November 19, 1886.J 



sciujsrcu. 



451 



Cambridge was the mother of the New England 

 university, w^hile from Emmanuel came many of 

 the most illustrious of the founders of Massachu- 

 setts. College presidents, too, were numerous ; 

 among the rest, Dwight of Yale, Gilman of Johns 

 Hopkins, Angell of Ami Arbor, McCosh of Prince- 

 ton, Adams of Cornell, and the youthful head of 

 old Bowdoin, WUliam De Witt Hyde, of the Har- 

 vard class of 1879. The degree of doctor of laws 

 was conferred on most of those who had not 

 already received it, and also on Leidy of Pennsyl- 

 vania, Charles Deane of Cambridge, and Gilder- 

 sleeve of Baltimore. 



Mr. Lowell's oration contained that happy mix- 

 ture of wit and scholarly wisdom so essential to an 

 interesting address. As an example of this, was 

 the remark that the college buildings, unlike those 

 of the old country, never looked old, and never 

 would. "Time refuses to console them," he said. 

 *' They all look as though they meant business, and 

 nothing more. And it is precisely because this 

 ■college meant business, — business of the gravest 

 import, — and did that business as thoroughly as 

 it might with no means that were not niggardly, 

 except an abundant purpose to do its best, — it is 

 precisely for this that we are gathered to-day." 

 Further on, after describing the Puritan society of 

 the early time, Mr. Lowell said, 'It was a com- 

 munity without charm, or with a homely charm 

 at best, and the life it led was visited by no muse, 

 not even in dream ; but it was the stuff out of 

 which fortunate ancestors are made, and twenty- 

 five years ago their sons showed in no diminished 

 measure the qualities of the breed." But the por- 

 tion that aroused the most enthusiasm was at the 

 close, when he referred to the President of our 

 country. "We have no politics here," he said, 

 ^'but the sons of Harvard all belong to the party 

 which admires courage, strength of purpose, and 

 fidelity to duty. . . . He has left the helm of 

 state to be with us here ; and so long as it is in- 

 trusted to his hands, we are sure, that, should the 

 storm come, he will say with Seneca's pilot, ' O 

 Neptune, you may save me if you will, you may 

 sink me if you will ; but, whatever happens, I 

 shall keep my rudder true.' " Coming after this 

 oration. Dr. Holmes's poem proved disappointing 

 to many. 



In the afternoon the alumni dined in the great 

 hall, and, after satisfying the inner man as well 

 as they could, they listened to more speeches. 

 Especially deserving of rememljrance was that of 

 President Angell of the University of Michigan. 

 In brief he declared that all American colleges 

 were indebted to Harvard for "her brave experi- 

 mentations in college and university problems. . . . 

 Especially under the present vigorous administra- 



tion, there have been such exhaustive study and 

 such courageous experimenting, that the excite- 

 ment and stir have reached the remotest country 

 college and the most secluded village academy. . . . 

 This has made an epoch. Never before did the 

 college and the people get so near together. Those 

 who do not accept the doctrines in favor here, 

 and those who do, are alike indebted to you, for 

 we have all been stirred." 



While the men were thus passing their time, 

 Mrs. Eliot was introducing Mrs. Cleveland to the 

 ladies of Cambridge. In the evening a public 

 reception was held in the Hemenway gymnasium, 

 and the festival so happily conceived and so admir- 

 ably conducted was brought to a close. Indeed, 

 perhaps not the least fruitful part of the whole 

 celebration were the social relations which were 

 begun or continued in the hospitable parlors of 

 the college town. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The semi-annual meeting of the trustees of 

 Princeton college last week was the occasion for 

 the presentation of a report on the state of the 

 college by President McCosh. This year the col- 

 lege has more students than any previous year in 

 its history. Eighty-nine graduates are attending 

 classes, fifty of whom follow Dr. McCosh's lectures 

 on contemporary philosophy. The trustees adopted 

 a scheme similar to that in operation at Amherst 

 and Harvard, by which the students choose a 

 standing committee to represent them in confer- 

 ences with the faculty. This plan goes into effect 

 at once. The plans of President McCosh looking 

 to the transformation of the college into a 

 thoroughly equipped university were hstened to 

 with approval, and referred to a special committee 

 consisting of the standing committee on curricu- 

 lum and two other members of the board of trus- 

 tees. 



— The following is a complete list of the papers 

 entered to be read before the National sciences 

 academy at the recent session in Boston, Nov. 9- 

 11 : S. P. Langley, The solar-lunar spectrum ; T. 

 Sterry Hunt, A basis of chemistry ; Alpheus 

 Hyatt, Primitive forms of Cephalopoda : Alpheus 

 Hyatt, A case of evolution in the migration of 

 forms ; Alpheus Hyatt. Lituites of the limestones 

 of Phillipsburg, Canada; F. W. Putnam, Arche- 

 ological explorations in the Little Miami valley, 

 Ohio, conducted byF. W. Putnam and C. L. Metz ; 

 E. C. Pickering, Draper memorial photographs ; 

 E. D. Cope, On lemurine reversion in human den- 

 tition ; E. D. Cope, On the columella auris of the 

 tailed Batrachia ; Edw'd S. Morse, Change in Mya 

 since the pliocene ; A. S. Packard, The cave 



