SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL 149 



of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 Professor Johnson described the "Gas Desiccator" 

 which he then had recently had made by Greiner 

 in New York for use in the station laboratory. 



The spirit of the new scientific education, so dis- 

 trusted by conservative classical scholars, had been 

 gradually winning a way in American college circles — 

 largely because of the personality and tolerant atti- 

 tude of some of its foremost advocates. In 1869, Har- 

 vard University took an almost unprecedented step 

 forward by choosing a layman and a chemist to be its 

 official head. Whether this action, which ranged the 

 University uncompromisingly on the side of edu- 

 cational progress, was regarded as a victory or as 

 an experiment depended upon the vision of the 

 beholder — men of science in America united in 

 acclaiming it the beginning of better days. The letter 

 of felicitation, written in the spirit of prophecy and 

 from a full heart, which Professor Johnson sent to 

 President-elect Eliot, has not been preserved. In 

 acknowledging it, President Eliot said : 



A victory implies that some one is defeated. That is not 

 the true aspect of my election. It is simply an experiment, 

 made by the governing board of the University in a spirit 

 truly scientific, I think. The greater part of the crowning 

 will have to be reserved for the issue from the woods ten or 

 fifteen years hence. As you say, the first and best thing to 

 be done is to show that letters and science are not mortal 

 enemies but helpful friends. . . . "Vision and strength" — 

 that is well said — that is just exactly what is needed. Take 

 care of your stomach and reserve yourself for the good days 

 to come. 



