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."