Penn State University - La Vie Yearbook (University Park, PA)

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In 1881, he accepted the viee-principalship of the Storrs Agricultural School, now the state agricultural college. and, in 1883, was called to the chair of agricultural chemistry and the associate directorship of the agricultural experiment station in the University of Wisconsin. His investigational work in that place everywhere commanded the attention of agricultural students. When, therefore. The Pennsylvania State College. in 1887. organized its agri- cultural experiment station under the national grant conferred by the Hatch Act, and assigned by the Pennsylvania Legislature to the management of the trustees of this col- lege, and the latter sought as the administrator of this important trust one of America's ablest agricultural investigators. they called Dr. Armsby to this post. which he occupied for twenty-five years. This is not the place for a critical consideration of his administration. It may. however, not be amiss to note that the cardinal points in his policy included the concen- tration of the station's work upon such only of the problems vital to the agriculture of the state as his means made it possible to study consecutively and thoroughly. The conclu- sive character of the work done under this policy and its fundamentally practical bear- ing came to be appreciated by the farmers of the Commonwealth and prepared them to support the broader work of today as a valuable means of promoting the conservation and increase of her agricultural resources. Dr. Armsbyys services were not, however. confined to the experiment station. From the beginning of his connection with the college, the instruction in animal nutrition was committed to him and is still conducted by him. In 1890, upon the organization of the several schools, he was made Dean of the School of Agriculture. and carried the import- ant duties of that position until 1902. when he gave up its administrative duties to con- centrate his energies more exclusively upon research work. Among the important progres- sive steps which the school took under his leadership may be mentioned the reshaping of the instruction in agriculture so that its principles as an art should be taught, and not alone the agricultural applications of science, whereby the subject matter was given greater unity, the pedagogical difficulties were diminished, and the students were given a more practical training; the establishing of short courses, including a creamery course, for students of practical experience who could not take the full four-years course; the systematic development of courses permitting higher specialization; the founding of the first correspondence school in agriculture and domestic science; the organization of the representative body known as the Allied Agricultural.Organizations of Pennsylvania: the securing of the appropriation for the Dairy Building, the First of the group of buildings devoted to purely agricultural instruction. With all the distractions of his administrative and teaching work, his investigations in his favorite held of animal nutrition held the center of Dr. Armsby's attention. A long and connected series of studies upon feeding problems relative to the production of milk and of meat was conducted under his direction. In these studies, he early showed appreciation of the truth that questions relating not only to the metabolism of nutrient materials. but also to the liberation and utilization of energy. were involved, and when it became practicable, early in the '905, his analyses of cattle foods and the corresponding 8

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Henry Prentiss Armsby Ph.D., LL.D. BY tVIlJiIAM FlthA It Pennsylvania State College, probably the most striking has been the growth of the School of Agriculture with its afhliated Agricultural Experiment Station and Institute of Animal Nutrition. In such growths. the thrifty spreading branches and rich fruit bespeak a stout trunk and an earlier formed healthy root system. While others have most efficiently contributed to the present rapid development of this important school. it ,is largely to the labors. foresight and influence of Dr. Armsby that its preparation for the growth of these later years is due. Henry Prentiss Armsby was born. September 21st, 1853, at Northbridge. Massa- chusetts. His parents were Lewis and Mary A. Prentiss Armsby. Early in his hoy- hood, his parents moved to Milbury. Massachusetts, and in the high school of that little town his preparation for c011ege was obtained. In 1868, at the age of fifteen, he en- tered the Worcester Po1ytechnic School, which was first opened to students in that year. From this institution he was graduated with the degree of BS, at the age of eighteen. and returned the following year as an instructor in chemistry. He then entered Sheffield Scientific School, Yale. to extend his training, and, in 1874, received from that institu- tion the degree of Ph.B. The years immediately following were spent in teachingein the high school of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, 1874-5, and as an assistant in chemistry at Rutgers, 1875-6. In 1877, the recently established agricultural experiment station of Connecticut was removed from Middletown to New Haven, and under the directorship of Dr. S. W. Johnson. the most masterly writer on agricultural chemistry America has thus far pro- duced. became the scene of the most important agricultural work of that day. From 1877 to 1881, Mr. Armsby acted as chemist to the new station, and these four years bear witness not only to his industry, but also to his full possession of those qualities of scientific insight and lucid. logical exposition which have justly given him eminence in the field he has chosen for his main work. In 1880, when he was twenty-seven years of age, appeared the first edition of his uManual of Cattle Feeding , based upon the Ger- man work of Wolff, which has ever since been the leading scientific work of reference upon this subject in the English language. Just prior to this. in 1879, he completed the course for his doctorate and received from Yale the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. On October 15th. 1878. he married Miss Mary A. Harding. of Milbury. whose cultured taste has made her an inHuential factor in our community life. :- MONC the many interesting features in the recent rapid development of The 7

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animal products were accompanied by calorimetric determinations of their energy con- tent. Recognizing the national importance of his work in this field. the United States Department of Agriculture, in 1898, appointed him uExpert in Animal Nutrition and from that time has made grants for the extension of his work. In 1903. appeared his uPrinciples of Animal Nutrition . which summed up the then existing knowledge con- cerning the energetics of the nutrition of domestic animals. The grants made by the college and the national government made practicable the construction of apparatus essential to exact and conclusive experiment upon this subject. In 1898, the Erst steps were taken toward the construction of a respiration calorimeter for experiment upon large animaIs similar to that devised by Atwater for studies upon human nutrition; and. in 1902, after overcoming many difiiculties. Dr. Armsby and his assistants completed the construction of the present calorimeter, the first of its kind. By the use of this large but delicate apparatus, he has made the most important recent contributions to this subject. In recognition of the importance of this work and of his pre-eminent abilities as an investigator in this field. the trustees of the college, in 1907, when the reorganization of the school of agriculture and experiment station was determined. established the Institute of Animal Nutrition as an independent branch of the institution's work. affiliated with the experiment station. and made Dr. Armsby its director. As evidence of the national appreciation of his abilities, it may be noted that. at the request of the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, he acted as chairman of the committee which planned and prepared the exhibits of Amer ican experiment station work for the Columbian Exposition in 1893 and for the Paris Exposition of 1900, and that he served as a member of the committee which conducted the important dairy tests made at the former exposition; and in 1898, he was elected presi- dent of that inHuentiaI association. In 1904 and again in 1905, he was elected presi- dent of the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science, an organization whose membership is selected from the leading agricultural investigators of the United States and Canada. From 1906 to 1908. after the passage of the Adams Act making supple- mentary grants to the agricultural experiment stations of the several states, he acted as a member of the Commission on Agricultural research appointed for the purpose of pro- moting more highly scientific work under this grant. In the organization of the Society of Animal Nutrition he took an active part and was elected its Iirst president 09081 Academic honors also have rewarded his services. In 1904, upon the occasion of its jubilee celebration, the University of Wisconsin conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws, and in the ceremonial President Van Hise thus characterized his services: Formerly professor at this University. with the aid of ingeniously devised apparatus you have for years been successfuIIy working upon the very important problems of metabolism of food nutrients. Upon you, for these valuable researches on the nourish- ment of the body, and for vigorous administration of The Pennsylvania State Agricultural Experiment Station. we confer the degree of Doctor of Laws . It is the hope of his colleagues that the college may for many more years have the benefit of his able services as a teacher, investigator, and wise counselor. 9