Cornell College - Royal Purple Yearbook (Mount Vernon, IA)

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Wesleyan, and his watch key, the emblem of the Society, is familiar to all who have sat in his classes. His name appears in Whois Who in America, and his life and work have long been appreciated in scientific circles. These are all honors which any man might covet, but they are of less value than the consciousness of a faithful service which has had for its object the upbuilding of Cornell College and the development of youthful minds and hearts. lt has not been a service seeking honor or fame, but a service hallowed by right motives and personal sacrifice, a service that will be more honored as the history of the college is more studied, and the dif- ficulties under which the older professors have labored is more fully appre- ciated. His extended knowledge, his studious habits, his considerate manner, his conspicuous modesty, his kindly spirit, and his patient performances of the tasks assigned him will ever give Professor Alonzo Collin a warm place in the hearts of those who have been under his instruction, and of those who have been associated with him in the faculty. As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, Tho' round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head. In his duty prompt at every call, He watched and wept, he prayed and felt for all. -The Deserted Village. 7

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Professor Alonzo Collin, M. A. Sc. D. Long periods of faithful and successful service should have recogni- tion, and the Junior Annual Board has done a graceful thing in dedicating this volume to Professor Alonzo Collin who became professor in Cornell College in 1860. Since that time there have been but two interruptions to the continuity of his work, one for the part of a term in 1873 when he was traveling in Europe, and the other during the school year of 1881 and 1882, when he was Professor of Chemistry and Experimental Physics in the State University of Nebraska, a position which he resigned in order to return to Cornell, from which, and from relatives and friends in Mount Vernon, he did not care to be long separated. The'se absences may well be considered as mere vacations, and this year practically completes forty- five years of work for the institution to which he has given the unselfish devotion of his life. Coming to Cornell when only two years of its history as a school of collegiate rank had passed, and when the total number of its graduates was only seven, he has seen class after class go forth with the honors of the institution until over a thousand names appear on its Alumni roll. With all of the earlier graduates he was intimately acquainted as they were mem- bers of some of his classes. In an early day he taught many different sub- jects, and all testify to his thorough and extended scholarship in every branch in which he gave instruction, whether it was mathematics, language or science. Commencing with mathematics and natural science as the work assigned, and teaching all classes in mathematics, physics. chemis- try, astronomy and other subjects he lived to see such a growth in the school that his time is fully occupied with his large classes in physics, which subject he has taught exclusively for several years. Prof. Collin was married in 1868 to Chloe Matson, a Cornell graduate, class of 1865. She has made their beautiful home a social center, in which their two daughters grew to womanhood and were married, Ruth to Mr. George Burge of Mount Vernon, and Margaret, to Professor Arthur M. Jayne of Dakota-Wesleyan University. Prepared for college at Amenia Seminary, Professor Collin was gradu- ated from Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn., in 1858, and re- ceived the degree of M. A. from the same institution in 2862. In 1888 Upperlowa University conferred upon him the-degree of Doctor of Science. He has for a longtime been a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a Fellow in that body since 1898. He was at graduation made a member of the Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa at 6

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BOWMAN COLFIMAN TREOICK ATWOOD BENSON DEVENDOPF LLEN WHEELER SINIIVIONS WITZIGNIAN NIENNEKE CHENEY EOGARY FREER NII HUNT PELLEVNICUNTER LIDDLE WHEELEW ROBERTS WILCOX JONES MILLER