364 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-V 



to substitute for it clean, clear, straightforward statement 

 and illustration ; and it seemed to me that a course of lec- 

 tures on a subject which admitted neither fustian nor 

 tall-talk, by a clear-headed, clear-voiced, earnest, and hon- 

 est man, was the best thing in the world for this purpose. 

 So was adopted the plan of beginning most courses with 

 an extended course of lectures upon human physiology, in 

 which to real practice in investigation by the class is added 

 the hearing of a first-rate lecturer. 



As regards the course in literature, I determined that 

 use should be made of this to promote the general culture 

 of students, as had been done up to that time by very 

 few of our American universities. At Yale in my day, 

 there was never even a single lecture on any subject 

 in literature, either ancient or modern: everything was 

 done by means of "recitations" from text-books; and 

 while young men read portions of masterpieces in Greek 

 and Latin, their attention was hardly ever directed to 

 these as literature. As regards the great fields of modern 

 literature, nothing whatever was done. In the English 

 literature and language, every man was left entirely to his 

 own devices. One of the first professors I called to Cor- 

 nell was Hiram Corson, who took charge of the department 

 of English literature; and from that day to this he has 

 been a center from which good culture has radiated among 

 our students. Professor H. B. Sprague was also called; 

 and he also did excellent work, though in a different way. 

 I also added non-resident professors. My original scheme 

 I still think a good one. It was to call James Russell Lowell 

 for early English literature, Bishop Arthur Cleveland 

 Coxe for the literature of the Elizabethan and Jacobean 

 periods, Edwin Whipple for the literature of Queen 

 Anne's time, and George William Curtis for recent and 

 contemporary literature. Each of these men was admir- 

 able as a scholar and lecturer in the particular field named ; 

 but the restricted means of the university obliged me to 

 cut the scheme down, so that it included simply Lowell 

 for early and Curtis for recent literature. Other lectures 



