The magnitude of these examinations will appear from the following statement for the academic year 1883-84, showing the number of subjects to be thirty-nine, and the number of answer papers sent in and examined at the Regents' office to be 66,028.

STATE GRANTS FOR BOOKS AND APPARATUS.-From the origin of the academic system the Board of Regents found it a valuable aid. to academies to make special grants for the purchase of books, maps and globes, and philosophical apparatus. What had long been practiced was put in the form of a law in 1834, when the Regents were authorized to grant, for this purpose, sums not to exceed $250 in one year to any academy, on condition that the Trustees should raise an equal amount. This law was re-enacted in 1851, and the amount of the appropriation fixed at $3,000. This appropriation was increased to $6,000 by the Legislature in 1884. The Regents have established regulations in regard to the mode of making application for grants from this appropriation, and in regard to the

character of the articles to be purchased. In order to keep the applications within the limit of the appropriation, they have fixed the maximum grant at $150, and do not allow the same academy to apply for two successive years.

*

*

INSTRUCTION OF COMMON SCHOOL TEACHERS.-The plan of employing the academies of the State for the education of common school teachers was discussed as early as 1823. Among the laws of 1827 is one entitled "An act to * increase the Literature Fund and to promote the education of teachers." Even before this date certain academies had established classes for educating teachers. In the Report of the Regents for 1832, prepared by General Dix, then a Regent, St. Lawrence Academy is commended as having established a course of study for teachers, and sent out eighty during the preceding year. And in the report of the next year the Canandaigua Academy is reported as having, during the past two years, educated not less than fifty teachers. The Regents in their reports express regret that by law they could not make any discrimination in favor of academies which should maintain such classes. Their establishment was at this time purely voluntary. But in 1834 the Legislature passed an act authorizing the Regents to distribute the surplus of the revenue of the Literature Fund, which should remain over $12,000, among the academies which should maintain classes for educating common school teachers. The Regents in carrying out this law in 1835, selected eight academies, one in each Senatorial district, to give this instruction; and appropriated $4,000 for the first organization of these departments of instruction, and $400 per annum to each for its support. When the United States Deposit Fund was received by the State the appropriations for this purpose were augmented. The number of academies was increased to sixteen, viz. Two in each district. Aid was extended in the purchase of books and apparatus. Subsequent changes were made, both by legislation and by ordinance of the Regents, in the management of this service. Great difficulties were experienced in selecting the institutions to give the instruction. The payment made by the State for instructing a class was eagerly sought after, and it became an ungracious task to decide between applicants. Besides this, as the number of classes was increased it became impossible to give them the requisite supervision.

The present system, which has been reached after many trials, and which was embodied in chapter 318 of the Laws of 1882, is, to appoint each year a varying number of academies to instruct teachers'

classes-distributed, as nearly as may be, so as to accommodate the demand for such instruction. Each academy appointed is authorized to organize a class of not less than ten nor more than twenty-five members. The instruction is to continue at least ten weeks. As a condition for enjoying the benefits of this class the candidate must have passed the Regents' preliminary examination either before entering the class or as a requisite of graduation from it. A curriculum of instruction is prescribed, and a final examination is held. To those who pass this examination the Regents grant a testimonial of proficiency, which when indorsed by the school commissioner becomes a license to teach in the common schools of his district. For this service the State pays at the rate of one dollar per week for the instruction of each scholar. The law above quoted authorized the Regents to take measures to supervise the classes, and under this authority they have appointed an inspector who gives his entire time to the case and visitation of the classes. The following table exhibits the statistics of these classes for the past three years:

SUMMARY STATEMENTS. -The following tables present some important facts in regard to the academical institutions under the care of the Board of Regents:

237

235

255

252

260

$1,058,776 $1,035,229 $1,195,084 $1,254,990 $1,359,945 1,013,780 | 1,020,586 1,146,451 1,235,016

1,385,119

HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL RECORD OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

By FRANKLIN B. HOUGH, M. D., Ph. D.

CHAPTER I.

ORGANIZATION OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS.

Before noticing the organization of a Board of Regents, in 1784, it may be proper to refer back to proceedings had at an earlier period, in the establishment of a college in New York, which, with the exception of a few years of interruption during the Revolutionary War, has been continued to the present time, and since its reorganization, under the name of "Columbia College."

We find as early as 1703 an allusion to an intention of founding a college upon a part of the "King's Farm" in New York city.1 It was thought of again in 1729, but nothing effectual was done until December 6, 1746, when an act was passed by the General Assembly of the Colony, for raising the sum of £2,250 by a public lottery, for the encouragement of learning, and toward founding a College. Other acts followed, and toward the end of 1751, the moneys raised, amounting to £3,443 18s. were vested in trustees. Of these, two belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church, one to the Presbyterian, and seven. to the Church of England. After further delays, and much discussion as to the plan and control of the proposed College, a charter was granted on the 31st day of October, 1754, under the name of "King's College."

The trustees of the fund had in November, 1753, invited Dr. Samuel Johnson to accept the presidency of the intended College. He removed to New York in April, 1754, and in July following commenced a school. The College was not properly organized until the 7th of May, 1755, when formal proceedings were had, and the

1 Moore's Historical Sketch of Columbia College, page 6. Pratt's Annals of Public Education in New York (Regents' Convocation, 1873), page 169.

2 These acts are given at length in Pratt's Annals of Education above cited.