Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/269

 THE EARLIER BUILDINGS 235 Mr. Kent in his modesty prefers in this simple way, rather than by a personal address, to conclude a transaction the magnitude and significance of which it is difficult for us to appreciate. With a stroke of the pen he has devoted to the cause of science, to the cause of one among many sciences, the sum of nearly a quarter of a million dollars. The most significant thing in connection with this magnificent gift is the time at which it was made. Two millions of dollars had been donated for endowment and land. For only one building, and that a dormitory, had at that time provision been made. The University in very truth was still on paper. Not a few good people, east and west, had given utterance to the opinion that perhaps, after all, the University of Chicago must begin as other institutions had begun, and secure only after many years the facilities for work of a university character. For five months there had been sowing of seed. Some of us had expected results at a date much earlier. The situation was fast becoming a painful one, and the question not infrequently arose : Will Chicago accept this University in the spirit in which it has been established, and rally to its support ? Will the citizens of Chicago show their appreciation of the generous act performed for their city by a man living far away ? One must believe that if the answer to these questions had been much longer delayed, it would have been a negative answer. It was just at this time of painful suspense that Mr. Kent came forward with his munificent proposal, and in a moment the question was answered. The University was to be the University of Chicago. Within a month another million dollars was given by Mr. Rockefeller for endowment, and within ninety days the citizens of Chicago had contributed more than a million dollars for additional build- ings. In other words, within four months the resources of the University had been doubled. The connection between all this and the gift of Mr. Kent is so close as not to require explanation. Hardly less significant were the growth and development of Mr. Kent's idea. At first one hundred thousand dollars had been considered a sum sufficient for the purpose. Before a definite conclusion had been reached, the sum was fixed at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. When the contracts were made for the erection of the building, the sum designated was one hundred and eighty-two thousand dollars. When the bills came to be paid, including furnishings, the sum was two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars, and to this Mr. Kent most generously added an additional twenty thousand dollars for equipment, making in all two hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars. Every- thing was planned, and it was necessary to plan it upon a large scale. Mr. Kent would not in any case consent to the use of material that was not of the best. A system of ventilation, the most perfect ever introduced into a build- ing, was provided, and so from month to month the work went on until today we have a finished and, let us hope, a perfect laboratory. In all this the standard was fixed for the other laboratories of the University. Had the Chemical Laboratory cost one hundred thousand dollars, the Physical Labora- tory likewise would have cost one hundred thousand dollars. The Chemical