SCIENCE. 



273 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 

 Progress. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



Published at 



229 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 



P. O. Box 3838. 



SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1880. 



NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. 



We consider it due to those subscribers who have favored 

 us with their subscriptions, previous to the publication of 

 our club rates, that they should have the privileges of the 

 list. They can therefore send us subscriptions for any of 

 the publications named at the reduced double rates, less 

 $4, the subscription price of " Science." 



Since the publication of the club rates last week, we 

 have received rates from the proprietor of The American 

 Journal of Science and Arts, the terms of which are $6 a 

 year. The club rate with Science will be $8.50 per annum. 



Earnest advocates of a higher order of education 

 now regard with satisfaction the prospect of the estab- 

 lishment of a State University in Texas upon a sound, 

 financial basis. 



As early as 1839 public land amounting to fifty 

 leagues were dedicated to found a university for this 

 State, and when commissioners were appointed to 

 locate the city of Austin, forty acres were reserved, 

 and forever devoted as a site for the University of 

 Texas. 



For twenty years the matter remained in abeyance, 

 but in 1858 an attempt at organization was made, the 

 Legislature passing an act for the immediate estab- 

 lishment of the University, and one hundred thousand 

 dollars were appropriated from the State Treasury for 

 the purpose. The approach of the civil war led to a 

 second postponement, and a third attempt in 1866 

 was equally unsuccessful. 



The present prospects for the future of the Univer- 

 sity of Texas are very encouraging to those who desire 

 its early establishment and successful organization. 

 Professor Oscar H. Cooper, in an article in the Inter- 

 national Review, gives the following information on 

 the subject, which will be read with interest : 



He states that the constitution adopted in 1876 

 supersedes all previous legislation and is the organic 

 law of the State. Its provisions concerning the Uni- 

 versity are wise and generous. It directs the Legisla- 



ture to inaugurate the institution as soon as practica- 

 ble, secures to the funds all previous appropriations, 

 directs that only the interest on the funds shall be 

 used, and adds to already growing resources one mil- 

 lion acres of the public domain — a territory consider- 

 ably larger than Rhode Island. It prescribes the 

 object of the University to be " the promotion of liter- 

 ature and the arts and sciences," and incorporates as 

 a branch of the University, for instruction in agricul- 

 ture, the mechanic arts and sciences connected there- 

 with, the State Agricultural and Mechanical College, 

 already in 1871 under the federal appropriation for 

 such institutions. 



It requires that the location of the University shall 

 be determined by a vote of the people of the whole 

 State, and directs that a College or branch University 

 be established and maintained for the instruction of 

 the colored youths of the State. 



Thus the policy of past legislation has been sacredly 

 to guard and freely to augment the resources of the 

 University until they became ample for founding 

 an institution worthy of the name. About half of the 

 land donation to the University has been sold for 

 about $500,000, and the proceeds have been either 

 invested in five, six, or seven per cent. State bonds, or 

 held in ten per cent, land notes. 



The sum of $100,000, appropriated to the Univer- 

 sity in 1858 was borrowed by the State, and in 1866 

 was replaced by five per cent. State bonds. The in- 

 vested funds therefore amount to nearly $600,000, 

 and by the sale of lands are steadily increasing. The 

 accrued interest will, at the end of the present year, 

 amount to more than $200,000, and the annual inter- 

 est on the invested capital exceeds $40,000. The un- 

 sold lands are worth at present $1,500,000. The 

 endowment funds, buildings, grounds, etc., of the 

 department of Agriculture and the mechanic arts are 

 valued at $400,000. The University of Texas is 

 worth, therefore, exclusive of $200,000 accrued inter- 

 est, $2,500,000, and this superb endowment is enhanc- 

 ing in value with the growth of the State in wealth 

 and population. Few even of the most famous insti- 

 tutions of the world began their career on so generous 

 a foundation, and neither Harvard nor Yale was so 

 wealthy at the completion even of their first century. 



The people of Texas are said to be now showing a 

 keen interest in the question of education, and, no 

 longer contented with these magnificent provisions for 

 the future, demand the immediate execution of the 

 scheme, the Governor no doubt expressing the popu- 

 lar wish, when he stated "I am opposed to waiting 

 longer." 



The probability that the University of Texas will be 

 almost immediately organized has already called for 



