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Gommencemmt Aboress
State university of Kentucky.
.0. 1908 .9.
i 332 'flresleent llamas Kennedy T‘Datterson.

I think it not inappropriate, before the conclusion of these
exercises, upon this auspicious occasion, to say something in
reference to the State College of the past. This will form the

‘ necessary prelude to a brief reference to the present and may
form tllc basis of {I rcusoutiblc forcczist for the future.

Duringr the presidency of James Buchanan, a bill was ill—
troduccd into the Congress of the United States by Justin S.

- Mori'ill, then :1 member of the House of Representatives, the
object of which was to appropriate :1 part of the rapidly dimin—
lSlllllg‘ domztiii tllcli known (IS the public lands to endow and to
build up a system of schools throughout the Union, which should

“ devote tlicilisclvcs to the education of the industrial classes,
especially iii agriculture and the mechanic arts. In 1857 Agri—
culture ill America may be said to have been in its infancy, and
the great nll‘tllllfflClllI‘lllg establishments which have become
sources of untold wealth to the people of the United States were
also in their iilfuiicy. The plea could them Very well be made

‘ ' that they required the fostering care of the Government to
protect them froul injurious competition with the products of
foreign countries. The object of Mr. Morrill was to build up an
intelligent and industrious citizenry, who should utilize to the

' utmost tlic inexhaustible resources of the great agricultural

. communities of the United States of America, and to lay an iii-

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i 2 The [Mechanical Engineering & Eleclriml Engineering Record
I telligent basis upon which to establish and maintain productive
i industries through educated and intelligent artizans. This
measure, although passed by both Houses of Congress, was vetoed
: by President Buchanan. During the second year of the Civil
: War, Mr. Morrill again rc—introduced his bill, and although the
f country was then engaged in the most gigantic struggle that
had ever taken place on this continent, Congress found time to
,r legislate upon matters of far—reaching import, not only to that
': generation, but to the generations to follow. Mr. Morrill’s meas—
ure carried with it an allotment of public lands, 30,000 acres for
each representative in Congress to the several states of the Union,
; the proceeds of which should be applied to found and to endow
i colleges in each state, “wherein should be taught those branches
of learning related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, without
i excluding the classics and other scientific studies, and including
i military tactics, in order to promote the liberal and practical
{,3 education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and
if professions of life.” Provision was made that when the states
i then in revolt had been reestablished as members of the sister—
i hood of states, they also should be made the beneficiaries of this
; munificent provision. Upon this foundation all the great insti—
; tutions of the country founded since 1800, with the exception
i of Johns Hopkins, Leland Stanford, and the University of Chicago,
f1 have been established.
; In almost all the states of the Union, these agricultural
:' and mechanical colleges became the nuclei around which have
E grown up institutions of a scope and compass much wider and
{ much more representative of educational necessities in their
ii respective states than was originally intended by Mr. Morrill.
t“- The agricultural colleges of Michigan, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Mas»
"i sachusetts and Iowa have been content to remain agricultural and
5 mechanical colleges pure and simple. Their states have voted
large sums of money for their upbuilding and they have attained
, a degree of excellence comparable with the oldest established
1
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 3

Summer Numb/’1'. 1008 3
and best managed agricultural colleges of the Old \Vorld. They
have given to mechanic arts, however, an interpretation far be—
yond that originally contemplated in the organic law of Congress.
While giving instruction such as would enable the mechanic to
become an expert journeyman in carpentry and a skilled worker
in metals, they have gone far beyond these simple conceptions.
They have developed into technical schools of a high order,
embracing engineering in all its phases and in all its relations,
Mechanical, IClectrical, Civil, Mining, Sanitary and Municipal.
Many of them have equalled and not a few of them have surpassed
the famous schools of technology of the Iiast. \Vith this inter—
pretation of the principles of science as related to the mechanic
arts and the principles of science as related to agriculture, they
have been contented and have gone no farther. ()ther institu—
tions, such as the Universities of Illinois, California, Missouri,
()hio, \\'isconsin, Minnesota, and Cornell, have added to instruc—
tion in agriculture and the mechanic arts, classics, modern lang—
uages, elaborate courses in history, economics and sociology,
linglish literature, biology, botany, physics, endowed and equipped
upon a scale enabling them to do work of equal value with those
of the older universities of the nation. They have expended
thousands and millions of dollars upon the establishment of
libraries and the creation of laboratories and the collection of
museums whereby original research has been encouraged and
prosecuted with a degree of success far surpassing the expec—
tation of their promoters. A large number of these institutions
have likewise added professional schools, law, medicine, dentistry .
and phar111ac_v, their object apparently being to embrace within
the scope of their educational activity and resources all the
knowledge of the time and to make provision for extending the
boundaries of knowledge in every possible direction.

Kentucky made no effort to establish an agricultural and
mechanical college until after the close of the war. The land
scrip allotted to this state, amounting to 330,000 acres, would

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3 4 i The .\Iz'e/Ianiea/ Ifnqz'm-rrhn/ & [flee/rim! Engineering /\'L'CUI‘11.
3 if it had been judiciously located among tlle vacant lands of the
3 west, have formed the basis of an endowment l‘und, large and
3: ample for the necessities of the institution, especially during its
3 earlier years. The Commonwealth, however, in the management
of this delegated trust, committed two great mistakes. The .
land scrip representing this magnificent domain was turned over
by the Legislature to the Sinking Fund Commissioners, who
3 employed an agent to dispose of it for what it would bring upon
3 the market. It was sold for fifty cents an acre and the proceeds
; of the sale invested in Kentucky State bonds, the interest of which,
= amounting to $9,900 per amnnn, was applied for the mainte-
; nance of the Agricultural and Mechanical College. This sacri-
3 fice of the fund given by the general govcrmnent was the lirst
; mistake. The second mistake consisted in attaching the Agri—
ti cultural and Mechanical College to a denominational school, making
',3 it a branch of Kentucky University, instead of placing it upon
33 an independent looting. This was done by the Legislature of
3 1865. The Legislature, in forming the partnership with Kentucky
3.5 University, reserved the right to withdraw the .\gricultural and
3 Mechanical College at any time that the public interests might
:3 demand. The relationship continued for thirteen years, namely,
3 until 1878, when the General .\ssembly intervened and dissolved
3 the connection, placing it in 1880 upon an independent looting
' and providing additional means through the imposition of a tax o1
one-half of one cent on each one hundred dollars of taxable proper
’ ty for its maintenance. The institution was when detached from
' Kentucky University, in the condition of a bankrupt, who through
‘ an ill—omened partnership ol~ thirteen years had lost. both time
i and money and when liquidation was ended, emerged from the
partnership with nothing at all.

i: \\"hen the College began operations as an independent '
2' institution in 1880, its faculty was small, only six in number, its
3 matriculates few and ill prepared for college work. Indeed, tive
3 out of every six were untitted for college work and had to be prw

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Smmner Number, HMS, 5 -
pared in the Academy before enteringr the Freshman Class. $9,900
per annum, accruing from the congressional scrip fund, added to
$17,500 per annum received from the proceeds of the tax, made

a fairly good working income with which to begin. Indeed, the

T amount seemed so large that ere two years the denominational
colleges of the Commonwealth took alarm and insisted that the
Legislature of IHSZ should repeal the tax and compel the College
to limit itsoperations within an income of $0,000. After a fiercely
fought contest, extendingr over three months, the movement to
repeal was defeated. That was the first contest and the greatest
contest in which the State College was duringr its history of twenty—
eight years, involved. Its very existence, pending,. the legisla—
tive struggle, hung in the balance. lSoth its present and its
future were by many of its friends despaired of. The belief pre-
vailed that in the course of a few years it would have to close
its doors and hand back to the general government the miserable
pittance of an income which was all that the gross 111ism:51n:.1;5re-
ment of the Commonwealth got from an endowment of 51.")
square miles of public lands,

The City of Lexington had given the ground upon which
the State University now stands. In addition to that, the city
and county had tgiven $30,000 for the erection of buildings.
These building's were in process of erection when the legislative

. contest opened. Misled by the architects employed, the amount
of money at their disposal was found to be wholly intu‘te'ptate
to the completion of the college building and old dormitory.
Their progress was arrested half—way, the college treasury was
exhausted and the income from the State in innninent d111a‘er
of being cttt off. At this juncture the Board of 'l‘rustees were
at their wits' end, they knew not which way to turn. .\11 effort

‘ was made to obtain a loan from one or more of the banks of the
city, to enable them to complete the building’s. They were met
by the objection that the College had 11(')t]1i11g‘ to offer as security,
either as realty or collateral. At this juncture, I intervened.

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j (i The JIer/zant'ra/ Engi'm'en'nu & [fled/I'm! linoz'im‘u'm/ [\‘tmnl.

: By economy I had succeeded in putting aside a small margin 1

l every year to the credit of profit and loss, and these assets, not 1

j very large, but representing about all I had, i placed at the l

f, disposal of the College. I went to the Northern Bank, put up

my own securities, borrmvcd the necessary amount of money '

l for the completion of the buildings and placed it in the hands

of the Ifxecutive Committee, This tided over the dillieulty

so far as buildings were concerned, and to the surprise of the ‘

% friends of the College and the discomliture of its assailants, the

1 House of Representativcs laid the motion to repeal upon the

i: table. The College was saved and its future apparently assured.

g I’ending the motion to repeal the tax, the opposition bt lieved j

‘ that they had discovered that the tax was unc:mstitutional. “lliat l
no money could be raised by taxation or otherwise for purposes of

education other than in the common schools." This constitie

:i tional provision appeared upon its face to be absolutely prohibi

it live. An elaborate argument was made by judge Lindsay the

A, attorney of the associated colleges, before the joint committee of

j the llouse and Senate. At the conclusion of his argument, the

T case of the College appeared absolutely hopeless. The lixeeutive

j Committee had made overtures to some of the most distinguished

; lawyers in the Ct)mmmlwealth, among others, john (1. Carlish',

‘1 to defend the constitutionality of the t\ct. He declined to nor

(lertalw the defense, because he believed that it would be impose

3 sible to sustain the constitutionality of the tax, either before an 3

inferior court, or the Court of Appeals. Though not a lawyer, I

.} ventured to make an argument before the Committee, at the f

! conclusion of which the opinion of the large majority of those i

present was that judge Lindsay had failed to make good his plea.

: After the Legislature adjourned, the question of the consti—

., tutiouality of the tax was raised in Louisville, .\Irs. \\'. \\'. llill Q

: refusing payment. The case came into the Chancellor's Court;

i the six protesting colleges were represented by judge Lindsay, ‘

»' Alexander 1’. Ilumphrey, Bennett ll. Young and _lames Trabue.

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Summz’r Nam/Hr, 1005. 7 I
I was allowed by the Court to file as a brief the argument in
‘ reply to judge Lindsay which I had made before the legislative
committee and when the case came to the Court of
Appeals, :1 like courtesy was extended. The composition of the
' Court was manifestly hostile to the College, but through the
good oflices of judge I’ryor, the case was held up until lsllt), when
its coustitutionality was affirmed, Judge Ilolt deliyering the opin—
ion, Ile did me the honor to say that he decided the constitution—
ality of the Act upon the litres which 1 had laid down and upon
the argument which I had presented in my brief,
Between INN.) and 1800, the College grew, not rapidly, but
steadily, a better class of matriculates entering year by year,
1 a smaller proportion in the Academy and a larger proportion in
the college proper, but we were not left undisturbed. Efforts
were made during,r eyery meeting of the Legislature in the inter—
\‘euing period to procure the repeal of the Act. The judgment
of the court affirming its coustitutionality in lNllt), discouraged
these efforts. 'l‘hereafter the biennial motion to repeal was i11—
troduced for scyeral successiye Legislatures, but the opposition
grew less and less, until in INHH it practically ceased. Meanwhile
the income from the halficeut tux had been growing from year to
year.
In INST the Congress of the United States passed an Act
l establishing lixperimeut Stations and appropriating 515,000.
annually therefor. The State College of Kentucky shared in this
f bent-licence of the general goyerumeut. The Experiment Station
! was put upon a substantial fruiting, the income from the Station
in connection with the income from the fertilizer law, pi‘oyided
the necessary funds for its cth-ctiye operation. These two sources
‘, of income have been enlarged in subsequent years by the pus—
i sage of the pure food act, the management of which is \'ested in
‘ the Station, and by the passage of the Adams Act by Congress,
giyiug an additional annual increment of $15,001) per unuum.

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1

i S The Alec/Ianl'm/ litigant-wring & Iii’ee/rn'a/ ling/[necfing/ Recon].

1 In 1890 a measure was introduced by llon. justin S. .\Ior~

5 rill of Vermont for the further endowment of .>\gricultm'al and

Mechanical Colleges. $25,000 per annum was given to each

l state which had availed itself of the benefits of the Act of 1802, l

‘i but the full amount of 825,000 (lid not come to the State College. 1

By the terms of the Act two alternatives were presented, either

2:, to admit colored students upon a footing of equality with the

; white, or to di\'ide the appropriation of 1800 with them upon 1

i the basis of population. The College, of course, chose the latter, 1

and H.‘_. per cent of this fund was and is applied to the niainten~

i; ance of the colored school at Frankfort. In 1000 a further

i annual appropriation of 525,000 was made by the general goyerw
ment to each state upon identical conditions with those of the l

i Act of 1800. in 1000 the Legislature appropriated 500,000 I

i for the erection and equipment of a gymnasium and for the ‘

construction of a home for young women. Two years later 1

530,000 was added for the young women's home, and out of this

i fund, namely, 500,000, a \‘ery handsome and eonnnodions builds ‘

l ing has been erected and equipped for boarding and lodging the ‘

.1 young women nuttriculates of the College. In 1001 an additional ‘

l $15,000 was appropriated annually by the State Legislature for

1 income, and in 1008 $20,000 more, making in the aggregate from
all sources, tuition fees included, a total income of about $125,000.

2 The city and county gave the grounds and the money in

1880 for the erection of buildings. Since then additional builds

, ings haye been added, until now, instead of two, there are four— [

i teen buildings upon the college campus, with the prospect of

i two more during the present biennial period. The equipment ‘

for Mechanical and lilectrical Engineering is the best south of

, the Ohio River. The Departments of Chemistry, Physics, Bot—

: any, Biology, Geology, Anatomy and Physiology, Languages, ,

; Ancient and Modern, Metaphysics, lithics and l’hysical Culture, i

1 are second to none in the South. The faculty of instruction 5

i numbers nearly fifty persons. The heads of departments rank 1

1.: 1

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 Summer Number, 10th 9
among the ablest in the country, while the majority of the
assistants are developing a talent for instruction which places
‘ them in the line of promotion. In the meantime, 250 acres of
i land have been bought for experimental purposes, representing
‘ an actual outlay of about $100,000, and an actual present valua—
tion of about $130,000. The College Campus, with buildings
and equipments, represents about $850,000.
t All this, you will observe, has been created and developed
i within the last thirty years in the face of the fiercest and
most determined opposition. Indeed, I make bold to say that
i no land grant college in America and no institution liast or
i West, North or South ever encountered so many obstacles and _
survived. 'l‘hrough all its vicissitudes, its friends never faltered,
" and while at the close of each session of the General Assembly,
‘ they hoped that they had encountered and overcome the last
assault, they had learned by experience, while secure of the past, ,
to distrust the future and prepare for whatever the next succeed—
‘ ing Legislature might have in store for them.
i\ wholesome impetus was given to the College by the passage
‘ of the lferguson Hill in Ixtlil, making provision for the payment
of travelng expenses and free tuition to county appointees.
; 'l‘his wise legislation disarmed the opposition of the outlying
~ counties and secured for the College a continuous supply of most
i excellent material. Some years thereafter, the affiliation of the
i best high schools of the Commonwealth with the State College
; brought annually at large number of well prepared students,
, honor graduates of their respective schools. and representative
of the best culture and traditions of their respective cities and
counties. Increasing income, as indicated above, enabled the
. College to strengthen its existing departments and accomplish
‘ larger and better results than had been possible before 1800.
l Moreover, the success attained by the alumni and the facility
‘ with which they obtained good positions with remunerative

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_g 10 The .\lt't‘lztmfm/ Ifuqzm‘c‘rmq & Ifh‘rlrfm/ Engineering lx’ecnnl. ,
i ;
.; compensation added largely to the prestige of the College and t
increased its matriculation list from year to year.
‘ Thus, when the transition from the style and title of State

i College to State University took place, the University had a ‘
solid foundation upon which to rest and an honorable background h
:: behind it. The antecedent period had been stormy, the clouds

from above frequently lowered, casting a shadow and a gloom it
3 over its present possibilities and its future prospects, but these .:i
I from time to time lifted and through the rifts the sun shone ever" i
i and anon, indicating that even the darkest day may have gleams

i of light to cheer those who had been sitting in the shadows. 1
i And now a word or two with reference to the future. I lind 1
3 that by lookingr over a report which I made to the Trustees in l
3 1889, after making a tour of some of the Universities and Colleges l
i in the North and \Vest, that their endowments and income and l
i; prospects at that time, though bright as compared with ours, i
E were not by any means so bright as are ours today. The income l
r of the Ohio State University at that time, exclusive of the ex l
J penditure for the maintenance of the lixperiment Station, amount? l
ed to $08,000. It is now $150,000. The income of the .\grii
.i cultural College of Michigan was $03,000. It is now SBNNJHN). ,i
i The income of the University of Wisconsin was then $100,000. ,l
. .
, It is now Sl,l00,000. The income of the Agricultural and .\Icch— 1
§ anical College of Kansas in 1&th was SIB,” I. It is now 5203'i,000. Y
i The income of the Missouri University was then $70,000. It is i
now $350,000. The income of the State College of Kentucky i:
23 was then about $250,000. For the next fiscal year it will be l
f $125,000. \Vhile we have not kept pace in growth of income H
with these other institutions, we have still, considering the unde— ‘
velopcd interest in education which obtained then and which a,
i to some extent obtains still, made very commendable progress. ‘
‘, From this comparison, I think that we may anticipate with some i
i degree of confidence at future for the State University of lien— i
tucky commensurate with the successes of the past and with a i
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, l
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 Summer .\fwnlmr, HMS. ll 4
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r well grounded belief that in the no distant future we will far

, surpass them.

One word, before we pass to the distinctive feature of Uni—
, versity work, After the establishment of the Normal Depart—
0' ment in INN), as one of the integral departments of the State

College, wherein provision was made for education of teachers,
1; I brought the question of admitting women to the State College
‘f before the Board of Trustees. Judge \V. B. Kinkead, to whom
i‘ I had previously comnmnicated my views, gave me his cordial

support. 1 represented that inasmuch as a large number of
1 the teachers of the Connnonwealth were women, that they could
‘ not, upon any fair interpretation of the statute, be excluded.

()n the contrary, that they must be included within the scope
I of the instruction given by the College. The Board of Trustees
r, somewhat reluctantly acceded to my view and the doors of
i the Normal Department of the College were opened to women.
i lire long it was found expedient no longer to confine them to
l the privileges of normal school work, but to open all the depart—
t: ments of the institution to them. Since that time they have
i formed a very appreciable percentage of the matriculation of
1 each year, on the average, say, about twenty per cent. No dis—
i tinctive courses for women have been provided, but all the courses
3 of instruction leading to a degree and all the departments thereof
i have been made available to them upon identical conditions
i with males. .\ very considerable percentage of each graduating
l class consists of young women, whose education has embraced
l
i‘ as wide a scope and has been of as thorough a character as that
‘H gotten by young men.

And now the State University stands before you strong,
£1, vigorous, synnnetrical, disciplined by adversity, but victorious
[ in every contest, “with charity for all and enmity to none", ready
,1 to set the pace for advanced education. for research, for discovery,
. it opens wide its doors and invites all to enter. In its history,
K; setting out from small beginnings, the first twenty—five years of
l
r
l

 , . WW .

.

l

12 The .'llcdzanu‘a/ Enginecrzng 8: Electrical Ifnglmw'iuq [\’emnl.

l W W.

l . . . .

5’ its life a constant struggle for ex1stence, the State University is

a conspicuous example of survival of the fittest. listo perpetua. :

i J

i “Ours is no sapling, chance sown by the fountain, f

; Blooming at Beltane, in winter to fade,

\\'hen the whirlwind has swept every leaf from the moun-

i‘ tain,

. The more shall Clan Alpine exult in his shade. ,
l .\loored in the rifted rock, i
, I’roof to the tempests shock, :
3 The firmer he roots down,
l The ruder it blows."
. Now that the transition has been made from State College ;
1' to State University, it is pertinent to inquire what the distinction

, between college and university may be. Stated in general terms, ":
the function of the college is to teach; the function of the uni— f
, \'ersity is to discover. Collegiate instruction consists mainly in ,3”
' communicating to students the contents of knowledge already
j discovered and verified. The function of the university, on ,
' the other hand, is to extend the boundaries of human knowledge, _
to proceed from the known to the unknown, using" the former as 3
l a basis for the discovery of new truths. Research then may be i
l described as the characteristic and distinctive feature of uni- ‘7
versity work. Investigation, experiment, discovery, verification, '\
j are the essential features of research. A new truth discovered
may or may not profoundly modify our conceptions of the body
? of truth hitherto known and accepted. Induction from ac—
cepted conclusions leads either to new principles or to a modi— ‘
fication of the old. That is to say, to eo-ordination with ac-

cepted conclusions in collateral lilies of research and discovery.

, These frequently lead to an adjustment of conclusions heretofore '
accepted in other systems of knowledge more or less intimately i
1 connected with each other. For example, the theory of the age
‘ of the earth and the duration of animal life, formerly believed
l
l

 Snmmer Num/wr, HMS. 13
to be not more than (5,000 years, by discoveries in geology,

~ palaeontology, embryology, biology, physics, chemistry, astron—

Q only, and language, in fields closely related and in fields remotely

rclatcd, all of which point in the same direction,is no longer

. tenable. The old system of chronology has been completely
overthrown and whilc nothing dcfinitc has yet been discovered
to rcplucc it, it is quite certain that the period of terrestrial life

cannot be cmbraccd within less scope than millions of years.

i

It will be seen, therefore, that the honest investigator,

thc honcst scckcr after truth, must divcst himself of all precon—

ccivcd prejudices and as l’rof. Iluxlcy says, animated only by a

‘ fanaticism for truth, proceed with the work of research. alto-

gcthcr untrammclcd by prctxistingr views, following rcsolutcly

f wherever the torch of science may guide him, even though it be

through darkness and gloom.

:. Thc eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have been pre— ,

i cmincntly the period of discovery. The wonderful awakening ‘

of linropcan thought which preceded and accompanied and

‘ followcd what is commonly known as the Renaissance, has re-

;' sultcd in the discovery of a body of knowlcdg'c such as could not

.. have been dreamed of or anticipated three centuries ago. Roger

. l’izlcon in the distant past dimly upprcht-ndcd tlic cloud upon the

:1 horizon no biggcr than a man's hand, and in a wonderful fm'ccast

which sccnicd almost prophetic, hc indicated in general terms

3 some of the most wondcrfnl triumphs of modern scientific rc—

scarch. Copernicus followed, aftcr a loner interval. and (lemon—

. stralcd the true theory of the universe. (‘:alilco still later and
l.cu\\'cnhocck, the one with a very rudimentary telescope. and
thc other with an equally rudimentary microscope, took the
first steps in disclosing the infinitely large and thc infinitely .

‘ small. Thc carth was no longer the centre of the universe, but i

j onc of lllt' smallest of thc plant-ts, revolving. around a mighty

' solar ccntrc, distant millions of miles. .\nimal life was no longer

f: limited to visible forms, but millions upon millions of tiny ex—

 l

l

i H Y'lic .llcc/man‘tz/ lira/Humility t\" If/rr/Hm/ [Ldltlllllt'fl’iill Hamil

i istences found a local habitation within the compass of a drop

f of water.

The interpretation given to geological phenomena within

i the last hundred years has laid the foundations of the rational

- system of geology which now obtains. l’hysical causes by which

l the earth was gradually fitted to become the abode of animal

i life are now recognized to be identical with causes silently operat—

l ingr and with which we are quite familiar today. The more or

E less intelligent forecast of Democritus and Lucretius nearly .

two thousand years ago had no philosophic croundwvork upon .Q

1 which to rest, but the ideas to which they gave expression found

a prolific soil in the anticipations of Buffoii, \\'allace and Darwin,

t a

.3 who established upon a firm basis the doctrine of evolution as

‘ now accepted and held by all the intelligent scientists of modern ;
times. Those who remember