GIFTS TO COLUMBIA.

Columbia College received three rich gifts Saturday, and the trustees at once agreed to the terms of the donors.

President Seth Low made a formal offer to assume personally the cost of erecting the new library at One Hundred and Sixteenth street, on Morningside Heights, the site of the new Columbia College building. The building is to cost $1,000,000, and is to be a memorial to President Low's father, the late Abiel Abbot Low, "a merchant who taught his son to value the things for which Columbia stands."

William C. Schermerhorn, chairman of the Board of Trustees, also announced that he would be responsible for the erection of a college building at a cost of $300,000.

F. Augustus Schermerhorn formally presented to the board the Townsend Library of National, State and Individual War Records, and gave $4,000 to defray the expense of indexing it.

President Low's announcement of his liberal gift was made after some routine business had been transacted, and it produced a profound impression. The trustees at once adopted a resolution of thanks, and a committee was appointed to recommend some formal recognition of Dr. Low's generosity.

In making his offer, President Low stated that it was his desire that his gift should be made the means of extending college privileges to some of the boys and girls of his native city, Brooklyn, under conditions calculated, he believes, to be of service to the schools of Brooklyn, both public and private, in maintaining a high standard of efficiency. To his wishes the trustees gladly assented.

Accordingly, twelve Brooklyn scholarships for boys were established in Columbia College and twelve Brooklyn scholarships for girls in Barnard College. The Brooklyn scholarships are to be awarded by competition to Brooklyn boys and girls prepared for college in any school in Brooklyn, either public or private. They are to be offered three a year, beginning with the autumn of 1896, and each scholarship is to be held for the full college course of four years. The winner of a scholarship is to have the privilege of assigning the income of a scholarship to any other competitor, while retaining for himself the honor of being known as Brooklyn scholar.

The president also desired to show his interest in the advanced university work which is developing so rapidly at Columbia, and accordingly eight university scholarships, to be known as the President's university scholarships, are to be established. Two will be awarded in the autumn of 1896. and thereafter two will be added annually until there are eight in all. These scholarships are to be annual.

President Low also desired to associate the name of his class with a university fellowship. The Class of '70 Fellowship, therefore, was established to come into existence on July 1, 1895.

The new library building for Columbia, for which President Low has made himself responsible, will be erected in the centre of a terrace occupying the highest point of land of the new site for the college buildings. About it are to be grouped in a rectangular court the minor buildings, pierced by the southern, eastern and western approaches, all on the axial lines of the building, which is to face south. Access to the southern or principal facade will be gained from One Hundred and Sixteenth street by a flight of steps 325 feet wide, surmounted by granite posts and an iron grille leading to a subordinate terrace, and thence by a flight of twenty steps 140 feet wide to the main terrace, from which the library building will rise. The eastern and western approaches will also be reached by successive terraces, but narrower and entirely subordinate to those on the south.

The library building itself will be in the classic style, designed in the form of a Greek cross and surmounted by a dome. At the southern end of the cross and facing the main entrance to the university a flight of twenty-six steps 86 feet wide will rise to a portico of ten Ionic columns, 35 feet high, which will form the main entrance to the structure. This portico will be surmounted by a panel extending its entire length and filled with inscriptions. The stylobate of the main portico which will be 12 feet above the terrace, will be at the level of the top of the massive granite base of the building, whence, thus firmly planted, the superstructure will rise, and at the height of 70 feet a cornice with a severe but richly ornamented cheneau will terminate the height to which the arms of the cross will rise. Above this, at the intersection of these arms, will rise the supports of the domes, to a second cornice, 100 feet above the ground, again crowned by a cheneau less severe than the former and of a more flowing character.

At this level a platform with a railing will surround the drum of the dome, which will be of classic proportions, and whose summit will be 136 feet above the upper terrace and 152 feet above One Hundred and Sixteenth street, at the main entrance to the grounds.

The motive of the southern portico will be echoed on the eastern, western and northern ends of the cross by means of deep pilasters, and the internal angles will be adorned with richly-molded classic windows with consoles. Bronze doors in the centre of the portico will give access through a lofty marble portal to the main vestibule, paved with marble slabs, and whose walls will be decorated with marble pilasters, which will support a richly-paneled and ornamented flat ceiling. Marble doorways will lead thence to the left and right, to the president's room and to the offices. Directly ahead the vestibule will open into the main reading room, which will be on a some what higher level and occupy the entire space beneath the dome, which will have a diameter of 70 feet. From four piers of limestone at the corners will rise four richly-coffered vaults, corresponding to the four arms of the building, and from them will spring the dome to a height of 106 feet above the floor.

The northern arm of the library is to be set apart for the law library, the western for the administration, the eastern for the Avery Architectural Library, while the southern is to be occupied by the vestibule and adjoining chambers before mentioned. On the second story, which will be approached by the staircases at the four angles of the building, the gallery above referred to will perform the same service as the ambulatory below, and connect the trustees' room and the president's private room on the south, and book stacks containing special libraries and seminary rooms on the east, west and north.

The third story will be devoted to ten lecture rooms and to rooms for the officers of the college. The main depository for books will be situated in the basement of the building, which will be entirely above ground.