io6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ing the night. Or, let him place a speck of 

 spoiled egg in one corner of his house: its 

 sulphuretted hydrogen will soon be per- 

 ceived throughout all the connecting rooms, 

 but the strongest near the speck, unless it 

 be carried out of the house by a current of 

 air. The attenuated diffusion of deleterious 

 gases tends to render them harmless their 

 concentration to produce disease by a de 



novo process. The inspiration of concen. 

 trated or nearly pure sewage-gas has often 

 caused instant death, a larger dilution ha- 

 bitually inspired often breeds fever, but an 

 attenuated amount of it is not appreciably 

 harmful. And what is more promotive of 

 this dilution or attenuation than the great 

 mobility of day-air ? 



J. R. Black. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



HOW NEW YORK GOT A COLLEGE. 



H^TEW- YORKERS are somewhat ex- 

 -L-N ercised over the question what to 

 do with their college, a problem which 

 it ought to be easier to solve, by re- 

 membering how they came by it. "What 

 on earth New York City wanted with a 

 college, when there were two good ones 

 already in the town, not half full of 

 students, might be a perplexing inqui- 

 ry, did we not know that corporations, 

 as well as individuals, often find them- 

 selves possessed of things which they 

 don't want and never intended to have. 

 The people did not say, " Go to, let us 

 have a college, cost what it will, and 

 teach Columbia and the University how 

 to manage a higher institution of learn- 

 ing." The city has been drawn into 

 running an opposition line to these es- 

 tablishments in a very different way, 

 and the case is instructive as showing 

 that education can be "managed" as 

 well as other public interests. 



What the people of New York did 

 propose, upward of thirty years ago, 

 was to organize a sort of polytechnic 

 or practical high-school, connected with 

 the school-system of the city, to give a 

 little extra preparation to boys, who ex- 

 pected to devote themselves to some 

 form of mechanical industry, and not to 

 the learned professions. If we are not 

 mistaken, such was the explicit object 

 of the institution, and it was so stated 

 upon the ballots by which the citizens 

 voted to establish such a school. This 

 was done by a very large popular ma- 

 jority, and it was set agoing under the 



name of the "Free Academy." But 

 the movement was premature for New 

 York, or its direction fell into incom- 

 petent hands, as nothing efficient was 

 done to stamp it with the character it 

 was designed to have, or to carry out 

 intelligently its distinctive purpose. 

 The plan of education wanted had to be 

 theoretically shaped, and should have 

 been then cautiously carried into prac- 

 tice, by the selection of a faculty in 

 thorough sympathy with the idea, and 

 as well qualified for the work as could 

 anywhere be found. But the parties 

 chosen failed in these respects. That 

 they were unfit to be intrusted with the 

 responsibility, was shown by their work, 

 and by the fact that they were dissatis- 

 fied with the status of the concern, and 

 wanted it turned into a " regular col- 

 lege." They complained that their 

 graduates did not stand well at a dis- 

 tance from home, as a "Free Acade- 

 my " was regarded as not amounting 

 to much. They accordingly set to work 

 to change it, and, by quiet, persistent 

 effort, they at length lobbied a bill 

 through the Legislature at Albany, 

 abolishing the "Free Academy," and 

 creating in its place " The College of 

 the City of New York." How com- 

 pletely the original purpose of the in- 

 stitution was abandoned in this trans- 

 formation, and the old idea of a classical 

 college substituted, was well shown by 

 the official and authoritative address 

 of Judge Larremore, President of the 

 Board of Education that voted the sup- 

 plies, and also President of the Board 



