NYU Washington Square College - Album Yearbook (New York, NY)

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MONG the prominent professors of the University was Samuel Finley Breese Morse, still famous for his accomplishments in his two lines of endeavor. Although not an alumnus of this University, Professor Morse can in every sense be considered a product of its halls. In 1826, differing from the ideas of the already extant schools of art in America, he organized the National Academy of Design, a school in which the teaching of art was to be the primary consideration and in which the products of the school were to be exhibited annually. When New York Univer- sity began its classes in 1832, the National Academy of Design already occupied part of Clinton Hall, and by 1835, when the college was moved to the new ,University Building, this school of art had become an integral part of the new University. Here in the new building Professor lVIorse took his offices and studios, and here, too, after much trial and experiment, he perfected the recording electric telegraph by which his name still lives. In the development of this instrument, Alfred Vail, a graduate of New York University, was assistant to llflorse and materially aided him in the experiments and the later exhibitions. Vail was also instrumental in gaining for Nlorse recognition from Congress with the result that the inventor was furnished with the funds for the construction of an experimental line. The institution of the telegraph perhaps did more to modernize the means of communication in the United States than any other single invention of the early nineteenth century. Illorse and Vail belong to America and to the world, but in a special sense they are true sons of New York University. FTER the retirement of Chancellor lVIathews in 1839, Theodore l relinghuysen was inaugurated as the second Chancellor of the University in the University chapel. He had for some time been a member of the United States Senate, but the aggressiveness of political life together with some of its questionable practices never appealed to him. He was a man of deep earnestness, just such a man as the college needed after the strenuous period which it had undergone in the years of 1837 and 1838. In his inaugural speech the new Chancellor showed his lofty character and ideals by refusing to play upon the favorite and popular chord of the economic advan- tages and possibilities to be derived from a college education. Instead he declared that the chief function of a liberal education was not to furnish superior knowledge and to find avenues to turn into wealth the resources of nature, but that the chief work of education was the training of the intrinsic powers of the mind and to bring a youth to a true and sober estimate of his own powers. In this the new Chancellor expressed what has come to be the most widely acknowledged duty of colleges and the aim of college life. Five years after his inauguration, due to his former political position and to his general uprightness in political matters, a quality which was desired by designing l-291

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added interest and importance. The Eucleian Society, which was organized in the same year as the opening of the classes at the University, has as its great point a complete record of the honorary as well as undergraduate members. In the roster of honorary members the more famous names of that early period are present. Such names as Daniel Webster, Edward Everett, Theodore Frelinghuysen, Samuel F. B. Nlorse and Andrew Jackson appear on the rolls. Because the Eucleian Society was such a commendable influence in the life of the college, in the Fall of 1835 the Council assigned to them a hall in the new University Building on lfVashington Square. In the following decade there is no lack of famous names to be added to the roster of the society, a few of which are Washington Irving, President William Henry Harrison, President J. Quincy Adams, and President lVIartin Van Buren. Among the undergraduate members of this society was A. Ogden Butler, who in his will established a fund of S55,ooo, the income of which in part was to encourage excellence in essay writing. Among its records the society preserves autographed letters from such literary men as James Russell Lowell, and James Harper of the famous publishing firm. The second of the literary associations, the Philomanthean Society, was likewise founded in 1832 in the very month in which the instruction in the University began. This group, which appears to be more of a debating society than a literary organiza- tion, argued and debated various questions at its frequent meetings. Some of these questions were of a serious nature and some were not. At one meeting they would debate such a problem: Were the English justified in sending Napoleon to St. Helena? g while at the next meeting they would argue concerning the following question: When a pig is led to market, with a rope around its neck, is the pig led by the rope or by the man ? Both Eucleian and Philomanthean attempted to secure noted speakers for the commencement exercises, as well as putting up undergraduates of their own societies who carried themselves with credit to the societies to which they belonged. Many of the honorary members of this society were also members of Eucleian, and Philomanthean counted as many famous names on its roster as did its rival. The official and unofficial contact with Eucleian was uniformly productive of friction, but so far as the University records go, there was no definite collision between the undergraduate members of these societies. The work of these undergraduate associations must not be underestimated by the iconoclastic students of the present day, for they served to foster in the University that spirit which seeks to make for itself excellence in a given line of endeavor. By bringing together men of a kindred spirit, these societies were able to develop men who later brought credit to the University and to the group to which they belonged. From the records of the activities of the University at that time, it appears that every public offering of these societies was attended with much public acclaim. f28l

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politicians, Chancellor Frelinghuysen was nominated as Vice-President of the United States with Henry Clay as President. This fact brought a great deal of much-needed national prominence and publicity to the University despite the fact that the Whig party, of which the Chancellor was a member, lost the election. The Fall of cam- paigning did not disturb the Chancellor at all, for he steadily carried on the affairs of the college without any change from the previous routine. Nor did the decision of the ballots mar at all the equanimity of this man, for during the whole pre-election period he never missed any important meeting of the faculty. HE spirit of exuberance of the college students of that time is well illustrated by the reports of the faculty discipline committee. There is a record that a certain junior was reported for improper conduct in sending a candy peddler into the Greek room during a recitation, while another Junior was reprimanded for send- ing a bill-poster into the mathematics class to post his bills. Locking the professors out of their classrooms seems to have been another one of the pet diversions of the bored undergraduate. The only punishments which these pranks called down on the perpetrators was a 1'eprimand from the faculty committee of the University. Hli year 1839 saw one of the first attempts to enlarge the scope of learning at the University, for in this year the suggestion of a hfledical School to be con- nected with the University was brought before the Council for the first time. ln the beginning the development was arrested because of lack of funds for the purchas- ing of a building and the inability of the Council to secure suitable instructors. A little later, however, the faculty of medicine was chosen by the Council and the classes were started in the Stuyvesant Building, and, indeed, for some time the insti- tution was known as the Stuyvesant Nleclical School. After this building was destroyed by fire some years later, the school was moved from Broadway to Bellevue Hospital because of the better facilities for the study of actual cases and because the growing popularity of Broadway had made the rents too expensive for the students. The most famous of the members of the faculty was Dr. Valentine Nlott, one of the Founders of the University and one of the foremost American surgeons of that time. By the action of the Council the standard course was made only two years in length, but there was a provision in the resolution by which the course was to be extended to a full four years at a later time. The first year's enrollment numbered 239 students from many different parts of the country. Probably the ITl0St important action of the Medical School was the work done by this department of the University in securing the passage of the bill allowing the dissection of bodies for medical pur- poses. After a hard struggle at Albany and in spite of the adverse public opinion, the bill was finally passed, and its passage may be fairly and definitely attributed to the efforts of the Medical Faculty at New York University. E301