The first requisite of success in any institution is a staff of eminent
teachers, each of whom gives freely the best of which he is capable. The
best varies with the individual; one may be an admirable lecturer or
teacher; another a profound thinker; a third a keen investigator;
another a skilful experimenter; the next, a man of great acquisitions;
one may excel by his industry, another by his enthusiasm, another by his
learning, another by his genius; but every member of a faculty should be
distinguished by some uncommon attainments and by some special
aptitudes, while the faculty as a whole should be united and
cooperative. Each professor, according to his subject and his talents,
should have his own best mode of working, adjusted to and controlled by
the exigencies of the institution with which he is associated.
The original professors, who were present when instructions began in
October, 1876, were these: as the head and guide of the mathematical
studies, Professor Sylvester, of Cambridge, Woolwich and London, one of
the foremost of European mathematicians; as the leader of classical
studies, Professor Gildersleeve, then of the University of Virginia; as
director of the Chemical Laboratory and of instruction in chemistry,
Professor Remsen, then of Williams College; to organize the work in
Biology (a department then scarcely known in American institutions, but
here regarded as of great importance with reference to the future school
of medicine), Professor Martin, then of Cambridge (Eng.
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