The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1881-07-15


loguists in New England, Miss Mary
D. Merriam, is now employed in pre- par
ing catalogue which will enable the
students to find any book without loss
of time.
The first floor presents a beautiful
consulting room, cool in summer, easily
warmed In winter, and provided with
every convenience for conducting such
researches as the studies, the discussions,
the conflic Is of college life may lead to.
We feel sure II Will be often resorted to
and will add large interest and value
to the college course.
l must here remind the trustees, the
alumni, and the friends and patrons of
the college, that whereas in fhe old H.
brary there were many volumes piled
up without shelf, there are now many
shelves without volume. They stare
upon you with beseeching look. They
will bear constant testimony against
You, IL no means are taken TO fill
them.
1t is In the very nature OF q college to
demand constant increase of its libra
ry. l have enumerated six chief de-
partments of learning, each OF them
having various branches. In each pro-
gress is made from year to year. The
labors of specialists are bringing to
view new facts and discoveries. Specula-
tive science is always opening new lines
of thought. The world of mind is always
advancing. A college without steadi.
ly growing library is cut of from the
world of science and of thought, and
soon of necessity becomes, like a ship
laid up i'm ordinary, subject TO dry rot.
Five hundred dollars, given by Hon.
Stephen A. Walker, have Just been ex
pended with great care, only the foreign
books have not yet arrived. Five hum
dred dollars more from other sources
will be Immediately expended. ! trust
the friends of the college will allow
no year to pass without furnishing
$1,000 for the library and $1,000 for the
natural sciences and $1,000 for the in
struments of astronomy and philoso-
ply.
AS we are making this occasion a
wholly practical one, 1 will here say
that your prudential committee, at the
close of the fall term, authorized the
president under certain conditions TO
appeal to trustees and friends for $1,000
to make the changes upon which we
have already sufficiently dwelt.
1t was rather hopeless task. Enthus-
iasm for the college was not high. The
wisdom OF the measures proposed
was questioned BY some, their practical
bility by others.
But nothing daunted we pushed on,
thermometer rs degrees below zero, un-
til the STAIRS in their courses fought for
us and from their silvery heavens show
cred down upon us more than half of
all the prudential committee asked for.
Had it come down In solid silver IL
would have broken our head, but as It
came in cheques, ,and greenbacks, floating
along, we have survived. II you look
at any suitable map or catalogue of the
northern consultations you will find
their names put down, not uncouthly
as Thuban, Mizar and Chokab, but
as Charles, Egbert and Peter. May
eheeFg eng hhne soSy a9S '.s;s sSs, ssST W.
received cheerful responses from others
in varying sums from fifty to five hum
dred dollars.
A gymnasium was loudly called for
by. the studentsin the autumn, and they
volunteered to prepare one so far as
their labors would do 1t, in the south
end OF Painter Hall. Leave was given
and 800 voted in aid, the students
doing manfully their part. A distin-
guished alumnus, looking around and
seeing many things in rough state and
many things wanting, has had 1t finished
at his own expense. We hope other
alumni will be looking around Painter
Hall to see II they can find anything to
do!
But now, friends of Middlebury
college, as our precious treasures Of
science, philosophy and wisdom are in
! creasing from year to year, and will
soon surpass their limits, will proceed
as promised. to tell you what must he
done.
On some choice spot of our magnificent
campus there must be erected special
Hall of Science. Ihave planned It, but
will not trouble you with the descrip-
tion,b but will only namo those necessary
features of IT to which you will all
accord a ready assent. a.
1t must of course first of all be fire.
proof. In this characteristic our halls
of learning are far behind those OF
Europe. No where on that continent,
at the present day, are libraries and
museums of science and art entrusted
to buildings with interiors of wooden
finishiDgs of any kind. The external
walls must be hollow for perfect dry
ness, every division wall of brick, and
every floor of iron and brick, every
stairway of iron or stone, and IL no great
combustible buildings are near it, as
they should never be, you may commit
to 1t your choicest treasures knowing
that they are safe. One portion of the
building must be for the ever-growing
library, constructed with a special eye
to future enlargement; one must be for
all the scientific classified collections, as
of geology, et-ceterd. Another must be
for the laboratory, philosophical instru-
ments and lecture rooms. af ..t
1t must have a tower for common
astronomical observations. We have q
transit instrument, but no place where
to station it; telescope, but no place of
observation.
Now that science has made the stars
our neighbors and we can analyze their
light, every student should enjoy the
privilege Of doing II in the spectre
scope, of separating the double and
triple stars by the telescope, of viewing
the chief nebulae, and of cultivating q
closer personal acquaintance with all
the members of the solar system. No
college with less astronomical furni-
: ture than this has any right to look up
: to the heavens.
: Can any man build nobler monu-
ment TO himself and to his family name
/ than such hall, in itself secure against
r the elements, under the guardianship
. of science and religion? ..'
Sepulchral monuments perish, bnt
nothing earthly endures like the halls
: of learning and religion. Nothing Is
known Of the imperial porphyry sarco
phagns of the Emperor Justfnian, but tn,
Q building which he erected and dedicatet
l to holy wisdom, st. Sophia, stands hi