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 UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI. 
 
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 binations), Geometry (complete), Plane Trigonometry. 
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 THE RISE OF THE DRAMATIC SPIRIT IN ELIZABETHAN 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 By Professor J. M. Hart, of University of Cincinnati. 
 
 A Lecture Delivered Before the Unity Club. 
 
 1. Unquestionably the crowning and the distinctive glory 
 of Elizabethan literature is its drama. Test the assertion, 
 if you will, by the facts. What is there in Elizabethan 
 prose comparable to the long line of Italians, beginning 
 with Boccaccio in the fourteenth century and continuing in 
 the great historians and novelists of the sixteenth century? 
 Comparable even with the great chroniclers and essayists of 
 France under the Valois? Which one of our Elizabethans 
 ■can we measure with Machiavelli or with Montaigne? In 
 narrative and lyric poetry the Elizabethan age has, it is 
 true, much to be proud of. One work will do for all : the Faery 
 •Queen. Yet can we afford to set up the Faery Queen as that 
 by which we wish to be finally judged? Spenser, its au- 
 thor, was directly under the influence of Ariosto and Tasso. 
 Not that he was an ignoble borrower. He knew perfectly 
 how to make his acquisitions his own. Nevertheless, we 
 may admit this much of the Faery Queen, that it would never 
 have become what it did become but for the direct example 
 .of Ariosto and Tasso. And then, after claiming for Spenser 
 all the sweetness, all the originality of imagination that have 
 won for him the name of the poets' poet, can we claim for him 
 .a place by the side of Dante? I for one can not. To revert 
 to my original assertion, if you wish to see the crowning 
 .and distinctive glory of Elizabethean literature, you must 
 look for a greater man than Spenser, for a more substantial 
 jealni than fairy-land. 
 
 2. How did it happen that Elizabethan drama rose to such 
 perfection as made it not only the envy of its own day, but 
 the idol of ours? How did it come by the force which sus- 
 tained a Marlowe, a Shakespeare, a Jonson? I will tell 
 you, if you will first tell me what there was in Italy of the 
 sixteenth century that sustained a Michel Angelo and a 
 Raphael Or, if you reject this game of quits, I will make 
 the humiliating assertion that I do not know what made 
 Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson. Nature moves in a very 
 mysterious way. Why should she bring forth a brood of 
 dramatists, then sweep them away and fill their place with 
 a brood of lyrists, then brush them away and substitute a 
 brood of satirists? It is a mystery to me, and I can only 
 acknowledge the fact. Yet there are certain points from 
 
 which we can get at least a better view of Elizabethan drama 
 than if we lose ourselves in vague wonderment. 
 
 To begin with, Elizabethan drama was the expression of 
 literary emancipation. It was on the boards of its play- 
 houses that the English folk first spoke the accents of free- 
 dom. To my mind the drama of the sixteenth century was 
 the training-school for the great Rebellion of the seven- 
 teenth. Every great drama presupposes three things : 
 
 a. Men directly and intensely interested in scenic repre- 
 sentations. 
 
 b. Facilities for acting, possible only in a community 
 that has accumulated a fair measure of material comfort 
 and established centers of population able to support bodies 
 of actors. 
 
 c. Freedom of utterance. A muzzled drama can never be 
 truly great. 
 
 Author and actor must be free to speak straight to the 
 popular heart on matters that interest it most vitally. Now 
 one of the first features to strike the student of Elizabethan 
 drama is the boldness, not to say recklessness, with which 
 topics of the times were brought upon the stage. If you 
 wish to know the old drama aright, pray do not confine 
 yourself to Shakespeare. Ben Jonson said of him, you will 
 remember, that he was not of an age but for all time. I 
 take the liberty of saying that Shakespeare was for all time, 
 precisely because he was not of his age, i. <?., he was not im- 
 movably rooted in it, he moved a little outside of it. At 
 many points we learn less of the age from him than from in- 
 ferior dramatists. Shakespeare had all the spiritual free- 
 dom of his contemporaries without sharing their audacity. 
 Yet even Shakespeare produced his " Henry VIII." less 
 than ten years after the death of Henry's daughter, Eliza- 
 beth. Beaumont's " Philaster" was produced in 1608, i. e. 
 at a time when matters were rapidly shaping themselves to- 
 ward an alliance, diplomatic and matrimonial, between 
 England and Spain. Yet the piece is little more than the 
 embodiment of a sneer against the Spaniards, impugning 
 their intelligence and even their courage. Still more re- 
 markable is the play entitled " Sir Thomas More," produced 
 about 1590, and therefore during the life of Elizabeth. In 
 the words of Mr. Ward : " Its hero is first exhibited as the 
 wise judge, the energetic politician and the renowned schol- 
 ar. He deals out equity at the expense of a justice of the 
 peace ; he suppresses a dangerous insurrection and holds 
 sportful converse with 'the famous Clarke of Rotherdam,' 
 
6o 
 
 ACADEMICS. 
 
 Erasmus ; and then, after listening to a slight dramatic en- 
 tertainment, sits in high council of state. It is here that he 
 declines to submit to the King's demand. After this we are 
 introduced to the house at ' Chelsey,' and that domestic 
 circle which Holbein has rendered so familiar to us. More's 
 cheerful and philosophic bearing is very effectively depicted ; 
 and we then accompany him to the Tower and to the scaf- 
 fold, from the stairs of which he delivers himself of his well- 
 known dying words : ' A very learned worthie gentleman 
 seales errour with his blood,' says the personage whose 
 speech concludes the play. Containing a considerable ad- 
 mixture of humorous passages, it is altogether a pleasing 
 and vigorous dramatic sketch of the serene and generous 
 character to which it is designed to do honor. Though, as 
 it seems to me, offense was carefully avoided in the con- 
 struction of this plav, the fact of its production is not with- 
 out historical significance. But a great time invariably 
 brings with it a sense of freedom with regard to the past — 
 however comparatively unremote — which it casts into the 
 shade by its own greatness. Our literature in the last two 
 decades ,of the sixteenth century exhibits many instances 
 of this" emancipation ; and a stage which could appeal to 
 the public sympathy with a victim of the legislation of 
 Henry VIII., was before long to venture with a certain de- 
 gree of freedom upon reference to Elizabeth's own reign." 
 I need not multiply examples. Enough to say that the 
 stage won for itself during the reign of Elizabeth the right 
 to speak its mind freely, provided it did not attack directly 
 the court, or morality, or religion. 
 
 3. In what way did Englishmen win such freedom so early, 
 whereas- Frenchmen and Italians had to wait for centuries? 
 The answer must be sought from the professed historian of 
 English politics. I can only suggest a thought or two. 
 Elizabeth was by nature arbitrary. But through circum- 
 stances she was a temporizer. Even Henry VIII. had never 
 been an absolute monarch in the continental sense. True, 
 Mr. Green tries to depict him as such. But Mr. Green's 
 coloring is altogether too vivid. Henry VIII. at his worst 
 was far from being a Francis I. or a Charles of Spain. 
 Whatever Elizabeth's private wishes may have been, her 
 acts were fettered by the very lawlessness of her father's. 
 Her claim to the throne was not unquestioned. Many an 
 Englishman held sincerely that Mary Stuart had better 
 rights and greater abilities. For twenty weary years Eliza- 
 beth's rule, her very life was in jeopardy. She kept herself 
 in position only by means of prudent concessions. Not 
 until Mary's head rolled from the block at Fotheringay 
 Castle did Elizabeth feel somewhat safe. Only somewhat, 
 be it observed. France was a lukewarm ally; Spain an 
 open, deadly foe. At last the blow long threatened fell. But 
 it fell flat and harmless. The Invincible Armada was ut- 
 terly ruined, and Spain crippled for centuries to come. 
 Elizabeth was free. But her people also had made them- 
 selves free. All Englishmen felt that it was they who had 
 crushed the Spaniard. For years they had fDUght him by 
 sea and by land, without orders from the Queen, often 
 against her express orders. They knew that if they had be- 
 come masters of the sea, it was by virtue of their own en- 
 terprise and steadfastness. 
 
 4. It is this spirit, then, of self-reliance that is embodied in 
 Elizabethan Irama. Great as is its purely literary interest to 
 us, its historical interest is no less great. It reveals to us 
 the enthusiasm, the boldness, the fertility of resource, the 
 self-reliance, the towering self-esteem, the canny prudence 
 in reaping every substantial reward of success, in short all 
 that seething cauldron of demoniac impulse which makes 
 the Elizabethan character so phenomenal. Shakespeare 
 never spoke a truer word for his age than when he said 
 through Hamlet : " They (the players) are the abstracts 
 and brief chronicles of the time ; after your death you were 
 better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you 
 
 live." 
 Remember we are considering a generation that had no 
 
 newspapers, no magazines, no public libraries, no clubs, none 
 of the thousand outlets whereby our modern mood finds 
 its vent. The play-house was the safety-valve of the great 
 throbbing English heart. The Englishman went to the 
 play-house to see himself there and his national heroes, men 
 like Drake, Frobisher, Norris, Hawkins, adventurers like 
 Tom Stukeley. I can think of nothing that will better il- 
 lustrate the temper of the stage than the prologue written by 
 Peele for his play of " The Tale of Troy." It is entitled a 
 Farewell to Sir John Norris and Sir Francis Drake. 
 
 Have done with care, my hearts. Aboard, amain, 
 
 With stretching sails to plough the swelling waves ; 
 
 Bid England's shore and Albion's chalky cliff 
 
 Farewell, bid stately Troynovant adieu, 
 
 Where pleasant Thames from Isis silver head 
 
 Begins her quiet glide and runs along 
 
 To that brave bridge, the bar that thwarts her course, 
 
 Near neighbor to the ancient stony tower , 
 
 The glorious hold that Julius Csssar built. 
 
 Change love for arms ! Girt to your blades, my boys ! 
 
 Your rests and muskets take, take helm and targe, 
 
 And let God Mars' Consort make you mirth, 
 
 The roaring cannon and the brazen trump, 
 
 The angry-sounding drum, the whistling fife, etc. 
 
 Bid theaters and proud tragedians, 
 
 Bid Mahomet, Scipio and mighty Tamburlaine, 
 
 King Charlemagne, Tom Stukeley and the rest, 
 
 Adieu ! To arms, to arms, to glorious arms, 
 
 With noble Norris and victorious Drake, 
 
 Under the sanguine cross, brave England's badge. 
 
 Sail on, pursue your honors to your graves. 
 
 Heaven is a sacred covering for your heads, 
 
 And every climate virtue's tabernacle. 
 
 To arms, to arms, to honorable arms. 
 
 Hoist sails, weigh anchors up, plough up the seas 
 
 With flying keels, plough up the land with swords. 
 
 In God's name venture on ; and let me say 
 
 To you, my mates, as Csesar said to his, 
 
 Striving with Neptune's hills : You bear, quoth he, 
 
 Csesar and Cseaar's fortunes in your ships. 
 
 You follow them whose swords successful are, 
 
 You follow Drake, by sea the scourge of Spain, 
 
 The dreadful dragon, terror to your foes. 
 
 You follow noble Norris, whose renown, 
 
 Won in the fertile fields of Belgia, 
 
 Spreads by the gates of Europe to the courts 
 
 Of Christian kings and heathen potentates. 
 
 You fight for Christ and England's peerless Queen, 
 
 Elizabeth, the wonder of the world, 
 
 Over whose throne the enemies of God 
 
 Have thundered out their vain successless braves. 
 
 O ten times happy men that fight 
 
 Under the cross of Christ and England's Queen. 
 
 Assuredly this is not poetry of the highest order. But 
 consider how it must have stirred the blood of those who 
 have heard it thundered forth from the stage. Observe how 
 the actor identifies himself with the man of arms. And this 
 was no vain figure of speech. Many of them had proved their 
 prowess on the battle field. Observe the fatalistic touch : 
 any land is good enough to die in bravely. Observe finally 
 the curious blending of religious fervor, hope of gain, and 
 confidence of success. By. the side of such typical adven- 
 turers, how tame must have seemed a mere aristocratic ad- 
 venturer like Raleigh, an aristocrat pure and simple like 
 Sidney. They were to have their record in the quieter 
 stanzas of the " Faery Queen." 
 
 5. Thus much for the spirit of Elizabethan drama. Now 
 for its form. To us its freedom and looseness of structure, 
 its unconyentionality, are matters of course. We are used 
 to an action that roves from place to place and ranges 
 through months and years. It does not surprise us to see 
 a new-born babe blossom forth into the winsome Perdita, to 
 whom our Hawthorne lost his youthful affections. We 
 watch each evolution in Macbeth, from the first whisperings 
 of treasonable ambition to the last fatal push that disseated 
 him forever. The method is so common that we suppose it 
 never could have been otherwise. Yet in 1560 the outlook 
 was by no means so certain. The reign of Elizabeth was 
 marked by a great literary conflict and signal victory. I 
 
-A. C Ji.E) E IM! ICA. 
 
 mean the conflict between the so-called unities and the loose 
 or romantic structure of the drama. On the one hand learn- 
 ing, on the other national instinct. All English scholars of 
 the period, scarcely one excepted, had passed under the in- 
 fluence of Italian taste and fashion. And the Italian 
 stage then was dominated by Seneca. The tragedies 
 of the Roman rhetorician seemed to them the model 
 of perfection. The time must not extend beyond 
 twenty-four, or, at the most, forty-eight hours. The scene 
 must not shift beyond the limits of one city. The 
 action or character must not evince any change. The play 
 can give only the culminating point — the climax — of an 
 event. Furthermore, there must be no commixture of the 
 tragic and the comic. Scenes of violence and bloodshed can 
 not be enacted. They must be imagined as taking place 
 behind the scenes, or narrated by a messenger. Lastly, the 
 play should abound " in brief sententious precepts of moral 
 prud ence," as Milton puts it. 
 
 Thus elaborated by Italian scholars and dramatists, 
 who knew their Seneca, and thought they knew their 
 Aristotle, the theory passed to England and was ac- 
 cepted there, as a matter of course, by University men. 
 The Italian drama was to be translated, body and spirit, to 
 a new home. But the scho'ars reckoned without their host. 
 The English folk had developed from the later Church plays 
 of the Middle Ages its own style of composition and stand- 
 ard of acting. Englishmen of the average type did not care 
 for Senecan maxims. They were not afraid of bloodshed. 
 They were rovers by profession, and liked a change of 
 scene. And above all they cared for action. They wished 
 to see something done, and the more of it the better. They 
 were an insatiable public. 
 
 A shock was inevitable. Nor can it be doubted that at first 
 the advantage lay with the scholars. Our best earlier 
 dramatists were more or less Senecasters. So Norton and 
 Sackville (afterward Earl of Dorset), the authors of Gorbo- 
 duc, first performed at the Inner Temple, Christmas, 1561, 
 and repeated in January, at Whitehall, before the Queen 
 Men like Gascoigne and Sidney threw the weight of their 
 influence in favor of the Senecan method. Observe how 
 Sidnty writes in his Apologie for Poetrie, 1580 or 1581 : "Our 
 tragedies and comedies, not without cause, are cried out 
 against, observing rules neither of honest civility nor skill- 
 ful poetry." Whereupon he proceeds to commend the 
 Senecan style of Gorboduc and its moral phrases, but 
 blames its disregard of the unities of time and place. If 
 Gorboduc be faulty, how much worse other plays, where one 
 skips from Asia to Africa? Now you are in a garden of flow- 
 ers, and in a trice dashed upon the rocks in a shipwreck. 
 Time is even less regarded. Princes and princesses fall in 
 love. Their offspring grow up and fall in love in turn, after 
 divers adventures, and all in two hours' space. . Then we 
 justle comedy and tragedy, and think everything a comedy 
 that makes us laugh. I give the substance of Sidney's 
 strictures. He winds up thus : " But I have lavished too 
 many words on this play matter. I do it because, as it is 
 the excelling part of poesy, so there is none so much used 
 in England, and none more pitifully abused. Which, like 
 an unmannerly daughter showing a bad education, causeth 
 her mother Poesy's honesty to be called in question." 
 
 Even while Sidney wrote, the tide was turning against him. 
 His words betray a sense of discouragement. Reduce his 
 antique phraseology to current English and it amounts to 
 a sigh of regret : So many plays, so many poor ones. 
 
 6. By whom and in what way was the contest decided? 
 The question still awaits an answer. Were all the plays 
 between 1540 and 1590 preserved, even if those now extant 
 were exhaustively studied by some competent scholar 
 thoroughly familiar with the contemporary drama of Italy 
 and Prance, we should be greatly enlightened. As it is, I 
 can venture upon only two positive assertions : a. That 
 the question was definitively settled before the appearance of 
 Shakespeare, b. That the man who did more than any 
 
 other to decide it was Marlowe. Marlowe will be the sub- 
 ject of a subsequent discussion which I have not the inten- 
 tion of anticipating. Suffer me only a word. Marlowe won 
 the day by demonstrating that it was possible for a tragedy 
 of the new sort— a romantic tragedy, to use the now current 
 phrase— to be an unmistakable work of genius. His prede- 
 cessors had been well-meaning, but ill-directed and feeble. 
 But after Tamberlaine, Faustus and Edward^ II, no English 
 playgoer but felt that such a lead was decisive. 
 
 To revert to my text, the new dramatic spirit. Once for 
 all, the drama before Shakespeare is a drama of beginnings, 
 not of perfect fruition. It was toilsome to those who 
 wrought in it. It is almost as toilsome to us who read in it. 
 Yet how precious were its achievements ! Into what a 
 glorious heritage of possibilities did the young Shakespeare 
 enter by right of birth ! As the young Goethe— two hundred 
 years later— trod with light foot paths that had been made 
 clear for him by Lessing and Herder, so the great genius of 
 our language entered an arena that had been trampled into 
 shape by a hundred dwarfs and giants, known or unknown. 
 Do not let us make the common mistake of estimating the 
 bulk of our early drama by its extant remains. It was an 
 age of acting. The air was full of it. Hundreds of pieces 
 must have been ephemeral in the strictest sense, dying with 
 the night that saw them born. Layer upon layer, we know, 
 goes to the making up of a solid stratum. Everything in 
 Shakespeare's plays betokens an audience trained to judge, 
 no less than an author qualified to write The audiences of 
 1600 must have entered into the rendition of a piece as we 
 — readers only and not listeners— can not possibly enter. 
 
 And then what a tool was put into the hands of the su- 
 preme artist just as he began his work ! I mean blank 
 verse. In the course of fifty years English blank verse 
 had proceeded to its full development. Introduced from 
 Italy by Surrey about 1540, it took a great leap forward 
 twenty years later in Gorboduc. Poor Gorboduc, praised 
 and blamed by Sidney, is anything but a great play. A / 
 Frenchman might call it a drame manquk. Its authors had •:/ 
 in their hands as noble a theme as Shakespeare had in his 
 Lear. But they were not geniuses, but men of erudition. 
 To them a play was a chance for oracular mouthing and 
 sugar plums of wisdom. Their personages do not act, they 
 talk. Yet they do talk admirable blank verse — smooth, 
 strong, finished. Let me quote a few lin^s, almost at ran- 
 dom. Ferrex is speaking. He feels aggrieved at the parti- 
 tion of the kingdom : 
 
 ",1s this no wrong, say you, to reave from me 
 
 My native right of half so great a realm, 
 
 And thus to match the younger son with me 
 
 In equal power, and in so great degree ? 
 
 Yea, and what son? The son whose swelling pride 
 
 Would never yield one point of reverence 
 
 "When I, the elder and apparent heir, 
 
 Stood on the likelihood to pos-ess the whole. 
 
 Yea, and that son which from his childish age 
 
 Envieth mine honor and doth hate my life, 
 
 What will he now do, when his pride and rage, 
 
 The mindful malice of his grudging heart, 
 
 Is armed with force, with wealth, and kingly state." 
 
 This is only too smooth, too cadenced. It is deficient in 
 variety. The writer does not know how to use the caesural 
 pause. He is no genius. Now, pass to Marlowe twenty-five 
 years later. I shall quote only a brief passage from one of 
 his least known and poorest plays, The Massacre of Paris. 
 The Duke of Guise is giving vent to his ambitious aspira- 
 tions : 
 
 " Give me a look, that when I bend the brows, 
 
 Pale death may walk in furrows of my face ; 
 
 A hand, that with a grasp may gripe the world ; 
 
 An ear to hear what my detractors say , 
 
 A royal seat, a sceptre and a crown ; 
 
 That those which do behold them may Ltcome 
 
 As men that stand and gaze against the sun." 
 Perhaps you will agree with me, that this, if not quite 
 Shakespeare's grand air, is clearly prophetic of it. 
 
62 
 
 ^-C-^-XDEllv£IC^.. 
 
 ACADEMICA, 
 
 The Academioa is published monthly during the Academic year for the Stu- 
 dents of the Academic department of the University . of Cincinnati, by the 
 Bloch PUBLismNG Co. The editors disclaim all responsibility for the senti- 
 ments expressed in communications, 
 
 EDITOR S.— 1 885-'8e. 
 MAX B. MAY, 
 
 TERMS: 
 
 the subscription price per year, payable in advance and including postage, is 
 $1.00; single numbers, 15 cents. 
 
 ADVER CISEMENTS will be received, the terms for which will be made known 
 on application. 
 
 All communications and exchanges must be addressed to THE ACADEMICA, 
 care of University of Cincinnati. 
 
 Address all advertisements and business matters to the 
 
 BL»OCH Publishing Company, 
 Sample copies free upon application. CINCINNATI, OHIO. 
 
 CINCINNATI, NOVEMBER, 1885. 
 
 The first number of the Academica appears rather late 
 this year, and we ask pardon for this delay. We hope that 
 the unpleasantness existing between some of the students 
 and the Academica can be amicably adjusted. We " desire 
 the good will of all," and are willing " to smoke the pipe of 
 peace," and " bury the hatchet." Students, let bygones be 
 bygones, work for your paper and the paper will work for 
 you ; try to smooth the path of the editors, and see if the 
 Academica can not be the friend of every one. 
 
 Subscribe for the Academica. 
 
 Commencing next issue, we will publish a serial story, en- 
 titled " One College Year." 
 
 The Board of Directors have added Prof. T. S. Noble, of 
 the School of Design, to the Faculty, as Professor of Art. 
 
 The Academic year 1885^6 opens under the most favor- 
 ab'e prospects. The following is the enrollment : Regular, 
 27 ; special, 7 ; whole number of students : regular, 69 ; 
 special, 16 ; total, 85. 
 
 The Cincinnati? press is gradually] advertising our institu- 
 tion. 
 
 The Board of Directors need have no fears concerntng 
 the future of our institution. 
 
 From this time forth the University of Cincinnati will 
 increase both in reputation and the number of students. 
 
 Almost every college or university has one or more gen- 
 eral organizations, either a literary or debating society, or 
 both, 
 
 Shall the University of Cincinnati^be an exception? 
 
 Students, wake up, stir up your now sleeping energy, and 
 go to work with a vim. 
 
 Revive the McMicken Literary Society, and let it reflect 
 credit both on yourselves and your institution. We are 
 certain that the Faculty will give you all the necessary aid 
 and encouragement. 
 
 The Faculty adopted a wise plan last year in establishing 
 a popular lecture course. May another lecture course be 
 established, and may a more suitable time be appointed for 
 holding the lectures. 
 
 This number of the Academica will be sent to our old 
 subscribers, to members of the Alumni, and to the new stu- 
 dents. We ask those who do not wish to subscribe for the 
 paper please to inform us. 
 
 The Academica asks the students for contributions. Our 
 columns will always be at the disposal of the students. We 
 have offered a prize (see local column) for the best literary 
 contribution, and we hope every student will compete for it. 
 
 We would like to run an " Alumni Column." In order 
 to do this we must have news regarding the Alumni. If 
 the Faculty or officers of the Alumnal Association will 
 furnish us with items we wil only be too glad to print them, 
 
 The Class of '89 is composed of energetic members, who 
 will not only work for their class, but also for the Uni- 
 versity. This class has already organized, and have formed 
 a literary society. 
 
 We wish you much suceess, and hope you will honor 
 yourself and your institution. 
 
 The Academica sustains a great loss by the resignation of 
 Mr. Frank Thilly. Mr. Thilly was a member of the board 
 during the greater part of the year 1884, likewise 1885, and 
 was elected last May to serve during the coming year. Mr. 
 Thilly, during his term of office, worked faithfully, and by 
 his resignation the Academica loses an efficient servant. 
 
 The students ought to settle once for all what constitutes 
 a quorum in a students' meeting. If all the students can 
 not be present some day after recitation hours, the Faculty 
 ought to grant them an hour, convenient to all, in which to 
 settle this important question. It would not be an unwise 
 plan to adopt a constitution, which shall hereafter govern 
 all students' meetings. 
 
 Dr C. G. Comegys, Chairman of the Academic Com- 
 mittee, congratulated the Academica for its good work in 
 behalf of the University. The Doctor said the increase of 
 matriculates was in a degree due to the exertion of the 
 Academica. 
 
 We modestly accept the compliment, and will always 
 work in the interests of the students and the University. 
 
 The Academic Department of the University of Cincin- 
 nati need not be ashamed of their worthy paper, the Aca- 
 demica."— The Sibyl. r 
 
 We suppose that the above compliment has reference to 
 our June (1885) issue, in which the workings of the various 
 departments were ably set forth. The Academica will always 
 work for its institution. Its columns will always be open to 
 the Board of Directors and to the Faculty. 
 
_A-CJL»Bls^:iC^L. 
 
 63 
 
 The subscription price of the Academica has been re- 
 duced from $1.50 to $1. This is as low as it can be fixed. 
 We hope every student will subscribe. 
 
 OUR UNIVERSITY BUILDING BURNED. 
 
 Shortly before four o'clock this morning (November 7th), 
 a passer-by discovered flames issuing from the first floor of 
 the McMicken University, on McMicken Avenue, near the 
 head of Elm Street. He immediately sounded an alarm 
 from box 98. By the time the department arrived the en- 
 tire front of the building was in flames, and a second alarm 
 was sounded. 
 
 It was only by the most heroic work on the part of the 
 firemen that any part of the building was saved. 
 
 The entire front was completely gutted, and the loss will 
 not fall short of $30,000. 
 
 The fire is supposed to have originated in the laboratory, 
 which is on 'the first floor. 
 
 The janitor, Joseph Frey, occupies a house a short dis- 
 tance from the University. He says that at eight o'clock 
 last night he went through the building and found every- 
 thing in good shape. He could not account for the origin 
 of the fire. 
 
 General J. D. Cox, the Rector of the University, could not 
 be seen, and the loss can only be roughly estimated. 
 
 Prof. Eddy, the Dean of the University, loses a very val- 
 uable collection of books. His apartment was entirely 
 burned out. 
 
 The building was completed in 1874, at a cost of about 
 $75,000. It was opened as a university the following year. 
 Its burning at this time, just at the beginning of a college 
 year, is particularly unfortunate, and will entail no end of 
 trouble to the college authorities and students. 
 
 As we go to press the University building is partly de 
 stroyed. We can no longer delay this issue of the paper. 
 Full particulars next issue. 
 
 At Adelbert College, Prof. Perrin is reading a Greek play 
 each Wednesday afternoon to any of the Seniors, Juniors or 
 Sophomores who choose to attend. The Reserve will be is- 
 sued by the Juniors this year, as usual. The editors are F. 
 L. Baldwin, F. Kuhn, H. J. Uhl and Miss Annie Eoeder. 
 The Phi Delta Literary Society is doing good work. The 
 Philozetian is not doing anything yet. Adelbert will have 
 a field day next spring. The academy at Hudson had a fine 
 one this fall, and was the cause of stirring up the college 
 boys. The new men are all taken in by the fraternities, and 
 honors are easy. 
 
 THE ACADEMICA. 
 
 With the enemies of the Academica this article has noth- 
 ing to do. It is an appeal to those who have the welfare of 
 the paper at heart. 
 
 No college journal is fully successful unless it reflects the 
 sentiments of the students. This it can not do unless the 
 students are in sympathy with the paper, and to some ex- 
 tent are willing to work in its interests. The Academica at 
 present has but one editor ; the prospects for a near election 
 are not bright and consequently all the work connected 
 with the journal falls upon his shoulders. Such a state of 
 affairs is not conducive to the paper's prosperity. 
 
 Hitherto payment of subscriptions has been the only sup- 
 port given by the students to the Academica. This support 
 is not enough. It is like giving clothing and shelter to a 
 pauper without supplying him with food — he gradually 
 starves to death. What our paper needs is contributions — 
 an interchange of opinions on University topics, literary 
 articles, and items of general interest. 
 
 If such are forthcoming the success of the Academica is 
 assured. Against a paper made up of such material oppo- 
 sition can find no foothold. When students have found a 
 medium for the discussion and settlement of their various 
 opinions, the ideal school journal has been reached. Such 
 an ideal can be attained. It remains with the students of 
 the University to decide whether they will attain it or not. 
 
 It would not be out of place here to mention a few diffi- 
 culties in the way of successfully conducting a college 
 paper. In the first place, everybody expects too much from 
 the board of editors. This board must put before the 
 students every thirty days (1) one or two literary articles of 
 merit; (2) all the news connected with the college; (3) 
 opinions concerning the happenings of the last month. It 
 must report the actions of the Board of Directors, the 
 doings of the literary societies, and the results of the base- 
 ball games, and the like. It must give able reviews on all 
 of the exchanges. This we think the editors would cheer, 
 fully undertake to do were their labors met with anything 
 like sympathy or assistance. 
 
 No sooner does the paper appear than it is met with a 
 running fire of criticism. " Every issue contains some 
 thing objectionable." One says that the leading article is of 
 no account ; another says that the local items should be dis- 
 continued; a third finds objection to the exchange column. 
 Every one has a word of disapproval ; no one a word of en- 
 couragement. Such a state of affairs must continue as long- 
 as five students undertake to present the opinions of a 
 hundred. Such a feat is impossible. The only way to man- 
 age a paper to the satisfaction of all is to get the students to 
 present their own opinions. If once a spirit of controversy 
 is aroused on a subject of local interest, the paper will fill 
 itself. Once let each student feel that his college paper is 
 open and eager for the expression of his sentiments, let him 
 feel that the way to settle a disputed question is by argu- 
 ment through the ready columns of his representative paper 
 (representative in more than name), and the college journal 
 would become, instead of a source of quarrels and ill-feeling, 
 a power in the University. Henry W. Bett maxn. 
 
6 4 
 
 -^.C-A-IDIEZLviEIC-^.. 
 
 EXCHANGES. 
 
 The exchanges are gradually making their appearance. 
 Together with the familiar ones come a host of strange 
 faces. 
 
 The Daily Crimson has at last responded to our request to 
 exchange. The Crimson, judgingjfrom its contents, must be 
 of great advantage to Harvard students. 
 
 The W. T. I., hailing from Worcester, Mass., is a new jour- 
 nal. We wish it much success. 
 
 The Hesperian appears with a new and beautiful cover, 
 otherwise it is like the Hesperian Student of old. 
 
 How about the Inter-Collegiate Press Association? Notre 
 Dame Scholastic, can you enlighten us? 
 
 Will the exchanges please send us a copy of ^their college 
 catalogue. 
 
 The editor of " Notes " in Campus ought to wake up. 
 
 " Secretary Bayard is to deliver the commencement ad- 
 dress at the University of Kansas. He has received the de- 
 gree of LL. D. from Yale, Harvard and Dartmouth." 
 
 The Secretary delivered the address last June and we are 
 not aware that he has made an engagement for the coming 
 season. 
 
 ■ The Dennison Weekly News is a new college journal. 
 
 The make-up of the Foster Academy Review is poor. Some 
 good literary articles would improve the paper. 
 
 Carletonia has many literary articles : " Influence of 
 Anglo-Saxon Conquest on the World," " Negro Suffrage," 
 " Some of the Characteristics of George Eliot's Novels." 
 
 University Press and The Badger have united. 
 
 Oberlin Review would be greatly improved if it would run 
 an exchange column. 
 
 The leading articles in the Earlhamite, " Is it Nothing," 
 " The Need of an Ideal," and the Parmer and Education." 
 
 Polytechnic (Troy, N. Y.,) has changed its name to Troy 
 Polytechnic. 
 
 Dennison Collegian appears with a new cover. The Col- 
 legian's editorials deal with subjects foreign to the field of col- 
 lege journalism. 
 
 The first number of the Callanan Courant (Des Moines, 
 Iowa,) is before us. The paper, we think, undertakes too 
 much for a college journal. 
 
 Yankton Student is a new college paper. 
 
 The Hatchet is small, but yet deals some heavy blows. 
 
 The following expresses our sentiments : 
 
 " We hope that the scholars this term will not possess the 
 mistaken idea that having elected a board of editors they 
 have freed themselves of all connection with the paper. Too 
 often do? s this supposition exist ; but it is a wrong idea. A 
 board of editors are elected merely. to have immediate charge 
 of the paper. Other than this, the scholars stand on the 
 same footing, as regards the management of the paper, as 
 do the editors. A school journal is supposed to echo the 
 voice of the scholars. At the present day an outsider judges 
 a school in great part by the character of the paper emanat- 
 ing from it. To make a paper a thoroughly representative 
 organ, it is necessary to draw its ideas, not from one class, 
 but from the entire school. With this idea in view, it is 
 
 necessary, if the scholars desire to place their paper fore- 
 most in the ranks of school journals, to cheerfully contrib 
 ute such articles as meet their ideas of any subject." — Aca- 
 demian. 
 
 ANNOUNCEMENT. 
 
 The Board of Editors of the Academica offers a prize of 
 five dollars ($5) in gold for the best literary contribution to 
 the Academica. 
 
 Conditions. 
 
 The competition is limited to students. Any student 
 may compete. 
 At least six contributions must be sent in. 
 
 LOCALS. 
 
 SUBSCRIBE 
 
 For the Students' Paper. 
 Only $1 a year. 
 Did you notice '88's button? 
 Send in your contributions. 
 Wait for " One College Year." 
 T. H. Schmidt intends graduating in '87. 
 The Literary Society haa not yet organized. 
 "Why have the periodical lectures been given up ? 
 The class buttons of '88 are admired " all around." 
 T he Faculty did not address the students this year. 
 The Lab. has had a boom this year and desks are at a premium. 
 Me. Couche, '86, hasearned the title the " Student Philosopher." 
 The baseballists are happy. The Board gave them a new 
 ladder. 
 
 The draughting room will be closed against all intruders. Joseph 
 has a key. 
 
 The stoves in some of the rooms have been moved so as to give 
 more heat. 
 
 We wish the football eleven success. May it be a permanent 
 organization. 
 
 Calisch has given up roller skating and taken to singing. One 
 as bad as the other. 
 
 The Freshmen are holding too many meetings. P. S.— This is 
 not intended to incite a riot. 
 
 Misses Bloch and Ely, who received Normal diplomas last 
 year, intend graduating in '87. 
 
 The Bev. Howard A. Johnson, 82, has wedded Miss Mary E. 
 Hubbard, a talented Indianapolis belle. 
 
 Wonder whether there will be a literary soci ty or mock con- 
 gress? " Bead the answer in the stars." 
 
 There are a few young ladies in second Latin, third English 
 Literature, second German, Psychology and second French. 
 
 The Board of Directors of the University of Cincinnati have de- 
 cided to give up their quarters in Wiggins' Block and to hereafter 
 meet at the University Building. 
 
 We hope the young ladles will forgive us for not paying them 
 more attention in this number. We are too baehfull to interview 
 them. Please send us locals in time for next issue. 
 
 '87 and '88 had quite a time of it in the draughting-room. When 
 the smoke of battle cleared away the room was littered with chairs, 
 but 88 had vanished into regions unknown. 
 
ACADEMICA. 
 
 65 
 
 Send in your contributions. 
 First Latin is the largest class. 
 Almost every one is back again. 
 Heinsheimer, '89, is the smallest student. 
 Langdale's " Oh, yes," sounds very funny. 
 '89 has more Hughes graduates than "Woodward. 
 The Faculty look as if they had enjoyed their vacation. 
 Fvery Laboratory desk is in use, hence Prof. Norton's smile. 
 The walls of the Liboratory have been painted. They needed it. 
 Joseph will make a good football player. He is always 
 '' kicking." 
 
 Bf.AD " One College Year." It will commence in the next issue 
 
 ACADEMICA. 
 
 Miss Amanda Frank, '85, recently read a pfper before the 
 Unify Club. 
 
 Mr. Ernest Twitchell, '86, is in Atlanta, Ga. He is expected 
 b£ck in January. 
 
 The baseball meeting did not materialize, and consequently no 
 organization was effected. 
 
 We noticed a new Latin lexicon on Proferssor Sprouil's desk 
 Wonder if it is for the Museum. 
 
 John Westenhoff, '85, is taking a post-graduate course. He is 
 pegging away at chemistry in the Lab. 
 
 Smoking and lighting of cigars in the building has been forbid- 
 den. The cigarette dealers will have a boom. 
 
 The following is the enrollment: Seniors 13, JuDiors 16, Sopho- 
 mores 12, Freshmen 27, Specials 16, Post Graduates 1. 
 
 German Recitation.— Professor : "Gentlemen, ' gedurft,' past 
 participle of " durfen," is not often used." Mr. Kebler: "No, I 
 have not met with it." Kebler is now considered authority on Ger- 
 man verbs. 
 
 President Cox delivered the first lecture in the Norwood lecture 
 course, Fiiday evening, October 23d, at 8 o'clock. The subject was 
 " LV atoms, or Microscopic Plants, and Their Mode of Growth." The 
 lecture was illustrated by a magic lantern. 
 
 Mr. Tobias Schanfarber, '85, has been elected Rabbi of the 
 Toledo (0.) Congregation. Speaking of his election, the American 
 Israelite says : " It is quite encouraging to a young man to be elected 
 the minister of so respectable a congregation before he has finished 
 his studies, which claim his presence in the Hebrew Union College 
 until next June." 
 
 We clip the following from the Commercial Gazette: 
 university freshmen. 
 
 At a meeting of the freshman class of the University, the follow- 
 ing officers were elected : 
 
 President — Mr. Lawson. 
 
 First Vice-President— Mis3 Block. 
 
 Second Vice-President— Mr. Catlow. 
 
 Secretary— Mr. Kinkead. 
 
 Treasurer — Mr. Ahlborn. 
 
 Poet — Miss Townley. 
 
 Historian — Mr. Levi. 
 
 Sergeant-at-arms — Mr. Mussy. 
 
 Chaplain — Mr. Guttmacher. 
 
 This class is an exceptionally bright one, and has been compli-. 
 mented on its appearance and good scholarship displayed thus far. 
 
 The officers were chosen solely on their merits, and it is safe to 
 say that never before has a better line of officers been chosen for 
 the Freshman class of the University of Cincinnati. 
 
 We congratulate the officers-elect on having all been elected 
 unanimously. 
 
 '88 mourns the loss of Miss Lietze. 
 
 The football eleven will shortly play the Mt. Auburns. 
 
 There are many handsome young ladies among the new-comers. 
 Several of he football eleven were slightly bruised during a 
 practice game. 
 
 Langsdale, '88, has been ill during the past two weeks, but is 
 now all 0. K. again. 
 
 Jacobson, '86, wears a beaver, but he does not venture to bring 
 it to the University. 
 
 The class of '88 has a programme laid out for the ensuing year 
 to consist of monthly literary exercises. This is a step in advance of 
 other classes. 
 
 For the benefit of the newcomers, the Museum, alias quelle, 
 alias hall, alias study-room, is on the third floor. It was originally 
 intended for a study-room, but has been transformed into an amateur 
 gymnasium. 
 
 the tale of a fish,. 
 
 When a man doth wish to angle, 
 A hook like this he loves to dangle. 
 
 J 
 He has a line so good and strong, 
 And catches a fish about so long. 
 
 I 
 
 k 
 
 Before he gets home the fish doth grow ( ?) 
 And he tells his friends that it stretched out so : 
 
 k 
 
 But his friends who have a-fishing been, 
 Know that the man has lied like sin, 
 And they simply sit and smile and grin. 
 00000000 
 
 The class of '89 is truly an energetic one. In addition to their 
 regular curriculum they have organized a society for literary work, 
 and give promise to accomplish great good in the future. At a 
 meeting called for the purpose of forming into a regular organization 
 and adopting the constitution framed by a committee 'previously 
 chosen by the class, after having decided upon a definite constitu- 
 tion, the following officers were elected : 
 
 President— Mr. Ellis G. Kinkead. 
 
 Vice President— Miss Minnie Warwick. 
 
 Secretary— Mr. William W. Watkins. 
 
 Critic— Mr. William O. Mussey. 
 
 Sergeant-at-arms— Mr. Abram Guttmacher. 
 
 The society intends to have semi-monthly meetings, and hopes 
 to continue their organization through the four years of their Uni- 
 versity work.— Commercial Gazette. 
 
 we should like to see 
 Every one happy. 
 A baseball nine. 
 A Mock Congress. 
 A football eleven. 
 A Literary Society. 
 Fifty new students next year. 
 Wertheimer, when he is not smiling. 
 The young ladies come to the Museum. 
 The Board of Directors visit the University. 
 Joseph, when he is not claiming something. 
 Every student a subscriber to the Academica. 
 Clifton Levy, when he is not sharpening a pencil. 
 
 neJdTo ttVrnvSr" 1 ^ "* ^ ° f *""""* «* 
 
66 
 
 -A.a-A-3DEa^IC.A„ 
 
 FOOTBALL. 
 
 The University at last has a football team — one full of promise. 
 It played its first game Tuesday, October 23d, and, though the score 
 was a draw, the boys have every reason to be satisfied. Every 
 member of the team showed a desire to work hard, and when good 
 training and practice begin to show their effects, the football clubs 
 of Southern Ohio will have to look to their laurels. 
 
 The club has an efficient and hard-working captain in Mr. Carson, 
 who (if anybody can) will lead the team on to success. The players 
 are as follows: Messrs. Oarson (captain), Couch, Wright, Sampson, 
 Bettmann, Ahlborn, Wrampelmeier, Lawson, Ramsey, Joseph and 
 Freeman. 
 
 COLLEGE NEWS. 
 
 The result of the Ohio election will not compel Oberlin 
 to seek a new Greek professor, as Prof. Frost, the Prohibi- 
 tion candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, still remains in the 
 Faculty. 
 
 A well of salt water has been struck near Cornell Col- 
 lege. Nature is evidently preparing for large freshman 
 classes at that institution. 
 
 The Harvard Baseball Association has elected officers 
 for the ensuing year : President, H. D. Claflin ; Manager, 
 A. B- Potter. The receipts of the club for this season were 
 $890.61 above the expenses. 
 
 " A ton of dumb-bell " is an order sent out from Ann Ar- 
 bor, Mich., for the gymnasium of the College. 
 
 The Harvard Crimson thinks lacrosse will take the place 
 of football at Harvard. 
 
 The freshman class at the Institute of Technology, Bos- 
 ton, is the largest class of any college in the country. 
 
 The report of the Princeton hazing was exaggerated 
 Wellesley College opens with 510 students. 
 
 The Inter-collegiate Football Association held its annual 
 fall convention Saturday evening, October 10th, in the 
 Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York. Harvard, Princeton, Uni- 
 versity of Pennsylvania, Wesleyan and Yale were rep- 
 resented. The convention made the final revision of the 
 playing rules governing the associations for the present sea- 
 son, arranged dates for championship games, and provided 
 for a referee Mr. W. C. Camp was chosen referee for the 
 Wesleyan-Princeton. the Yale-Princeton and the Wesleyan- 
 Yale games. Harvard will not play in the association this 
 season. The following is a partial schedule of the games : 
 November 7th, University of Pennsylvania vs. Wesleyan, at 
 New York ; November 14th, Princeton vs. the winner of No- 
 vember 7th ; Yale vs. the loser of November 7th ; November 
 21st, Princeton vs. the loser of November 7th, Yale vs. the 
 winner of November 7th; November 26th (Thanksgiving 
 Day), Princeton vs. Yale, at New Haven. 
 
 Prof. Charles Kendall Adams, of Michigan University, 
 has accepted the Presidency of Cornell University, vice 
 "White resigned. 
 
 Thr name of the Illinois Industrial University has been 
 changed to the" " University of Illinois," 
 
 JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. 
 
 Johns Hopkins University consists of five or six brick build, 
 ings situated in the heart of the city. It has an endowment 
 fund of $300,000 given by Johns Hopkins in the year 1867- 
 Three of these buildings are laboratories ; the chemical, the 
 physical, and the biological laboratories. The others contain 
 recitation and lecture rooms and the library. There are no 
 dormitories or dining associations. A student goes to college 
 solely for work, and expects no class systems or class asso- 
 ciations. He arranges his own board and lodging in some 
 neighboring private house. In consequence of this arrange- 
 ment, the faculty are never troubled with the vexing ques- 
 tion of student disturbances. 
 
 The requirements for admission are about equal to those 
 at Harvard, with a little more stress laid on French and 
 German. A student may substitute them for Greek. For 
 the college course, which is generally three years, the stu- * 
 dent has to choose, with some alternatives, from seven 
 courses of study. If, for instance, he wishes to pursue a 
 classical course, I. would be his choice. This includes 
 Latin and Greek with the alternative of Mathematics or 
 History. In Latin, besides composition, there are nine au- 
 thors to be read, among them Livy, Horace, Tacitus, Cicero 
 and Juvenal. In Greek there are six authors, Lysias, Ho- 
 mer, Sophocles, and others. Supposing he desires the 
 modern studies, ^then for Science he can elect course III., 
 comprising Chemistry, Biology, and either Latin, Mathe- 
 matics or Italian. For a more literary course, he can take 
 course IV., which includes History, Political Science, and 
 either Mathematics, a laboratory study, Spanish or Italian. 
 Thus one can see the courses are well arranged and evenly 
 balanced. 
 
 In some matters the students are not as well off as the 
 Harvard students. Although there is the Congressional 
 Library in Washington, which is about an hour's ride on 
 the railroad from Baltimore, yet the students do not have 
 the advantage of immediate reference to such an extensive 
 library as we have here. In one of the college buildings is 
 a very well arranged library of about 26,000 volumes. There 
 is a gymnasium on the opposite side of the street. 
 
 In the American acceptance of the term, the institution 
 is not a university; for instance, it contains no law school 
 or medical department. Yet it is rapidly growing in size, 
 and great improvements are contemplated. It owns many 
 of the buildings in the surrounding blocks, and as its cap- 
 ital increases, it tears them away to make room for build- 
 ings of its own. Its friends, indeed, have every reason to 
 be proud of its rapid growth.— N. F. H. in Daily Crimson. 
 
 Boston Young Lady to Harvard Student. — " Above all 
 things I admire Hogarth's curves." 
 
 Student (thoughtfully)—" Hogarth— er— I don't remem- 
 ber the name— what club does he pitch for? " 
 
 Professor (to freshman)—-' Mr. A., what is the exact dis- 
 tance in miles to the sun? " 
 
 Freshman (meditatively scratching his head)— " Well, 
 professor, I did know, but I have forgotten." 
 
 Professor (sarcastically)— "That is a pity, Mr. A. You 
 have forgotten more than any other roan ever knew." 
 
AOADBl£IOA. 
 
 A TERRIBLE CALAMITY. 
 
 OUR UNIVERSITY BUILDING GUTTED. 
 
 Chemical Laboratory and Professor Benedict's 
 Room Completely Destroyed. 
 
 Rest of Building- Damaged toy Fire and "Water. 
 
 Origin of Fire Unknown— Supposed to Have Been Started by 
 Spontaneous Combustion in Chemical Laboratory. 
 
 In our main edition we have a partial account of the 
 burning of our University. The report is correct, except as 
 to the destruction of Professor Eddy's room and library, 
 both were uninjured. 
 
 THE FIRE. 
 
 About 3 : 45 a. m., Saturday, November 7, 1885, a passer- 
 by discovered flames issuing from the ground floor of the 
 University building. He immediately gave the alarm, and 
 soon thereafter box 98 was turned in, which was followed 
 by a second and a third alarm. The fire companies came 
 promptly to the seen e of the fire. Great difficulty was ex- 
 perienced in ascending the steep hill, and every one is sur- 
 prised that the firemen succeeded in getting the flames un- 
 der control as quickly as they did. The firemen deserve 
 great credit for their noble work, and the Board of Di- 
 rectors can be thankful that Cincinnati has such an efficient 
 fire department. The fire evidently originated in the chem- 
 ical laboratory, or in the cellar below, but how no one 
 knows, and the chances are never will. There are three 
 theories, neither of which can be substantiated : (1 ) Spon- 
 taneous combustion, (2) a stray spark, (3) struck by light- 
 ning (a storm was raging Friday night). Joe, the janitor, 
 states that at 6 : 30 Friday evening he went through the en- 
 tire building, and when he locked up every gas jet was 
 turned out and every fire was out. This can be taken as 
 true, for every student will bear witness to the fact that Joe 
 is a careful and trustworthy person. 
 
 SCENE OF FIRE. 
 
 In the laboratory proper there are about thirty-two 
 desks, all of which are occupied. The following students, 
 as near as we can remember, are Labs : Misses Joslin, 
 Rawson, Huddleston and Oskamp; Messrs. Westenhoff, 
 Scudder, Otten, Schmidt, Windisch, Miller, Kebler, Ramsey, 
 Baetens, Wrampelmier, Gurman, Carson, Catlow, Meader, 
 Newman, Hudson, Harper, Kramer, Loewenstein, and a 
 few freshmen, whose names we can not recall. 
 
 All the desks containing apparatus and chemical reagents 
 and in most cases chemical books of references were com- 
 pletely destroyed. Here and there scattered about on the 
 charred mass were found lying stray leaves from some 
 stained " Fresenius," triangules and retort stands, and 
 parts of "Bunsen " burners. Everything in the laboratory 
 proper, including the •' distill," was destroyed. Adjoining 
 the laboratory proper is a small room known as the " com- 
 bustion room." This too was badly burned, we think, how- 
 ever, the combustion furnace is safe. Adjoining this room 
 is the quantitative laboratory, Professor Norton's office 
 and the chemical supply room. Professor Norton's room 
 was unharmed, the quantitative laboratory somewhat dam- 
 aged, and the supply room only partially injured. It is ex- 
 ceedingly lucky that this latter was not destroyed, for it not 
 only contained valuable chemicals, but likewise some very 
 explosive ones. At this writing the loss in the laboratory 
 can not be estimated, but Professor Norton thinks $3,000 
 will cover it. In the hall are the cloak-boxes (1-18) and 
 furnace, both were destroyed. One baseball bat, one wooden 
 stool and one apron (Kebler's) were saved. 
 
 In the physical laboratory several valuable instruments 
 belonging to Professor French were destroyed. With this 
 exception not much damage was done. 
 
 On the first floor, where the Dean's office, Professors Ben- 
 edict, French, Seybold and Norton's lecture-rooms are, the 
 damage was great. The Dean's office and ante-room were 
 uninjured. Professor Benedict's room was completely 
 burned out, and Professor French's room was somewhat 
 burned, and all his apparatus destroyed. In Professors Sey- 
 bold and Norton's rooms the damage was confined to the 
 burning of the floor. On this floor was a large case contain- 
 ing very valuable physical instruments. At present they are 
 only thought to be slightly damaged by water. 
 
 On the second floor are Professors Eddy, Hart, Hyde, 
 Sproull and Leonard's lecture-rooms, and two cloak and one 
 ante-room. Damage here consisted of burned flooring and 
 broken partitions. 
 
 On the third floor are Professor Gilbert's room, museum, 
 draughting and engineer's room and one ante-room. Dam- 
 age consisted in burned flooring, broken joists and cracked 
 plastering. All the walls of the halls are damaged by 
 water. 
 
 It is an imposing sight to look from the ante-room adjoin- 
 ing the Dean's office upon the ruins of the laboratory. The 
 outside of the building is also damaged. The side facing 
 McMicken Avenue is somewhat smoked, and several win- 
 dows are entirely knocked out. The loss on the building 
 will probably be $12,000, which is.covered by insurance. 
 
 The origin of the fire, as before stated, is a mystery which 
 probably never will be cleared up. Professor Norton says : 
 
 " Thus far it is a mystery. We have not been able to go 
 into the ruins, for the reason that the insurance companies 
 
68 
 
 J&. a -A- ID EI l^L X C -A„ 
 
 have not made their inspection. We don't know just where 
 it originated, whether in the cellar or in the laboratory. " 
 " Was it the result of a chemical explosion? " 
 " I think not from an in the laboratory ; for ythingall the 
 dangerous chemicals were at one side of where the fire 
 originated, and are untouched. Sometimes, where coal is. 
 stored in a confined space, as has happened on shipboard, 
 there is an explosion, but that is a very unlikely thing to 
 happen in our cellarage. " 
 
 " There was no fire in the building? " 
 
 " No ; the furnace was out and new material in it ready 
 for lighting. There was no light in the building. The gas 
 is all turned off by one cut-off, and there were no banners 
 aflame. A few weeks ago a party of boys were arrested 
 and fined for breaking the glass at the building. I know of 
 no one else who would be likely to entertain any ill-feeling 
 against the University, and it is not likely that they did it. 
 So you see the origin of the fire is'absolutely a mystery. " 
 
 The Board of Directors and the Faculty held separate 
 meetings Saturday afternoon at three o'clock to determine 
 what should be done. The Board of Directors decided to 
 proceed at once with the work of rebuilding. A committee 
 of experts will examine the building, and every thing will 
 be rebuilt. Consequently we will have a new laboratory, no 
 doubt, much finer than the old one. 
 
 President Cox thinks the recitation-rooms will be ready 
 to be reoccupied in a week, but the appearances are against 
 this- 
 
 TEMPORARY QUARTERS. 
 
 The Board of Directors decided that recitations should go 
 on as usual and accepted with thanks the following : 
 Hon. Samuel F. Hunt, President University Board : 
 
 Dear Sir : — The University building being burned down, 
 I take pleasure in informing you and the Board that the 
 Hebrew Union College building and each room thereof is at 
 your service, to be used as temporary quarters by the Uni- 
 versity of Cincinnati. There is sufficient room in the build- 
 ing for the University classes. 
 
 The Hebrew Union College building is at your service up 
 to 2 p. m , as long as you may deem proper to use it. 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 Isaac M. Wise, 
 President^ Hebrew Union College. 
 
 The Hebrew Union College is located on the north side 
 of Sixth Street, just below Cutter. The building is a large, 
 double stone-front and amply capable of accommodating all 
 the University classes. 
 
 Those students who have had any books burned are re- 
 quested to report their loss to Professor Norton. In all 
 cases the books or value thereof will be replaced. 
 
 The burning of the University building in the beginning 
 of a prosperous academic year is very discouraging. All 
 the students no doubt feel disheartened at the idea of giving 
 up their comfortable quarters, especially the Labs, who for 
 some time to come will be out of work. We hope all the 
 students will make the best of it, and will try to get along 
 as well as can be expected under the circumstances. 
 
 Now is the time for our public-spirited citizens to endow 
 
 our University, Cincinnati's University, and the best Uni- 
 versity in Ohio, probably in the West. ' 
 
 press comments. 
 
 [Tim.es-Star.] 
 Of course the destruction by fire this morning of the Mc- 
 Micken University is a great public calamity. Perhaps, 
 however, now is the time to suggest that a change of loca. 
 tion would be advantageous. The present site would be 
 very valuable for manufacturing purposes, while the Uni- 
 versity buildings might be put up on some of the hills where 
 they would not only show to better advantage, but would 
 be improved in every way. The argument that the institu- 
 tion would then be too far removed from the center of the 
 city is not to be considered, as rapid and more rapid transit 
 between the town proper and the suburbs is every year an- 
 nihilating distance. Strangers constantly comment unfa- 
 vorably on the fact that the University is situated in the 
 midst of the smoke and dirt of a manufacturing part of 
 the city, and wonder why it was not placed where the stu- 
 dents might enjoy the free light and air of the hilltops. Ex- 
 perience has shown that its location has been a drawback 
 to the University's progress, and now the time has come 
 when a change can conveniently be made. 
 
 A GHASTLY CALAMITY — COLLEGE HOUSE IN RUINS. 
 
 Few of those who felt the shock of a heavy explosion yes- 
 terday morning imagined what its cause was. Around 
 College House, however, all was bustle and excitement. 
 Men but half awake and hastily dressed were standi ng at a 
 respectful distance from three windows which had been 
 blown into atoms by some unseen force^ and were awaiting 
 a repetition of the shock with a mixture of awe and curiosity. 
 However, as no second explosion took place, they became 
 bold enough to inquire more closely into the'cause. 
 
 It appears that the occupant of room :No. 37 had had his 
 chandelier broken off the evening before, and had stopped 
 up the broken pipe with a wooden plug. To his .astonish- 
 ment, when he woke up at a quarter of eight yesterday morn- 
 ing his room was filled with gas. and to ascertain whether 
 it was genuine gas or not he struck a match, thereby hav- 
 ing his doubts very quickly satisfied. The result of the ex- 
 periment was an explosion so heavy as to be felt all over 
 the yard. The windows of the rodm were violently blown 
 out over the sidewalk, the door was partly blown open, the 
 ceiling was sprung, and the walls on the entry displaced 
 about six inches, and about twenty feet^of plastering so 
 damaged as to have to be torn down immediately. All the 
 plastering in the room was shaken loose, and the wood work 
 paper and 6rnaments were badly scorched. Everything was 
 in great disorder in the room when the Crimson reporter en- 
 tered it; masons were engaged in tearing down plaster and 
 cleaning away the rubbish caused by the explosion, curious 
 men stood in groups and surveyed the wreck with great in- 
 terest. 
 
 The gentleman who caused all this excitement was for- • 
 tunately not severely hurt by his carelessness ; but it is safe 
 to say that College House has not been so profoundly stirred 
 — in both senses of the word — for many years. — Daily 
 Crimson. 
 
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