sioner of education of the state of New York, that the modern life of the University began. Dr. Draper entered upon his administration in 1894 and continued in office until June, 1904. Since 1895 the institution has increased from a student body of eight hundred to its present proportions of over four thousand.

The University since its foundation, with the exception of the College of Medicine, and the Schools of Pharmacy and Dentistry at Chicago, has been located in the two towns of Champaign and Urbana, situated one hundred and twentyeight miles south of Chicago, and about forty miles west of the Indiana border, in a farming country, the very heart of the corn belt. Beyond the towns, level prairies stretch for miles, in all directions, diversified only by fields of corn. grain elevators, farmhouses and scattered clumps of trees, planted to break the winds which sweep across the vast, level areas, unhindered by natural obstacles. It is a rich land, monotonous but wonderfully productive. Farms are worth a hundred and seventy-five dollars an acre and often more, and the farmers are exceedingly prosperous.

The University campus, which but a few decades ago was covered with long prairie grass, growing in natural wildness, is to-day a beautiful lawn of magnificent distances, diversified by imposing buildings, and adorned by the arts. of the landscape gardener. The buildings, the majority of which have risen within the last twelve years, are all constructed with the idea of service, yet several of them. are of marked architectural beauty, destined to form a part of the University Beautiful Beautiful yet to come,

which has already been conceived and which will take substantial form in the new period upon which the institution is now entering.

The campus proper is long and somewhat narrow, extending from the athletic field on the north to the barns of the College of Agriculture on the south, a distance of nearly half a mile. Near the centre of this space is situated University Hall, the oldest building now standing, a brick structure built in 1872. It is occupied principally by the College of Literature and Arts, and the School of Music. To the west is the beautiful library building, with its fine Gothic tower, built in 1897 of Minnesota sandstone. In the lunettes of the delivery room are four mural paintings, representing Literature, Agriculture, Science and Engineering. The scheme of decoration is entirely Byzantine, and for this reason it is unique among structures in this country. The delivery room is made in representation of the throne room in the palace of King Ludwig of Bavaria. This building is a type of the

achievements of the new Illinois. since its graduates and instructors had an important part in its erection. Professors Ricker and White were its architects, Professor Wells its decorator, W. R. Roberts, '88, was president of the construction company, and State Senator Henry M. Dunlap, '75, was largely instrumental in securing the legislative appropriation which enabled its erection. In the building is located the State Library School, which ranks second in importance to the famous school at Albany. Its students come from all parts of the country, the East being well represented. At present it is the only

school in the Middle West offering a complete course of instruction in library science. The library possesses more than a hundred thousand volumes and pamphlets and is being rapidly increased. A large

the electrical laboratory, metal shops, wood shops and foundry, heating plant and the pumping station. The College of Engineering numbers at present more than a thousand students. Professor James M. White is at its head. It offers instruction in architecture, architectural engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and municipal and sanitary engineering. In its equipment and quality of instruction this department of the University ranks with the best in the world. In numbers it is two-thirds the size of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. President Pritchett has recently said that the real competitors of the school of which he

JOHN M. GREGORY, FIRST PRESIDENT

stands at the head are not such institutions as the Lawrence or the Sheffield scientific schools, but the great and powerful complex of the engineering schools growing up

To the south of University Hall and on the east stands the spacious chemical laboratory, completed in 1902. Near by stands the agricultural building which consists of four practically separate structures, built around an open court. The entire building contains one hundred and thirteen rooms, and covers nearly two acres. It is the largest

Among the subjects considered are the improvement of soils, the successful production of crops, animal husbandry, dairy husbandry, the culture of fruits and vegetables, improvement of domesticated animals and plants, veterinary science and household science. The work of the Experiment Station is primarily that of research, and the farmers of Illinois and other states are kept in

eral, is illustrative of much that is done by the University in the direction of broad utility. It is expressive of the intense activity, the practical many-sidedness, the liberal view of what a liberal education is, that characterizes the institution as a whole. Nor is the work less scientific and accurate in its character, because it issues in some definitely beneficial result. The love for science is here joined with the demonstration of the results to humanity of the scientific method. It offers a splendid training to the advanced student in those fields of painstaking research that have done so much, and promise even more, for mankind. It furnishes a humanizing education in the broadest sense of the word. The state has not been slow to recognize the value of this work and has sustained

the University has been entirely confined to its technical and agricultural courses. Those departments of the institution that stand for a liberal education in the narrower sense of the word; namely, the Colleges of Literature and Arts, under Dean David Kinley, and of Science, under Dean E. J. Townsend, have shown a corresponding growth. Together they enroll over eight hundred students and in point of numbers stand second only to the College of Engineering. Their curriculum is as varied as that offered by eastern institutions and has no suggestion of narrowness. They offer courses in sixteen groups of subjects and furnish laboratory training in botany, geology, physiology, zoology, chemistry, physics, statistics and psychology. One of the most recent developments has