POP ULAR MIS CELLAXT. 



423 



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POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



The Scientific Department of Brown 

 rniversity. — Brown University liolds a re- 

 spectable rank with ttie other colleges in 

 this country of the same grade in its scien- 

 tific department. Several of its officers of 

 instruction who, in previous years, have 

 filled chairs in this department achieved 

 both success and reputation, and their names 

 are well known in the circles of scientific 

 men. It implies no invidious distinction to 

 make special mention of the names of Presi- 

 dent Alexis Caswell and Professor George 

 Ide Chace, the former well known in the De- 

 partment of Natural Philosophy and Astron- 

 omy, and the latter in that of Chemistry. 

 In the year 1830, under the presidency of 

 Dr. Wayland, the university entered upon 

 the trial of an experiment which was the 

 result of the thoughtful deliberation of the 

 distinguished head of the Institution. The 

 sum of one hundred and twenty-five thousand 

 dollars was raised, chiefly among the citizens 

 of Providence, so that the new order of 

 things might start on a good financial basis. 

 The radical changes in the proposed meth- 

 ods in carrying on college education was 

 severely criticised by what may be called 

 the conservative press of the country. On 



the other hand, the secular press, with great 

 unanimity, hailed the movement as one 

 eminently adapted to meet the demands of 

 the age, that education should be brought 

 nearer to the masses, and be better fitted to 

 prepare men for the practical work of every- 

 day life. From the very outset, the adop- 

 tion of the new plan was followed by a large 

 increase of zeal and thorough devotion to 

 study in the scientific department of the 

 university, and an impetus was given to this 

 department, which, down to the present 

 hour, has never lost its force. Aiming 

 especially to reach and benefit the working- 

 classes, first of all, by training men who, in 

 due time, would be qualified to give instruc- 

 tion to such as sought it in the common 

 walks of life, the projector of the plan 

 wished to go beyond the narrow limits 

 bounded by college walls, and in some way 

 bring the university in direct contact with 

 the producing portion of the community. 

 Accordingly, it was arranged to give a course 

 of lectures upon " The Principles and Pro- 

 cesses employed in Calico Printing." Sub- 

 sequently, Professor Chace delivered eight 

 lectures upon " The Chemistry of the 

 Precious Metals " to jewelers and other 

 workers in those metals. An audience of 

 between three and four hundred, filling 

 Ehode Island Hall, listened with the greatest 

 delight and profit to these lectures. The 

 sentiments of this large body of respectable 

 mechanics found a response in the remark 

 of one of their number : " I see why it is 

 that I have so often failed. I have been 

 doing or trying to do these things all my 

 life, without knowing why." The history of 

 the scientific department of the university 

 for nearly forty years is one of constant 

 progress. The chairs of two professorships, 

 that of Chemistry and that of Physics, have 

 been placed on generous pecuniary founda- 

 tions, and men of marked ability are filling 

 these chairs. By the will of George F. 

 Wilson the fund of one hundred thousand 

 dollars has been paid into the treasury 

 for the Department of Physics. Sixty 

 or seventy thousand dollars of this bequest 

 is to be appropriated to the erection of a 

 physical laboratory. The income of ten 

 thousand dollars is to be used for maintain- 

 ing the equipment of the laboratoiy, and 

 the income from the balance of the bequest 



