19-i 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 502. 



future. A wide avenue was laid out from 

 the head of State Street to the crest of 

 University Hill. Upon one side of the 

 avenue, somewhat down the slope, was 

 placed North Hall, it being planned to 

 build a South Hall at the corresponding 

 place upon the other side, and to locate 

 the main building of the future university 

 upon the crest of the hill. The dreams of 

 the men of this time went even further 

 than this, their plans providing for four 

 dormitories. Later structures, and all suc- 

 ceeding plans, have left free the broad 

 avenue above State Street, and the three 

 buildings— North, South and University 

 Halls— stand at the places assigned them 

 by the men who, in their minds, created 

 these structures before the foundation of 

 any was laid. 



At the end of the college year of a half 

 century ago two students were graduated, 

 Charles T. Wakeley and Levi Booth. We 

 hoped the latter would sit upon the plat- 

 form to-day as a guest of the university, 

 but in the midst of his preparations for the 

 long journey from Denver he was stricken 

 with a serious disease. We deeply sympa- 

 thize with him in his misfortune and hope 

 for his speedy recovery. Upright and in- 

 fluential in the community in which he 

 lives, a leader in his chosen vocation, we 

 recognize him as a type of the thousands 

 who since 1854 have been granted the de- 

 gree of this university. 



The morning is too far advanced to per- 

 mit a narrative of the development of the 

 University of Wisconsin from the time it 

 bestowed its first blessing upon Charles 

 T. Wakeley and Levi Booth. Many of us 

 have read of, and some of those here knew 

 of the struggle first for existence and, later, 

 for advancement, during the twenty years 

 from 1854 to 1874. 



At the beginning of this period Chan- 

 cellor Lathrop was still president; then 

 followed the two years' incumbency of 



Chancellor Barnard; the headship of Pro- 

 fessor Sterling for six years ; the presidency 

 of Paul Chadbourne for four years; and 

 the four years' term of President Twombly. 

 During these years great progress was 

 made, with exceeding slowness and diffi- 

 culty at first, haltingly always, but still 

 progress. South Hall and University 

 Hall, planned by the adventurous thoughts 

 of the leaders of the early days, 

 were built. Slowly recognizing that in a 

 state university there must be no distinc- 

 tion between the sexes, the authorities of 

 the university constructed Chadbourne 

 Hall and gradually admitted women to all 

 the privileges of the university. Substan- 

 tially the same relations which now obtain 

 between the high schools and the university 

 were established, the certificates of high 

 schools being accepted by the university, 

 thus linking together in one unbroken 

 chain the various branches of state educa- 

 tion. The departments of law, agriculture 

 and engineering were started. Finally, in 

 1872, the state, confessing that it had 

 frittered away the university land-grants 

 in order to attract settlers to Wisconsin, 

 recognized its obligation, and gave to the 

 university financial support to the ex- 

 tent of $10,000 per annum. This sum was 

 small, but it was of profound signifi- 

 cance as marking a fundamental obliga- 

 tion of the state, the ignoring of which 

 would have delayed for many years the 

 growth of the university, if it would 

 not have indefinitely condemned the in- 

 stitution to obscurity. At the end of 

 this period of twenty years the faculty 

 consisted of 29 members; the students, ex- 

 clusive of the preparatory class, numbered 



3io. 



While the dawn of prosperity may b& 

 said to have appeared between 1870 and 

 1874, this latter year marked a new epoch 

 in the university, for then came John Bas- 

 com, of Williamstown, Mass., as our presi- 



