From Harper's Magazine. Copyright, 1881, by Harper & Brothers.
THE COLLEGE CHAPEL.
From Harper's Magazine. Copyright, 1881, by Harper & Brothers.
GRIFFIN HALL (OLD COLLEGE CHAPEL), AND SOLDIERS' MONUMENT.
Colleges no less than persons have their peculiarities and special characteristics. Its very situation made it almost certain that at Williams much attention would be given to the natural sciences. With mountains and meadows on every side inviting their exploration, it was almost a matter of course that much attention should be given to botanical studies, and that the new sciences of chemistry and geology should meet a hearty welcome. This was made the more certain by the special qualification of the teachers of these sciences. Professor Dewey was distinguished by his lectures and experiments in natural philosophy and chemistry. Professor Eaton early gave lectures in mineralogy, geology, and botany. He was a pioneer in these departments of science, and an enthusiast whose spirit easily kindled a like spirit in others. To pursue his favorite studies he had forsaken the profession of law. It was his custom to take his classes into the fields and woods and there interrogate Nature. Emmons, the younger Hopkins, Tenney, and Chadbourne were teachers of similar spirit. Aided by the instruction of such men the natural sciences have been studied with a zeal which has become traditional at Williams. As evidence and result of this, a Lyceum of Natural History has been established and maintained for many years by the students, and has become a fixed institution. The Society has a substantial brick building on the college campus containing a valuable collection of specimens in the various departments of natural history, and a hall in which the Society holds regular meetings for the reading of papers and the discussion of questions relating to natural science. The students have been encouraged also to pursue their researches at a distance from the college, and various expeditions have been undertaken for this purpose. The long summer vacations have frequently been profitably spent in this way. In company with a professor of the college, as their guide and helper, the members of the Society have prosecuted their researches southward to the Gulf, and as far north as Greenland. The college has now a table in the building of the United States Fish Commission at Wood's Holl, on the southern coast of Massachusetts, where the students have the opportunity, every summer, of prosecuting their biological studies.
MORGAN HALL.
From Harper's Magazine. Copyright, 1881, by Harper & Brothers.
MAIN STREET, LOOKING EAST FROM EAST COLLEGE HILL.
Of course every one who knows anything of the college knows that the study of mental and moral science has had as prominent place as that of the natural sciences. It could not be otherwise with such a man as Ex-President Hopkins in the chair of instruction. Dr. Hopkins has had, in a remarkable degree, the faculty of making these studies, usually regarded as abstruse and repulsive to the majority of students, both intelligible and attractive. It has been his conviction that we may know and ought to know what is nearest to us—ourselves; that we are capable of ascertaining the laws and movements of our own being. This is properly the science of Man. This, in his apt, clear way, he has taught year after year. He has sought to lead the young men of his classes to look within, to study and know themselves. For text-book he has used now one and now another. The book has been of secondary importance. The familiar, free discussions of the class-room have been the most effective means of instruction, and many are the graduates of Williams who look back upon their studies in philosophy as the most interesting and valuable of their college course.