History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 46

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 46

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At this time Monis, a converted Jew, gave in- struction in Hebrew, and all students, except Fresh- men, were required to attend his recitations four times a week. One exercise was "the writing the Hebrew and Rabbinical," and the others were copying the grammar and reading, reciting it and reading, con- struing, parsing, translating, composing, reading without points. The foundation, by Thomas Hollis, of a chair of Divinity, added a professor to the small corps of teachers. The Hollis Professor had charge

of the instruction in theology, and was directed to begin each exercise with a short prayer. He gave both public and private lectures, and prepared stu- dents in Divinity for the ministry. In 1735 many of the students were permitted by the Faculty to take lessons in French of a certain Longloisserie, who had, however, no official connection with the College; this permission was revoked when charges of heresy were preferred against the Frenchman. The endow- ment by Hollis of a professorship of Mathematics, placed mathematical and scientific study on a surer basis, although Theology and the Classics were still esteemed the chief sources of learning. The philo- sophical apparatus, destroyed by the burning of Har- vard Hall in 1764, was sufficiently extensive for con- ducting the experiments and illustrating the laws of science as taught at that time. There were, among other things, two complete skeletons and anatomical cuts, a pair of globes of the largest size, machines for experiments in Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Pneumatics and Optics, microscopes, telescopes (oue of twenty- four feet), "a brass quadrant of two feet radius, car- rying a telescope of a greater length, which formerly belonged to the celebrated Dr. Halley." 1

In 1756 the Overseers, desirous of raising the stand- ard of elocution, suggested that the Corporation should take measures for that purpose. Accordingly, it was voted "that the usual declamations in the Chapel should be laid aside, and in their stead the President should select some ingenious dialogue, either from Erasmus's 'Colloquies,' or from some other polite Latin author, and that he should appoint as many students as there are persons in such dia- logue, each to personate a particular character and to translate his part into polite English, and prepare himself to deliver it in the Chapel in an oratorical manner." The Overseers themselves occasionally attended the performance of these dialogues, and sometimes "expressed their acceptance and approba- tion." An effort was likewise made at this time to encourage greater diligence in the study of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and to promote " disputations in English in the forensic manner," but the effort was not very successful.

In 1760 we have a recommendation which seems to be the origin of the regular examination system : it was voted "that twice in a year, in the Spring and Fall, each class should recite to their Tutors, in the presence of the President, Professors and Tutors, in the several books in which they are reciting to their re- spective Tutors, and that publicly in the College Hall or Chapel; and that the two senior classes do once every half year, in the same presence, but under the direction of the Mathematical Professor, give a speci- men of their progress in philosophical and mathe- matical learning." In 1761 the Overseers made sug-

1 A complete list of the apparatus destroyed may be found in Quincy's History, ii, 482-483.

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gestions with a view to the improvement of the stil- dents in Latin, recommending "that more classical authors should be introduced and made part of the exercises, and that Horace should be earlier entered upon." From these various recommendations the custom arose of holding public exhibitions before visiting committees of the Overseers; but the visitors soon found it irksome to listen to recitations and sophomoric eloquence, which, they said, although creditable, " did not afford sufficient scope for the dis- play of genius." In May, 1763, a report was made " that Horace is more in use than it has been, that Cæsar's 'Commentaries' has been recently intro- duced, and that the several classes translate English into Latin once every fortnight.' We learn from Nathaniel Ames's diary that, at this time, " Watts's Logick" was studied by the Freshmen, and that Homer and Euclid were begun early in the Sopho- more year; also, that at the forensic disputes such subjects as "The Soul is not Extended " and "The Future State is Revealed by the Light of Nature" were discussed.

In 1766 semi-annual exhibitions became a regular part of the College work. At the same time the sys- tem of teaching was re-organized. Theretofore each Tutor had taught "all the branches to the class as- signed to him throughout the whole collegiate course ; " now each Tutor had charge of a special de- partment, and taught that subject to the classes in turn : one Tutor had Greek ; another, Latin ; another, Logic, Metaphysics and Ethics; and the fourth, Nat- ural Philosophy, Geography, Astronomy and the ele- ments of Mathematics. On Friday and Saturday each class was instructed in Elocution, English Com- position, Rhetoric, "and other parts of the Belles- Lettres," by another Tutor. The Divinity Professor had charge of all the instruction in Divinity. All scholars attended " the Tutors on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays three times a day, and once a day on Fridays and Saturdays." Senior Sophisters ceased to attend recitations at the end of June; the lower classes worked until Commencement week.

This general scheme was preserved down to the present century. In 1790 annual examinations were formally established, " to animate the students in the pursuit of literary merit and fame, and to excite in their breasts a noble spirit of emulation." The ex- amination was oral, and if any student neglected or refused to attend, he was liable to a fine not ex- ceeding twenty shillings, or to be admonished or suspended. The students at first rebelled, and one of them was expelled " upon evidence of a little boy" that he threw a stone through the window of the I'hilosopher's room-where the examiners were in session-and struck the chair occupied by Governor Hancock.

Instruction in science during the third quarter of the eighteenth century was given by Professor John

Winthrop, a friend of Franklin, and one of the ablest scientific investigators of his time. He conceived a theory of earthquakes, observed the transits of Mer- cury (1740) and that of Venus (1761), explained the nature of comets, and experimented in many branches of what wasthen called " natural philosophy." When some of the orthodox had scruples against using lightning-rods, because, they said, thunder and light- ning were tokens of the Divine diapleasure, and that "it was a degree of impiety to endeavor to prevent them from doing their full execution," Professor Winthrop rejoined in an essay that " Divine Provi- dence did not govern the material world by im- mediate and extraordinary interposition of power, but by stated general laws;" wherefore, it is as much "our duty to secure ourselves against the effects of lightning, as from those of rain, snow or wind, by the means God has put into our hands." In 1783 the appointment of John Warren and Ben- Jamin Waterhouse to be respectively Professor of Anat- omy and Surgery and Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic extended the instruction of the College into a new field. In 1792 a Chair of Chemis- try and Materia Medica was added. But these three professorships were really the nucleus of the Medical School, and the courses given through them hardly belonged to the College proper.

Of. the modern languages French received the earliest attention. In 1735, as stated above, Long- loisserie had been granted permission to teach that language. In 1780 similar permission was accorded to Simon Poullin ; although he received no official appointment, " he was allowed the same privileges with Tutors as to the Library and Commons, and a chamber in the College," and his tuition fees were charged in the quarter by bills. Two years later Albert Gallatin was allowed to teach on the same terms, and in 1787 Joseph Nancrède was regularly appointed instructor. In 1816 Francis Sales taught both French and Spanish. In 1825 Charles Folsom was instructor in Italian, and Charles Follen instructor in German ; and the next year Portuguese appears on the list of studies.

In 1784 the attendance of Resident Graduates, Seniors and Juoiors, who were not preparing for the ministry, upon a part of the exercises of the Professor cf Divinity, was no longer required; but the two upper classes had to recite once a week from Dodd- ridge's "Lectures," and to attend the Professor's weekly lecture “ on some topic of positive or contro- versial divinity." At this time, also, Sallust and Livy were introduced into the Latin department, and in the Greek Xenophon's Anabasis was substituted for his Cyropædia. In 1787 Horace, Sallust, Cicero (De Oratore), Homer and Xenophon took the place of Vergil, Cicero's Orations, Cæsar and the Greek Testament, and the number of recitations was in- creased. The Classics formed the backbone of in- struction during the first three years : in addition,

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the Freshmen studied rhetoric, the art of speaking, and arithmetic ; the Sophomores had algebra, and other mathematical branches ; the Juniors had Livy, Doddridge's Lectures, and the Greek Testament ; the Seniors had logic, metaphysics, and Ethics. For the two lower classes Hebrew 1 was prescribed, for which French might be substituted. All the classes had instruction in declamation, chronology and history. Blair's Rhetoric was introduced as a text-book in 1788. In 1805 a professorship of Natural History was founded by subscription.

In 1803 the standard of admission to the Freshmen Class was raised. A candidate was now required to pass a satisfactory examination in Dalzel's Collectanea Græca Minora, the Greek Testament, Vergil, Sallust and Cicero's Select Orations ; he must have a thorough acquaintance with the Greek and Latin grammars, including prosody ; he must be able to translate these languages correctly, and be proficient in arithmetic to the rule of three, and in geography.

In 1820 a chair of Mineralogy and Geology was established. By this time the foundations of a real University had been laid; the Medical, Law and Divinity departments were growing up, and in the College itself several of the branches had so increased in importance that more than one teacher was needed to direct them. The erection of new buildings, the creation of new professorships, and the increase in the number of students, all indicated expansion, and called for corresponding improvements in methods. Doubtless, too, the influence of foreign methods in University education began to appear at Harvard, to which Edward Everett and George Ticknor, as teachers, returned after pursuing a course of higher study in Europe.

In May, 1824, a committee appointed by the Over- seers to report upon the state and needs of the Col- lege, presented, through its chairman, Joseph Story, a report recommending "that the College studies shall be divided into two classes ; the first embracing all such studies as shall be indispensable to obtain a degree; the second, such in respect to which the students may, to a limited extent, exercise a choice which they will pursue." It was further recom- inended that students who were not candidates for a degree be admitted to pursue particular studies to qualify them for scientific and mechanical employ- ments and the active business of life. The first suggestion was the germ of the Elective System ; the second suggestion, only recently given a fair trial, opened the facilities of Harvard to special and grad- uate students. Both were strongly opposed by the Faculty. It is a noteworthy fact that the habitual atti- tude of the leading colleges in England and America has been stubbornly conservative. The great pioneers in literature, philosophy and morals were not college professors : this is perhaps not surprising, because the

professorial mind is acquisitive and critical rather than creative and original. The teacher, whose work is largely a work of repetition and routine, comes to rely upon methods ; whereas, it is a sign of originality to scorn methods. In the Continental Universities of the Middle Age the foremost men of the time were often to be found in the corps of lecturers; as at Paris, to cite a single instance, during the thirteenth century. And in our own century, the Universities in France, Germany and Italy have had among their lecturers men who represented the most progressive thought in each of these countries. But in England and America, with occasional exceptions, this was rarely the case. Conservatism, one of the strongest traits of the Anglo-Saxon race, has had no stronger fortresses than the American and English seats of learning. So our professors of one generation have been expounding the views of thinkers whom the professors of the preceding generation frowned upon.

So radical a change, therefore, as the proposed election by students of the courses which they would study filled the conservative Faculty of Harvard with alarm. The theory of education which then obtained regarded all youths between the ages of fifteen and twenty as having the same tastes and the same capacities; each to be dosed with learning similar in kind and quantity to that prescribed to his fellows. The Bachelor's degree was the proof that the Faculty had succeeded, after a four years' trial, in pouring a certain number of similar facts into the brains of all those who received it. The Elective System, on the other hand, recognized that each youth differed from every other, and that the subject best fitted to develop the mental powers of one might have no such effect on another. Admitting this, it proposed, so far as possible, to find out the peculiar capacities of each student, and to provide the instruction most congenial to them.

In spite of the opposition of the Faculty, the Over- seers and Corporation adopted the recommendations, but these were carried out very imperfectly. In 1824 all studies were required, except that Juniors might " choose a substitute for thirty-eight lessons in Hebrew, and the Seniors had a choice between Chemistry and Fluxions." French and Spanish being extras, attend- ance on them was voluntary. By the revised Statutes, in 1826, "a student could attend in modern languages after the first third of the Freshman year in place of cer- tain specified courses in Greek, Latin, topography, He- brew, and natural science, and a Senior might also sub- stitute natural philosophy for a part of intellectual philosophy." In practice, the one department in which the Elective System was fairly tried was in the French and Spanish Languages and Literature, then under the charge of Professor George Ticknor. The force of teachers was too small to enable the Col- lege to offer many elective courses, even had the prevailing sentiment been in favor of so doing; but in the department of Modern Languages there were

1 A Ilebrew Commencomont part was delivered as late as 1817.

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five instructors-quite enough for the demands made upon them. Above all, Professor Ticknor was an earnest advocate of the reform, and bent his energy to show its superiority over the traditional methods. In 1833 he reported: "The system of volunteer study was begun in this department in 1826 with thir- teen students. The number of students embracing it has constantly increased every year; and now exceeds the number of regular students. The teach- ers are particularly gratified with the proficiency of their volunteer students." The number of volun- teer students in modern languages in 1833 was 103 out of 210 who took these courses. In his report for 1830 -31, President Quincy announced that the system had been introduced, under very favorable auspices, by Dr. Beck in the Latin, and by Mr. Felton in the Greek departments. In 1834 regulations were adopted "which established a minimum in mathematics, Greek, Latiu, modern languages, theology, moral and intellectual philosophy, logic and rhetoric, level to the capacity of faithful students in the lowest third of a class, and provided that students who had attained the minimum in any branch might elect the studies which they would pursue in place thereof, being form- ed into sections of not less than six members, without regard to classes, and having additional instruction provided for them. The minimum covers about all the instruction regularly provided by the College in the departments named."

Nevertheless, the innovation made but little pro- gress except in Professor Ticknor's department. "I have succeeded entirely," he wrote in 1835, " but I cau get these changes carried no further. As long as I hoped to advance them, I continued attached to the Collega; when I gave up all hope I determined to re- sign. ... If, therefore, the department of Modern Languages is right, the rest of the College is wrong." Professor Longfellow, who succeeded Mr. Ticknor, was fortunately imbued with his ideas, and continued his methods. In 1838 Professor Benjamin Peirce pro- posed that mathematics should be dropped at the end of the Freshman year, any student who so dropped them to be allowed to substitute natural history, civil history, chemistry, geography, Greek or Latin, in addition to the prescribed course ; but the College lacked the means to provide instruction in several of those branches. In 1839, upon the recommendation of Professors Beck and Felton, the Corporation ordered " that those students who continue the study of Greek or Latin, shall choose as a substitute one or more of the following branches: natural history, civil history, chemistry, geology, geography and the use of the globes, popular astronomy, modern lan- guages, modern oriental -literature, or studies in either Greek or Latin which may not have been dis- continued in addition to the prescribed course in such branch. The times and orders of these studies will depend on the convenience of the instructor and the decision of the Faculty, and each student will be re-

quired to engage in such a number of studies as shall in the judgment of the Faculty be sufficient reason- ably to occupy his whole time. ' When this plan was submitted to the Overseers, Theophilus Parsons wisely declared that upon their decision hung the question " whether Harvard College shall or shall not become a University. In no institution intended to answer the purposes of a University, and to be called by that name, is it attempted to carry all the scholars to the same degree of advancement in all the departments of study. The reason of this is, obviously, that any such attempt must greatly retard the advancement of the whole." Already Professors Beck and Felton in the Classical branches, and Professor Peirce in the mathematical had testified to the complete success of the experiment. In 1840-41 French was a required study,-a noteworthy fact, as President Eliot re- marks, " for changes in the selection of studies held to be essential, and therefore required of all, are quite as important as additions to the list of studies which it is agreed should be optional." 1

The following scheme, adopted in the year 1841, shows concisely the extent to which the Elective Sys- tem had advanced :

Freshman Year.

Prescribed : Mathematics, Greek, Latin, History. Elective : None.

Prescribed : English Grammar and composition, rhetoric and declamation, ono modern language, history.

Sophomore Year.

Elective : Mathematics, Greek, Latin, natural history, his- tory, chemistry, geology, geography, the nss of the globes, and any modern language ; so far as the means of such instruction are within the resources of the University.

Junior Year.

Prescribed : English composition, one modern language logic, declamation, physics, psychology, ethics, foren- sice, history.

Elective : Same as in Sophomore Year, and a more extend- ed course in psychology and ethics.

Prescribed : Rhetoric, English composition, political econ- omy, constitutional law, forensics, theology, history, declamation.

Senior Year.

Elective : Political ethics, a more extended course in phys- ics, and any of the elective studies above enumerated.

Elective studies were thus generally countenanced, but they were not yet deemed equivalent, so far as the scale of marks showed, to the prescribed courses ; for the Faculty decreed that "in forming the scale of rank at the end of a term, there shall be deducted from the aggregate marks given for an elected study one-half of the maximum marks for each exercise in such elected study ; so that a student by only ob- taining one-half of the maximum marks adds nothing to his aggregate, and by obtaining less than half is subject to a proportionate reduction."

Professors Beck, Felton, Peirce and Longfellow continued to be the advocates of this broad system of instruction, and they reported from year to year the advances made in their respective departments ; but

1 An exhaustive account of the Elective System at Harvard will be found in President Eliot's Report for 1881-85.

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the opposition was still strong, either from the con- viction of some of the Faculty that the system was bad in itself, or from the inability of the College to provide a sufficient number of courses to make the system equally serviceable in all directions. In 1847 it was no longer in vogue in philosophy ; two years earlier the Faculty prohibited any student, unless for especial reasons, to study more than one modern lan- guage at a time. Mr. Longfellow protested against this exclusiveness, but, although he appealed to the Corporation, the rule was maintained. In 1846 "chemistry was a required study in the Freshman year instead of an elective study from the beginning of the Sophomore year; no modern language was required in either the Sophomore or the Junior year; the elective course in geology was confined to the Senior year, instead of being accessible from the be- ginning of the Sophomore year; no elective course in geography was provided ; Story's Constitution was a required study for Juniors instead of Seniors; psy- chology and ethics were elective instead of required for Juniors ; and political ethics were required instead of elective for Seniors." "If the number of elective studies had been large," says President Eliot, in criti- cising these regulations, "the scheme would have been a very liberal one, for election began early and the number of studies prescribed in the last three years was not large. The number of elective studies was, however, so small as practically to confine the choice of the students within narrow limits." The Faculty then consisted of only eleven members, and there were but six instructors in addition ; the stu- dents theu (1846) numbered 279. President Everett requested the opinions of the Faculty as to the ad- visability of continuing the system of elective studies. The opinions were evenly divided, but those professors who had given it the best trial were in favor of it. A new scheme was adopted (Dec. 29, 1846), which, with many modifications, lasted twenty years. "It allowed every Senior to select three from the follow- ing studies, namely, Greek, Latin, Mathematics, Ger- man, Spanish, and Italian, and every Junior to select three from the same studies, Italian excepted. All other studies were prescribed; but among the pre- scribed studies were natural history for Freshmen and Sophomores, and French and Psychology for Sopho- mores." Thus every Senior and Junior who did not select mathematics had to study three languages during the last two years, as well as during the Soph- omore year. The number of exercises was also in- creased; Freshmen had sixteen and Seniors twenty- three per week. In 1849 this excess was relieved by requiring only two instead of three elective studies from Seniors and Juniors.

President Sparks was hostile to the elective system, and soon introduced changes which narrowed its scope. No Junior or Senior might take more than one elective; if he took more than one, it was re- garded as an "extra," and did not count. Professor

Peirce vigorously opposed this retrograde step, and he was seconded by Professors Beck and Longfellow. "The voluntary system, as it has been called," wrote President Sparks iu his last Report (1851-52), "is still retained to a certain extent, rather from necessity than preference. The number and variety of the studies for which the University has provided instruc- tion are so large that it is impossible for any student, within the period of four years, to give such a degree of attention to them as will enable him to acquire more than a limited and superficial knowledge from which little profit can be derived." "The last sen- tence is," to quote President Eliot, "an unanswerable argument for an elective system in a University." In 1856-57 a further curtailment was made; French was again optional; Juniors were required to take two out of the three studies, Latin, Greek and Mathemat- ics, and a half-year's course in molecular physics was required of them. In 1858 chemistry was made elect- ive for Juniors ; in 1862 patristic and modern Greek was added to the free list. German, Spanish and ele- mentary Italian were also included among the Senior and Junior electives, but as the highest mark attain- able in any of them was only six, instead of eight- the maximum in required studies-"students who had any regard for College rank were debarred from pur- suing these undervalued elective studies. "

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 46

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034