Editorialana. 333
ROBERT WHITE McFARLAND.
The Faculty of the Ohio State
University, as a mark of respect,
and wishing to preserve in some
permanent form a simple record of the
life of its late member and associate,
Robert White McFarland, who
died at his home, Oxford, Ohio, October
23, 1910, prepared the follow-
ing memorial:
Professor McFarland was born in
Champaign county, Ohio, June
16, 1825, and was a descendant of Simon
Kenton. He graduated from
Ohio Wesleyan University in 1847, and
for four years thereafter taught
in schools and academies. Mathematics
was his favorite study, but he
also excelled in languages and he not
only taught Latin and Greek,
but in his young manhood, prepared and
published text books in these
languages.
In all his later years as teacher he was
interested in pure mathe-
matics, astronomy and civil engineering.
From 1851 to 1856 he taught
in Madison College at Antrim, Ohio. He
was then elected to the chair
of mathematics in Miami University at
Oxford, which he held until the
University was closed in 1873. Just at
that time the State University,
then called the "Ohio Agricultural
and Mechanical College," was estab-
lished, Professor McFarland was called
to the chair of mathematics
and engineering, and remained there
continuously until 1885, returning
to Miami University as its president
when it was reopened in that year.
Three years later he retired from
educational work, and there-
after devoted his time to engineering.
While at the State University
he held, from 1881 to 1885, the position
of engineer inspector of rail-
roads under the late Commissioner of
Railroads, Hylas Sabine, exam-
ining bridges and other structures as to
their safety.
When the Civil War broke out he
organized a company among
the students of Miami University, of
which he became the captain, this
company was attached to the Eighty-sixth
O. V. I., in which regiment
he rose to the rank of lieutenant
colonel. It was because of this military
service and experience that he was made
the first instructor in military
science and tactics in the State
University.
Professor McFarland was a born teacher,
and had an unwearying
love for the work of instruction.
Trained in the military habit, his
plans of work were clear and detailed,
his decisions quick and firm,
his manner and speech gentle but
authoritative.
As a teacher he was respected and
revered by all students who
were there to do good work. He had an
unusual faculty of making the
subject he was teaching interesting, and
that necessary quality in a good
teacher-the ability to get and hold the
attention of his students.
In his work he insisted on brevity and
accuracy, and many a stu-
dent has demonstrated a proposition by a
long method and train of