DePauw University - Mirage Yearbook (Greencastle, IN)

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Department of English Liierafure FRANCIS CALVIN TILDEN. Ph. B.. A. M. T is a commonplace of today that the methods of studying science have heen revolutionized in the last decade. It is less generally known hut equally true that the methods of studying literature havelheen radically changed in recent years. There was a time. not very far haclc. when even the teacher of literature in college saw in literature nothing hut art- something to create pleasure more or less lasting. emotionally. Passages were to he committed to to he recognized: hut as a department it was looked went. to history. philosophy or the classic languages. one might say. rather. that this View of literature deeper. Literature is still loolced upon as one of heauty that was once considered its only excuse heglnnlng to he realized that literature is hoth something to he appreciated xsthetically and memory: heauty of form. phrase and thought were upon as distinctly inferior. as far as mental training In a way this view of literature is past. Or. has heen superceded hy one that is hroader and the arts. It still has. for teacher and student. the for heing. But in addition to that heauty it is history and philosophy: history more suhtfle than that which deals with changing constitutions. philosophy more true than theories of Kant or Hume: a history and philosophy hased upon the thought and emotions of nations and individuals. The teacher of literature strives to do two things. He strives hrst to produce a cultivated and appreciative taste for the hest things in letters. He strives further to End. what all literature surely holds. the tendencies of thought. the customs and manners. the very essence of life of the time in which the literature was produced, Literature is no longer a reading of heautiful lines and a hlind wandering in a realm of unscientihc criticism. It is a study. requiring all the acuteness of intellect that is required of history and philosophy. and aslcing further a continual exercise of the emotional nature not demanded hy the other studies. ll At Depauw this view of literature has heen very popular. The department has continually increased. tiJ1,in 1903. the room used for so many years proved too small. and the department was given Philo The numher of courses has increased fill it is now possihle to talce. in the regular classes of the department. an undergraduate major. and in addr- I f ' ' A 'N X tion sufhcient graduate worlc for a Master.s degree. f Professor Tilden. the head of the department. graduated from DePauw in 1897. The two years following were spent in graduate worlc at Haward University. In 1900 he was elected to chair of English Language and Literature at South Dakota University. In the same year he was aslced to hecome the head of the department of English Literature at DePauw. o nnhllz. 'f. 3.m-IL '

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eparimenfo Greek REVEREND WILLIAM FLETCHER SWAHLEN, A. M., Ph. D. EDWIN GIBSON. Assistant Notwithstanding the I'-act that this present age is one of extreme com- mercialism in which there is a swing of the pendulum from the study of the standard classics toward the pursuit of scientific investigation and technical Icnowledge which fetches N the Almighty Dollar, yet the value of the cIassics remains as far as a factor in a weu-grounded mental development and finished education. The Greek Department in Depauw University has always had its share of the student Iaody, sixty memhers heing enroIIed init for this year. Out of the present Senior Class twenty per cent. are majoring in Greek, some have made it their minor and others have taken not Iess than one year of coIIege worIc in the department. The work is not required for graduation and those who enter for it are presumed to come out of a sincere inclination for mastery of the elements of the Greek Ianguage and Iiterature. The first two years' work emhraces what is the hard part of any Ianguage, namely, a mastery and an acute appreciation of syntactical reIations. Similar work is pursued through the first year of the coIIege courses with selected readings from Homer, Herodotus and Thucydides. The remaining courses. of which there are nine, have to do with the Iiterature of the Ianguage. The drama, hoth comedy and tragedy, and oratory and philos- ophy are given careful and critical study for their great thought and high Iiterary excellence. our heritage from the greatest peo- pIe of antiquity. Q Dr. Swahlen is an earnest, conscientious teacher, and is highly respected and Ioved hy everyone who comes under his instruction. The influence ot his life upon many young men and women. who have sat in his class room. cannot he Iimited to time and space. He has a IcnowIedge ofhis work which is so inspiring that his students are Ied and not driven. His educational preparation has heen most rounded and thorough, emhracing the constructive influence of five educational in- stitutions. In 1867 he was elected Professor of Greek and German in McKendree CoIIege. Leh- anon, Iuinois. and in 1873 was elected president of the same institution. In 1887 he was chosen president of Kansas Wesleyan University and Professor of Greek in DePauw University. He accepted the Iatter position and entered upon his duty in Septemher. 1887.

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eparimenfo Chemisfry WILLIAM MARTIN BLANCHARD. A. M.. Ph. D. There was a time when a man Interested In chemicaI phenomena. with no other equipment than a hIacIc Icitchen containing a few gIass tuhes. some empty hottIes and cIay tohacco pipes. couId maIce discoveries that wouId astonrsh the worId. But those days have passed. The science of chemistry has now hecome so hIghIy developed that he who wouId maIce discoveries in this HeId must have the most modern appIIances for research. and he given a.II the facilities to he found In an up-to-date Iahoratory. men Nature first hegan to reveal her secrets to these Inquistive chemists. and when the Iaws of chemical phenomena Hrst hegan to unf.oId themseIves. there was very IIttIe demand for chemIcaI Instruction and the suh- ject was sIow In gaining a foothoId In the universities. The earIy masters of the experimentaI art estahlished private Iahoratories and admitted to their sacred precincts onIy the most enthusiastic and the most promising students. In time the various universities opened up departments of chemistry. hut even then the instruction was given onIy hy Iectures. It was not until the great Liehig set the exampIe In Germany that the vaIue of . systematic Iahoratory Instruction was generally recognized. Since that time chemicaI Iahoratories have rapidly muItipIIed and now there is no Institution of any standing that does not offer the advantages of such instruction. But a chemIcaI department Is not compIete when It is supplied with a weII equipped Iahoratory. It must he ahIe to take the student hack to the original sources... to acquaint him with the work of the oId masters. and to put him in touch with the workers of his own day. To do this. the department must have a chemical Iihrary. a Iihrary not only suppIIed with the ordi- nary hooIcs of reference. Nauthoritiesfl chemical dictionaries and the Iilre. hut aIso containing the regular puhIications of the different chemIcaI societies. the journals where the student can End the original papers and trace the deveIopment of any suh- ject In which he may he Interested. flDuring the past two years the department of chemistry at Depauw has heen greatly Increased In two ways. Through the gift of Mr. IVIInshaII if has heen suppIIed with a modern Iahoratory and through the generosity of the cIass of '82, suppIemented hy other suhscriptions. It has secured the nucIeus of a spIendId ,. . Iihrary. The Iahoratory is aIready weII equipped for thorough Instruction in general. organic j and analytical chemistry. and apparatus for advanced worIc is heing added every year. The Iihrary contains over three hundred voIumes. among them heing three sets of English Journals. Q two of German. and the two chemIcaI puhIications of our own country. The Iihrary couId not he duplicated for a thousand dollars. It has heen placed In the department as a memorial to I Dr. Balmer. one of the most popular teachers the University has ever had.