DANGERS AT CORNELL -1868 -1872 363 



and has, from time to time, been modified, as the improve- 

 ment in the schools of the State, and other circumstances 

 have required. 



In proposing these courses I was much influenced by 

 an idea broached in Herbert Spencer 's ' i Treatise on Edu- 

 cation. " This idea was given in his discussion of the 

 comparative values of different studies, when he arrived 

 at the conclusion that a subject which ought to be among 

 those taught at the beginning of every course is human 

 physiology, that is to say, an account of the structure, 

 functions, and proper management of the human body, on 

 which so much depends for every human being. It seemed 

 to me that not only was there great force in Spencer's 

 argument, but that there was an additional reason for 

 placing physiology among the early studies of most of 

 the courses; and this was that it formed a very good 

 beginning for scientific study in general. An observation 

 of my own strengthened me in this view. I remembered 

 that, during my school life, while my tastes were in the 

 direction of classical and historical studies, the weekly 

 visits to the school by the surgeon who lectured upon the 

 human eye, ear, and sundry other organs, using models 

 and preparations, interested me intensely, and were a real 

 relief from other studies. There was still another reason. 

 For the professorship in this department Professor Agas- 

 siz had recommended to me Dr. Burt Wilder ; and I soon 

 found him, as Agassiz had foretold, not only a thorough 

 investigator, but an admirable teacher. His lectures were 

 not read, but were, as regards phrasing, extemporaneous ; 

 and it seemed to me that, mingled with other studies, a 

 course of lectures given in so good a style, by so gifted a 

 man, could not fail to be of great use in teaching our 

 students, incidentally, the best way of using the English 

 language in communicating their ideas to their fellow- 

 men. I had long deplored the rhetorical fustian and ora- 

 torical tall-talk which so greatly afflict our country, and 

 which had been, to a considerable extent, cultivated in our 

 colleges and universities; I determined to try, at least, 



