Howison

ited by his daughter Mildred Howells, and the auto-
biographies mentioned above, to which My Year in a
Log Cabin (1893) and the novel New Leaf Mills (1913)
may be added. William Dean Howells is the common
title of three critical studies by Alexander Harvey
(1917), Delmar G. Cooke (1922), and Oscar W. Fir-
kins (1924); the last two contain bibliographies. See
also Cambridge Hist, of Am. Lit. (1917-21), III, 77-
85, and bibliography, IV, 663-66.] 0 W F

HOWISON, GEORGE HOLMES (Nov. 29,
i834-Dec. 31, 1916), philosopher, the son of
Robert and Eliza (Holmes) Howison, was born
in Montgomery County, Md. He obtained his
undergraduate education at Marietta College,
Ohio, where he received the degree of B.A. in
1852. He then spent three years in Lane Theo-
logical Seminary, Cincinnati, graduating in 1855.
He did not enter the ministry, however, but in-
stead spent the next nine years in rather desul-
tory secondary school teaching at various places
in Ohio and Massachusetts. On Nov. 25, 1863,
he married Lois Thompson Caswell of Norton,
Mass. From 1864 to 1866 he was assistant pro-
fessor of mathematics in Washington Univer-
sity, St. Louis. But mathematics no more than
the ministry was able to satisfy him (although
he brought out a Treatise on Analytic Geometry
in 1869) and he threw himself temporarily into
political economy, acting as Tileston Professor
in Washington University, 1866-69. During
these years in St. Louis he was a member of the
remarkable group headed by Henry C. Brok-
meyer, William Torrey Harris, and Denton J.
Snider [qq.v.~\t and under their inspiring influ-
ence he plunged into philosophy. Somewhat late
in discovering his central interest, Howison
brought to his new study a maturity of thought
and experience which carried him rapidly for-
ward. He became professor of logic and phi-
losophy of science at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, 1871-79, and was lecturer on
ethics at Harvard, 1879-80. From 1880 to 1882
he studied in Europe, chiefly at the University
of Berlin. On his return he was lecturer in phi-
losophy at the University of Michigan, 1883-
84, and in the latter year became head of the
newly established department of philosophy in
the University of California, where he was to
remain for twenty-five years, retiring as pro-
fessor emeritus in 1909. Absent-minded as phi-
losophers are proverbially supposed to be, but
ardent and warm-hearted, Howison taught phi-
losophy with a religious zeal. He built up a
strong department at California; among his
students were Mezes, Rieber, McGilvary, Bake-
well, and Love joy, through whom he exercised
a wide influence on American philosophy. His
pet creation was the Philosophical Union in
Berkeley, devoted to public discussion, and

Rowland
drawing almost annually noted philosophers
from the Eastern states; its most important
meeting was that at which occurred the debate
of Royce, Howison, Mezes, and Le Conte (see
Josiah Royce, The Conception of God, 1897, with
comments by Le Conte, Howison, and Mezes).
Howison's chief published work was The Lim-
its of Evolution and Other Essays Ilustrating
the Metaphysical Theory of Personal Idealism
(1901; 2nd ed., 1904). He upheld a form of
personal idealism similar to that of Borden P.
Bowne [q,vJ] but reached quite independently.
A warm opponent of absolutism, which he
deemed a denial of the moral will, he was in
many ways a forerunner of William James
[q.v.] but was both less original and less daring.
[Geo. M. Stratton in Col. Alumni Fortnightly, Jan.
*7, 1917; J- W. Leonard, ed., Men of America (1908);
Who's Who in America, 1916-17; San Francisco Ckron-
iclef Jan. i, 1917.] E.S.B—s.
ROWLAND, ALFRED CORNELIUS
(Feb. 12, i838-Mar. 17, 1909), artist, was the
son of Aaron Prentiss and Huldah (Burke)
Howland, and the direct descendant of John
Howland, one of the first settlers in New Eng-
land. His father was an architect and builder.
He was born at Walpole, N. H., and received his
education at the Walpole Academy. After work-
ing for a time in the shop of an engraver in Bos-
ton, he left to go to New York to study art. His
real goal was Dusseldorf, Germany. There he
spent a year in the academy under Andreas Mul-
ler, then for two years he worked in the studio
of Albert Flamm. Finally he went to Paris,
where he worked in private studios, especially
that of Emile Lambinet. On his return to Amer-
ica he settled in New York City, where he main-
tained his winter studio. At one time he taught
art at Cooper Union. He was made an associate
of the National Academy of Design in the sev-
enties and in 1882 he became a member.
Howland was not an artist of outstanding abil-
ity, and his artistic problems were simple. His
work, none the less, had sensitiveness and dig-
nity. He painted occasional pictures of historical
interest, such as "The Fight Between the Kear-
sarge and the Alabama?* which is owned by the
Naval Academy at Annapolis, and "The Yale
Fence" which was given to Yale College by
Chauncey M. Depew. He also painted a number
of character studies. The major part of his work
was concerned with the presentation of quiet
ponds, and roads, and streams. The influence of
the Barbizon school and of the Impressionists is
distinctly noticeable in his paintings. He was a
man of gentle moods—gay, kindly, and sensitive
—and his pictures reflected his spirit It is char-