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 these two literary contributions?
Answer 8:
The alumnus was Fitz Hugh Ludlow of the Class of 1856, and the literary contributions we were looking for were The Hasheesh Eater and “Ode to Old Union.”
Ludlow came to Union in April, 1955, a transfer from Princeton. He had begun taking hashish in his hometown of Poughkeepsie, even before going to Princeton. At Union, the habit was a source of thrilling visions and sensations that gave scope to his literary gift. We know, for example, that on one walk across campus he saw the College field turn into an Asian field thronged with a Tartar horde. One critic called him a “drugged Dante in reverse, descending from the Paradiso to the Inferno.”
He wrote his famous poem, “Ode to Old Union,” when he was an undergraduate. Set to the tune “Sparkling and Bright,” it has been sung at every Commencement since 1856.
The book on which much of his fame rests was published by Harpers in 1857, when he was just past twenty-one. It was to be his one real success. A slender and sensitive man plagued by ill health, he married in 1862 and was divorced a year later. He contacted tuberculosis; continued writing, mostly short stories in Harper's and the Atlantic Monthly as well as some topical and travel articles; remarried; and, in 1870, died at the age of thirty-four.
Correct answers also came from:
- Frederick Frank '57, Meadville, Pa.
- Bill Allen '59, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
- Dr. Gustave Davis '59, Bridgeport, Conn.
- Joe Zolner '76, Brookline, Mass.
- Gary Dryfoos '77, Cambridge, Mass.
- Andrew Nevas '83, Stamford, Conn.
Question 9:
Who were the two nineteenth-century brothers and alumni who were grandsons of a prominent founder of the College? A hint: Both became medical doctors and were professors and authors in their field. (Submitted by Richard A.B. Mitchell `50, of Monticello, N.Y.)
Send your answer to Puzzle, Public Relations Office, Union College, Schenectady, N.Y. 12308.