It would be out of place, as it would be unnecessary, to dwell in this connection on the various stages in the development of the Institute of Technology. The facts are very generally known in this community, and the story has been already well told. The conception was by no means a sudden inspiration, but was slowly matured out of a far more general and less specific plan, originating in a committee of large-minded citizens of Boston, who, in 1859, and again in 1860, petitioned the Legislature of Massachusetts to set apart a small portion of the land reclaimed from the Back Bay "for the use of such scientific, industrial, and fine art institutions as may associate together for the public good." The large scheme failed; but from the failure arose two institutions which are the honor and pride of Boston--the Museum of Fine Arts and the Institute of Technology. In the further development of the Museum of Fine Arts, Professor Rogers had only a secondary influence; but one of his memorials to the Legislature contains a most eloquent statement, often quoted, of the value of the fine arts in education, which attests at once the breadth of his culture and the largeness of his sympathies. Although the committee of gentlemen above referred to had failed to carry out their general plan, yet the discussions to which it gave rise had developed such an interest in the establishment of an institution to be devoted to industrial science and education that they determined upon taking the preliminary steps toward the organization of such an institution. A sub-committee was charged with preparing a plan; and the result was a document, written by Professor Rogers, entitled "Objects and Plan of an Institute of Technology." That document gave birth to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for it enlisted sufficient interest to authorize the committee to go forward. A charter with a conditional grant of land was obtained from the Legislature in 1861, and the institution was definitely organized, and Professor Rogers appointed President, April 8, 1862. Still, the final plans were not matured, and it was not until May 30, 1864, that the government of the new institution adopted the report prepared by its president, entitled "Scope and Plan of the School of Industrial Science of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology," which Dr. Runkle has called the "intellectual charter" of the institution, and which he states "has been followed in all essential points to this very day." In striking confirmation of what we have written above, Dr. Runkle further says: