71 Chew Street, Baltimore, October 14, 1886.
Prof. Gilman—Dear Sir: A week ago I wrote you a letter to tell you that I should be glad to receive your opinion of the “Hundred Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe,” of which work 5,000 copies are now in circulation. I wrote this work (26 pages) in one week, without neglecting my daily business: surely, you can reply to it in a week from this time. I will give you from one to four pages, if you wish that amount of space, and send you fifty copies, if you desire to have them, without putting you to the slightest expense. I will even take any suggestion you please to make as to the title which shall be given to this extra edition of my work containing your reply or opinions. I should be sorry to be under the necessity of printing this letter, with others, in my next edition, in the place of any such reply or expression of opinion; for I feel sure there is no one in Baltimore who is more capable of giving an opinion on this great subject. Trusting to hear from you in a few days, I am, Dear Sir, Yours truly,
William Carpenter.
71 Chew Street, Baltimore, October 22, 1886.
Prof. Gilman—Sir: This is the fifth letter—and the last—to you, asking you for an expression of your opinion concerning the “One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is Not a Globe.” Which would you prefer—to see my words, or yours, in print? I give you a week in which to decide.
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, OF BALTIMORE.
We are indebted to “Scribner’s Monthly” for the following remarks concerning this institution:—“By the will of Johns Hopkins, a merchant of Baltimore, the sum of $7,000,000 was devoted to the endowment of a University and a Hospital, $3,500,000 being devoted to each. This is the largest single endowment ever made to an institution of learning in this country. To the bequest no burdensome conditions were attached.”… “The Physiological Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins has no peer in this country, and the other laboratories few equals and no superiors.”
In the First Annual Report of the University (1876) we read:—“Early in the month of February, 1874, the Trustees of the University having been apprised by the Executors of Johns Hopkins, of the endowment provided by his will, took proper steps for organization and entering upon the practical duties of the trust, and addressed themselves to the selection of a President of the University. With this view the Trustees sought the counsel and advice of the heads of several of the leading seats of learning in the country, and, upon unanimous recommendation and endorsement from these sources, the choice fell upon Mr. Daniel C. Gilman, who, at the time, occupied the position of President of the University of California.