core of the college curriculum. Such emphasis, then common in America, was considered essential for preparing young men for preaching. Throughout the course they read the classics: freshmen, Xenophon’s Anabasis or Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, always Livy, and after 1840, Virgil’s Aeneid; sophomores, the Greek orators and Tacitus; juniors, the Greek orators, poets, and tragedians and usually Horace’s Odes; and the seniors, the Greek philosophers but no Latin after 1838. Their texts included the well-known editions of Horace by Charles Anthon and Livy by Charles Folsom.
Hebrew occupied a prominent place in the curriculum because of its special value for prospective preachers. Four to six terms were spent on it in the college course in addition to the advanced work in the theological department. The students used Moses Stuart’s Grammar and Chrestomathy until Professor Conant’s Chrestomathy and his edition of Genenius’s Grammar supplanted them in 1838,
During the college course there were extensive exercises in English composition and public speaking. From 1835 to 1840 every Saturday morning was given over to rhetorical exercises. Archbishop Richard Whately’s Rhetoric was the text. Professor Raymond, who took over most of this work in 1840, introduced a one-term history of literature course for seniors.
Interest in modern languages appeared in 1835 when the faculty permitted students at their own request to employ a French teacher. Three years later the Catalogue stated that “Instruction in the German and French languages is given without expense to such as wish to pursue these studies.” This statement was carried up to 1851, but not until several years later did modern languages become an integral part of the curriculum. Professor Conant seems to have taught the first German class; the first French instructor is unknown.
After experimenting one term, in 1835-36, with a course based on Joseph Story’s American Constitution, the faculty replaced it with Jewish history “in order to meet the Expectations of the Baptist Community.” Why Baptists could have objected to Story’s work is not clear unless it be that they felt the students’ time could be better spent on subjects more directly related to the ministry. However, a one-term course in political economy had been taught from 1833 to 1835; in 1838 it was restored, this time with President Francis Wayland’s Elements of Political Economy as the text.
