Abstract :
The University of Louvairf, which was one of the first in Europe to give attention to the natural sciences, has just celebrated its 500th anniversary with brilliant ceremonies, and in these ceremonies, the engineers of America have participated through the spokesmanship of Doctor Edward Dean Adams, who was chosen as their representative. For forty years, during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, the doors of the university were closed. It reopened however, in 1835 and its faculty of science was established, attracting by its research work many students and professors from all over the world. Its colleges of engineering and science grew and did excellent work until devastated by the World War, when the great library was totally destroyed by fire; but the buildings are now being restored and enlarged through the collaboration of national resources and the assistance of the United States and other countries. Under the auspices of an American committee with President Butler of Columbia chairman, and the leadership of Mr. Whitney Warren a New York architect, a new library building has been designed and is being erected with money contributed by hundreds of thousands of Americans. Nickels and dimes from more than half a million school children and teachers; gifts of from $1.00 to over a hundred thousand from students of practically every college, university, academy and preparatory school; city departments, foundations and individual have contributed to this important undertaking. Doctor Adams represented 56,000 American engineers to a distinguished assembly of the nations royalty and dignataries of both state and nation. Keen interest was manifested in the development and maintenance of this permanent joint activity for scientific achievement, stimulated by the work in individual fields of research. The tower of the new building will be designed for a four-dial clock and carillon — a perpetual reminder of the good will of the American people. Another- ceremony typifying the support of the four founder societies was the planting of four California redwood trees, — seedling Sequoia Gigantea, — in front of the new engineering building. This ceremony was performed b y Doctor Adams and his grandson, Kempton Adams.
