"In physical stature he was a king of men; above six feet in height, he had a broad, gigantic frame and a lofty brow that resembled the brow of Daniel Webster. The congregation of the principal Methodist Church in Middletown always knew when Dr. Olin was going to preach; for the astral lamps were moved off the pulpit to prevent their being smashed by the sweep of his long arms. He was a vehement speaker, and threw his whole man, from head to foot, into the tide of his impassioned oratory. In the blending of logical power with heat of spiritual feeling and vigor of declamation, he was unsurpassed by any American preacher of his time. His printed discourses read well, but they lack the electricity of the moment and the man. Thunder and lightning must be heard and seen: they cannot be transferred to paper. As I recall Olin now (after the lapse of five and forty years); as I see him again in the full flow of his majestic eloquence, or when surrounded by his students in the class-room, I do not wonder that the Middletown boys were ready to pit him against any president or any preacher on the American soil. There are old graduates of the University yet living who delight to think of him and to speak of him, and to assert that "'Whoso had beheld him then. Had felt an awe and admiration without dread; And might have said, That sure he seemed to be the king of men. Less than the greatest that he could not be Who carried in his port such might and majesty.' "In August, 1851, I paid a visit to Professor Smith, whose wife was my kinswoman, and on my arrival I learned that the President of the University was dangerously ill. The next morning my host startled me with the announcement, 'Dr. Olin is dead!' He had fallen at the age of fifty-four, when he was just in his splendid prime. There was great mourning for him throughout the whole Methodist realm, for he was a prince in their Israel, who held an imperial rank above any of his contemporaries. He took a large life with him when he went home to heaven; and valuable as were his writings, yet his imposing personality was greater than any of his published productions." Rev. Martin P. Parks, Professor of Mathematics, acted as President of the College from its opening session, in October, 1832, until Dr. Olin took the place, March, 1834. He was a minister in North Carolina when elected professor. He had been educated at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where mathematics was taught more thoroughly than at other schools of that day. He was a brilliant preacher, and on that account he was put forward frequently, like his contemporaries, Hammett and Maffitt, to advance the enterprises of the church. Of his administration of the College not much can be said. His military education had much to do with making the laws exacting and minute. Rev. Solomon Lea (quoted above) said of Professor Parks: