434 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-IX 



coming out of my heated lecture-room and taking an open 

 sleigh at Ithaca, or coming out of the heated cars and tak 

 ing it at Cortland, my throat became affected, and for 

 some years gave me serious trouble. 



But my greater opportunities those which kept me 

 from becoming a mere administrative machine were af 

 forded by various vacations, longer or shorter. During the 

 summer vacation, mainly passed at Saratoga and the sea 

 side, there was time for consecutive studies with refer 

 ence to my work, my regular lectures, and occasional ad 

 dresses. But this was not all. At three different times I 

 was summoned from university work to public duties. 

 The first of these occasions was when I was appointed 

 by President Grant one of the commissioners to Santo 

 Domingo. This appointment came when I was thoroughly 

 worn out with university work, and it gave me a chance 

 of great value physically and intellectually. During four 

 months I was in a world of thought as different from 

 anything that I had before known as that wonderful is 

 land in the Caribbean Sea is different in its climate from 

 the hills of central New York swept by the winds of 

 December. And I had to deal with men very different 

 from the trustees, faculty, and students of Cornell. This 

 episode certainly broadened my view as a professor, and 

 strengthened me for administrative duties. 



The third of these long vacations was in 1879-80-81, 

 when President Hayes appointed me minister plenipo 

 tentiary in Berlin. My stay at that post, and especially 

 my acquaintance with leaders in German thought and with 

 professors at many of the Continental universities, did 

 much for me in many ways. 



It may be thought strange that I could thus absent my 

 self from the university, but these absences really enabled 

 me to maintain my connection with the institution. My 

 constitution, though elastic, was not robust; an uninter 

 rupted strain would have broken me, while variety of 

 occupation strengthened me. Throughout my whole life 

 I have found the best of all medicines to be travel and 



