Professors Eli Whitney Blake, George C. Caldwell, James M. Crafts, Burt Green Wilder and William Dexter Wilson wrote in detail about the needs of their departments. Many letters were exchanged by White and Joseph Harris, who was elected to the faculty but never served. In late February supporters of the university successfully resisted an attack in the Constitutional Convention at Albany. White sailed for Brest March 21st to make purchases for the fall opening. Letters arranging for his passage were signed J. Cunnard. In addition to visiting a number of European technical schools and spending sixty thousand dollars for specimens, books, and equipment, he secured Dr. James Law as professor of veterinary science, and persuaded Goldwin Smith to lecture on English constitutional law. During his absence White received regular reports from the secretary of trustees, Francis Miles Finch, the Ithaca lawyer, who was also Ezra Cornell's attorney. A letter from the British Patent Office on August 1st announced the awarding of a complete set of the patent office publications to Cornell University.