xt7ghx15n565_126 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dipstest/xt7ghx15n565/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dipstest/xt7ghx15n565/data/0000ua001.dao.xml unknown 9.56 Cubic Feet 33 boxes archival material 0000ua001 English University of Kentucky Property rights reside with the University of Kentucky. The University of Kentucky holds the copyright for materials created in the course of business by University of Kentucky employees. Copyright for all other materials has not been assigned to the University of Kentucky. For information about permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Special Collections Research Center.  Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. James K. Patterson papers Programs, Commencement Address State University of Kentucky text Programs, Commencement Address State University of Kentucky 2024 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dipstest/xt7ghx15n565/data/0000ua001/Box_12/Folder_11/Multipage12311.pdf 1908-1911 1911 1908-1911 section false xt7ghx15n565_126 xt7ghx15n565  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.Viwflyé‘nnwmwchyxr

«Anita-safahvkllkc‘!.3v‘au4umr1‘vfwmnqtfuwvir i“ 3319‘“;va f. f: 1

.fikf... 93»... 51.1.... ifl13mwm r»? . .uix‘itupagflxx, .14

 

     

 

    

Gommencemmt TAbbtess
State university of Kentucky.
...1908...

I think it not inappropriate, before the conclusion of these
exercises, upon this auspicious occasion, to say something in
reference to the State College of the past. This will form the
necessary prelude to a brief reference to the present and may
form the basis of a reasonable forecast for the future.

Duringr the presidency of James Buchanan, a bill was in—
troduced into the Congress of the United States by Justin S.
Morrill, then a member of the House of Representatives, the
object of which was to appropriate a part of the rapidly dimin—
ishiner domain then known as the public lands to endow and to
build up a system of schools throughout the Union, which should
devote themselves to the education of the industrial classes,
especially in agriculture and the mechanic arts. In 1857 Agri—
culture in America may be said to have been in its infancy, and
the grad manufacturing establishments which have become
sources of untold w ‘alth to the people of the United States were
also in their infancy. The plea could then Very well be made
that they required the fostering care of the Government to
protect them from injurious competition with the products of
foreign countries. The object of Mr. Morrill was to build up an
intelligent and industrious citizenry, who should utilize to the
utmost the inexhaustible resources of the great agricultural

communities of the United States of America, and to lay an in-

     

 

  

The Mechanical Engineering & Elcclriml Engineering Record

 

telligent basis upon which to establish and maintain productive
industries through educated and intelligent artizans. This
measure, although passed by both Houses of Congress, was vetoed
by President Buchanan. During the second year of the Civil
War, Mr. Morrill again re—introduced his bill, and although the
country was then engaged in the most gigantic struggle that
had ever taken place on this continent, Congress found time to
legislate upon matters of far—reaching import, not only to that
generation, but to the generations to follow. Mr. Morrill’s meas—
ure carried with it an allotment of public lands, 30,000 acres for
each representative in Congress to the several states of the Union,
the proceeds of which should be applied to found and to endow
colleges in each state, “wherein should be taught those branches
of learning related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, without
excluding the classics and other scientific studies, and including
military tactics, in order to promote the liberal and practical
education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and
professions of life.” Provision was made that when the states
then in revolt had been reestablished as members of the sister—
hood of states, they also should be made the beneficiaries of this
munificent provision. Upon this foundation all the great insti—
tutions of the country founded since 1800, with the exception
of Johns Hopkins, Leland Stanford, and the University of Chicago,
have been established.

In almost all the states of the Union, these agricultural
and mechanical colleges became the nuclei around which have
grown up institutions of a scope and compass much wider and
much more representative of educational necessities in their
respective states than was originally intended by Mr. Morrill.
The agricultural colleges of Michigan, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Mas»
sachusetts and Iowa have been content to remain agricultural and
mechanical colleges pure and simple. Their states have voted
large sums of money for their upbuilding and they have attained

a degree of excellence comparable with the oldest established

 

 

     
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 

Summer Number. 1008

and best managed agricultural colleges of the Old \Vorld. They
have given to mechanic arts, however, an interpretation far be—
yond that originally contemplated in the organic law of Congress.
While giving instruction such as would enable the mechanic to
becom- an expert jour11e_\'man in ‘arpentry and a skilled worker
in metals, they have gone far beyond these simple conceptions.
They have developed into technical schools of a high order,
emb'acing engineering in all its phases and in all its relations,
Mechanical, IClectrical, Civil, Mining, Sanitary and Municipal.
Many of them have equalled and not a few of them have surpassed
the famous schools of technology of the Iiast. \Vith this inter—
pretation of the principles of science as related to the mechanic
arts and the principles of science as related to agriculture, they
have been contented and have gone no farther. ()ther institu—
tions, such as the Universities of Illinois, California, Missouri,
()hio, \\'isconsin, Minnesota, and Cornell, have added to instruc—
tion in agriculture and the mechanic arts, classics, modern lang—
uages, elaborate courses in history, economics and sociology,
linglish literature, biology, botany, physics, endowed and equipped
upon a scale enabling them to do work of equal value with those
of the older universities of the nation. They have expended
thousands and millions of dollars upon the establishment of
libraries and the creation of laboratories and the collection of
museums whereby original research has been encouraged and
prosecuted with a degree of success far surpassing the expec—
tation of their promoters. A large number of these institutions
have likewis* added professional schools, law, medicine, dentistry
and phar111ac_v, their object apparently being to embrace within
the scope of their educational activity and resources all the
knowledge of the time and to make provision for extending the
boundaries of knowledge in every possible direction.

Kentucky made no effort to establish an agricultural and
mechanical college until after the close of the war. The land

um

scrip allotted to this state, amounting to 000,000 acres, would

  
   

 

  

5
i
a
.2
t
4
a

 

4 i The Jive/lumen! Ifnqz'mwiln/ & [flee/rim! Engineering lx't'curtl.
if it had been judiciously located among tlle vacant lands of the
west, have formed the basis of an endowment fund, large and
ample for the necessities of the institution, especially during its
earlier years. The Counnonw ‘alth, however, in the management
of this delegated trust, committed two great mistakes. The
land scrip representing this magnificent domain was turned over
by the Legislature to the Sinking Fund Commissioners, who
employed an agent to dispose of it for what it would bring upon
the market. It was sold for fifty cents an acre and the proceeds
of the sale invested in Kentucky State bonds, the interest of which,
amounting to $9,900 per amnun, was applied for the mainte-
nance of the Agricultural and Mechanical College. This sacri-
fice of the fund given by the general govcrmneut was the lirst
mistake. The second mistake consisted in attaching the Agri—
cultural and Mechani ‘al College to a denominational school, making
it a branch of Kentucky University, instead of placing it upon
an independent looting. This was done by the Legislature of
1865. The Legislature, in forming the partnership with Kentucky
University, reserved the right to withdraw the Agricultural and
Mechanical College at any time that the public interests might
demand. The relationship continued for thirteen years, namely,
until 1878, when the (leneral Assembly intervem-d and dissolved
the connection, placing it in 1880 upon an independent looting
and providing additional means through the imposition of a tax o1
one-half of one cent on each one hundred dollars of taxable proper
ty for its maintenance. The institution was when detached from
Kentucky University, in the condition of a bankrupt, who through
an ill—omened partnership of thirteen years had lost both time
and money and when liquidation was ended, emerged from the
partnership with nothing at all.

\\"hen the College began operations as an independent
institution in 1880, its faculty was small, only six in number, its
matriculates few and ill prepared for college work. Indeed, live

out of every six were untitted for college work and had to be prw

 

  

Smnmer Nam/Jar, lilofl, 5
pared in the A ‘ademy before enteringr the Freshman Class. $9,900
per annum, accruing from the congressional scrip fund, added to
$17,500 pe‘ annum received from the proceeds of the tax, made
a fairly good workingr income with which to begin. Indeed, the
amount seemed so large that ere two years the denominational
‘ollegcs of the Connnonwealth took alarm and insisted that the
Legislature of IHSZ should repeal the tax and compel the College
to limit itsoperations within an income of $0,000. After a fiercely
fought contest, extendingr over three months, the movement to
repeal was defeated. That was the first contest and the greatest
contest in which the State College was duringr its history of twenty—
eight years, involved. its very existence, pending,. the legisla—
tive struggle, hung in the balance. ISoth its present and its
future were by many of its friends despaired of. The belief pre-
vailed that in the course of a few years it would have to close
its doors and hand back to the general government the mist-“able
pittance of an income which was all that the gross 111ism:,1na;§e-
ment of the Connnonwealth got from an endowment of 51.")
square miles of public lands,

The City of Lexington had given the ground upon which
the State University now stands. In addition to that, the city
and county had given $30,000 for the erection of buildings.
These building's were in process of erection when the legislative
contest opened. Misled by the architects employed, the amount
of money at their disposal was found to be wholly inadequate
to the completion of the college building and old dormitory.
Their progress was arrested half—way, the college tr *asury was
exhausted and the income from the State in imminent danger
of being cut off. At this juncture the Board of 'l‘rustees were
at their wits' end, they knew not which way to turn. .\11 effort
was made to obtain a loan from one or more of the banks of the
city, to enable them to complete the building’s. They were met
by the objection that the College had 11(’)t]1i11g‘ to offer as security,

either as realty or collateral. At this juncture, I intervened.

 

  

 

ti Tin" JIcr/ztzlzz'ra/ Elzgz'urcrom & If/l'tlxim/ linoz'uu‘u'no [\‘u'mll.

By cconomy I had succccdcd in putting asidc a small margin
cycry year to thc crcdit of protit and loss, and tllcs‘ asscts, not
\‘cry largc, but rcprcscuting about all I had, 1 placcd at thc
disposal of thc Collcgtu I wcnt to thc Northcrn Bank, put up
my own sccuritics, borrowcd thc ncccssary amount ol~ moncy
for thc complction of thc building's and placcd it in thc hands
of thc IfxccutiYc Conunittcc, ’l‘his tidcd oycr thc dilliculty
so far as buildings wcrc cmlccrncd, and to thc surprisc of thc
lricnds ol~ thc Collcg‘c and thc discomliturc of its assailants, lllL'
Housc of chrcscntati\'cs laid lhc motion to rcpcal upon thc
tablc. The Collcg‘c was saycd and its luturc apparcntly assnrt-d.

I’cnding thc motion to rcpcal thc tax, thc opposition In licwd
that thcy had discoycrcd that thc tax was uuctmstitutionnl. “that
no inoncy could be raiscd by taxation or othcrwisc lor purposcs of
cducation othcr than in thc common schools." This constitui
tional proyision appcarcd upon its lacc to hc ahsolutcly prohihi
ti\'c. Au clal)oratc argumcut was madc by judgc Lindsay thc
attorncy of thc associatcd collcg‘cs, l)cl‘orc thc joint connnittcc ol~
thc llousc and Scnatc. ;\t thc conclusion ol his argmncnt, thc
casc of thc Collcg‘c appcarcd al>so1utcly hopclcss. 'l‘hc lixccntiYc
Committcc had madc o\'crturcs to sonic of thc most distinguisln-d
lawycrs in thc Ctunnu'ulw'calth, among otht-rs, john (1. Carlislc,
to dclcnd thc constitutionality of thc i\ct. llc dcclincd to nnr
(lcrtakc thc (lclcnsc, bccausc hc bclicycd that it would llt‘ llllptw‘
sihlc to sustain thc constitutionality ol~ thc tax, cithcr lx-l'ort- an
inlcrior court, or thc Court of Appcals. Though not a lawycr, I
\‘cnturcd to malx'c an argumcnt l)clorc thc Connnittcc, at thc
conclusion of which thc opinion ol‘ thc largc 111ajority ol' thosc
prcscnt was that judgc Lindsay had l‘ailcd to nlakc good his plca.

Al'tcr tht- LL-gislaturc adjoin'ncd. thc qncstion of thc consti—
tutionality of thc tax was raiscd in Louisyillc, Mrs. \\'. \\'. llill
refusing,r paymcnt. 'l‘hc casc camc into thc Chancclloi"s Court;
thc six protcsting collcgcs wcrc rcprcscntcd l)_\' judgc Lindsay,

Alcxandcr l’. llumphrcy, ’a-nnctt ll. Young; and jamcs 'l‘raliuc.

 

  

Summer Number, 1005.

I was allowed by the Court to file as a brief the argument in
reply to judge Lindsay which I had made before the legislative
committee and when the case ‘ame to the Court of
.\ppeals, a like courtesy was extended. The composition of the
Court was manifestly hostile to the College, but through the
good ofliccs of judge I’ryor, the case was held up until lNSH), when
its coustitutionality was affirmed, Judge Ilolt delivering the opin—
ion, Ile did me the honor to say that he decided the constitution—
ality of the Act upon the lines which 1 had laid down and upon
the argument which I had presented in my brief,

J,etween INN.) and 1800, the College grew, not ‘apidly, but
steadily, a better class of matriculates entering year by year,
a smaller proportion in the Academy and a larger proportion in
the college proper, but we were not left undisturbed. Efforts
were made during every meeting of the Legislature in the inter—
vening period to procure the repeal of the Act. The judgment
of the court affirming its constitutionality in lxllt), discouraged
these efforts. 'l‘her‘after the biennial motion to repeal was i11—
troduced for several successive Legislatures, but the opposition
grew less and less, until in INNS it practically ceased. Meanwhile
the income from the halficent tax had been growing from year to
year.

In INST the Congress of the United States passed an Act
establishing lixperiinent Stations and appropriating $15,000.
annually therefor. The State College of Kentucky shared in this
bent-licence of the general government. The lixperiment Station
was put upon a substantial footing, the income from the Station
in connection with the income from the fertilizer law, provided
the necessary funds for its effective operation. These two sources
of income have been enlarged in subsequent y *ars by the pas—
sage of the pure food act, the management of which is vested in
the Station, and by the passage of the Adams Act by Congress,

giving an additional annual increment of $15,001) per anuum.

 

  

S The Alec/mural] ling/(nerrfna & liz'ee/rfrn/ Iiugiln'ming Record.

In 1890 a measure was introduced by llon. justin S. .\Ior~
rill of Vermont for the further endowment of .>\gricult1n'al and
Mechanical Colleges. $25,000 per annum was given to each
state which had availed itself of the benefits of the Act of 18132,
but the full amount of 825,000 (lid not come to the State College.
By the terms of the Act two alternatives were presented, either
to admit colored students upon a footing of equality with the
white, or to (1i\'ide the appropriation of 18110 with them upon
the basis of population. The College, of course, chose the latter,
and H.‘_. per cent of this fund was and is applied to the niainten~

ance of the colored school at Frankfort. In 11100 a further

   

3

annual appropriation of . 000 was made by the general goyerw
ment to each state upon identical conditions with those of the
Act of 1800. in 1000 the Legislature appropriated $130,000
for the erection and equipment of a gymnasium and for the
construction of a home for young women. Two years later
$210,000 was added for the young women's home, and out of this
fund, namely, 500,000, a \‘ery handsome and eonnnodions build,
ing has been erected and equipped for boarding and lodging the
young women Inatriculates of the College. In 11101 an additional
$15,000 was appropriated annually by the State Legislature for
income, and in 1008 $20,000 more, making in the aggregate from
all sources, tuition fees included, a total income of about $125,000.

The city and county gave the grounds and the money in
1880 for the erection of buildings. Since then additional builds
ings haye been added, until now, instead of two, there are four—
teen buildings upon the college campus, with the prospect of
two more during the present biennial period. The equipment
for Mechanical and lilectrical Engineering is the best south of
the Ohio River. The Departments of Chemistry, Physics, Bot—
any, Biology, Geology, Anatomy and Physiology, Languages,
Ancient and Modern, Metaphysics, lithics and l’hysical Culture,
are second to none in the South. The faculty of instruction

numbers nearly fifty persons. The heads of departments rank

 

 

  

Summer Number, 100% 9
among the ablest in the country, while the majority of the
assistants are developing a talent for instruction which places
them in the line of promotion. In the meantime, 250 acres of
land have been bought for experimental purposes, representing
an actual outlay of about $100,000, and an actual present valua—
tion of about $130,000. The College Campus, with buildings
and equipments, represents about $850,000.

All this, you will observe, has been created and developed
within the last thirty years in the face of the fiercest and
most determined opposition. Indeed, I make bold to say that
no land grant college in America and no institution liast or
West, North or South ever encountered so many obstacles and
survived. 'l‘hrough all its vicissitudes, its friends never faltered,
and while at the close of arch session of the General Assembly,
they hoped that they had encountered and overcome the last
assault, they had learned by experience, while secure of the past,
to distrust the future and prepare for whatever the next succeed—
ing Legislature might have in store for them.

i\ wholesome impetus was given to the College by the passage
of the lferguson fill in Ixtlil, making provision for the payment
of travelng expenses and free tuition to county appointees.
'l‘his wise legislation disarmed the opposition of the outlying
counties and secured for the College a continuous supply of most
excellent material. Some years thereafter, the affiliation of the
best high schools of the Commonwealth with the State College
brought annually at large number of well prepared students,
honor graduates of their respective schools. and representative
of the best culture and traditions of their respective cities and
counties. Increasing income, as indicated above, enabled the
College to strengthen its existing departments and accomplish
larger and better results than had been possible before 1800.
Moreover, the success attained by the alumni and the facility

with which they obtained good positions with remune‘ative

 

  

10 The .l/t't‘lztmfm/ Ifuqzm‘c‘rmq & [flee/H.411] Engineering Record.

compensation added largely to the prestige of the College and
increased its matriculation list from year to year.

Thus, when the transition from the style and title of State
College to State University took place, the University had a
solid foundation upon which to rest and an honorable background
behind it. ’l‘h‘ antecedent period had been stormy, the clouds
from above frequently lowered, casting a shadow and a gloom
over its present possibilities and its future prospects, but these
from time to time lifted and through the rifts the sun shone ever"
and anon, indicating that even the darkest day may have gleams
of light to cheer those who had been sitting in the shadows.

And now a word or two with reference to the future. I lind
that by lookingr over a report which I made to the 'l‘rustees in
1889, after making a tour of some of the Universities and Colleges
in the North and \Vest, that their endowments and income and
prospects at that time, though bright as compared with ours,
were not by any means so bright as are ours today. The income
of the Ohio State University at that time, exclusive of the ex
penditure for the maintenance of the lixperiment Station, amount?
ed to $08,000. It is now $150,000. The income of the .'\gri7
cultural College of Michigan was $03,000. It is now SBNNJHN).
The income of the University of Wisconsin was then $100,000.
It is now Sl,l00,000. The income of the Agricultural and .\Icch—
anical College of Kansas in INX‘.) was SIB,” I. It is now 5202'i,000.
The income of the Missouri University was then $70,000. It is
now $350,000. The income of the State College of Kentucky
was then about $250,000. For the next fiscal year it will be
$125,000. \Vhile we have not kept pace in growth of income
with these other institutions, we have still, considering the tinde—
velopcd interest in education which obtained then and which
to some extent obtains still, made very commendable progress.
From this comparison, I think that we may anticipate with some
degree of confidence at future for the State University of Ken—

tucky commensurate with the successes of the past and with a

 

  

a -»——A~— ---. —-u-

Summer Number, I‘Jtlls‘. ll

well grounded belief that in the no distant future we will far
surpass them.

One word, before we pass to the distinctive feature of Uni—
versity work, After the establishment of the Normal Depart—
ment in let), as one of the integral departments of the State
College, wherein provision was made for edu‘ation of tlachers,
I brought the question of admitting women to the State College
before the loard of Trustees. Judge W. B. Kinkead, to whom
I had previously et'uninunicated my views, gave me his cordial
support. 1 represented that inasmuch as a large number of
the teachers of the Counnonwealth were women, that they could
not, upon any fair interpretation of the statute, be excluded.
()11 the contrary, that they must be included within the scope
of the instruction given by the College. The Board of Trustees
somewhat reluctantly acceded to my view and the doors of
the Normal Department of the College were opened to women.
lire long it was found expedient no longer to confine them to
the privileges of normal school work, but to open all the depart—
ments of the institution to them. Since that time they have
formed a very appreciable percentage of the matriculation of
each year, on the average, say, about twenty per cent. No dis—
tiuetive courses for women have been provided, but all the courses
of instruction leading to a degree and all the departments thereof
have been made available to them upon identical conditions
with males. .\ very considerable percentage of each graduating
class consists of young women, whose education has embraced
as wide a scope and has been of as thorough a characte‘ as that
gotten by young men.

And now the State University stands before you strong,
vigorous, symmetrical, disciplined by adversity, but victorious
in every contest, “with charity for all and enmity to none", ready
to set the pace for advanced education. for research, for discovery,
it opens wide its doors and invites all to enter. In its history,

setting out from small beginnings, the first twenty—five years of

 

  

The Jlt’rlzanu‘a/ Eugfneerzng 8: Eledrfml Engineering Nt’t‘OHl.

 

its life a constant struggle for existence, the State University is

a conspicuous example of survival of the fittest. listo perpetua.

“Ours is no sapling, chance sown by the fountain,
Blooming at Beltane, in winter to fade,
\\'hen the whirlwind has swept every l‘af from the moun-
tain,
The more shall Clan Alpine exult in his shade.
Moorcd in the rifted rock,
I’roof to the tempests shock,
The firmer he roots down,
The ruder it blows."
Now that the transition has been made from State College
to State University, it is pertinent to inquire what the distinction
between college and university may be. Stated in gene ‘al terms,
the function of the college is to tach; the function of the uni—
versity is to discover. Collegiate instruction consists mainly in
communicating to students the contents of knowledge already
discovered and verified. The function of the university, on
the other hand, is to extend the boundaries of human knowledge,
to proceed from the known to the unknown, using" the former as
a basis for the discovery of new truths. Research then may be
described as the characteristic and distinctive f ‘ature of uni-
versity work. Investigation, experiment, discovery, verification,
are the essential features of res larch. A new truth discovered
may or may not profoundly modify our conceptions of the body
of truth hitherto known and accepted. Induction from ac—
eepted conclusions leads either to new principles or to a modi—
fication of the old. That is to say, to co-ordination with ac-
cepted conclusions in collateral lilies of res -arch and discover}:
These frequently 1*ad to an adjustment of conclusions heretofore
accepted in other systems of knowledge more or less intimately
connected with each other. For example, the theory of the age

of the earth and the duration of animal life, formerly believed

    

 

 

  

  

    

  

Su mmer Number, 11ft f8. 13

to be not more than (5,000 years, by discoveries in geology,
palaeontology, embryology, biology, physics, chemistry, astron—
omy, and language, in fields closely related and in fields remotely
related, all of which point in the same direction,is no longer
tenable. The old system of chronology has been completely
overthrown and while nothing (lcfinite has yet been discovered
to replace it, it is quite certain that the period of terrestrial life
‘annot be emb'aced within less scope than millions of years.

It will be seen, therefore, that the honest investigator,
the honest seeke' after truth, must divest himself of all precon—
ceived prejudices and as l’rof. lluxley says, animated only by a
fanaticism for truth, proceed with the work of research. alto-
gether untrammeled by presexisting views, following resolutely
wherever the torch of science may guide him, even though it be
through darkness and gloom.

The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have been pre—
eminently the period of discovery. The wonderful awakening
of linropxan thought which preceded and accompanied and
followed what is commonly known as the Renaissance, has re-
sulted in the discovery of a body of knowledge such as could not
have been dreamed of or anticipated three centuries ago. Roger
’iacon in the distant past dimly apprehended the cloud upon the
horizon no bigger than a man's hand, and in a wonderful forecast
which seemed almost prophetic, he indicated in general terms
some of the most wonderful triumphs of modern scientific re—
search. Copernicus followed, after a long interval, and demon—
strated the true theory of the universe. Galileo still late' and
Leuwcnhoeck, the one with a very rudimentary telescope, and
the other with an equally rudimentary microscope, took the
first steps in disclosing the infinitely large and the infinitely
small. The *arth was no longer the centre of the universe, but
one of the smallest of the planets, revolving around a mighty
solar centre, distant millions of miles. Animal life was no longer

limited to visible forms, but millions upon millions of tiny ex—

   

     

    

H The .llct‘lmmrtzl lz'talllltti'zmz & If/wr/Hrn/ [Lilltlllllt'fliiI/l New“!

istences found a local habitation within the compass of a drop
of water.

The interpretation given to geological phenomena within
the last hundred y -ars has laid the foundations of the rational
system of geology which now obtains. l’hysical causes by which
the *arth was gradually titted to become the abode of animal
life are now recognized to be identical with causes silently operat—
ingr and with which we are quite familiar today. The more or
less intelligent fore ‘ast of Democritus and Lucretius nearly
two thousand y -ars ago had no philosophic groundwvorlg upon
which to rest, but the ideas to which they gave expression found
a prolific soil in the anticipations of linffon, \\'allaee and Darwin,
who established upon a firm basis the doctrine of evolution as
now accepted and held by all the intelligent scientists of modern
times. Those who remember the storm of dissent and inveetive
which these alleged revolutionary views then encountered could
S‘arcely anticipate the intelligent acquiescence with which they
are now regarded. The Church of today feels no more endanger—
ed by the acceptance of the doctrine of the survival of the fittest
than did the Churclnnen who lived a century after Copernicus,
Kepler and Newton feel that the foundations of their belief were
shaken by abandoning the geocentric conception of the universe.
The res ‘arches and discoveries in the domain of biology, chem—
istry, and physics have been specially prolilic of good in these
modern days. No one ‘an measure the value of the impetus
given to discovery in these realms of investigation by the far-
sighted policy which induced justin S. .\Iorrill of Vermont fifty
years ago to devote a part of the public lands of the United
States to found and endow institutions of learningr wherein those
branches related to agriculture and the mechanic arts could be
taught. These sciences were thus invested with a new dignity
and a new signifi‘ance. l'litherto pursued for their own sake,

they now came to be pursued for the practical results certain

 

  

 

  

Smumm’ Num/u'r, MON. 17)

to follow their further appli 'ation to the creation and (leveloly
ment of wealth in agriculture and in manufactures.

The researches of john Dalton, early in the nineteenth
century, led him to the conclusion that ultimate elements which
he ‘alled atoms formed the foundation stones upon which the
chemical and physical sciences are built. Davy, Farady, Tyndall
and Kelvin stimulated further effort and discovery by their
laborious investigations and brilliant gene ‘alizations.

The origin of life from a single cell and the growth of animal
and physical structures from the multiplication of these cells
introduced a new era in the conception of animal and vegetable
structures and the application of science to the healingr art.
The discovery of anaesthetics by \\'arren and Simpson and of
antiseptic surgery by Lord Liston have rendered possible the suc-
cessful treatment of diseases which had been beyond the reach
of human skill. And still later the discoveries of Koch and
I’astetu‘ enabled the modern practitioner to combat some of the
dreadful seourges of humanity by the introduction of artificial
cultures which render the patient immune to Sllltlll'])()x and
hydrophobia, tuberculosis and scarlet fever. \\'hile these lines
are being written, there is a \\'cll*groun(le(l belief that tetanus
and hneningitis will soon be brought within the beneficent scope
of these wonderful discoveries.

The most remarkable feature of the work of the chemist
and the physicist is that however a *ademic their results may
at first sight appear, ere long they find a practical application in
agriculture, in manufactures, in industrial enterprise, in physiology
and hygiene and what is more important still, in the prolonga—
tion of human life, by enabling the medical profession to under—
stand the etiology of disease and to apply a rational treatment for
its removal.

Now it may be said that the function of the university is
to afford facilities for discovery in these and kindred lines of

scientific work. The discoverer works thoughtfully, p