May 29, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



859 



on a fann in Vermont, August 27, 1797, fitted 

 for college in the country grammar school, 

 graduated from Middlebury College in 1816. 

 Later he studied medicine and thus acquired 

 the degree of doctor of medicine. In 1820 he 

 became the botanist and surgeon to Major 

 Long's expedition to the Rocky Mountains. 

 Ten years later he resigned from the army, and 

 •within a few years settled near Burlington, 

 Iowa, where he engaged in farming. He died 

 October 25, 1861. Jamesia, a very pretty 

 Eocky Mountain shrub of the botanical family 

 Saxifragaceae was dedicated to him by Torrey 

 and Gray. 



Charles E. Bessey 

 The Unhteesitt of Nkbbaska 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF SYRACUSE 

 UNIVERSITY 1 

 Sybacuse, N. y., April 17, 1908. 

 Dean William Kent, 



Syracuse University. 



Dear Sir: The executive committee and the 

 clianeellor are firmly though reluctantly per- 

 suaded that your usefulness in this university is 

 at an end and that your continued presence among 

 us would be increasingly prejudicial to the peace 

 and success of the university. 



You have been a disappointment to the admin- 

 istration from almost the beginning of your offi- 

 cial relation to the institution. We can not hope 

 that you will be capable of any improvement in 

 the future. 



Without going into particulars, you will appre- 

 ciate the fact that the trustees of a university 

 can not possibly retain a dean who can not meet 

 the chancellor or president of the institution upon 

 amicable and even confidential terms and whom 

 the chancellor can not address concerning the 

 work of his college without being subject to the 

 embarrassment of controversy and contention. 



As much as I regret therefore the duty that 

 is imposed upon me, I am compelled, acting upon 

 the advice and with the unanimous concurrence 

 of the executive committee of Syracuse Univer- 

 sity, to inform you that your connection with the 

 university will be terminated with the close of 

 the present college year. I am advised further 



' There is here printed the recent correspond- 

 ence between the Rev. Dr. James R. Day, chan- 

 cellor of Syracuse University, and Professor Wm. 

 Kent, dean of the College of Applied Science, 

 together with a statement which Professor Kent 

 lias prepared at the request of the editor. 



by the executive committee to inform you that 

 if you prefer to submit your resignation, you 

 may have that privilege. 



Very truly yours, 



James R. Day, 



Chancellor 



Syracuse, N. Y., April 20, 1908. 

 Chancellob James R. Day, 

 Syracuse University. 

 Dear Sir: I beg to acknowledge receipt of your 

 favor of the 17th inst., informing me of the 

 unanimous action of the executive committee, and 

 giving me the privilege of submitting my resig- 

 nation. 



Before deciding whether to submit my resigna- 

 tion now or to ask you to prefer charges against 

 me and to let me be heard in my defense before 

 being dismissed by a vote of not less than twelve 

 trustees, according to section 4 of the university 

 charter, I ask you to be more specific in regard 

 to the following statement in your letter: 



" You have been a disappointment to the ad- 

 ministration from almost the beginning of your 

 oflieial relation to the institution. We can not 

 hope that you will be capable of any improvement 

 in the future." 



If I have been a disappointment to the admin- 

 istration (I suppose that means yourself person- 

 ally) I have not, as far as I know, been a dis- 

 appointment to the trustees, faculty, students or 

 alumni. I have not only done my duty as dean 

 and professor of mechanical engineering to the 

 best of my ability, but with all due modesty, I 

 think no one else could have done it any better 

 in my place. This question I am willing to leave 

 to the judgment of experts in engineering edu- 

 cation. 



If I leave here at the end of five years' hard 

 service it is only fair that my efi'orts in behalf 

 of the college should receive such commendation 

 from the board of trustees as I think they deserve, 

 and that it should be made clear that I leave here 

 not on account of any failure in my duty as dean 

 or professor nor for any lack of ability as teacher 

 or administrator, but only on account of the per- 

 sonal feelings of the chancellor. 



I therefore request that you appoint a com- 

 mittee of three trustees, not members of the ex- 

 ecutive committee, to investigate into all matters 

 relating to my administration of the oflices I have 

 held for the past five years, and report their con- 

 clusion to the executive committee. 

 Yours truly, 



William Kent, 

 Dean of College of Applied Science 



