274 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 87. 



discipline and a correct curriculum, which only- 

 ceased when he resigned the Presidency of 

 Columbia in 1888. He was specially occupied 

 with the teaching of chemistry, natural phil- 

 osophy, or mathematics, but made time for 

 some outside scientific work, as, for example, 

 the commission to establish the boundary be- 

 tween Alabama and Florida. His chief ener- 

 gies, however, were devoted to the old prob- 

 lems of discipline and curriculum and many let- 

 ters, editorials and reports attest his activity as 

 well as his great power in this field of discus- 

 sion. Incidentally he frequently took occa- 

 sion to inveigh against secession, and in vain 

 endeavored to cultivate devotion to the Union, 

 especially in his famous Tuskaloosa oration 

 July 4, 1851. 



In 1846 he was married to Margaret McMur- 

 ray, a young woman of English parentage, who 

 was ever to him a loving and devoted helpmate, 

 and to her aflfectionate zeal is chiefly due this 

 collection of memories. After his death, April 

 27, 1889, she made arrangements to publish his 

 life, but when only two chapters had been writ- 

 ten she suddenly died, leaving the editor unin- 

 structed in details and unjjrovided with many 

 important letters. 



In 1854 Barnard was called to the chair of 

 mathematics and natural philosophy in the 

 University of Mississippi, at Oxford. During 

 his first year he also gave full courses in chem- 

 istry, astronomy and civil engineering. He 

 was soon after elected Chancellor (President) of 

 the University, in which office he labored still 

 more zealously and effectively for good disci- 

 pline and for the true university. This period 

 is especially noteworthy as witnessing his 

 change of views with reference to the relative 

 importance of ' mental discipline ' studies like 

 the classics and of the ' useful ' studies like 

 science. 



While chancellor he was on one occasion 

 charged with ' unsoundness ' on the slave ques- 

 tion, a charge of which he was acquitted by 

 unanimous vote of the trustees. Even though 

 we must give full weight to the trying condi- 

 tions amidst which he was placed, still we must 

 admit that in this instance he lacked that 

 supreme element of courage which would have 

 boldly proclaimed the abhorrence of that institu- 



tion which his earlier and later utterances show 

 that he must have felt. Instead of this he al- 

 lowed appearances to exculpate him, without 

 any open declaration that would contravene his 

 secret convictions. This weakness was empha- 

 sized by the publication, after his return to 

 Washington, of a most rabid attack upon slavery 

 in his ' Letter of a Eefugee. ' 



At the final outbreak of the war he resigned 

 the Chancellorship and left Oxford in 1862, 

 eventually reaching Washington, where he was 

 occupied with several pieces of scientific work 

 until his appointment, in 1864, as President of 

 Columbia College, in the City of New York. 



The twenty-four years of his Presidency of 

 Columbia were years of hard work, with many 

 discouragements, but much success, and closing 

 with the college in a position from which it 

 could and did suddenly rise to the rank of a 

 University of the first class. During this time 

 he labored for the true university and argued 

 as forcibly for an optional course, and for the 

 advantages of the exact sciences, as he had 

 previously insisted upon an inflexible devotion 

 to the classics at Tuskaloosa. He seems actu- 

 ally to have changed his opinions upon this 

 subject, but was not willing to admit it, striv- 

 ing to ascribe the needed change of course en- 

 tirely to changed conditions. Indeed his love 

 of science is well proved by his generous be- 

 quest to Columbia of a library fund of $50,000, 

 from the income of which the Barnard medal 

 ($200) is given every five years, and a $10,000 

 science fellowship fund. 



Latterly, he urged the admission of women 

 to the privileges of the college and university, 

 and Barnard College is at once the result and 

 the reward of his activity in this field. 



Although a little prolix in places, and the 

 introduction of quotations sometimes results in 

 repetition, still these memoirs may be read 

 with pleasure and profit by all who are inter- 

 ested in the progress of this country during the 

 last three-quarters of a century. A brief but 

 interesting history of Columbia College is in- 

 troduced, taken largely from Dean Van Am- 

 ringe's more elaborate sketch. 



Barnard appears to have been a man of con- 

 siderable power, rather dogmatic and some- 

 what dictatorial, but usually supported by good 



