OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY



well. The degree of A. B. still suggested some Latin and Greek in
its curriculum, and that of B. S. some physical and chemical science.
The Chair of Philosophy was considered the chair of honor and the
ability with which it was filled gave dignity and prestige to the in-
stitution.
    In 1862 Congress made liberal provision for instruction in those
branches of learning related to agriculture and the mechanic arts
"without excluding other scientific and classical studies and includ-
ing military tactics in such manner as the Legislatures of the states
may respectively prescribe in order to promote the liberal and prac-
tical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and
professions of life."
    For this purpose Congress granted public lands in proportion to
representation in Congress. The allotment to Kentucky was 330,000
acres, an area amounting to over 515 square miles. The State did
not consider itself prepared at that time to establish such a college
a.s the organic laws contemplated and the dignity of the Common-
wealth required, upon an independent basis, and readily acceded to
the proposal of the recently consolidated Kentucky and Transylvania
Universities to engraft her college upon the new institution as one
of its associated colleges. In 1865 this union was effected and in
October, 1866, the Agricultural and Mechanical College, known for
many years as State College, and which has since grown into the
University of Kentucky, opened its doors for matriculation of stud-
ents. The income of the new University was about 25,000. of which
9,900 belonged to the Agricultural and Mechanical College and was
applied to its sole and exclusive use. Few of its matriculates were
ready for college work. Five-sixths of its students were in the pre-
paratory departm ent, a department then indispensable, because of
the backwardness- of education in the State. Outside of Louisville,
so far as I am anv.-re, no high school at that time existed. For some
years the alliance worked well. Education was in consequence of
the war prostrate in the south and west. Students flocked in from
Kentucky and the adjacent states. In 1870 the matriculation reached
its maxi num 767. of which the Agricultural and Mechanical College
had 300. But religious dissension over the management and policy
of the institution by the governing board began to loom up. The
quarrels were carried into the General Assembly. Failing to elimi-
nate John B. Bowman, the Creator of the Consolidation, a man of
more liberal views and of larger ideas on education than those held
by the majority of his co-religionists, the Christian church withdrew
its patronage, causing thereby a rapid decline in attendance and
reputation. The crisis culminated in 1878 when the Legislature
intervened and withdrew the Agricultural and Mechanical College



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