THE SUPPLEMENT TO THE GENERAL CATALOGUE, AND SOME OF ITS FACTS

IN place of the Triennial Catalogue issued regularly from the early history of the College to 1873, the College now publishes a General Catalogue once in ten years; the first issue appeared in 1880; this catalogue was entirely in English, while all the Triennials, except the last one in 1873, were in the Latin language.

The General Catalogue gives the date and place of birth, the degrees, titles, honors, occupations, and residences, of all the living graduates of the College; and in the case,of those who have died, the date and place of death, as far as known, in addition to the other facts of interest. The last issue of the General Catalogue in 1900 contains an interesting brief history of the development of the College, together with several views of the old and new buildings illustrating the growth of the College; between 1880 and 1890 two .supplements, giving corrections, additions and new addresses, were issued, one in 1883 and the other in 1885; between 1890 and 1900, three supplements were published, one in 1892, one in 1894, and the third in 1897. It is now the plan to issue but one supplement, and that midway between the issues of the General Catalogue which falls on the decennial years. It was hoped that the promised supplement would appear last December, but the amount of work involved necessitated a delay and it will not be ready till next month.

In preparing the material for the present issue some interesting and quite unexpected facts have come to light; a few alumni reported as dead are found to be alive, and others recorded in the last issues as living have been dead from ten to twenty years. It is hoped that the recent organization of the class secretaries, and the secretaries of the alumni associations, into an association with an annual meeting in Hanover, will awaken a deeper interest in keeping track of the alumni; it would seem to be a natural supposition to expect that every alumnus would be enough interested in his Alma Mater to keep the authorities informed of changes in addresses. There are class secretaries in all the classes since the early fifties, and in some of the earlier classes; these secretaries have been ready and willing to do all in their power to assist in getting correct addresses, but some complain that classmates will not answer inquiries ; the printing of the lists of members of the associations of alumni, as now done by the associations outside of New England, is a great help in this line ; these lists should receive an annual verification, at least, which can easily be done by return postal card ; such lists furnished to the class secretaries would be helpful in keeping a line on the classes.

Interest always gathers about the oldest living alumnus, as was evidenced at the recent alumni banquet in Boston by the respect paid to Reverend Joseph M. Rock wood, class of 1837, of Bellingham, Mass., who now bears that distinction; the entire assembly of more than two hundred alumni rose and cheered as Mr. Rockwood was escorted from the hall near the close of the festivities. Mr. Arthur Livermore, of the class of 1829, who died last October at the age of nearly ninety-five, carried that distinction for almost six years, while his predecessor in the honor, Mr. Mark M. Fletcher, of the class of 1825, was the oldest living Bachelor of Arts for about nine years, passing away at the age of nearly ninety-six. Mr. Livermore, though residing in the British Isles since 1871, when he was appointed Consul to Londonderry, Ireland, maintained a deep interest in the College to the last; he retired from active life nine years ago and has since lived with his daughter and son-in-law on a beautiful English estate, known as the Broughton House, in the suburbs of Manchester. In August, 1903, I spent a few hours at his home and only delighted but greatly surprised at his description of Hanover and the College, given in such detail; he had not been in Hanover for seventy-one years (since 1832) when he received the degree of A.M. Old Dartmouth Hall was the only College building when he entered, as Thornton and Wentworth Halls were built in 1828, during his Junior year; his description of the houses about the "College Green," as he called it, was most interesting, especially of the church and the Mills Olcott house where Doctor Leeds now lives; he spoke of the coldness of the church in winter when long sermons were preached, as there was no method of heating it except the “fiery orthodoxy of President Tyler," who soon resigned the presidency for the more congenial work of the ministry, "carrying with him the best wishes of the students." He recalled the inauguration of President Nathan Lord, and his hearty welcome by the student body. Mr. Liver more was much grieved at the burning of Old Dartmouth Hall, and in reply to a letter giving him the sad news he wrote, "I saw with my mind's eye the burning of the old Hall and with the same eye its reconstruction on a better foundation and with more generous aims. If, with the few things I learned there, I had inured my idle hands to the gathering of gains; I would now rush with what I could spare to reward the tuition. But such gratification is the precious guerdon of thrift that disowns me." In speaking of the proposed visit of the Earl of Dartmouth he writes, "The Earl of Dartmouth is wise in visiting you, for 'nothing cheers the heart of greatness more than ancestor's fair glory gone before.'"

The forthcoming Supplement will contain the names of over 3200 living graduates of the College, beside about one thousand graduates of the medical and other associated schools, and a list of those living who have received honorary degrees.

The total number of graduates of the College is between 6700 and 6800.

For the first fifty years the average number graduating per year was 26+; for the second fifty years it was 51+ and for the last thirty-five years it was 82+ per year. Some interesting statistics are found in comparing the percentages of graduates entering upon the different professions; for the first twenty-five years 40 per cent entered the ministry, 25 percent entered law, 12 per cent took up teaching as a life work and 7 per cent went into medicine, leaving 16 per cent who do not give their occupations or were engaged in work outside these four professions.

For the first fifty years the following are the statistics: 36 per cent were lawyers, 30 per cent clergymen, 14 percent teachers and 9 per cent physicians, leaving only 10 per cent for all other occupations. For the second fifty years, 32 ,per cent were lawyers, 21 per cent clergymen, 21 per cent teachers, and 12 per cent physicians, leaving 14 per cent for other occupations.

For the next thirty years closing with 1900, as the graduates since that date are not fully settled in their life work, 23 per cent are teachers, 22 per cent are lawyers, 11 per cent are physicians, and 8 per cent are clergymen, leaving 36 per cent for the other occupations.

The average age at death for those who entered upon the four leading professions, from the origin of the College to the class of 1836, which is the last class in which no member is living, is, as follows: Clergymen, 67 years; physicians and lawyers, 63 years; and teachers, 60 years. The General Catalogue gives data for many interesting statistics, some of which will appear in the Supplement.

Professor Charles F. Emerson, Dean of the College