190 
CLARKE. 
In 1846 Agassiz came to America, bringing with him the 
research method as a method of education. Himself a zoolo¬ 
gist, his influence as a teacher was evident in all directions, 
and chemistry shared in the new impulse. There were many 
pupils of Liebig and Wohler in the United States—men well 
imbued with the spirit of the new education—and to them 
the coming of Agassiz was a reinforcement and an inspira¬ 
tion. The old college curriculum was compelled to expand, 
and the true conception of a university began to be recog¬ 
nized on this side of the Atlantic. In 1848 the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science was organized, 
and science received a national standing which the local 
academies and societies could never have given it. The in¬ 
fluence of the Association upon chemistry will be considered 
later. 
In 1850 Josiah P. Cooke was elected professor of chemistry 
in Harvard College. He had received his bachelor’s degree 
only two years earlier, and during his student days no chem¬ 
istry had been taught to Harvard undergraduates. Practi¬ 
cally self-taught, and largely through the medium of experi¬ 
ments, he realized the value of the laboratory method of 
instruction, and in spite of conservative opposition he set to 
work to bring about its adoption. He was allowed at first 
the use of one basement room for his purposes, but was com¬ 
pelled to pay all or nearly all of the laboratory expenses out 
of his own pocket; for the college funds could not be wasted 
on strange innovations, and the recitation method still 
reigned supreme. Professor Cooke, however, understood how 
to be patient and persistent at the same time. Year by year 
his courses of study were extended, by slow degrees his re¬ 
sources increased, and in 1858 Boylston Hall, the present 
laboratory building, was completed. At first, part of the 
building only was assigned to chemistry, now all of it is de¬ 
voted to the teaching of that science. It is truly a monument 
to Professor Cooke, whose energy and persistence caused it 
to be erected, and to whom more than to any other one man 
the full recognition of the laboratory method in American 
