, are
commemorated by the little weather-beaten monument with the broken
shaft, which has doubtless aroused the idle curiosity of thousands of
students, who have never taken the trouble, however, to decipher the
Latin inscriptions which set forth the life records of these early
professors.

In 1842 Dr. Abram Sager, a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
(1831), who later became the first Dean of the Medical Faculty, came to
the University as Professor of Zooelogy and Botany. He was then about
thirty-two years of age and had for some time been connected with the
State Geological Survey as botanist and zooelogist. His contributions to
the University while in that position formed the foundation of the
present zooelogical collection. One of his students speaks of him as "of
exceedingly sensitive mind and heart and of very high and pure
morality." A Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy, the Rev.
Edward Thomson, Pennsylvania, '29, was appointed in 1843, but served
only one year. He was succeeded by the Rev. Andrew Ten Brook, Madison
University, '39, who took a vigorous part in the University's life until
his resignation in 1851, not to return until 1864 as Librarian--and
historian of the University's early days. Professor Ten Brook was of the
Baptist persuasion, exceedingly well read, particularly in the
literature of his chair. Ordinarily in his classes he was master of the
situation, "so long as he had Dugald Stewart's Metaphysics before him,"
but when discussion became free in his classes and "scholastics were let
loose" one of his thought students they "got a little the better of
him." That he was a shrewd and honest observer with remarkably little
personal prejudice--even in memories of trying times, is shown by his
book on "American State Universities" which offers much that is
fascinating to those interested in the first days of the University.

[Illustration: A GENERAL VIEW OF THE FRONT OF THE CAMPUS
Showing University Hall, including the old North Wing, with the Law
Building in the background]

In the same year Silas H. Douglas, M.D., who studied at the
University of Vermont, was appointed assistant to Dr. Douglass Houghton,
Professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Zooelogy, who never took up the
active duties of his chair. Dr. Douglas speedily became one of the
"strong men" of the Faculty and created the Chemical Laboratory which
lent so much prestige to Michigan in its early years. He was of a