200 HKPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMKNT STATIONS. 



ill a<i;ric-ultinv aiul nicchiiiiic arts. Mr. Miiiiay. al(h()iifi:li now 02 

 year.s of a^o. has a rt'iiiarkably clear nuMiiorv for caily dates and 

 facts in connection with the development of education in Illinois, 

 and his recollections, as related to the representatixc of the coniniittee, 

 are of consideral)le interest. lie had no wav of knowintr whether 

 Professor Tnrner ever met Senator Morrill oi- influenced him in any 

 way, either hy correspondence or otherwise, hut he helieves that Pro- 

 fessor Tnrner was the first man to agitate and advocate government 

 aid for industrial education in the several States. 



Through the kindness of F. W. Howe in preparing a manuscript 

 of 48 typewritten pages, the committee has been able to secure con- 

 siderable historical data from the earlier reports of the Michigan 

 State Agricultural Society and other publications concerning the 

 agitation for the establishment of the Michigan Agricultural Col- 

 lege as well as earlier movements for including instruction in agri- 

 culture in the courses of study offered by the Michigan Normal School 

 at Ypsilanti, and the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor. 



It ai)pears from this manuscript that as early as 1840 the state 

 legislature in Michigan instructed its " delegation in Congress to 

 use all honorable means to ])rocure a donation of 3.50,000 acres of 

 land for the establishment of agricultural schools in the State," and 

 Mr. Howe raises the question whether this action does not take 

 priority over any other official action to secure a national land grant 

 for the purposes of agricultural education. It is also shown from 

 a letter w^ritten by the state superintendent of public instruction in 

 1852 to the secretary of the state agricultural society, that the State 

 Normal School at Ypsilanti, which was dedicated October 5, 1852, 

 offered courses of " instruction in the mechanic arts, the arts of hus- 

 bandry, and in agricultural chemistry," and from a letter written 

 by the chancellor of the state university to the secretary of the state 

 agricultural society, that the university had organized in 1852 " an 

 agricultural school as a part of the scientific course recently adopted 

 by the faculty and regents," in which lectures were to be given during 

 the spring and summer terms (1853) on the following subjects: 



(1) Daily lectures on chemistry (elementary and experimental), chemistry 

 applied to the arts, meteorology and climate. 



(2) (Jeology and mineralogy, and the application of the same to mining, 

 drainage, construction of public works, etc., illustrated by specimens from 

 Michigan, the neighboring States, and foreign lands; also models and drawings. 



(3) Animal and vegetable anatomy and physiology in general, the physiology 

 and diseases of domestic animals in particular, and the structure and habits 

 of insects in reference to grain, trees, and horticultural plants. 



(4) Organic chemistry and the theory and practice of agriculture, the origin 

 and nature of the soils, the different varieties of manure, tillage, tools, etc. 



The first professor of agriculture in the State University was the 

 Eev. Charles Fox, rector of the Episcopal Church at Grosse Isle, near 



