440 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



SCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



By lewis E. HARLEY, Ph. D. 



IN resigning the provostship of the University of Pennsylvania 

 in 1894, Dr. William Pepper defined the broad policy of the 

 institution in the following appropriate language : " The univer- 

 sity is truly the voluntary association of all persons and of all 

 agencies who wish to unite in work for the elevation of society 

 by the pursuit and diffusion of truth." 



The function of a university is not simply instruction but also 

 research. In this latter field of work American universities are 

 showing great activity, and remarkable results have been pro- 

 duced. The University of Pennsylvania has been particularly 

 susceptible to the changing conditions of American life, as is 

 illustrated in the modifications in its curriculum from time to 

 time. When the institution was chartered as a college in 1755, 

 no other school in this country offered so liberal a course of 

 study. In 1810 the curriculum was modified and rearranged so 

 as to conform to the new conditions which had arisen with the 

 opening of the century ; but old methods and old ideas prevailed 

 until 1868, when Dr. Charles J. Stilld was elected provost. The 

 elective system of studies was introduced, and every department 

 of the institution felt the pulses of new life. During the four- 

 teen years of Dr. Stille's administration the larger career of the 

 university began, and a worthy successor was found in Dr. Wil- 

 liam Pepper, who was inaugurated provost on February 22, 1881. 

 A new creative period in the history of the university now began, 

 rendered memorable by the founding and equipment of fourteen 

 new departments and the erection of thirteen new buildings. In 

 order to extend its influence as a center of learning and research, 

 the university has aimed to establish the principle that it is 

 organically a part of the municipality of Philadelphia. Fully 

 appreciating the importance of this fact to the city, the Councils 

 in 1872 and in 1883 voted the transfer to the university of splen- 

 did tracts of ground in consideration of the establishment of fifty 

 free beds in the hospital for the poor of Philadelphia, and of fifty 

 prize scholarships in the college, to be awarded to graduates of 

 the public schools of Philadelphia. Subsequent accessions of ter- 

 ritory from the city authorities have brought the domain of the 

 university up to fifty-two acres in a compact body. 



The university is in right, and should be in fact, the crown of 

 the educational system of the entire Commonwealth. The expense 

 of modern research practically necessitates resources which, as a 

 rule, only the State can adequately furnish. But the university 

 received no great contribution from the State until 1779, when 



