University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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BLUE AND GOLD. able head, Professor John Norton Ponuroy. It has not yet been definitely settled who shall be his successor. The Lick Observatory, which we have taken as the subject for a frontispiece, will in about two years come under the immediate con- trol of the University. The twentieth attempt to make the three- foot crown glass disc has been, it is believed, successful. The problem of constructing a suitable dome for the great telescope, is yet unsolved. Several years ago, an appropriation of $5,000.00 was made for a small observatory on the University grounds. The appropriation was expended in the purchase of astronomical appara- tus. By the action of the last Legislature, $5,000.00 more is appro- priated. It is therefore to be expected that we shall soon have the use of a well-equipped observatory. The University buildings have received accessions in the shape of two small structures, one for the smelting of ores and the other for a mechanical laboratory. An addition to the Mechanics Building has also been made. The lawns laid out two years ago have been kept in fairly good condition. The grounds in general have been well cared for in some parts, trees have been laboriously felled, and in others, shrubs industriously planted. The ferocious picnicer, and the rapa- cious .gatherer of Junior Uay decorations, have been kept from the vegetation above ground, while the sharp report of the shot-gun has told of the sudden death of the gopher the underground destroyer. Many additions have been made to the Library during the past year. It now contains about twenty-seven thousand volumes. Its resources in some departments are uns ' urpassed, while the facility with which its advantages may be fully enjoyed by the students, makes its sphere of usefulness unusually large. In one department in particular a great advance has been made. By the energy and untiring activity of our Professor of German, a large German Library will soon be formed. Three thousand dollars was subscribed for purchasing it, and, besides, many donations of books were made. The number of students in attendance at the University is slightly larger than it has been for some years past. The experiment of ad- mitting graduates of High Schools whose course of instruction has been approved by the Faculty, was tried a year ago for the first time. Its failure or success cannot, of course, be seen at the present time. It appears that more students will be likely to enter on such con- ditions, but whether or not a larger number will remain to graduate, cannot now be said.

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Editorial. C NCE more is the appointed time at hand. Our turn has come, yj and ' 86 edits the twelfth volume of the BLUE AND GOLD. With greeting and welcome for old friends and new, we doff the Junior plug, take up the pen, and begin the work that lies before us. The past year has been one of prosperity. We believe there is good cause for self-congratulation over gains both intellectual and material ; in every quarter, too, we find encouragement for the future. Our material wants have met with substantial recognition at the hands of a liberal Legislature. The total amount appropriated, over and above the income from the endowment of the University, is $152,240.00. It is pleasing to observe that, to the efforts of Uni- versity graduates, exerted to place the institution in the right light, much of the generous action of the last Legislature was due. In the Board of Regents, Gen. W. S. Rosecrans succeeds Prof. Geo. Davidson, who declined re-appointrnent at the expiration of his term, last year. Regent Geo. J. Ainsworth, whose term also expired last year, was re-appointed. A most important accession has been made to the Faculty. The Mills Chair of Mental and Moral Philosophy and Civil Polity has at last been filled. The course of instruction in Philosophical thought that has been laid out by the new professor, is perhaps the most com- prehensive in the country, and the vigor with which Professor How- ison has taken up the work both in his department and in the broad field of the Faculty ' s labor, betokens a long career of usefulness in making our institution a University in something more than name alone. Besides the above mentioned change in the Faculty, there is another which probably will shortly be made. At the beginning of the term, President Reid handed in his resignation to the Board of Regents. It is expected that it will be accepted, and the University given into the charge of a new President at the beginning of the next college year. The Law College has sustained a severe loss in the death of its 7

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BLUE AND GOLD. The public days of the University have been celebrated through- out the year with great success. Large audiences have been in attendance, and little has happened to mar their good effect. Class Day and Commencement the latter memorable as a day where there was but one speaker from the graduating class passed off pleasantly. The Loan Book Exhibition held in the Library Building during Commencement week was an extraordinary success in every respect. Junior Exhibition was attended by a large audience, and was, in every particular, a marked success. The seventeenth anniversary of the founding of the University was celebrated on Charter Day- There was a large attendance, and the literary exercises were fully up to the standard of excellence. In looking over the lists of the various societies, we find that the Fraternities of Phi Gamma Delta and Kappa Kappa Gamma do not occupy space this year, while the societies of Theta Nu Epsilon and Theta Chi again appear. Phi Delta Phi, of the Law College has. for the first time a place in the BLUK AX; GOLD. The Literary Societies, both Durant and Neolean, have been pros- perous and successful in their work. The Young Men ' s College Christian Association has taken the place of the University Bible Students. The Political Science Club has grown in membership, and great interest is taken in its work. The membership of the Longfellow Memorial Association has been limited on account of its rapid growth in members. A new organization, in the shape of a Society for Extemporaneous Speaking, is the latest addition. The College publications, The Berkeley an and The Occident, have not secured their just due in the shape of student support. The in- creased prosperity that appears to fall to the lot of other interests in the University, has not reached them, and although they have not retrogaded, the gains they have made are very small. They have re- ceived very little support from the Senior Class even the Chief Editors and Business Managers have been supplied from lower classes. This condition of things, hitherto unheard of, should not be allowed to become the rule instead of the exeception. The Co-operative Association has met with no reverses, and con- tinues to save for the students large amounts in their book bills. The Rifle Team has been re-organized. But we have to record the untimely demise of the University Orchestra. Much interest has been taken in Athletics. With the facilities