and Lecturer in Natural History, 1874-88, the Darwinian theory presented no problems. One former student remembered: “His belief in Evolution as the method of God not only did not interfere with his Christian faith, but confirmed it, and seemed a part of it. To him as scientist, God was in all things; to him as Christian, all things were in God.”
He seems to have been a Baptist version of St. Francis of Assisi in his “warm brotherly feeling for even the humblest of living things”
and in speaking always of plants as if they were fellow creatures. He was the old-fashioned preacher-scientist without formal training, or pretensions to having it, who “reached his conclusions by insight”
which others arrived at “only after long and painful toil.”
It was not the laboratory but the out-of-doors which aroused his enthusiasm. Here he introduced his students to the secrets of the rocks and of plant and animal life. Perhaps their most treasured experiences were his field trips, especially those to Trenton Falls, north of Utica, which lasted three or four days. His classrooms in West Hall attracted attention for his unusually artistic and clear blackboard drawings and the display of specimens and equipment, much of which he bought out of his own funds. He taught his classes by lectures which were sometimes illustrated by lantern slides and published notes in zoology and geology printed by the local press. For the more advanced students there were delightful evenings at his home for the reading and discussion of papers. Guests were often present and at the end of the evening Mrs. Brooks provided bountiful refreshments. As one alumnus recalled: “The man himself was an inspiration to a better life. Students who came into contact with him didn’t learn very much about formal science but they did get new conception of the Glory of God.”
Aaron H. Cole, ’84, who took over Dr. Brooks’ work after his death, regarded laboratory work as an absolute necessity for biological and geological study. He fitted up a room in West Hall for this purpose and at his suggestion the Class of 1889 raised $500 as a class memorial for the purchase of microscopes and other apparatus.
During the Dodge period Professor Taylor established himself as an outstanding teacher of mathematics. Vigorous and exacting, he nonetheless won the affection of his students to whom he was “Prof Jim.”
Despite his extensive labors as Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds he found time to make important contributions in the field of mathematics textbooks. His first, Calculus, 1884, was rated the most