Page:Famous Living Americans, with Portraits.djvu/198

 CHARLES W. ELIOT 179 and returned, splendidly equipped for his work, to be pro- fessor of chemistry in the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology. While still holding this position he spent a year in France (1867-1868), thus increasing his European experience. Among the products of his career as a teacher of chemistry were two text-books which he wrote in connection with Pro- fessor Storer, a Manual of Qualitative Chemical Analysis^ and a Manual of Inorganic Chemistry. Though his life work was not to be chemistry yet his prolonged preparation and his thorough work in this subject were not wasted. A profound and thorough discipline in any one field is a better equipment for work, even in another field, than a smattering knowledge of many things and a miscellaneous collection of interesting information. In Professor Eliot's later administrative work the thoroughness and the scientific methods with which he had worked in chemistry were most effective, even though he dealt with educational instead of with chemical problems. It was to his advantage, however, that he combined with this special- ized training a remarkable command of nearly all the subjects of the college curriculum, and an extensive experience both in Europe and in America. President Eliot was at the head of Harvard University for exactly forty years. His administration will always remain notable in the annals of the university not only for its length, but also for its many wonderful achievements. At its begin- ning Harvard had been outstripped in many respects by Yale, her closest rival. At its close Harvard stood unquestionably at the bead of all American institutions of learning. Her fac- ulty, her endowment and material equipment, her student at- tendance, and her influence increased by leaps and bounds. Credit for her remarkable growth must be given not only to the man who presided over her destinies, but also to the men of note associated with him. Many of these are known the country over : James Russell Lowell, Henry Wadsworth Long- fellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William James, Charles Eliot Norton, Charles Francis Adams, and others of as high repute. Many, also, are the distinguished men whose diplomas bear President Eliot's signature. Probably no other American