PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1894-95.

TO THE BOARD OF OVERSEERS:

The President of the University has the honor to submit the following Report for the academic year 1894-95; namely, from September 27th, 1894, to September 26th, 1895:

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Professor of Anatomy, Emeritus, died on the 7th of October, 1894, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. Dr. Holmes was Professor in the Medical School for thirty-five years (1847-1882). The title of his chair comprehended in 1847 the two great subjects of Anatomy and Physiology; and it was not till 1871 that he was relieved of the subject of Physiology. Not content with the official charge of these two vast subjects, he was in the habit of including in his instruction the elements of Histology and Microscopy. In teaching the elements of these last two subjects to large classes of medical students, he was distinctly a pioneer. He was wisely exacting in regard to the dissections over which he usually lectured, and, in consequence, six of his demonstrators and prosectors became eminent surgeons. His lectures were clear, concise, and interesting, and were illuminated by a keen but kindly wit. His wide reputation as an essayist and poet has somewhat obscured the t that for twenty-five years of his prime his principal occupation was medical teaching. His temperament was vivacious and his career brilliant; but at the foundation of his character lay a remarkable capacity for hard, conscientious, persistent labor.

Thomas Motley, Instructor in Farming since 1870, died on the 9th of March, 1895, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. Mr. Motley received this appointment at the time when the Bussey Institution was first organized, and the University began to occupy the beautiful Woodland Hill estate on which Mr. Motley had lived for many years. He had great love for animals and trees, and a good knowledge of New England farming, not as a means of making a livelihood, but as an interest

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ing and dignified occupation for a man of property. This knowledge he liked to impart. He was punctual and zealous in the discharge of his duties as Instructor, upright, warmhearted, capable of intense feeling and quick in expressing it, stern and repellent towards persons he distrusted, but singularly courteous and considerate towards persons for whom he felt respect or admiration. His whole personality was of a striking type not likely to be soon represented again on the University staff.

Thomas Henderson Chandler, Professor of Mechanical Dentistry, and Dean of the Dental Faculty, died on the 27th of August, 1895, in the seventy-second year of his age. Dr. Chandler was first appointed Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Dentistry in 1869; and on the resignation of Dr. Keep in 1871 he succeeded to the Professorship of Mechanical Dentistry. He was the third Dean of the Dental School, succeeding Dr. Thomas B. Hitchcock in 1874. He had, therefore, been in the service of the School for twenty-six years, and had been Dean for twenty-one years. Dr. Chandler received from Harvard University the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws; but for some years after graduating from the Law School, he was a school-teacher. His dignified manners, cultivation of mind, and high sense of duty, made him an officer of great value to the Dental School. He had the satisfaction of seeing the School grow from small beginnings to a wellorganized and firmly-planted department of the University. He was always ready to take part in any movement for elevating the standard of the School, improving its instruction, and adding to the value of its degree; and to all its interests he was heartily devoted.

Leverett Saltonstall, a member of the Board of Overseers, died on the 15th of April, 1895, in the seventy-first year of his age. Mr. Saltonstall was elected to the Board of Overseers by the Alumni in 1876, and served two terms till 1888. After the shortest possible interval- one year he was again elected to the Board, and was approaching the end of his third term at the time of his death. There has never been a more affectionate son of Harvard than Leverett Saltonstall. He inherited through six generations of ancestors in a direct

line a strong feeling of gratitude and devotion to the College. Several of his ancestors had been its benefactors; and he himself was always glad to serve it in every way within his power. He was bound to it not only through his ancestry, but through many friends and associates, and through his children. In public and in private life, he was a high-minded, generous, and just man, who did honor to his family stock, the place of his education, and the community in which he lived.

Fred Homer Woodcock, Instructor in Mechanical Dentistry, died on the 27th of June, 1895, in the twenty-seventh year of his age. Dr. Woodcock was appointed Instructor in 1893, and served the Dental School faithfully and well. He was courteous and patient, skilful and efficient.

William Crowninshield Endicott, a Fellow of the Corporation since 1884, sent his resignation to the President and Fellows on the 24th of September, 1895, on account of the state of his health. His professional distinction, and his impartiality, good judgment, and firmness, made him a weighty member of the Board. He was a member of the Board of Overseers when elected to the Corporation, having been a second time chosen by the Alumni to that Board. The President and Fellows greatly regretted the loss of his friendly and dignified presence at their meetings, and of his support in the discharge of their trust.

Although the elective system had been rapidly developing in Harvard College ever since the year 1866, it was not applied to the Freshman year until the year 1884-85. In that year more than half the work of the Freshmen became elective; and since then the remnant of prescribed work in the Freshman year has been diminished by the abandonment of two elementary lecture courses, one in Physics and one in Chemistry. For persons who pass examinations at admission in both elementary French and elementary German, English is the only prescribed study in Harvard College. For persons who only pass in either French or German at admission, that one of the two languages in which they do not pass an examination is required in the Freshman year. The College has now had eleven years' experience of a nearly complete election of their