Curtis : Lucien Marcus Underwood 3 



The correspondence of this early period shows that the selec- 

 tion of the institution he was to attend was a matter of much con- 

 cern and that he and his friends discussed the question for a long 

 time, one university being debarred as a "Godless institution." 

 The establishment of Syracuse University near his home, with 

 Alexander Winchell as its first chancellor, decided the matter for 



m 



him and accordingly in the fall of 1873 he entered this institution, 

 registering in the scientific course. 



Here again the surroundings and experiences during his college 

 days make interesting reading. He soon became dissatisfied with 

 the scientific course because deficient in the amount of work 

 required and after seriously considering the advisability of com- 

 pleting the college work in three years, he finally decided to enter 

 the Latin-scientific course although this necessitated the prepa- 

 ration of six books of Virgil, four orations of Cicero, Sallust, 

 Roman History, and Latin Prose. His ability as a speaker again 

 secured for him a place at the Junior Exhibition, an oratorical con- 

 test, and also as one of the commencement speakers. His favorite 

 studies were history, mathematics, and geology, the two former by 

 reason of the serious treatment and logical presentation of the sub- 

 jects and the latter by reason of his natural liking for the biological 

 aspects of the science. This is shown by his devoting ten extra 

 hours per week to this subject during the winter term of his junior 

 or senior years, without credit so far as his college course was con- 

 cerned. It should be stated that the other sciences offered in the 

 university did not appeal to him strongly, doubtless because they 

 could not be properly presented at that time. This is indicated by 

 the fact that he never enjoyed the use of a microscope during his 

 entire college course save for "one happy afternoon" when he 

 had the rare treat of using a stand and examining a few stock 

 slides that were furnished with microscopes at that time, such as 

 the foot of a fly or the " scales from a butterfly's wing." That he 

 was drawn to the subject in which his life-work finally centered is 

 shown by his starting the compilation of an herbarium in 1875 and, 

 self- instructed, he began a study of the ferns, collecting in Herkimer 

 and other localities specimens which he later characterized as 

 scrappy and of no value. It should be added that he gave a 

 great deal of attention to entomology and perhaps this study 

 appealed to him quite as strongly as any other. 



