Radio Script #1002

Little Talks on Common Things
February 24, 1974

We think of science as a comparatively recent subject in school and college curricula. It is interesting, therefore, to note how early some form of what we now call science was taught at Colby College. Although instruction of divinity students had begun under Jeremiah Chaplin, in 1818, it was not until the fall of 1821 that a regular, liberal arts program got underway. We have little knowledge of what was taught under that program for the first three years, because the college published no catalogue until 1824. That catalogue reveals the entire program that all students followed for the four-year course.

While, as has been generally known, all the students in each class took the same subjects, heavily loaded with Greek and Latin, as early as 1824 some courses in science did appear. The college year was then divided into three terms, not two semesters as now, and several subjects were pursued for only a single term, that is for only one-twelfth of the four-year course. That was true of science. In the second term of junior year all students studied something called chemistry, though it was quite different from that subject today. In the third term of the same year, they had electricity of optics and in the first term of senior year astronomy. By 1830 there were single term offerings of mechanics and topography. In 1832 a term of botany was introduced, and for the first time the word geology appeared in the printed curriculum. In 1833 came the introduction of mineralogy. In 1838 appeared a subject called animal physiology. Ten years later, a term course was labeled Principles of Zoology, using a text written by the noted Louis Agassiz. In 1874 there was a course called Chemical Physics, but we have no inkling of its content. In 1875 there were term courses in sound, light, and pneumatics, and in 1876 a course called History of Science. With the coming of William Elder, in 1885, as Professor of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, there was proliferation of the earth sciences, which was further extended by Colby’s first professional geologist, William Bagley, in 1888. Those years saw term courses in mineralogy, petrography, and crystallography, as well as a long-established course in topography. Bagley even tried historical and economic geology, offering a term of each. Before Colby’s renowned professor of physics, William Rogers, arrived on the scene in 1886, almost every brand of classical physics had been sampled: heat, sound, light, mechanics, magnetism, electricity. Then Rogers taught a full year of introductory physics, followed by more specialized courses on an elective basis. The elective system, that had already had a modest introduction, received marked impetus under President Albion Woodbury Small in the early 1890’s. Therefore there were fewer and fewer subjects demanded alike of all students. By 1892, when Small left the presidency the Colby science offerings included Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Physiology, General Geology, Mineralogy, Petrography, and Physiography.

In 1895 the word Biology appeared for the first time in the Colby catalogue, when a course was labeled Physiology and Biology. The college had to wait, however, for the coming of Prof. Webster Chester before any professional biologist joined the faculty. That was in 1903, and Colby owes its fine reputation for biology instruction during the first half of the 20th century to that outstanding teacher.

Science in general received strong stimulation by the erection of the Shannon Physics Building, the northern most structure on the old campus, adjoining the Athletic field. It was a unique building, designed especially to accommodate the research of Prof. Rogers, especially in the field of measurements and light. It had immensely thick, insulated walls that were both sound-proof and free from vibration, regardless of constant passing of railroad trains.

The catalogue for 1890 announced: “The Shannon Observatory and Physical Laboratory is now nearly completed and will afford superior advantages for instruction in astronomy and physics. The supply of apparatus permits a great variety of experiments illustrating physical laws. The collection includes a Kew unifilar magnetometer, Barrows’ circle, Holtz’s electrical machine, a plate frictional machine, batteries, Ruhmkorff’s induction cells, Clarks’ magnetic-electric machine, Morse’s telegraph apparatus, Pages’ receiving electro-magnet, a large collection of Crooke’s tubes, electrometer, spectroscope, compound microscope, oxy-hydrogen lantern, camera obscura, camera lucida, porte luminare, a fine set of apparatus for illustrating polarized light, Lissijohn’s forks, sonometer, and a great variety of apparatus to illustrate wave motions.”

It didn’t make any difference if few readers knew what those scientific objects were, or even what the words meant. It was all very impressive and served the purpose of showing that Colby was getting up to date in the field of science.

It is also of interest to note the development of what is now Colby’s largest department, English. Last year that department alone offered 44 different courses. In 1825 there was taught a subject called rhetoric, a formal instruction based on the Latin precepts of Quintilian. Of course Quintilian had laid down rules and guidelines for effective writing of the language of ancient Rome. For several centuries, those who tried to teach young men to write effective English tried to apply those principles. They were only partly successful, because Latin grammar and Latin rhetoric were hard to fit to a Germanic language like English. But at Colby, that method prevailed until the 20th century.

The first teacher to have the title of Professor of Rhetoric at Colby was Calvin Park in 1839. He was followed in 1843 by Martin Anderson, who later won distinction as one of the founders of the University of Rochester. Then in 1850 came the man who had that professorship for nearly half a century, Samuel King Smith, whose diaries we not long ago discussed on this program. Smith had taught rhetoric at Colby for 16 years before he ventured to introduce any study of English Literature. By 1870 he had a course that met one hour a week through junior year, and he called it Readings from English Authors. What the entire instruction in English consisted of in 1873 is revealed by Prof. Smith’s statement in the catalogue of that year. “The course in rhetoric has two objects: to give the student accurate and thorough knowledge of the principles of logic and rhetoric, and to enable him to attain such practical writing skills as can be acquired. As an aid to these goals, the student seeks, through a study of standard English authors, to apply their methods to his own composition. The English language is studied in its origin and development.”

Specific mention of Shakespeare appeared for the first time in 1882, when juniors tasted the plays for one hour a week throughout the year. A course in Spencer was available in 1887 for six weeks in junior year. Chaucer made his appearance at Colby in 1888. In 1899 the word English as a field of instruction appeared for the first time when Colby graduate William Oliver Stevens was appointed Instructor in English. Stevens gained later fame as the author of boys’ books and as historian of the U.S. Navy.

Arthur Roberts, one of Colby’s greatest presidents and its first professional teacher of English Literature, began his Colby teaching in 1890 as Instructor in Elocution, then became Professor of Rhetoric when Smith retired in 1892. Not until the Colby centennial in 1920 did Roberts have the title of Professor of English.

The Colby English Department, as we know it today, with its specialized courses taught by persons trained in the specialized areas, got its start when Carl J. Weber succeeded Roberts as the department head. Weber’s own speciality was the Victorian period of English Literature, with emphasis on Thomas Hardy, concerning whom Weber became a recognized international authority. By 1925, rhetoric as a labeled subject was a dead dog, but had been replaced by a very live animal, English Language and Literature.

Another very large Colby department today is Modern Foreign Languages, with courses not only in French, German and Spanish, but also in Portuguese, Russian, and Japanese. French appeared in the Colby curriculum as early as 1830, but it was taught for one single term. German was introduced by Samuel Francis Smith .in 1834. That noted author of the patriotic hymn, My Country ‘Tis of Thee, taught both German and French on a part-time basis While he was in town as pastor of the First Baptist Church. For seven years, until 1841, Smith held the professorship of Modern Languages at Colby. With the passing of Smith, that professorship lapsed for 25 years, not to be revived until Edward Winslow Hall was appointed in 1866, and held the position for forty years.

In 1896 there arrived the colorful professor whom older graduates remember so fondly, the first on the Colby faculty to hold the professorship of German. He was Anton Marquardt, who held a Ph. D. degree from the University of Kiel and was himself a native German. Affectionately known as “Dutchy”, he so pounded German into the heads of reluctant students that many of us today can still recite the German poems he made us learn.

What Dr. Marquardt was for German at Colby, Professor John Hedman was for French. A graduate of the college in 1895, and a native Scandinavian – a people usually proficient in learning foreign tongues – Hedman studied in France, then joined the faculty in 1900. He was the first faculty member to hold the title, Professor of Romance Languages. In the 1920’s and for a quarter of a century thereafter, the areas of French, German and Spanish were strongly expanded at Colby by Professor John Franklin McCoy, and they have reached their present peak under Professor Jean Bundy.

What I have been attempting to show on this program today is that several of the supposedly recent fields of instruction at Colby have a long and honorable history, begun well more than a century ago.

Year: 1974