Address in Praise of Founders

"University of N.B. The Address by Dr. Bailey on Behalf of the Faculty. Some Interesting and Well Considered Suggestions. 'Agriculture Education'--Other Phases" The Daily Gleaner (1 June 1899): 9, 10.

May it please Your Honor, Mr. Chancellor and Gentlemen of the Senate, Ladies and Gentlemen:--

The statutes of the University make it the duty, in turn, of the members of the Faculty to deliver, on the occasion of successive Encoenias, addresses in praise of its founders. Custom has determined that these addresses, as a rule, should be devoted mainly to topics of present interest, especially the aims, conditions and requirements of the several departments of the college.

It is not then necessary for me to-day to dwell upon the wisdom, forethought or generosity of those whom the existence of the University is due, nor upon the advantages accruing from its possession. No one would dispute the former, and the long list of our distinguished graduates and a consideration of the influence which they have had and are having in the intellectual, social and political development of Canada should be sufficient proof of the latter. Nor do I feel called upon to speak at length on the present position and needs of the University as a whole. That task falls properly to another. Rather would I desire to lay before you a few thoughts relating to those branches of work in which I am individually more particularly interested and upon which (for I am no longer young and my turn will not come again for seven years) I may never have another opportunity to speak.

I trust, however, that it will not be out of place for me to say, regarding the collegiate year now ending, that to those familiar with the conditions of our environment and who are well wishers of the University, that year has been an encouraging one. With an entering class larger than previously known it its history, with every probability that even this will be exceeded by the coming year, with the principle of residence more firmly established and growing in popularity, with good work done in the several departments and with evidences of a constantly improving appreciation of that work outside, with an entire absence of any disturbances or defiances of authority, I think that no just cause of complaint can be urged against us. True, our numbers are not as large as we could wish; but neither are our resources or the constituency from which our students are drawn. The entire number of young men and women in the Province seeking each year a collegiate education is necessarily limited, and of these some, to whom expense is no consideration, naturally seek the advantages of larger institutions elsewhere, some are influenced by local association and others by sectarian relationships. We will gladly take twice the number if they will come, but we cannot compel them to do so, and before that time arrives it behoves those who criticize us upon this ground to see that more adequate provision is made for their reception than that which barely sufficed for only one-tenth their number fifty years ago.

But I pass to the topic with which, as I have said, I am to-day more immediately concerned. It has seemed to me that I could not do better than to give a brief sketch of the history of science in New Brunswick and of the relation, past and present, of the University thereto.

First of the past. I think I must be right in saying that the beginning of anything like scientific enquiry in New Brunswick was coincident with the originator of the first geological survey of the Province under Dr. Abraham Gesner in the year 1842. As at that time almost nothing was known of our economic mineral resources, and still less of the geological formations which might contain them; the construction of a geological map was a work of primary importance, and that constructed by Dr. Gesner, as the result of his four years' observations, though never actually published, formed the foundation of all which followed it, representing as it did, with a fair amount of accuracy, the broader outlines of the Province's geologic structure. Though giving, however, much that was valuable, Dr. Gesner was in his reports led away by an enthusiasm, pardonable in a pioneer, which induced him to take, more especially in the matter of coal supply, an altogether exaggerated idea of our mineral wealth, thus really retarding the end which he was seeking to advance.

At this time the word science was rarely if ever heard in the schools of the Province, and, if occasionally referred to in the pulpit, it was only to denounce it as "falsely so called," and therefore to be avoided as an unholy thing. Yet there were some enquiring minds which could not be so stifled, and before Dr. Gesner's labors were ended we find in St. John a little band of enthusiasts all afterwards to be heard of as naturalists far beyond the limits of their native Province, and upon one of whom, only two years ago, the University bestowed its highest Academic honors, beginning to explore with zeal the features of their environment, later to make the scenes of their labors classic ground. Thus with the work of Hartt and Matthews originated the Natural History Society of St. John. And here we begin to see the influence of our own University in this direction.

In the year 1836 Dr. James Robb, a native of Stirling in Scotland and a graduate in medicine of the University of Edinburgh, after an extended tour with the great naturalist Van Beneden,--a tour embracing much of southern Europe, and undertaken almost solely with a view to improvement in scientific knowledge--came to Fredericton to occupy the post of lecturer in Chemistry and Natural Science, bringing with him large collections of minerals, shells, plants and fossils, gathered during his journeyings. It is needless to say that these were the beginning of the University Museum. But, as we may suppose, Dr. Robb did not rest content with merely storing around him the gifts of learned European friends. He at once became interested in the natural features and resources of his adopted land, and set himself to work to increase, as far as possible, his knowledge of the latter. The labors of the young observers at St. John to whom I have referred aroused his interest. And it was by his advice that Dr. Matthew was led to begin that series of researches on the old Cambrian rocks, which have since made him and the Province so widely known to all students of that ancient era. He also naturally observed with interest the results of the investigations being made by Dr. Gesner, but being unable to accept the news, already referred to as extravagant, put forth by that author, there arose, between the two a want of harmony in thought and effort which is to be regretted and of which some rather amusing incidents are told.

Dr. Robb's mind was eminently a scientific one, one which submits, as far as possible, all theories to the test of close observation, and his own studies in the field, though far less extensive than those of Dr. Gesner, and made without government assistance, sufficed to sow him that the views of the latter were erroneous. In these expeditions, moreover, he learned much as to the actual conditions of the Province, more particularly as regards the farming interests , and when, in 1850, Prof. W. F. Johnston was employed by the Provincial Government to prepare a report upon the Agriculture of New Brunswick, he naturally sought the assistance of Dr. Robb, who accompanied him on his journeys, and prepared for him the first published geological map of the Province. Recognizing the short-comings in the agricultural methods in use, as well as the want of general knowledge upon the part of the average farmer, he was soon led to consider how these might be improved. He commenced to give lectures in different parts of the country upon agricultural subjects, and in a short time came to be looked to for information upon all questions of this character. Thus, though not officially recognized as such, he became in reality a Secretary for Agriculture, and so through him the University paid its first debt to the farming interests of the country. At the same time, in connection with his various journeyings, he gathered much information relating to the plants, minerals, rocks and fossils of the Province, besides specimens of these, thus adding to the collections which he had brought from abroad, others representative of our own conditions, and so adding very materially to the value of the college museum. His collection of plants, which we still have, represents the first systematic work of the kind ever undertaken in New Brunswick and contains many rare forms. Many minerals and ores were also obtained and analyzed by him. Large numbers of rock-specimens and of fossils were collected, some of them of much interest.

Dr. Robb died  in 1861 and when, in the autumn of the same year, it fell to my lot, then a youth of only twenty-two summers, to take up the work thus interrupted, it was my first duty, undertaken I assure you with many misgivings, to see in what directions and by what means I could build upon the foundations already so admirably laid.

So far as work within the college was concerned the course seemed plain, viz.: to simply adhere to the curriculum already laid down, and this I have ever since endeavoured to do, the only changes being in the introduction, as far as possible, of new methods where the general advance of scientific education has made them necessary. But as regards my relations to the community outside my course was not so clear, and upon this point, at the risk of seeming egotistical, I would like to say a few words.

It has been the custom of later years, in certain quarters, to attack the college upon the ground that it has done nothing for the farming interests of the country. I have already shown how entirely incorrect is this statement as regards the period of Dr. Robb's incumbency, but what about my own? Why in this respect also have I not followed in his footsteps?

Well, I am not prepared to assert, perhaps, that a farmer is, like a poet, born and not made, but as a naturalist I am a believer in the influence of environment, and know that in my own case the circumstances for my early life offered no opportunities for development in this direction. Hence at the time referred to I knew, as I must confess I know now, almost nothing of the routine of farm life or the best methods of solving the practical questions which constantly confront the farmer in his daily toil. I did know, or I thought I did, something in regard to the nature and origin of soils which form the basis of the farmer's work, something of the life history of plants and the conditions of their more or less favorable development, something as to the diseases to which plants are liable, something as to the nature and habits of their animal friends and foes, and recognizing the importance of these subjects have always endeavored to give them a prominent place in the regular lectures of the University. I went further than this and advertised special courses of lectures upon agricultural topics for the benefit of farmers, but with results (very probably my own fault) which were in no way commensurate with the time and labor involved. About the same time also the office of Secretary of Agriculture was established and given to one whose training and experience had been such as to make him thoroughly acquainted with farm life and the special conditions which, in New Brunswick, tend to influence the latter. Hence there seemed little occasion for special effort of mine in this direction. Finally, observing that the geological structure of the country, the basis of all agriculture, had been very imperfectly worked out, and that scarcely anything was known of our possible mineral resources, a subject at least as important as that of the amelioration of the soil, I was soon led to interest myself in these directions, as I have continued to be interested ever since. Of the results of that interest it is not for me to speak, except perhaps to say that in consequence of the extension to the lower Province, after confederation, of the Geological Survey of Canada, and through my connection therewith, it has been possible for me to gain, and to impart to my students and to others, a much more extended and more thorough knowledge of all these subjects than would otherwise be possible at the same time that I have been able to add materially to the extent and representative character of our collections.

And now a few words with regard to the present condition of science-education in the Province in relation to the University. When I look back to the time, now thirty-seven years ago, when I first came to the Province and to the College, and endeavor to realize the circumstances then existing, I cannot but be struck with the great advancement which has since been made. I am referring now more particularly to science-education outside of the University. It may fairly be said that at that time it did not exist. I believe that Dr. Patterson, of St. John, a very worthy man, used to give a few lectures upon physical subjects, and for their illustration possessed a small air-pump, an electrical machine and a Leyden jar, but beside his school I do not think that there was another in the Province in which anything in this direction was attempted. No collections of insects, birds, minerals or fossils were anywhere to be seen; chemistry was not even dreamed of so far as any practical work was concerned; geographies and atlases failed utterly to represent correctly the physical features of the earth's surface, much less to give any account of the way in which those features were determined; no demands as to scientific preparation were required of any matriculant.

How different is the state of affairs to-day! In every section of the Province the Grammar and High Schools now possess a fine supply of physical maps; they are provided with chemical laboratories, equipped in some instances even better than that of the University itself; each commonly has at least a nucleus of a mineral and natural history cabinet; and, more important than any of these, the teachers in each employ methods of study which compel the pupil to use his own senses and powers of thought--in other words to seek his knowledge less from books and more from things. 

And so, as regards the schools of lesser rank; every teacher now undertaking the guidance of such schools is supposed to have had the advantage of a preliminary training in this direction in the Normal School, a training, which altogether all too short, is nevertheless thorough, and in accordance with the best modern methods, and which he or she is expected to make use of in their subsequent work. Thus, all over the Province there has been aroused an interest in the study of Nature which cannot but bear, in time, abundant fruit. Indeed such fruit is already apparent. It may be seen in the character of the topics discussed at teachers' Institutes, it may be seen in the origination of Natural History Societies, of which there are now three in addition to the original Natural History Society of St. John; it is seen in the formation of a Summer School of Science for the Atlantic Provinces, which upon the whole has been well attended and is doing admirable work; it is seen in the offering by intelligent and appreciative laymen of considerable prizes to those making the best collections or showing the best knowledge of our beneficial or hurtful insects, plants, etc. And in promoting this result the University has not been inactive. It has, through its professors and its graduates taken part in the work of the societies mentioned; it has, in a similar manner, contributed to the success of Teachers' Institutes; it has originated and maintained courses of extension lectures; it has given, gratis, to all applicants, information relative to the natural resources of the Province, examinations of minerals, etc.; it has, responding to the improving character of science-education in the schools, and with a view to stimulate further improvement, gradually raised the standard of science-requirements for matriculation, leading in this respect, as it always led, nearly all the colleges of Canada.

So much for Science on New Brunswick outside our walls. What about the conditions within?

I have referred to the admirable foundations for scientific work laid here by Dr. Robb. No such foundations existed at that time in any similar institution in the lower Provinces; indeed there is not even now one whose museum can at all compare with ours, as there is none in which, as here, distinct and regular courses of lectures are given in all the scientific subjects--Chemistry, Anatomy, Botany, Zoology and Creology--embraced in our curriculum. For years we stood alone in this respect--I think we stand so still--and the high estimation placed upon our graduates seeking medical degrees, as indicated both by personal assurances from the Professors at McGill and the exceptional privileges offered to our students, not only at McGill but at Philadelphia, London and Edinburgh, sufficiently indicate that the time allotted here to such work is not misapplied.

With every year, too, the work done has become more practical. By the doing away of old methods, by the abolition of the marking system, by the adoption of a system of electives, by the throwing of the students more upon their own sense of responsibility--reforms advocated many years ago and for whose advocacy, on an occasion similar to the present, I was somewhat severely taken to task in private by one of the then members of the University Senate--much better work is now possible than could be effected in earlier years, and is taken hold of by the students in a more appreciative way. The enlargement of the chemical laboratory, the having of field excursions to points of interest in the neighborhood, as well as the requirement from candidates for graduation honors as well as for the higher degrees that they should show evidence of individual work along lines of original investigation, have also contributed to the same result. And now comes the proposition, nay it is already more than a proposition, to construct a new building, commemorative of our Centennial year, for the use of the departments of civil and electrical engineering.

Surely no more fitting means of celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the college could be desired than that of thus putting its means of usefulness upon a broader or more permanent basis; and no one surely could do otherwise than wish a scheme of this character, judged upon its own merits, a full measure of success. But while thus in hearty sympathy with any movement in the direction of expansion, shall I be deemed less so if I urge that, in carrying out the contemplated programme, care be taken that other equally important interests be not overlooked, or at least be not permanently handicapped.

Let me illustrate my meaning a little more fully. One more important interest is that of the maintenance of the professoriate. It is somewhat embarrassing for one who is actually a member of the staff to discuss such a subject, at least at this time or place; but I do so for no personal reason,--it is too late for any change in this respect to affect me greatly--but because I feel that scarcely any one subject is at the present time of more important to the future prosperity of the University, involving as it does consequences altogether outside of the interests of any one individual--salaries which, if one has a family, make him feel the poorer the longer he serves--and, worst of all, are unaccompanied by any assurance of a suitable provision when advancing years compel retirement from active work. Such a condition of things is, I say, unsatisfactory, and is not in the best interests of the University. It creates a constant feeling of unrest and anxiety, unfavorable for the best work, and too often, as has already repeatedly happened--I need only recall the names of Profs. Duff, Fletcher, Hall and Murray, in conformation of what I say--it tends to make our best men seek other situations as soon as the opportunity offers, originating in the staff of the University a want of permanence and of continuous policy greatly to be regretted. Should the proposed scheme for the raising of a large sum of money for the construction of a new building tend to perpetuate this condition of affairs it might prove to be a serious injury.

Again, and quite apart from the question of salaries, there are several other directions in which it is to be hoped that the scheme referred to will not have the effect of indefinitely postponing the improvement of present conditions. For example, one of these is the proper warming and lighting of the old University building, now a source of constant annoyance; another the necessity of more adequate provision against possible total destruction by fire. The Library needs aid, both in the direction of the purchase of books and in provisions for the reception. And finally, there are the wants of the other scientific departments of the University which are in pressing need of a helping hand, and which have waited long to see that hand extended.

One of these departments is that of Chemistry. This has been long laboring under two very serious difficulties, viz, first that the Professor of Chemistry has also been the Professor of half a dozen other things as well. A situation at any time leading to a diffusion of thought and effort which not only taxes excessively the energies of the incumbent and prevents justice to the students in any one line of thought, but which, in connection with laboratory work, becomes simply impossible; and, secondly, the want of proper arrangements and equipment in the laboratory itself.

The first of these difficulties, and for which, in the first draft of this address I had proposed a remedy, has I am happy to say, for the present at least, been removed. By the action of the Senate only yesterday the instruction in Chemistry which has for so many years fallen to my lot, will henceforth be undertaken by another, while my attention will be exclusively confined to the subjects of biology and geology. If eventually the department of Chemistry, one of the most important in the University, as it is also the oldest of its Science departments, should be made entirely distinct from all the others, with a professor of its won, the gain would be very great. Then as regards the Laboratory, this at present is wholly out of keeping with modern requirements and can never in its present position meet the latter. For example, it is certainly unprovided with either gas or water, and though to some this may not seem to be a very serious difficulty, it is only so because they do not fully understand the extent to which these accessories are used on chemical work, the fact that all improvements in chemical methods are based upon their presence, and the fact that without them, many processes, otherwise easy, cannot be carried out at all. I have already said that there are grammar schools in the province far better equipped in these respects than we are, and I may add that when some months ago the distinguished chemist of the Experimental Farm familiar with all the principal laboratories of Canada, visited our for the express purpose of comparison he at once noticed this deficiency, expressed his astonishment that the want had not been supplied and added that he wondered how we managed to get on at all. Then there are in connection with the laboratory no proper facilities for weighing and measuring, processes without which no quantitative results can be determined, no apparatus or appliances for assaying, none for volumetric work. There is not even proper ventilation, to say nothing of furnaces and gas chambers, no private laboratory for the Professor in charge, no provision for the storage of chemicals in bulk, no protection to the students against interference by others in the prosecution of their individual work. Finally there is no room for more than a very limited number engaged in practical or experimental enquiries.

In any plan therefore for a new building, should the erection of the latter be decided upon, I think that this should be made to include a chemical as well as a physical laboratory. Apart too from the fact, to which I have already referred that the chemical department, one of the original departments of the University, and one which has struggled on for well nigh fifty years against every possible discouragement in the way of adverse conditions and defective equipment, the two subjects of chemistry and physics are daily becoming more intimately blended, and in view of our limited resources it may become desirable in the future if not now, that the two chairs be united. Much too of the apparatus required, including such instruments as the spectroscope, polariscope, galvanic batteries, etc., is common to both. The requirements in the direction of equipment, water, gas, etc., are the same; and economy alone, apart from all the other considerations, would suggest the desirability of both departments even if kept separate being included in the same science building. This would mean at most the addition of only two or three more rooms, and would not very materially add to the present estimates of cost. All these subjects, however, are now under careful consideration of the Senate and in passing from this topic I will only add, that should it finally be thought advisable, in the best interests of the University and as consistent with other requirements, to proceed with the plan proposed. I trust that the scheme will receive upon all sides a hearty and generous support.

A word or two also as regard the biological and geological departments. Here again there is room for much improvement, but in view of the heavy expenditures involved in the plans already made in other directions I will in this connection refer only to such undertakings as involved little or no outlay of money. First then as regards the Museum. Here again one great difficulty is that of heating, the means at present in use being so defective that during the period of the year when the room is most needed the cabinet might as well be at the North Pole, so far as its temperature and suitability for the work are concerned. This can only be remedied in connection with that general system of heating by more modern and more efficient methods to which I have already referred. Then too there should some provision for the increase of the Museum, an auxiliary as necessary for science students as the library is for literary ones. True, as the Calendar says, though the statement is now a pretty old one, the Senate have from time to time granted liberal sums of money towards the perfection and extension of the Museum, but there have in most instances been required for the provision of suitable cases for the preservation and presentation of what we already had, and not for the purpose of obtaining new material. What is wanted is the setting aside each year of a sum of money, not necessarily large nor necessarily to be spent that year, but which may be placed to the credit of the Museum, so that when favorable opportunities arise, as they do from time to time, to obtain collections which would be of great service in the work of instruction, the means for their purchase would be at hand. We have in our Museum, as I have before said, much that is valuable (and, let me add, very little that is trash) but there are several departments in which additions are greatly needed. One of these is the department of comparative anatomy and zoology, in connection with which it is now possible to obtain, at moderate cost, preparations of skeletons, tissues, models, etc., such as a few years ago could not be obtained at any price. We want also, what we have never had, proper provision for our herbarium, so that not only may it receive adequate protection but be capable of more ready reference and more easy and systematic increase.

And here let me throw out a suggestion for the consideration of future graduating classes and other well wishers. In many Museums throughout the States and Canada one sees special collections of birds, minerals, shells or fossils, displayed in cases by themselves and with the latter bearing conspicuously upon their face a legend indicating that they are the gift of some particular class or private benefactor. Would it not be a source of gratification to students in after years to reflect that such useful monuments preserve their recollection in the walls of their Alma Mater rather than names, carved upon the benches or painted on the roof, which in many instances are now their sole memorials.

Once more. In the study of Biology how poorly are we equipped? Look at any recent work on this subject and see the lists of apparatus and accessories regarded as absolutely necessary for its proper prosecution--dissecting instruments, compound microscopes, microtomes, auxanometers, staining fluids, etc. What are we to do in their absence? What sort of a carpenter would he make who merely reads about the use of tools? What sort of a dentist or surgeon would he be who never before work had any practical knowledge of the instruments of his profession? True my own private compound microscope has been freely used for many many years in this illustration of such studies, but this cannot take the place of the smaller and less expensive instruments with which the students should be individually provided and with which they can alone do original and independent work.

This suggests another direction in which aid may be rendered to the scientific departments of the University. At present there are many scholarships, classical scholarships, county scholarships, besides prizes in English, in economics, in general proficiency. There is neither scholarship or prize specifically pertaining to the science department, even the microscope prize at one time available which would partly have supplied the great want to which I have referred and which was always eagerly contended for, having been (most ill-advisedly, as I think) withdrawn. Cannot some of the efforts of graduating classes or the liberality of some generous friend, be directed to the supplying of this regrettable deficiency. There is still another direction, in this case not involving any expenditure of money, in which I think a change is desirable. I refer to the very unequal preparation as regards science studies, made by candidates for matriculation, some coming well prepared in the subjects prescribed, while others, perhaps the majority, know little or nothing about such preparatory work. As a consequence there is either a wasteful duplication of effort after entrance with the lowering of a whole class to a level of the least prepared, or else students have to be rejected who in other directions may meet and meet admirably all requirements. This difficulty will, no doubt, gradually lessen as teachers appreciate more fully the necessity of bringing up their students to the desired standard, but at present the evil is a serious one. Before concluding I must briefly refer to one other topic not only on account of its own intrinsic importance, but for the reason that in view of recent discussions in the legislature and elsewhere it is one on which the entire character if not the very existence of the college is involved. I refer, of course, to the question of agricultural education and the relation of the University hereto.

The subject is too extensive to be fully treated here, but as one who has a deep personal interest therein and has given the matter a good deal of consideration, I may be permitted to state briefly some of the conclusions at which I have arrived.

The first proposition made, and that which affects us most vitally is that the University should itself be converted into an Agricultural College. I am glad to believe that there is little danger of this; that there are now but few who would seriously advocate such a change.

Apart from the fact that it would run directly counter to the principles upon which the University was founded and the views of those eminent men whose wisdom and forethought we are bidden to recall to memory today, such a step would, in my opinion, do but little to benefit even those for whose supposed interest it was undertaken. It would be substituting a special for a general training, without making any provision for those who may need or prefer the latter, and therefore would compel all the young men of the country either to choose this one path or go where broader views and wider opportunities prevail. Even as a special school I do not believe that it would be a success, for it would stand in the same position as other special schools, such as those of law, medicine and technology, effective only when based on large foundations, and therefore involving expenditures wholly out of proportion to the small number which in this community at least would be likely to attend it. It would make useless a large and valuable equipment as represented in our library, our museum, our physical apparatus, our engineering and electrical outfit. It would compel those who for years and with but small compensation have given to the Province years of faithful service to go out into the world and begin their life's work anew. But it is not necessary to discuss this proposition further. It has been regarded as unwise by the Chief Superintendent of Education; it would not meet with approval upon the part of a single alumnus of the college; it is not justified by the financial position of the province; it has not been favorably regarded even among the farmers themselves by those best qualified to speak.

A second plan is the establishment of a chair of agricultural chemistry in the University, and a proposal looking to such establishment has, I believe, already been made by the Senate to the Government. Here, again, though it may seem presumptuous to offer an unasked opinion, I cannot but say that the proposition as it stands will not go very far to meet the acknowledged want. For all sciences agriculture is perhaps the most comprehensive and complex, and chemistry is only one of the many foundations upon which it rests. For instance to understand the nature of soils it is not enough merely to know their chemical composition as revealed by analysis. This in itself and apart from other considerations, such as texture, arrangement, porosity, drainage, etc., may have very little to do with the actual fitness of the soil for agricultural operations. Full knowledge of the subject would also imply some knowledge of the geological formations from which soils were derived, of their mineral constituents and the changes, mechanical as well as chemical, to which they have been subjected. Thus a teacher of scientific agriculture must needs be something of a physicist of a lithologist and a geologist. Soils, again, support plants, but the relations of the two are by no means wholly of a chemical character. To understand and to teach the conditions and the processes of plant-life one must be something of a botanist or rather a biologist, familiar not only with the nature and composition of plant food, but also with the wonderfully varied methods and provisions whereby this food is obtained, stored, converted from one form to another, and removed from one place to another as the requirements of the plant make necessary. The fact that such an important process as that of nutrification is largely influenced by , if not dependent upon, the aid afforded by organic germs, the so called bacteria so minute as to be utterly invisible to the naked eye, and whose part in such operations is a comparatively recent discovery, shows how obscure and recondite are many of the conditions upon which the successful cultivation of plants depends.

Plants again are the food of animals, and the agriculturist is almost as much concerned with the one as with the other. His teacher, therefore, must also know, and know well, the complex relations which exist between them, as again illustrated in connection with the same bacteria or microbes to which I have referred--in the fact, for instance that while certain forms of these seem to be absolutely necessary for the proper digestion of food in the intestines of cattle, closely related, if not in the same forms, by their milk, in butter or cheese, determine all the difference between good and bad products, it may be between human health and disease. Finally it is only necessary to refer to the ravages of insects to show that there are, in connection with the improvement of the farm's condition and prospects, many lines of investigation quite as important as those which are purely chemical, and with reference to which he needs advice and assistance.

It is likely that a Professor of Agriculture Chemistry will be prepared to meet all the requirements? They are not so met elsewhere, and although now and then one meets with men whose ability or training is such as to enable them to have a fairly comprehensive grasp of all these complex relations, they are hard to find, and are not likely to be tempted by any inducements offered them here.

What then would I advocate? Not the appointment of a Professor of Agricultural chemistry, but simply a professor of chemistry and agriculture. I have already suggested that the chair which I have so long had the honor to occupy be divided. Should this be done and adequate support be made for the two sections let the new incumbent take entire charge of the chemical department, including that of agriculture. At the same time let it be understood to be a part of the duty of the Professor of Natural History and Geology that he give such attention as possible to the study and advancement of such agricultural interests as are more particularly connected with his lines of work. In this way there might be established within the University a sort of Agricultural Department or Faculty in connection with which, but as supplementary to the ordinary Arts course, special courses of lectures, biological and geological, as well as chemical, might be given to those desiring them. At the same time it might under certain conditions be made the duty, not only of the chemical professor as well, with the assistance, perhaps, of the science instructor of the Normal School, to visit different parts of the country, to attend farmers' institutes, to give upon such occasions practical talks and illustrations of scientific subjects bearing upon farming interests, to study the soils  and the natural vegetation of various sections, the subjects of forestry and drainage together with the distribution and habits of birds and insects. In this way I think that much good might be done, not to farmers only but to the entire community. At the same time the method of distributing leaflets relating to such subjects, which has been found so beneficial elsewhere, might be adopted here, and by including geological and mining subjects as well as agricultural ones, become the means of fostering there important interests as well.

Of course this plan would involve some expenditure. No plan worth mentioning could do otherwise, and in this as in most other things the value will be directly proportional to what you are prepared to pay for it, but it would involve much less cost than the establishment of a separate agricultural institution, and would, in my opinion, be quite as effective.

A few farewell words to the graduating class. For four years, ladies and gentlemen of 1899 we have been meeting day by day to consider and to grapple with the problems presented to us by this great world in which we live. We have had impressed upon us in many different ways that we stand in intimate relationship to the activities of that world, and that, whether we understand them or not, we must recognize their existence and cannot safely defy them. We may use them to our good or to our lasting hurt. We may make them by proper knowledge and treatment, our willing servants, enabling us to accomplish wonderful things, or we may, through ignorance or cupidity, abuse them, when they are pretty sure to rise in their power and teach us a lesson we are not likely to forget.

You are now about to go out into spheres of action in which these natural laws are operating on a larger scale than in the laboratory; you are yourselves to be factors in influencing the conditions and destiny of those with whom you may come into contact. Is it too much to hope that the training which you have here received, the habits of close observation and comparison, the recognition of the relations of cause and effect, the necessity of constantly discriminating between what is essential and what is merely accessory, which have been impressed upon you as so necessary for the successful study of nature, will continue to serve you in the solving of the practical problems which, of one kind or another, your future life will necessarily bring before you? I can only assure you that whatever may be the particular lines of your effort, I shall continue to take an interest therein and shall be ever ready, should it be within my power, to afford you further assistance. In parting I cannot do better than to remind you of the words of Wordsworth:

"To the solid ground
Of nature trusts the mind which
builds for aye."