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Les diagrammes suivants iliustrant la m^thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 -.juiiiimv imifunvi IM'jgfHjiljiral ^lutrj) OP JAMES McGILL. [Reprinted from BarnarfVs Amorlcnn Journal of Kducution for September, lSfl9 • •• \ ^ m \ vi C^t-f-I^C^^ K')i-.\-|ii';!{ iih' riiK. ' xu'Ki!.- !■^^ mk w c,\\.\. chi.i.kci.; m. 'XTiih: \i. ;' k 'm V. JAM?;.^ jt";,!.i :■ I rrr . • ''kwh r m.c. ('"U^hv ;i t f . »» Pi.' 'siuctttional ii)»ti»u;i.)u.'*. .'b'> - »».'i>cii • M' ninj'!>? f««t"^ ;-.,«-. ••• •, ; • v..}.* ('"!■■ w; -m m«.*ci?* on the ■•;.'i| •>'■"* ^ ir inh^'UftJiLA. 'y\\<^ ^(,.:i*'':nH*«i iv';os< A'''>»tini;, >>or'>r.fl>l« RK-ntii^si !»:-<•■.■•• /\mc-ia':;;i.i'. '..-vii •■m .. * suijjto*, i^. -.^r^-.-l^, .««»*'■'*»>'•- ^>:-*i--V' ••■■«w^ .'lU :_\«*»»i : V'.< V . '-'^ U'< *''i' r?"' «\ A i>i;». ii-i»' .ci lit, Jjsi? j\t:^«.ciari6gW- ■M. ;t. • ' :. ri.': H < :• .. -i vr^^ri. b fj",vCfi...' Lw/ ;. • «»)^'r';. r;tii- . I i ■■» •Vfli'l fj I •.,'!!' N-.<- iCt'. M w .«' r >ru r V. JAMES MCGILL AND THE UNIVERSITY OP MCGILL COLLEGE, MONTREAL. BY J. Vr. DAWION, LL. 0. In tlio British American colonies there have hccn few founders of educational institutions. This may have arisen in part from the rarity of ample fortunes, in part perhaps from the tendency of amassers of wealth in colonies to regard the land of their paternity rather than that of their adoption as their country, but more than all from the incessant demands which the material progress of now countries makes on the capital of their inhabitants. The gentleman whose name stands at the head of this article, has hitherto been the most eminent exception to this general statement, and deserves, on that account, honorable mention among American founders. But great though the benefits are, which he has conferred upon his country, his life was one of those which, in their quiet and uneventful tenor, afford few materials for biography ; and I can but present on thi- subject a very few facts and dates, for some of which I am indebted to a valuable series of articles on the colleges of Canada, now in course of publication by the lion. Dr. Chauveau, in the "Zower Canada Jonrnal of Education." James McGill was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on the Oth October, 1744, and received his early training and education in that country. Like many of his countrymen, he emigrated, when a young man, to the new world, in search of fortune. lie settled in Montreal, and engaged successfully in mercantile pursuits. In 17Y6 he married a lady of French parentage, the widow of a Canadian gentleman, and whose father had lield some of the highest positions in the colony. His long residence in Montreal, his integrity, public spirit, and prac- tical good sense, gained for him the confidence of his fellow-citizens. He was elected the representative of Montreal in the provincial legis- lature, and was subsequently appointed a member of the legislative and executive councils. In the war of 1812 ho acted as a colonel and brigadier-general of militia. His contemporaries describe him as a man of large and liberal heart, social and public spirited in dis- position, of moderate ability, but of sound practical judgment, and extensive information. He died in Montreal, on the 19th December, 1813, at the age of sixty-nine years. Not having any children, he had determined to devote a largo portion JAMRM MoOILI. of his fortune to some object of beiiovolonco connected with hiu adopted country ; mid in his hist will, made two years before bin do- cease, ho set apart his beautifully-situated estate of l^urnsido, on the Klupe of the Montreal mountain, with u sum of £10,000, for the foundation of a university, one of the colleges of which was to be nntned the Mc(ii!l College, The management of the endowment was lo bo confided to a public board, then recently established by act of I'jirliament and named the Koyal Institution for the Advancement of Learning, the function of which was the management of all schools and institutions of royal foundation, and of estates or property do- voted to educational uses, and the establishment of fKjo schools throughout the province. Mr. McGill's bequest was to take oftecton condition that there should be erected, within ton years, on the estate of Uurnside, "a university or college for the purposes of education and the advancement of learning in tliis province, with a competent number of professors and teachers to render such establishment cft'ect- ual and useful for the purposes intended." In the interim the proper- ty was left in the Iiands of trustees, who were the lion. James Rich- ards, James Reid, Esq., Rev. John Strachan, and James Dunlop, Esq. Unfortunately, the relatives of Mr. McGill's widow were induced to disDuto the validity of tho will, and a protracted litigation ensued, which was not terminated till 1835; though in 1829 the landed |iroperty had been surrendered, and in the same year tho college was formally organized under a royal charter which Imd been obtained in 1821, in anticipation of tho issue of tho dispute respecting the en- dowment. Tho board of royal institution had been constituted in 1818. Under the charter, tho governor of Lower Canada, tho lieu- tenant-governor of Upper Canada, the bishop of Quebec^ the chief justice of Montreal, the chief justice of Upper Canada, and the principal, were ex-officio governors of the college, and were to elect its officers, and in conjunction with tho fellows to constitute tho cor- poration of the university, for tho framing of its statutes and general management of its affairs. The royal institution was to retain a vis- itorial authority. Under this constitution, the college entered on its existence with much apparent vigor and promise of success. The opening ceremony was held in Burnsido House, tho former residence of tho founder, and was largely attended. The inaugural addresses of the principal and other officers, were characterized by a broad and liberal spirit and liractical good sense, which augured well for the success of the infant institution. The faculty of arts, as organized on this occasion, con- sisted of the principal and two professors ; and on the day of the inauguration an important addition was made to the ur-ersity, by AND MoOILI, COLLEGK. tho union with it uf the Moiitrt'iil Nfodioitl Itistitutc, as its faculty of mt'dicino. This institution had already four prolVssors and an estab- jiahed roputation. l)r. Ilohnen, now tho dean of tho faculty of med- icine, was onci of thos(! pnjffssors, niid is tin; only oflicor of that dato who reiuains in conno(;ti(^n with the iiiiiv(!r.sity. As niii^ht havo been liuticipatcd, from tho fortunes of Hiniihir elfortH elsewhere, tho j)ro»pocta of the youn^ university were soon overcast, and it had to stru^^Lfle tlirough a \onir poriod of ditlicidty and danger. Mr. McGill liad given his endowment under tho evpcctalioii that, in accordance with tlie provisions of an act passed several years before his decease, and in the preparation of whicli he no doubt had a part, largo grants of public land would havo been placed at the disposal of tho royal institution to supjilenicnt liis bet^ucst, as well as to pro- vide for the general interests of education. This, however, tho legis- lature failed to do, and for a long time tho McGill ••ndowment consti- tuted the only source of revenue to the university. Nor has this failut-o been fully remedied up to tho present time. While tho legis- latures of tho neighboring provinces of Upper Canada and New Brunswick have, without any aid from privato benefactors, bestowed largo permanent endowments on provincial universities, Lower Canada has allowed tho McGill C.'ollego to struggle on unaided save by precarious annual grants, burtliened with a largo number of gov- ernment scholarships ; aiiu oven these grants have, in great part, been given only within tho last few years, when tho increasing importance of tho institution forced its claims on tho government. Probably in no otlier part of America would a benefaction so muniticcnt have been HO little appreciated ; and the reason is to bo found, not in any indif- ference to education, but in the numerical weakness of tho British and Protestant population of tho province, for whom tho university was chiefly designed ; and in thoso divisions of race and creed which have hitherto operated as barriers to vigorous and united action in behalf of education in Lower Canada. Left to its own resources, tho gov- erning body found it necessary to ^ , end a large portion of tho available means of tho university in L 'ildings, and were unable at that early period to obtain from tho landed property any considerablo amount of annual income. Tho charter also had many defects, and was altogether too cumbrous for tho management of an infant insti- tution in a colony. These disadvantages, and tho errors of judgment, and differences of opinion, inevitable in a new educational e.vperiment in untried circumstances, long rendered tho efforts of the royal insti- tution and tho board of governors of little avail ; and for more than twentyyears tho university lingered on with little real growth ; though, during a part of this period, it was attended by wliat, for the time, JAMBS MoOILL i 1 r* ■, might bo regarded as a respectable number of students in arts ; and the medical faculty continued to maintain its reputation, and to in^ 'ease iU classes. For a long i'mo the languishing condition of the university was a subject of deep regret uwd uneasiness to the friends of education in Montreal, many of whom were earnestly desirous for Its revival, and fully impressed with the importance of the public bene6ts which might result from an efficient college ; but there appt red to be no practicable means of elevating it, imder the existing cliarter and with its want of a sufficient revenue. At length, in 1850, a number of gentlemen, resident in Montreal, determined to grapple with these difficulties. The character and result of their eflbrts may be learned from the following statem.cnts by Hon. Justice Day, LL. D., one of their number, and now president of the board of governors, in an address to His E.Kcellency Sir Edmund W. Head, on occasion of his presiding as visitor at the inauguration of Burnside Hall. The utterly prostr;ite condition of the university at length attracted attention, and, in 1850, the provincial government was moved by a number of public spirited gen- tlemen to aid in an endeavor to place it on a bitter footing. As a strong antago- nism ]. id always existed between the royal inbtitution and the majority of the govern- ors of the college upon subjects essentially affecting its conduct and prosperity, it was deemed advisable, as a first step, to reconstruct the board of the former corpora- tion. New appointments were therefore made to the royal institution, of persons selected on tlie score of their interest in the cause of education. Of these, sev- eral entered upon the duties of their office with zeal and energy. They drew up an elaborate report on the condition of the university, and the course which they thought should be followed for its amelioration, and their recommendations were made the basis of all that has since been done. A draft of a new charter was prepared, which was finally adopiod, and executed by Her Majesty in 1852 ; and thus the college, by its improved constitution, was placed in a position to be re- vived, and to enter upon a new and useful career. Tlio new charter was re- ceived in August, 1852; its most prominent and important provision is that by which the members of the royal institution are made governors cx-officio of the university. This provision, vesting the whole power and control of the two cor- porations in the same hands, removes all possibility of the recurrence of the diffi- culties which prevailed under the old system. Before t^9 arrival of the charter in this province, a full board of managers of the royal institution, ten in number, had been constituted. Immediately upon its reception, the governors began the labors of their trust. There was a great deal to undo, and much to build up. The college was involved in great pecuniary embarrassment, chiefly from the ac- cumulation of arrears of the salaries of its officers ; and its income fell far short of its current expenditure. The college buildings were incomplete ; and, from their situation and construction, so ili-adapted for their intended purposes that it became at onco evident that a new building must be erected. As to its charac- ter aiid usefulness in the business of instruction, it had none. In so far, then, "s the state of the university was concerned, the prospect was sufficiently discoi • aging; but the governors possessed certain extrinsic advantages, which justified a hopa of sueccfis. The provincial government was favorably disposed to aid them in their undertaking ; and there seemed to be abroad a general feeling of appro- bation of the choice made of the persons to constitute the board, and of ceniidence in their earnest endeavor to discharge the duties of their trust efficiently. The first step taken was, at once to stop all useless expense. The only salary contin- ued was one of small amount to the vice-principal, which was necessary, in order to prevent the college doors from hiing closed. A law was ouiuincd modifying AND MoGILL COLLEGE. 7 the Btatuto of 1801, under wliich the royal institution was erected, and introducing a more simple and convenient machinery for the exercise of its powei's ; nnd au- thority was also taken to sell such portions of the real estate bequeathed by Mr. MaoGill as the governors might deem advisable, for a perpetual ground rent, with permission to mortgage the college property in security for a loan to the amount of £3,000. Under the sanction of this law, sales have been effected of a suffi- cient extent of the college lands to yield, when added to the former income, a revenue of £900, Application was also made to the legislature for pecuniary aid, and the sum of £1,300 pounds was granted : J.) 1,000 to be applied toward the payment of the debts of the college, and £300 to meet its annual outlay. This sum, although far below what was necessary to place the institution in the position which the governors wished, was neverthi-leHs of great assistance in diminishing its liabilities nearly one-half. It also enabltd them to make arrangements for avoiding immediate pressure, and gave an opportunity to begin the work of pro- viding an efficient and liberal course of instruction. With a view to that end, the statutes of the university were completely recast, in a manner to introduce a more simple administration, and absolutely to do away with all religious tests and privileges. In the year 1854, an urgent appeal was made to the provincial government, setting forth at length strong grounds of claim for liberal pecuniary assistance. The memorial then presented shewed that the university could not be organized and maintained upon any proper footing of efficiency unless a grant of at least £4,000 were madts toward the reduction of ius debts, and £1,000 given annu- ally, to aid in defraying its current expenditure. In the following year the appli- cation was renewed. The result was partidly successful. It is due to the head of the government and gentlemen who composed the provincial ministry at that time, to say that a friendly interest was manifested by them in our efforts, and every disposition shewn to extend to us all the aid which circumstances permitted them to bestow. The sums received were, however, very much less than those specified, and they were inadequate to the necessities of the institution, and the importance and magnitude of the objects to bo accomplished. The governors continued nevertheless to advance in the course originally determined upon, of modifying and enlarging the system of education in the university, and they have gone on, until it has attained a completeness for which three years ago they scarce- ly dared to hope. As reorganized, under its amended charter, the university rests on the broad basis of British protestantism, without sectarianism ; and endeavors to embrace within itself all the elements of a collegiate and professional education, on the methods of the British universi- ties, but modified with especial reference to the condition and require- ments of the peoph of Canada. The college proper consists of the faculties of law, medicine, and arts ; an 1, in connection with the latter, are special courses of engin- eering, agriculture, and commerce ; the students iiv which, in addition to the more practical subjects of study, are required to take such classes in the ordinary course as are appropriate to their future pur- suits. The faculty of law has at present five professors, the foculty of medicine nine, and the faculty of arts eleven. In the faculty of law, the course is arranged, in accordance with the requirements of the profession in Lower Canada, under the following subjects : — Public and criminal law, commercial law, civil law, jurisprudence and legal bibliography, customary law, and law of real estate. The course extends over three years, aad entitles to the degree of B. C. L. In the faculty of medicine, the course of study extends over four i g JAMES MOGILL years, and includes all the ordinary studies of a medical education, with chemistry, zoology, and botany. It ent'.tles to the degree of M. D. In the faculty of arts, in addition to the ordinary classical and mathematical studies, the subjects of mental and moral philoso- phy, physical and natural science, and the modern languages, have been liberally provided for. The course extends over four years, and entitles to the degree of B. A. The high school department, added to the university on its reor- ganization in 1852, is an important auxiliary, as a preparatory insti- tution and as an English and mathematical school of high grade for those who do not desire to enter the college. Its staff consists of a rector and five assistant teachers, beside instructors in French, Ger- man, music, and drawing. Examinations are annually held for the pupils of this and other schools, and certificates granted to successful candidates. The McGill Normal School is affiliated to the university under the joint control of the superintendent of education and the corporation of the university. It has four professors, beside teachers in drawing and music, and teachers in the model schools. It gives a course of study of one year, entitling to an elementary school diploma, and of two years, entitling to a model school diploma. It is intended for both sexes, and especially for the English and Protestant population of the province. The number of students and pupils in all the faculties and depart- ments in the present session (1858-9) is as follows : — Faculty of arts, 46 Faculty of law, 31 Faculty of medicine, 97 Total of college students, 1 74 High school, 247 Teachers in training, normal school, 83 Pupils in model schools, 300 Total, 804 Under the provisions in its statutes for the aflBliation of theological seminaries and colleges, the university has at present but one affil- iated college, that of St. Francis, Richmond, a young but flourishing institution, intended more especially to minister to the educational wants of the eastern townships of Lower Canada. In the management of the university, the governor-general of British America represents the crown as visitor. The business man- agement is vested in a board of ten governors, appointed by the provincial government. In the properly educational affairs of the university, the governors have associated with them the principal, the AND McGILL COLLEGB. rfoans of the faculties, the rector of the high school, the principals of affiliated colleges, and the fellows, of whom three are appointed by the convocation of graduates, and five others may bo appointed from the body cf graduates by the governors ; the whole constituting the corporation of the university. Under the statutes and the regulations of the corporation, the principal has the general supervision of the university ; each faculty being subject to the immediate management of its own de^n, acting under regulations prepared by the faculty and sanctioned by the corporation. The power of granting degrees re- sides in the corporation; which, however, must have regard to the representations of the faculties in each particular case. In the matter of buildings, the university is almost destitute of a local habitation. The original college buildings, pleasantly situated on the slope of the Montreal mountain, but still in an unfinished state, are used as residences for professors and students. The grounds sur- rounding them have recently been planted and laid out in walks ; and it is hoped that in a few years it may be possible to complete the original plan, and transfer the class-rooms of the faculty of arts to these buildings. In the mean time, the faculty of arts and the high school department are accommodated in Burnside Hall, a plain but capacious brick building, provided with all the -uodern appliances for work and comfort, and placed for greater convenience on that part of the college property nearest to the cen:er of the city, Burnside Ilall was destroyed by fire in 1850, but has been rebuilt on the same site, and with many improvements. In this building are the library and apparatus of the faculty of arts, and the collection in natural history, which consists of a series of typical specimens intended for class-room use ; a large collection of foreign and Canadian mineralogy, purchased by the university from Dr. Holmes ; a collection of Canadian fos.iils, presented by Sir W. E, Logan; the herbarium of Dr. Holmes, pre- sented by him to the university ; a collection of Canadian insects, by Mr. Couper, of Toronto ; and the principal's collections in geology and paleontology. The facilities for instruction in natural history have recently been greatly increased by the removal of the collections of the natural history society of Montreal to a new building on the college property ; a building lot having been given by the university, on condition of access for educational purposes to the museum. By this arrangeineul, an important benefit is rendered to a society which has done more than any other for the promotion of natural history in Canada, while its extensive collections are rendered useful to students. The revenues of the university are principally derived from the prop- erty bequeathed by Mr. McGill ; and, though still insufficient, are con- 10 JAMES MoGILL \ 11 stantly increasing. The government of Canada, as already stated, have never adequately acknowledged the importance of the McGill endow- ment, or the efforts of the college authorities ; but the citizens of Mon- treal have, within the last few years, nobly emulated the liberality of the founder, by contributing, by voluntary subscription, an endowment fund of sixty thousand dollars, of which twenty thousand dollars wore given by the Messrs. Molson, to endow a chair of English literature. It appears, from the above statement of the histnry of the univers- ity, that its present prosperity dates from its reorganization under its new charter in 1852. The contrast between that time and the pres- ent is sufficiently striking. In 185!1, the committee of the royal institution reported that the buildings were unfinished and threatening to fall into decay ; the grounds were uninclosed and used as a com- mon. The classes in arts contained only six students. Even the students in medicine, owing to the establishment of a rival school, had fallen off to thirty-six. Only one course of law had been deliv- ered in connection with the university. It had no preparatory school. Its total income was estimated at £540 per annum, while the expend- iture, even with the small staff then employed, amounted to £792. There Avas consequently a large and increasing debt. The medical faculty was self-supporting, and maintained a high reputation. The faculty of arts was sustained solely by the exertions of the vice- principal. In 1859, the univereity presents a different picture. Its original buildings are still unfinished, but are kept in use and in repair, and others more suitable to the present wants of the university have been added. Its grounds are inclosed and improved. Its faculties are fully organized and largely attended by students. It has a flourishing preparatory school, and affiliated normal and model schools. Its revenues from property and fees of tuition have been increased more than tenfold. A library, apparatu.?, and collections in natural history have been accumulated. It has a staff of thirty-two professors and regular teachers, and eight hundred persons derive benefit from its teaching. This great expansion has been achieved in seven years, by the ability and energy of the governing body, and by the liberality of the citizens of Montreal, sparingly assisted by public grants ; but the university must still be regarded as but in its infancy, and as destined, under the blessing of Providence, to attain to still greater usefulness and importance. I have avoided dwelling on the early history of the university in detail. Its struggles and its failures are profitable now only for the lessons that they teach. But in this point of view they are not unim- portant. The questiona then agitated respecting the religious char- AND MoGILt COLLEGE. 11 acter of the university — the best method for its establishment, whethei by commencing with a preparatory school or by organizing a collo- giato faculty or faculties ns an initial step — the policy of erecting expensive and imposing buildings, or of 'waiting until the staff of the college should be efficiently organized — the proper form and consti- tution of the governing body — were all of vast importance, and all of such a character, that gentlemen interested in education, and re- garding the subject from different points of view, might bo expected, previous to experience, to answer them differently. They were here, as in most similar cases, slowly and painfully worked out by long discussion ; and the present position of the university owes much of its stability to the fact that the ground has been prepared by this long conflict of opinion. With respect to its religious aspect and its form of go'-ernment, it is remarkable that this university lias, as the result of these contro- versies and experiences, arrived at a position not precisely identical with that of any similar institution in British America. Two of our universities, that of Toronto, and that of King's College, New Bruns- wick, are altogether national in their character. The others are all connected with special ecclesiastical bodies, MacGill College occupies an intermediate position. Under the control of no particular church, and perfectly open in the offer of its benefits to all, it is recognized as an institution concentrating the support of all the Protestant de- nominations, and representing their common views as to the nature of the higher education. I confess that on many grounds I prefer this basis, both to those that are narrower and those that are wider. It is exempt from the contracting influence and limitation of field incident to the former, and from the opposing opinions and interests that are so liable to clash in the latter ; and it is especially suited to the present condition of society in Lower Canada, where the Protest- ant minority is united on this subject by being imbedded in a Roman Catholic population, which provides for its own educational wants on its own principles. The form of government of this university is another result of long trial of an imperfect system. The management of its financial affairs by a resident body of educated and business men, who have associated with them, in the more purely educational business, repre- se.itatives of all the faculties and departments and affiliated institutions and also of the body of graduates, afl:brds a stable and efficient ruling body, exempt on the one hand from the deficiency of business talent often so conspicuous when merely collegemen rule, and from the injudicious despotism sometimes practiced by public boards, when freed from college influence. No better system could be devised, in 12 JAMES MoGIIX tlio present circumstances of the univei-sity, for avoiding the evils of a double jurisdiction, and for securing vigorous and harmonious action. But of all that has grown out of t)io early struggles of McGill College, its broad character as a university, in the fullest sense of the term, is the most important point. No question can now arise as to whotlicr it should strike deep its roots into society by preparatory schools. The success of its high school and its normal and model ••(•liools, gives sufficient practical proof of the value of these departments of its work. No question can arise as to whether it should extend its tield of operations into the preparation of young men for special pro- feasional pursuits. It has already done this more extensively than any other university in British America, and with large and manifest ])enefit both to society and to its own interests. Nor, on the otiier hand, can it any longer bo maintained that scholastic and professional studies alone are required in Canada. The increasing number of un- dergraduates in arts shows that classical, mathematical, and philosoph- ical culture are more and more desired, as preparatory to ^)rofessional and public life. We liave ceased to inquire which of these several things should bo done, and have learned that we can do all better than we could do any one alone. Without its course in arts, as at present organized, the institution could not fulfill its functions as a university. Without its schools and professional faculties and special courses, it could not give those kinds of education most urgently required, and could not maintain a prosperous and progressive character. Such conclusions, it is true, do not depend on experience in Canada alone. They rest on the nature of man, and on the structure of society. They have ap- proved themselves to the ablest thinkers on educational subjects on both sides of the Atlantic ; and they stand forth as the true mean between that extreme and narrow view which would make the higher education merely industrial, and that equally extreme and narrow view which would make it purely literary and abstract. That there are difficulties attending our position in these respects it would be use- loss to deny. These chiefly concern the faculty of arts. They result from the prevalent disinclination to devote the necessary time to a couj-se of college study, and from the necessity on the one hand of maintaining: a hi<;h standard of classical and mathematical attainments, and on the other of giving that broad, scientific, and lit- erary culture now absolutely required in every educated man. In surmo\.nting these difficulties, the following means are tliose chiefly relied on. First. — Oflfering every practicable facility to young persons desirous of passing through the course in arts along with professional studies. Secondly. — The influence of a good preparatory school in AND McGILL COLLEGE!. 18 furnishing students wt'll-groundcd in clonients. Thirdly. — A judicious combination of tutorial training with professorial lectures, according to tho nature of the subject studied, and the ago and qualifications of the students. Fourthly. — Insi.sting on a regular and systematic course of study in the first and second years, and permitting options and honor studies freely in the third and fourth years. The details of the arrangements bearing on these points it would bo impossible to introduce here; but I beg leave to (piote, in conclusion, and in illustra- tion of the general educational policy of the university, a few paragraphs from an address delivered to its patrons and students, on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Burnsido Hall : — On this subject I inny explain, in tiio firnt place, that tliis iiiHtitution is not merely a college, but a university ; and ii university, not merely in the sense of an institution having the power of conferring degrees, or even in that of u com- bination of colleges, all having the same range of studies, but in that higher sense which regards the university as the universitaa litcrarum — an institution not only giving a general collegiate education, but opening up the way to the practical cultivation of the sciences and scientific arts. This eharaeter was impressed on this institution by the energetic development of the medical and law faculties and high school department, at a time when the faculty of arts was almost dormant ; and it has been followed up in the spirit rather of the Cjcrman than of the English universities, and in so fur with results which promise to establish its suitableness to the state of society in this country, by the sure test of extended usefulness and success. With us it can not be a question whether the classics and mathematics should begin ond end our course of study. The real question is, whether this narrow platform is as much superioi' in its results in scholastic training as it is confessedly inferior in breadth of adaptation to the exigences of human life ; whether, in short, we shall lose in depth more than that which we gain in width. This is assuredly a grave question, and it presents itself in several aspects. In the first place, it may be asked, is there not danger that the collegiate course may degenerate into the mere communication of varied information, without that training which is the special work of the educator. I answer, that we obviate this tendency by the division of labor in such a manner that any one instructing officer shall have only those branehes to which he has most fully devoted himself. In this way only can we secure that zeal and enthusiasm which inake the true teacher, and in this way we can also secure an imlividual attention to the progress of students, as well as mere leetu>'ing. A distinction is, however, sometimes made here which should not be admitted to its full extent. It is quite true that information and training are not identical ; but it is equally true — and this is the really practical point — that the good teacher must always train while he informs, and inform while ho trains. It is further true that those studies which commend themselves to the mind of the student as of the greatest interest and value, have the strongest effect In training his powers ; and, however useful or interesting the subject, a knowledge of it can be communicated with advantage only when the faculties of the student are drawn forth and exercised upon it. Every study should be made a means of training, and the studies employed should be selected, not merely as being in themselves useful, but as giving an equable and general exercise to all the mental powers of the student. And it is here that a varied course of education excels one that is more limited. Exclude natural history from your course, and you leave out one of the best means of training the observ- ing and comparing powers, and of cultivating taste, by the study of the noblest and most beautiful works of art — those of the Great Artificer of the Universe. Exclude mentil science, and you shut out the student from the most exalted ex- ercises of intellect, as well as from the sources and springs from which the streams to which you lead him are supplied. Is there not a training and forming of mind by communion with the great men of modern literature and science, as well as tvith those of antiquity ; by studying with those who have traced the orbits of the 14 JAMES McaiLL I iU 'i planets anJ tlio nndnlations of tho light-givinj? ether, as well as with those who wrought out the gioiiietricul prinoipleH wiiieh rutin the alpl.nliet of such readings of natufu. It would bj idle tu follow such compariHoiis fuithir. Uut Hgain it iniiy bo objcctel, that if , while it may not attain to thit extended knowledge of literature and sei- eiioe at wli cli we aim. This we endeavor to avoid by necuring n high standard of matrieulaiioii, by means of our priparatoiy fcIiooI, and by d recti ng the oiiilier jiait of our four years' course principidly to the ordinary studies, wli.lo wo intro- (luee scieiiliHc studies and opt onal branehes more fully in the later years. If. then, we are succ ssful in our eHoi ts, we shall secure respectable inathematical and oI.'iR-ieal attaiiini'.'iits in our undergraduates, along with much additional cultivation, and in the latter part of the course some studies leading directly to praet cal nppli- eatoiis of Itariiiiig. It must be observed, however, that on this subject, a'so, much misnppreheiis'on exists. It is in some cases possible, by exclusive attention to a smaM range of subjects, during the whole period of study, to attain to a very high prolieieney in one of these; but, in atta ning this, we do not give an educa- tion ill the St use of a training for general usefulness and happiness. You produce a specialist, and in a majority of cases a special st in departments to which in after litl- little attention may be given, the whole bein tit being the tiaining receivid, and this of a limited extent. Tlie true theory of a collegiate course, on the other hand, is, that it should educate tho whole man, and leave him afterward to cult!-- vate the sp-'cial Held;* to which taste and duty may direct him ; — not educate him a spec alist, and leave him afterward to obtain, as he best may, general culture and intelligence. I desire not to be misunderstood in this, as if disregarding in- struction properly elementary, or di'preci.ating classical or niatliematical Karning, for it is true that education must begin with steady attention to a few elements, and in most men it results in ultimate devotion to a few subjects; but, neverthe- less, in that part of education which lies within the sphere of the college, it is a principal object to enlarge the field of mental visitm, .ind give breadth of view, 'i'lie early education of the school must ciirefully lead the pup'.l through those narrow and easy paths which his unpracticed feet can tread wiih advantage ; but the colle,