CORNELL. 424 CORNELL UNIVERSITY. County, N. Y., of Quakt>r parentjige; removed with his father, a potter by trade, to De Ruytcr, N. Y., in 1819; received a scant education, and for some time taught a district school, besides assisting his father in farming and the making of pottery. He also learned the carpenter's trade, spent a jear as a iffechanic at Homer, N. Y., and in 1820 removed to Ithaca, where for eight years he managed a Hour-mill. In 18.39 he joined" his brother in the lumbering and farming business, but liis attention being turned acci- dentally in 1842 to the project of constructing a telegraph line from Baltimore to Wasliington. he invented a machine for laying the wires luider ground and was subsequently put in charge of the work. The insulation being poor, however, the plan had to be abandoned, and on Cornell's suggestion the wires were strung on poles, and the line was thus speedily com|deted. Subsequently Cornell devoted his attention abnost wholly to the construction of telegraph lines and the organiza- tion of telegraph companies, and wasinstrumental in forming the Western Union Telegrapli Com- pany in 1855. In 1858, having accumulated a large fortune, he settled on a farm at Itliaca. N. Y. He was a member of the first Republican Na- tional Convention in 1850, was president of the New York State Agricultural Society in 1802, and was a member of the State Assembly in 1862-03. and of the State Senate in 1804-67. After the passage of the 'Morrill Land-C4rant Act' in 1862, he succeeded in getting a bill through the Legislature assigning the whole of New York's land scrip to one institution, and in addition contributed an endowment of $500,000 toward building such an institution at Ithaca, N. Y. He subsequently (in 1806) bought up the scrip then remaining unsold, located it with great care, and by his skillful management enormously increased the income accruing there- from to the university. In 1868 'The Cornell University,' so founded, was formally opened. Mr. Cornell also built a public library at Ithaca. Consult The Life of Ezra Cornell, by his son A. B. Cornell (New Y'ork, 1884). CORNELL, .ToiiN Henry (1828-94). An American musician, bom in New York City, and educated in Germany and England. He held several ijrominent positions as organist in New York, notably at Saint Paul's Chapel (1808-77) and the Old Brick Church ( 1877-82) . His sacred compositions, several of which possess consider- able merit, and his theoretical works, include the following: The Introit Psalms (1871); Vesper Psalter (1801) ; a Te Deum; Congregational Tune Book; Manual of Roman Chant; Theori/ and Practice of Musical Form; Primer of Mod- ern Tonality (18'i'O). The last-mentioned two works attained considerable popularity. CORNELL COLLEGE. An institution of higher learning, situated at Mount Vernon, Iowa. It was founded liy members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1853. but was not organized as a college until 1857. The college offers courses leading to the B.A., B.S.. B.S. in C.E., and the corresponding master's degrees. The faculty consists of 34 professors and teachers, and the enrollment of students is 382. exclud- ing students in the preparatory department. Among its principal benefactors were Bishop L. L, Hamline, Hon. D. N. Cooley, Hon. W. H. .lohnston, Hon. Edgar T. Brackett, and Capt. E. B. Soper. The principal buildings are College, Science, Chapel, Bowman, and Con- servatorj' halls. The library numbers about 22,000 volumes. Its endowments amount to $300,000. and its annual iniume is over $40,000. CORNELL UNIVERSITY. An institution of higher education, situated at Ithaca, N. Y. The university owes its origin to the Hon. Ezra Cornell (q.v. ), who desired to found an institu- tion where any [lerson could find instruction in any study. Under the ilorrill act of 1862 the State of New York received scrip representing 089.920 acres of land as its share of the public lands granted by the Federal Government to the several States for the purpose of establishing colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts. Mr. Ezra Cornell ofl'ered .$500,000 as an endowment fund for a university on condition that the State sliould set aside the proceeds of the sale of its public lands for the same purpose. After niiieh wrangling in the Leffislature, this offer was ac- cepted, with the stipulation, however, that the university should offer free tuition to as many students residing in the State as there were As- sembly districts. Cornell University was incor- porated in 1865, and was formally opened in 1808, with a registration of 412 students. This large matriculation was due. in the first place, to the liberal spirit of the charter, which provided that at no time should the adherents of any one religious denomination compose a majority in the board of trustees: and, secondly, to the low en- trance requirements adopted at the new institu- tion, as compared with the high requirements and rigid curriculum maintained at other col- leges. The elementary branches were sufficient to admit students to courses in engineering, mechanic arts, and agriculture, while courses leading to the Ph.B. and B.S, degrees were offered to those who could not satisfy the classical entrance requirements. The jilan of the whole institution was modeled with a view to the prac- tical tendencies of the times. Its liberal pro- gramme was warmly welcomed by such men as .James Russell Lowell. Louis Agassiz, Theodore D. Dwight. .Tohn Stanton Gould. Gold- win Smith. George William Curtis, and Bayard Taylor, who signified their interest in it by ac- cepting non-resident professorships on its faculty. Andrew D. White gave u]j for a while the prospects of a political career to become its first president. This auspicious beginning, how- ever, was not maintained, Fnmi 1868 to 1882, the university was engaged in a struggle for ex- istence that seriously diminished its students, disheartened its trustees, and brought the whole structure to the verge of bankruptcy, ilr. Cor- nell, seeing that the State's land scrip, on whose proceeds the university was solely dependent ex- cept for the original endowment of $500,000, was selling at about fifty cents an acre, a sum far less than its ultimate worth, bought up all the unsold 'scrip' and located and transferred to the luiiversity before his death over 500.000 acres of the finest timber lands in Wisconsin. But the anticipated advance in forest values did not take place, taxes and cost of administration amounted to over $00,000 a year, and the uni- versity was soon obliged t(J trench heavily on its capital to meet current expenses, A w.ay of escape that offered in 1880 was blocked by Henry W. Sage, Chairman of the Board of Trustees. In that year a New Y'ork syndicate proposed to
