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In 1874 the very extensive collection of the late Professor Meisner, of Basle, Switzerland, especially rich in South American, Asiatic, and Australian species, and supplementing the Torrey herbarium to a remarkable degree, together with the herbarium of Dr. A. W. Chapman, of Florida, containing nearly all the species described in the Flora of the Southern United States, were purchased by Mr. John J. Crooke, of New York, and presented to the college.

The personal bryological collection of the late Mr. C. F. Austin, containing all of Austin's types of mosses and some of his Hepaticæ, has since been purchased.' Dr. N. L. Britton, adjunct professor of botany, has been active in the development of this department.

Besides many papers, monographs, and scientific sketches, he has published a Catalogue of the Flora of Richmond County, Staten Island (1879), The Geology of Staten Island (1880), Preliminary Catalogue of the Flora of New Jersey (1882), Catalogue of Plants found in New Jersey (1889).

On the completion of the new library building the trustees voted that the herbarium should be considered a part of the botanical library and should be kept in one of the rooms of the new building.

The botanical library is placed around the walls of the room; it comprises about 2,000 bound volumes and an equal number of pamphlets, and is rapidly increasing in bulk. '

CABINETS AND COLLECTIONS.

In addition to the herbaria the college has equally valuable collections of specimens and models illustrating all the other subjects taught in the school of mines.

The lectures on crystallography are illustrated by a collection of 150 models in glass, which show the axes of the crystals and the relation of the derived to the primitive form. This suite is completed by 400 models in wood showing most of the actual and theoretical forms, and also by a collection of natural crystals showing the forms as they actually occur in the prominent mineral species.

The cabinet of minerals comprises about 30,000 specimens, arranged in cases. It includes a large suite of pseudomorphs, a collection illustrating the physical characters of minerals, and a collection illustrating crystallography by natural crystals, showing both their normal and distorted forms. The minerals are accompanied by a large collection of models in wood showing the crystalline form of each. Arranged in wall cases are large specimens showing the association of the minerals. There are also three separate student collections of average specimens, amounting in the aggregate to over 6,000.

A very complete collection of metallurgical products, illustrating the different stages of the type process in the extraction of each metal in this country and in Europe, is accessible to the students, and the collection is constantly increasing. An extensive collection of models

'Columbia College Herbaria, by Dr. N. L. Britton, Botanical Gazette, Vol. XII,

of furnaces has been imported, and a very large number of working drawings of furnaces and machines used in the different processes.

Applied chemistry is illustrated by several thousand specimens of materials and products, arranged in a cabinet of industrial chemistry for exhibition at the lectures and for inspection by the students.

The geological collection consists of over 100,000 specimens, to which additions are constantly being made.

The departments of civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and mining engineering are fully illustrated by collections of appropriate models.

THE VANDERBILT GIFTS.

Soon after the completion of the new library and law school building the munificent gift of the late William H. Vanderbilt placed the college in possession of buildings for its medical department superior to any in this country. Mr. Vanderbilt presented to the college twentynine lots of land on Fifty-ninth street, Tenth avenue, and Sixtieth street for the erection thereon from time to time of suitable buildings for instruction in the science of medicine. These lots were valued at $200,000, and to this gift he added $300,000 in money as a building fund. This princely and very opportune gift provided the school with buildings thoroughly equipped in the very best manner.

The generous benefactor lived but a short time after this, and on his death a hospital was built on the college grounds, by a gift from his four sons, as a memorial of their father. This is known as the Vanderbilt Clinic, and contains a fully equipped dispensary. At the same time a second hospital was built upon this block by one of the Vanderbilt family. Mr. William D. Sloane presented to the college $200,000, with which the Sloane Maternity Hospital was built. This contains 39 beds, all of which are free, having been endowed by Mrs. Sloane, a daughter of the late Mr. Vanderbilt. This hospital is also under the immediate supervision of the college professors, and a corps of 6 students from the graduating class are on duty each week in the term. Including the land, the three buildings, the equipment, and the endowment of the beds in the maternity hospital, over $1,000,000 has been expended by this family for the benefit of the medical profession. But the science of medicine does not receive the only benefit from this generosity. During the year 1889 over 102,000 persons were treated in the Vanderbilt Clinic.

The completion of these new quarters encouraged the faculty of medicine to take some important steps in the direction of increased usefulness. In 1880 the duration of the annual session had been extended from five months to seven. There was a large increase in the number of students in the following year. It is also encouraging to note that the majority of the students chose of their own accord to spend three years in the school instead of finishing as was possi

ble, in two. This action was encouraged by raising the standard of examinations and making it possible for a student to pass final examinations in certain of his subjects at the end of his second year. The result was the establishment in 1887 of a graded course covering a period of three years, thus making it possible to offer much more detailed and thorough instruction.1

The next step was the requiring of examinations for admission to the course. This had long been considered a desirable measure in the interest of the profession. The college adopted a schedule of entrance examinations, making it prerequisite to matriculation that the student should show a fair proficiency in the English and Latin languages, arithmetic, algebra, and geometry, such as is usually demanded for entrance in advanced literary colleges. The immediate effect of this was to greatly decrease the number of students, but it has placed the college on a much higher level.

DEATH OF DR. SHORT.

A very sad loss occurred in the latter part of President Barnard's administration in the unexpected death of the eminent Latin professor, Dr. Short, who died on the 24th of December, 1886. "Dr. Short," says the Rev. Talbot W. Chambers, "was remarkable as a painstaking scholar, who would have contributed more to classical literature but for his reluctance to let anything pass from his pen till he had expended his ability upon it." Graduated at Harvard in 1846, he spent his entire life as an educator, a portion of it in the presidency of Kenyon College, Ohio. Three years after his call to Columbia he was appointed a member of the American committee for the revision of the New Testament, and subsequently became secretary of that body. He was a member of many learned societies, to which he contributed papers of much originality. His work includes revisions of Schmitz and Zumpt's Advanced Latin Exercises and Mitchell's Ancient Geography. He wrote an essay on the order of words in Attic-Greek prose, which is prefixed to Young's English-Greek Lexicon, and is the most exhaustive treatise that has been written upon the subject. He also edited, in conjunction with Dr. Carlton T. Lewis, a new edition of Andrew's Freund's Latin Lexicon. Dr. Short was an active Christian and a good churchman. For a number of years he was a vestryman of St. Thomas Church, where a tablet has been placed to his memory.

The chair in the Latin language and literature left vacant by the demise of Dr. Short was subsequently filled by the election of an alumnus of the college, Dr. Harry Thurston Peck, a young man of marked ability, who had shown himself eminently fitted for the responsible position intrusted to him.

1 The course has since been extended to four years, the length of time now required in all reputable schools.

RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT BARNARD.

In June, 1888, President Barnard, admonished by a severe sickness that his increasing age would soon necessitate his retirement from active life, offered his resignation of the presidency. The board of trustees sought by passing a series of resolutions to express their sympathy in the impaired condition of their leader's health and their sincere and deep regret of the action made necessary by it. It was resolved

That this board attest with pride and pleasure the widespread fame of the distinguished head of the college and share in the general admiration for his extraordinary attainments, his ability as an educator, and the modest simplicity and dignity which have uniformly characterized his manners and life.

Resolved, That President Barnard be granted a leave of absence for one year from date or until the election and installation of his successor.

Resolved, That when the time comes to install his successor the board confer on the retiring president the rank and title of president emeritus and that his salary be continued during the remainder of his life.

Dr. Drisler was requested to undertake the duties of the presidency and it was hoped that Dr. Barnard would live to complete his twentyfifth year in office, but in the spring of 1889 he passed to his eternal rest.

What the college was when President Barnard was called to it in 1864 has been seen; his last report shows it to have been a university consisting of the college proper, the nucleus, called the school of arts, with its graduate department and four associated schools, the medical school, the law school, the school of political science, and the school of applied sciences, called the school of mines. This latter was divided into seven departments each of which was practically a school by itself—a school of mining engineering, a school of civil engineering, a school of metallurgy, a school of geology and paleontology, a school of analytical and applied chemistry, a school of architecture, and a school of sanitary engineering.

The school of arts offered an extensive elective system, the graduate department, together with the school of political science, offered almost all the advantages given under the faculty of philosophy in foreign universities, while the professional and scientific schools had attained a degree of excellence unsurpassed in this country.

There were in the college 1,863 students, of whom 51 were matriculated in two or more schools. Four hundred and fifteen degrees were given in President Barnard's last year, 28 in the school of political science, 56 in the school of mines, 106 in the school of medicine, 110 in the school of law, and 115 in the school of arts. 1 The corps of instructors consisted of 45 professors, 12 adjunct professors, 10 lecturers, 16 instructors, 6 tutors, 76 assistants, and 36 fellows.

This number includes honorary degrees conferred at the centennial celebration.

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