APEIL 22, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



661 



following topics: (1) Brief history of the 

 Isthmian Canal problem, with special refer- 

 ence to the Nicaragua, Panama and San Bias 

 routes; (2) comparative advantages of the 

 canals at ISTicaragTia and Panama; (3) gen- 

 eral description of plans for Panama Canal, as 

 made by the government conunission and now 

 adopted by provisions of treaty with the Re- 

 public of Panama, and a comparison of this 

 with the sea-level canal of de Lesseps and 

 other plans by the French companies; (4) a 

 discussion of the engineering difficulties in- 

 volved at Culebra cut and the Bohio dam; 

 (5) The Bohio Lake and the Gigaganti Spill- 

 way for the control of the summit level and 

 the floods of the Chagris Eiver; (6) a com- 

 parison of the advantages of a lock canal at 

 Panama with those of a sea-level canal at 

 Mandingo, involving a tunnel through the 

 continental divide. The lecture was illus- 

 trated with forty lantern slides, prepared from 

 drawings and photographs. 



P. S. SnmER, 



Secretary. 

 Clemsou College, S. C, 

 Maxell, 1904. 



DIS0D88I0N Al^'D CORRESPONDENCE. 



THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI AND ITS 

 PRESIDENCY. 



The history of the University of Cincinnati 

 for the last five years, has, without doubt," a 

 most important bearing upon the principles 

 of university government. This is due to the 

 features of its early organization a,nd to the 

 peculiar relations which it sustains to the com- 

 munity. . The original endowment of a ' free 

 college for white children ' by Charles Mc- 

 Micken in 1858, the incorporation of the 

 University of Cincinnati by act of legislature 

 in 1874, with McMicken College as an integral 

 part of it; the issue of city bonds for con- 

 struction and the levying of a tax for the 

 partial support of the institution, were the 

 acts that gave a free university to Cincinnati. 



A municipal university, distinctly anoma- 

 lous- among American universities, had to be 

 provided with a mechanism of government. 

 This was arranged for by the statute 

 which created a board of directors of nine- 



teen members including the mayor of the city, 

 ex officio. Originally twelve of these mem- 

 bers were appointed by the superior court 

 and six were selected by the board of educa- 

 tion, but in 1892 the law was so amended that 

 the superior court appointed the entire board, 

 thus taking it out of politics. The board had 

 and still has control of the funds and of the 

 faculty of the academic department alone, 

 which for a number of years was the only 

 department of the institution actively organ- 

 ized and in working condition. 



In the beginning the board of directors 

 invested the dean of the faculty with ex- 

 ecutive functions, but in 1877 it elected 

 Eev. Thomas Vickers rector. This arrange- 

 ment lasted until 1884, when, after a long and 

 sensational ' investigation ' the executive office 

 again became vacant. An interregnum ensued 

 until 1885, when General Jacob D. Cox, then, 

 and for some years before and after, dean of 

 the Cincinnati Law School, became president. 

 His incumbency lasted until 1888. These two 

 experiences and the dearth of funds prompted 

 the board of directors to revert to the old 

 policy of having the dean of the academic fac- 

 ulty exercise the executive functions in that 

 department, and to provide, furthermore, that 

 members of the faculty in the order of senior- 

 ity should serve as dean, each one to serve for 

 a year. 



In 1887 the board of directors, prompted by 

 a desire to expand the institution to the pro- 

 portions of a real university, affiliated certain 

 local professional schools, namely, the Cincin- 

 nati Law School, the Medical College of Ohio, 

 the Miami Medical College and the Ohio Den- 

 tal College. Each of the affiliated institutions 

 was only nominally a department of the uni- 

 versity, since each maintained its autonomy, 

 its own governing body and acted under its 

 own charter. 



In 1892 the relations with the two medical 

 schools were terminated, but the Medical Col- 

 lege of Ohio in 1896 by surrendering its char- 

 ter to the university became the medical de- 

 partment; still, however, with many rights 

 reserved, viz., the right to nominate all the 

 members of its faculty, the control of its 

 funds and of its internal management. 



