3O0 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. XIX. No. 486 



SCIENCE: 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



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 rork. 



THE CHANGE AT CORNELL. 



The resignation of Dr. Ctiarles Kendall Adams, president 

 of Cornell University, dated May 5, the acceptance of that 

 resiarnation by the Trustees at a special meeting called for 

 that purpose May 18, and the immediate election of Dr. J. G. 

 Schurman, Dean of the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell, 

 to till the vacancy thus arising at the end of the current col- 

 lege year, are events of supreme importance to that institu- 

 tion, and, we are inclined to think, to the cause of education, 

 and especially of scientific and technical education, gener- 

 ally. President Adams states, as the reason for his with- 

 drawal, that differences of opinion in matters of essential im- 

 portance in the management of the institution divide the 

 authorities, and finding himself out of harmony with the 

 majority of the managing body — the local Executive Com- 

 mittee, presumably — he feels it his duty to turn the office 

 over to the Trustees. 



What are the details of these differences is not stated by 

 him, nor are they publicly known, and conjecture in so im- 

 portant a matter is only harmful ; it is sufficient that they 

 must be radical, to bring about such a change. Meantime 

 Dr. Adams has been at the head of that great University 

 seven years, and has seen the most extraordinary develop- 

 ment in the course of its always remarkable and striking his- 

 tory. It is to be sincerely hoped that the new administra- 

 tfon will be equally fortunate with that just closing. The 

 student-body has increased in these last seven years to be- 

 tween two and three times the number present the year be- 

 fore the accession of President Adams. New departments 

 have been created, new schools formed, and the whole system 

 of organization greatly changed, usually in the direction of 

 advancement. The Trustees, in accepting the resignation, as- 

 sert that the retiring officer has exhibited wisdom, know- 

 ledge, and admirable discretion in his choice of professors, 

 as well as in his general management of affairs, and tender 

 him a year's salary as a testimonial — a very practical one — 



of their indebtedness to him, and also request that he sit for 

 his portrait as an addition to the gallery representing the al- 

 ready long list of benefactors of the University. He has 

 certainly a most satisfactory period to review in his final re- 

 port. 



From correspondence in our columns, during the first 

 year of President Adams's administration, and from other 

 sources, we might have had reason to anticipate anything but 

 satisfactory encouragement of CornelFs leading objects. 

 Cornell, it will be remembered, is a "land-grant college" for 

 technical education and sientific work. But the results do not 

 at all encourage that idea. The scientific departments have 

 continued strong, and have grown fully as rapidly as the 

 classical and the literary; in fact, in some directions their 

 growth has been even more extraordinary than that of the 

 latter. The courses in arts and in civil engineering have 

 substantially the same number of students; in architecture 

 the growth has been continuous and rapid ; and Sibley College, 

 the departments of which are mainly devoted to instruction in 

 the main lines prescribed by the foundation and by the foun- 

 ders of the Unirersity as a school of mechanical engineering 

 and the mechanic arts, has gained, according to the figures 

 of its monthly journal, one thousand per cent. In physics, 

 and especially in the physics of engineering and of electric 

 light and power distribution, and in chemistry, especially in 

 chemistry applied in agriculture, the work performed in re- 

 search as well as in instruction has attracted general attention, 

 and has done much to place the University among theleading 

 institutions of its class. Its leading objects have been pro- 

 moted as remarkably as those presumably much nearer the 

 heart of the outgoing president. There is, however, consid- 

 erable discrimination against the technical courses at Cor- 

 nell; the charges for tuition being about fifty per cent high- 

 er than in the general courses, and their progress has been the 

 more remarkable for this fact. Whatever the reason for his 

 surrender of his charge, there is no question that President 

 Adams has the privilege of looking back upon a most envi- 

 able period of great opportunity well-availed of. 



Dr. Schurman, the new president, is a very young man to 

 carry such responsibilities — but 38 years of age; but he is re- 

 ported to have the strength, the energy, and the good-tem- 

 per of healthful youth, to be capable and even a genius in ad- 

 ministration ; to be in full sympathy with the work which 

 his acceptance of the position pledges him to carry out in ac- 

 cordance with the terms of the Law of Congress, the Char- 

 ter of the University, and the explicitly stated wishes of its 

 greatest benefactors; and to be liberal enough to give satis- 

 faction to the officers charged with the conduct of the princi- 

 pal departments of the University. He has the confidence 

 of the Trustees, as was evident from their unanimous agree- 

 ment in his selection; and it may probably be safely antici- 

 pated that Cornell will, under his administration, continue 

 to grow with a rapidity only limited by the magnitude and 

 permanence of her income. Like all great institutions of 

 her class, she always has larger demands than her purse can 

 meet, and her opportunities grow faster than her income. 

 New York State is an exception to the rule in this matter. 

 Nearly all the States, especially those west of New England, 

 make permanent and liberal provision for their land-grant 

 colleges; but New York has never, we understand, done any- 

 thing for her now flourishing but yet needy State University. 

 One of the opportunities of the Schurman administration 

 may perhaps be the establishment of closer relations with 

 the State, for which his charge is doing so much, and fi-om 

 which it is receiving so little. 



