nurtured, and delighting to give to the old college the fruit of their labors and the fruit of their loins. But I confidently look to see a largely disproportionate number of the new institutions which shall from time to time come into being, built essentially upon the plan which has achieved such prodigious successes during the quarter century now closing. Doubtless, the present general scheme of the schools of technology will itself undergo considerable modification, alike from the results of added experience, from larger means, and from the infusion of a wiser and more generous spirit. Doubtless, more of the economic, historical, and philosophical studies will be introduced, to supplement, by their liberalizing tendencies, the work of the sciences in making the pupils exact and strong. Possibly, some ultimate form for institutions of the higher learning may yet be developed, which shall embody much of both the modern school of technology and the old-fashioned college, with, perhaps, something taken from neither, but originating in the larger, fuller, riper life of a happier and richer future. FRANCIS A. WALKER.

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,
BOSTON, MASS.

II.

AMERICAN PIONEERS OF UNIVERSITY

EXTENSION.

The term University Extension is comparatively new in this country, but the thing itself is old. As early as 1808 a course of popular lectures in chemistry was given by Professor Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864), of Yale College, for the benefit of a class of ladies and gentlemen in New Haven. The class met in the college laboratory, and the lectures were accompanied by experiments. "This course," said Professor Silliman in his reminiscences, "was the opening of a series of labors performed many years afterward, with popular audiences, often in large assemblies, and sometimes in distant cities." College and university lectures for New Haven people have been continued, in varying forms, down to the present day.

The idea of instructive courses in natural science was extended by Professor Silliman from his coeducational class to the mechanics of New Haven in the years 1831-33. In a letter to the New York Times, March 22, 1891, a writer claims priority of University Extension for old Yale. He says that about 1828 Mr. James Brewster, a leading citizen of New Haven, erected a large building called Franklin Hall, at the corner of Church and Crown Streets, for the purpose of disseminating scientific knowledge among people not connected with the college. Mr. Brewster had previously interested himself in the development of a Mechanics' Institute, which, it is said, still exists under another name in New Haven. Professor George P. Fisher, in his "Life of Benjamin Silliman" (ii: 326-327), quotes a letter from Mr. Brewster to Professor Dana, which establishes a strong case for Yale College Extension, fifty years ago: "Professor Silliman ever evinced a deep feeling of interest in the moral and intellectual improvement

of the mass of the people. Prompted by his encouragement, I erected Franklin Hall for the purpose of providing instruction in the elements of mechanical science to those who could not attend lectures in the daytime. He assisted me in obtaining the means to illustrate the experiments to be made, and introduced me to his assistant in Yale College, Mr. Charles U. Shepard [afterward of Amherst College], who assumed the position of curator of Franklin Hall. Professor Silliman and Professor Olmsted gave courses of lectures to the people of this city. The beneficial effects were manifest by the erection of steam-engines, and the perfecting of machinery, greatly aiding in the development of mechanical skill in its application to the useful arts. These benefits have long been manifest in all departments of business. This was the first time, I believe, that college professors had gone out to lecture upon natural and mechanical science."

A further extension of influence by Professor Silliman occurred in 1834, when he began to lecture outside of New Haven. His first course was given in Hartford in the lectureroom of the Centre Church, upon the subject of geology. The lectures were attended by three or four hundred of the most intelligent citizens of that town and were well illustrated by drawings and geological specimens. Every morning the professor devoted an extra hour in the lecture-room to a conference with persons who wished to see his specimens and hear additional explanations. This was an anticipation of the modern "class," or conference, in connection with University Extension lectures. From New Haven and Hartford, Professor Silliman's public-spirited work was extended, in 1834-35, to Lowell, Salem, and Boston.

In the Athens of America, an introductory lecture, like that of Professor Stuart, of Cambridge, when he captivated the English workingmen at Crewe, was given upon the subject of meteors: A large and brilliant audience was before me; much larger than any that I had ever addressed. I was awed," adds the Yale professor, "but not abashed." Silliman's first lecture to the Bostonians in 1835, like Stuart's to the English work

ingman in 1867, was a phenomenal success. Mr. William J. Loring immediately announced, on behalf of the Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge, a systematic course on geology. "This course," says Silliman in his reminiscences," was my first great success, both as regards reputation and remuneration." The subscriptions yielded $2000. There was an afternoon and an evening course. Both were thronged. Both were thronged. "The audience is not surpassed in numbers and intelligence by the assemblies of the Royal Institution in London." Mr. Abbott Lawrence

told the lecturer that no man had ever drawn together in Boston such audiences, both for number and character. Returning home, Silliman naïvely rejoiced that he has been permitted to sustain the honor of his college. After" six anxious years of public lecturing in Boston, he is still deeply impressed with his responsibility for the honor of Yale College, the faculty of which had urged him forward in this public work. He rejoices that he has been successful in making the subjects on which he had spoken intelligible and attractive, without diminishing the dignity of science or neglecting Yale College. President Woolsey once said: "There were, I believe, in the universities of the Middle Ages, orators annually appointed who represented their communities on public occasions. He [Silliman], in his prime, was our standing orator, the principal medium between those who dwelt in the academic shade and the great public."

The Yale professor lectured in Nantucket in 1835. In 1836 he gave a geological course in New York to many of the first people of the city and to what he called "a solid mass of intelligence from the middle classes of society." In 1838, after a second course in Boston, he was consulted by Mr. John A. Lowell regarding the best mode of organizing and equipping the Lowell Institute. He was engaged to give the opening course of lectures on geology in that People's University of Boston. By special arrangement with Mr. Lowell, Professor Silliman gave four courses of scientific lectures upon geology and chemistry, extending through four winters. Public interest continued unabated. The Lowell Institute lectures, being

generously endowed, were made free to the public. There were as many as ten thousand applications each season for tickets to hear Silliman. He regarded it as the most arduous scientific engagement, and at the same time as the greatest honor of his life, to give the introductory courses in such a splendid institute as that of John Lowell, who had completed his will on the ruins of Thebes. Edward Everett, Governor of Massachusetts at the time the Lowell Institute was opened, said, "The few sentences, penned with a tired hand by our fellow-citizen on the top of a palace of the Pharaohs, will do more for human improvement than, for aught that appears, was done by all that gloomy dynasty that ever reigned."

The impulse to higher popular education, given first through the Franklin Institute of New Haven, and afterward through the Lowell Institute in Boston, was extended by Professor Silliman to distant cities in the South and West, to Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New Orleans, Mobile, Natchez, and St. Louis. Almost everywhere Yale men were the organizing influences that made these local academic lectures possible in days before University Extension was heard of. Professor Silliman continued this public educational work for a quarter of a century, from 1834 to 1859, from his fifty-fifth to his eightieth year. At the close of this remarkable experience he said, "I conceive that in no period of my life have my efforts been more useful, both to my country and my family; and as regards professional labors, there is no part of my career which I reflect upon with more satisfaction." Joseph Henry, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, said that Silliman "was the first to introduce in this country public lectures illustrated by experiments on a scale of magnitude and of a character to interest a popular audience; and his success in this enterprise was such as to give an impulse not yet exhausted to a means of adult instruction which, though it has been abused, is well calculated, under proper regulation, to effect much social and personal good."

The career of Professor Silliman as a public lecturer was nearly synchronous with the rise of American lyceums,