forced the Regents to ultimately abandon them and instead adopted a much less expensive plan. The superintendent of construction on the first structure to be built for the university was Isaac Thompson, an associate of Davis. Asa Gray was the first professor appointed to Michigan on July 17, 1837. His position was also the first one devoted solely to botany at any educational institution in America. The first classes in Ann Arbor were held in 1841, with six freshmen and a sophomore, taught by two professors. Eleven students graduated in the first commencement in 1845. The years 1837-1850 disclosed serious weakness in the organization and working of the university. Regents of the university discovered that the organic act from which they derived their powers, made them too dependent upon the legislature. The subject was brought to the attention of the legislature more than once but without securing the desired action in order to achieve increased independence. By the late 1840s, the Regents achieved a strong position relative to collective bargaining with the legislature as the opinion was becoming common among capitalists, clergymen and intellectual elites, since by then the state derived significant tax revenue through them. Such a situation ultimately led to a change in the organic act of the university. Remodelled, the act, which was approved April 8, 1851, emancipated the university from legislative control that would have been injudicious and harmful. The office of Regent was changed from an appointed one to an elected one, and the office of President was created, with the Regents directed to select one. As Hinsdale argued, "the independent position of the university has had much to do with its growth and prosperity. In fact, its larger growth may be dated from the time when the new sections began to take effect." Michigan was the first university in the West to pursue professional education, establishing its medical school in 1850, engineering courses in 1854, and a law school in 1859. The university was among the first to introduce instruction in fields as diverse as zoology and botany, modern languages, modern history, American literature, pharmacy, dentistry, speech, journalism, teacher education, forestry, bacteriology, naval architecture, aeronautical engineering, computer engineering, and nuclear engineering. In 1856, Michigan built the nation's first chemical laboratory. That laboratory was the first structure on the North American continent that was designed and equipped solely for instruction in chemistry. In 1869 Michigan