366 CORNELL UNIVERSITY ry presented by Prof. Goldwin Smith, compri- sing 3,500 works, chiefly historical ; the publi- cations of the patent office of Great Britain, numbering about 2,500 volumes; the White architectural library, a collection of over 1,000 volumes relating to architecture; the Kelly mathematical library, comprising 1,800 vol- umes and 700 tracts, presented by William Kelly of Rhinebeck; the Cornell agricultural library; and the library of the late Jared Sparks, purchased in 1872, and comprising upward of 5,000 volumes and 4,000 pamphlets 'relating chiefly to the history of America. Connected with the library is a reading room, where are found the leading American, English, French, and German periodicals, especially those relating to agriculture and the mechanic arts. The museum of geology and mineralogy, besides other important collections, contains duplicates of the state cabinet in Albany, the collection made by Prof. Hartt as geologist of the Agassiz expedition to Brazil, the miner- alogical collection of Prof. Benjamin Silliman, jr., and the Ward collection of casts, compri- sing rare and important specimens in paleon- tology. In the museum of botany and agri- culture are extensive and valuable collections of models, photographs, cereals, tools, imple- ments, &c., illustrating the materials, process- es, and products of agriculture and horticul- ture, and the various operations in veterinary surgery. The museum of zoology and physi- ology contains extensive anatomical and zo- ological specimens, valuable ornithological and conchological cabinets, and a collection of skele- tons from the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Fril- ford, England, with a variety of ethnological relics from the same tombs. There is also a museum of technology, comprising photographs and working models in brass, iron, and wood, illustrative of mechanical principles applied to machinery. There are also collections in chem- istry and physics, and in the fine arts. The endowment of the university consists of three distinct funds : 1, the fund of $500,000 given by Ezra Cornell, which is under the con- trol of the trustees and produces an annual income of $35,000 ; 2, the college land scrip fund, consisting of the proceeds arising from sales of the lands granted by congress, which is in the custody of the state, and amounted on Sept. 30, 1872, to $473,402, producing an income of $30,512 ; 3, the Cornell endowment fund, which consists of the profits arising from the purchase by Ezra Cornell of the col- lege land scrip, and the sale and location of the same, and from the sale of the lands. This fund is also in the custody of the state, and amounted on Sept. 30, 1872, to $,128,596, with an income of $10,821. The whole endowment, therefore, at that date amounted to $1,101,999, and produced an income of $76,333. In 1873 this income, through additional sales of land, had increased to about $140,000, while the land remaining unsold amounted to about 420,000 acres, of which the proceeds are to be added to the college land scrip fund and the Cornell endowment fund. Besides these funds, the uni- versity holds property valued at $554,770, con- sisting of the university farm and farm build- ings, valued at $55,000; university buildings, $323,770 ; library, $68,487 ; iUustrated collec- tions, $58,175 ; apparatus and models, $16,978 ; and furniture, tools, machinery, presses, &c., $32,360. The establishment of Cornell univer- sity was effected through the bounty of the United States government and Ezra Cornell of Ithaca. In 1862 congress passed an act granting public lands to the several states and territories which might provide colleges for the promotion of agriculture and the mechanic arts. Under this act the state of New York received land scrip representing 989,000 acres of land, which was subsequently selected in the west. This amount was first appropriated con- ditionally by the legislature to another institu- tion, but the stipulations of the contract not having been fulfilled, the entire proceeds of the land grant were transferred in 1865 to the Cor- nell university upon its compliance with cer- tain conditions, of which the most important were that Ezra Cornell should give to the in- stitution $500,000, and that provision should be made for the education, free of charge for tuition, of one student from each assembly district of the state. This requirement was fulfilled by Mr. Cornell, who subsequently gave upward of 200 acres of land with buildings as a site for the university and as a farm for the college of agriculture, besides the Jewett col- lege in geology and palaeontology, which had cost him $10,000. He has also made other donations amounting to upward of $100,000. The charter was granted by the legislature of New York in 1865, and bestows upon the uni- versity the income of the sale of the public lands granted to the state by congress for edu- cational purposes ; provides for the election of trustees and the reception of state students ; and establishes the principles upon which the general organization of the institution is based. In commemoration of the act of incorporation the university keeps the anniversary of its signa- ture by the governor, April 27, as a holiday under the title of "charter day." In accord- ance with the requirements of its charter, the institution was opened Oct. 7, 1868, with An- drew D. White (to whose efforts as a state senator the procurement of the charter is large- ly due) as president, who still (1874) retains the office. The total number of instructors the first year was 26, including 15 resident, 8 non- resident, and 3 assistant professors. Among the non-resident professors were Louis Agassiz, Goldwin Smith, James Russell Lowell, George William Curtis, and Bayard Taylor. About 350 students were admitted in 1868. At the end of the academical year 1868-'9, 9 students were graduated ; in 1869-'70, 24 ; in 1870-'71, 40; in 1871-'2, 68; jn 1872-'3, 95. Gifts of various kinds, including collections, money j for building purposes, machinery, models, &c.,
