COMMEMORATION ADDRESSES = 405 
ditions offered us by Harvard College brought us into 
bitter conflict with those who wished us to insist on a 
more complete union with the College than most of 
us thought to be either necessary or expedient. It was 
that same strong personality of Mrs. Agassiz which 
then saved us from defeat and gained us a victory 
even greater than we hoped for. And the result has 
amply proved the wisdom of the action then taken. 
I think it would be hard to find any one connected 
with the teaching of Radcliffe who now thinks that 
we should have gained anything if our elementary in- 
struction had been merged with that of the under- 
graduates of Harvard in the College classes. On the 
other hand, we felt that the admission of our grad- 
uate students and other advanced scholars to many 
of the most important graduate courses in the Uni- 
versity was the greatest privilege which could be 
given us; and Mrs. Agassiz appreciated at once that 
this open door would ultimately admit us to all that 
we could reasonably ask. The first year’s trial (in 
1894-1895) fully confirmed her judgment, when Rad- 
cliffe was able to offer 63 graduate courses of high 
rank, of which 533 were given in Harvard Univer- 
sity, where our students were admitted to the same 
classes with the men. This early announcement of 
graduate instruction in the University classes gave 
Radcliffe College a distinction of which no other col- 
lege for women in this country could boast, and it 
gave most encouraging promise of future facilities 
for even the most advanced university study. 
The words with which Mrs. Agassiz closed her 
