USA > New York > Tompkins County > Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University > Part 55
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The Cornell Athletic Association was incorporated June 5, 1889, under the laws of 1865, State of New York, chap. 368, p. 362. The incorporators were W. H. Sage, B. I Wheeler, H. S. White, J. F. Kemp, E. Hitchcock, jr., F. D. Davis, and H. S. Bronson. The pur- pose of the Association was: (1) To centralize the various athletic interests of the university. The four athletic organizations-the Navy, Baseball club, Football club, and the Athletic club-had heretofore existed in entire independence of each other, and had conducted their affairs, such as the raising of money, arrangement of games, etc., each in disregard or ignorance of the plans of the others. The gift of the athletic field (Percy Field) in 1889, made it necessary that there should exist an organization not only to own and manage the field, but to co- ordinate the interests of the different clubs in its use.
(2) To act as an advisory board for the managers of the athletic teams. Under the old system there had existed no check upon the powers of the managers. They expended money as they saw fit, and made no accounting. Shortly after the organization of the Association the power of choosing all managers, including the commodore, was delegated to it by the different clubs.
(3) To assume control of property that might be donated to it in the interest of athletics. In accordance with this purpose it has assumed the ownership of the Percy Field and of the boat house, with the boats and equipments therein. It now keeps the field in order, attends to re- pairs of fence and buildings, and regulates the assignment of its use
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among the different teams, deducting from the gate receipts at all the university games fifteen per cent. for the benefit of the field. The steam launch now building for the use of the navy will become, when completed, the property of the Association.
(4) To exercise oversight over the collection and expenditure of moneys on the part of the various organizations. The treasurer of the Association, who is a graduate, keeps a separate account with each or- ganization, as well as also an account with the field. He receives all money collected by each organization, whether in the form of gate re- ceipts or subscriptions, and pays all bills when approved by the man- agers who contracted them. The different accounts are published an- nually in the college papers by the treasurer, thus affording the uni- versity public a reliable means of knowing how the athletic funds are expended.
The trustees of the association consisted originally of fourteen per- sons, viz., two representatives from the Navy, including the commo- dore; two from the Baseball club, including the manager; two from the Football club, including the manager; two from the Athletic club, including its president (i. e., manager); four members of the faculty, including the professor of Physical Culture; one representa- tive from the Executive Committee of the trustees of the university; and one member chosen at large. As amended in 1894, the constitu- tion added one representative from the La Crosse Club, namely, its man- ager, and provided that the eight other undergraduate members should consist of the commodore of the Navy and the captain of the crew, and the managers and captains of the three other organizations.
The Faculty Committee on Athletics, which has, by vote of the fac- ulty, entire charge of the leaves of absence for the athletic teams, has thus far included the four faculty trustees of the association. This circumstance has contributed greatly to the solidarity of the whole athletic management, and provided a most efficient means for the regu- lation of athletics and the prevention of abuses. The influence of the faculty is thus exercised from within, and not from without, the central management itself. The faculty members of the Board of Trustees are at present (1894) Professors Dennis, Hitchcock, Whceler and White, the representative from the university trustees is Mr. W. H. Sage, who is also president of the board; the member at large is Mr. Robert H. Treman, who has been the treasurer from the beginning.
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SPECIAL DEPARTMENTS.
XI.
LANGUAGES.
1. THE CLASSICAL AND ORIENTAL LANGUAGES .- 2. THE GERMANIC AND ROMANCE LANGUAGES.
AT the opening of the university provision was made for instruction in the classics by the election of Professor Albert S. Wheeler as profes- sor of both Latin and Greek. Professor Wheeler was a graduate of Hobart College, in which he had been tutor from 1853 to 1855, and as- sistant professor of Greek and Latin in 1855 and 1856. During the years 1857 to 1859 he held the professorship of rhetoric and elocution. From 1860 to 1868, the date of his call to Cornell University, he was professor of the Greek language and literature. All students of those early days will recall this admirable teacher. Having received a legal training for practice at the bar, he manifested the results of this train- ing in all that he did. An excellent and accurate scholar, with a judi- cial mind, he manifested in his training of students similar qualities. They were expected to be thorough, systematic, logical, to take nothing for granted, to search for the foundations of all that was taught. For three years he filled the double chair of Latin and Greek. All students who graduated under him felt the impress of his personality as much as of his learning. While the philological side of classical study was not disregarded, he appreciated classical study from its humane side for the value of its literature. Especially in the award of prizes Professor Wheeler pursued a characteristic method. He did not believe that prizes should be awarded simply for excellence in the ordinary curricu- lum of the class room, but that in addition to class room work, certain work should be set which would test the independence of the student by private study. Thus at an examination in Horace, the prize paper would embrace the entire writings of the poet, and the student would be ex- pected to discuss thoroughly from independent research whatever ques- tions might arise in connection with the life and times of the poet, his verse and his theories of poetry. On one occasion of this kind one com- petitor committed to memory three books of the "Odes of Horace " and the "Ars Poetica;" and a second student was only slightly behind the first. Professor Goldwin Smith, with whom the poet had been a favorite study and whohad translated a considerable portion of his verse
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which has since been published, prepared the paper set for examination, and such as would have been given in a similar case in an English uni- versity, and awarded the prizes. Professor Wheeler resigned after three years' service and accepted a position in the Sheffield Scientific School, where the same distinguished ability as a scholar has won for him de- served recognition. Upon the resignation of Professor Wheeler the de- partment was divided as had been originally contemplated whenever the resources of the university should permit, and Tracy Peck, a teacher in the High School of Cincinnati and former tutor in Yale, was clected to the professorship of the Latin language and literature, and Mr. Isaac Flagg, an assistant professor in Harvard, was chosen professor of the Greck language and literature. Professor Peck, who contributed to en- large the field of Latin study, remained connected with the depart- ment until 1880. He was an advocate of the Roman method of pronunciation, which he here introduced, and teaching Latin conversa- tion was a favorite branch of instruction with him. Professor Flagg was a teacher of fine literary taste, with an intimate knowledge of Greek literature, who, in his published writings, has devoted especial atten- tion to the dramatists. He remained associated with the university until 1888, when he resigned and accepted a position in the University of California. Professor Peck resigned in order to become the succes- sor of his former teacher, Professor Thatcher, in Yale University. Upon the resignation of Professor Peck, William Gardiner Hale, now of the University of Chicago, was chosen his successor. Professor Hale had won deserved recognition as instructor in Latin in Harvard Univer- sity, a reputation which has constantly increased. Under his leader- ship and under the fostering care of the trustees of the university, whose means at that time permitted a larger development, instruc- tion in Roman life and art became prominent. Professor Hale's per- sonal studies were, in addition to Roman life and art, directed to the scientific discussion of questions of Latin grammar, especially of those associated with the Moods. The department increased rapidly in num- bers during the period of Professor Hale's connection with the univer- sity. Professor Hale's large interest in all questions that concerned university administration made his participation in the deliberations of the faculty of great value. Upon the resignation of Professor Hale, Professor Charles E. Bennett of Brown University, who had held pro- fessorships in both the University of Nebraska and the University of Wisconsin, was elected his successor. Dr. Benjamin Ide Wheeler, a
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graduate of Brown University and an instructor in Harvard University, was elected acting professor of classical philology and instructor in Latin and Greek, and entcred upon his duties beginning with the year 1886. Professor Wheeler's work upon receiving his degree at the Uni- versity of Heidelberg had won immediate recognition as a most valua- ble contributor to the study of the Indo-European languages. He had devoted especial attention to the science of language as well as to the comparative grammar of the Indo-European languages. With his accession, a department was filled, the needs of which had been long recognized by all professors in the department of languages. Syste- matic courses of lectures upon the science of language, together with instruction in Sanskrit and phonetics, with increased work in the depart- ment of Greek, to which Professor Bristol was elected from Hamilton College, gave an enlarged impulse to classical study in the university. At this time seminary instruction was introduced in all departments, facilities having been afforded by the purchase of special libraries for consultation by advanced students, and by the fitting np of seminary rooms.
The extension and reorganization of the work in Greek since the con- nection of Professor B. I. Wheeler with that department include (1) a rearrangement of the courses of instruction, (2) the introduction of the study of historical grammar and the science of language, (3) the introduction of systematic instruction in ancient life and institutions, (4) the organization of seminary instruction and the formation of a seminary library, (5) the collection of illustrative materials including a museum of casts.
(1.) The courses of instruction were remodeled with a view to sharply differentiate between the required work of the freshman and sophomore years, and the elective work of those who looked forward to specializa- tion in the subject. To the work of the freshman year was assigned especially training in the accuracies of the language upon the basis of Lysias, Plato, and the Odyssey of Homer. The work of sophomore year was devoted almost exclusively to literary training, based upon the reading of Demosthenes, Sophocles and Aristophanes. Supplementary reading outside the regular requirements of the class exercises was assigned and required. In the belief that these earlier years demand the most experienced instruction, the work of the sophomore class was conducted by Professor Wheeler himself, and that of the freshman class supervised, and, for at least half the class, conducted by Professor Bristol.
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The variety and scope of the advanced work was greatly enlarged. Regular advanced courses have been provided in (a) the tragedians, (b) Aristophanes, (c) the orators and historians, (d) the lyric and epic poets, (c) Plato, (f) Aristotle, (g) New Testament Greek, (/) mod- ern Greek, (¿) Greek composition, ( j) history of Greek literature, (k) Greek antiquities, private and legal, (/) Greek historical grammar. Beside these the seminary has offered opportunities of studying the Greek inscription or, on alternate years, some selected author.
(2.) In historical grammar, courses have been given in general phi- iology, Indo-European comparative grammar, elementary Sanskrit, advanced Sanskrit including reading of the Vedas, Gothic grammar, and old Bulgarian grammar. The purpose has been to provide the teacher of language with a fundamental equipment for understanding the phenomena of speech, and at the same time to prepare the way for specialization for those who should choose it.
(3.) The course in Greek life and institutions has been given in alter- nate years since Professor Wheeler came to Cornell in 1886, and was the first course of the kind given in the university. Illustration by means of the lantern and the various illustrative objects which have been col- lected has proved highly serviceable in making ancient life real and the literature living.
(4.) Since 1887 a seminary library of great value has been in use. The nucleus of it was procured through the bounty of Mr. H. W. Sage, who gave $1,000 for this purpose. It was the first seminary library founded at Cornell. The seminary which is doing an important work in training teachers and specialists has at present seventeen members. (5.) The outfit of the Greek lecture rooms was purchased from university funds in 1887 and 1888; and the Museum of Arts, purchas- ed and equipped at a cost of over fifteen thousand dollars, was opened to the public on the eightieth birthday of its donor, Mr. Sage (January 31, 1894.) This museum is the completest of its kind con- nected directly with any educational institution in the country. In con- nection with the formation of this museum and the opportunities of instruction afforded by it, the chair of archaeology and art was erected in 1891. Professor Alfred Emerson was called to fill it. The selection of the casts and their successful installation was largely his work. He has given lectures in archaeology, the history of sculpture and the history of painting, and has conducted a seminary for the training of specialists in archaeology.
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The instruction in Greek in its various branches is now (1894) shared among four professors and an instructor; Professors Wheeler, Bristol, Emerson, Hammond and Dr. Laird. Professor Hammond is connected with the Sage School of Philosophy, but conducts all the work of the Greek department in the reading and interpretation of Plato and. Aris- totle. Dr. Laird has been instructor in Greek since 1892, having been called from a similar position at the Leland Stanford University.
DEPARTMENT OF LATIN.
The work of the Department of Latin may be grouped under the the following heads :
(1). Reading Courses. Besides the customary required work of the sophomore year (Cicero, Livy, Horace, Terence, Tacitus) elective courses are offered in alternate years in the literature of the Republic (Plautus, Terence, Lucretius, Catullus), and of the Empire (Pliny's Letters, Juvenal, Tacitus's Annals). A special elective for sophomores (in addition to the required Latin of that year ), is offered in Cicero's Letters and the de Oratore ; while for freshmen an elective course in sight reading is provided (Nepos, Ovid and Gelleus).
"(2). To afford a more thorough and sympathetic knowledge of Roman life than the courses in literature alone would give, a syste- matic course of lectures on private antiquities is given in alternate ycars. These lectures are abundantly illustrated, mainly by lantern views and photographs prepared from the remains of ancient Roman civilization preserved in Pompeii, Herculaneum, Rome and elsewhere.
(3). To students whose interest extends to the scientific aspect of the language (and especially to those who are preparing to be teachers) ample provision is made by the Teachers' Training Course and by the Latin Seminary. The Teachers' Training Course embraces a study of the evidences of the pronunciation of Latin, hidden quantity, pecul- iarities of orthography, original force and historical development of the cases; the subjunctive mood, with special reference to its primitive meaning and the history of its development in subordinate clauses. The Latin Seminary is designed primarily for graduate students and aims to familiarize its members with the habit and methods of independ- ent study and investigation. Two subjects of study are pursued in alternate years, viz: The Italic dialects ( Latin, Oscan, Umbrian) and Latin Syntax.
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Further provision for advanced students is made in a special course in Latin writing.
(4). In order to give a general view of the entire field of Latin study, a course of lectures is given in alternate years on the history of Latin studies, the Latin lauguage, Latin literature, Roman history, philosophy, law, religion, architecture, art, epigraphy, palaeography, lexicography, military and naval antiquities, etc. In this course a brief résumé is given under each topic of the present state of our knowledge in that department, the methods of investigation, along with the statement of the more important problems still awaiting solu- tion.
(5) Besides the above courses offered by the Latin department, the related departments of comparative philology, ancient history and clas- sical archaeology provide instruction in the study of historical Latin grammar, Roman art, architecture and topography, and in Lalin palaeography.
THE ORIENTAL LANGUAGES.
No mention was made of the study of Sanskrit or comparative philol- ogy in the original plan of organization. Even a prospective place in the course of studies for which provision was made in the university curriculum does not appear.
In the early years Dr. Wilson had occasionally, for a limited time, a student in Hebrew, who purposed to enter the ministry. Dr. Roehrig enlarged his field of instruction in French by giving lectures in Chinese and Japanese.
These were frequently attended by large classes who enjoyed the skill and ease with which these difficult subjects were taught by the professor whose marvelous memory enabled him to dispense with text books. Seldom has an equal acquisition been obtained with so little effort. Students who knew no Latin or Greek, and to whom French and German proved insurmountable, acquired with the greatest ease a certain knowledge of the bewildering characters on a tea chest, and even read simple tales and fables from the blackboard. These exercises seem to have been a recreation to the learned professor, and to have occupied at first only one hour a week.
The first mention of Oriental instruction occurs in the Register for 1869, where instruction in Hebrew by Professor Wilson, and in Sanskrit
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by Professor J. M. Hart was announced. In the following year instruction in Chinese by Professor Roehrig, and in Persian by Professor Fiske, and in the science of language, for classical students, by Professor A. S. Wheeler. In the Register of 1874-5, under the title "Liv- ing Asiatic and Oriental Languages," courses in Persian, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Sanskrit, Hebrew and other Semitic languages were mentioned. The conservative statement appears: " For a thorough appreciation of any literature a knowledge of the language in which it is written is indispensable." It was hoped that interest in these studies would warrant the establishment of classes in Arabic, Syriac and other languages, cognate with Hebrew, and that Semitic philology in its widest sense might find a home in the university. The enthusiastic professor announced in the Register for 1877-8, an elementary course of two years in Chinese, and lectures on Mantchoos, Turkish, the Tartar languages and Turanian philology. Some instruction in Sanskrit was given, and we find Chaldee and Syriac added to Hebrew under the charge of Professor Wilson. The Register for the following year contained systematic courses in Sanskrit, Arabic grammar, modern Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Malayan.
The existence of this department was due to the eminence of Professor Roehrig who early won distinction in these studies and who found pleasure in continuing them. The instruction was not co-ordinated with the courses in classics and did not contribute to genuine philological study. Few students had the requisite preparation for their successful pursuit, and, upon the resignation of the professor, the department came to an end.
In March, 1874, Mr. Joseph Seligmann of New York offered to endow a professorship of Hebrew and Oriental literature and history in the university, for three years, on condition that he should nominate the incumbent. The offer was accepted, the appointment being rather in nature of a lectureship, the duties of which required residence at the university, while a course of ten, twelve or twenty leetures were given. It was expected that this appointment would fill an important deficiency in the university curriculum, as scientific instruction in Hebrew was desir- ed. Dr. Felix Adler, who was nominated to this chair, was a graduate of Columbia College and of the University of Heidelberg, a man of fresh scholarship, and of pronounced opinions on the history of religion, phil- osophy and ethics. Dr. Adler possessed great ability as a lecturer. He was an independent thinker and possessed the power of clear and eloquent
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statement, and attracted for a time many hearers. The expectation of systematie instruction in the Semitic languages was not realized, as Dr. Adler's lectures were devoted rather to the origin and history of the various religions of the East to modern philosophy in its relation to religion and to Hebrew religion and literature from a critical standpoint. Dr. Adler's lectures were given in the years 1874-76.
THE STUDY OF RHETORIC, ENGLISH LITERATURE AND ENGLISH PHILOLOGY.
Among the professors whose names appear in the first catalogue of the university is that of Homer B. Sprague as Professor of Rhetoric, Oratory and Vocal Culture. There is no mention of this title of Eng- lish literature, although instruction in it was assumed by the professor. Professor Sprague had had a brilliant carcer in Yale, where he had won many of the highest honors of the college. Later, with characteristic ardor, he entered the army and attained the rank of colonel. Upon his return from the war he abandoned the career at the bar, for which he studied upon leaving college, and became principal of the Orcad Institute in Worcester, Mass. Colonel Sprague was a man of brilliant gifts, and an attractive, popular lecturer. The study of English liter-
ature as arranged by him was as follows: "The leading authors will be studied in their historical order during the first year. In the second year, the authors will be studied by groups, in periods and departments. The origin, structure, growth, and peculiarities of the languages will be explained and illustrated. In the third year there will be a critical examination and study of masterpieces of the great authors." In the fourth year there were to be lectures by the professor on special topics. In rhetoric there were to be exercises in writing, the analysis of sen- tenees, the principles of composition, original essays, the seientifie study of rhetoric based upon the analysis of the masterpieces of the best authors. This was to be accompanied by specimen orations or es- says. In oratory the elements of expression by voice and gesture were to be taught, and much time devoted to vocal culture. Declamations were required. Speeches were studied and analyzed to ascertain the ideas, sentiments and emotions, and apply the principles of expression, and finally the delivery of extemporaneous orations and lectures upon oratory and orators. The labor accompanying any adequate fulfillment of such a course, in a department where every student required indi- vidual attention, was enormous. This was especially true when the
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requirements for admission were so unsatisfactory as in those early days. No provision was made for instruction in Early English or in English philology. Professor Sprague resigned at the end of two years, to ac- cept the presidency of the Adelphi Academy, and Professor Hiram Corson was elected on June 30, 1820, as professor of rhetoric. Professor Corson had been for many years a devoted student of English literature. His contributions to the study of Anglo-Saxon, and individual texts in early English which he had edited, had already won for him deserved recog- nition both in this country and abroad. With his coming, the systematic study of Anglo-Saxon was introduced. In 1821 the department was still further enlarged by the appointment of Charles Chauncey Shackford, whose work lay more in the field of rhetoric and general literaturc. Professor Corson was thus enabled to devote more immediate attention to English literature, while the work in rhetoric, and lectures in general literature, including the philosophy of literature, with a discussion of the various forms of the literary product in various nations, fell to Pro- fessor Shackford. Of Professor Corson we may say, there has been a unity in the aim of his department and of the work embraced under it from the beginning to the present time. He values the study of litera- ture for the spiritual activity which it may be made to induce, and for the resulting refining influences. Through his books upon Shakspere and Browning he is recognized as one of the greatest interpreters of literature which our country has produced. To him is due in a large degree the intelligent study of Browning in various centers, most of which have received his special aid. His elective classes, and special extra readings which he has given are always numerously attended. His work has received high recognition abroad from the most eminent scholars, from Tennyson himself, Browning and Dowden and Furnival. Hc has been invited to present papers before the Chancer, the New Shakspere and the Browning Societies.
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