THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



187 



THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY AND THE 



SUMMER MEETING OF THE 



AMERICAN A880CIA TION. 



When the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science decided to 

 hold a special summer session between 

 the winter meetings in New Orleans 

 and New York City, it was well ad- 

 vised in choosing Ithaca as the place. 

 There is probably no other university 

 in the world with such a beautiful site 

 and surroundings, and there are but 

 few institutions whose buildings, equip- 

 ment and work are of greater interest 

 to students of science. Ithaca is not 

 far from the center of scientific popula- 

 tion, and Cornell is in many ways in- 

 termediate between the eastern private 

 foundations, such as Harvard. Yale and 

 Columbia, and the state institutions of 

 the central west, such as Michigan, 

 Illinois and Wisconsin. 



Cornell owed its origin to state sup- 

 port combined with the generosity of the 

 man whose name it perpetuates. One 

 of the most beneficent acts of congress, 

 notable for its wisdom and because it 

 was proposed in the midst of the civil 

 war, was the land grant for the estab- 

 lishment in each state of a college 

 primarily for agriculture and the me- 

 chanic arts. The act, approved July 2. 

 1802, provided that there should be 

 granted to the several states public 

 lands, thirty thousand acres for each 

 senator and representative of congress, 

 from the sale of which there should 

 be established a perpetual fund " the 

 interest of which shall be inviolably 

 appropriated, by each state which may 

 take and claim the benefit of this act, 

 to the endowment, support and main- 

 tenance of at least one college, where 

 the leading object shall be, without 



excluding other scientific and classical 

 studies, and including military tactics, 

 to teach such brandies of learning as 

 are related to agriculture and the me- 

 chanic arts, in such manner as the 

 legislatures of the states may respect- 

 ively prescribe, in order to promote the 

 liberal and practical education of the 

 industrial classes in the several pur- 

 suits and professions in life. - ' 



Xew York state received about a 

 million acres, and, thanks largely to the 

 wisdom of Mr. Ezra Cornell, most of 

 the land was held until ultimately it 

 yielded over five million dollars. In 

 accordance with Mr. Cornell's well- 

 known words, ' I would found an in- 

 stitution where any person can find 

 instruction in any study.' Cornell 

 University was established in 1805 and 

 j opened in the autumn of 1808. Thanks 

 to the wise administration of Dr. An- 

 drew D. White, to a loyal group of 

 able teachers and men of science, to 

 state support and private beneficence, 

 Cornell lias become one of the great 

 universities of the country and of the 

 world, fulfilling as nearly as may be 

 the dreams of its founder. There are 

 now some five hundred officers and four 

 thousand students divided among de- 

 partments as follows: the graduate de- 

 partment, the college of arts and 

 sciences, the college of law, the medical 

 college, the Xew York state veterinary 

 college, the college of agriculture, the 

 college of architecture, the college of 

 civil engineering, the Sibley college of 

 mechanical engineering and mechanic 

 arts. 



At Cornell University a gathering of 



scientific men could not be other than 



pleasant and profitable. There were in 



j all about 400 in attendance at the meet- 



