378 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-VI 



been built in the machine-shops, under the direction of 

 Professor Anthony, a dynamo which was used in light- 

 ing our grounds, this being one of the first examples 

 of electric lighting in the United States; and on one 

 of my visits I said to him, "It looks much as if, with 

 the rapid extension throughout the country of the tele- 

 graph, telephone, electric lighting, and electric railways, 

 we shall be called on, before long, to train men for 

 a new profession in connection with them/' As he 

 assented to this, I asked him to sketch out a plan for 

 a "Department of Electrical Engineering," and in due 

 time he appeared with it before the executive committee 

 of the trustees. But it met much opposition from one of 

 our oldest members, who was constitutionally averse to 

 what he thought new-fangled education, partly from con- 

 servatism, partly from considerations of expense ; and this 

 opposition was so threatening that, in order to save the 

 proposed department, I was obliged to pledge myself to 

 become responsible for any extra expense caused by it 

 during the first year. Upon this pledge it was established. 

 Thus was created, as I believe, the first department of 

 electrical engineering ever known in the United States, 

 and, so far as I can learn, the first ever known in any 

 country. 



But while we thus strove to be loyal to those parts of 

 our charter which established technical instruction, there 

 were other parts in which I personally felt even a deeper 

 interest. In my political reminiscences I have acknow- 

 ledged the want of preparation in regard to practical 

 matters of public concern which had hampered me as a 

 member of the State Senate. Having revolved this sub- 

 ject in my mind for a considerable time, I made, while 

 commissioner to the Paris Exposition of 1878, a careful 

 examination of the courses of study in political and eco- 

 nomic science established in European universities, and 

 on my return devoted to this subject my official report. 

 Like such reports generally, it was delayed a long time 

 in the Government Printing-office, was then damned with 



