on the ground floor two recitation rooms and a chapel for daily prayers. The upper floor is occupied by a large chapel with a memorial window to the alumni who died in their country's cause. It was dedicated in commencement week, 1871.

ORANGE JUDD HALL OF NATURAL SCIENCE.

This was opened on the same day that memorial chapel was dedicated. It cost $100,000, is the gift of Orange Judd, an alumnus of 1847, and contains four stories and a basement. The first floor is devoted to chemistry, the north side of the second floor to natural history, and the south side to physics. The third and fourth floors are occupied by the museum, the fourth being a gallery of the third, and containing the botanical, zoölogical, and ethnological collections. The third floor has the collections of geology and mineralogy. The museum is recent, but is one of the finest features of Wesleyan, and Orange Judd Hall has done much to give so many young Wesleyan men their marked scientific tastes. The building was given as a memorial of a son, and Dr. Newhall, at the dedication, well struck the keynote of the ideas the building is meant to represent. He said:

1

Wesley, the great religious reformer, did more to popularize science and to educate the masses of the people than any other man of the eighteenth century. When the fathers laid the foundation of this university they felt, by the sure instinct of enlightened piety, that science and religion are as inseparable as head and heart.

CHARTER OF 1870.

The joint board was now composed of 29 trustees and 30 visitors from thirteen patronizing conferences, and was found too large for convenience, besides which the joint system was cumbrous, so the charter was changed in 1870 and a new board of trustees made, to consist of not over 40. Of these, each conference should elect one, the alumni and the joint board the rest. The new system has worked successfully and is still in force. In 1871 G. I. Seney put a steeple on Memorial Chapel, making it 144 feet high. In 1872 a pipe organ was put in the building, and the porch was added in 1873.

PRESIDENT CYRUS D. FOSS (1875–80).

Bishop Foss was born on January 17, 1834, at Kingston, Ulster County, N. Y., and graduated from Wesleyan in 1854. Doing as President Cummings had done before him, he taught in Amenia Seminary and from 1857 to 1874 he was engaged in the work of the pastorate. In this service he had won wide reputation as possessing sound scholarship and executive ability. He was inaugurated as president of Wesleyan on October 26, 1875, and left to become a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in May, 1880.2 He was much loved by the students

'College Book, p. 312.

2 Hist. Sketch, p. 17.

and his administration is especially noteworthy for an earnest attempt to increase the endowment. This had not kept pace in its growth with the increase of unproductive wealth in buildings and, in the depression after the panic of 1873 some of the productive property had lost value. In March, 1876, the trustees reported an alarming state of things. The expenses were yearly increasing and yearly a debt was being made larger, which even then amounted to $60,000, while but one-half of receivable bills were good. The income-bearing funds were $141,000; the annual income $20,000, and the outlay $46,000.

President Foss promptly appreciated the gravity of the situation, and at conference in 1876 said: "Only large and generous help promptly given to the institution could save it from danger." A committee of the alumni appealed to all graduates to aid the university in its need; over $40,000 was subscribed and for several years the annual deficit was met as it occurred, largely from the pockets of the trustees. In the five years of President Foss's term, $375,000 was added to the endowment, of which George I. Seney gave $175,000.

The project of raising a fund of half a million to commemorate the centennial of our independence was proposed by the trustees in 1875. Among the large gifts were $10,000 from G. F. Terry, of Orange, N. J.; $40,000 from O. Hoyt, of Stamford, Conn.; $5,000 from W. Hoyt, of Stamford, Conn.; $5,000 from J. F. Judd, of Hartford, Conn.; $40,000 from A. V. Stout, of New York, with which a professorship was founded; $5,000 from J. H. Taft, of Brooklyn, N. Y.; the same amount from J. H. Sessions, of Bristol, Conn.; and $7,750 from Mary Taber's estate.

President Foss's noble character, his kindness and courtesy, his unvarying enthusiasm for goodness, his inspiring piety, could not fail to affect the students, and "his influence was itself an education of the best sort."

PRESIDENT JOHN W. BEACH, D. D. (1880–287).

On President Foss's retirement, after his election as bishop, Dr. Beach, a well-known scholar and clergyman, was chosen his successor, largely at the desire of G. I. Seney, the generous benefactor of Wesleyan. Dr. Beach was born on December 26, 1825, at Trumbull, Fairfield County, Conn., and graduated from Wesleyan in 1845. He taught in Amenia Seminary, as his two predecessors did, and from 1854 to his election was a pastor and presiding elder of the Methodist Episcopal Church. For the first years of his ministry, there was no decline of Wesleyan's prosperity. On the contrary, the endowment largely increased, especially through the generosity of Mr. Seney. In the fall of 1880, he gave $75,000, and in June, 1881, $100,000, the income of which was to be used for scholarships, of which sixteen were to be awarded to freshmen and eight to each of the upper classes. In Jan

1 College Book, p. 317.

uary, 1882, he gave $150,000 more, making in all nearly half a million, while gifts from others had made the total sum added to the endowment nearly $800,000. Unfortunately for Wesleyan, Mr. Seney was involved in the financial crisis of 1883, and as he had not paid in all of his gift the university lost a large share of it.

President Beach's popularity with the students decreased after a few years, and, as the situation was pleasant to no one, he resigned at the request of the trustees in 1887 and is now a presiding elder of the . Methodist Episcopal Church.

ACTING PRESIDENT J. M. VAN VLECK (1887–289).

The office of president was not at once filled, but Prof. Van Vleck was appointed acting president and served in that capacity for two years. He was born on March 4, 1833, at Stone Ridge, Ulster County, N. Y., graduated at Wesleyan in 1850, and since 1853 has taught mathe. matics and astronomy at his alma mater.

A marked feature of President Van Vleck's two years of service was the increased interest in the university by the alumni, as shown by the formation of new alumni associations. Three of these: at New York in 1869, at Boston, and at Philadelphia, antedate this period, but in these two years the list was doubled by the organization of the Central Alumni Association at Chicago, the Northeastern Pennsylvania one at Wilkes Barre, and the Southern California one at Los Angeles. The university began again to receive part of the Seney fund, and all things seemed looking towards a new era of prosperity.

PRESIDENT B. P. RAYMOND (1889—).

The Rev. Bradford Paul Raymond was chosen president in the fall of 1888, and was inaugurated on Wednesday, June 26, 1889. He entered upon his duties in the fall, and at once became popular with the students. He was born at Stamford, Conn., April 22, 1846, and from the time he was 15 till he was 18 he taught school. Then he enlisted in the Fortyeighth New York Infantry and served through the rebellion, being mustered out in September, 1865. Then, after teaching a year at home, he went to Red Wing, Wis., to go into business, but, changing his mind, he entered Hamlin University there. When he was a junior the college suspended at the end of the winter term. He, however, went to work, hired the buildings, and, getting enough students to remain, so as to pay the salaries of the professors, kept up the college till the end of the college year. Then he entered Lawrence University at Appleton, Wis., and graduated there in 1870. Coming East, he entered the theological department of Boston University and graduated in 1873. entered the pastorate of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in 1880-'81 studied in Germany. In 1883 he was made president of Lawrence University,' from which post he was called to Wesleyan. He

'University Magazine, 11, 4-5.

He

was very successful at Lawrence, and has won considerable reputation as a preacher and a student of philosophy. Under him Wesleyan has a prosperous outlook.

RECENT GIFTS TO WESLEYAN.

The Wesleyan University Bulletin states:

The resources of Wesleyan are applied solidly to the maintenance of a college of liberal arts, and for this purpose its means compare favorably with those of most of the well-known and best reputed colleges of the land. In respect of endowment fund it ranks among the strongest of the purely collegiate foundations of New England. Recently it has received some valuable gifts. Daniel Ayres, M. D., of Brooklyn, left Wesleyan without graduating there, because it was not equipped to give the students sufficiently advanced instruction in natural science. He resolved, if ever the opportunity came, he would remedy that deficiency, and so, in April, 1889, he gave $25,000 to endow a professorship of biology. In October of the same year he deeded to the university 86 acres of land valued at $30,000, for the same purpose. In December, 1889, at the annual dinner of the New York Wesleyan Association, the additional gift of $250,000 was announced from this princely benefactor. An attempt is being made to raise an equal amount from others of the alumni, and $60,000 were pledged the evening that Dr. Ayres's gift was announced. With that added to its previous funds, Wesleyan will be fitted to supply the growing needs of higher education.

In 1889 also the college received $20,000 from the estate of W. H. Hollis, a graduate of 1854, and the reversion of the estate of E. B. Nye, M. D., of the class of 1835, who, tradition says, made the first recitation at Wesleyan.

An attempt is now being made to give Wesleyan a new gymnasium. The old barnlike structure, which was the one part of Wesleyan visitors were never shown through, has long been extremely inadequate, and Wesleyan athletic records have been made in spite of it. In the summer of 1889 a vigorous movement was begun to raise from the alumni the amount required for a new gymnasium, some $40,000. The students themselves took the matter up, and, at a crowded college meeting in September, 1889, pledged $1,500; a large sum, considering that most Wesleyan students are men of small means.

FACULTY AND ALUMNI OF WESLEYAN.

In choosing professors Wesleyan has never pursued an injurious system of inbreeding; but has taken the best men attainable, without regard to their place of graduation. Among prominent nonalumni who have filled chairs in the college, were the Rev. D. D. Whedon, a graduate of Hamilton, who taught Latin and Greek 1833 to 1842, succeeding the lamented Rev. J. M. Smith, a Columbia graduate, who died at the very beginning of Wesleyan history; the Rev. Joseph Holdich,

biographer of President Fisk, professor of moral science and belles-lettres from 1836 to 1849, and then corresponding secretary of the American Bible Society, and John Johnson, a graduate of Bowdoin, professor of natural sciences from 1835 to 1879. The Hon. W. L. Storrs, a Yale graduate, gave lectures on law from 1841 to 1846; J. C. Van Benschoten, a graduate of Hamilton, has been professor of Greek since 1864; the Rev. G. Prentice has been at Wesleyan since 1871; the venerable Lymau Coleman, an alumnus of Yale, gave instruction at Wesleyan from 1860 to 1862, and the talented Woodrow Wilson, a Princeton man, was professor of history and political economy for two years.

The number of students increased very rapidly at first and reached 120 in 1836, then it remained nearly stationary for a long number of years, having only increased to 153 in 1869, in 1880 there were 164 students, and in 1888, 218.

In 1871 the Alumni Association resolved "that as there is nothing in the charter of the university to exclude ladies from the privileges of this institution, we heartily hope that they may avail themselves of the opportunties open to them." In consequence of this, the catalogue soon had this sentence: "Ladies are admitted to equal privileges in the university with gentlemen."

In 1876 four women graduated, and a few have been in nearly every class since that date. In 1883 as President Beach did not use the president's house, it was fitted up for a ladies' dormitory. In the fall of 1889 as President Raymond was again to cause the house to return to its old use, a large building, formerly a boarding school, across High street from the college, was rented for the female students.

Comparatively few young ladies have availed themselves of the advantages of Wesleyan, there being only 16 there during the winter of 1888-'89. They have always maintained a high standard of scholarship; but a little of the chivalry and deference to women seems to be lost by the association with the young men. It would seem a thing open to criticism that in catalogues their names are printed after the men instead of with or before them, and the half-contemptuous way in which the men speak of the women students makes an observer doubt very seriously whether coeducation is a success at Wesleyan. At any rate, the college, one of the first of New England ones to try the experiment, is courageously carrying it out.

In 1869 through the generosity of Orange Judd, an elaborate alumni register was issued; a second edition appeared in 1873, and a third in 1883. The last contains 720 pages, and is probably as complete as any ever issued by an American college. From it much of the material for this sketch of Wesleyan's history has been obtained.

In 1882 there had been 1,291 graduated from Wesleyan, of whom 1,051 were then living. Of these 45 per cent, or 474, had been clergymen,

1 Scribner's, XII, 648.