the presidency of
Cincinnati College.

This institution was chartered in the winter of 1818-1819 by the
legislature of Ohio, largely at the solicitation of Dr. Daniel Drake. It
was partially endowed by the gifts of the public-spirited citizens of
Cincinnati. But its collegiate functions had been allowed to drop,
although a school on the Lancastrian system was maintained.

The election of Dr. McGuffey as president of this college was a result
of renewed activity on the part of the leading men in the city to found
a genuine college of high character in that city. They believed that if
well conducted such an institution would bring to its doors students
enough to support the college by their fees.

A medical department was organized in June, 1835, with eight competent
professors, a law department with three professors, and a faculty of
arts with seven teachers. In this faculty, William H. McGuffey was
president and professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy, O.M.
Mitchell was professor of Mathematics and Astronomy, and Edward D.
Mansfield was professor of Constitutional Law and History. Dr. McGuffey
accepted the presidency with a full knowledge that the work was
experimental. A trial of three years demonstrated that a college could
not be sustained without an invested endowment. Cincinnati College "was
endowed with genius, and nothing else."

[Ohio University]

In 1839, Dr. McGuffey accepted the presidency of the Ohio University at
Athens, Ohio, which office he held for four years. During these years
his faculties were at their fullest development. He had become an
experienced, scholarly teacher and a popular speaker on religious and
educational subjects. The students at Athens held him in the highest
esteem, and the influence of his teaching became deeper as years rolled
by and experience emphasized his lessons.

In 1839 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws conferred upon
him by the Indiana University, of which his former teacher and friend,
Dr. Wylie, was then president.

The income of the Ohio University came chiefly from the rents of two
entire townships of land which had been given it for an endowment. This
land was lawfully revalued at the end of ten years. The revaluation was
contested in the courts by the tenants. The Supreme Court decided in
favor of the university; but the farmers induced the legislature in 1843
to pass a law which fixed the income of the university from these lands
at a