gation, in which Hon. John C. Spencer, an old pupil of Dr. Nott, volunteered his services in behalf of his old instructor, and his masterly argument before the commission was so eloquent and convincing as to complete the vindication of his venerable instructor of other years, and to remove the odium from an honored name. Dr. Nott completed the discomfiture of his enemies by anticipating the report of the legislative committee and by executing a deed of trust which bestowed upon the college a property then estimated at over $600,000, an act which only the most malignant of his enemies persisted in characterizing as the discharge of a debt, and not as a donation. Certainly the college owes its high position among American colleges not only to the scholarship and the reputation of Eliphalet Nott, but also to his shrewdness, skill, and munificence it owes its largest endowment.

The tracing to their culmination of the lotteries and the difficulties engendered by them has caused a digression from the history of the college itself and its progress through these years. Notwithstanding the number and the intricacy of the outside matters which claimed his attention, Dr. Nott's first interests were in "his children," as his pupils were affectionately styled. From the time of the erection of the new college buildings on the hill the number of students steadily increased until in 1820 the number in all the classes exceeded 300, and the graduating class alone contained 65. In this class were several men who attained distinguished eminence, among whom were William H. Seward; Laurens P. Hickok, who long stood at the head of American metaphysicians; William Kent, one of New York's ablest jurists; Tayler Lewis, the greatest linguist and classical scholar of his age, and Rev. Dr. Horatio Foote. In 1825 Union had passed Harvard and Yale in the number of its students, and with the exception of a few intervening years held for a quarter century the honor of being the largest college in the United States. The fame of Dr. Nott as an educator, the high reputation of the college, the excellence of its system and management drew students from all parts of the country to Schenectady, and large numbers came from the lower classes of other institutions to obtain the benefit of President Nott's senior lectures and receive from his hand their diplomas. The president drew around him and kept as his coadjutors a remarkable body of faithful, energetic, and learned professors, and throughout President Nott's unprecedented administration of sixty-two years the college enjoyed the highest degree of prosperity.

In 1845 was celebrated with great enthusiasm the semicentennial anniversary of the founding of the college, for which, preparations had been made for two years previous. The occasion was one of general rejoicing and congratulation. Addresses were made by Rev. Dr. Joseph Sweetman, one of the first graduates, and by Dr. Alonzo 3176-14

Potter, afterwards vice-president of the college. Over 500 of the alumni attended the anniversary.

Another interesting anniversary was held nine years later on the completion of the half century of Dr. Nott's administration, July 25, 1854. The central point of interest on this occasion was the address of the venerable president, which was a compact review of the labors, trials, and successes of the fifty years which had closed. The other principal orators were Hon. William W. Campbell, of Cherry Valley, and President Francis Wayland, of Brown University, a former pupil of Dr. Nott. The proceedings upon both these anniversary occasions were preserved in the form of printed memorial pamphlets.

Before this time, however, the aged president had begun to feel the infirmities of advancing years, and in 1852 Dr. L. P. Hickok was elected vice-president, and upon him gradually devolved the cares of administration, although the presidency was not actually conferred upon him until the death of Dr. Nott in 1866.

The prosperity of the college continued undiminished until the civil war burst like a storm cloud over the country. The classes of 1860 and 1861 were among the largest in the history of the college. Through nearly a quarter century the South had sent more students to Union College than to any other, and the class rolls of those years show representatives from nearly every Southern State. But as the controversy over the question of slavery became more bitter the South gradually withdrew its young men. from Northern institutions, and when the first shell broke over Sumter the last band of Southern students then remaining in Union left to join the ranks of the Confederacy. Nor was this the only cause of depletion. Scores of Northern students forsook their books to take up the musket. The college campus became a drill ground. The brilliant young professor of modern languages, Prof. Elias Peissner, recruited a company on the campus and led them in person to the front, himself falling on the bloody field of Chancellorsville with a colonel's eagles on his shoulders. Over 300 Union men became Union soldiers.

The war was the beginning of a period of depression which lasted for many years. Dr. Nott died in 1866, at the ripe age of 93 years, and was succeeded by Dr. Hickok. He resigned in 1868, and was succeeded by Rev. Dr. Charles A. Aiken, of Princeton, who served for only two years. After a brief interregnum, Rev. Dr. Eliphalet Nott Potter, a son of Bishop Alonzo Potter, and a grandson of President Nott, was elected to the presidency. Under his administration new endowments were received, new buildings erected, and the number of students increased. Under his management, however, misunderstandings arose between the president and the faculty and trustees, and he retired in 1884. On his retirement, Hon. Judson S. Landon became president ad interim until the election, in 1888, of Harrison E. Webster, LL. D.

EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE AND PROGRESS.

There is perhaps no place more fitting than this for a brief mention of the services of the instructors who made Union famous and of her influence in the development of higher education in America. It is true that during the administration of Dr. Nott he alone shaped the policy of the college, originated plans for its government, suggested and carried into effect changes when needed, and controlled its affairs as absolutely as any monarch who ever ruled an empire. Yet his rule was gentle, if autocratic. The utmost harmony prevailed in the councils of the faculty, and the mention of their names is sufficient to account for the value and popularity of the Union College course during his administration of sixty-two years. At the head of the Greek department, Union has had such instructors as Andrew Yates, Henry Davis, Robert Proudfit, Tayler Lewis, and Henry Whitehorne. In Latin, Thomas C. Reed, John Newman, Benjamin Stanton, and Robert Lowell. In mathematics, John Taylor, Benjamin Allen, Francis Wayland, Isaac W. Jackson, and Isaiah B. Price. In chemistry, Joel B. Nott, Charles A. Joy, Benjamin F. Joslin, Charles F. Chandler, and Maurice Perkins. In natural philosophy, Thomas Macauley, Alonzo Potter, and John Foster. In French and German, Pierre Reynaud, Louis Tellkampf, Pierre A. Proal, Elias Peissner, William Wells, and Wendell Lamoroux. In natural history, Jonathan Pearson and Harrison E. Webster. In rhetoric, logic, and belles-lettres, Thomas C. Brownell, Alonzo Potter, Laurens P. Hickok, Nathaniel G. Clarke, Ransom B. Welch, and George Alexander. In Oriental literature, John Austin Yates and Tayler Lewis. In civil engineering, Frederick R. Hassler, William M. Gillespie, Cady Staley, and Winfield S. Chaplin.

Union College was the first to break away from the strict and beaten classical course and to place scientific instruction on a plane of equal dignity with it. At Union also originated the so-called optional system, which it has always exercised to a limited degree, but never to the extent of the license which it afterwards attained in other colleges. As far back as 1797 we have seen, in the report of the regents, quoted in the foregoing pages, the germ of this now popular system. "A provision is also made for substituting the knowledge of the French language instead of the Greek, in certain cases, if the funds should hereafter admit of instituting a French professorship." This professorship, with a single exception, the first in the United States, was established in 1806.

The essential features of the scientific course, as originated by Dr. Nott and so ably advocated by President Wayland and other of his pupils, was the substitution of the modern languages and an increased amount of mathematical and physical science in place of the Greek and Latin languages. It also permitted, within certain well-defined limits, the election of certain studies by the student.

The first course of civil engineering in any American college was established at Union in 1845 by Prof. William M. Gillespie, and has ever since been successfully maintained. While it still maintains the classical course in all its thoroughness, the scientific instruction has recently been still further developed by the establishment of courses in sanitary and electrical engineering. The departments of English and of modern languages have also been greatly strengthened, and the course of instruction at Union to-day compares favorably with that of the best New England and New York colleges.

Union has been called the mother of secret societies. Instead of antagonizing and repressing the fraternities, the authorities at Union have ever encouraged and fostered them. The three oldest college fraternities in the United States, except the venerable Phi Beta Kappa, which had then already ceased to be a secret society, were organized at Union in 1825 and 1827. These were Kappa Alpha, Sigma Phi, and Delta Phi. Later on, in 1832 and 1847, Psi Upsilon, Chi Psi, and Theta Delta Chi established their first chapters at Union. The authorities have always maintained that, properly conducted, the fraternities were of actual benefit rather than a hindrance to college discipline. The fraternities now flourishing are, in the order of their establishment, Kappa Alpha, Sigma Phi, Delta Phi, Psi Upsilon, Delta Upsilon, Apha Delta Phi, Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, and Chi Psi, reestablished in 1892. The Union chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, established in 1817, is the Alpha or parent chapter for the State of New York. Another honorary fraternity, Sigma Xi, has recently been established, to which only the honor men of the scientific and engineering courses are eligible, Phi Beta Kappa being confined to the classical students.

Two literary societies, the Philomathean and the Adelphic, each nearly a century old, divide the allegiance of the students. Each has a fine hall and well-selected libraries of from 3,000 to 5,000 volumes.

One of the earliest of all college publications was the Floriad, published by the literary societies of Union in 1809. A few numbers of this paper are in the Boston Public Library. The various student publications which have followed it and survived for a longer or shorter period were the Students' Album (1827), The Parthenon and Academicians' Magazine (1832), The Union College Magazine (18601875), The Unionian (1862), The Spectator (1873), and the Concordiensis (1877). The last-mentioned is now the principal college publication, and has recently been made a bimonthly. The Garnet, so named from the college color, is an annual illustrated publication, conducted by the secret societies.

The songs of Union form a handsome volume, Carmina Concordia, first collected by a member of the class of 1875, a new edition of which, embodying the recent songs, has since been issued by two members of

the class of 1896. John Howard Payne was one of Union's earliest song writers, and gifted writers have from year to year added to the collection. A few of these songs are perennial in their fragrance and are always sung on festive occasions. This is especially true of the "Song to Old Union," composed by Fitzhugh Ludlow, of the class of 1856, and now deceased. It is always sung on commencement day, at the close of the graduating exercises. The hearty good will and feeling with which returning sons join in the grand chorus

Then here's to thee, the brave and free

Old Union, smiling o'er us;

And for many a day, as thy walls grow gray,

May they ring with thy children's chorus

show that the gifted poet did not attune his lyre in vain.

The government of Union College has always been paternal, but characterized by the greatest freedom consistent with good results. The ponderous code of rules and restrictions of the old days has long since gone out of print, and the only rule now promulgated at Union College is that recently announced in the terse language of ex-President Webster, that "every student should do his work and conduct himself like a gentleman." On these two hang all the law and the prophets.

Of the nine presidents of Union, four, Presidents Hickok, Potter, Webster, and Raymond, were graduates of Union; Presidents Maxcy and Nott bore the diplomas of Brown University, Presidents Smith and Edwards were Princeton men, and President Aiken a graduate of Dartmouth. The strict adherence of the college to the unsectarianism and Christian union which shaped the plans of its founders is apparent in the varying religious tenets of its several presidents. Presidents Smith, Edwards, Nott, Webster, and Raymond were Presbyterians, Dr. Maxcy a Baptist, Dr. Hickok a Congregationalist, and Dr. Potter an Episcopalian.

BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS.

The oldest buildings on the college grounds are the north and south college buildings, uniform in construction and 800 feet apart. The ends of each building contain residences for professors, and the central part, having three distinct entrances and sections, provides 48 rooms in each college. Backward from each of these buildings run the two "colonnades," each 250 feet long. These contain recitation rooms, lecture rooms, and apparatus. The colonnades terminate each in a larger, square building, the north building being devoted to the chemical and philosophical laboratories and lecture rooms, and the south to the chapel, registrar's office, and natural history museum. The museum of natural history is one of the finest in this country, being exceeded in the number and variety of its specimens only by that of Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution at Wash