ii-heDaSfly Nebra
VOL. XV. NO. 17.
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA, LINCOLN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 191E.
PRICE 5 CENTS.
1L
DR. BESSEY WAS
-PIONEER J BOTANY
A SHORT HISTORY OF HIS WON
DERFUL INFLUENCE IN WEST
GREATEST WORK AS TEACHER
Introduced Compound Microscope In
West Attracted Students From
All Quarters of the Globe
Inspired Teacher
To few public servants Is given a
ereater potentiality of directing the
thought and moulding the careers of
' men and of nations than to the col
lege professor. After .all possible has
been said of the many goodly Imprints
left by this great man we must con
clude that Dr. Bessey's greatest and
most enduring service to mankind was
rendered through the medium of the
classroom or laboratory, tie a "
' ways been known and will ever be
known first as a great and inspiring
teacher. To be sure he was also ad
mitted first rank among able adminis
trators and' furthermore he was a suc
cessful investigator of diverse botani
cal .' problems. His publications in
'Science are many. But most of all he
was great as a teacher and the publi
cations which have reached most pro
foundly upon the public mind within
and beyond the confines of botany
are his textbooks.
Dr. Bessey entered the field at a
time when the facts and theories of
his chosen subject and profession were
in a very chaotic and unsatisfactory
state. Thus the very conditions of
the time offered him a glorious oppor
tunity to collate and prepare important
scientific materials and to crystallize
pedagogical methods for the benefit of
those who chose to sit in nis Classes.
To Dr. Bessey more than to any other
botanist must be given the credit for
wisely laying the foundations from
which has risen the carefully planned
and polished botanical curricula which
are now so prominent in many- Ameri
can colleges and other institutions. He
performed this work especially in the
line of developing the botanical text
book and laboratory much as Sachs
had done In Germany. He was the
man who introduced the botanical
laboratory with its compound micro
scopes and other important apparatus
into our western schools. lie used to
tell with much pleasure of reminis
cence how he "carried the first com
pound microscopes to the University
of Minnesota," and how so many of
the now) common methods of instruc
tion were "modeled" after the Bessey
prototype.
As a teacher and research guide his
Infectious enthusiasm was sure to at
tract students from all quarters of the
globe. During the first few years of
his half-century professorship the stu
dents were naturally few. Colleges
were small then ard botany was
scarcely yet recognized as an Import
ant scientific subject apart from the
general science of the college course.
Those were the days when the classics,
mathematics and history held undis
puted control of college curricula! The
botanist was merely the "lover of
flowers" or "flower fanatic," a man
who dealt especially with horticnl-
(Continued on Last Column)
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C. E. BESSEY
BESSEY MEMORIAL
SERVICES TODAY
LABORATORIES CLOSED TO EN
ABLE STUDENTS TO ATTEND
DEAN A, F. WOODS TO SPEAK
Prof. Q. E. Barber and Regent E. P.
Brown Will Give Addresses
Musical Numbers Included
In Memorial Hall
CONVOCATION EXERCISES IN MEMORY OF CHARLES EDWIN BESSEY
Memorial Hall, Thursday, October 7, 11 0 'Clock
STRINGS AND ORGAN "Prelude" Reinecke
RESPONSIVE READING
Chancellor Samuel Avery '
The Lord is my Shepherd: I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.
ir i .j.ii. nti,D nf TMfrMprmsnesa fnr His names sake.
Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:
For Thou are with me: Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest the table before me in the midst of mine enemies.
Thou annointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
ADDRESSES
Professor Grove Ettinger Barber
Regent Edward Urovost Brown
Dean Albert F. Woods, University of Minnesota
A memorial service In honor of Dr.
Edwin Bessey will be held at Convo
cation this morning. Classes will be
excused and all laboratories closed in
order to allow the students to attend.
Addresses and music are planned.
Dr. Bessey spent his last and best
service to Nebraska and Nebraska stu
dents when he could have held much
more remunerative positions and it is
in appreciative memorium of his love
and devotion that this Convocation is
held.
Prof. G. E. Barber, Dean Albert
Woods of Minnesota, and Regent
Brown will give short addresses. Two
musical numbers will be given by the
stringed orchestra.
The second orchestra number, "An
dante Cantoblle," from the Fifth Sym
phony, Tschaikowsky, is in special
memory of Dr. Bessey. He was pre
siding at vespers when it was played
for the first time at the University
and was very enthusiastic in his ap
preciation of the beautiful andante.
STRINGS AND ORGAN "Andante
Cantabile" Tschaikowsky
THE LIFE OF DR. BESSEY
Chronology .
n. aiw 91 lfUr on a farm near Milton, Wayne County, Ohio.
SraSuated" from the Michigan Agrieulhual College in 1869 with the degree of Bachelor
f deceived his Master' of Science degree from the same college in 1872. Studied raider
Dr. Asa Gray at Harvard in 1872, 1873 and 1875. :
Received his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Iowa University m 1879. -Was
professor of Botany at the Iowa State CoUege from 1870 to 1884.
SellSSt 1884I(Td !T1 College of ApM.
Came t0 iNeP"SRa . University of NebNraska from 1884 until his death.
Wat lltTvTlt VNebraA. in 1888-91, in 1899 and in 1909.
Was dean of deans from 1909 until bis death.
Died at Lincoln, Nebraska, February 2o, 1915.
Scientific Honors
President of the Society for the Promotion of AprMture, 1889-91.
President of the Botanical Society of America, 1895-b.
IrlTdZ of the department of Natural Science of the National Educational Associa-
St of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 191012.
President of the Nebraska Academy ui
tural features and who knew the tech
nical names of plants. But as the
years passed on Dr. Bessey's students
were numbered by the dozen, then by
the score and finall by the hundrel
during the later years when our grac
ious leader enjoyed most highly the
fruition of his long years of strenu
ous service. This enjoyment was espe
cially pleasant to him because; he
saw many of the theories and conten
tions of his earlier days accepted by
the great body of botanists, and most
of all was the pleasure deepened as
he saw one after another of his stu
dents taking place in the front rank
of that body. One of Dr. Bessey's
major delights was to look over the
lists of former students of his depart
ment and to picture them, oftentimes
in distant lands, preaching and teach
ing as he h&A taught and contributing
of their thought to the world accumu
lation of knowledge. He was never
too busy to drop everything for a cor
dial greeting and boyish chat with his
"boys," when they dropped in upon
him as they chanced to be In Lincoln
for a few hours.
Hundreds of instructors in American
schools and scores of investigators in
various offices of many institutions of
learning and research owe their very
life-ambition to the initial boost ad
ministered by Dr. Bessey at the criti
cal moment. This is true not only for
botanicaliy Inclined young people but
also for hundreds of others whose pri
mary inclination has drawn them into
other fields of accomplishment.
This was the work that he enjoyed
most,the work which kept him young
and in this he fulfilled a divine com
mission to a degree to be coveted by
at least every college professor.
RAYMOND J. POOL.
H.. ' ' ' ' ' "" .
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