280 SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY 



it was found that the old man had been murdered and the 

 will probably forged. The legatee was arrested and 

 tried and found guilty, but such was the ingenuity of 

 the accused, that on small points of law the verdict 

 was set aside, and the case was tried, retried and tried 

 yet again, so that it was nearly twenty years before the 

 money was set free for starting the Institute. During 

 this time property in Texas had risen in value by leaps 

 and bounds, and in consequence of that and the accumu- 

 lated interest the trustees found a very much larger 

 sum at their disposal than the testator had ever dreamed 

 of. They had also ample time to think over the best 

 use to which to put the funds, and they decided not to 

 confine the teaching to science, but to make the pro- 

 gramme more general, looking forward to a time when 

 the Institute would become a university. 



The first step the committee took was to appoint a 

 principal Dr. Odell Lovett and then an architect 

 Dr. Ralph A. Cram, already well known in the first 

 rank of his profession. A site was then selected, covering 

 about five square miles of ground, about two miles from 

 the town. The Principal was then sent off to visit the 

 universities of Europe, Japan and America, to collect 

 ideas and to determine what would be best, allowing 

 for difference of climate and other circumstances. On 

 his return he and Dr. Cram prepared a general plan of 

 the whole, but provided that buildings should only be 

 put up as required. The costs were paid out of income 

 and not capital, surely a unique arrangement in matters 



