USA > New York > Tompkins County > Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University > Part 61
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Prior to the departure of Professor H. S. Williams, the courses of instruction in the geological department had been mainly in the lines of palaentology and mineralogy, but after the resignation of Professor Williams, the former was necessarily dropped, and the latter work was continued, with some changes, under the direction of Instructor Arthur S. Cable. Courses in geology and physical geography were introduced, and it has been the effort of Professor Tarr to develop these branches and to introduce methods of instruction by means of field and labora- tory work.
For the next year (1894-5) an entirely new plan of organization has been adopted, and, instead of a single department, three sub-depart- nients have been created by the appointment of Mr. Gilbert D. Harris, assistant professor of palaeontology; Dr. Adam C. Gill, assistant pro- fessor of mineralogy and petrography, and Mr. Ralph S. farr, assist- ant professor of dynamical geology and physical geography. Mr. Eakle has resigned to go to Europe for study, and Mr. Stuart Weller,
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the assistant in geology, will go to Yale to accept a similar position there. Mr. S. P. Carll will succeed Mr. Weller as assistant in geology and mineralogy.
The department is extremely well situated for instruction in palaeon- tology, since the university is built in the midst of a rich field of fos- siliferous Devonian rocks. Moreover, there has been, almost continu- ously since the opening of the university, a palaeontologist in the de- partment, and for the greater part of the time at the head of the de- partment. Therefore the collection of fossils has grown to great size, and includes many typical and unique specimens. Aside from many smaller collections, there is the Farnum Jewett collection, purchased by Ezra Cornell at a cost of ten thousand dollars, and the remarkable Newcomb collection of recent shells, purchased at a cost of thirteen thousand dollars. Few universities in the country have more valuable collections of fossils, and yet there is much that is needed in this branch.
The department of mineralogy is also well supplied with collections, for, aside from the study series, there is the valuable Silliman collec- tion, which is on exhibition in the museum. Of late years, owing to the development of new methods in the study of minerals and rocks, a department of mineralogy needs much expensive apparatus, only a part of which is at present owned by the department.
Upon the geological side there is much that is urgently needed. The collections of photographs, lantern slides, maps and models, need to be greatly enlarged to meet the demands of modern methods of instruc- tion. But the chief need of this department is facility for pursuing field work away from Ithaca. While in some respects the region is ad- mirably adapted to field instruction, there are numerous points of im- portance that are not illustrated in the vicinity. The geological in- struction should, therefore, be supplemented by vacation courses in field work in the Appalachian formation, and it is carnestly hoped that the means for this may be forthcoming. The brilliant success of some of Professor Hartt's pupils depended largely upon the training in the field that they received under him in Brazil.
Since the first years of the university, the constant aim in the geo- logical department has been to offer courses of a thoroughly scientific character, and to furnish to students training upon which a successful career in scientific investigation is based. That the effort has been successful is shown by the following list of names of students in this
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department who have made geology a profession. This list does not pretend to be complete, but its length is surprising when the history of the department and the frequent interruption in its continuity are con- sidered.
Branner, Dr. J. C., professor of geology at Leland Stanford Jr. University and for- merly professor of geology in Indiana University, State geologist of Arkansas, etc., etc. Comstock, Dr. T. B., president of the University of Arizona and formerly assist- ant professor of geology at Cornell, assistant geologist on the Arkansas and Texas Geological Surveys, ete., etc. Curtice, F. Cooper, Department of Agriculture, for- merly of the U. S. Geological Survey, ete. Derby, O. H., director of the Geological Commission of San Paolo, Brazil, formerly instruetor in geology at Cornell, etc. Eakle, A. S., student at Leipzig, formerly instructor in mineralogy at Cornell. Fairchild, H. L., professor of geology at Rochester University and secretary of the Geological Society of America. Gurley, W. F. E., State geologist of Illinois. Har- ris, G. D., assistant professor of palæontology at Cornell, formerly assistant in the National Museum, and on the Texas Geological Survey, etc. Hili, R. T., U. S. Geologi- cal Survey, formerly professor of geology at the University of Texas, assistant on the Arkansas and Texas Geological Surveys, etc. Holmes, J. A., State geologist of North Carolina, professor of geology and botany, University of North Carolina. Marsters, V. F., professor of geology Indiana State University, and formerly instruc- tor of geology at Cornell. Prosser, C. S., professor of geology, Washburn College, formerly instructor of geology at Cornell, ete. Simonds, F. W., professor of geology in the University of Texas, formerly instructor of geology at Cornell, etc. Turner, W. H., assistant geologist on the U. S. Geological Survey. White, D., assistant U. S. National Museum and U. S. Geological Survey. Weller, S., assistant in geology, Yale College and formerly assistant in geology at Cornell. Van Ingen, G. D., assistant at Columbia and formerly museum assistant at Cornell.
VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY.
THE Department of Vertebrate Zoology includes physiology, neu- rology, embryology, histology and anatomical and mieroscopieal meth- ods.
The present staff comprises a professor of physiology, vertebrate zoology and neurology, Burt G. Wilder, B. S., M. D .; an associate professor of anatomy, histology and embryology, Simon H. Gage, B. S .; with two instruetors, Pierre A. Fish, B. S., D. Se., and Grant S. Hop- kins, B. S., D. Sc., assigned respectively to the two groups and sub- jeets embraced in the titles of the two professors.
Apart from veterinary science, the zoological division of the univer- sity was at first entrusted to a single professor, with the title of pro- fessor of comparative anatomy and natural history, and the department represented by him was first called the Medical. This was soon changed
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to Anatomical. The title of the professor was made professor of physi- ology, comparative anatomy and zoology; later it was changed to its present form, indicating the three courses personally conducted in the three terms of the college year. In the earlier years instruction in invertebrate zoology, excepting insects, was shared, in part, with the professor of geology and palæontology.
In 1871-2 the course in the winter term was devoted to comparative neurology, and that in the spring to human embryology, thus, it is believed antedating the period of such specialization outside of some of the larger medical schools. A course in experimental physiology of muscle and nerve was given in 1880 and 1881, but abandoncd for want of suitable apparatus. The anatomical laboratory was a basement room in the south end of Morrill Hall. After the first two years an adjoining room was available, and later a small room on the third floor. Upon the completion of McGraw Hall in 1871, the only laboratory space was found beneath the rising scats of the lecture room, which was reserved for the head of the department and special students. Later the basc- ment was fitted up for general laboratory work. There are now in the north wing separate rooms for the professor and associate professor; also a histological laboratory. The horizontal division of the lofty lecture room enables it to be used for practicums as well as lectures, and provides four rooms above for storage and special work.
At first the large room on the fourth floor of Morrill Hall was used for lectures in common with other departments. The lecture room in McGraw Hall was shared for many years with the geological depart- ment, and is now used in the fall and spring for the courses in inverte- brate zoology and entomology.
The Auzoux models and other objects constituted the nucleus of the museum, and were first accommodated in a room on the second floor of Morrill Hall. Until recently the vertebrate collections have occupied cases in McGraw Hall, joining and commingled with cases containing collections of several other departments. Under these circumstances no proper scientific arrangement has been practicable.
Besides the general effect of the teachings, writings and example of the elder Agassiz upon all branches of natural science in America, his influence was exerted directly upon this department in the university on three occasions. In 1867, his counsel was given as to its organiza- tion, when his recommendation led to the appointment of Professor Wilder; and again, at the opening of the university, when he was
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present and gave an eneouraging address; be also remained to deliver a course of twenty leetures on zoology, which, to use the words of an alumnus who heard them, "were more useful to the university than any other one thing."
In 1871, he enlisted the co-operation of Professor Wilder in making a series of preparations of the brains and embryos of domesticated animals for the Museum of Comparative Anatomy in Cambridge, with the privilege of publishing the results of his discoveries. Sinee that time the professor has made neurology his special study, and his leetures and writings upon the subjeet have contributed to develop this study with- out as well as within the university.
A letter of ex-President White upon the work of this department, dated in St. Petersburg, July 29, 1893, may properly be inserted here:
Your proposal to publish a Festschrift for Professor Wilder, at the approaching university anniversary seems to me admirable from every point of view. Such a tribute would not only show a spirit most honorable to his old students taking part in it, and, doubtless, most acceptable to him as indicating the opinion of those best able to judge regarding his noble work at Cornell, but it would reveal a beautiful chapter in the records of American science, indeed several chapters, since Professor Wilder has not only done his own immediate work admirably, but has stimulated others to make most excellent contributions in other fields.
My acquaintance with the professor began in the earliest days of the university organization, when having been asked by the trustees to name candidates for the various professorships I visited Professor Agassiz at Cambridge and Nahant and con- sulted him regarding those to have charge of the various departments in natural science. Among the first whom he named to me was Dr. Wilder, and I remember his taking me into the building where the doctor was at work, and introduced me to him; it was Agassiz's judgment that led me to nominate Dr. Wilder, and everything since has proved that his selection was most fortunate for the university.
He came to us at the very beginning, and has borne the burden and heat of the day ever since; working with a devotion to science, to his students, to the university, and to all truth as it presents itself to him. in a way which has entitled him to the grati- tude, love, and respect of us all.
Not least among the services he has rendered has been his promotion of cheerful- ness and hope in the early dark and difficult days of the university organization. That is a service which I personally can feel as deeply perhaps as any one, but the services which he has rendered to science by the thoroughness of his researches in the laboratory, and the beauty of the presentations of his conclusions in the lecture room, you and all those acting with you are able to appreciate better than I can, high as my opinion of them is.
There is one point on which Professor Wilder in the early days was able to render a special service outside of his chosen field, and I may be pardoned for referring to it here. While the university was in its earliest beginnings, a sort of nebulous state,
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I was greatly impressed by a remark by Herbert Spencer in his book on evolution, as regards the relative values of different kinds of knowledge. He named among the things to be taught to young men, human anatomy and physiology; and his argu- ments seem to me now to be absolutely conclusive. For apart from the practical part of thesc studies, they seem to form a most stimulating beginning to study in natural history generally, not perhaps the logical beginning but the best practical beginning, as is shown by the fact that in all ages the great majority of students of note in natural science have been physicians. Under the influence of this impression I asked Professor Wilder to give a course of lectures every year to the freshman class on anatomy and physiology. Various arguments might have been used against this; it would have been said that, later in their coursc, students would have been better prepared to appreciate the fine points of such lectures, and the example of all the older institutions might have been pointed to in which such lectures, when given at all, were generally given as a hurried course in the senior year. But the idea of making an impression in favor of studies in natural science, and especially in human anatomy and physiology, just when young men were most awake to receive them, carried the day with me and hence my request to Dr. Wilder. He acceded to it at once and for several years, in fact, until the pressure of other duties drew him front this, he continued these lectures, and it turned out that I had builded better than I knew; not only did the lectures produce admirable practical results, not only did they stimulate in many young men and women a love for natural science and give them an idea of the best methods in its pursuit, but they made a most happy literary im- pression upon the students generally; the professor's wonderful powers of clear presentation in extemporaneous lectures proved to be a wonderful factor in literary as well as scientific culture.
There was another theory of mine proved to be true by the professor; for I had often felt that mere talks about literature, mere writing of essays, the mere study of books of rhetoric, were as nothing in their influence on the plastic minds of students compared with lectures thoroughly good in matter and manner given in their hearing day after day. Naturally I have always felt exceedingly grateful to Professor Wilder for proving that theory true and at the same time rendering a great service to his students and to the university.
On his personal characteristics, which we appreciate so highly, I surely need not dwell; the deep affection in which he is held by ali who have known him best is worth more than all words; and I beg to tender to him through you the assurance of my sincere respect and gratitude with the affection of an old colleague for one who bore burdens with him and to whom he is so largely indebted for any success in the work entrusted to him.
An entrance requirement in physiology and hygiene was early in- cluded among the elementary subjects for admission to all courses in the university, and the standard has been steadily raised. So far as is known this antedates any similar scientific requirement for admission to any American university.
Although the department possessed the only compound microseope in the university, no advanced work was done with it, or systematic in-
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struction offered in its use until 1873. In that year Dr. W. S. Barnard, of the class of 1871, returned from Germany after a course under Gegenbaur, Leuckhart, Haeckel and others. During the two follow- ing years he did much original work as a graduate student in histol- ogy and in the study of the protozoa. In the fall of 1873 a freshman, Simon H. Gage, succeeded Professor Comstock as helper in the labora- tory. His zeal and ability, his prompt mastery of microscopical methods, his patience, and especially his early manifestation of the rare and precious quality which may be designated as morphological insight, caused him to be entrusted more and more with the personal instruc- tion of the laboratory students, whose numbers and requirements were then rapidly increasing. In the year 1878 he was appointed instructor, and abandoned the idea of practicing medicine; he was made assistant professor in 1881 and associate in 1889. It is gratifying and encourag- ing to state that these promotions were due, not to the discovery of his merits by other institutions, but to the recognition here of his value to Cornell as a man, investigator and teacher. He has, however, declined several independent positions with higher salaries, because he appre- ciates the earnestness of his students, his opportunities for research and advanced instruction, and the spirit of mutual confidence and help- fulness that characterizes the whole department.
Since 1885-6 the courses in anatomical and microscopical methods, histology and embryology have been substantially conducted by Pro- fessor Gage, with the assistance since 1889 of Dr. G. S. Hopkins. No more accurate or complete instruction in microscopical methods and in vertebrate histology is elsewhere afforded. Mr. Fish has made a special study of the histology of the nervous system, so that unusual facilities are now afforded for instruction and advanced work therein. A special course in it is given by him this year for the first time
The very great advantages for the study of zoology in Ithaca were immediately recognized, and from the first, every effort has been made to collect and investigate the local fauna. As the years have passed and the fauna been more carefully studied, the advantages of the situa- tion, with lakes at once isolated and yet with remote connections through the Oswego River, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River with the ocean, has been fully appreciated. Furthermore, in the gigan- tic experiment due to the glacial epoch, and the restocking of the lakes and streams with aquatic life, there was promise of most interesting and far-reaching conclusions, to be attained by a profound study of the
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forms here presented. Believing in this great opportunity the fauna, especially that of the lake (Cayuga), has been the subject of the most extended and enthusiastic study on the part of both students and teachers. As all advanced and most graduating theses are based upon original observations and deductions, the various members of the lake fauna have served for subjects of theses. Many of the theses have been of great excellence, not only serving to initiate their writers into the modes of conducting and carefully reporting the results of investi- gation, but many of them have brought out almost unhoped for facts and important generalizations. Among the members of the lake fauna the lamprey, the lowest fresh water vertebrate, and the necturus, one of the salamanders with permanent gills, was early recognized as espe- cially desirable for study and with promise of valuable results. The necturus has therefore largely taken the place of the more specialized frog as a representative amphibian and vertebrate. The advantages of the necturus have been clearly pointed out by Professor Wilder, so that now it is a common object of study in many universities, and although it is found in other waters of the country, most of those studied are obtained from Cayuga Lake. The same animal presents unusual ad- vantages for microscopical instruction and rescarch. Its histologic elements or tissues are so coarse that they are easily studied. Indeed its blood cerpuscles are so large that they may be seen with the un- aided eye. Probably no other animal shows so well the circulation of the blood. The external gills are so vascular, and so easily observed under the microscope that its study has become a part of both general and special students. Probably no other animal has done more to arouse interest in physiology and to cultivate an appreciation of the marvelous and beautiful things in nature, if we only look beyond an exterior sometimes unattractive. The lamprey eel has replaced the ordinary fish as an object of study in the general classes in zoology, and has served also for some extended observations; the investigations have not only added to knowledge concerning the species and the group, but have led to general conclusions of great value concerning the possibilities of evolution.
As an introduction to human, comparative, and veterinary anatomy and physiology, the domestic cat has been employed for dissection, for museum specimens and for experimentation About 400 of these are now consumed annually.
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It is one of the doctrines of the department that the members of the class in zoology shall be able to observe the natural behavior of the ob- jects of their study. Hence, in addition to what may be called the "stock series" of representative forms-cats, frogs, necturi and other salamanders, alligators, turtles, serpents, amias and lampreys-less common animals have been kept alive in cages or aquariums, freely ac- cessible to the students and the public. Among the forms thus avail- able for quiet observation, may be mentioned a pair of deer with their fawn, two bears, several monkeys, raccoons, lynxes and opossums- some of the latter with young in the pouch-an armadillo, porcupines, woodchucks, muskrats, bats, hedgehogs, prairie dogs, eagles, hawks, owls, herons, loons, lizards, Gila monsters, "horned frogs," a megalo- batrachus (the great salamander of Japan), cryptobranchus, garpikes, and many kinds of fish from the lake and streams. The general and deep interest aroused by living animals, and the usefulness of their study, lead to the hope that a zoological garden may sometime be es- tablished, either by the city or by the university.
For several years after the opening of the university, the animals for demonstration and dissection were obtained as needed, and kept but a short time before they were used. This rather primitive method be- came impracticable, however, as soon as the number of advanced and laboratory students increased. To avoid the delay occasioned by going out to secure an animal when it was required, and to render the work more prompt and satisfactory, there was prepared what is known in the department as the "frog spring." At a short distance from the uni- versity is a series of springs along the margin of Fall creek. One of these was carefully dug out and supplied with a bottom and walls of Portland cement. Into this aquarium the water from a spring flowed, the outlet being diagonally opposite. A partition of wire separated it into two rooms, and a heavy oak cover with locks enclosed it from above, so that the animals in it would not be disturbed by predacions creatures like the mink, or the ordinary biped bent on mischief. In this spring, the winter supply of frogs, a stock of necturi, and other aquatie animals are kept, and specimens are obtained as desired. This spring has proved one of the most truly economical acquisitions of the department.
For storing the barrels of alcohol and other inflammables, and as a home for the cats and other of the higher animals used for dissection and demonstration, a deserted workman's cottage was first utilized, not far
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from the laboratory. When this was removed to give place to Lincoln Hall, a special building was put in the forest back of Sibley College. This building served, like the old one, for the live cats and other mammals used for dissection, and for the storage of alcohol, petroleum and rough specimens. In June, 1892, the building with its contents (including the bones of an elephant) were destroyed by fire, and its various uses are now better subserved by separate rooms in the basement of McGraw Hall.
A special fire-proof room has been prepared in the basement labora- tory for the incubator used in the courses in histology and embryology. This instrument, which must run night and day, is not therefore a source of danger, for it is so connected with a flue that if the entire contents of the room were to burn up no injury to the building would result.
One of the most vexcd questions arising in every newly established laboratory is the disposal of the laboratory waste. In 1893 a "Gregory furnace" was obtained, and the waste is now consumed by fire without offence.
The ideas upon which the vertebrate collections have been formed and arranged, are thus described in an article in Science :
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