USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Sketches of Boston, past and present, and of some places in its vicinity > Part 25
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THE BOARD OF OVERSEERS derives its existence from the Act of the General Court of September 8, 16-12, as amended by the Legislature, in March, 1810, and February, 1814. It consists of the Governor, Lieutenant- Governor, Executive Council, and Senate of the Commonwealth, of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and of the President of the Uni- versity, for the time being, and of fifteen clergymen and fifteen laymen,
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chosen by the whole body, as vacancies occur, for life, or until they resign their office. His Excellency the Governor, or, in his absence, the Lieu- tenant-Governor, or the oldest executive or legislative member of the Board, presides at all meetings of the Overseers. It is made the duty of the President to attend the meetings of the Board of Overseers, to report those proceedings of the Corporation which require their concurrence, and annually to make a report to the Overseers, at their legislative session, of the general condition of the University ; at which time it is also the duty of the Treasurer to present a general statement of the receipts and expen- ditures of the Institution.
Each of the five Departments of the University, - the Collegiate De- partment, and the Medical, Law, Theological, and Scientific Schools, -is under the direction of its appropriate FACULTY, of which the President is er.officio the head. The senior Professor of the respective Professional and Scientific Schools acts as head of the Faculty of the same, and pre- sides at its meetings and on its public occasions, unless the President is present and presides. A Dean may also be appointed by the Faculty of each Professional School, if deemed expedient by the Corporation. The funds which have been given for the support of these several Schools have been placed in the hands of the Corporation, who act as trustees for the donors, to carry their purposes into effect.
All the officers of instruction and government in the University are chosen by the Corporation, with the concurrence of the Overseers, and are subject to removal for inadequate performance or neglect of duty, or mis- conduct. The PRESIDENT is the executive and official head of the Uni- versity, and it is his duty to preside on all its public occasions, and to exercise a general supervision over its concerns ; to see that the course of instruction and discipline is maintained ; and to give all orders necessary to that end, and not inconsistent with the laws.
The ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT is on the third Wednesday in July, on which occasion a public literary exhibition takes place, in the Meeting- house of the First Parish, the various customary and honorary Degrees are conferred, and the ceremonies of the day conclude with the Public Dinner of the Alumni and guests of the University, in Harvard Hall. The regu- lar degrees conferred at this time are those of Bachelor and Master of Arts, for students, in good standing, of the Collegiate Department ; and Bachelor of Laws, Doctor in Medicine, and Bachelor in Science, for such student in the Law, Medical, and Scientific Schools, respectively, as have fulfilled the conditions required by the statutes of those Schools. Stu- dents in the Divinity School receive an appropriate certificate upon the completion of their course of study.
With these preliminary remarks, we will now proceed to give a succinct view of the history, operations, and present condition of the Institution, in its two great branches, the Collegiate Department or College proper,
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and the Professional and Scientific Schools. The former of these consti. tutes, not merely the historical foundation, but the substantial basis of the Institution, as a seat of liberal education ; while the latter have grown into an importance which forcibly illustrates the foresight of our fathers, who, in the Constitution of the Commonwealth, bestowed upon it the name of "THE UNIVERSITY AT CAMBRIDGE," and declared it to be the duty of legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods, to cherish its interests.
HARVARD COLLEGE.
FACULTY. JARED SPARKS, LL. D., President.
James Walker, D. D. ; Henry W. Longfellow, A. M. ; Cornelius C. Fel- ton, LL. D., Regent ; Benjamin Pierce, LL. D .; Joseph Lovering, A. M .; Evangelinus A. Sophocles, A. M. ; Francis J. Child, A. M. ; George M. Lane, A. M. : John M. Marsters, A. B .; Thomas Chase, A. B., Regis- trar ; Josiah P. Cook, A. B.
The foundation of Harvard College was laid by the General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, in September, 1636; when " it agreed to give £ 400 towards a School or College ; the next Court to appoint where and what building." In the following year, 1637, the College was ordered to be erected at Newtown, and twelve of the most eminent men of the Colony were appointed " to take order therefor." In 1638, the regular course of Academic studies seems to have commenced, and degrees were conferred, four years afterwards, upon nine young men, most of whom sub- sequently attained respectability and eminence both in this country and in Europe. In March, 1638-39, it was ordered that the institution should be called HARVARD COLLEGE, in honor of its first and great ben- efactor, the Rev. John Harvard, of Charlestown, who bequeathed one half of his whole property, and his entire library, amounting to £ 779.17.2 in money, and more than three hundred volumes, for its benefit.
In August, 1610, "at a meeting of the magistrates and elders at Boston, the Rev. Henry Dunster was by them invited to accept the place of President of the College," which had hitherto been under the supervision of one Nathaniel Eaton, with the title of Master or Professor, "and to him was committed the care and trust of finishing the College buildings and his own lodgings, and the custody of the College stock and such dona- tions as might be added to the increase thereof."
In September, 1612, an act was passed by the General Court, establishing the Board of Overseers. It consisted of the Governor, Deputy-Governor, and Magistrates of the Colony, with the Teaching Elders of the six next adjoining towns (Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester ); who, with the Governor, were intrusted with the sole care and management of the College. This body being found too large to
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have the immediate direction of the institution, on the 31st of May, 1650, it was made a Corporation, and received a Charter under the Colony Seal, which subsists to this day.
" The first two Presidents of the College were educated in England ; but from 1672 to the present time, our Alma Mater has been under the charge of men who were her own Alumni, who received all their instruction front her, and who devoted themselves to repay the debt by laboring, in every way, to promote her prosperity."
The following is a list of the Presidents of the College and University, from its establishment until the present time : -
Henry Dunster, 1640 - 1651; Charles Chauncy, 1654- 1671-2; Leonard Hoar, 1672 - 1674-5; Urian Oakes, 1675- 1681 ; John Rogers, 1682 - 1684 ; Increase Mather, 1685 - 1701 ; Samuel Willard, Vice- President, 1701 - 1707; John Leverett, 1707 - 8- 1724; Benjamin Wadsworth, 1725 - 1736-7; Ed- ward Holyoke, 1737 - 1769 ; Samuel Locke, 1770- 1773 ; Samuel Langdon, 1774 - 1780; Joseph Willard, 1781 - 1804; Samuel Webber, 1806-1810; John Thornton Kirkland, 1810- 1823; Josiah Quincy, 1829 - 1845; Ed- ward Everett, 1846-1819; Jared Sparks, 1819.
" Young men are admitted, when qualified by a prescribed amount of lit- erary attainments, into the Academical [or Collegiate] Department, at about the average age of sixteen ; and they pursue the usual course of a four years' College education, under the immediate instruction of nine Profes. sors, four Tutors, and three special Instructors. During the first two years all the studies are prescribed, and a pretty thorough acquaintance is ob- tained with Greek, Latin, and Mathematics; and the study of History, Rhetoric, Chemistry, Natural History, and, Modern Languages is begun.
" In the last two years of College life, the pursuit of the higher branches of Mathematics, and the attainment of critical skill in the Ancient Lan- guages, together with further acquaintance with the Modern Languages, are made elective studies; and the others which have been enumerated are continued, with the addition of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy, Physics, and Political Science, in order to complete what is regarded as necessary for the foundation of those acquirements, and those habits of mind, which are indispensable to all who desire to be considered as culti- vated or well-educated men, in the present age of the world.
"Four of the College buildings are occupied by the Undergraduates as lodgings, and afford accommodation for about half of their number, the rooms being assigned to the students, from time to time, by the Faculty. Four other buildings are used for public purposes. Harvard Hall contains a lecture-room, the cabinet of minerals and shells, with a few fossils, and a large hall for Commencement dinners and other occasions on which the Alunmi assemble. This hall is adorned with the portraits of many of the past officers and benefactors of the Institution. Holden Chapel is convert- ed into lecture-rooms, used at present for the lectures on Anatomy and
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Chemistry. University Hall contains the Chapel and several recitation and lecture-rooms. Gore Hall contains the library.
"The funds which have been given for the support of the Academical [or Collegiate] Department, which is the earliest of the Schools here es- tablished, the original and true HARVARD COLLEGE, are the following : -
Funds given by various persons towards the payment of the salaries of Professors, and maintaining the Botanic Garden,
$ 280,286.81
Funds appropriated to the Library, 10,960.99 Funds for Prizes, 7,930.86
Funds for Exhibitions, or aid to indigent students, . The stock account, or general fund derived from unre-
33,993.77
stricted donations, and from occasional balances. The ac- tual value of this fund at the present time is 191,920.60
Total,
. $ 525,093.03
" The income of this sum, at five per cent. per annum, which is as much as can be obtained, on an average of years, is $ 26,25-1.65, whereas the annual expenses of the College now exceed $ 40,000. It will be ob- served that more than $ 330,000 are appropriated, by the donors, to salaries of Professors, the Library, Prizes, and Exhibitions ; while, beside these objects, there are salaries to be provided for many other necessary officers, and funds for repairs, and unavoidable expenses of various descriptions ; so that it can be no matter of wonder to any one who considers the facts, that an annual deficiency of about $ 20,000 is to be made up by a tax on the students. This is about $ 75 or $ 80 each ; and if it were by itself, not mingled with other charges necessarily incurred in consequence of the re- moval of the young man from the paternal roof, it would by no means be regarded as excessive, for the amount of instruction obtained. Good schools, in many parts of the country, for younger persons than Under- graduates, often cost as much, and even more. It is undoubtedly burden. some to many, and for that reason the importance of the Beneficiary Fund is very great ; and the advantage derived from it, as well as from another fund in the hands of trustees for a like purpose, is inestimable. But it is easy to see that so large an apparatus of officers and buildings can hardly be maintained at less cost ; and that the best way in which the liberally disposed can now serve the interests of education at Cambridge, is by un- restricted donations.
" It should be seen, also, that the pecuniary resources of the College, properly so called, instead of amounting, as is supposed by many persons who take a hasty glance at the annual statement of the Treasurer, to nearly $ 800,000, in reality amount only to the above named sum of $ 525,000; and even from this a large deduction should be made, on account of property
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of an unproductive nature held by the College. In fact, the productive funds of the institution do not exceed $ 450,000."
By the laws of the Institution, no person is permitted to hold any ex- ecutive office in Harvard College, who has the pastoral care of a Church, that of the University alone excepted, or who sustains any civil office ex- cept that of Justice of the Peace; and whoever accepts such pastoral care, or civil office, is considered as resigning his place, and the same is thenceforth deemed vacant.
The immediate care and government of the Undergraduates, or students in the Collegiate Department, is vested in the President of the University, the Professors not exempted by the tenure of their office, and the Tutors ; who are denominated the " COLLEGE FACULTY." When requested by the President or by the Board, those Professors and other officers, usually exempted from the duty of attendance upon the meetings thereof, are associated with, and act for the time as, members of the Faculty. The Faculty appoint one of their number to act as the particular officer of each Class, and to serve as the ordinary medium of communication between the student and the Faculty. MONITORS are also appointed, and their duties and compensations fixed, by the Faculty. One of the Faculty is appointed by the Corporation to the office of REGISTRAR, and receives a salary determined by the Corporation. It is his duty to keep a record of the votes and orders passed by the College Faculty, furnish certified copies of the same when requisite, and perforin such other services, properly per- taining to his office, as may be directed by the President or the Faculty.
The officers resident within the College walls constitute a permanent standing committee, called the PARIETAL COMMITTEE. This Committee has particular cognizance of all offences against good order and decorum.
It being the design of the Government of the University that the Fac- ulty should be invested with ample power to administer the instruction and discipline of the College, they are desired and expected, at all times, to propose to the Corporation such laws and measures as they may deem requisite or useful for the effectual discharge of their functions.
The QUALIFICATIONS for ADMISSION to the Collegiate Department are from time to time determined and prescribed by the Faculty, with the ap- probation of the Corporation. The examination of candidates for admis- sion to the Freshman Class occupies two days, and takes place in Univer- sity Hall, on the Monday and Tuesday of the Commencement week, beginning precisely at 6 o'clock, A. M., on Monday morning. Attend- ance on both days is required. No candidate will be examined unless it is intended that, if admitted, he shall immediately join his class; and no person will be received at any other time than the beginning of a Term, except in extraordinary cases, at the discretion of the Faculty.
CANDIDATES for admission to the Freshman Class are examined in the following books : -
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LATIN DEPARTMENT. - The whole of Virgil; the whole of Cæsar's Commentaries ; Cicero's Select Orations, Folsom's edition ; Andrews and Stoddard's Latin Grammar, including Prosody ; and in writing Latin.
GREEK DEPARTMENT. - Felton's Greek Reader ; Sophocles's Greek Grammar, including Prosody ; and in writing Greek with the Accents.
MATHEMATICAL DEPARTMENT. - Davies's and Hill's Arithmetics ; Eu- ler's Algebra, or Davies's First Lessons in Algebra to " The Extraction of the Square Root "; and " An Introduction to Geometry and the Science of Form, prepared from the most approved Prussian Text-Books," as far as the Seventh Section, " Of Proportions."
HISTORICAL DEPARTMENT. - Worcester's Elements of History, (" An- cient History " ; ) Worcester's Geography, ( " Ancient Geography.")
Students may be admitted to advanced standing, at any part of the Col- lege course previous to the Second Term of the Senior year. In order to such admission to advanced standing, the candidate must appear, on ex- amination, to be well versed in the following studies : - 1. In the studies required for admission to the Freshman Class. 2. In all the required studies pursued by the class for which he is offered. 3. And, in the elec- tire studies, one out of the three departments of Greek, Latin, and Math- ematics, pursued by the class for which he is offered. He must also pay to the Steward, at the rate of $ 45 per annum, according to the standing to which he is admitted. Any student, however, who has a regular dis- mission from another College, may be admitted to the same standing, if, on examination, he is found qualified, without any pecuniary considera- tion. This charge for advanced standing is also remitted to indigent stu- dents
Every candidate, before examination, must produce proper testimonials of a good moral character, and, after being accepted on examination, must give a bond, with sureties, of which one at least must belong to this Com- mon wealth, to the satisfaction of the Steward of the College, in the sum of four hundred dollars, to pay all charges accruing under the laws and customs of the University. A certificate that such bond has been given must be exhibited to the President, before any person can be admitted to the privileges of the institution.
The Lectures and Exercises, to be attended and performed by the stu. dents, are arranged, from time to time, in the manner most favorable to their progress, by the College Faculty. The following is the arrangement at the present time.
FRESHMEN. - First Term. - Greek, Latin, Mathematics, and History. Second T'erm. - Greek, Latin, Mathematics, and Chemistry.
SOPHOMORES. - First Term. - Rhetoric, Mathematics, Greek, Latin, Chemistry, and French. Second Term. - Rhetoric, History, Mathemat. ics, Greek, Latin, French, and Natural History.
JUNIORS. - First Term. - Philosophy, History, Physics, Rhetoric, and
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Greek Literature (the latter by Lectures). Second Term. - Rhetoric, Physics, Philosophy, and Roman Literature (the latter by Lectures).
SENIORS. - First Term. - Philosophy, Rhetoric, Physics, and Modern Literature (the latter by Lectures). Second Term. - Political Science, History, Rhetoric, Philosophy, Physics, and Modern Literature (the lat- ter by Lectures).
ELECTIVE STUDIES. - In addition to the above, which are prescribed studies, every member of the Junior and Senior Classes must, from several others, select one in which he will have three exercises a week throughout the year, as follows : -
A student in the Junior Class must select either Greek, Latin, Mathe- matics, Spanish, or German; and, in the Senior Class, either Greek, Lat- in: Mathematics, Spanish, Gernian, Italian, or Hebrew. Only one of these studies can be taken ; and after the choice is made, the student must con- tinue in the same study during the year. He receives credit on the scale for his recitations in this as in the prescribed studies.
Any student, who desires it, may have additional instruction three times a week in some one of the studies mentioned above which he does not se- Icct. That is, members of the Junior Class, who choose Latin, Mathe- matics, or Spanish, may join the section in Greek, or German; and those who choose Greek or German, may do the same in Latin, Mathematies, or Spanish. And members of the Senior Class, who choose Greek, Italian, or German, may take, as an extra study, Latin, Mathematics, Spanish, or Hebrew; and those who choose Latin, Mathematics, Spanish, or Hebrew, may take, as an extra study, Greek, Italian, or German. No credit will be given on the scale of rank for recitations in an extra study, and no student can take more than one such study. Every student, who enters upon an additional study, must continue in it at least one Term, and at- tend all the exercises of the section which he joins.
On or before the first day of June, in each year, every student is re- quired to make a written statement to the Faculty of the elective studies he wishes to pursue the following year, and leave the same at the Re- gent's office, accompanied, if he be under age, by the approval of his pa- rent or guardian ; it being understood that the branches elected shall, in the opinion of the Faculty, be sufficient, with the prescribed studies, to occupy his time, that the whole is subject to revision by the Faculty, and that the arrangement thereupon made shall, in the case of the required election, be binding for one year. If such notice be omitted, the Faculty makes the selection.
LECTURES on Rhetoric, Modern Literature, Electricity, Geology, and Mineralogy, during the First Term, and on Intellectual Philosophy, His- tory or Political Economy, Modern Literature, Magnetism and Electro- Magnetism, Anatomy. Zoology, and Chemistry, during the Second Term, before the SENIOR CLASS; and ou History, Electricity, and Greek Litera-
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ture, during the First Term, and on Magnetism and Electro-Magnetism, Botany, and Roman Literature, during the Second Term, before the JUN- IOR CLASS; are delivered by the Professors in those respective depart. ments. Attendance upon these Lectures is in some cases required, in others optional, but in all, advantageous. A course of Lectures on Chem- istry is also given to the Freshmen and Sophomores, in connection with recitations from a text-book.
A PUBLIC EXAMINATION of all the Classes takes place each Term. The Committees of Examination are appointed annually by the Overseers, at their meeting in January, either from their own body, or from the com- munity at large; and a day is appointed by the Faculty, for the examina- tion of each class in every branch of study pursued by them, at such times as the Faculty may deem expedient ; seasonable notice thereof being giv- en by the President to each member of the Examining Committees, who make report to the Overseers of the general condition of each department, and of the degree of thoroughness and exactness with which each branch of study has been pursued
PRAYERS, with the reading of the Scriptures, are attended in the College Chapel morning and evening. All the Students are required to be pres- ent; as they are also at public worship in the Chapel on the Sabbath, ex. cept such as have special permission, at the request of their parents or guardians, to attend the Episcopal Church or other Congregations in the city of Cambridge, or elsewhere.
There are two PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS each year, one at each of the semi- annual visitations of the committee of the Overseers. The exercises for these Exhibitions are assigned by the Faculty to meritorious students of the two higher classes. They consist of original compositions for the Sen- iors, and of translations into and from various languages for the Juniors. The refusal of a student to perform the part assigned him, on either of these occasions, or any act of indecorum in its performance, is regarded as a high offence.
In addition to the above, the following rewards and encouragements for literary exertion and good conduct have been established in the Univer- sity. 1. DETURS. - A DISTRIBUTION of books, called " Deturs," is made from the income of the Hopkins Foundation, at the beginning of the Ac- ademic Year, to meritorious students of the Sophomore Class, and to those Juniors who entered the Sophomore Class, and whose merit would have entitled them to this distinction; and also to such members of the Junior Class, as, not having received them in the Sophomore year, shall, in the course of that year, make decided improvement in scholarship. 2. BOWDOIN PRIZES. - Prizes are annually awarded, by the Faculty, in the Second Term of the Academical Year, to such Resident Graduates and members of the Senior and Junior Classes as shall write the best and sec- ond best Dissertations on subjects given out for that purpose, as follows : -
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A prize of fifty dollars for the best Dissertation by a Resident Graduate, on either of the subjects proposed for writers of that standing ;
A prize of forty dollars for the best, and a prize of thirty dollars for the second best Dissertation by a member of the Senior Class of Under- graduates, on either of the subjects proposed for that class ;
A prize of forty dollars for the best, and a prize of thirty dollars for the second best Dissertation by a member of the Junior Class, on either of the subjecta proposed for that class ;
Provided there be so many Dissertations worthy of prizes in the opinion of the judges. Instead of the sums of nioney above named, gold medals of equivalent value will, if preferred, be given to the successful competitors. The merit of the Dissertations is adjudged by Committees appointed for that purpose by the Faculty, but not of their own number. Prizes are also assigned from the Bowdoin Prize Fund, for Latin and Greek Compo- sitions, Prose and Verse, under the following regulations : -
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