DePauw University - Mirage Yearbook (Greencastle, IN)

Page 33 text:

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.

Page 32 text:

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 '

Page 34 text:

Deparimeni, of .Mczfhemaiics WILBUR VINCENT BROWN. Ph. D. HE Department of Mathematics is composed of three separate divisions, namely: Astronomy. Mechanical Drawing and Drafting, and Mathematics proper. Astronomy classes are organized during the winter and spring terms, and worlc is carried on at McKim Ghservatory under the supervision of Dr. Brown. At the Ohservatory there are, one ten- inch telescope, one four-inch Meridian glass. apparatus. With these instruments the students worlc. Help is ohtained from text hoolcs Astronomy. donated to the department hy new D. W. Minshau Lahoratory have heen of Mechanical Drawing and Mathematics. students elect Analytics and Mechanics, for women as well as young men register ln the proportion of ladies decreases as the courses in courses to help to a mechanical career. A term of each year. The railroads. creelcs and portunltles to the students to have practice in and the necessary accompanying clocks and study the heavens and do some original research supplemented hy a large lihrary of hoolcs on Mr. Richard Biddle. Three rooms in the set aside for and are now occupied hy the classes There is only one course required hut many they want to go higher in that line. Young department although it is a fact that the crease, for the young men take the higher course of Surveying is offered at least one hills around Greencastle furnish excellent op- this worlc in practical lines. And hecause of the hard and rough worlc necessitated hy the long and tiring trips no young ladies are permitted to talce this course. Dr. Brown has control of the entire department, hut hecause of his extensive duties tutors are employed to assist and talce charge of any extra classes. Students who have haclc courses to malce up het-ore graduation may register and hire tutors to direct them in hrlnging up the required worlc. Many do this. coming from schools where little mathematics is required. and en- tering the Junior or Senior classlhere. Although Depauw is not lcnown as a mechanically turned school.. she prepares many men with a liheral education and gives them a good founda- .5 it h W Tw.: :rgMSsf.q-fygs-egg.-0:es-'ua-WN-fb tion for a course in a Mechanical School. Dr. Brown. who is at the head of this depart- ment, is a man of rare ahllity and held in very high esteem hy all his students. He is a man of X no mean preparation, havlng graduated from Depauw in 1880 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He attended Stevenqs Institute of Technology. Hoholcen. New Jersey, from which institution in 1888 he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He served as assistant ot Harvard Ohservatory 1880-83, taught in Indianapolis Hlgh School 1883-85. ms elected Professor of Mathematics in Depauw in 1885. P I