CORNELIUS 



1591 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY 



In his. day public taste demanded heroic men 

 and deeds and extraordinary adventures, and 

 his great inventive powers were applied to cre- 

 ating situations for the manifestation of heroic 

 energy. 



CORNELIUS, korna'leoos, PETER VON (1783- 

 1867), a German painter, whose work was of 

 importance because of its influence on the 

 development of modern German art. In 1811 

 he went to Rome, where he formed an asso- 

 ciation with Overbeck, Veit and others of the 

 "Nazarene painters," so called because of their 

 devotion to Christian art. Cornelius and his 

 associates were asked to decorate a room in 

 the house of the Prussian consul, and in so 

 doing revived the long-neglected art of fresco 

 painting. On his return to Germany he made 

 the designs for the celebrated frescoes in the 

 museum of sculpture at Munich, and in 1825 

 became director of the Munich Academy and 

 was ennobled. Later he painted the colossal 

 Last Judgment. See FRESCO. 



CORNELL, kornel', UNIVERSITY, one of 

 the largest universities in the United States; 

 located at Ithaca, N. Y. Its establishment in- 

 troduced a new era in higher education. It was 

 founded to carry out the ideal of Ezra Cor- 

 nell, who, in offering $500,000 as an endowment 

 fund, made the memorable statement, "I would 

 found an institution where any person can find 

 instruction in any study." Cornell was thus 

 the first of the universities to recognize the 

 more plainly practical needs of students, with- 

 out neglecting the classical ideals. To Mr. 

 Cornell's fund were added the proceeds from 

 the sale of public lands granted New York by 

 the Federal government, and the university 

 was incorporated in 1865 and formally opened 

 three years later. 



Andrew D. White (which see) became its 

 first president, while such scholarly men as . 

 James Russell Lowell, Louis Agassiz, George 

 William Curtis and Bayard Taylor showed 

 their approval of the ideals of the new institu- 

 tion by joining the faculty as non-resident 

 professors. Since its organization the univer- 

 sity has received many generous gifts, includ- 

 ing $1,175,000 from Henry W. Sage, and at the 

 present time its income is over $3,000,000 a 

 year. Since 1872 the university has been a 

 coeducational institution. The campus of Cor- 

 nell is one of the most beautiful in the world. 

 It is situated on a hill overlooking Cayuga 

 Lake, and commands a view of a picturesque 

 valley, beautiful cascades, and deep gorges cut 

 by Fall and Cascadilla creeks. A splendid 



playground and athletic field of fifty-five acres 

 lies to the east of the campus, and on the 

 waters of Cayuga Lake the famous Cornell 

 crews practice for the great university rowing 

 contests. 



The university departments comprise the 

 graduate department, the college of arts and 

 sciences, the college of law, the medical col- 

 lege, one of the greatest colleges of agricul- 

 ture in America, the New York State Veter- 

 inary College, the college of architecture, the 

 college of civil engineering and the Sibley Col- 

 lege of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanic 

 Arts. The total registration in all departments 

 during the regular session is about 5,400, while 

 1,500 enroll for the summer sessions. The 

 faculty numbers about 750. Practically one- 

 tenth of the students are women. Under- 

 graduates are given in their freshman and 

 sophomore years a course in military drill 

 under the direction of an officer of the United 

 States army. 



Cornell University stands for the newer 

 democracy which, though it recognizes the 

 static value of precedent, believes that the 

 dynamics of life come not from the fathers 

 but from environment. In expressing this 

 democracy the following may be said: 



(1) Cornell was the first Eastern university to 

 give full liberty in the choice of studies ; 



(2) Before Cornell. got its charter, with the ex- 

 ception of a state university in the West, all col- 

 leges were sectarian and denominational, and 

 since its foundation no professor has been ex- 

 cluded from the faculty because of his religious 

 or political views ; 



(3) The founder's scheme in admitting women 

 to academic equality with men was another ex- 

 pression of this democracy ; 



(4) The final goal was reached in the trustees' 

 legislation on April 29, 1916, admitting members 

 of the faculty to the board of trustees, for the first 

 time in university history in the United States. 



Ezra Cornell (1807-1874), the liberal-spirited 

 founder of the university, was born in West- 

 chester County, N. Y. He received only a 

 common-school education, and early in life 

 worked as potter, carpenter and mechanic. In 

 1826 he removed to Ithaca, N. Y., where for 

 eight years he managed a flour mill. Becom- 

 ing interested in the construction of telegraph 

 lines, he invented a machine for laying the 

 wires underground; when this proved imprac- 

 ticable he made the suggestion, which was 

 adopted with great success, of stringing the 

 wires overhead. In 1855 he helped found the 

 Western Union Telegraph Company, and it 

 was in connection with telegraphy that his 



