more than fifty persons, as follows: Non-resident Professors, five; Resident Professors, twentyfive; Associate Professors, four; Assistant Professors, twelve; Instructors, six; Curators, Foremen, and other subordinate officers, nine. The library has advanced until it now contains about forty-six thousand volumes, besides fourteen thousand pamphlets. The various collections have also largely increased, and now embrace the necessary material for illustration in almost every branch of study and research.

Probably no college or university ever attained. such prominence and standing among the established institutions of the whole country in such short time as the Cornell University. In some respects, perhaps, this was unfortunate, as it aroused expectations beyond the facilities of a new and undeveloped institution. With all of the wealth that has been so generously lavished upon it, the trustees have never yet, in any year, been able to respond to nearly all the calls made upon them for means to provide the facilities which have been demanded. Despite every embarrassment, however, the progress in nearly every important department has certainly been most gratifying. In every competition with the chosen representatives of other colleges, whether in intellectual contests or in athletic sports, the

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Cornell University has carried away its full share of honors. In every field of professional and scientific activity the graduates of Cornell are achieving honorable repute and adding lustre to the name of their Alma Mater.

Although only now in the fifteenth year of practical operation, Cornell University has already sent forth about one thousand graduates, who are taking high rank in the communities in which they have located. This is especially true in reference to those graduating from the departments of civil engineering and architecture. While, perhaps, students in other departments are equally well equipped in their specialties, the demand for services in these particular vocations seems to offer better opportunities for graduates than other professions. In public life the graduates of Cornell have already made gratifying progress. Since the year 1876 no Legislature of the State of New York has assembled which did not contain on its list of members from one to four of the graduates of the University; while in other representative capacities they are found to occupy a fair share of public favor.

The purpose of the founder of Cornell University was expressed by himself on one occasion in these words: "I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study."

This comprehensive declaration, terse in words and pregnant with ideas, was chosen by the trustees as the motto of the institution, and placed on the official seal of the University, there to remain as a constant reminder of the noble aims and high hopes of him who gave the best labors of his life to the successful establishment of this beneficent institution. May these simple but expressive words inspire all who are or may hereafter be responsible for the administration of its affairs, to the highest possible endeavors toward the attainment of the object which was so dear to their revered and honored founder. The work which he planned with so much wisdom, and which he labored so diligently and unselfishly to promote, remains for them to carry forward toward ultimate success. May his example be emulated by those who follow in the course marked out by him.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY.-THE LAND GRANT FUND.

Conditions of the Appropriation.-Depreciation in Value of Land Scrip -Prospects of Meagre Endowment.-Mr. Cornell Volunteers to Locate Public Lands for Benefit of the University. -Contract with the Comptroller.-Immense Labors.-Large Advances.-Gratuitous Services.-Serious Illness.-Contract Transferred to University Authorities.-Successful Realization. Traducers.-Vilification.-Cruel Misrepresentations.— Official Investigation.--Complete Vindication.

THE donation of public lands made by the Congress of the United States to the several States and Territories of the Union was explicitly dedicated, by the terms of the enactment, "to the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college, where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the Legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in

the several pursuits and professions of life." This measure, introduced by the Hon. Justin S. Morrill, of Vermont, and approved by President Lincoln July 2, 1862, granted to each State a quantity of public land equal to thirty thousand acres for each Senator and Representative in Congress to which the States were respectively entitled by the apportionment under the census of 1860. The total amount of land required to meet this appropriation was nine million four hundred and twenty thousand acres, of which the proportion belonging to the State of New York was nine hundred and ninety thousand acres.

The nominal valuation of the public lands, fixed by the United States, is one dollar and a quarter per acre, but, unfortunately, in this act, while the States were required to sell their scrip, there was no price named in any way limiting the sum to be realized for such sales. The inevitable consequence of this oversight was to speedily depreciate the value of land scrip, and the large quantities offering by the several States continued to depress current quotations. The Comptroller of New York received the share to which the State was entitled, in 1864. The market value of the land at that time was about eighty-five cents per acre, which was the price fixed by the State officers for its sale. At that price seventy-six thou