of
great expectations and of small resources not always judiciously used.
The sums expended upon the branches were not spent in vain, for they
provided the scholastic foundation of the University in its first years.
Nor is the erection of University buildings to be criticized, except as
to their impractical character. This defect the experience of a few
years was to show, for one of the first acts of Dr. Tappan, when he
became President in 1852, was to end the use of the two University
buildings as dormitories; while the professors' houses, with the
exception of the one reserved as the President's residence, were
eventually used for general University purposes and at one time were
even let as boarding houses.

In September, 1841, the University first opened its doors with a Faculty
of two. The first Professor appointed to assume active duties was the
Rev. George Palmer Williams, formerly the head of the Pontiac branch,
who was elected in July, 1841, as Professor of Languages. In August, the
Rev. Joseph Whiting was elected Professor of Languages, and Professor
Williams was transferred to the Professorship of Mathematics, and,
later, of Natural Philosophy. Strictly speaking these two were not the
first professors in the University, as Asa Gray had received his
appointment as Professor of Botany in July, 1838, and Dr. Douglass
Houghton had been elected Professor of Chemistry, Zooelogy, and
Mineralogy in October, 1839. Though both of these distinguished men
rendered services to the University, one in the selection of the
library, and the other in contributions to the scientific collections,
neither ever met any classes.

[Illustration: TWO OF THE UNIVERSITY'S OLDEST BUILDINGS

THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE
The only one of the original four professors' houses

THE OLD MEDICAL BUILDING
Torn down in 1914]

The grand total of the students who ventured to try the educational
facilities offered when the University at last got down to business was
exactly six: Judson D. Collins, Lyndon Township; Merchant H. Goodrich,
Ann Arbor; Lyman D. Norris, Ypsilanti; George E. Parmalee, Ann Arbor;
George W. Pray, Superior; and William B. Wesson, Detroit. By the time
this class was graduated in 1845, the number had increased to twelve.
The mental fare set before this little company consisted of the
traditional classical curriculum, which differed not at all from the
ordinary college course of those days in spite of the progressive spirit
of th