rable was attained after 1901, through the
regular elections, when practically the whole curriculum was thrown open
to general election, subject of course to a certain sequence of courses.

The professional departments have had a marked influence upon the
University's standing as a center of learning. This is particularly true
of the Medical School, which naturally emphasized the value of scholarly
training and investigation from the first. It is probably not an
exaggeration to say that it was the impetus given by the Medical Faculty
which was responsible for the high reputation the University enjoyed
from the first, particularly in the sciences. To this fortunate
development the two recruits from the Literary Faculty, Dr. Sager, who
had been Professor of Botany and Zooelogy, and Dr. Douglas, who served as
Professor of Chemistry in both departments, contributed especially,
though the influence of the other members of the Medical Faculty, more
interested perhaps in the strictly professional aspects of their
work, cannot be overlooked. These men were alive to the value of
original investigation, their field offered too many opportunities to be
neglected by scholars of their caliber, and it was therefore in the
Medical School that the first research laboratories were developed. As
the numbers in the Medical Department and its prestige increased, this
influence grew, so that it may be said that for many years the strongest
impulse toward research and the highest scholarship, particularly in the
new fields of science, came from the men of the Medical Faculty. Nor has
this influence ever weakened, though the eventual establishment of
advanced courses and the recognition of research in all departments has
tended to make it less conspicuous than in the early days.

[Illustration: THE INTERIOR OF HILL AUDITORIUM]

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE MAIN READING ROOM IN THE NEW LIBRARY]

With the Law Department it was somewhat different. The old-fashioned
conception of the law as a formal body of doctrine, fixed and
unchangeable, tended in itself to limit original effort, though Judge
Cooley's great work, with its high scholarship and profound learning,
added greatly to the reputation of the University. Of recent years,
however, there has been a change in the attitude towards the teaching of
law. It has come to be recognized that our law is a changing and
developing force, and that the adaptation of fundamental legal
principles to