Although we have been made to realize several times this spring that President Eliot's term was rapidly drawing to an end, we can hardly believe that the event has taken place. But today there is a new hand at the helm, and the man who has had the control of affairs at Harvard for forty years has given up his active work. So much has been said of President Eliot in the last few months that we are appalled at the task of trying to express our opinion of him in anything like original words. Public officials here and in foreign countries, newspapers all over the world, and private citizens without number have united to do him honor. His incalculable influence in the development of Harvard University in particular and of American education in general is the most noteworthy feature of a career filled with great achievements.

In other fields he has been no less prominent. It is hard to conceive of Harvard without him, but we can take comfort in the knowledge that his influence will remain after him, and that the memory of his deeds will spur his followers on to even greater endeavors. To him--as preceptor, administrator, citizen, and friend--the full love, gratitude and admiration of the university is given. May the years to come to attended with the success and happiness which have been his lot in the past half-century.

To the new executive, whom we may now call President Lowell, we extend our heartiest greetings. No one realizes better than he the magnitude of the task he is undertaking, and no one is better fitted to cope with the problems of the University today. Already his interest and influence have been shown in many ways, and great are his plans for reforms and changes to come. The Faculty, the alumni and the undergraduates respect him for his varied accomplishments in the past and have great confidence in his ability to meet the responsibilities of the future. In welcoming him to his new position, we can accord him no higher praise than by expressing our belief that he will make a worthy successor to President Eliot.