554 SAMUEL CABOT. 



malicious stories about his goods was forced to sign a written retrac- 

 tion couched in the most abject terms. 



His business activities would have been enough to exhaust the 

 energy of most men, but he found time and strength for the enthu- 

 siastic pursuit of many other interests. He was a most devoted son 

 of the Institute of Technology, always ready with advice or more 

 material help. In 1889 he was elected to the Corporation intrusted 

 with its government, and in spite of his strong opinions and fighting 

 blood won and kept the respect and affection of all his fellow-members. 

 He was a member of the executive committee for many years, and very 

 active on committees in charge of special departments, serving at various 

 times on those on chemistry, chemical engineering, physics, botany, 

 biology, modern languages, and English. His principal interest was 

 naturally in the Chemical Department, which he watched over with 

 unceasing care. He even induced Professor Lunge to come to Boston 

 from Zurich to examine it, and make suggestions in regard to the best 

 methods for teaching industrial chemistry. 



Nor did he confine his attention to the Institute of Technology, as 

 for many years he was a member of the " Committee to visit the 

 Chemical Laboratory " of Harvard University, and in this capacity 

 gave much useful advice about the organization of the course in indus- 

 trial chemistry, in which he advocated the teaching of broad general 

 principles rather than instruction in details, showing in this way a 

 power of rising above the narrowing tendency of the highly specialized 

 work by which alone a chemical manufacturer attains success. 



He was devoted to athletics throughout his life, telling with gusto 

 in one of his last years how he had beaten a much younger man at 

 tennis, and about the same time causing the publication of a delight- 

 *ful volume of reminiscences by the idol of his boyhood, Lovett, the 

 pitcher of the Lowells. This interest influenced his relations with the 

 Institute of Technology, as he was a member of the Advisory Council 

 on Athletics, and gave a tract of land in Brookline for a playground. 

 He also established an annual prize for the greatest improvement in 

 athletics, and gave a silver cup, on which the names of the victors 

 were inscribed each year. It is almost needless to add that his influ- 

 ence was always used in maintaining the highest ideal of sportsmanship. 

 In addition to these gifts for athletics he gave his house in Brookline 

 for a dormitory, and was always ready to answer any pressing need. 



He threw himself with the same enthusiasm into other recreations. ' 

 Thus he made a careful study of the theory and construction of aero- 

 planes, for many years carrying on experiments in the summer on kites, 

 studying especially the resistance of the air to various forms, and the 



