Posted on Jul 1, 1995


Question 7:
This nineteenth-century educator was a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Union before becoming the president of
Brown University. Two of his textbooks, Moral Science and Elements of Political Economy, were so important in Japanese higher education
in the latter half of the nineteenth century that Chiao University has a  university holiday in his honor.

Francis Wayland


Answer 7:

The influential nineteenth-century educator who taught at Union before leading Brown was Francis Wayland, a member of the Class of 1813.

Wayland was elected president of Brown in 1826 and served for twenty-eight years. He introduced science and engineering to the curriculum, allowed some elective courses, and substituted modern languages for some of the classical language requirements.

If this sounds similar to the changes made at Union during that era, it should; Wayland taught at Union under Eliphalet Nott, and the two established a relationship that helped prepare Wayland for a college presidency.

After Japan opened its borders in the 1850s, Fukuzawa Yukichi, a teacher and the founder of Chiao University, traveled to the United States. He returned to Japan in 1867 with many American textbooks, including the two books by Wayland. Yukichi considered both books-one a major work on ethics, the other a standard text on economics-important to the development of Japanese society.

Wayland Day was established at the university in 1957. A Japanese professor visiting Brown University in 1994 told the Brown Daily Herald that “Francis Wayland is more famous at Chiao University than at Brown.”

He could have added Union, for there were relatively few correct answers to this puzzler.

Robert J. Espersen '64, of Pensacola, Fla., noted that the personalities of Union and Brown are intertwined. Nott received his master of arts from Rhode Island College (later to become Brown) and Wayland, of course, taught at Union under Nott. When Wayland became pastor of the First Baptist Church in Boston, “Nicholas Brown arranged with Nott to keep Wayland at Union as professor of mathematics and natural philosophy until December 1826 when Wayland was elected president of Brown.”


Correct answers also came from:

Renato Pomatte '39, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Frederick Frank '57, Meadville, Penn.
Joseph Keane '65, Sparkill, N.Y.
Michael Jackson '91, Trophy Club, Texas


Question 8:
This nineteenth-century alumnus achieved a certain fame – or notoriety – when he wrote a book that contained extensive descriptions of his drug-prompted hallucinations. He also wrote the words to a song
every alumnus knows.  Who was he, and what were those two literary
contributions?

Send your answer to Puzzle, Public Relations Office, Union College, Schenectady, N.Y. 12308.