White's appointment as minister to Berlin was the dominant subject of early 1879, but Horace wrote on January 29, I think it will be the happiest moment of mother’s life when it is finally settled that you do not leave the country. On February 13 Fiske reported talk in New York City of connecting Bellevue Medical College with Cornell; Hermann von Holst was engaged for a series of lectures; and Charles C. Perkins of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts wrote regarding the acquisition of casts. A former student suggested Goldwin Smith as interim president, and White proposed C. K. Adams, Folwell or Winchell for the post. George Schuyler thought the office of vice-president should be abandoned in favor of the annual election of a Dean by the faculty. Hiram Sibley wrote in February about proposed flood control legislation for Cayuga Lake. Among notes of congratulation on the diplomatic appointment were letters of practical advice from men with Berlin experience, J. C. Bancroft Davis and H. Sidney Everett.