Amherst College - Olio Yearbook (Amherst, MA)

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schools, and to most boys in like Circumstances a college, not to saysa university, training would have seemed wholly unattainable. But a kindly fortune brought him, while a mere lad, under the instruction and influence of a teacher of remarkable power and ability, and from that time a liberal education was the goal toward which he steadily worked. In the recent history of Amherst's graduates it would be hard to find a parallel to the difficulties and obstacles which young Harris, aided only by his indomitable will and unfaltering courage, met and conquered in his preparatory course and later in his college and university career. He fitted at Lima Seminary, N. Y., and after spending his freshman and sophomore years at Genesee College, in the same State, he removed to Amherst. His junior and senior years here witnessed the transition from the administration of President Hitchcock to that of President Stearns. His career as a college student was marked by an unswerving purpose and a loyal adherence to scholarly ideals. After spending two years in teaching he was matriculated as a student of chemistry and physics in the University of Gottingen, famous then, as now, in the department of science. Here he came under the instruction of Professor Wohler, the foremost chemist of his day, who with Rosa, Liebig, and Bunsen had been students under the famous Berzelius. Under these men the science of chemistry was taking immense strides, and new discoveries of far-reaching importance were being made. The enthusiasm of Professor Harris for scientific study received here full encouragement and stimulus with a teacher like Wohler, whose devotion to science was so great that on one occasion he spent an entire year's salary upon one experiment, the result of which was the discovery of aluminium. ' After two years' study at Gottingen, Professor Harris received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy cum laude. His inaugural dissertation was entitled 4' The Chemical Constitution and Chronological Arrange- ment of Meteoritesf' It represented unusual study and research, and continues to be one of the standard authorities on this subject. A In the preparation of this thesis, errors made by Faraday, Filhol, Leymerie, Chancel, and Montissier in meteorite analysis were discovered and 6

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Professor Elijah P. Harris. ie I HE history of the Class of 1855 presents some rather re- ps kr I markable features. It is generally admitted that it was the smartest and the liveliest class that was graduated during 7 , .43 that decade. Certainly ability and class spirit can be argued from the subsequentcareer of its. members. Of the fifty-six graduates of that class almost a third responded to their country's call at the outbreak of the civil war, filling positions in the army from a private in the ranks to a Brigadier-General on the field. This proof of patriotism becomes all the more striking in view of the fact that the class was but six years out of college and thus only fairly started in the work of life. An unusually large number of the class were also destined to attain distinction in the different professions. Of these may be mentioned Bissell, the eminent missionary and Biblical scholarg Derby, who has gained foremost rank as an oculistg Farman, who, while Consul- General at Cairo, obtained for America the gift of C1eopatra's Needle, and who also rendered distinguished service in international delibera- tionsg Fiske, brother of the famous tt Tutor Fiske Q Dunn Browne J, who did noble service as Superintendent of the Freedmeng Montague, who was connected with his Alma Maier for over thirty years as Librarian and Professor of Romance Languagesg Washburn, who has had a notable career as missionary to Constantinople and later in connection with Robert College as'Professor and President. It remained for two of the class to achieve a national reputation in the domain of science. One of these was Nason, late Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy in the Troy Polytechnic Institute, and the other was Harris, the subject of the present sketch. Elijah Paddock Harris was born in LeRoy, N. Y. There was almost nothing in the environment of his boyhood to encourage the acquirement of an educationbeyond that afforded by the common 5 l

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corrected. As a result of this special work in meteorites, Professor Harris was offered a position in the University of Vienna, which, however, he felt obliged to decline. On his return to America he was elected Professor of Chemistry and Natural History in Victoria College fnow the University of Torontoj, Coburg, C. W. He held this position for eight years, and through the modern ideas and methods introduced by him the college was completely revolutionized. After holding a similar position for one year at Beloit College he accepted, in 1868, a call to Amherst as Professor of Chemistry, where he is now in his thirtieth year of service. It is unnecessary to trace in detail the development of the depart- ment of chemistry under Professor Harris, from its meagre facilities when he took charge of it to the present complete and altogether modern Chemical Laboratory, planned and designed even to the minutest detail by him and his son, Dr. E. P. Harris, now Professor of Chemistry in the Pennsylvania Military College. Professor Harris may well be proud of this material result of his untiring energy and devotion to his department, but he may take even greater pride in the inliuence he has exerted upon hundreds of students who have come under his instruction. He has sent many to his German Alma Mater and to other universities, and it is true that in the United States more professors of chemistry have been graduated by Amherst College than by any other institution. From the very fact that he is himself a seeker after truth, a hater of shams and superficiality, and insists on rigorous mental discipline, Professor Harris has sent out into the world men of clear vision and strong purpose, who look back upon him and his relation to their college life with admiration and respect. Besides his work on Meteorites, Professor Harris has published Lecture Notes on General Chemistry, Non-Metallic Chemistry, and A Manual of Qualitative Analysis. Professor Harris married, July 26, 1860, Ellen A. Park, of Warsaw, N. Y. He has had six children, of whom four are living, three sons and one daughter. 7