EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD 



Vol. XIV. December. VM)-2. No. 4. 



Another landmark of a pioneer agricultural institution is gone. His 

 name is associated with the development of agricultural science as 

 well as of agricultural education, for he was one of the pioneers in 

 experimental work for agriculture in this countrv. His long life of 

 unusual activity and usefulness closed, after a brief illness, November 

 7, and it only remains to record a few of the public services and per- 

 sonal chai'acteristics of Dr. RoVjert C. Kedzie. 



Doctor Kedzie was born of Scotch parents at Delhi, New York, in 

 1823. His family moved to Michigan when he was 3 years old and 

 settled in Lenawee County. He entered Oberlin College at the age of 

 17 and graduated with the degree of B. A. six years later. After 

 teaching two years he entered Michigan State University, from which 

 he graduated with the first medical class in 1851. He practiced med- 

 cine until 1861, when he entered the army and served as surgeon 

 for two years. Resigning from that serAice he was appointed to the 

 chair of chemistry at the Michigan Agricultural College in 1863. At 

 that time the institution was in a somewhat disorganized state, and its 

 future existence was threatened. He threw his whole thought and 

 energy into the task of shaping its policies and establishing it on an 

 enduring basis; and from that day until his death he was one of the lead- 

 ing spirits and strongest personalities at the institution. His influence 

 for the college and for agricultural education was exerted in the councils 

 of the institution, in the State legislature, where h(^ represented his 

 county, in the farmers' institute, and through the public press. He 

 was strong in his belief in agricultural education, and his zeal for the 

 cause never wavered. 



His death closed a period of nearly lU years of continuous teaching, 

 during which time every class that passed through the institution 

 received an important part of its instruction in chemistry at his hands. 

 As a teacher he was clear and forceful, with an extraordinary power 

 of carrying conviction, thorough to a degree, and uncompromising 

 in his demands upon his students. It is perhaps in this capacity that 

 his greatest strength lay and his strongest influence was exerted. 



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