The Mirage, 1906

University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository UNM Yearbooks - The irM age Campus Publications 1906 The irM age, 1906 University of New Mexico Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/unm_yearbooks Recommended Citation University of New Mexico. "The irM age, 1906." (1906). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/unm_yearbooks/1 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Campus Publications at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in UNM Yearbooks - The irM age by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 4-\.t- pDlf'- ~~ .. , ~~uv;~- lu." 'f/1. 'II' ...~ 1<1t Jr>r 1<10 or • «Jo~) 2 ~ <ai~Do/L ~ ~~ aJu 1If. Cl. Wtglft l:tulltr. ttlll~tr attb !ritnb, lJI htbirattb iD'IJU Jirulk "-n tX¥rt.. lml of t~t rlllligr aplrtt ~t ~u taugiJt u. to luuma. Jl'nrrworb This hook is notMng more nor less tfwt what if is. PnF.~IDBXT W. G. 'l'JGTTT JrrBibrnt William ~. Wig~t. William George Tight was born in Granville, Ohio, March 12th, 1865. He gxaduated from Dennison Univemty, with the degxee of B. S., in 1886 and obtained his M. S. in the following year. For four~ teen years he was professor of Geology in his Alma Mater, and at intervals through this period he studied at Harvard and Chicago Univemties. It was during this time also that he worked up the thesis which secured for him the Doctor's degree from the University of Chicago in 190 I . This thesis, "Drainage Modifications in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky," was published by the United States Govern ment and is known as Professional Paper, No. 13. The results of his fidd work in the Lake Superior Region were published, with the late C. L. Herrick's material, in the Dennison University Bulletins. In the same publication also may be found numerous papers on subjects of biology from Dr. Tight's pen. He is a member and a past president of the Ohio State Academy of Science, and was for ten years the perman· ent secretary of the Dennison Scientific Association. Since his coming to New Mexico in 190 I, he has played a part in the interests of science no less conspicuous than that of his Ohio career. He is a fdlow of the AAA.S., past secretary of the New Mexico Acad emy of Science; member of the United States Geological Survey, fellow and past president of the Cordilleran Section of the Geological Society of America. Among his publications may be mentioned a paper on "New Mexico Balsam Plains," which appeared in the American Geologist. The Academic year, now closing, is the fifth of President Tight's administration of the University of New Mexico. It has been a time of ceaseless activity and attention to details on his part, and a period of growth and expansion for the institution. By his initiative, deparbnents have been dearly dillerentiated, college courses added and the curriculum made complete from the beginning of the preparatory school up to the bachdor's degree. His plans for the University have been accepted by the Board of Regents and in accordance with these plans, the campus is being made into a park of notable landscape features. New build ings are being added to meet the growing numbers and demands of students. But his most enduring work has been that of inspiring in all the members of the University, Regents, Faculty, Alumni and students, a spirit of hope, enthusiasm and faith in the wider future of the greater University of New Mexico. Wqt lltniurrsitg lJbral. President Schunnan of Cornell University often quotes the saying that 11an educated man should know something of everything and every~ thing of something." There are certainly few people who can reach this goal but it is one that is calculated to adjust the necessities of modern life to the ideals of our forefathers. The ancients said, "Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto." -"1 am a man and consider nothing that concerns mankind a matter of indifference to me." This indicates what their ideal of culture and education was. Throughout the middle ages, those studies farniliarily known as the humanities were pursued almost to the exdusion of math maries and science. More recently, and even down to the present day, the advocates of a purdy dassical education have been very numerous. In England the adjustment of ancient tradition to modern necessity in University life, has not yet been completdy brought about. In America, on the other hand, even at Harvard, which may be said to be the most conservative of our great universities in this respect, the beating pulse of the times has been felt and a greater latitude in the selection of studies has been allowed. In the nervous rush of modem civilization which is above all else a materialistic civilization, it is almost an essential, in order to make what is generally conceeded to be a success in life, that each man "know every- EDITOR'S NOTE:-Thit artide ia ftom the pen ol Governor H. J. HaaennaD, Oll·olhcio member ol Board ol Reaeatl olthe Univenity. thing of something;" that everyone specialize in some branch of human endeavor. Science has made such rapid strides during the past generation, that to keep abreast, not to say in advance of it in any one of its branches, one's whole time, must it seems, be devoted to one particular line of work and one exclusive channel of thought. It is much more difficult for a Doctor of Philosophy or Letters, from whatever college he may come, to find a remunerative position today, than it is for a mechani cal, electrical or civil engineer to do so. The courses which lead to these degrees in our good technical schools, leave little time for the pursuit of those studies which are so essential a part of every well-rounded education, the studies that promote culture, exert a refining influence on the mind and teach us the value of truth and beauty in nature, literature and art. The necessity of keeping pace with the times in the matter of technical knowledge, the great desire to get down to work in remunerative positions and the great demand for young men, weU trained along scientific lines, makes it almost impossible for our schools and colleges to include much else than pure science in any of their technical courses. And yet how desirable, how infinitely more wholesome it would be, if when a man leaves his university with aU that is modern and up-t<>-date in a particular scientific branch of know ledge, he could carry with him as well, a love of aU that is worthy in other branches. A broad and liberal education is essential even for specialists and professional men, first because it will directly help them in the practice of their professions, and secondly, because their own lives will be made fuller and far happier. No man, however proficient he may be in any line, can make a real, personal success of his life, if his sympathies are bound down to the narrow limits of his own profession. This has long been recognized, in its application to the pradice of law, in which profession, no doubt. everything possible in the way of human know ledge can sometime or other be turned to use. It is recognized in medicine and surgery, and in these professions specialists are becoming less and less popular. We fear, and often with reason, that a man who has con6ned his studies to one particular branch of disease. is more than likdy to hunt for its symptoms in us. and overlook other and possibly greater ailments. Just as in Law and Medicine, though perhaps not to so great an extent--it is highly essential in the study of other professions to remember that without a broad, solid and substantial foundation, even the most splendid superstructure is unsafe. The building of this founda tion is begun in the primary school and finished in the University. In the latter the structure is just begun. Its completion is a life's work and there are few, if any, who live long enough to see it completed to their own satisfaction. The longer a man lives and the greater the number of emergencies that arise for him to quickly master, the more he realizes how highly necessary it is to dwell upon the fundamental and essential truths, the eternal verities, in the early education of our young men and women. It should be corUtantly borne in mind that the great master pieces of literature and art, like the great truths of Christianity, are weD worth our careful study and thoughtful consideration, because they have held their places in the hearts of mankind through so many centuries; because they have influenced for good the best men of aU nations, for hundreds of years. Whatever our line of work we cannot err greatly if we cultivate a taste and love for the best that has gone before us, remembering in spite of what pessimists may say to the contrary, that it is the good and not the evil that endures; the worthy and not the unworthy that rises above oblivion in this transitory world. Our fathers and grandfathers and those before them have made a choice for us of the best that was accomplished in every line of inteUectual effort of their day, and whatever may be accomplished now, those of us who ignore and disrespect the past are making a serious and very grave mistake.

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