Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/288

252. The university was one of the first to be endowed and supported by a state, and Jefferson planned that it should be the head of the public school system. Much of this sounds very modern, or rather perhaps in accord with the views of certain modern educators.

Virginia long maintained its position as the university of the south, being its home of scholarship and school of training for public life. Perhaps no other institution in the country prepared so many men for high official positions; and when the civil war came, it supplied about 1,500 officers to the confederate army. In spite of the ravages of the war, it by no means lost its prestige. Thus there are at present seven alumni who are United States senators and at least ten who are presidents of colleges and universities. The illustrations here given show that even after the disastrous fire of ten years ago, the university possesses suitable and beautiful buildings, and that the sciences are well cared for. It will suffice to name Professor Ormond Stone, director of the observatory, and Professor J. W. Mallet, F.R.S., who holds the chair of chemistry, to indicate the position held by the university in the sciences.

Dr. Alderman, who has been superintendent of schools, professor of pedagogy and for four years president of North Carolina and of Tulane, has the educational experience which will become more and more essential for a