304 A Century of Science 



to convert it from a grazing ground into an or- 

 namental park. The scheme met with vehement 

 opposition, and the town meetings in this growing 

 community suddenly became so large that the old 

 courthouse in Harvard Square would not hold 

 them. Accordingly, a bigger townhouse was built 

 in 1832 on the eastern part of the poorhouse lot, 

 and thus was the civic centre removed from Old 

 Cambridge. 



This event served to emphasize the state of 

 things which had been growing up with increasing 

 rapidity since the beginning of the century. In- 

 stead of a single village, with a single circle of in- 

 terests, there were now three villages, with inter- 

 ests diverse and sometimes conflicting as regards 

 the expending of public money, so that feelings of 

 sectional antagonism were developed. 



In New England history, the usual remedy for 

 such a state of things has been what might be 

 called " spontaneous fission." The overgrown town 

 would divide into three, and the segments would 

 go on pouting at each other as independent neigh- 

 bours. We need not be surprised to learn that iri 

 1842 the people of Old Cambridge petitioned to 

 be set off as a separate town ; but this attempt was 

 successfully opposed, with the result that in 1846 

 a city government was adopted. In that year the 



