188/3 College Courses of Study 



of living naturalists. To him was assigned the 

 curatorship of reptiles. In 1896 he acted as one of 

 my colleagues in the fur seal investigation, of which 

 I shall have a good deal to say farther on. 



In the spring of 1887 I became president of the Evolution 

 College Association of Indiana. My official address, ** 

 "The Evolution of the College Curriculum," was curriculum 

 much discussed throughout the state, as it was the 

 first general formulation of views I had often in 

 part proclaimed and was then carrying into effect 

 at the university. These had their origin in my own 

 youthful experience - - the desire for scientific knowl- 

 edge which contributed so largely to my satisfaction 

 in going to Cornell. In my later career as teacher, 

 the soundness of White's ideas had been incessantly 

 forced upon me. With executive responsibilities^ 

 had adopted and extended his views of liberty in 



education. 



In my discourse I explained the origin of the 

 traditional classical curriculum of four years as 

 derived from the English college. This was a course 

 of study composed mainly of Latin, Greek, and 

 Mathematics, ending with a dash of safe and sound 

 Philosophy by the president - - traditionally a 

 clergyman - - the whole constituting a general edu- 

 cation supposed to prepare especially for the career 

 of gentleman or clergyman. Continuing, I outlined 

 the effect of the pressure of modern studies, at first 

 retrogressive because it broke continuity and disci- 

 pline by various futile interpolations. In such 



C 323 3 



