No other State besides Wisconsin, except Ohio, has ventured to leave so important a trust as the selection of regents in the hands of the Gov. ernor alone. However smoothly such a system as this may work under favorable circumstances, the possibility that the power of appointment may be used for political or personal ends is too great to warrant such a prerogative.

These objectionable features of the act of 1866 remain unchanged; but of late a movement has sprung up looking especially to securing for the alumni a voice in the election of regents and a representation in the Board. A bill to that effect was defeated in the Legislature in the session of 1887. A substitute bill, providing for elections by the people, after passing both houses was vetoed by the Governor on merely technical grounds. In all the legislative discussions upon the subject no valid objections were offered to the proposed plans upon their merits. Either of them would be an improvement upon the present system.

The Board of Regents consists of twelve members, of whom the State Superintendent is er officio regent, two are appointed from the State at large, and nine from the respective congressional districts. The term is three years from the first Monday of February in the year of appoint. ment, unless the member is sooner removed by the Governor.

Internal Progress.-The organic law of 1866 systematizes the University thus: The college of arts, the college of letters, and such other colleges as from time to time may be added thereto or connected therewith. Under the authority of this latter clause a law school was established, so that, as at present constituted, the University comprises three colleges: Letters, arts, law.

Sections 2 and 3 of the act point out the scope of the instruction: "SECTION 2. The college of arts shall embrace courses of instruction in the mathematical, physical, and natural sciences, with their applications to the industrial arts, such as agriculture, mechanics, and engi neering, mining and metallurgy, manufactures, architecture, and commerce; in such branches included in the college of letters as shall be necessary to a proper fitness of the pupils for their chosen pursuits, and in military tactics; and as soon as the income of the University will allow, in such order as the wants of the public shall seem to require, the said courses in the sciences and their application to the practical arts shall be expanded into distinct colleges of the University, each with its own Faculty and appropriate title.

"SECTION 3. The college of letters shall be coexistent with the college of arts, and shall embrace a liberal course of instruction in language, literature, and philosophy, together with such courses or parts of courses in the college of arts as the authorities of the University shall prescribe."

The long vacant presidency was filled by the election of Paul A. Chadbourne, then president of the Agricultural College of Massachusetts. J. L. Pickard had before this been offered the position, but de11411-No. 1-3

clined to accept. Doctor Chadbourne likewise had once refused to take the presidency. He had twice visited the State to inquire into the condition and prospects of the University, but feared that the admission of women to the full privileges of the University would prevent its growth and usefulness. Not until the Legislature of 1867 had passed an act allowing the regents to provide for women in a separate department and under regulations and restrictions," was he prevailed upon to accept the presidency. Then, says Professor Carpenter, "he entered with great zeal and ability upon the task of a thorough reorganization of the University. A new Faculty was to be selected, new courses of study to be provided, the female college to be adjusted in its relations to the University, besides the numberless details and unforeseen difficulties that beset any new undertaking. So radical a change in the management of the University of course awakened more or less opposition, and the acts of the new managers were in some quarters severely criticised, but, on the whole, public sentiment sustained the new Board.”

On account of ill health President Chadbourne resigned in 1870. For a year the University was again under the charge of Professor Sterling, as vice-president. In June, 1871, Rev. J. H. Twombly was elected president. After his resignation, January 21, 1874, John Bascom was chosen to the presidency, and held the office until June, 1887. T. C. Chamberlain, formerly State geologist and professor in Beloit College, now holds the position.

Professor Sterling was the only one of the former Faculty permanently retained after the reorganization. Yet the difficulty met with in securing a president necessitated a temporary retention of the profes sors under the old régime, as well as a continuance of the old course of instruction. Agriculture, however, was at once added to the list of studies. In 1867 the Faculty was wholly re-constituted, except that Professor Sterling, as above stated, was retained. A list of the successive additions to the Faculty, with the dates of the same, is appended for the purpose of showing the progress in the expansion of the university work and in the specialization and division of the various departments.

1867.

T. N. Haskell, Rhetoric and English Literature.

William T: Allen, Ancient Languages and Literature.

John B. Parkinson, Mathematics.

1868.

W. W. Daniels, Agriculture.

W. R. Pease, Military Engineering and Tactics.

John B. Fenling, Modern Languages and Comparative Philology.

John E. Davies, Chemistry and Natural History.

Addison E. Verrill, Comparative Anatomy and Entomology.

1869.

S. H. Carpenter, Rhetoric and English Literature.

1870.

Alexander Kerr, Greek Language and Literature.
R. D. Irving, Geology, Mining, and Metallurgy.

William J. L. Nicodemus, Military Science and Engineering. 1871.

John B. Parkinson, Civil Polity and International Law.

1875.

R. B. Anderson, Scandinavian Languages.

1876.

James C. Watson, Director of Washburn Observatory.
D. B. Frankenburger, Rhetoric and Oratory.

1880.

W. H. Rosenstengel, German Language and Literature.
J. C. Freeman, English Literature.

E. T. Owen, French Language and Literature.

E. T. Birge, Zoology.

Asaph Hall, Consulting Director of the Washburn Observatory.

C. R. Barnes, Botany.

G. C. Comstock, Astronomy.

J. E. Olson, Scandinavian Languages and Literature.

V. T. Atkinson, Veterinary Science.

S. M. Babcock, Agricultural Chemistry.

A few of these were, at the dates given, assistant professors, most of whom have since been promoted to full professorships. No mention is made in the above list of many instructors and assistants. Many named in the list were instructors before being elected to professorships; in very many cases they were advanced, after varying periods of service as tutors, on true civil service principles. Various successive changes in the titles of several of the chairs are not indicated in the above list. Further than this brief outline and suggestion of the lines and times of development in the respective departments, little can be added here.

At the time of the reorganization the need of better facilities for instruction in the various branches of physical science occupied attention most largely for the moment. The material development of the country after the Civil War brought into sharp contrast the desirable and the possible with the actual fruits of scientific teaching. The deficiency of the University in natural science was one of the principal causes of the public distrust, and it was these studies that assumed special prominence under the new order of things. In fact, the University of Wisconsin, especially in recent years, may seem to have leaned toward scientific rather than literary studies. But this is only apparent. It is due to the large appropriations for the erection of buildings for the scientific departments and for the supply of apparatus and appliances. The cost of furnishing the scientific departments is of necessity much greater than that which secures the outfit for the college of letters. But there has been no intention to give any preference to physical science, and future appropriations, which will doubtless be made, will temporarily give the same apparent preponderance to the literary

courses.

The "modern classical" course was established in 1872, and has served as a model for similar courses in many private colleges in the West. The course was identical with the "ancient classical," except that German and French were substituted for the Greek of the latter course. The adoption of this course was a part of the general movement then prominent for replacing the traditional curriculum by studies of a more modern cast. The degree of bachelor of letters is given upon the completion of this course. A portion of the Faculty strongly advocated granting the same degree, bachelor of arts, to graduates in this course as was bestowed upon those who completed the ancient classical course; but it was finally decided not to give the new course the equal rank that this would imply.

A distinct course in general science was arranged in 1873. The English course, in which there is only one language required-and that a modern, French or German,-was adopted in 1886; the degree of B. L. (English) is given at graduation in this course.

The College of Arts now includes the general science course, and the special technical departments of agriculture, pharmacy, civil engineering, mining and metallurgical engineering, and mechanical engineer

ing. The College of Letters embraces three courses; ancient classical, modern classical, and English.

In 1879 an increasing teaching force rendered it possible for the University to offer a wider range of studies than before, and also opportunity for more extended study in the several branches. A somewhat extended election of studies was granted in the Junior and Senior years. The system of prescribed studies for the first two years, with large opportunities for election in the last two years of the course, has since been maintained and improved. One year's study at the University, after having received the baccalaureate degree, or three years if carried on elsewhere, leads to the degree of master in the four general courses. Corresponding study and practice for one year, not necessarily, however, at the University, entitles the graduates in the special courses of the College of Arts to the degrees of civil engineer, mining engineer, metallurgical engineer, and mechanical engineer, in the respective departments.

The medical schools at Chicago having preoccupied the field, no attempt has been made since 1855 to establish a medical department in the University. If this addition of a school of medicine should be made, it would probably be established in Milwaukee, where alone in the State there are sufficient opportunities for clinical and surgical practice.

On the other hand, the capital city of the State, with a large law library and frequent sessions of courts, both State and National, offers unusual facilities for the study of law. The College of Law was opened in 1868, with five professors and fifteen students. The attendance in 1887-88 was 113. The course as at first established comprised but one year's work; afterward, it was enlarged to two years. The professors thus far have always been lawyers actively engaged in practice in the city of Madison. With a view to the improvement of the school in accordance with its growing importance as the principal training school for the profession in the North-West, the Board of Regents, in June, 1888, directed the president of the University to recommend a suitable person as dean of the law Faculty, who should give all his time to the work in the College of Law. The rapid increase in the number of students has also justified a considerable advance in the tuition fees charged. The new rates, which go into effect after 1889, will furnish means for the extension and improvement of the work.

Co-education.-Probably the most important change made by the reconstruction, at least as viewed from the stand point of the time, was the open and avowed recognition of the claims and the right of women to an equal share in the benefits of higher education. They were no longer to find entrance to the University only under the shelter of a "nor mal department," or other annex. Section 4 of the act of 1866 declares, "The University in all its departments and colleges shall be open alike to male and female students." But in looking about for a president,