"As a surgeon he was bold and fearless, ever willing to assume any legitimate responsibility, even though it took him into the undiscovered country of experiment. He did not do this rashly, but only when the stake was worthy of the risk. There is still living in Hanover a monument of Dr. Mussey's pluck and skill. This man had a large, ulcerated and bleeding naevus on the vertex of his head, which threatened a speedy death. There seemed no way to relieve the patient except by tying both carotids, which was regarded as an operation inevitably fatal. The danger was imminent, and as Dr. Mussey could see no way to untie the knot, he determined to cut it. He tied one carotid, and in twelve days tied the other, following both operations in a few weeks with a removal of the tumor. The recovery was perfect, and the case was, we believe, the first recorded instance where both carotids were successfully tied. This operation gave him great fame both at home and abroad.

"It is not my purpose to attempt an account of the surgery done by this eminent man, only to touch on some of its salient points. Thus he successfully removed an ovarian tumor, at a time when the operation had been done only a few times in the world. He removed a boy's tongue which measured eight inches in circumference, and projected five inches beyond the jaws, and the patient recovered.

"He removed the scapula and a large part of the clavicle at one operation, from a patient on whom he had amputated previously at the shoulder-joint. Dr. Mussey supposed that this was the first operation of the kind [as it was in some respects] in the history of Surgery.

"He several times removed the upper, and portions of the lower, jaw. Dr. Mussey kept no extended records of his operations, but I subjoin a few statements alike interesting to us and creditable to him.

"He performed the operation of lithotomy forty-nine times, and all the patients recovered but four. He operated for strangulated hernia forty times, and with a fatal result in only eight cases. He practiced subcutaneous deligation in forty cases of varicocele, and all were successful. Dr. Mussey operated four times for perineal fistula, twice for impermeable stricture of the urethra, and did a large number of plastic operations with the best results. He also successfully treated a recto-vaginal fistula.

"These are only a fraction of the innumerable operations which he did, yet they show results such as the greatest surgeons in the world would be proud to declare.

"But it is not alone as a surgeon that Dr. Mussey attained excellence. It was as an accurate observer that he early made himself known to the medical world. The habit of his mind was positive; he respected authority, and to the latest period of his life was assiduous in acquiring professional knowledge from books no less than from observation. He delighted to fortify himself in any given position by citing authorities, and always showed that he had informed himself exhaustively in the bibliography of the subject. Yet it was his habit to subject every medical statement to the most rigid tests. While pursuing his studies in Philadelphia, he joined issue with Dr. Rush on some of the physiological doctrines which were generally received at that time. This distinguished man had taught the doctrine of non-absorption by the skin. This was supposed to have been proved by an experiment in which a young man, confined in a small room, breathed through a tube running through the wall into the open air, the surface of the skin being rubbed at the same time with turpentine, asparagus, etc. As no odor of these substances was perceptible in the secretions, it was inferred that no absorption had taken place through the skin, and that it was impossible. Dr. Mussey, believing this doctrine to be fallacious, immersed himself in a strong solution of madder for three hours. He had the satisfaction of getting unmistakable evidence of the presence of madder in the secretions for two days, the addition of an alkali always rendering them red. He repeated this experiment with the same result, and made it the theme of a thesis on his graduation. Some of the Faculty who differed with Dr. Rush on the subject were much pleased with these experiments, and predicted even then for our friend a distinguished career."

Professor Mussey died at Boston June 21, 1866.

* * * * *

We quote from Dr. J. W. Barstow's obituary notice in the "New York Medical Journal," November, 1873, of Professor Mussey's successor.

"Dr. Dixi Crosby, for thirty-two years professor of Surgery in Dartmouth College, died at his residence in Hanover, N. H., September 26, 1873. Dr. Crosby was born February 7, 1800, at Sandwich, N. H., of pure New England stock,—strong in the best Puritan element, where self-reliance, love of justice, and unbending will, formed the basis of character and the mainspring of action. His father's father was a captain in the Revolutionary army, and served with two of his sons at the battle of Bunker Hill. His maternal grandfather (Hoit) was one of Washington's body-guard, and later in life a judge of some distinction. His father, Dr. Asa Crosby, who married Betsey Hoit, was a surgeon of eminence in eastern New Hampshire. At the age of twenty, he entered upon the study of Medicine in the office of his father.

"The practice of a country doctor in New Hampshire of course embraced every department and variety of professional work. But Surgery offered to young Crosby a special charm, and the ardor with which he threw himself into this branch of the profession showed early fruits. From the day when he commenced his Anatomy, his practice and his study went hand in hand. Fearless and original, ready in expedients and ingenious in their use, he observed, he resolved, and he acted.

"In the first year of his study he accompanied his father to a consultation in the case of a man whose leg had been frozen, and whose condition was most critical. It was agreed by the older physicians that amputation at an earlier stage might have saved the patient's life, but that it was now too late to attempt it. Young Crosby urged that the operation be performed, but the elders shook their heads. He even proposed to attempt it himself; but this was received with a storm of disapproval, in which even his father joined, and the thing was pronounced impossible. The doctors then departed, leaving the student to watch with the patient during the few hours which apparently remained of life. During the night young Crosby succeeded in reviving the courage of the man to make a last effort for life. The limb was removed, and the man recovered.

"His second year of study developed still further the growing resources of the young surgeon. Upon one occasion both father and son, while visiting a patient at night, in a distant village, were suddenly called to a case of extensive laceration of the leg, with profuse hemorrhage. The case was urgent, and the patient was sinking. No instruments were at hand. He called for a carving-knife, which he sharpened on a grindstone and finished on a razor-strap, filed a hand-saw, amputated the limb, dressed the stump, left the patient in safety, and drove home with his father to breakfast. The man recovered.

"Before a nature so fearless, and so fertile in expedients, obstacles speedily vanish, and young Crosby found himself in possession of a large and responsible practice, even before taking his medical degree, and at the early age of twenty-three years. The following year (1824) he graduated in Medicine at Dartmouth (having passed his examination in November preceding), and for ten years remained in Gilmanton, in practice with his father. He then removed to Meredith Bridge, now Laconia, N. H., where he practiced for three years; and in 1838 was called to the chair of Surgery in Dartmouth College, then recently made vacant by the resignation of the late Dr. Mussey. In this field Dr. Crosby found at once full exercise for all his large resources of head and heart and hand. As an instructor he was clear, direct, and definite,—imparting, to his pupils his own zeal, and teaching them his own self-reliance. 'Depend upon yourselves, young gentlemen,' he invariably said. 'Take no man's diagnosis, but see with your own eyes, feel with your own fingers, judge with your own judgment, and be the disciple of no man.'

"In his class, he was courteous without familiarity, patient with dulness, but quick to punish impertinence; always kind, always dignified, always genial. The practical view of a subject was the view which he delighted to take; and the dry humor with which he never failed to emphasize his point, at once fixed it in the memory of the class, and made it available for future use. With his office-students, Dr. Crosby was the very soul of geniality and confidence. He saw and measured men at a glance, and was rarely wrong in his estimate of character. Strong in his own convictions, he was yet tender of the infirmities and the prejudices of others, and his generous instincts lost no opportunity for their daily exercise.

"His love of nature was as instinctive and as thorough as his knowledge of men. He transferred the treasures of the woods to his own garden. He studied the habits of birds and insects, and his parlors were adorned with a cabinet of American birds more complete than is often found in the museum of a professed naturalist. He reveled in the 'pomp of groves and garniture of fields,' and his daily drives through the picturesque scenery of the Connecticut valley fed his aesthetic taste, and proved a compensation for fatigue.

"Dr. Crosby, though a surgeon by nature and by preference, was in no modern sense a specialist. His professional labors covered the whole range of Medicine. His professorship included Obstetrics as well as Surgery, and his practice in this department was exceptionally large. His surgical diocese extended from Lake Champlain to Boston. Distance seemed no bar to his influence, and his professional journeys were often made by night as well as by day. Of the special operations of Dr. Crosby we do not propose here to speak in detail. It is sufficient to mention that, in 1824, he devised a new and ingenious mode of reducing metacarpo-phalangeal dislocation. In 1836 he removed the arm, scapula, and three quarters of the clavicle at a single operation, for the first time in the history of Surgery. He was the first to open abscess of the hip-joint. He performed his operations, without ever having seen them performed, almost without exception. Dr. Crosby was not what may be called a rapid operator. 'An operation, gentlemen,' he often said to his clinical students, 'is soon enough done when it is well enough done.' And, with him, it was never done otherwise than well.

"At the outbreak of the rebellion, Dr. Crosby served in the provost-marshal's office at a great sacrifice for many months, attending to his practice chiefly at night. As years and honors accumulated, Dr. Crosby still continued his work, though his constitutional vigor was impaired by the severity of the New Hampshire winters, and by his unremitting labor. At length, having reached man's limit of three-score years and ten, he withdrew from active practice, and in 1870 resigned his chair in the college, to which his son succeeded. From that time it was plain that Dr. Crosby's life-work was nearly done. In his well-ordered and delightful home he found that rest to which his long service in behalf of humanity entitled him. His end was perfect dignity and perfect peace.

"To those of us who had been most intimately associated with our departed friend, who had enjoyed his teachings, his counsels, and his generous kindness, the news of his death came as a heavy shock. But he still lives in the remembrance of his distinguished services, in the unfading affection and gratitude of his pupils, and in the many hearts whose burdens he has lifted. Verily, 'Extinctus amabitur idem!'"

Professor Crosby married Mary Jane, daughter of Stephen Moody, of Gilmanton, N. H.

The following paragraphs relating to one of Dartmouth's most eminent professors, the esteemed classmate of President Bartlett, who says: "Outside of my own family circle, I had no better friend," are from the pen of Dr. T. A. Emmet, of New York.

"Edmund Randolph Peaslee was born at Newton, New Hampshire, January 22, 1814. We have no record of his boyhood, or of his life previous to graduating from Dartmouth College, with the class of 1836. In this institution he occupied the position of tutor from 1837 to 1839, when he entered the Medical Department of Yale College and took his degree in 1840.

"The following year he settled in Hanover, N. H., and commenced the practice of his profession. Without waiting in expectation, he began his busy life by delivering a popular course of lectures on Anatomy and Physiology.

"These lectures indicated so clearly his talents that, in 1842, but two years after entering the profession, he was appointed professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the Medical Department of Dartmouth College, and retained the office until his death. Within a year afterwards, in 1843, he was appointed lecturer, and shortly afterwards professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the Medical School in Maine, connected with Bowdoin College. He filled those two professorships until 1857, when he gave up Anatomy, but continued to lecture on Surgery until 1860. Dr. Peaslee first came to the city of New York in 1851, on receiving the professorship of Physiology and General Pathology in the New York Medical College, then just being established.

"This position he held for four years, when he was transferred to the chair of Obstetrics, and continued to lecture on this branch until the institution was closed about 1860. He, however, did not settle in New York, to the practice of his profession, until 1858. After 1860, he mainly devoted himself to his practice, lecturing little except during the summer or autumn course in Dartmouth College. But to do justice to his subject and compress the whole subject into the space of some six weeks, this being his time of recreation from business, he always delivered at least two lectures a day and frequently more. In 1870, he was elected one of the Trustees of his Alma Mater, which had in 1859 conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. From 1872, he delivered a course of lectures in the Medical Department on the Diseases of Women. Two years afterwards, the course on Obstetrics and the Diseases of Women in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College was divided, when Dr. Peaslee was offered and accepted the chair of Gynaecology. At about this date he also occupied for a short time a professorship in the Albany Medical School. On the reorganization of the Medical Department of the Woman's Hospital of the State of New York, in 1872, he was made one of the Attending Surgeons, and held this position, together with his professorship in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, at the time of his death.

"In 1857, he published in Philadelphia, 'Human Histology, in its Relations to Descriptive Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathology,' in which were given for the first time, by translation, the experiments of Robin and Verdell on Anatomical Chemistry. But the one great work which will identify him with his generation is that on 'Ovarian Tumors, their Pathology, Diagnosis, and Treatment, especially by Ovariotomy,' published in New York, 1872. To this work he contributed but little original matter, beyond his personal experience, which had been large at that time. He, however, presented a digest of the whole subject in so thorough and masterly a manner that this work is destined to be a classic and a landmark as it were. It will be the future starting-point for the literature of this subject, as an original patent is in the searching of a title. There will be no need to go beyond his researches on this subject, as they are exhaustive.

"For one feature in his work he has often expressed the greatest satisfaction, that he had been able to establish for Dr. Ephraim McDowell the credit of being the first ovariotomist. In consequence of his labors, the world has at length given us credit for this great discovery, of no less value than many others which we can claim to have originated in our country, for the prolongation of life and for the mitigation of suffering.

"Dr. Peaslee, at some time in his life, had lectured on every branch of Medical science. With the exception of Dr. Physic, we have not another instance where the lecturer was equally proficient in the practice. But if we compare the extent of professional knowledge in Dr. Physic's generation and the acquirements of the present day, Dr. Peaslee will stand alone. Notwithstanding the incessant claims of his profession, he kept up through life his collegiate training in the classics, his taste for mathematics, and had acquired the knowledge of one or more modern languages. Few men in the profession were more familiar with the literature of our own language."

Dr. W. M. Chamberlain, who had rare opportunities for appreciating the character and worth of Dr. Peaslee, says:

"The call for a sketch of Dr. Peaslee's professional life and work will be abundantly satisfied by the recorded tributes of his more immediate colleagues and associates, Drs. Barker, Thomas, Emmet, Flint, and others. These are but a part of the testimony which after his death came from far and near. Wherever men were gathered for the study and discussion of medical subjects it was felt that a fountain of knowledge was closed, a leader of opinion was gone, and they made haste to acknowledge their obligations and their loss. He was a member of many such organizations, and almost uniformly advanced to the front rank in position.

"President of the New Hampshire Medical Society; of the New York County Medical Society; the American Gynaecological Society; the New York Academy of Medicine; the New York Pathological Society; the New York Obstetrical Society; the New York Medical Journal Association, etc., etc., he reaped all the honors. Yet no one ever thought of him as a seeker of office. The tribute was always spontaneous, necessary: 'Palmam qui meruit ferat!'

"And these honors were not awarded for any great effort or success in some partial field. He was decorated for service in each specific line, as Physician, Surgeon, Pathologist, Gynaecologist, Bibliographer. His attainments were comprehensive and symmetrical.

"He had the very great advantage of a liberal general education. This gave him his broad outlook upon all departments of science. He had by nature a mathematical and logical habit of mind. This made him the accurate and complete student that he was, both in original investigations and literary research. At the outset of his career he sought the best schools. Just then (1840) reigned a new enthusiasm in the physical and experimental study of the Medical Sciences at Paris. Laennec, Andral, Louis, Malgaigne, Velpeau, and Bernard, were the worthy models and masters of the young American.

"Thus well-endowed, well-grounded, and well-guided, he entered upon a life of professional study, which he pursued with unremitting ardor and diligence even to the end of life.

"It would seem to be a great thing to say of any man that he was never idle, and never unprofitably employed; but it might be more justly said of Dr. Peaslee than of any other person known to the writer. He wasted no work. His conclusions were not reached by intuition or guess, but slowly and surely elaborated, exactly formulated and classified, so as to be always at his command.

"More than any other member of the profession known to the writer did he illustrate each clause of Bacon's category, that 'Reading maketh the full man; writing the exact man; and conversation the ready man.'

"From the first he was an agreeable and satisfactory teacher, year by year, increasingly so; this work he did for thirty-six years; in six Medical Colleges, in five different departments of the curriculum, before nearly a hundred different classes of students. Such training, such practice, made him a teacher in every professional circle. In societies he was wont to be a silent and often apparently an abstracted listener until near the close of the debate; then he would rise and review the whole subject with a memory so comprehensive, a knowledge so complete, and an appreciation so judicial, that nothing more remained to be said. His books and monographs for the time and era of their publication were standard, and will always remain exceptionally valuable. Only the lapse of many years may antiquate but never stale his elegant work on 'Ovarian Tumors,' of which one of his most famous compeers has said that he would 'rather have written it than any other medical work of any time or in any language.'

"In his personal relations to the members of the profession, Dr. Peaslee was genial, charitable, and just. His patients looked to him in perfect confidence and respect, personally as well as professionally. He was as remarkable for the diligent care as for the thorough study of his cases; and at every visit he dispensed with gentle humor the best medicines, faith and hope.

"From youth through middle life he passed in the light of growing knowledge; in the serenity of accomplished duty; in the prestige of gathering fame and fortune; and he died before age or decay had limited his scope of life."

Prof. Peaslee married Martha Thankful, daughter of Hon. Stephen Kendrick, of Lebanon, N. H. He died in New York City, January 21, 1878.

* * * * *

Reliable sources furnish some facts regarding another gentleman long and honorably connected with this Department.

Prof. Albert Smith, M.D., LL. D., was born in Peterborough, N. H. He graduated at Dartmouth College, in 1825, and took his medical degree there, in 1833. He was early successful as a practitioner, and before middle age acquired a high reputation as a medical scholar and thinker.

In 1849, he was appointed professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the Dartmouth Medical College, where he continued to lecture till his resignation, in 1870, from which time until his death he was professor Emeritus. In 1857, he delivered his course of lectures at the Vermont Medical College, and also the course at the Bowdoin Medical School, in 1859.

The honorary degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Dartmouth College, in 1870, and also an honorary degree of M.D. by the Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1875. He was also an honorary member of the New York Medical Society. As a medical instructor he was included in the first rank of New England professors. His writings also gained him a wide and enviable reputation. Among his publications were a lecture on Hippocrates; also one on Paracelsus, and a commemorative Discourse on the death of Dr. Amos Twitchell, besides various articles in the medical journals and in the transactions of the New Hampshire Medical Society.

With high professional attainments and distinctions Prof. Smith united a personal character of the highest purity, integrity, and nobility. He had been for a long time a member and constant attendant upon the Unitarian Church, and for thirty years a Sunday-school teacher. He was a strong advocate of temperance, and took a deep interest in the cause of education. He represented Peterborough, his place of residence, in the Legislature several times. He devoted the spare hours of his latest years to the preparation of a "History of the Town of Peterborough," which was published in a large octavo volume in 1876. He married Fidelia Stearns, February 26, 1828. Prof. Smith died at Peterborough, February 22, 1878.

* * * * *

The following paragraphs relating to one of Dartmouth's most largely endowed, highly cultivated, and warmly beloved teachers, Prof. Alpheus B. Crosby, who was born at Gilmanton, N. H., February 22, 1832, and was the son of Dr. Dixi and Mary Jane (Moody) Crosby, are from a Memorial "Discourse" by Dr. J. W. Barstow:

"Seven generations of tough New England fibre, combining sturdy physique, thorough individuality and undiluted common sense, form a groundwork on which no modern youth need hesitate to build, while the mellow background of a virtuous lineage well prepares the canvas for whatever of high aim and noble deed shall fill up the fresher foreground of his own life's picture.

"The native temperament of the boy, as I remember him, showed some rare combinations and counterpoises. With an exuberance of animal spirits he had, also, a natural balance of caution. He was ardent, but not hasty; he was self reliant and fearless, but never precipitate; frank and affable, though not easily won by a stranger; fond of experiment, but also intensely practical. He was prompt to decide, but always took time for detail, and pursued perseveringly to the end whatever engaged his attention and his effort.

"His constant association with his father, and with his father's friends, made the boy perfectly at home in the office and in the society of professional men; and almost from his cradle he was accustomed to assist in minor operations and in the general detail of a student's service. Being a discreet lad, he often accompanied the elder Crosby in professional visits; and thus the face of the 'parvus Iulus,' became, early, as familiar as that of the 'pater Aeneas,' and grew, later, to be as welcome.

"When chloroform in Surgery was first introduced, Dr. Dixi Crosby went to Boston to study its effects, and was one of the first surgeons in New Hampshire to employ it in his practice. Young Ben was then a school-boy of fifteen. His father, with full confidence in the coolness and self possession of his son, at once commenced training him as an assistant for the administration of the anaesthetic; teaching him to watch the pulse and respiration, and to note all the necessary conditions for its safe employment. And from this time, even long before our friend commenced the systematic study of his profession, he assisted his father, and administered the chloroform in many important operations, sometimes even making long journeys for the purpose. It is interesting to add, also, that in all the years of their practice together, and in all their operations, performed under the use of chloroform, there never occurred a single accident from its administration.

"On graduating at Dartmouth, in 1853, our young friend pursued his medical studies in the office of his father. He attended lectures both at Dartmouth and at the College of Physicians in New York City, and served for one year as interne in the U. S. Marine Hospital at Chelsea, Massachusetts. With the exception of these necessary absences from home, he gave every day of these preparatory years to the assistance of his father in his wide and laborious practice. To this course he was stimulated no less by filial ardor than by his growing professional zeal.

"His medical degree was taken at Dartmouth, in 1856, and instead of beginning to practice, we may say that he continued to practice with his father in Hanover, going in and out as a favorite, both with patients and in society.

"Immediately on receiving his medical degree, Dr. Crosby was appointed demonstrator of Pathological Anatomy in the Dartmouth Medical College, an office which he ably filled for five years.

"At the outbreak of the rebellion, in 1861, he was appointed surgeon of the first regiment New Hampshire Volunteers, for three months' service. This being concluded, he was at once commissioned as Brigade Surgeon of U. S. Volunteers, and soon after promoted to the rank of Medical Director, serving as such on the staffs, successively, of Generale Stone, Casey, Sedgwick, and Peck. His army service was marked by the same strong individuality, the same resolute activity, the same executive talent, which we have seen stamped upon the boy and the youth. Added to all those other qualities, was that same genial humanity which made friends of every one. His brother officers trusted him, depended upon him, and loved him. The private soldiers idolized him, for they saw his quick and constant sympathy for them, and knew that his large and loving heart embraced them all in its tender care.

"In the noble record of his army service, let us not forget, that to our lamented friend belongs the credit of having originated and erected the first complete military hospital on the modern 'pavilion plan' that was built during the war of the rebellion.

"This hospital was visited and admired by surgeons throughout the army, as a model of complete ventilation and drainage. Its plans were extensively copied, and the record of its usefulness is preserved in the archives of the War Department.

"In all his widening range of work and of social activities says Professor Parker, 'his large heart seemed as incapable of being overloaded with friendships as it was inexhaustible in its overflowing friendliness. His personal magnetism held fast old friends, while the keen points of his magnetic nature constantly caught new affinities and drew to him fresh intimacies.'

"In the autumn of 1862, he was appointed adjunct professor of Surgery in Dartmouth, and from that time forward his honors, literally, outran his years.

"The number of his appointments to professional chairs in different institutions, is something beyond precedent in the history of any young American practitioner.

"In 1865, he was invited to the chair of Surgery in the University of Vermont, and in the same year to a similar chair in the University of Michigan.

"Both these positions he accepted, and ably filled for several years.

"In 1870, on the resignation of his honored father at the age of threescore and ten, Dr. Ben was at once called to the chair of Surgery in Dartmouth, and entered upon its duties, still continuing to perform full duty in both his other professorships. He also delivered a course of surgical lectures in Bowdoin College, Maine, during the same year.

"In 1871, he received the appointment of Surgical professor in the Long Island Medical College, in the city of Brooklyn, which he accepted, together with the post of visiting surgeon in the hospital to which the college was attached. His work during this period was extremely arduous, but was performed with the utmost ability and credit.

"In 1872, he was invited to a professorship in the New York University, and also to another (that of Surgical Anatomy) in Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York City. The former of these he declined, but he accepted the latter and retained it until his death.

"In 1873, Dr. Crosby was invited by the Trustees of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, to accept the chair of Anatomy, on the resignation of the distinguished Dr. Pancoast.

"This, though not accepted, may be reckoned the crowning honor in his wreath of professional laurels."

For all the qualities which distinguish the model physician, surgeon, teacher, and companion, few names, in all the annals of Medicine, stand higher than that of Alpheus Benning Crosby.

Professor Crosby married at Baltimore, Md., Mildred Glassell, daughter of Dr. Wm. R. Smith. He died at Hanover, August 9, 1877.

* * * * *

In closing this record the valuable services of Parsons, Delamater, Bartlett, Holmes, Hubbard, Roby, Williams, Phelps, Field, How, and Frost should not escape our notice.



CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE CHANDLER SCIENTIFIC DEPARTMENT.—THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.—THE THAYER DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING.

The following account of the Chandler Scientific Department of the college is from the pen of Professor Ruggles and other authentic sources.

The building formerly occupied by Moor's Charity School is now occupied by this Department.

Extracts from Mr. Chandler's will give us an idea of the department of instruction which he wished to establish.

"I give and devise the sum of fifty thousand dollars ... for the establishment and support of a permanent department or school of instruction in the college, in the practical and useful arts of life, comprised chiefly in the branches of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, the Invention and Manufacture of Machinery, Carpentry, Masonry, Architecture and Drawing, the Investigation of the properties and uses of the Materials employed in the Arts, the Modern Languages and English Literature, together with Book-keeping, and such other branches of knowledge as may best qualify young persons for the duties and employments of active life; but, first of all and above all, I would enjoin in connection with the above branches, the careful inculcation of the principles of pure morality, piety, and religion, without introducing topics of controversial theology, that the benefits of said department or school may be equally enjoyed by all religious denominations without distinction....

"To the end that my wishes in respect to the foregoing legacy may be observed, I do hereby constitute a perpetual Board of Visitors, consisting of two persons, who shall, during the term of their respective lives, visit the said department or school as often as they shall deem it necessary and advisable to do so, and at least once in each year one or both of said Visitors shall examine the condition of its funds, and the management and disposition of the same, as well as the management of the said department or school generally....

"The said Board of Visitors shall have full power to determine, interpret, and explain my wishes in respect to this foundation; to redress grievances, both with respect to professors and students; to hear appeals from the decisions of the Board of Trustees, and to provide remedy upon complaint duly exhibited in behalf of the professors or students; to review and reverse any censure passed by said Trustees upon any professor or student on this foundation; to declare void all rules and regulations made by said Trustees relative to this foundation, which in their opinion may be inconsistent with my wishes as herein expressed, or improper or injudicious; to take care that the duties of every professor or other officer on this foundation be intelligently and faithfully discharged, and to admonish or remove such professor or officer either for misbehavior, incapacity, or neglect of the duties of his office; to examine into the proficiency of the students, and to admonish, dismiss, or suspend any student for negligence, contumacy or crime, or disobedience to the rules hereafter to be established for the government of said school or department; and to see that my true intentions in regard to this foundation be faithfully executed.

"And in order that said Board of Visitors may not be limited in their powers by the foregoing recital, I further confer upon the said Board of Visitors all the visitatorial powers and privileges, which, by the law of the land, belong and are intrusted to any Visitor of any eleemosynary corporation....

"As I have perfect confidence in the integrity and ability of my two esteemed friends, John J. Dixwell and Francis B. Hayes, both of Boston, aforesaid, and as I know their capacity to perform what I desire they should do under this proviso of my will, I constitute and appoint them to be the first Board of Visitors."

The committee appointed to draw up the plan for the organization of the school consisted of Rev. Dr. Nathan Lord, Hon. Joel Parker, and Edmund Parker, Esq.

No special meeting of the Trustees was called, as had been contemplated, and the committee made their report at the regular meeting, July 26, 1852, and on the next day the following statutes were adopted:

"Article I. In accordance with the will of the late Abiel Chandler, Esq., "the Trustees of Dartmouth College by this and the following statutes, constitute and organize a school of instruction in connection with the college and as a department thereof, and the said school is denominated 'The Chandler School of Science and the Arts.'

"Article II. The school shall consist of two departments, Junior and Senior. These departments shall be conducted respectively by such officers and according to such rules and regulations as the Trustees shall from time to time appoint and ordain, with the advice and approval of the Board of Visitors, and in subjection always to the will of the Founder.

"Article III. In the Junior department of the school, instruction shall be given in the English language, in Arithmetic and Algebra, in Book-keeping, Physical Geography, Linear Drawing, Geometry, Physiology, Botany, Graphics and use of Instruments, and in such other elementary studies as may be necessary to qualify students for the Senior department.

"Article IV. The Senior department shall comprise the branches of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, the Invention and Manufacture of Machinery, Carpentry, Masonry, Architecture and Drawing; the Investigation of the Properties and Uses of the Materials employed in the Arts, the Modern Languages and English Literature, together with Book-keeping and such other branches of knowledge as may best qualify young persons for the duties and employments of active life, according to the will and injunction of the Founder.

"Article VII. The term of study in the Junior department shall be one year, and in the Senior department two years.

"Article VIII. All students who shall have been admitted to the Senior department and sustained a satisfactory examination at the end of the course before a committee of gentlemen from abroad appointed by the Faculty, shall be entitled to the degree of Bachelor of Science."

Hon. John Kelley and Samuel Fletcher, Esq., having been appointed a committee to consider the question of opening the school, made the following report:

"The Chandler Fund appears to be safely invested and productive. It is therefore recommended, the school shall be opened for instruction at the commencement of the next College Term, and more fully organized as soon as a sufficient number of students shall offer themselves for admission. But as an experiment is to be made, it is not expedient to appoint professors and other teachers, until experience shall prove what teachers shall be required. In the mean time it is recommended that examination of students presenting themselves for admission to the school be made by some member, or members of the Faculty, by the direction of the President, and that the Faculty be a committee to make suitable provision for rooms and instruction until further orders of this Board."

The following resolution was then passed:

"Resolved, That the Chandler School be opened at the commencement of the next College Term."

We give the following extracts from the By-laws which were drawn up by Hon. Joel Parker, and Rev. Silas Aiken, D.D., of Rutland, Vt.:

"Vacations.—In the Senior department the terms and vacations shall be coincident with the terms and vacations in the academical department of the college. In the Junior department there shall be four vacations, one of four weeks, from Commencement, one of two weeks in the winter, and one in the spring and autumn of one week each.

"Tuition.—Every student in the Senior department shall be charged ten dollars each term, or thirty dollars for the year, including all necessary incidentals. In the Junior department the tuition shall be twenty dollars for the year, or five dollars for each term. The bill of every term shall be paid in advance, and no student shall be permitted to go on with his class without an exact compliance with this statute.

"Government.—In other respects the government of the Chandler School shall be administered according to the By-laws of the college, as now established, so far as those laws may be applicable; and until the wants of the School may be more definitely ascertained, the regulation thereof in things not otherwise provided for is submitted to the discretion of the College Faculty."

In the autumn of 1852, the school was organized, and seventeen students admitted, two to the Senior and fifteen to the Junior class. James W. Patterson, who was a student in the theological school at New Haven, was elected tutor, and the new institution placed in his charge. In July, 1854, Mr. Patterson was elected Chandler Professor of Mathematics, and during the college years 1852-53, and 1853-54, in addition to the general management, gave nearly all the instruction in the Chandler School, at the same time discharged the duties of a tutor of Latin in the college proper. In 1854, the first class, consisting of four members, was graduated.

On the death of Professor Stephen Chase, in 1851, John S. Woodman had succeeded to the chair of Mathematics. In 1855, Professor Woodman resigned, to enter on the practice of law in Boston, and Mr. Patterson was elected in his place. During the next year he continued at the head of the Chandler School, and gave the instruction in Mathematics, and allied branches, in addition to his duties as professor of Mathematics in the Academic Department.

In 1856, Professor Woodman was appointed professor of Civil Engineering, and succeeded Professor Patterson in the care of the Chandler School, in which from its opening he had given some instruction. This position he held until 1870, when he was forced to resign on account of failing health, and was succeeded by Professor Edward R. Ruggles, who had occupied the chair of Modern Languages and English Literature since 1866. At the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees in 1857, it was voted that, "The regular course of study in the Chandler School of Science and the Arts, from the present time, shall comprise a term of four years."

In 1862 the name Chandler School of Science and the Art was changed to Chandler Scientific Department of Dartmouth College.

The character and usefulness of the Scientific Department from its foundation to the present time, may best be learned by studying the career of its graduates in successive classes. It will be observed, that the first class of this school graduated less than twenty-five years since, and yet in that brief period, its sons have made for it an honorable record; a record which should bring to it patronage and impart to its students a spirit of scholarly pride and emulation. It might not be deemed proper to go into a detailed account of the labors and successes of individuals among its living graduates but it is only fair to this comparatively youthful department of the college, to say that as lawyers, teachers, scientists, engineers, architects, and in other spheres of practical science, its sons have made for themselves a wide and enviable reputation. The age demands that its institutions of learning shall impart a scholarship that will bring the forces of nature under the control of man, and render the student more efficient in all the industries and business enterprises of the time.

Experience has shown that the Scientific Department of Dartmouth is organized to meet this demand, and is in full and intelligent sympathy with the wants of modern society. From the first its teachers have been able and untiring in their devotion to its permanent prosperity and welfare, and its success has justified their efforts and zeal.

AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.

The New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts was established by an act of the State Legislature in 1866. We give the act as recorded in the Revised Statutes.

"Section 1. A college is established and made a body politic and corporate, by the name of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, whose leading object is, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in conformity to an act of Congress entitled 'An act donating land to the several States and Territories, which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts, approved July 2, 1862;' and by that name may sue and be sued, prosecute and defend to final judgment and execution, and is vested with all the powers and privileges, and subject to all the liabilities, incident to corporations of a similar nature.

"Sect. 2. The general government of the college is vested in nine Trustees, five of whom shall be appointed, one from each councillor district, and commissioned by the Governor, with advice of the council, and four-by the Trustees of Dartmouth College, so classified and commissioned that the offices of three shall become vacant annually; any vacancy occurring shall be filled by the authority which made the original appointment.

"Sect. 3. The Trustees shall appoint a secretary, who shall be sworn, and keep a fair and full record of their proceedings; and a treasurer, who shall give bond for the faithful discharge of his duties, in such sum as the Trustees may require, and shall receive such compensation for his services as they may deem reasonable. They shall also appoint a Faculty of instruction, prescribe their duties, and invest them with such powers for the immediate government and management of the institution as they may deem most conducive to its best interests.

"Sect. 4. No Trustee shall receive any compensation for his services; but expenses reasonably incurred by him shall be paid by the college.

"Sect. 5. The Trustees shall, on or before the twentieth day of May, annually, make report to the legislature of the financial condition, operations, and progress of the college, recording such improvements and experiments made, with their cost and results, including State, industrial, and economical statistics, as may be supposed useful one copy of which shall be transmitted to each college endowed under the provisions of the aforesaid act of Congress, and one copy to the Secretary of the Interior.

"Sect. 6. The Trustees are authorized and empowered to locate and establish the college at Hanover, in connection with Dartmouth College, and, with that Corporation, to make all necessary contracts relative to the terms of connection, subject to be terminated upon a notice of one year, given at any time after fourteen years, and in relation to its furnishing to the college the free use of an experimental farm, all requisite buildings, the libraries, laboratories, apparatus, and museums of said Dartmouth College, and for supplying such instruction, in addition to that furnished by its professors and teachers, as the best interests of its students may require; and also as to any legacy said Dartmouth College may receive from the estate of David Culver. Said Trustees are also directed to furnish, so far as may be practicable, free tuition to indigent students, and to make provision for the delivery of free lectures in different parts of the State upon subjects pertaining to agriculture and the mechanic arts.

"Sect. 7. All funds derived from the sale of land scrip issued to the State by the United States, in pursuance of the act of Congress aforesaid, shall be invested in registered bonds of the State or of the United States, which shall be delivered to the State treasurer, who shall have the custody of the same, and pay over the income thereof, as it may accrue, to the treasurer of the college."

The great work of securing the requisite funds, and laying foundations for this by no means unimportant Department, was committed to the late Professor Ezekiel W. Dimond. His early experience in affairs gave him peculiar fitness for this service. Whether occupied in interviewing legislators and capitalists, or in the planning and erection of edifices, he labored in season and out of season for the accomplishment of his task, and with large success. When the Department went into operation he was one of its principal teachers, and in this sphere he left upon his pupils the impress of a well-read chemist and a devotee to his profession. To his efforts, probably more than to those of any other single individual, is New Hampshire indebted for whatever of success has been attained in this department. Indeed, should the Agricultural College leave its stamp upon the "steep and sterile hillsides," or the more prolific valleys of the Granite State, as it is devoutly to be hoped that in process of time it may, no name probably will be so familiarly associated with the history of its early struggles for existence as that of Dimond.

Nor were Professor Dimond's services to science limited to this department of the College.

In the Academical and Scientific departments his name appears in the list of zealous, painstaking teachers.

Professor Dimond's death in 1876, while yet apparently upon the threshold of a work to which he gave his life, was a public loss.

Of Professor Thomas R. Crosby, Professor Quimby says:

"Entering college in 1839, in the Sophomore class, he bestowed faithful labor on the whole course, while at the same time he did not forget his favorite studies of Medicine and Natural History. Pursuing these in his leisure hours, he was fitted to take the degrees of A. B. and M.D. at the same time, in 1841. With this preparation he entered at once upon the practice of medicine as his life-work, first at Campton, afterward at Hartford, Vt., Meriden, and Manchester. He was one of the active men in originating the Hillsborough Agricultural Society. He had a hand in organizing the State Society, and in preparing the first volume of the Society's Transactions. Nearly at the same time the above society was originated, the publication of the "Granite Farmer" was commenced, and Dr. Crosby was employed to edit it, in which position he did well. He was for a time city physician of Manchester, and came near being elected its mayor. His health having failed in some measure, he removed to Norwich, Vt., the home of his wife's family. For ten years he lived in Norwich and Hanover, engaged in such teaching and practice and study as his health would permit. When our country called for aid in the war of the rebellion he believed it his duty to consecrate his knowledge of Medicine and skill in Surgery to her, and to the noble men who exposed themselves to sickness and wounds in her cause. Upon entering the service he was immediately put in charge of the Columbian College Hospital, in Washington. He assumed the responsibilities of the position with the determination that the men who came under his charge 'should have their rights,' and faithfully did he carry into execution his purpose. He remained in charge of this Hospital until after the close of the war and the sick and wounded were able to be transferred to their homes. The next year he was appointed professor of General and Military Surgery and Hygiene in the National Medical College, it being the Medical Department of Columbian College, which position he filled until 1870. On the opening of the State Agricultural College here, an institution in which he was particularly interested, he was appointed professor of Animal and Vegetable Physiology, in which, and in Natural History in the Academic Department, he taught almost literally till the day of his decease. When unable to meet his classes in their recitation-room he received them in his own study, and there heard their recitations, the last less than forty-eight hours before his death. Thus he fell 'with the harness on.'"

THAYER SCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING.

Of this department Professor Fletcher says:

"Between the years 1867 and 1871, General Sylvanus Thayer, of Braintree, Massachusetts, by donations amounting in the aggregate to seventy thousand dollars, made provision for establishing in connection with the college a special course of instruction in Civil Engineering. 'The venerable donor, himself a distinguished officer of the U. S. Corps of Engineers, was moved to this munificence, not only by a regard for his Alma Mater, but also by a desire to provide for young men possessing requisite ability a thorough and exclusively professional training.'

"The school was organized during the winter and spring of 1871, by Professor Robert Fletcher, under the immediate direction of General Thayer. The general character and aim of the course are indicated by the following quotation from the Instrument of Gift: 'The requisites for admission to the school shall be of a high order, embracing such studies, at least, as are specified in a paper to be hereto appended, called 'Programme A,' bearing my signature, which programme shall be regarded as an absolute minimum, and which may, in the discretion of the Board of Overseers, created by the 5th article of this Instrument, be extended, but not diminished or contracted in the least degree.'

"'2. The course of study shall extend through at least two years, and the duration of the course may be further extended so as to include another half year, should three or more members of the Board of Overseers judge, after a fair trial of the two years' course, such further extension to be expedient. The studies and instruction of each year shall extend continuously from September first to July first following.'"

"Instruction was begun to a regular class of the engineering course, September, 1871. During the preceding months of the year preparatory instruction had been given. From 1871 to 1873, a preparatory course of two years was contemplated, and during the year 1872-3 was maintained in connection with the higher course. Meanwhile the detailed statement of requisites for admission, styled 'Programme A,' was prepared by Professor Fletcher, under supervision of General Thayer, and with the aid of several professors eminent in the various subjects which it includes. These requirements embrace all the branches of a common school education, a full course of pure Mathematics and a thorough course in Physics, including theoretical Chemistry and Astronomy. The high standard thus established justified the following announcement in the College 'Catalogue.' 'The department is to be essentially, though not formally, post-graduate. The course of study is to be of the highest order, passing beyond what is possible in institutions for general culture, and is designed to prepare the capable and faithful student for responsible positions and difficult service.' It was intended that the Preparatory Department should provide instruction in the subjects embraced in 'Programme A.'

"The decease of General Thayer in October, 1872, deprived the School of his personal supervision. The general direction of its affairs then devolved on the Board of Overseers constituted by his Instrument of Gift and appointed by himself. At that time the Board consisted of Rev. A. D. Smith, D.D., LL. D., president of Dartmouth College, Prof. O. P. Hubbard of New Haven, formerly at Dartmouth College, Prof. George L. Andrews, of the U. S. Military Academy, Gen. John C. Palfrey, C. E., of Lowell, Massachusetts, and Prof. P. S. Michie, of the U. S. Military Academy. The last three gentlemen had been officers in the U. S. Corps of Engineers.

"At its first meeting in May, 1873, the Board decided that it would not be expedient for some time to come to maintain such an auxiliary as a Preparatory Department. It was found that the limited means provided by the founder would allow the attainment of his high ideal only by working within comparatively narrow limits. Without attempting to cover too broad a field, a high standard and thorough work were to be essential features of the course.

"The Board of Overseers holds a meeting at Dartmouth College annually, when it examines carefully into the working of the school, its financial condition, etc., and adopts any measures promising to effect improvement and secure greater efficiency, according to the powers conferred upon it by the Instrument of Gift. The Board also examines the students and recommends such members of the first class as it finds to be qualified, to the Trustees of Dartmouth College for the degree of Civil Engineer.

"The first class which completed the two years' course graduated in 1873. The class of 1877 was the fifth sent out by the school. At that time the whole number of graduates was thirteen. There had been, besides, two who left for professional engagements after the first year of study. The graduates have nearly all obtained honorable positions in the line of the profession soon after graduation, with fair prospects for distinction.

"The nature of the course is such that a large corps of instructors is not required. Careful training and drill in essential and fundamental branches is the aim. Considerable time is devoted to out-door practice but without attempt to make experts in any direction. Accordingly, temporary employment in a professional line is allowed at proper times, such as will conduce to the student's improvement and be more or less remunerative. Thus it is expected that the student will be fitted to advance rapidly and successfully in any 'specialty' to which he may subsequently devote his efforts.

"The school is now hardly in full operation, as some features about the course are still experimental. It has its history yet to make."



CHAPTER XXIX.

BENEFACTORS.—TRUSTEES.

From various authentic sources we have the following sketches of Dartmouth's leading benefactors, always excepting the last Royal Governor of New Hampshire, John Wentworth, whose care for all the interests of the Province is a matter of enduring record. Of the distinguished person in honor of whom the College was named, the following account, published in 1779, is from "Collins' Peerage":

"William, the present and Second Earl of Dartmouth, for his more polite education, traveled through France, Italy, and Germany; and, on his return to England, took the oaths, and his seat in the House of Peers, on May 31, 1754. His Lordship was sworn of His Majesty's Privy Council on July 26, 1765; in August following he was appointed first Commissioner of Trade and Plantations, which he resigned in 1766; in August, 1772, he was appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies; and on November 10, 1775, Keeper of the Privy Seal.

"His Lordship married, on January 11, 1755, Frances Catharine, only daughter and heir of Sir Charles Gunter Nicholl, Knight of the Bath; and by her had issue eight sons and one daughter.

"His Lordship is also President of the London Dispensary; Vice-President of the Foundling and Lock Hospitals; Recorder of Litchfield; LL. D., and F. R. S."

The armorial inscription is:

"GAUDET TENTAMINE VIRTUS."

Forbes' Life of Dr. Beattie gives the following interesting paragraph:

"His Majesty (George III.) asked what I thought of my new acquaintance, Lord Dartmouth. I said, there was something in his air and manner which seemed to me not only agreeable, but very enchanting, and that he seemed to me to be one of the best of men; a sentiment in which both their majesties heartily joined. 'They say that Lord Dartmouth is an enthusiast,' said the king, 'but surely he says nothing on the subject of religion but what every one may and ought to say on the subject of religion.'"

Of John Thornton, the devout Episcopalian, the kinsman of Wilberforce, and the most munificent of Dartmouth's early benefactors, almost the sole supporter of the founder for several years, Rev. Thomas Scott, in a memorial "Discourse" says:

"It is worthy of observation, that this friend of mankind, in the exercise of his beneficence, not only contributed his money (which often is done to very little purpose) but he devoted his time and thoughts very much to the same object; doing good was the great business of his life, and may more properly be said to have been his occupation, than even his mercantile engagements, which were uniformly considered as subservient to that nobler design.

"To form and execute plans of usefulness; to superintend, arrange, and improve upon those plans; to lay aside such as did not answer, and to substitute others; to form acquaintance, and collect intelligence for this purpose; to select proper agents, and to carry on correspondence, in order to ascertain that his bounties were well applied: These and similar concerns were the hourly occupations of his life, and the ends of living, which he proposed to himself; nor did he think that any part of his time was spent either happily or innocently, if it were not some way instrumental, directly or indirectly, to the furtherance of useful designs."

"Abiel Chandler was a native of Concord, N. H. In his childhood his parents removed to Fryeburg, Maine, where he labored on a farm till he was twenty-one years of age. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1806, and spent the next eleven years in teaching at Salem and Newburyport, Mass. To the good reputation which he had previously gained as a student, he added that of an excellent preceptor. A little later he commenced a mercantile life at Boston. He was of the house of Chandler and Howard, and afterwards Chandler, Howard, and Company, for more than a quarter of a century, when he retired with a fortune. To numerous relatives he made liberal bequests, with great delicacy and judgment. After his legacy to the college, the residue of his property was bequeathed to the New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane.

"The origin of Mr. Chandler's endowment of the Scientific School is referable to an incident that occurred to him when a young man at Fryeburg. He fell in company with some students of Dartmouth College, and he was impressed by their superiority to himself. He conceived the purpose of being himself a scholar, and he fulfilled it. When, after a few years of honorable industry as a teacher he became a merchant, he saw himself, though now a scholar, ignorant, to a great extent, of the principles and methods of mercantile life. Whereupon he set himself to a new variety of learning. He gained it, and with it gained a fortune. But he saw other men around him, in different spheres, suffering as he had done from a similar want of knowledge,—merchants, traders, ship-masters, artisans, farmers, laborers.

"The Chandler School is the ripened fruit of a well-considered purpose to benefit mankind. He had confidence in the importance of his object, the integrity of his aims, and the wisdom of his advisers. He bestowed his charity with a hearty good-will, and left the event with God."

"John Conant was born in Stowe, Mass., in 1790. His family descended from the French Huguenots who were driven into England by Louis XIV. His father was an industrious and successful farmer. In the district school he was taught the merest rudiments of an English education. In after years, by the aid and sympathy of an intelligent and well-educated wife, he fitted himself to write for the public journals, to lecture on temperance and agriculture, and to perform with credit and honor the duties of important official stations, in town and State. His leisure hours were devoted to study. He collected a small private library of choice books in history, biography, and science, and made them the companions of rainy days and winter evenings.

"At the age of twenty-six, he purchased a farm in Jaffrey, under the shadow of 'the great Monadnock,' on which he labored for thirty-five years, and gathered 'a plentiful estate.' This was accumulated by means of those home-bred virtues, industry, prudence, and economy; for he never, in a single instance, increased his wealth by speculation.

"When the New Hampshire Insane Asylum was occupying the public attention, he contributed liberally to its endowment, and was at one time president of its Board of Trustees, being sole superintendent of the first buildings that were reared.

"Turning his thoughts toward the rising academy at New London, Mr. Conant proposed to add to its literary and scientific departments an agricultural school. He ascertained, however, that his whole estate would be inadequate to the work, and, after making generous donations to the academy, he turned his attention to the Agricultural College at Hanover.

"In his endowment of this institution, along with other things, he has provided a model farm for the college, and founded a scholarship for each town in Cheshire County, twenty-two in all, with an additional one for Jaffrey.

"Mr. Conant was through life a liberal contributor to public enterprises, and a supporter of the gospel, and for twenty years was an active member of the Baptist Church."

Boynton's History of West Point gives the following valuable paragraphs relating to Sylvanus Thayer, by whose munificence to the cause of education he has laid his Alma Mater and his native town under lasting obligations:

"Brevet-major Sylvanus Thayer, of the Corps of Engineers, on July 28, 1817, assumed command as superintendent of the West Point Military Academy, and from this period the commencement of whatever success as an educational institution, and whatever reputation the Academy may possess, at home or abroad, for its strict, impartial, salutary, elevating, and disciplinary government, must be dated. Major Thayer was an early graduate of the academy. He had served with distinction in the War of 1812, and had studied the military schools of France, and profited by the opportunity to acquire more complete and just views concerning the management of such an institution than were generally entertained by educational and military men of that day. The field before him was uncultivated; the period was one when rare qualifications for position were not considered valueless; and, blessed with health, devotion to the cause, and firmness of purpose, he was permitted to organize a system, and remain sixteen years to perfect its operation.

"Immediately after entering upon his duties, the Cadets were organized into a battalion of two companies, with a colonel of Cadets, an adjutant, and a sergeant-major, for its staff; and within the year he created a 'Commandant of Cadets,' to be an instructor of tactics.

"The division of classes into sections, the weekly rendering of class reports, showing the daily progress, the system and scale of daily marks, the establishment of relative class rank among the members, the publication of the Annual Register, the introduction of the Board of Visitors, the check-book system, the preponderating influence of the 'blackboard,' and the essential parts of the Regulations for the Military Academy, as they stand to this day, are some of the evidences of the indefatigable efforts of Major Thayer to insure method, order, and prosperity to the institution. When relieved, at his own request, the upward impetus given to the institution had attracted general observation."

General Thayer evidently believed that "peace hath her victories" as well as war, and nobly acted in accordance with his intelligent, earnest convictions.

"Joel Parker was born at Jaffrey, N. H. After studying in the academy at Groton, where the late President James Walker was one of his schoolmates, he entered the Sophomore class at Dartmouth College in February, 1809, at the early age of thirteen, and graduated in 1811, not yet seventeen years of age. After his graduation he studied law at Keene, and with his brother Edmund at Amherst, and entered the bar of Cheshire County, at the October term in 1817, at the former place, where he at once engaged in practice.

In the year 1821, contemplating a change of residence, he visited the West, and was admitted to practice in the Circuit Court of the United States at Columbus, Ohio, in January, 1822; but, fortunately for his native State, returned in the latter year, and devoted himself assiduously to his chosen pursuit.

Free from domestic cares, affianced only to his profession, he early gained an honorable position by the steady exercise of natural abilities well adapted to its pursuit. He was industrious, thorough, minute, painstaking, cautious, persistent, and untiring. "Judge Parker's mode of practice in the trial of cases," writes an early professional associate, who still enjoys a ripe and honored age, "to take down the testimony in full of the witnesses in writing, and to cross-examine them at great length as to all the circumstances they might know relative to the case, contributed greatly to change the previous practice of the witness' first telling his story of what he knew, followed by a brief cross-examination, with only a few notes, made by the counsel, of the leading points of the testimony."

Of Judge Parker's judicial life in New Hampshire, Charles Sumner, in 1844, wrote: "It will not be unjust to his associates to distinguish. Mr. Chief Justice Parker as entitled to peculiar honor for his services on the bench. He may be justly regarded as one of the ablest judges of the country."

The event which brought Judge Parker more conspicuously before the public, and undoubtedly contributed justly and largely to give him a wide and established reputation for vigor, independence, learning, and capacity, was his controversy with 14 Mr. Justice Story of the Supreme Court of the United States in regard to the proper construction of a clause—it might even be said the meaning of a word [lien]—in the Bankrupt Law of 1841; a controversy which became political in other hands, and threatened to reach the magnitude of a conflict between the United States and New Hampshire.

After the experiences of this generation, such a collision seems trifling; but it involved subjects of grave importance, and was a contest between no insignificant combatants,—not without interest at this day to a student of common or constitutional law.

It began in 1842, when Story and Parker were each in the full vigor of judicial life, and enthusiastic crowds of young men were learning the science of the law from Story's lips. It ended seven years after, when Story had passed away, and Parker was lecturing where Story taught, to young men who now revere the memory of both. He had laid aside the honor and labors of the office which required him to engage in the struggle; and, in the first year of his service as a professor in the school to whose success and reputation Story had so largely contributed, the court which Story had adorned declared the survivor victorious. Like Entellus, he might say,—

"Hic victor cestus artemque repono."

The eminent service rendered to the country and the age, by Judge Parker, while Royall professor of Law at Cambridge, forms a material part of our national history.

Richard Fletcher was a native of Cavendish, Vt. Having graduated at Dartmouth, in 1806, he studied law with Daniel Webster, and commenced practice in Salisbury, N. H. In 1819 he removed to Boston, where he shortly took rank with the very first of legal advocates.

His biographer says: "While in practice before the courts his presence ever commanded the utmost respect. Of good form, of handsome and expressive features, and of most gentlemanly and pleasing address, with his great learning and untiring industry, it is not strange that he should have succeeded at the bar and on the bench.

"He was an orator of great power,—fluent and elegant in diction, bright and sparkling in thought, keen and quick in repartee.

"His care not to be engaged in unworthy causes was a matter of note.

"In political life he found little that suited his tastes, although at different times a member of both the State and National Legislatures.

"Mr. Fletcher was a sincere Christian. His religion was not so much of the aggressive kind, nor did he often urge his views upon others; but it pervaded his entire character, and shone out in all his actions. In his will he made a provision for publishing biennially, a prize essay adapted to impress 'on the minds of all Christians a solemn sense of their duty to exhibit in their godly lives and conversation the beneficent effects of the religion they profess, and thus increase the efficiency of Christianity in Christian countries, and recommend its acceptance to the heathen portions of the world.'"

Few of Dartmouth's alumni have manifested a more affectionate, steadfast devotion to their Alma Mater, than Mr. Fletcher.

Tappan Wentworth was the son of Isaac Wentworth, of Dover, N. H., and was born there February 24, 1802, and died in Lowell, June 12, 1875. His father was a poor man, a boatman running a freight-boat between Dover and Portsmouth.

He was sent first to common schools till he reached the classical school where he studied Latin in a class with the late John K. Young, D.D., Dr. George W. Kittredge, and Hon. John H. White, but was taken from school after having read two books of Virgil. Judge White says: "Tappan was a good scholar, energetic and self-reliant. I was in the Latin class with him, and was told by the father that he was too poor to keep him in school." He then spent about three years in Portsmouth, in a North End grocery store.

From Portsmouth he went to South Berwick, Me., into the stores of the late Benjamin Nason and Alphonso Gerrish, successively, as clerk. He there attracted the attention of Hon. William Burleigh, a then member of Congress from York district, by a spirited article he had written in favor of Mr. Burleigh's re-election. Mr. Burleigh now offered to take him as a law student, and the young clerk entered upon the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in York County in 1826. After seven years' successful practice in his profession in South Berwick and Great Falls, he came to Lowell, bringing some seven thousand dollars with him.

He now seemed to form his life plan of work, professionally and financially,—diligence in his profession and all possible investments in real estate. At his death his $7,000 had swollen into nearly $300,000, during his forty-five years of Lowell life.

During these years he became a leading member of his profession, was often in offices of trust in city affairs, at different times in both houses of the Legislature, and a member of Congress from 1853 to 1855.

After assigning "pride of ancestry and name" as one reason for Mr. Wentworth's munificence to Dartmouth, Judge Crosby says:

"Another reason for the gift to the college is found in his appreciation of the value, the power, and the beauty of education. He had had hard experience in relation to it. He had hungered for it when he could not get it. He had obtained it in limited departments, by hard work, at great odds and under great embarrassments, when other claims must be postponed in its behalf. And as he looked over our college studies he found many branches he had never pursued and could not approach."

"The fund is not given for scholarships, professorships, libraries, or buildings. It is given for the support of the institution, to make instruction independent, learned and cheap; given to invite the youth to come here, and to give them the best opportunities of cultivation at lessened expense, to lay foundations of learning and mental enlargement for any department in life. It will maintain ten learned professors or twenty tutors, or give 20,000 volumes of books annually, as the honorable Trustees shall think the demands of the college require.

"It may enlarge, repair, or ornament these grounds; it may be turned into laboratories, museums of natural history, or art; it may raise the curriculum to higher studies and extended courses. It is not restrained by his personal judgment and direction in the future, but left to the better judgment of living mind."

Should Dartmouth ever lose her maiden name, she would not hesitate in regard to the new one.

William Reed was born at Marblehead, Mass. Compelled to abandon the hope of a public education, he afterwards engaged in mercantile pursuits, which he followed with great energy and activity and with a good degree of success.

Having by his untiring energy and perseverance, and by his strict habits of economy come into possession of a considerable amount of property, he devoted the latter part of his life to philanthropic and benevolent purposes.

As a citizen he was distinguished for activity, public spirit and true patriotism. The many marks of attention and respect which he received from his fellow-citizens evinced the high estimation in which he was held by the community.

In 1811 he was elected to a seat in the Congress of the United States, a station which he filled for four years with honor to himself, with satisfaction to his constituents, and with advantage to his country.

While the cause of Foreign Missions received the largest share of his Christian sympathies and the largest amount of his charitable donations, yet he was deeply interested in all the benevolent operations of the day. His sound judgment was sought in the management of various public institutions. In 1826 he was elected a member of the Board of Visitors of the Theological Seminary at Andover, and occupied that station until his death. He was for several years a Trustee of Dartmouth; also of Amherst.

Dr. George Cheyne Shattuck was born in Templeton, Mass., in the year 1783, in the sixth generation from William Shattuck, who was born in England in the year 1621, and died in Watertown, Mass., in the year 1672, Dr. Benjamin Shattuck graduated at Harvard College in 1765, and having studied medicine, settled in Templeton. His youngest son inherited thirteen hundred dollars, and this sufficed for his support, fitting for college, and college and Medical education, commenced at Hanover and continued in Philadelphia and Boston, with such addition as he was able to make by school-keeping. There were no public conveyances when he went from Templeton to Hanover, and he bought a horse on which he rode to Hanover and then sold it, taking the pay in board. He received four degrees from his Alma Mater; the first in the year 1803 and the last, of Doctor of Laws, in 1853. He settled in Boston in the year 1807, and for the space of forty-seven years devoted himself to the practice of his profession. He secured the esteem, respect and affection of his patients, and gathered a handsome estate. He gave liberally to his Alma Mater for an Observatory, for books, and for portraits of distinguished alumni. He founded a professorship in the Medical Department of Harvard University and endowed scholarships in the Academical Department. He gave liberally to various charities during his lifetime, as well as to public institutions, and the poor and needy never appealed to him in vain. He died in Boston in the year 1854, in the profession of the faith in which he had been educated both at home and at college.

George H. Bissell was born at Hanover, N. H. He is descended from a family of Norman-French origin, which came from Somersetshire, England. His mother came of Belgic and Holland descent. One of his ancestors was the first settler at Windsor, Ct., in 1628. The late Gov. Clark Bissell, of Connecticut, and Gov. William H. Bissell, of Illinois, were relatives. In 1846, after successful teaching elsewhere, on the organization of the High School in New Orleans Mr. Bissell was elected its first principal over many competitors. Subsequently he was chosen superintendent of the public schools in that city. His remarkable administrative abilities and high qualifications as a scholar were of great service in his onerous position. The schools reached a discipline and prosperity before unknown. He is also a member of the legal profession.

In the development of petroleum Mr. Bissell was a leading pioneer; perhaps he justly deserves the pre-eminence in this great work. Mr. Bissell is a self-made man. We quote a portion of his letter to President Smith, announcing his munificent donation for a gymnasium:

"In acceding to your wishes, my dear sir, I can but recall that day, now twenty years since, when, leaving Dartmouth, alone and unaided, I felt that 'Tentanda via est, qua me quoque possim tollere humo.'

"It affords me unqualified pleasure now to be able to gratify a wish then cherished, to aid in some degree my Alma Mater, and in that manner which you assure me is the most effectual."

"Gen. David Culver was born in Lyme, N. H. In the year 1832 he left the parental roof, and after a residence in Hartford, Conn., and New York City, for some years, where in both cities he was actively engaged in lucrative business pursuits, he returned to his beautiful ancestral home in Lyme, in 1855. The residue of his years he spent in pleasant agricultural life, on the old farm of his strongly-endeared childhood, memory, and attachment. In the rural district of this home he was ever apparently content and happy, and, much to his praise, seemed greatly beloved by his neighbors. His townsmen many times by their united suffrage gave him important offices of public trust and confidence. Of the Congregational Church of Christ, in Lyme, he was for many years a highly valued helping member, and for the gospel ministry was a liberal supporter, giving of his means in so quiet a manner that he appeared not to wish his good deeds blazoned to the world.

"For the needy, suffering poor of his personal acquaintance, especially the helpless poor, he had a sympathizing heart, and so deeply pitied them, in many instances, as to greatly alleviate their sufferings by ministering pecuniarily to their relief.

"To the cause of general education in the community,—elementary, common, agricultural, and collegiate,—he was always a warm-hearted, deeply-interested friend. In many instances, to aspiring youth in indigent circumstances, who were striving after the acquisition of the needful knowledge to prepare themselves and others for usefulness, he has been known to bestow pecuniary assistance to aid them on their way.

"And so agreeably bland was he in his mode of conferring his favors, as to greatly augment the value of them, and at the same time heighten the esteem of the recipients for the donor." Outside of her alumni Dartmouth had few warmer friends than General Culver.

Samuel Appleton was a native of New Ipswich, N. H.

His enterprise and his liberality have given his name a conspicuous place in New England history. We append a portion of one of his letters to President Lord, which shows his generous appreciation of liberal culture.

"It affords me much pleasure to have it in my power to do something for the only college in my native State which has done so much to establish a sound literary character in the country. Dartmouth has done her full proportion in educating for the pulpit, the bar, the healing art, and the senate, good and great men who have done honor to their names, to the college, and to the country."

In closing this record, we can only allude to other leading benefactors, among whom are John D. Willard, who gave to Dartmouth some of the fruits of his busy, earnest life. Salmon P. Chase, loyal to his Alma Mater to the last. John Wentworth, who still lives to witness her work. Henry Bond, loving her scarcely less than his kindred, "according to the flesh." Frederick Hall, who gave his money, and what he valued more. John Phillips, whose name will live as long as Dartmouth, or Andover, or Exeter, shall exist. Israel Evans, the patriot divine, who cherished for Washington and Wheelock similar affection. Aaron Lawrence, the conscientious Christian merchant. Jeremiah Kingman, the busy agriculturist, who cultivated his mind as well as his fields. Mrs. Betsey Whitehouse, the parishioner of Abraham Burnham, by whose labors her valuable Christian and general character was largely moulded, and E. W. Stoughton, who fully realizes the close connection between a healthy body and a sound mind.

The services of Dartmouth's Trustees should not be passed over in silence.

We give a statement of the character of the Board half a century ago, when the College was in "middle life," from Mr. William H. Duncan.

"Of the members of that Board, there was Elijah Paine, of Vermont, who had received his appointment as District Judge of the United States for the District of Vermont from Washington, a graduate from Harvard, 'a Roman of the Romans,' one who would have done honor to Rome in her noblest and best days for the purity, integrity, and elevation of his character. Charles Marsh, who held for many years the unchallenged position of the leader of the bar in Vermont, a cousin of that giant in the law, Jeremiah Mason, whom he greatly resembled in many of his intellectual characteristics,—a high-toned gentleman, and a devout and reverend believer in Christianity. Moses P. Payson, a graduate of the College, of the class of 1793, a lawyer of courteous and elegant demeanor, and of high social position. Judge Edmund Parker, a sound lawyer, a man of good sense, and excellent judgment, and above all a man of unspotted character, a brother of the distinguished ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. Israel W. Putnam, D.D., a graduate of the class of 1809, so long and so favorably known in New Hampshire as a clergyman. John H. Church, D.D., a graduate from Harvard, a man of apostolic solemnity and dignity of character, whose praise is in all the churches. John Wheeler, D.D., an accomplished scholar, afterwards President of the University of Vermont. Bennett Tyler, who was still a Trustee, although he had resigned his position as president, a man of commanding dignity of presence, an unrivaled logician, and one of the best pulpit orators it has ever been the good fortune of the writer to listen to. Judge Samuel Hubbard, of Boston, one of the best lawyers of New England, who for many years was the rival and the peer of the leaders of the Suffolk Bar. When on the bench of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, he was numbered among her most eminent jurists, and was ranked with Fletcher and Shaw. He was a man of the finest sensibilities, and a devout and reverent Christian. Mills Olcott, of the class of 1790, who had been the Secretary and Treasurer of the College before he was a Trustee, whose father had served before him for twenty years in the same capacity, a man of remarkable sagacity and enterprise in business affairs, of assured social position, and of great elegance and dignity of manner.

"And of this body of men was Ezekiel Webster, the elder brother of Daniel, a man of remarkable intellectual endowments; in sagacity and judgment, in the opinion of those who knew them both, fully equal to his distinguished brother, well read, as all the gentlemen of the old school were, in the old English authors; a profound lawyer, and, at times when he could be prevailed upon to speak, as eloquent as his brother; of commanding personal presence, which in no way can be so well described as by borrowing a Homeric epithet, for he was truly a 'king' among 'men.'

"Such was the body of men whose grave and majestic air used to impress the writer of this sketch, when the Commencements came round, in his college days, with the same feeling of awe and reverence with which the barbarians' were inspired when they first looked in upon the Roman Senate, supposing that they were looking upon an assembly of kings."

If to these we add the names of the eminent men who were the colleagues of the founder, and of Nathaniel Niles, Jonathan Freeman, Thomas W. Thompson, Stephen Jacob, Timothy Farrar, Samuel Bell, Asa McFarland, Seth Payson, Samuel Prentiss, George Sullivan, John Aiken, William Reed, Samuel Delano, Samuel Fletcher, Nathaniel Bouton, Silas Aiken, Joel Parker, Richard Fletcher, and the honored Governors of the State, we are fully impressed with the fact that the interests of the college have been in the keeping of wise and prudent guardians.



CHAPTER XXX.

LABORS OF DARTMOUTH ALUMNI.—CONCLUSION.

As Dartmouth was founded as an evangelizing agency, and every stone was laid in firm reliance upon Him to whom all was consecrated, there was good ground of hope that it would be a strong and durable pillar in the great temple of Christian learning. Its record is a realization of the hopes of its noble and devoted founders.

In his "Narrative" for 1771 (p. 29) Dr. Wheelock, alluding to the period immediately following his removal to Hanover, says: "there were evident impressions upon the minds of a number of my family and school which soon became universal, insomuch that scarcely one remained who did not feel a greater or less degree of it, till the whole lump seemed to be leavened by it, and love, peace, joy; satisfaction and contentment reigned through the whole. The 23d day of January (1771) was kept as a day of solemn fasting and prayer, on which I gathered a church in this college and school, which consisted of twenty-seven members."

His biographer, writing early in the present century, says: "The college has been repeatedly favored with remarkable religious impressions on the minds of the students. These showers of divine grace have produced streams which have refreshed the garden of the Lord, and made glad the city of our God. The young men in this school of the prophets have, at these seasons, been powerfully and lastingly affected; they have gone forth as 'angels of the churches;' the work of God has prospered in their hands; many of their people have been turned to righteousness."

Of President Tyler's administration it is said that the most remarkable thing was "a powerful revival of religion." All the later decades have been marked by manifestations of the Divine presence in the college. Scarcely a year has passed in which some of its members have not joyfully consecrated intellect and heart and life to the service of Him who gave them.