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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (Oct. 28, 1897)
YATE ATATMNE SSS re te SOME SHEFF. HISTORY. The Main Points in the Develop- ment of the School. In 1846, two professorships, one of Agricultural Chemistry and Animal and Vegetable Physiology, the other of Practical Chemistry, were established by the Corporation of Yale College. There was no provision for salary be- yond a sum of $5,000, promised toward the endowment of the Chair of Agri- cultural Chemistry, under the condition that $20,000 more be found for the same purpose, a condition. which was never fulfilled. On this slight foundation the Scientific Department of Yale was be- gun, under the direction of John Pitkin Norton and Benjamin Silliman, Jr., who held respectively the professor- ships of Agricultural and Practical Chemistry. In 1847, after the organi- zation of the two chairs into a School of Philosophy and Arts, Professors Norton and Silliman rented from the Corporation the old frame building which had been occupied by Presidents Dwight and Day. Without rules, and unmolested by examinations, the first class, eight in number, began work in the Autumn of 1847. In those days the courses, especially for the scientific student, were few; laboratory practice, a course in Agricultural Chemistry under Professor Norton in the second term, and a course in Applied Chemis- try and Metallurgy, under Professor Silliman, Jr., in the third term. In spite of Professor Silliman’s resig- nation in 1849 the School continued to prosper and at the Commencement of 1852 the degree of Ph.B was granted by the Corporation to the graduating class. On this same occasion Mr. William A. Norton accepted the chair of Civil Engineering—a position simi- lar to the one which he had held in Brown University—and in the Autumn of 1852, his class having followed him from Brown, the School of Engineer- ing opened with twenty-six members. But in September of the same year the organizer and promoter of the Scientific School, Professor John P. Norton, died at the age of thirty, worn out already by his labors. “Never,” says Professor Lounsbury, “‘has science any- where had a more disinterested fol- lower. He devoted himself without reserve to building up this department of Yale College, and much of the late success of the School has been due to that example of self-sacrifice to its in- terests. To it he gave for a few short years his toil, his time, his money; he ended at last by giving to it his life.” MR. PORTER'S APPOINTMENT. Mr. John A. Porter accepted the chair of Analytical and Agricultural Chem- istry in 1853, and in addition to his re- gular work, did much toward in-— troducing the present system of educa- tion, upon broad lines of culture, as well as scientific instruction. And be- ’ sides all that, it was through him that his father-in-law, Mr. Joseph E. Shef- field, was first interested in the Scientific School. In 1855 Mr. George J. Brush was elected to the chair of Metallurgy and in 1856 Mr. S. W. Johnston be- came Professor of Analytical Chemis- try, to which Agricultural Chemistry was afterward added. From then on, the management of the school gra- dually passed into the hands of these two men. A chair of Physics, to which the Rev. C. S. Lyman was elected, was founded in 1859. In this year Mr. Sheffield bought the building which had hitherto been used by the Medical College, and having enlarged and refitted it, handed it over to the Scientific School. In addition he gave $50,000 for the endow- ment of the three chairs of Analytic and Agricultural Chemistry, Metallurgy and Engineering. Professor William D. Whitney, who held the chair of Sanskrit in the Uni- versity, in 1860, accepted in addition the chair of Modern Languages in the Scientific School. .To him more than any other is due the success of the movement to give languages their pro- per position in the curriculum ofthe School. It is probable that the Shef- field Scientific School is unique in this respect. Income acquired from the fund of the State, secured from the sale of public lands, allowed an increase of the teach- . ing staff in 1863. In that year Mr. Daniel C. Gilman was osha t Pro- fessor of Physical Geography and in the following year Professor Brewer was given the Chair of Agriculture, Profes- sor Eaton the Chair of Botany and Professor Verrill the Chair of Zoology. In 1865 Mr. A. P. Rockwell was elected Professor of Mining. Another import- ant step was taken in the year 1871-2, when the Professorship of Mechanical Engineering was founded. Mr. Wil- liam P. Trowbridge was chosen to the new Professorship. In this same year Thomas R. Lounsbury was made Pro- fessor of English; Oscar D. Allen, Professor of Metallurgy and Francis A. Walker Professor of Political Economy and History. The first entrance examinations were held in 1861, and covered Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Plain Trigonome- try, English Grammar, Geography and the elements of Chemistry and Phy- sics. At the same time the course in Chemistry was lengthened to three years, and the “general course’ then first established was made the same length. It was not until 1863 that the course of engineering was changed to three years. CHOICE OF PROF. BRUSH AS DIRECTOR. In 1872, the governing body of the School established as far back as 1856, and composed of the professors and the President of the College, elected an execttive officer to take charge of the general management of the School. Professor George J. Brush was chosen. For a long time he had been practi- cally the manager of the institution, and the disinterested devotion dis- played by him to its interest, as well as the energy, ability and clearness of judgment which had characterized his direction during the most trying periods of its history, were recognized by the other members of the Board as fitting him for the direction of affairs. Professor Brush has been reelected at . the end of each term. The School continued steadily to develop its system and add to its corps of instructors. Mr. John E. Clark was appointed to the Chair of Mathema- tics in 1873; Sidney I. Smith was chosen Professor of Comparative Ana- tomy in 1875, and in the same year William G. Mixter was made Professor of Chemistry. In 1877, A. Jay DuBois was appointed Professor of Dynamical Engineering in place of Professor Trowbridge, who resigned that year to accept a. professorship in Columbia. Professor Henry W. Farnam joined the Faculty in 1881, taking the vacancy caused by the resignation of Professor Walker to accept the Presidency of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in 1882 the Professorship of Phy- siological Chemistry was founded, and Russell H. Chittenden was chosen for it. In 1883 Professor DuBois was transferred from the Engineering to take the head of the Department of Civil Engineering, left vacant by the death of Professor Norton. The Pro- fessorship of Mechanical Engineering was then offered to Mr. Charles B. Richards and was accepted by him. In 1884, the Chair of Physics and Astron- omy, held by Professor Lyman, was divided and Professor Charles L. Hast- ings was chosen to the new Chair of Physics. Ten years later two more additions to the staff of instructors were made, in the appointment of Samuel L. Penfield as Professor of Mineralogy and’ Horace L. Wells as Professor of Analytical Chemistry and Metallurgy. The further additions to the Governing Board by the appoint- ment of Charles E. Beecher to the Professorship of Historical Geology and Louis V. Pirsson to the Professor- ship of Physical Geology, have been spoken of in recent issues of the WEEKLY. THE SIZE OF CLASSES. In 1852, the graduating Class num- bered seven; in 1862, only six; in 1872, twenty-three received diplomas, and in 1882 this number had risen to thirty- six. In 1891 the Freshman Class num- bered 207; in 1893, 228; and in 1804, 254. The withdrawal of free scholar- ships by the tranference of land grant moneys, the hard times and the in- creased standard. of admission have operated to reduce the membership somewhat in recent years. BUILDINGS. The year 1872-3 saw the completion of North Sheffield Hall, the second building given by Mr. Sheffield, who had expended over $100,000 in it. [Continued on 8th page.] WHEEKLY JOSEPH EARL SHEFFIELD, Sketch of the Life of the Founder of | the Scientific School. Joseph Earl Sheffield was born June 19, 1793, in Southport, Connecticut. His father and grandfather were ship owners who, during the Revolutionary War, had maintained an armed vessel in the interests of the Colonies. His mother, Mabel Thorpe, was the daugh- ter of Captain Walter Thorpe, also of Southport, a ship owner engaged in the West India trade. The Sheffields and Thorpes were both financially crippled by the Milan and Berlin ~de- crees of Napoleon, so in 1808 Joseph Sheffield, in accordance with his own wishes, became a clerk in the store of Mr. Stephen Fowler, of Newbern, South Carolina. As a result of his in- dustry and ability, he became a partner in a firm doing business in Newbern and New York City, in 1830. In spite of the hard times of 1815, Mr. Sheffield continued to prosper, and after travel- ing over a large part of the South, he moved his business to Mobile, Ala. In 1822, Mr. Sheffield married Miss Maria St. John, daughter of Colonel J. T. St. John, of Walton, Delaware Co., New York. About this time he be- came associated with prominent busi- ness men in all parts of the country, notably Mr. Henry Kneeland, of New York and Mr. Nicholas Biddle, of Philadelphia. As a result of this-in- timacy which sprang up between him and Mr. Biddle, he was offered the Presidency of the Mobile branch of the United States Bank, which offer he refused. In 1835, Mr. Sheffield moved North and settled in New Haven, where he lived until his decease in 1882. During his residence in New Haven Mr. Shef- field kept up his business connections and was interested in several very im- portant enterprises. . In addition to the Scientific School which bears his name, other institu- tions have received benefactions from Mr. Sheffield. While these were very large in porportion to his moderate fortune it is impossible to form any accurate estimate of the value of his gifts. It is enough to say that in 1879, his benefactions to educational institu- tions alone, exceeded six hundred thousand dollars. At the time of his death, Mr. Shef- field had given the School approxi- mately four hundred thousand dollars. In-his will he added a seventh part of his estate, treating the School as one of his children. This further gift was not less than half a million dollars, making the total gifts of Mr. Sheffield to the School which bears his name not less than one million dollars. a ee Yale Men at the University of California. The Faculty of the University of Cali- fornia contains the following Yale men, thirteen in all: Martin Kellogg, A.B. 1850, LL.D. 1893, President. Thomas R. Bacon, A.B. 1872, B.D. 1877, Professor of European History. Edward B. Clapp, Ph.D. 1886, Pro- fessor of Greek. Cornelius B. Bradley, Divinity School 1869, Professor of Rhetoric. William A. Setchell, A.B. 1887, Pro- fessor of Botany. Wm. B. Bosley, A.B. 1892, LL.B. 1894, Ass’t Professor of Law. Louis Dupont Syle, A.B. 1879, Ass’t Professor of English. George M. Stratton, A.M. 1890, Ass’t Professor of Psychology. Thomas F. Sanford, A.B. 1888, Ass’t Professor of English. _ Clifton Price, Ph.D. 1896, Instructor in Latin. Clive Day, A.B. 1892, ‘Instructor in History. , : , Arthur C. Alexander, Ph.B. 1880, PheD: 1804, Instructor in Physics. Herbert C. Nutting, A.B. 1895, Ph.D. 1897, Instructor in Greek and Sans- krit. ————++4—__ In the College Pulpit. Following is a list of the preachers who will occupy the pulpit f three Sundays: oo October 31—Prof. G i Andover tae eorge Harris, November 7—Prof. Ladd, New aven. November 14—Rey. R D.D., Brooking ee euen Thomas, 0O XS aw) ps: za O x Li OO STINEN ©. CHARLES 1. PENNELL, Successor to Wm. Franklin & Co., IMPORTING TAILOR, AO Center St., New Haven, Conn. J. EDWARD SOMERS, IMPORTING TAILOR, 63 Center Street, NEW HAVEN, - CONN. F. R. BLISS & CO., TAILORS CHURCH AND CHAPEL STREETS, New Haven, Conn. — —, qpete ee — Sv “SE: e) > & 6 py SN Newer AN. — = KEIR SB =a S S | I, ps Mate 27 2! Hil ee =f \ Z (: ‘the \ y S| ra | + \t Ble TAs a il] Le \ \ i Pale ! il \ \ i i { } y | ! iB) a Ve ral \ ul j ie Yt . } “No, boys; I have not been burning the midnight oil to get all that material for my address. I have not spent hundreds for books of reference. I could not have got these up-to-date facts and figures in that way. ve] simply send to Romeike for Press Clippings. “Day by day he sent me editorials and original articles collected from thousands of newspapers and periodicals which are read in his offices, and I only had to arrange the material.”’ ROMEIKE’S Press CUTTING BUREAU will send you all newspaper clippings which may appear about you, your friends, or any subject on which you want to be “up to date.” A large force in my New York office reads 650 daily papers and over 2,000 weeklies and magazines; in fact, every paper of im- portance published in the United States, for 5,000 subscribers, and through the European Bureaus, all the leading papers in the civil- ized globe. Clippings found for subscribers are pasted on slips giving name and date of paper, and are mailed day by day. Write for circulars and terms. HENRY ROMEIKE, 139 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. Branches: LONDON. PARIS. BERLIN. SIDNEY.
