SKETCH OF DR. CHARLES F. CHANDLER. 835 



lege classes on general and agricultural chemistry, mineralogy, and 

 geology. 



In 1864 Professor Chandler became connected with Columbia Col- 

 lege, joining Professor Egleston and General Vinton in the experi- 

 ment of starting a School of Mines. The project originated with 

 Professor Egleston, who, with his friend Vinton, had recently gradu- 

 ated at the Ecole des Mines in Paris. It was not considered very 

 promising, but the three professors were willing to begin without sala- 

 ries. Mr. George T. Strong, W. E. Dodge, Jr., and several others, 

 furnished about three thousand dollars to equip the modest laborato- 

 ries. Hon. Gouverneur Kemble presented a tine cabinet of minerals. 

 Dr. Barnard, the newly-elected President of Columbia College, Dr. 

 Torrey, and the other Trustees, encouraged the enterprise in every 

 possible way, and some vacant rooms in the basement of the college 

 were assigned for laboratories. The success of the school was mar- 

 velous. Provision was made for twelve students ; twenty-four came 

 the first day. During the entire winter the carpenters and gas-fitters 

 were constantly at work erecting new tables for additional applicants, 

 and the number of pupils reached forty-eight. The Trustees of the 

 College responded liberally. During the first vacation they placed a 

 large four-story building at the disposition of the school, with ample 

 funds for the equipment of laboratories and cabinets. Accommoda- 

 tions were arranged for seventy-two pupils. During the second year 

 the school was thronged ; eighty-nine students were in attendance. The 

 success of the new school seemed so well assured that the Trustees 

 arranged to place it on a substantial basis as a coordinate department 

 of the college. Professor J. S. Newberry was called to the chair of 

 Geology, relieving Professor Chandler of this subject, and a full facul- 

 ty of professors and assistants was established. A new building was 

 erected, and equipped with laboratory accommodations for one hun- • 

 dred and fifty pupils ; these were outgrown, and a few years ago still 

 larger ones Avere erected. The school is now in its sixteenth year ; it 

 has about two hundred and fifty students, pursuing a four years' 

 course of study. Professor Chandler has been Dean of the Faculty 

 of the School from the beginning, and has been the executive officer, 

 besides having charge of the laboratories and giving his regular courses 

 of lectures. The Assay Department was the especial hobby of Pro- 

 fessor Chandler, and, with the aid of his successive assistants. Miller, 

 Day, Blossom, and Ricketts, has been made the most complete of its 

 kind to be found anywhere. To facilitate the work of assaying gold 

 and silver oi-es, he devised an improved system of weights, which has 

 been generally adopted by assayers. 



When Professor Chandler first came to New York, he was asked 

 to lend a hand in the development of the College of Pharmacy. This 

 institution was then occupying a sini^e room in the old University 

 building on Washington Square, and numbered about thirty students. 



