576 EZEKIEL GILMAN ROBINSON. 



were said to be in a(l\ unce of the requirements in colleges generally ; 

 more room was provided in the curriculum for the modern languages 

 and the natural sciences ; and, in harmony with the insistent purpose 

 of the President, better equipment was provided for the application of 

 science to the arts. 



Towards the latter part of his administration the President renewed 

 and urged more strongly his demand for an enlarged attention to the 

 study of English ; preseuted a plan by which young women might 

 share in the advantages of the University, and succeeded in extend- 

 ing its work so that students might pursue post-graduate studies 

 at their Alma Mater and receive from her the degree of Doctor of 

 Philosophy. 



While these changes were effected in the inner life of the college, in 

 the outward condition improvements were made with accelerating 

 rapidity. Indeed, it showed greater material advance during the 

 administration of Dr. Robinson tlian at any other period of its history. 

 The grounds were greatly improved ; the University came to be much 

 better housed and equipped ; the educational plant was very greatly 

 extended, while the funds were almost doubled. 



As the head of the college. President Robinson had a deep concern 

 for the moral welfare of his students, and if in specific cases of disci- 

 pline, he was not always happy, the general discipline of the institu- 

 tion during his administration was efficient and wholesome. For 

 if, owins to his natural reserve and his sternness of demeanor, the 

 President was not always able to win the affection and love of the 

 students, he exerted upon them a most wholesome disciplinary in- 

 fluence through the example of industry, high moral purpose, and con- 

 stant devotion to duty which he himself afforded. Under this inspiring 

 influence the aims of the students were heightened, and the spirit of 

 devotion to study was very greatly increased. 



But the work of administration and discipline did not relieve Dr. 

 Robinson from special work in teaching. During his entire adminis- 

 tration he was engaged five or six hours a week in teaching. Very 

 few students, perhaps no earnest student, could fail to receive a deep 

 impression from Dr. Robinson's instruction in ethics. The teachings 

 most deeply impressed were the immutability of the moral law, and 

 penalty as a reaction from violated law ; the nature, and not simply 

 the will, of the Supreme Being as the ultimate ground of virtue ; and 

 conscience as, strictly defined, neither legislative nor prophetic, but 

 rather as the supreme, though not infallible, "moral judiciary of the 

 soul." 



