Though beloved and useful, he was not long to keep on at his work, for he died a martyr to his calling, at his father's house in Farmington, Conn., September 5, 1852, aged only 30. He was not a great original investigator, but that was through force of circumstances, which made him the organizer of a school successful from the start. He willed to the college all the apparatus, books, and other articles, worth probably $5,000, provided the school were kept up. The school was reorganized by obtaining Prof. John A. Porter, who had just resigned the professorship of chemistry in Brown University, to take charge of the laboratory for a year. At the commencement of 1853 he was made professor of analytical and agricultural chemistry, which he held till ill health forced him to resign in 1864. He died two years later. He was a sonin-law of J. E. Sheffield and that fact partly accounts for Mr. Sheffield's taking such interest in the school. At the beginning of 1852, Wil liam A. Norton, a graduate of West Point, who had been professor of civil engineering at Brown University, was chosen to the same place at Yale, and that department was begun that fall with 26 students, reciting in the attic of Old Chapel for some years. His students received the same degree as the chemical students, but were a distinct school. The catalogue of 1854-55 put both as branches of an imagi nary Yale Scientific school, but there was no real connection till both became parts of the Sheffield Scientific School.

3

In 1855 the school was reorganized, with George J. Brush, one of the first graduates of the school, who was then studying in Europe, as professor of Metallurgy. At commencement of that year Prof. J. D. Dana aroused interest in the school, and the next year taught its students geology, and continued to do so without pay for some time till his health failed him. About this time Prof. Silliman, jr., returned from Louisville, but his work henceforth was in the college proper and the medical school, in both of which places he succeeded his father.

In 1856 S. W. Johnson, who had taken charge of the laboratory the year before, was made professor of analytical chemistry, to which agricultural chemistry was added later. He is now the second of the faculty in length of service. His books made for his classes have been very successful, being translated into German, Russian, Swedish, and Italian. After his appointment Prof. Porter taught only organic chemistry. In 1859 the faculty was further increased by the appointment of Rev. C. S. Lyman as professor of industrial mechanics and physics, which he later exchanged for the chair of astronomy.

He was an ardent patriot during the rebellion, and originated the "Connecticut War Record" Yale Book, II, 118 (W. H. Brewer).

2 He held the place till his death, in 1883.

3 In 1864 mineralogy was added, and he resigned from teaching metallurgy in 1871. Yale Book, 1, 105 (T. R. Lounsbury), Dexter, Y. U., p. 76. See Fisher's "Yale Bibliographies, 1893."

JOSEPH EARL SHEFFIELD.

That same year the school was put on a firm basis by Mr. Sheffield' unexpectedly coming forward, buying the medical college at the head of College street, refitting and enlarging it as the permanent abode of the schools of chemistry and engineering. In 1860 the work was done, and the two schools for the first time came together under one roof. He also gave $50,000 for an endowment fund, the only sum that had been given for that purpose, while all contributions for the department previously had not been over $15,000, and the professors had virtually worked without pay. His gift was divided into three parts; one-half was to go for the chair of analytical and agricultural chemistry, and the other half was to be divided equally between those of metallurgy and engineering. In gratitude for this gift the school was formally named the Sheffield Scientific School at commencement, 1861.2

Joseph Earl Sheffield was born at Southport, Conn., June 19, 1793, and died February 16, 1882. His father and grandfather were shipowners, and in 1808 he himself, after a common-school education, went to New Berne, N. C., as clerk. In 1813 he became partner of a New York house there and soon transferred his business to Mobile, Ala., where he became a large cotton-shipper. In 1835 he returned to the North and settled in New Haven. He was instrumental in the building of the Farmington Canal and the Northampton Railroad, being also concerned in the New York, New Haven and Hartford and other railways. He gave to Trinity Church, New Haven, a parish house, costing $75,000, and made gifts to Trinity College, the Berkeley Divinity School, and the Theological Seminary of the Northwest at Chicago. He was a gentleman of the old school, gracious, gentle, charming, with simplicity of the highest breeding and the kindliness of a noble heart, ever ready to aid the suffering. His health was good till within two years of his death. The aggregate of his benefactions was over $650,000, of which Yale received over half, and since his death the school named for him has obtained much of his estate.

GROWTH OF THE SHEFFIELD SCHOOL.

In 1859 an entrance examination in the chemical course was ordered, but was not put into effect till 1861. This prevented the school becoming a resort for lazy men. The requirements were arithmetic, algebra, geometry, plane trigonometry, English grammar, geography, and the elements of chemistry and physics, which last two were soon given up, as the preparatory schools would not teach them. At the same time, the

5

He had already given $10,000 (Yale Book, 1, 151).

2 Yale Book, 11, 105 (T. R. Lounsbury).

3 J. E. Sheffield, Am. Jour. of Ed., XXVIII, 321.

Yale Book, II, 114 (W. L. Kingsley).

Sheffield Scientific School, Am. Jour. of Ed., xxvIII, 337.

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chemical course and a new one, called the general course, were lengthened to three years, in which the engineering course followed them in 1863, the first year of all the courses being made the same.1 Opposition being made to the general course as conflicting unduly with the regular college course, it was modified in 1863, and a year later the name was changed to the select course. It was further reorganized in 1874 and brought into unity with the other courses by making geology the leading subject. However, there is still a feeling among many that it is an easy way of getting through college without ancient languages. Up to 1870 Mr. Sheffield's gifts were, first, the gift of South Sheffield Hall, which he enlarged by the addition of an observatory in 1865, making it in size 117 by 112 feet3; second, an endowment of $130,000 and a library fund of $10,000, later increased to $12,000; third, the Hillhouse Mathematical Library, costing $4,000; fourth, a gift of $2,700 to the Collier Cabinet, which cost originally $6,000 and was given by M. D. Collier, of St. Louis, in memory of his brother, T. F. Collier, a student in the Scientific Schools; fifth, gifts for current expenses, which amounted to $10,000 annually for the last ten years of his life and to $20,000 in 1881. In addition to all this, in 1870 he presented a lot on Prospect street, north of the old building, which, from the increasing number of students was becoming too small; erected a new building thereupon known as North Sheffield Hall, and equipped it; in all expending over $100,000. By this the class rooms were re-ar ranged so that the chemical laboratory, lecture rooms, the library, and the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station were accommodated in South Sheffield Hall. North Sheffield Hall, the new building, is 84 by 75 feet, and nominally three stories high, though practically five, with brownstone foundation. The walls are of red brick, relieved by white and blue, which give a zebra-like effect; the water tables, window and door sills are of bluestone. It contains the general lecture rooms and the departments of civil and dynamical engineering, physics, botany, and drawing. Through growth in number the classes in geology, mineralogy, zoology, and physiology have recited in Pea dody Museum since 1876.3

In the large hall of "North Sheff" are held, every winter, the socalled Mechanics' Course of twelve lectures, by members of the university faculty. To these the public is admitted on payment of a small fee ($1 for the course) and from their foundation they have been successful and interesting. Prof. W. D. Whitney, about 1860, took the place of

8

Yale Book, 1, 152.

Yale Book, 11, 105.

3 Yale Book, 11, 116 (W. H. Brewer).

4 Yale Book, 1, 152, 11, 105.

5 Yale in 1869, p. 7; Yale Book, 1, 196 (H. C. Kingsley).

6 Rept. U. S. Bureau of Ed., 1881, p. 35.

7 The latter was removed in 1882 owing to need for more room.

8 N. E. Jour. of Ed., Feb. 6, 1876, p. 71.