48 Alumni Reunion 



the first president of the History and Political Science 

 Association, then a semi-public gathering holding its 

 meetings in the old hall of the University. He occasion- 

 ally attended meetings of Dr. Adams's seminary, and T 

 can recall a number of talks which he gave upon the im- 

 portance of geography in the study of history, illustrated 

 by maps which were hung upon the walls of the seminary 

 room. In 1889 he delivered in the same room a course of 

 lectures on social science, of which a syllabus was pre- 

 pared and distributed to all the members of the class, 

 one of which I have preserved from that day to this. In 

 the introductory outline he disclosed the unity of his 

 interests. Social science was not law, not political 

 economy, not history, not religion, but it was closely 

 related to all these; it was to be studied by methods that 

 were common to other sciences, by observation and com- 

 parison, and by historical, statistical, biographical, and 

 philosophical inquiry, while in the working out of the 

 methods involved he laid particular stress upon a study 

 of the historical development of the actual conditions of 

 society. In these lectures, as in others, he was constantly 

 emphasizing the necessity of taking an historical view of 

 every subject, realizing that man has been gradually 

 becoming what he is and that it is not possible to ignore 

 these historical processes any more than it is possible to 

 ignore the importance of man's geographical surround- 

 ings. In a review, written as far back as 1867, he says, 

 "Never, probably, in the history of the country was it 

 more desirable that the study of History, Law, Political 

 Economy, Philosophy, Literature, and all these humani- 

 ties should be kept up and that young men should learn 

 to value the lessons of the past and to take counsel from 

 the thoughts of the wise men of every age and country." 

 But I should give a very inadequate idea of the trend of 

 Dr. Oilman's academic interests did I seem to imply that 

 history gained any undue attention from him. I think 

 that he felt more at home in history and the social 



