SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 87 



in which one could study all of the great sciences in any manner, 

 or after any fashion at all. And it is greatly to her credit that, 

 with the possible exception of Harvard University, this College 

 then gave the most extended and thorough course in botany in 

 this country. 



It was a pioneer in science teaching, and its primitive methods 

 were due to the fact that nowhere were better methods known 

 or practiced. Elsewhere they were generally still more primi- 

 tive. The College stood then as now for the study of things, as 

 shown especially in its teaching of agriculture, horticulture, and 

 stock breeding. In so far as possible even then the thing rather 

 than the book was studied. The College was instinctively, though 

 unconsciously, moving toward the modern laboratory method. 

 It led the way toward illustration and the direct study of things 

 themselves, and gave a strong impulse in aid of the incoming of 

 the laboratory idea. 



That the professors of that day builded better than they 

 knew is no doubt true, but we cannot on that account withhold 

 from them our praise for their good work, nor our gratitude for 

 what they did for us. No alumnus of this College need be 

 ashamed of the kind of work done in the early days, but rather 

 should he be proud that his Alma Mater, though so young among 

 the colleges of that time, was among the first to adopt modern 

 methods of teaching and study. 



