336 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -III 



porations also I gradually escaped, turning my duties 

 over to those better fitted for them. Still many outside 

 cares remained, and in one way or another I was obliged 

 to take part in affairs which I would have gladly shunned. 

 Yet there was consolation in the idea that, as my main 

 danger was that of drifting into a hermit life among pro- 

 fessors and books, anything that took me out of this for a 

 limited length of time was not without compensating ad- 

 vantages. 



Just previously to my election to the university presi- 

 dency I had presented a "plan of organization," which, 

 having been accepted and printed by the trustees, formed 

 the mold for the main features of the new institution ; and 

 early among my duties came the selection and nomination 

 of professors. In these days one is able to choose from a 

 large body of young men holding fellowships in the vari- 

 ous larger universities of the United States ; but then, with 

 the possible exception of two or three at Harvard, there 

 was not a fellowship, so far as I can remember, in the whole 

 country. The choosing of professors was immeasurably 

 more difficult than at present. With reference to this point, 

 a very eminent graduate of Harvard then volunteered to 

 me some advice, which at first sight looked sound, but which 

 I soon found to be inapplicable. He said : ' ' You must se- 

 cure at any cost the foremost men in the United States in 

 every department. In this way alone can a real university 

 be created." Trying the Socratic method upon him, I 

 asked, in reply, t l How are we to get such men ? The fore- 

 most man in American science is undoubtedly Agassiz, but 

 he has refused all offers of high position at Paris made him 

 by the French Emperor. The main objects of his life are 

 the creation of his great museum at Harvard and his inves- 

 tigations and instruction in connection with it ; he has de- 

 clared that he has 'no time to waste in making money!' 

 What sum or what inducement of any sort can transfer 

 him from Harvard to a new institution on the distant hills 

 of central New York? So, too, with the most eminent 

 men at the other universities. What sum will draw them 



