Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1888 [PAGE 161]

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164

EEPORT

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS. BY W I L L I A M M C M U R T R I E , E. M. P H . D., CHEMISTRY. PROFESSOR OF

S. H. PEABODY, P H . D. LL. D., Regent University of Illinois. DEAR SIR—The operation of the department under my charge, during the year just closed has been in every way satisfactory and gratifying. The students pursuing the course of chemistry, both regular and special, have numbered about the same as in previous years, and they have shown commendable interest and industry, both in the laboratories and in the class rooms. The several courses have been carried along according to the plans adopted for the previous year and have proven the wisdom of the provisions made for them. In the class in agricultural chemistry the text books used, Johnson's "How Crops Grow" and "How Crops Feed," excellent in their way and classical in many respects, have been discarded because they were published in advance of many of the developments in the science in the past decade, and because much of the material therein offered is furnished in the course of vegetable physiology in the department of natural history; and a course of lectures, intended to cover the standard principles as well as the later discoveries and advances, has been established. The general plan of work heretofore used has, however, been adhered to. The interest manifested by the class in the subject has been particularly gratifying. I desire to renew my recommendation of last year with regard to the salaries of the assistants in the departments, and to testify to the efficiency of the present incumbents. The difficulties heretofore described still obtain, and the offers of increased compensation from other sources make it hard to. secure and retain the services of young men of the standing and preparation the work necessarily requires. I would, therefore, respectfully urge upon yourself and the honorable Board of Trustees of the University the importance of careful consideration of this matter, and of making provision whereby the difficulties in question may be met and overcome. I would recommend the usual appropriation of six hundred and fifty dollars ($650.00) to be expended in importation of supplies of apparatus and chemicals for the coming year.

EEPORT

BY STEPHEN A. FORBES, P H . D., PROFESSOR MOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY.

OF E N T O -

S. H. PEABODY, Regent. SIR—According to your request for a concise report of the work of my department, showing the changes made, the scope and extent of the subjects, the items made prominent, and the endsDR.