of Gros-Pied, so called by the French, and by the settlers Big Foot. Mrs. Kinzie, in Wau-Bun, describing the journey made by her party from Chicago to Green Bay in 1833, says that on approaching the lake they observed "a collection of neat wigwams," which formed "no unpleasant feature in the picture." The party burst into shouts of delight as the charming landscape broke upon their view. "It was like the Hudson, only less bold. No, it was like the lake of the Forest Cantons, in the picture of the chapel of William Tell! What could be imagined more enchanting?"

In this charming locality, thus referred to by the author of Wau-Bun, the home of the great telescope was established. The form of the building for the observatory is that of a Latin cross, with three domes and a meridian room at the extremities. The dome for the great equatorial is eighty-five feet in diameter, and, like such constructions in all observatories, it is movable, so that the tube can be pointed in any direction above the horizon. The tube itself with its attachments is about seventy feet in length. The driving clock to regulate the motion of the telescope when pointed towards a star or planet, of itself weighs a ton. The tube mounted in position was a prominent object as an exhibit in the Manufactures Building at the World's Fair, though the object glass was not mounted within it; and the driving clock kept it in motion for the entertainment of visitors. The site of the observatory includes about fifty-five acres of land beautifully diversified with woodland and bordering the lake. The grounds were the gift of John Johnston, Jr.

The land on which the Observatory is built was valued at the time of its purchase at $30,000. The cost of the completed object glass of the great refractor was $66,000; of the telescope mounting itself, $55,000; of the dome and rising floor, $45,000; and of the remainder of the Observatory building, including the southeast dome and the power-house and its equipment, about $150,000.

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It is stated in one of the publications of the University that "undergraduate instruction in astronomy is not given at the Observatory. This is provided at the University, together with thorough courses in theoretical astronomy and celestial mechanics. All candidates for the doctor's degree in the department are required to work at least one quarter at the Observatory." The Observatory library contains about six thousand volumes and pamphlets. "The pressure for time for scientific use has made it impossible to permit visitors to see through the telescopes." There is given opportunity, however, for them to inspect the Observatory and the great refractor, once a week, on which occasion a member of the staff demonstrates the operation of the large telescope and explains the work of the Observatory. At the present time Professor Edwin B. Frost is in charge of the institution, and with him is associated a staff of three astronomical professors, and seven computers and other assistants.

MR. ROCKEFELLER'S LAST GIFT TO THE UNIVERSITY

In December, 1910, Mr. John D. Rockefeller made a final gift to the University of Chicago amounting to the stupendous sum of ten millions of dollars, at the same time terminating his relations with the institution finally. "In his letter accompanying this magnificent reinforcement of the resources of the Uni

versity," says the "Outlook" of December 31, 1910, "Mr. Rockefeller characterizes his gift as final. He recognizes the fact that it is better that the University should be supported and enlarged by the gifts of many than by those of a single donor, and declares that from the beginning he has endeavored to assist the University by stimulating the interest and securing the contributions of many others, at times making his own gifts conditional on the gifts of others. The citizens of Chicago and the West have generously responded to these efforts and the University has received more than seven millions of dollars from other donors. Mr. Rockefeller expresses his appreciation of the extraordinary wisdom with which the University was planned and its early policy determined, of the fidelity with which the officers and trustees of the University have conducted its affairs, and declares that his highest hopes have been far exceeded by the number of students, the high character of the institution established so early in its career, the variety and extent of original research conducted by it, the valuable contribution to human knowledge it has made, and its great and inspiring influence on education throughout the West. In making an end of his gifts and withdrawing his personal representatives from the Board of Trustees, Mr. Rockefeller says that he is acting on an early conviction that the University, being the property of the people, should be controlled, conducted, and supported by the people."

"One million, five hundred thousand dollars," continues the "Outlook," "is to be set apart at his request for the building of a great University chapel, which shall embody the architectural ideals expressed by the buildings already constructed, and so placed that these buildings shall seem to have caught their inspiration from the chapel. In this way the group of University buildings, with the chapel centrally located and dominant in its architecture, will proclaim that 'the University in its ideal is dominated by the spirit of religion, all its departments are inspired by the religious feeling, and all its work is directed toward the highest ends.' The balance of this gift is left in the hands of the trustees of the University, without restriction.

"Mr. Rockefeller has now given to the University of Chicago the noble endowment of thirty-five millions of dollars, assuring its future, and equipping it for the highest efficiency in the educational field. It was the great good fortune of the donor and of the University to secure a man of the ability, courage, and working power of President William R. Harper to organize and direct the institution in its early stages. His energy, scholarship, and broad view of what was needed and could be done for education in the central West put the institution in a place of leadership from the beginning, and it has secured throughout the Central West and the South an influence quite incalculable in its stimulus and beneficence.

"It should be added, in justice to Mr. Rockefeller, that never, from his first gift, has he interfered in any way, directly or indirectly, with the management of the University; that he refused to allow it to bear his name, and that he has given its trustees and faculty an absolutely free hand. If there has ever been a time in its career when its policy has seemed to defer to his wishes, it has not been because those wishes found any expression from him."

In the minute adopted by the board of trustees on the occasion, it is emphatically asserted that Mr. Rockefeller has never suggested the appointment or

removal of any professor, and has never "interfered, directly or indirectly, with that freedom of opinion and expression which is the vital breath of a university." "It is gratifying," commented the "Nation" on this statement, "to find these aspects of a university's life and significance made so conspicuous on an occasion in which the magnitude of the series of gifts now brought to a close might have overshadowed other considerations. The total of $35,000,000 is beyond all precedent, but for that very reason the importance of guarding against the suspicion of domination by the power of the purse has, from the beginning, been peculiarly great in Chicago."

OTHER PRESS COMMENTS

This great and final gift to the University was generally commented upon by the press of the country. "The Christian Science Monitor" of Boston, in its issue of December 22, 1910, takes a broad view of the wealth possessed by some of the leading universities, in the following editorial:

"It is somewhat difficult to measure the relative financial resources of the great universities of this country, for the reason that statistical matter covering them has no fixed basis. The nearest that it is possible to come to it is by comparing the figures given by five of the principal institutions with relation to what is termed their productive funds. At the close of last year the relative standing in this respect of the establishments referred to was: Columbia, $26,704,539; Harvard, $22,716.750; Leland Stanford, Jr., $18,000,000; Chicago, $15,070,903; Yale, $10,561,830.

"The John D. Rockefeller gift just made to the Chicago University carries with it responsibilities of course, and these will take on the form of obligations which will involve an increase in fixed charges. It requires a great deal of capital sometimes to carry donations of this nature. What proportion of the

latest gift must go to making preliminary arrangements for its employment, and what proportion will find its way eventually into the so-called productive fund of the institution, cannot be told at this time. But, with the Rockefeller gifts now aggregating $35,000,000, and $7,000,000 from other sources, over and above the ordinary receipts, it is fair to infer that Chicago University, from a financial point of view, will soon rank among the very richest of educational establishments. "It is pleasant to imagine the coming of the time when we shall hear less of the universities in connection with their financial affairs and more of them in connection with their educational achievements. Some of them have already reached the point where a desire for mere bigness has given place to a settled aspiration for efficiency. These, however, are among the older foundations. They have long since become secure; they have long since outgrown all fear of rivalry; they are completely out of the competitive field; their great aim is for excellence rather than material growth.

"All this is commendable and as it should be. Thinking people will welcome the day when all universities and colleges and schools may give their undivided attention to the advancement of learning. But the greater part of the country is still very young. Most of it, from the higher educational point of view, is still in the planting period, and the plants require careful cultivation and constant watering. There are evidences of sturdy growth on all sides. It is the opinion

of the shrewd and successful business man who has done so much for the University of Chicago that that institution can now, practically, stand alone. This means a great deal for advanced education in the middle West. It means a great deal for the future of an institution founded only yesterday, as it were, upon the remains of a college which, though having but a fraction of the size and consequence of its successor, yet fell short of its purposes because it was somewhat in advance of the times."

ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

While Chicago is known widely as a commercial center, and has often been charged with offering up sacrifices exclusively to the Goddess of Getting On, there are a few institutions in the city which prove that her higher interests are being fostered and are taking a prominent place in her development. Among these is the Art Institute of Chicago, incorporated May 24, 1879, for "the founding and maintenance of schools of art and design, the formation and exhibition of collections of objects of art, and the cultivation and extension of the arts of design by any appropriate means."

As early as 1866 there was established in the city a school of art practice, including work from the human figure. This was one of the first art schools in the country.2 The class then organized formed a society which soon became the Chicago Academy of Design, an association of artists which continued to exist until about 1882. The school continued uninterruptedly during those years, a valuable institution in the city, being suspended only at the time of the Great Fire. Owing to business vicissitudes, the Academy of Design was reorganized in 1878 into what was at first known as the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, this name being changed not long afterward to the Art Institute of Chicago.

The first president of the board of trustees of this new organization was George Armour, followed in the next year by Levi Z. Leiter, who two years later was succeeded by Charles L. Hutchinson. Mr. Hutchinson has been the president continuously since his first election. From the beginning of the Art Institute Mr. William M. R. French has been the director of the school and museum, and Mr. Newton H. Carpenter, the secretary, has been in the business department.

At first, from 1879 to 1882, the Art Institute rented and occupied rooms at the southwest corner of State and Monroe streets; in 1882 property was bought and a brick building was erected on the southwest corner of Michigan avenue and Van Buren street. In this building 72 x 54 feet, were class rooms, and galleries to contain the small collections of pictures, marbles and casts then possessed by the Art Institute. Purchases and the cost of maintenance were provided for by subscriptions, membership fees, and the issue of bonds secured on the property. In 1885 twenty-six feet of land adjacent on the south was purchased and during the following two years a building of brown stone, 80 x 100 feet, and four stories high, of Romanesque design, was erected on the site of the former brick building. The Institute grew so rapidly that in five years its building was inadequate to hold the collections of casts, pictures, metals, and antiquities which had come into its possession. During the following years of its growth, it had gained the favor and interest of the community, so that it was prepared to take advantage of the

2 Historical Sketch of the Art Institute, by W. M. R. French.