  way,  and  is  seen  in  the  disposition  of  the  Pro- 
fessors of  Harvard  College  to  acquire  and  encourage  high  scientific  culture There  are  all  the 

elements  for  successful  research  in  Harvard  College.  Of  course  I  am  not  careless  of  my  reputation 
for  scientific  attainments.  I  should  be  very  foolish  if  I  were,  and  I  have  chosen  Harvard  College 
as  the  field  of  my  labor,  because  I  know  it  is  the  place  of  all  others  to  obtain  scientific  dominance 

and  supremacy I  have  for  several  years  past  been  consulting  with  an   architect   in   regard   to 

the  proper  plan  on  which  a  museum  should  be  built.  It  is  desirable  that  it  should  be  fire-proof, 
though  a  moderate  expense  would  not  allow  of  its  being  entirely  so.  The  building  should  be  on  a 
large  area,  Cind  I  should  hardly  wish  to  have  it  erected  unless  with  the  idea  of  indefinite  extension. 
My  idea  in  regard  to  the  collections  is  to  furnish  you  with  what  money  will  not  buy  you  when  I 
am  gone,  with  specimens  which  will  be  invaluable,  because  they  cannot  be  procured  elsewhere.  I 
receive  no  compensation  whatever  for  the  salaries  of  my  assistants,  but  pay  them  out  of  my  own 
pocket.  Several  years  since,  twenty  thousand  dollars  which  I  had  spent  was  refunded  to  me  by 
citizens  of  Boston,  and  I  have  spent  twelve  thousand  dollars  since.  There  is  not  an  assistant  in 
my  department  whom  I  do  not  now  pay  out  of  my  own  pocket,  and  I  expect  to  incur  personally 
the  expense  of  labelling  and  preparing  the  specimens  when  they  are  put  in  the  new  building,  should 
one  be  erected." 

The  Committee  made  a  favorable  report,  and  on  the  2d  of  April,  1859,  the 
Legislature  of  Massachusetts  voted  that  aid  should  be  granted  to  the  Museum 
of  Comparative  Zoology  to  the  extent  of  not  more  than  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  payable  from  sales  of  lands  belonging  to  the  Commonwealth  in  the  Back 
Bay.  And  the  sum  of  ^71,125  was  also  raised  by  private  subscription  among 
the  citizens  of  Boston,  "  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  fire-proof  building  in  Cam- 
bridge suitable  to  receive,  to  protect,  and  to  exhibit  advantageously  and  freely  to 
all  comers,  the  collection  of  objects  in  Natural  Science,  brought  together  by  Pro- 
fessor Louis  Agassiz,  with  such  additions  as  may  hereafter  be  made  to  it." 


332  THE   MUSEUM   OF   COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY. 

THE   SUBSCRIPTION   LIST. 

The  name  of  N.  Thayer  headed  this  list  with  a  subscription  of  $  5,000.  Following,  for  $  2,000, 
were  the  names  of  Nathan  Appleton,  Jonathan  Phillips,  John  P.  Cushing,  John  M.  Forbes,  Theodore 
Lyman,  William  Sturgis,  Mrs.  Abbott  Lawrence,  Samuel  Hooper,  Abbott  Lawrence  ;  for  $  1,000,  Jacob 
Bigelow,  Thomas  G.  Gary,  Samuel  G.  Ward,  James  M.  Barnard,  William  Appleton,  J.  C.  Gray,  Miss  Mary 
Pratt,  A.  Hemenway,  A.  A.  Lawrence,  P.  C.  Brooks,  Jr.,  G.  H.  Shaw,  W.  F.  Weld,  Miss  Brimmer,  George 
Ticknor,  Gardner  Brewer,  James  Lawrence,  M.  Brimmer,  David  Sears,  W.  P.  Mason,  Miss  Sarah  P.  Pratt, 
H.  B.  Rogers,  Josiah  Bradlee,  Moses  Williams,  Stephen  Salisbury,  Charles  Sanders,  Mrs.  M.  F.  Sayles  ; 
for  $  500,  Franklin  Haven,  Ozias  Goodwin,  W.  T.  Andrews,  P.  C.  Brooks,  B.  G.  Boardman,  Josiah 
Quincy,  Mrs.  Elijah  Loring,  F.  Skinner,  J.  L.  Gardner,  S.  A.  Appleton,  Miss  Sarah  Greene,  Miss  Mary 
Wigglesworth,  W.  S.  Bullard,  Paschal  P.  Pope,  Joseph  Whitney,  George  B.  Sargent,  Thomas  B.  Wales, 
Jeffrey  Richardson,  Miss  Abby  M.  Loring,  E.  A.  &  W.  Winchester,  George  F.  Parkman,  Mrs.  G.  H. 
Shaw,  C.  M.  Warner,  N.  Y.,  Miss  Ann  Wigglesworth  ;  for  $  300,  Henry  Grew,  B.  D.  Greene,  "  N.  N.," 
by  James  Lawrence,  Edward  Wigglesworth,  Mrs.  R.  G.  Shaw  ;  for  $  250,  J.  C.  Howe  ;  for  $  200,  Edward 
Everett,  James  Davis,  Jr.,  J.  W.  Trull,  James  Parker,  Henry  Timmins,  J.  H.  Wolcott,  William  Amory,  H. 
P.  Sturgis,  George  O.  Hovey,  George  R.  Russell,  A.  A.  Reed;  for  $  150,  R.  C.  Winthrop,  Dana,  Farrar, 
&  Hyde,  J.  L.  Gorham,  D.  G.  &  W.  B.  Bacon ;  for  $  100,  Henry  Lee,  Jr.,  G.  T.  Bigelow,  Mrs.  Evans, 
H.  F.  Durant,  Ezra  Lincoln,  Charles  G.  Loring,  George  Callender,  J.  A.  Davis,  John  Stearns,  Jr.,  T.  W. 
Pierce,  Larkin,  Stackpole,  &  Co.,  Mrs.  Abby  L.  Wales,  N.  L.  Frothingham,  Fishers  &  Chapin,  D.  W. 
Williams,  J.  T.  Heard,  J.  H.  Beale,  G.  R.  Minot,  Thomas  Wigglesworth,  J.  J.  May,  George  B.  Blake, 
J.  B.  Bradlee,  Francis  Bacon,  J.  W.  Edmands,  Alpheus  Hardy,  John  Simmons,  Richard  Fletcher,  W.  W. 
Tucker,  W.  H.  Swift,  Mrs.  Minot,  G.  H.  Kuhn,  Newell  A.  Thompson,  Charles  Amory,  Robert  Waterson, 
James  Guild,  Mrs.  Perkins,  Miss  Mary  Ann  Wales,  H.  Woodman,  Henry  Lee,  N.  Hooper,  J.  T.  Heard, 
Daniel  Denny,  Jonatlian  French,  Freeman  Allen,  S.  C.  Thwing,  Dr.  C.  H.  Lodge,  R.  S.  Fay,  Jr.,  Henry 
Cabot,  Israel  Lombard  ;  for  $  50,  H.  Parker,  Thomas  Shimmin,  C.  F.  Shimmin,  John  Ware,  N.  Crocker, 
J.  A.  Blanchard,  W.  H.  Milton,  A.  T.  Hall,  Prescott  &  Chapin,  "  N.  N.,"  Moses  Grant,  G.  H.  Peters, 
Samuel  May  ;  for  $  25,  Edward  King,  N.  Y. 

In  June,  1859,  articles  of  agreement  were  made  and  executed  between  the 
Trustees  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology  and  the  President  and  Fellows 
of  Harvard  College,  and  a  piece  of  land  of  about  five  acres  in  extent  was  deeded 
by  the  College  to  the  Museum  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  fire-proof  building 
to  contain  exhibition-rooms,  lecture-room,  working-rooms,  etc.  Professor  Agassiz 
had,  for  a  long  time,  discussed  the  plan  and  the  requirements  of  a  museum  with 
Mr.  Henry  Greenough,  of  Cambridge,  and  now,  when  the  opportunity  offered  for 
carrying  out  these  views,  Mr.  Greenough  and  Mr.  George  Snell,  the  architect,  of 
Boston,  volunteered  their  services,  to  make  the  plans  of  such  a  museum  as  Pro- 
fessor Agassiz  had  contemplated  for  many  years.  This  museum,  when  completed, 
was  to  consist  of  a  main  building  364  feet  in  length  by  64  feet  in  width,  with 
wings  205  feet  in  length  and  64  feet  in  width  ;  but  as  the  present  object  was  to 
meet  the  immediate  requirements  of  the  museum  as  it  then  was,  it  was  decided 
that  the  first  portion  built  should  be  only  two  fifths  of  the  north  wing,  which 
would   give   ample   room   for    the    collections    of   Professor   Agassiz,   and   for   the 


THE   MUSEUM   OF  COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  333 

necessary  working-rooms,  lecture-room,  etc.,  required  for  the  assistants  and  stu- 
dents connected  with  the  institution.  The  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the 
Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology  took  place  with  appropriate  ceremonies  on  the 
17th  of  June,  1859.  Governor  Banks  opened  the  proceedings  by  briefly  stating 
the  nature  of  the  occasion,  and  introduced  Professor  Agassiz,  who  made  a  short 
address,  expressing  the  pleasure  with  which  he  participated  in  the  ceremony  of 
the  day. 

"  I  am  glad,"  he  said,  "  before  my  departure  for  Europe  to  see  ground  actually  broken  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  another  purely  American  institution  of  science,  one  which  by  its  successful  operation 
cannot  fail  to  release  America  from  foreign  dependence  and  from  that  criticism  and  control  which 
the  learned  men  of  Europe  have  heretofore  assumed  to  exercise.  It  is  gratifying  to  observe  what 
has  already  been  accomplished  ;  a  collection  has  been  gathered  which  is  sufficient  to  teach  American 
students  all  that  they  can  learn  of  Comparative  Zoology,  until  they  are  prepared  to  undertake  their 
own  original  investigations,  and  the  means  have  been  provided  to  erect  a  safe  and  convenient  build- 
ing to  preserve  this  collection.  Moreover,  it  is  part  of  our  design  to  expend  as  little  as  possible 
of  our  means  in  brick  and  mortar.  After  completing  the  building  to  be  this  day  begun,  we  shall 
still  have  a  part  of  our  funds  applicable  to  the  enlargement  of  the  collection.  At  present  we  shall 
be  content  with  half  of  one  of  the  wings  of  the  great  building ;  but  extensive  as  is  the  plan,  I  can- 
not doubt  that  the  whole  will  ultimately  be  completed.  I  feel  sure  that  means  will  be  provided  as 
fast  as  they  can  be  usefully  applied ;  and  if  I  should  not  survive  to  witness  the  completion  of  the 
whole  design,  I  know  that  I  leave  behind  me  among  my  pupils  those  who  will  be  amply  able  to  aid 
in  carrying  forward  the  work  to  a  successful  end.  It  has  been  suggested  that  all  this  gratifying 
success  has  been  due  to  my  efforts  ;  but  I  have  done  nothing  except  to  point  out  what  was  needed 
and  what  might  be  accomplished.  It  is  to  the  liberality  of  the  citizens  of  Boston  and  to  the 
generosity  of  the  Legislature,  acting  according  to  the  wise  suggestions  of  the  governor,  that  we  owe 
an  institution  which  cannot  fail  to  prove  an  honor  and  an  advantage  to  the  State." 

In  December,  1859,  the  building  was  sufficiently  advanced  to  allow  Professor 
Agassiz,  on  his  return  from  Europe,  to  move  the  greater  part  of  his  collections 
from  the  insecure  places  where  they  were  stored,  into  the  fire-proof  Museum 
which  he  had  so  long  Avished  for.  In  May,  i860,  the  building  was  completed, 
and  was  found  to  be  so  well  fitted  for  the  purposes  intended,  that  Professor 
Agassiz  declared  that,  after  his  recent  examination  of  the  principal  museums  in 
Europe,  he  would  not  alter  it,  in  any  respect,  if  he  could  do  so  by  a  wish.  The 
annual  reports  of  the  Director  of  the  Museum  for  the  years  1861  and  1862  con- 
tain little  beside  accounts  of  the  additions  to  the  collections.  When  the  war 
between  the  Northern  and  Southern  States  broke  out,  the  Museum  was  a  sufferer, 
for  several  of  the  assistants  upon  whom  Professor  Agassiz  relied  for  valuable  ser- 
vices joined  the  Northern  army.  The  funds  also  of  the  Museum  were  running 
low,  but  it  was  no  time  to  ask  for  further  supplies,  when  all  the  resources  of  the 
country,  both  public  and  private,  were  required  to  put  down  the  Rebellion.  Still, 
Professor  Agassiz  in  his  report  for  the   year  1863  was  able  to    record  with  grati- 


334  THE  MUSEUM   OF  COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY. 

tudc  "  the  liberality  of  the  Legislature  in  granting  ten  thousand  dollars  for  the 
publication  of  an  '  Illustrated  Catalogue  of  the  Museum,'  which  will  enable  us  to 
lay  the  results  of  our  investigations  before  the  scientific  world  in  an  appropriate 
form,  and  thus  extend  the  usefulness  of  our  institution  beyond  the  limits  of  those 
who  have  immediate  access  to  its  overcrowded  rooms." 

He  also  says  in  his  Report,  speaking  of  the  continued  increase  and  development 
of  the  Museum :  — 

"  Had  my  task  from  the  beginning  been  restricted  to  the  putting  up  of  a  museum  that  should 
answer  the  wants  of  the  University  within  the  limits  of  our  present  means,  I  might  be  blamed  for 
extending  its  sphere  of  action  ;  but  I  understood  the  object  of  this  organization  to  be  the  founding 
of  a  great  museum,  and  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  say  that  the  general  frame  of  such  a  museum 
is  not  only  fairly  laid  out,  but  is  already  so  far  advanced  in  some  of  its  most  important  features  as 
to  challenge  competition." 

The  Museum  continued  to  advance  steadily,  although  the  increase  of  its  col- 
lections and  the  development  of  the  system  of  instruction,  which  is  one  of  the 
most  valuable  features  of  the  institution,  caused  the  want  of  an  adequate  income 
to  be  every  day  more  sensibly  felt.  Among  the  many  friends  of  science,  both  of 
high  and  low  degree,  no  one  had  shown  more  interest  in  the  progress  of  the 
Museum  than  Don  Pedro  II.,  the  present  Emperor  of  Brazil.  His  Majesty  had 
caused  to  be  made  for  the  Museum  a  large  collection  of  the  fresh-water  fishes 
of  the  vicinity  of  Rio  Janeiro,  most  interesting  in  themselves,  and  especially  so 
to  Professor  Agassiz,  as  part  of  them  were  among  the  first  objects  which  at- 
tracted his  attention  in  the  earliest  years  of  his  scientific  pursuits,  when,  as  a 
very  young  man,  he  had  been  selected  by  the  naturalist  Martins  to  describe  the 
fishes  brought  back  by  Martins  and  Spix  from  their  celebrated  journey  to  Brazil, 
undertaken  in   1817-20,  when  Don  Pedro  I.  was  Emperor. 

For  a  long  time  Professor  Agassiz  had  wished  to  visit  Brazil  on  a  scientific  ex- 
pedition ;  but  to  do  this  effectually  he  needed  a  corps  of  trained  assistants,  and 
large  means  both  for  the  expenses  of  travelling  and  for  preserving  the  collections 
made  on  the  way,  and  he  saw  no  possibility  of  providing  for  such  an  undertaking. 
Early  in  1865,  Mr.  Allan  McLane,  President  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Com- 
pany, offered  a  free  passage  to  Professor  and  Mrs.  Agassiz  on  board  the  steam- 
ship Colorado,  which  was  to  touch  at  Rio  Janeiro  on  the  way  out  to  California. 
Here  was  just  the  opportunity  Professor  Agassiz  wished  for ;  the  excursion  would 
be  a  delightful  one,  but,  single-handed"  and  without  sufficient  means,  he  could 
make  but  little  use  of  the  opportunities  which  were  before  him.  While  he  was 
pondering  over  his  difiiculties  he  met  Mr.  Nathaniel  Thayer,  of  Boston,  who  had 
always  been  a  most  generous  friend  of  the  Museum,  and  he  immediately  intro- 
duced the  subject,  asking  Professor  Agassiz  what  he  should  require  to  make  the 


THE   MUSEUM   OF   COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  335 

proposed  journey  according  to  his  wishes.  On  learning  the  Professor's  views  on 
the  subject,  he  said :  "  Take  six  assistants  with  you,  and  I  will  be  responsible 
for  all  their  expenses."  A  full  account  of  this  most  interesting  trip  was  published 
after  the  return  of  the  Expedition  to  the  United  States,  under  the  title  of  "  A 
Journey  to  Brazil,"  by  Professor  and  Mrs.  Louis  Agassiz. 

In  the  summer  of  1866,  Professor  Agassiz  returned  to  the  United  States,  bring- 
ing with  him  collections  in  Natural  History  from  Brazil,  which  added  immensely 
to  the  wealth  of  the  Museum.  For  a  long  time  he  was  constantly  occupied  in 
arranging  these  numerous  specimens.  He  found,  however,  that  the  building  was 
altogether  too  small,  even  for  the  proper  storing  of  his  lately  acquired  treasures. 
By  far  the  most  important  part  of  the  collections  were  packed  away  in  barrels 
and  boxes,  rendering  the  use  of  specimens  for  study  very  laborious,  owing  to  the 
loss  of  time  in  finding  what  was  wanted.  And  as  the  whole  available  space,  not 
only  in  the  cellar  and  the  working-rooms,  but  also  in  the  exhibition-rooms,  was 
occupied  with  unassorted  collections,  it  was  impossible  to  give  to  the  public  the 
advantages  for  observation  which  were  among  the  earliest  intentions  of  the 
Museum.  In  fact,  the  whole  Museum  was  becoming  a  large  store-house,  rather 
than  a  well-arranged  scientific  collection.  In  reference  to  these  difficulties.  Pro- 
fessor Agassiz,  in  his  Annual  Report  for  the  year  1867,  said:  — 

"  The  general  usefulness  of  the  Museum  is  crippled  by  the  limited  room  allotted  to  the  public  exhi- 
bition of  the  specimens.  In  order  to  heighten  the  scientific  importance  of  the  Museum,  I  have  from 
the  beginning  resisted  the  temptation  of  making  it  attractive  to  the  many  by  putting  up  showy 
specimens,  and  devoted  all  the  means  of  the  institution  to  increasing  its  purely  scientific  resources. 
But  while  this  has  greatly  enlarged  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  collections,  it  may,  in  a  measure,  have 
perilled  the  popularity  of  the  Museum  ;  and  it  is  time  that  something  should  be  done  to  gratify  the 
curiosity  of  the  public,  who  have  thus  far  generously  approved  the  expenses  incurred,  and  the  appro- 
priations made  by  the  Legislature  to  help  our  establishment.  This,  however,  cannot  be  done  without 
considerable  expense,  as  our  building  is  totally  inadequate  to  the  proper  exhibition  of  the  collections 
stored  in  it  at  this  moment.  Until  the  northern  wing  is  fully  completed  it  will  be  impossible  to  begin 
a  general  systematic  arrangement  of  all  our  scientific  possessions.  It  is  not  asking  too  much  that 
these  collections  should  now  be  exhibited  to  the  public,  and  I  can  truly  say  that  were  all  our  treas- 
ures fairly  laid  out,  so  that  the  whole  could  be  seen  at  a  glance  by  intelligent  visitors,  our  citizens 
when  visiting  similar  institutions  abroad  could  with  pride  point  out  what  Massachusetts  has  done 
for  science,  and  confidently  affirm  that  their  Museum  fears  no  comparisons." 

In  1868  the  Legislature  voted  twenty-five  thousand  a  year  for  three  years  to 
the  Museum,  on  condition  that  a  similar  sum  should  each  year  be  raised  by 
subscription  among  private  individuals,  who  were  willing  to  assist  in  the  cause 
of  science.     Professor  Agassiz,  in  his  Report,  says :  — 

"  This  year  has  been  a  memorable  one  in  the  history  of  our  institution.  When  I  prepared  my 
Report  for  the  year  1867,  it  was   under  the  depressing  conviction  that  unless  a  large  sum  could  be 


336  THE   MUSEUM   OF   COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY. 

promptly  obtained,  the  labor  of  years  would  be  made  of  no  avail,  and  the  value  of  the  materials 
collected  in  the  Museum  so  impaired  for  want  of  the  means  essential  to  their  preservation,  that 
they  would  become  in  a  great  degree  useless.  By  the  intelligent  liberality  of  the  Legislature,  who 
took  this  matter  into  earnest  and  thoughtful  consideration,  and  the  generous  co-operation  of  individ- 
uals, this  danger  is  averted.  I  have  never  felt  so  hopeful  of  the  future  of  the  institution  which  has 
so  long  been  my  care  as  now. 

"  At  the  last  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  a  vote  was  passed  devoting  the  $  7S,ooo  granted 
to  the  Museum  by  the  Legislature  of  1868  to  the  extension  of  the  present  building.  While  I  rejoice 
in  the  prospect  of  this  new  building,  as  affording  the  means  for  a  complete  exhibition  of  the  speci- 
mens now  stored  in  our  cellars  and  attics,  and  encumbering  every  room  of  the  present  edifice,  I  yet 
can  hardly  look  forward  to  the  time  when  we  shall  be  in  possession  of  it,  without  shrinking  from  the 
grandeur  of  our  undertaking.  The  past  history  of  our  science  rises  before  me  with  its  lessons. 
Thinking  men,  in  every  part  of  the  world,  have  been  stimulated  to  grapple  with  the  infinite  variety 
of  problems  connected  with  the  countless  animals  scattered  without  apparent  order  throughout  sea 
and  land.  They  have  been  led  to  discover  the  affinities  of  various  degrees  and  different  kinds, 
which  bind  together  this  host  of  living  beings.  The  past  has  yielded  up  its  secrets,  and  has  shown 
them  that  the  animals  now  peopling  the  earth  are  but  the  successors  of  countless  populations  which 
have  preceded  them,  and  whose  remains  are  buried  in  the  crust  of  our  globe.  Further  study  has 
revealed  relations  between  the  animals  of  past  time  and  those  now  living,  and  between  the  law  of 
succession  in  the  former  and  the  laws  of  growth  and  distribution  in  the  latter,  so  intimate  and 
comprehensive,  that  this  labyrinth  of  organic  life  assumes  the  character  of  a  connected  history,  which 
opens  before  us  with  greater  clearness  in  proportion  as  our  knowledge  increases.  But  when  the  mu- 
seums of  the  Old  World  were  founded,  these  relations  were  not  even  suspected.  The  collections  of 
Natural  History,  gathered  at  immense  expense  in  the  great  centres  of  human  civilization,  were  accu- 
mulated mainly  as  an  evidence  of  man's  knowledge  and  skill  in  exhibiting  to  the  best  advantage  not 
only  the  animals,  but  products  and  curiosities  of  all  sorts,  froni  various  parts  of  the  world.  While  we 
admire  and  emulate  the  industry  and  perseverance  of  the  men  who  collected  these  materials,  and  did 
in  the  best  way  the  work  which  it  was  possible  to  do  in  their  time  for  science,  we  have  no  longer  the 
right  to  build  museums  after  this  fashion.  The  originality  and  vigor  of  one  generation  become  the 
subservience  and  indolence  of  the  next,  if  we  do  but  repeat  the  work  of  our  predecessors.  They  pre- 
pared the  ground  for  us  by  accumulating  the  materials  for  extensive  comparison  and  research.  They 
presented  the  problem;  we  ought  to  be  ready  with  the  solution.  If  I  mistake  not,  the  great  object 
of  our  museums  should  be  to  exhibit  the  whole  animal  kingdom  as  a  manifestation  of  the  Supreme  In- 
tellect. Scientific  investigation  in  our  day  should  be  inspired  by  a  purpose  as  animating  to  the  gen- 
eral sympathy  as  was  the  religious  zeal  which  built  the  Cathedral  of  Cologne  or  the  Basilica  of  St. 
Peter's.  The  time  is  past  when  men  expressed  their  deepest  convictions  by  these  wonderful  and 
beautiful  religious  edifices  ;  but  it  is  my  hope  to  see,  with  the  progress  of  intellectual  culture,  a 
structure  arise  among  us  which  may  be  a  temple  of  the  revelations  written  in  the  material  universe. 
If  this  be  so,  our  buildings  for  such  an  object  can  never  be  too  comprehensive,  for  they  are  to  em- 
brace the  infinite  work  of  Infinite  Wisdom.  They  can  never  be  too  costly,  so  far  as  cost  secures 
permanence  and  solidity,  for  they  are  to  contain  the  most  instructive  documents  of  Omnipotence." 

In   his   Report   for  the   year    1 869,    Professor  Agassiz  says :  — 

"  It  is  now  ten  years  since,  in  1859,  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology  in  Cambridge  was 
organized.  We  have  closed  our  first  decade,  and  it  seems,  therefore,  appropriate  to  review  the 
work  thus   far  accomplished,    and   to   see   where  it  has    brought   us.      Beginning   with    very   small 


THE   MUSEUM   OF   COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  337 

means  and  scientific  materials,  tlie  basis  for  which  was  chiefly  the  Gray  fund  and  my  private  col- 
lection of  specimens,  hardly  known  at  all  abroad  and  attracting  but  little  notice  in  those  days  at 
home,  the  Cambridge  Museum  occupies  now  a  very  honorable  place  among  the  prominent  scientific 
institutions  of  the  world.  It  is  in  no  spirit  of  egotism  that  I,  as  Director  of  this  establishment, 
speak  thus  of  its  present  standing.  But  it  is  no  more  than  fair  that  the  Legislature  of  Massachu- 
setts and  the  individuals  who  have  so  generously  sustained  this  undertaking  should  know  that  their 
liberality  has  not  been  misapplied.  Familiar  as  I  am  with  the  history  of  museums,  it  is  an  astonish- 
ment and  a  gratification  to  me  to  find  that,  in  this  short  time,  we  have  attained  a  position  which 
brings  us  into  the  most  intimate  relations  with  the  first  museums  of  Europe  ;  we  have  a  system  of 
exchanges  with  like  establishments  over  the  whole  world  ;  while  the  activity  of  original  research  in 
our  institution,  and  its  well-sustained  publications,  the  possibility  of  which  we  owe  to  the  liberality 
of  the  Legislature,  make  it  one  of  the  acknowledged  centres  of  scientific  progress.  Nor  is  this  all. 
Men  of  high  scientific  standing  in  Europe  are  tempted  to  come  and  join  us  on  the'  moderate  salaries 
we  are  able  to  give,  for  the  pleasure  of  working  up  collections  in  some  respects  more  complete  and 

more  interesting  to  the  student  than  any  now  existing When    our   building  was   first   put   up, 

ten  years  ago,  it  was  thought  sufficient,  and  I  myself  then  deemed  it  large  enough,  for  the  needs 
of  the  establishment.  But  so  great  has  been  the  increase  of  our  collections  since  that  time  that,  at 
this  moment,  the  Museum  overflows  from  garret  to  cellar ;  there  is  hardly  room  to  move  between 
the  boxes,  barrels,  and  temporary  shelves  put  up  for  the  accommodation  of  specimens,  and  with  the 
utmost  economy  of  space  it  is  almost  impossible  for  our  daily  increasing  number  of  workers  to  pro- 
ceed with  their  labors.  Indeed,  many  most  important  and  interesting  features  of  the  Museum  must 
be  ignored  till  we  have  more  room,  —  as,  for  instance,  the  large  and  perfectly  unique  collection  of 
palms  and  tree-ferns,  with  flowers  and  fruits   preserved  in  alcohol,  one   of  the  most  valuable  results 

of  the  Thayer  Expedition The  same  is  true  of  many  other  collections  of   equal  interest  in 

our  Museum,  —  as,  for  example,  that  of  the  fishes  from  the  Amazons  and  other  parts  of  Brazil. 
But  a  very  small  portion  of  the  rich  harvest  from  the  Thayer  Expedition  has  as  yet  been  seen  by 
the  public." 

It  was  at  the  close  of  1869,  and  soon  after  writing  these  words,  that  Professor 
Agassiz  was  seized  with  a  cerebral  attack  of  great  gravity.  He  was  worn  down  by- 
excessive  labor,  which  even  his  powerful  frame  could  not  endure.  During  a  por- 
tion of  1870  he  was  forbidden  to  work,  but  recovered  enough  vitality,  towards 
midsummer,  to  direct  the  plans  for  an  addition  to  the  building,  by  which  its 
capacity  was  more  than  doubled.  It  was  ready  for  occupation  in  1871,  and  the 
Director  was  busy  in  the  arrangement  of  the  halls,  when  he  was  once  more  called 
to  the  field  of  exploration.  The  Coast  Survey  had  fitted  out  a  small  steamer  — 
the  Hassler  —  to  examine  the  sea-bottom  along  the  American  coasts,  and  the 
direction  of  the  expedition  was  offered  to  Professor  Agassiz.  He  was  gone  nearly 
a  year,  during  which  time  he  sailed  through  the  Antilles,  passed  down  the  east 
coast  of  South  America,  doubled  Cape  Horn,  came  up  the  Pacific  coast  as  far  as 
San  Francisco,  and  at  last  returned  by  the  Pacific  Railroad.  The  collections  which 
were  poured  into  the  Museum  from  this  expedition  had  no  parallel  save  in  those 
of  the  great  Thayer  Expedition.     After  the  Hassler  Expedition,  he  says :  — 

"It  gives  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to  state   that  my  absence,  though  extended  to   nearly  a  year, 
has  not  in  the  slightest  degree  interfered  with  the  progress  of  the  Museum. 


338  THE   MUSEUM   OF   COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY. 

"  The  scientific  officers  of  the  Museum  have  sliown  the  utmost  zeal  and  fidelity,  carrying  on  the 
work  of  the  separate  laboratories  so  efficiently  that  I  can  truly  say  the  results  of  the  year  have  far 
exceeded  my  most  sanguine  expectations.  There  is  one  inference  to  be  drawn  from  this  statement 
which  is  of  great  importance,  though  few  perhaps  can  value  it  as  highly  as  I  do  myself.  I  have 
heard  it  said  repeatedly  that  the  organization  of  the  Museum  was  too  comprehensive,  that  it  covered 
a  wider  range  than  was  useful  in  the  present  state  of  science  among  us,  and  that  since  it  must  col- 
lapse whenever  I  should  be  taken  away,  it  was  unwise  to  support  it  on  so  large  a  scale.  The  past 
year  has  proved  beyond  question  that  the  Museum  is  now  so  organized  (vitalized  as  it  were  with 
the  spirit  of  thought  and  connected  work)  that  my  presence  or  absence  is  of  little  importance. 

"Now  that  the  newly  erected  addition  to  the  building  is  available,  it  may  be  interesting  to  you 
to  learn  what  disposition  is  made  of  the  whole  for  purposes  of  work,  instruction,  and  exhibition. 

"  True  to  the  aim  I  have  constantly  kept  in  view,  and  in  conformity  with  the  spirit  of  the  institu- 
tion, the  space  allowed  for  work  is  proportionally  much  larger  than  in  any  other  museum  ;  the  object 
of  this  arrangement  being  to  facilitate  the  rapid  growth  of   our  collections. 

"  The  lecture-room  is,  as  before,  open  to  all  who  choose  to  attend  the  general  instruction 
given  within  the  walls  of  the  institution.  Lectures  on  different  subjects  of  Natural  History  are 
delivered  during  the  whole  year,  and  have  been  attended  by  students  of  the  University,  teachers 
of  the  public  and  private  schools  of  the  vicinity,  and  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  every  class  of 
the  community.  This  kind  of  instruction  has  always  been  given  free  of  any  charge.  Next  to 
the   lecture-room   is   the   students'   laboratory. 

"  The  private  laboratories  are  eight  in  number,  each  devoted  to  a  specialty  of  the  wide  range  of 
topics  embraced  in  the  organization  of  the  Museum.  It  would  lead  me  too  far  were  I  to  describe 
these  laboratories  in  detail,  but  I  shall  in  my  next  report  submit  a  full  account  of  them  and  the 
objects  for  which  they  were  instituted.  I  would  only  state  now  that  the  books  relating  to  the  differ- 
ent specialties  are  kept  in  the  laboratories,  —  an  arrangement  which  greatly  facilitates  the  work  of  all. 

"The  exhibition-rooms  have  been  more  than  doubled,  owing  to  the  addition  of  one  story  to  our 
building;  unfortunately  they  cannot  yet  be  thrown  open  to  the  public,  our  means  being  insufficient 
for  the  present  to  provide  the  necessary  wall-cases  and  other  appliances  to  protect  the  specimens 
from  injury  by  ignorant  or  careless  visitors." 

During  all  of  1872  the  arrangement  of  the  Museum  and  the  determination  of 
the  Hassler  collections  were  pushed  with  unusual  energy.  It  was  now  that  Pro- 
fessor Agassiz  was,  for  the  first  time,  able  to  undertake  a  presentation  of  the 
animal  kingdom  over  which  he  had  long  pondered.  It  was  one  quite  different 
from  the  plan  usually  adopted  in  European  museums,  where  animals  are  placed 
in  simple  series,  according  to  their  received  affinities,  and  divided  into  certain 
o-reat  groups  or  branches.  The  new  conception  was  to  exhibit  animal  creation, 
not  from  a  single  point  of  view,  but  from  several  points,  so  that  its  intricate  re- 
lations might  severally  be  illustrated.  To  this  end  there  was  to  be,  first,  a 
Synthetic  room,  wherein  should  be  placed  a  representative  of  each  of  the  natural 
families  among  Vertebrata,  Mollusca,  Crustacea,  and  Radiata,  as  well  fossil  as 
livino-.  Every  representative  would,  when  practicable,  be  shown  by  specimens  of 
the  male,  female,  and  young,  and  by  preparations  of  the  embryo.  Having,  by 
examination  of  this  room,  impressed  on  his  mind  a  general  idea  of  the  animal 
kino-dom,   the    student   would   be    prepared    to    pass   to    faunae   rooms,  where   the 


THE  MUSEUM   OF   COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  339 

groupings  of  animals  now  living  in  the  different  marine  and  terrestrial  provinces 
would  be  exhibited ;  and  thence  to  other  rooms,  where  the  fossil  faunae  would, 
in  like  manner,  be  placed  in  their  proper  groups.  Finally,  there  would  be  a 
series  of  rooms  in  which  animals  were  arranged  systematically  or  according  to 
their  natural  affinities.  To  do  all  this  is  to  found,  not  one,  but  several  museums; 
and  the  labor  is  long  and  hard,  even  with  the  help  of  numerous  assistants. 

The  fame  of  Agassiz  as  a  teacher,  and  of  the  Museum  he  was  creating,  had 
attracted  the  attention  of  Mr.  John  Anderson,  of  New  York,  who  was  led  to  in- 
quire in  what  way  he  could  supplement  the  Cambridge  establishment  and  further 
the  study  of  Natural  History.  His  gift  took  the  form  of  the  Island  of  Penikese, 
with  an  endowment  of  $  50,000  to  found  a  summer  School  of  Natural  History, 
in  connection  with  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology.  It  was  started,  with 
about  fifty  pupils,  in  July,  1873,  and  Professor  Agassiz  had  the  great  pleasure  of 
presiding  over  the  first  school  of  this  sort  in  the  world.  But  this  unusual  labor, 
added  to  that  which  he  lately  had  been  through,  was  too  severe  a  strain.  He  was 
attacked  by  a  recurrence  of  his  former  malady,  and  died  on  December  14,  1873. 

At  a  meeting  of  persons  interested  in  science  and  education,  held  in  February, 
1874,  it  was  determined  to  raise  a  sum  of  money,  under  the  name  of  the  Agassiz 
Memorial,  to  be  devoted  to  the  completion  and  maintenance  of  the  Museum. 
Under  this  resolution,  about  $  1 1 2,000  have  already  been  subscribed,  and  the 
Legislature  has  voted  the  sum  of  $  50,000,  conditional  on  raising  $  250,000  be- 
sides.    The  following  address  was  issued  on  the  occasion:  — 

"  It  would  not  be  grateful  for  the  country,  nor  would  it  be  for  the  country's  interest,  that  Agassiz 
should  pass  away  without  a  fitting  memorial.  Such  a  memorial  can  be  made  out  of  the  great 
Museum  which  he  began  and  partially  built,  and  for  the  completion  of  which  he  has  left  full  direc- 
tions. Completed,  it  would  be  a  perpetual  fountain  of  knowledge,  and  a  monument  quick  with  his 
spirit.  "  Museum,"  a  word  that  commonly  suggests  little  more  than  a  collection  of  curious  objects, 
is  scarcely  an  appropriate  name  for  the  memorial  that  Agassiz  ought  to  have.  The  Museum  he 
labored  for  is  a  presentation  of  the  animal  kingdom,  —  fossil  and  living,  —  arranged  so  as  to  picture 
the  creative  thought.     The  study  of  such  a  subject  is  the  highest  to  which  the  human  mind  can  aspire. 

"  At  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century,  no  nation,  least  of  all  the  American,  may  dare  to  lag  in 
science;  for  science  is  only  another  word  for  knowledge,  and  knowledge  is  the  source  of  power,  and 
of  whatever  contributes  to  power.  All  knowledge  springs  from  one  root ;  and  the  sap  matured  in 
the  root  flows  through  every  twig  of  the  tree  :  what  is  elaborated  in  the  leaf  in  its  turn  nourishes 
the  roots.     Few  distinctions  are  so  groundless  as  the  popular  one  between  'practical'  and  'scientific' 

"  Every  workman  must  have  his  tools  ;  the  tools  of  a  zoologist  are  collections  of  natural  objects 
systematically  arranged.  Such  an  arrangement  means  the  exhibition  of  the  animal  creation  in  its 
natural  order.  This  is  one  of  the  prime  difficulties  of  science,  which  taxes  the  powers  of  the  greatest 
genius.  So  difficult  is  it,  indeed,  that  no  two  leaders  of  zoology  have  ever  exactly  agreed  in  their 
views  ;  and  it  is  only  by  comparing  these  views  that  the  student  can  judge  for  himself.  Of  what 
incalculable  value  would  collections  be,  if  such  had  been  arranged  by  Linnseus  in  Sweden,  by  Oken 
in  Germany,  by  Cuvier  in  France !  But  such  museums  do  not  exist.  Even  the  great  collections  of 
Cuvier  are  mingled  with  those  of  his  opponents,  like  a  book  culled  from  the  works  of  many  authors. 


340  THE  MUSEUM   OF   COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY. 

In  this  country  we  may  have  such  a  museum  if  we  choose.  The  celebrated  System  of  Nature  of 
Linnajus  can  be  stiidied  only  in  books.  We  may  and  should  have  Agassiz's  System  of  Nature  illus- 
trated by  the  specimens  which  his  own  hands  have  set  in  order.  It  is  for  our  people  to  say  whether 
they  will  neglect  this  magnificent  opportunity  to  secure  a  means  of  education  which  money  cannot 
buy,  and  the  future  may  not  give. 

"  The  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology  at  Cambridge  is  an  independent  establishment,  governed 
by  a  Faculty  of  its  own.  It  was  founded  fifteen  years  ago  by  Agassiz,  and  has  grown  to  its  present 
large  proportions  under  his  hand.  In  connection  with  it  is  the  newly  established  School  of  Experi- 
mental Zoology  on  the  Island  of  Penikese,  endowed  by  Mr.  Anderson  of  New  York.  The  system 
of  instruction  has  the  widest  character,  and  includes  elementary  teaching,  as  well  as  the  highest 
investigations.  The  exhibition-rooms  are  free  to  the  public.  Large  sums  have  already  been  expended 
in  bringing  this  national  Museum  to  its  present  condition.  Its  collections,  in  several  branches,  are 
superior  to  those  of  the  British  Museum  or  the  Garden  of  Plants.  To  make  such  an  establishment 
useful,  it  must  have  a  large  building,  and  a  considerable  annual  income  for  the  payment  of  profes- 
sors and  assistants.  To  perfect  the  grand  plan  conceived  by  Agassiz  will  require  at  least  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  of  which  about  one  third  would  be  used  in  enlarging  the  building,  and 
two  thirds  would  be  funded. 

"  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  people  of  America,  for  whom  Agassiz  unselfishly  labored,  and  among 
whom  he  spent  the  best  portion  of  his  life,  will  not  hesitate  to  carry  on  the  work  he  began.  His 
example  and  his  teachings  have  benefited  every  section  of  the  country.  The  Museum  he  planned 
and  founded  will,  if  suitably  endowed,  become  an  ever-increasing  source  of  scientific  and  practical 
usefulness  to  the  nation  and  the  world.  We  cannot  doubt,  therefore,  that  this  appeal  will  be  an- 
swered by  the  public  in  the  same  generous  spirit  in  which  Agassiz  devoted  his  genius  to  the  further- 
ance of  science  and  to  the  advancement  of  education  among  us." 

In  the  Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Trustees,  for  the  year  1873,  it  was 
said  :  — 

"Early  in  1873  it  became  apparent  that  the  Museum  could  no  longer  be  carried  on  with  the 
means  at  the  disposal  of  the  Curator ;  repeated  assistance  from  the  State  and  from  private  sources 
kept  the  institution  up  to  a  standard  of  activity  far  beyond  its  own  regular  resources.  As  the  time  drew 
near  when  retrenchment  seemed  inevitable,  Professor  Agassiz  made  an  appeal  to  the  Legislature  for 
support,  and  with  the  generosity  which  has  always  characterized  their  action  towards  an  institution 
in  which  the  State  of  Massachusetts  has  so  great  an  interest,  the  Legislature  appropriated  $  25,000, 
on  condition  that  a  similar  sum  should  be  contributed  by  the  friends  of  the  institution  towards  its 
support.  This  sum  was  at  once  subscribed  by  friends  of  the  Museum,  and  the  appropriation  of  the 
State  secured.  Soon  after  this  a  further  sum  of  $  100,000  was  presented  to  the  Museum  by  Mr. 
Quincy  A.  Shaw.  These  sums  gave  Professor  Agassiz  the  means  to  reorganize  the  Museum  on  a 
very  extensive  scale.  Additional  assistants  were  employed,  collections  were  purchased  in  every  direc- 
tion, and  a  large  outlay  made  to  place  in  safety  the  valuable  alcoholic  collections  stored  in  the 
cellar  of  the  Museum  building.  True  to  his  policy  of  always  using  his  present  means  as  a  lever  for 
further  improvement,  nothing  was  laid  up  for  the  future,  and  by  the  ist  of  April  next  the  Museum 
will  have  to  depend  entirely  upon  the  invested  funds  for  its  resources.  This  will  entail  a  very  ma- 
terial reduction  in  the  working  force  and  running  expenses,  as  the  regular  income  of  the  Museum 
is  somewhat  less  than  $  15,000  annually,  only  half  the  sum  needed  to  carry  on  the  present  scale  of 
operations. 

"  In  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  Professor  Agassiz,  a  part  of  his  library  (three  thousand  volumes) 
has  been  presented  to  the  Museum  Library.  The  remaining  seven  hundred  volumes  retained  by  Mr.  A. 
Agassiz  have,  together  with  his  own  library  of  about  twenty-five  hundred  volumes,  been  deposited  in 


THE  MUSEUM   OF   COMPARATIVE  ZOOLOGY. 


341 


the  Museum  building.  Tliese  important  additions,  with  the  books  presented,  from  time  to  time,  by 
Professor  Agassiz,  will  form,  with  the  existing  library,  an  important  nucleus  for  an  excellent  natural- 
history  library,  which  will  number  about  twelve  thousand  volumes. 

"  It  will  hereafter  be  the  main  object  of  the  committee  of  the  Museum  appointed  by  the  Trustees 
to  see  that  the  views  of  Professor  Agassiz,  so  fully  incorporated  in  the  directions  he  was  accustomed 
to  give  to  his  assistants,  should  be  fully  carried  out,  and  they  hope  that  his  successors  will  faithfully 
complete  the  plans  laid  out  with  so  much  care  and  forethought  by  the  founder  of  the  Museum. 
Thus  only  can  they  hope  to  show  to  the  public,  who  have  thus  far  so  generously  aided  him,  what 
his  aims  were,  and  to  erect  to  him  a  monument  which  will  not  only  be  a  valuable  historic  record 
of  the  interpretation  of  nature  by  one  of  its  most  enthusiastic  worshippers,  but  a  monument  of  a 
lifelong  and  disinterested  devotion  to  the  best  interests  of  science  and  of  general  education." 

The  greater  part  of  the  Museum  as  it  now  exists  is  occupied  by  working 
and  store  rooms,  and  only  four  rooms  with  their  galleries,  and  the  large  central 
hall,  are  devoted  to  exhibition.  The  Synthetic  Hall  is  now  in  course  of  arrange- 
ment, and  the  other  rooms  will  be  opened  as  fast  as  the  laborious  task  of  their 
preparation  will  allow. 


I 


JEAN    LOUIS    RODOLPHE   AGASSIZ. 


Jean  Louis  Rodolphe  Agassiz  was  born  May  28,  1807,  at  Metiers,  in  the  canton 
of  Friburg,  in  Switzerland,  where  his  father  was  clergyman.  After  having  re- 
ceived his  primary  education  at  home,  he  was  sent  to  the  gymnasium  or  public 
school  at  Bienne,  in  his  eleventh  year.  He  was  also  for  a  short  time  at  school 
in  Orbe,  a  small  town  to  which  his  father  had  removed  in  the  mean  time.  He 
aftei-wards  spent  two  years  at  the  Academy  of  Lausanne,  an  institution  inter- 
mediate between  the  higher  classes  of  the  common  schools  and  the  University. 
Having  made  choice  of  the  medical  profession  as  a  branch  of  study,  he  went  to 
the  University  of  Zurich  in  1824,  where  he  remained  two  years,  paying  much 
attention  to  Natural  History  under  the  teachings  of  Schinz.  From  Zurich  he  re- 
moved to  Heidelberg,  chiefly  engaged  in  the  study  of  Anatomy  under  Tiedemann, 
Zoology  under  Leuckart,  and  Botany  under  Bischoff.  In  1827,  in  accordance  with 
the  laudable  German  custom  of  changing  from  one  school  to  another  during  the 
university  course,  so  as  to  profit  from  the  impulse  given  by  new  teachers,  new 
methods,  and  new  ideas,  he  removed  to  Munich,  to  which  place  the  small  Uni- 
versity of  Landshut  had  just  been  removed  and  reorganized  on  a  large  scale. 
His  most  prominent  teachers  here  were  Oken  for  Zoology,  Martius  for  Botany, 
Schelling  for  Philosophy,  Fuchs  for  Mineralogy,  Dollinger  for  Anatomy.  With 
the  last,  the  founder  of  the  science  of  Embryology,  he  formed  a  great  intimacy. 
He  lived  in  the  same  house,  and  from  the  almost  daily  intercourse  with  him  he 
became  thoroughly  impressed  with  the  importance  of  that  branch  of  study  in 
connection  with  systematic  Zoology  and  the  history  of  the  succession  of  organized 
beings  in  the  geological  development  of  the  earth.  Of  all  the  teachers  of  Agassiz, 
none  left  so  permanent  a  mark  on  his  mind  as  Dollinger  and  Cuvier.  While 
still  a  student  in  Munich,  he  was  selected  by  Martius,  lately  returned  from  a 
scientific  expedition  to  Brazil  with  Spix,  to  work  up  the  ichthyological  collections 
left  undescribed  by  the  death  of  the  latter.  This,  his  first  great  work,  introduced 
him  to  the  notice  of  the  contemporary  naturalists,  and  gave  him  the  facility  of 
entering  into  larger  enterprises.      While  still  a   student  he   supported,  out   of  his 


JEAN  LOUIS   RODOLPHE   AGASSIZ.  343 

scanty  means,  a  skilful  draughtsman  to  help  him  in  collecting  materials  for  a 
work  on  the  fresh-water  fishes  of  Europe,  and  on  the  fossil  fishes.  After  having 
taken  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  at  Erlangen,  and  of  Doctor  of  Medicine 
at  Munich,  on  which  occasion  he  defended  the  thesis  of  the  superiority  of  woman 
over  man,  he  went  to  Vienna  to  study  the  fishes  of  the  Danube,  and  to  add  to 
his  collection  of  materials  for  his  work  on  fossil  fishes.  On  a  subsequent  visit 
to  Paris,  rendered  possible  through  the  liberality  of  a  friend  of  his  father,  he 
submitted  these  materials  to  Cuvier,  who  relinquished  his  projected  work  on  the 
same  subject,  and  offered  to  Agassiz  the  use  of  all  the  notes  and  collections  he 
had  accumulated.  It  was  during  this  stay  in  Paris  that  Agassiz  became  ac- 
quainted with  Humboldt,  from  whom  he  received  much  encouragement  and  help 
in  his  researches.  In  1833,  after  the  death  of  Cuvier,  he  received  the  appoint- 
ment of  Professor  at  Neuchatel,  in  Switzerland,  where  he  remained  until  1846. 
During  this  time  he  finished  the  publication  of  his  great  work  on  fossil  fishes, 
published  at  the  same  time  the  results  of  his  researches  on  Echinoderms,  on  some 
forms  of  fossil  shells,  etc.,  and  began  a  large  work  on  fresh-water  fishes,  which 
was  never  finished,  principally  on  account  of  the  heavy  cost  of  the  plates.  From 
1836  to  1845  he  spent  his  summers  in  studying  the  glaciers  of  the  Alps,  his  re- 
sults being  published  in  two  works,  "  Etudes  sur  les  Glaciers "  and  "  Systeme 
Glaciaire."  His  theories  regarding  the  former  extension  of  the  glaciers  received 
much  opposition  from  geologists  at  the  time,  but  have  since  been  supported  by 
so  many  additional  facts,  that  they  are  almost  universally  adopted  at  the  present 
time. 

In  1846  begins  the  second  period  of  Professor  Agassiz's  life.  In  that  year  he 
came  to  the  United  States,  partly  in  consequence  of  an  invitation  to  lecture  at 
the  Lowell  Institute  in  Boston,  partly  on  a  scientific  mission  intrusted  to  him  by 
the  King  of  Prussia  on  Humboldt's  recommendation.  His  plan  was  to  travel  for 
two  years,  and  then  return  to  Switzerland.  But  the  richness  of  the  materials 
offering  themselves  to  his  study,  the  encouragement  and  help  extended  to  him 
from  all  sides,  finally  the  offer  made  by  Professor  Bache,  Superintendent  of  the 
United  States  Coast  Survey,  to  give  him  the  privilege  of  availing  himself  for  his 
researches  of  the  vessels  of  the  Survey  on  all  parts  of  the  coast,  decided  him  to 
remain.  In  1847  Abbott  Lawrence  founded  the  Scientific  School  in  Cambridge 
bearing  his  name,  and  the  Professorship  of  Zoology  and  Geology  was  accepted 
by  Professor  Agassiz,  who  entered  into  its  duties  in  the  spring  of  1848,  and  con- 
tinued to  hold  it  to  the  time  of  its  death.  He  held,  in  addition,  during  the 
years  1851  and  1852,  a  Professorship  of  Comparative  Anatomy  at  the  Medical 
College  of  Charleston,  S.  C,  but  relinquished  it  on  account  of  ill  health.  During 
his  vacations  he  visited  Lake  Superior,  the  Florida  Reefs,  and  various  parts  of 
the  Southern  and  Western  States.      In   1865  he  was  enabled,  by  the  liberality  of 


344  '  JEAN   LOUIS   RODOLPHE   AGASSIZ. 

Mr.  N.  Thayer,  of  Boston,  to  make  an  extended  journey  to  Brazil,  and  in  1871 
he  made  a  voyage  from  Boston  to  San  Francisco,  by  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  in 
the  Coast  Survey  steamer  Hassler.  His  principal  work  published  in  America 
is  the  "  Contributions  to  the  Natural  History  of  the  United  States,"  for  which 
the  subscription  list  contained   2,500  names.     Four  volumes  of  it  were  published. 

A  lasting  monument  Professor  Agassiz  erected  to  his  fame  in  the  Museum  of 
Comparative  Zoology,  which  is  described  in  another  part  of  this  volume.  Almost 
from  the  day  of  his  arrival  in  Boston,  finding  how  scanty  the  collections  of  Natu- 
ral History  were  at  that  time,  he  began  to  collect  at  his  own  expense,  and  on  a 
large  scale.  At  first  a  room  in  the  attic  of  the  Tremont  Temple  contained  the 
barrels  and  boxes  that  held  his  specimens,  but  in  a  few  months  the  space  be- 
came insufficient,  and  the  neighbors  began  to  complain  of  the  unsavory  smells 
issuing  from  collections,  the  best  care  of  which  could  not  keep  pace  with  the 
rapidity  of  accumulation.  They  were  then  removed  for  a  time  to  a  shed  on  the 
water's  edge  in  East  Boston,  and  thence  to  Cambridge,  partly  in  the  Professor's 
own  house,  partly  in  the  cellar  of  Harvard  Hall,  and  partly  in  an  old  bath-house 
on  the  marsh  adjoining  the  Brighton  Road.  They  were  subsequently  placed  in  a 
wooden  building  on  the  grounds  of  the  Scientific  School,  afterwards  removed  to 
Divinity  School  Avenue  (the  present  Zoological  Hall). 

In  1852  the  collections  were  bought  by  private  subscription,  and  in  1858  Mr. 
F.  C.  Gray,  of  Boston,  left  by  his  will  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  the  foundation 
of  a  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology.  This  fund  was  enlarged  by  a  grant  of 
the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  and  by  private  subscription,  and  the  corner-stone 
of  the  Museum  was  in  consequence  laid  in  1859.  By  the  end  of  that  year  the 
collections  could  be  partly  removed  into  the  new  building.  Professor  Agassiz's 
efforts  were  from  that  time  bent  chiefly  to  the  increase  and  arrangement  of  the 
Museum.  His  design  was  to  render  visible  at  a  glance  the  relations  of  animals 
to  each  other  by  grouping  them  in  systematical,  synthetical,  faunal,  embryological, 
and  geological  series.  It  is  probable  that  the  vastness  of  the  plan  and  his 
anxiety  to  see  it  realized  contributed  to  shorten  his  days.  In  the  last  year  of  his 
life  the  establishment  of  the  Anderson  School  of  Natural  History  at  Penikese 
Island,  endowed  by  Mr.  Anderson,  of  New  York,  made  a  heavy  demand  on  his 
strength,  but  he  nevertheless  remained  at  his  post  at  the  Museum  until  his  final 
short  illness,  which  resulted  in  his  death  on  the   14th  of  December,   1873. 


,    ^/^ 


HERRMANN  AUGUST  HAGEN. 

Herrmann  August  Hagen  was  born  May  30,  18 17,  at  Konigsberg,  in  Prussia. 
His  parents  were  Carl  Heinrich  Hagen,  Professor  of  Political  Economy,  Technology, 
and  Agriculture  at  the  University  of  Konigsberg,  and  Anna  Dorothea  Linck. 
His  first  instruction  was  received  at  the  gymnasium  "  Collegium  Friedericianum," 
whence  he  was  transferred,  in  1830,  to  the  "  Kneiphofische  Gymnasium."  He 
graduated  in  1836,  studied  Medicine  at  the  University  of  Konigsberg,  and  received 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  in  1840.  After  the  death  of  his  grandfather, 
Carl  Gottfried  Hagen,  Professor  of  Natural  History  in  Konigsberg,  the  latter's  ento- 
mological collection  and  library  came  into  the  possession  of  the  grandson.  Under 
his  father's  direction  he  studied  Entomology  in  his  leisure  time,  collecting  chiefly 
Odonata,  because  by  chance  the  first  specimen  he  caught  proved  to  be  an  unde- 
scribed  insect  of  that  order.  While  he  became  gradually  more  interested  in  this 
particular  study,  he  had  the  benefit  of  some  instruction  from  two  eminent  and 
still  active  naturalists,  Theodor  von  Siebold  and  Carl  Ernst  von  Baer,  who  called 
his  attention  to  the  necessity  of  the  study  of  Medicine  for  the  naturalist,  the 
knowledge  of  pathology  being  indispensable  to  a  comprehension  of  any  normally 
constituted  organism.  He  attended  also  for  several  years  the  lectures  of  Professor 
Rathke,  the  celebrated  embryologist,  and  accompanied  him  in  1839  in  his  scien- 
tific journey  through  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Denmark,  studying  chiefly  the  anat- 
omy and  habits  of  marine  animals.  In  1840  he  published  at  Konigsberg,  as  a 
dissertation  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine,  a  little  work  entitled  "  Syno- 
nymia  Libellulinarum  Europseorum." 

From  1840-41  he  studied  at  the  University  of  Berlin,  and  passed,  according 
to  the  law  of  Prussia,  the  necessary  examinations  as  physician  and  surgeon.  He 
then  travelled  through  the  greater  part  of  Europe.  In  Vienna  he  attended  clini- 
cal and  medical  lectures  for  six  months,  and  in  Paris  for  nearly  a  year.  The 
study  of  Natural  History  was  in  the  mean  time  always  pursued,  so  far  as  time 
and  circumstances  allowed,  and  his  acquaintance  with  Baron  de  Selys-Long- 
champs,  of  Liege,  made  in  Paris,  1842,  gave   rise  to   a  series   of  entomological 


346  HERRMANN    AUGUST   HAGEN. 

publications  containing  their  combined  studies  on  the  family  of  the  Odonata.  He 
was  favored  at  this  time  with  the  counsel  and  encouragement  of  the  prominent 
entomologists,  Klug,  Erichson,  KoUar,  Von  Siebold,  and  many  others,  whose  per- 
sonal acquaintance  he  made  during  his  travels.  He  returned  to  Konigsberg  in 
1843,  and  settled  there  as  a  practising  physician. 

For  three  years  he  was  first  assistant  at  the  surgical  hospital,  performing  the 
greater  part  of  the  operations.  In  1851  he  was  married  to  Johanna  Maria  Elise 
Gerhards. 

His  duties  as  a  physician  limiting  his  studies  in  Natural  History  to  leisure 
hours,  he  confined  himself  to  Entomology  (with  especial  reference  to  the 
Neuroptera),  Entomological  Biology,  and  the  study  of  the  microscope.  The  fear 
of  wasting  time  in  investigating  subjects  which  had  already  been  elucidated,  in- 
duced him  to  catalogue  carefully  all  accessible  entomological  publications.  This 
compilation,  begun  for  his  own  use,  was  afterwards  published  as  "  Bibliotheca 
Entomologica,"  in  two  volumes,  Leipzig,  1862.  Alone,  or  jointly  with  Baron  de 
Selys-Longchamps,  he  has  published,  in  various  scientific  periodicals,  a  large  number 
of  notes,  papers,  and  monographs,  all  of  which,  up  to  1861,  are  mentioned  in  his 
"  Bibliotheca."  His  first  publication  was  made  in  1834,  on  "  Prussian  Odonata." 
It  was  his  wish  to  prepare  monographs  on  all  families  belonging  to  the  Linnsean 
Neuroptera,  but  circumstances  did  not  permit  the  full  execution  of  this  plan.  In 
1849,  1857,  and  1 86 1  he  made  extended  scientific  journeys  through  Germany, 
Belgium,  Holland,  and  England,  for  the  sake  of  comparing  collections  and 
libraries. 

From  1863-67  his  official  duties  as  Vice-President  of  the  City  Council  and 
member  of  the  School  Board  of  the  city  of  Konigsberg  left  him  no  leisure.  A 
large  number  of  reports  on  a  great  variety  of  subjects  relating  to  these  duties 
demanded  much  careful  study.  Some  of  them,  as,  for  instance,  one  on  "  Life 
Insurance,"  are  exceedingly  elaborate  treatises.  In  1863  he  received  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  from  the  University  of  Konigsberg.  He  is  corre- 
sponding or  honorary  member  of  a  large  number  of  learned  societies.  In  1867 
Professor  Agassiz  invited  him  to  come  to  Cambridge  as  assistant  in  Entomology, 
and  in  1870  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Entomology  in  Harvard  University. 


i 


NATHANIEL    SOUTHGATE    SHALER. 

Nathaniel  Southgate  Shaler  was  born  in  Campbell  County,  Kentucky,  Febru- 
ary 20,  1 841  ;  the  second  son  of  N.  B.  Shaler,  M.  D.,  a  graduate  of  the  College 
in  1827.  In  1859  he  entered  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  becoming  the  private 
pupil  of  Louis  Agassiz,  and  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  in  1862. 
The  two  subsequent  years  he  spent  in  the  State  of  Kentucky,  where  he  saw  some 
service  as  an  officer  of  artillery  and  of  staff  In  1864  he  was  appointed  assistant 
in  Paleontology  in  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology,  and  in  1868  Professor 
of  Paleontology  in  the  University.  In  1865  he  took  charge  of  the  regular  in- 
struction in  Zoology  and  Geology  given  in  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School.  This 
work  remained  in  his  hands  until  1872,  the  continued  indisposition  of  the  Law- 
rence Professor  making  it  impossible  for  him  to  resume  his  teaching.  In  1866 
he  visited  Europe,  and  spent  two  years  in  travel  and  study  on  the  Continent. 
Again  in  1872  he  visited  England,  and  spent  a  year  in  the  study  of  the  geology 
of  Great  Britain.  In  1873  he  was  appointed  Director  of  the  Kentucky  Geological 
Survey,  which  position  he  still  holds,  giving  a  part  of  each  year  to  the  field  work 
of  that  survey. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 
and  the  Secretaiy  of  his  section.  He  is  a  member  and  curator  of  the  Boston 
Society  of  Natural  History.  He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Academy,  and 
of  several  other  academies  and  societies. 

He  has  published  but  little :  some  reports  on  the  geology  of  Kentucky,  now 
in  press,  or  recently  published;  half  a  dozen  reports  to  the  United  States  Coast 
Survey,  concerning  special  points  in  the  coast  geology;  and  about  thirty  papers 
on  various  subjects  published  in  the  Proceedings  and  Memoirs  of  the  Boston 
Society  of  Natural  History,  the  Bulletin  of  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology, 
American  Naturalist,  London,  Edinburgh,  and  Dublin  Philosophical  Magazine,  etc., 
—  constitute  his  only  published  scientific  work.  He  has  also  printed  a  number 
of  papers  on  various  subjects  more  or  less  closely  connected  with  science  in  the 
Atlantic  Monthly  and  the  North  American  Review. 


V^ 


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