SCOTISH UNIVERSITIES.
UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS.
History. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, Scotland contained no academical institution in which the higher branches of knowledge were taught. The Scottish youth who wished to obtain a more liberal education than the seminaries of the country afforded, were under the necessity of seeking it in foreign universities; in some of which colleges were early endowed for their reception. Soon after the middle of the thirteenth century, Dervorguilla, wife of John Balliol, founded and endowed a college at Oxford for Scottish students; and in 1326, the Scottish College in the university of Paris was founded and endowed for a similar purpose, by David Murray, bishop of Moray. The risk and inconvenience attending the removal of the youth to foreign schools was long felt; and the discerning part of the community were not insensible of the advantages which the country would derive from the establishment of an institution within its own limits, where the higher branches of education, in science, philosophy, and theology, might be attained. One of the individuals who entertained these sentiments was Henry Wardlaw, bishop of St Andrews, who took measures to remedy the evil. Having ascertained that his sovereign James I, at that time a prisoner in England, approved of his scheme, he resolved, with the consent and approbation of the estates of the kingdom, to erect a university in the ecclesiastical metropolis. The lectures commenced in 1411; and the bishop, with the concurrence of the prior of St Andrews, and the archdeacon of Lothian, immediately granted to the masters and students the privileges belonging to a university. Benedict XIII, issued a bull of confirmation on the 27th of August 1418, instituting a studium generale, or university, for instruction in theology, the canon and civil law, medicine, and the liberal arts; and conveying to the bishop the power of conferring degrees in these faculties, thereby investing him with the power and dignity of chancellor. The pope on the same day signed other five bulls securing the rights and privileges of the university, which were ratified by James I in 1432. The king at the same time granted to the members exemption from all the exigible tributes of his kingdom; an immunity which was confirmed by his four immediate successors.
The university was formed on the model of those of Paris and Bologna. The members, or suppositi, as they were called, were divided into four nations, those of Fife, Angus, Lothian, and Albany; the last including all who did not belong to any of the other three districts. The suppositi, at a congregation or general meeting, elected annually four procurators to watch over their interests, and four intrants, or electors, by whom the rector was chosen. The government was vested in the rector, of whom it was required as a necessary qualification, that he should be a graduate in one of the faculties, and should also be in holy orders. The university was represented in the rectorial court by twelve assessors, three selected from each nation. With the advice and consent of his assessors, the rector possessed supreme judicial power in all causes, civil and criminal, relating to members of the university, with the exception of crimes which inflicted the highest punishment. As in other cases which have already been mentioned, the privileges and powers possessed by the university excited the jealousy of the magistrates of the city; till a concordat was entered into by the contending parties, by which their respective jurisdictions were defined and adjusted. The members of the university were divided into faculties, at the head of each of which was a dean, who presided at the meetings of the masters for regulating the course of study, for examinations, and the conferring of degrees. The university was well supplied with teachers even at its commencement. Before the papal bulls were issued, it included a professor of divinity, four lecturers on the canon law, and three who taught the arts or philosophy. The revenues of the institution were at first extremely limited, and for some time consisted chiefly of small sums received from the students.
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1 "De consilio, consensu, et commandi tractatu trium statuum personarum regni Scotiae." 2 McCrie's Life of Melville, i. 211, 1819. Report of the Royal Commissioners appointed for inquiring into the State of the Universities in Scotland, p. 387. 3 Life of Melville, i. 213, and authorities there cited. 4 Concordia inita, per Episcop. Jac. Kennedy, inter Supposita Universitatis et Cives Sti. Andrews; a. d. 1440. 5 Fordun, as cited by Dr McCrie, Life of Melville, i. 216. in the walls of the college, and were bound to conform to certain regulations as to dress, amusements, and general conduct. Delinquencies were to be severely punished; and the power of visiting the college and reforming its abuses was retained by the prior and the chapter of the convent.
Notwithstanding the superior advantages of the two endowed colleges, there were still in the university professors College, and students who belonged to neither, and who continued to frequent the Pedagogium, although they were supported by but slender funds. The disadvantages to which they were subjected in their competition with the rival colleges induced Archbishop Alexander Stewart to make preparations for giving to the pedagogium a collegiate form, which were frustrated by his premature death in the field of Floddon. The design was resumed by his successor James Beaton, who in 1537 founded St Mary's College, or as it was sometimes called, the New College, and in the same year procured for it the confirmation of Paul III. It was founded for all the faculties; and by its charter of erection, obtained the power of conferring degrees, thus forming a third independent university. But the college was not finally erected till 1553, when Archbishop Hamilton, under the authority of a papal bull obtained in the year preceding, extended its constitution, and endowed it with the tithes of six parishes. It was to consist of thirty-six persons; a prefect or principal, who was to be a doctor or licentiate in divinity, and who was to have jurisdiction over all members on the foundation; two professors of divinity, the one a licentiate and the other a bachelor; a professor of the canon law, who was to be in priest's orders; eight students of divinity, whose appointments were tenable for six years, and who, besides attending regularly the lectures of the professors, were themselves required to lecture; three professors or regents of philosophy, who were to teach logic, ethics, physics, mathematics, and the other liberal arts; a professor of rhetoric and one of grammar, who were to be masters of arts; sixteen poor scholars, students of philosophy, who were to be well acquainted with grammar and Latin; a provisor, a janitor, and a cook. The defence and increase of the Catholic faith being the declared object of the erection of this as well as the other colleges, the principal and professors had certain extra-academical duties assigned to them. The principal was required to lecture on the sacred Scriptures every Monday, the licentiate five times a week, and the canonist to deliver the same number of lectures on the canon law. Appropriate duties were assigned to the other members. The rector of the university, with the principal of St Salvator's College, and some of the highest ecclesiastics of the city, were to elect the principal and the professors of divinity and the canon law; and they again were to fill up all other vacancies as they occurred in the college. The rector was empowered to visit the college annually, and to see that discipline was duly enforced. The college was to be exempted from all public burdens. All vacations were to be disallowed, and absences for a month in the year, without permission from the principal, were to forfeit their appointments. Nothing probably is more remarkable in the establishment of the colleges of St Andrews, than the success of the founders in obtaining for them the most celebrated teachers. Men who had distinguished themselves in the foreign universities were urgently invited as professors, and appear to have willingly embraced the opportunity to diffuse among their countrymen the learning which they had themselves acquired.
The constitutions of the colleges remained unaltered till the reformation, with the exception of the appointment of a professor of humanity in each of the colleges of St Salvator and St Leonard, answering to the professor of grammar in St Mary's. During the agitation of the religious controversy, the academical exercises were
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1 Commissioners' Report, p. 214. interrupted, and in the year 1559 the faculty of arts were under the necessity of discontinuing the public exhibitions usual at graduation. Immediately after the establishment of the reformation, the laws and practice of the university were accommodated to the change which had taken place in the religious establishment of the country; but the mode of teaching, and the scholastic exercises, so far as related to philosophy and the arts, continued nearly on their former footing. The students who entered a college at the same time formed a class, and were placed under the superintendence and tuition of a regent, by whom their studies were conducted during the whole course. The regular time of the course was four years, but it was more usually finished in three years and a half. The session commenced on the first of October, and continued till the end of July, the months of August and September being allowed as a vacation. The regent assembled his class three hours every day, and read and explained to them the books of Aristotle, beginning with dialectics or logic, then advancing to ethics, next to physics, and concluding with metaphysics, which were considered the highest branch of philosophy, and mathematics, which included arithmetic. During their course the students were frequently exercised in disputations and declamations, both privately in their class, and publicly before the college and university. The principal frequently read lectures on the higher branches of philosophy, which were attended by all the students of the college.
In the middle of the third year, the students who obtained from their regent and the principal of the college an attestation of regular attendance and good conduct, were allowed to propose themselves as candidates for the degree of bachelor. In the presence of three regents, annually selected from each college as examiners, the candidates determined a question in logic or morals, and answered such questions as were proposed to them on any of the branches of study with which they had been occupied. Those who acquitted themselves to the satisfaction of the examiners were confirmed bachelors by the dean, the rest were sent to a lower class. A similar form was observed in the act of laureation at the end of the course; except that on this occasion the candidates were examined on the whole circle of the arts, and were required to defend a thesis which had been previously affixed to the gates of the different colleges. They were then divided into classes, and their names arranged according to merit, with a corresponding degree of rank. When the examinations were concluded, the degree of master of arts was generally conferred by the chancellor, to wit, "Patria, Fili, et Spiritus Sancti." Certain fees were paid by the graduates, according to their rank, to the pursers of the university and of the faculty, to the dean, and to other officers. Small annual fees seem originally to have been paid by the students to their regents.
Soon after the establishment of the reformation, the leaders of that great revolution proposed a scheme for new-modeling the universities, which, though not adopted by the legislature, will remain a lasting monument of the enlightened and patriotic views of its compilers. After several other ineffectual attempts, a commission was appointed in 1579, on the petition of the General Assembly, with full powers to consider the foundations in the university of St Andrews, to alter the constitution and form of study, and to introduce such improvements as might appear necessary. The commissioners, finding that all the colleges had departed from their original foundations, agreed upon a new form of instruction, which was laid before the ensuing meetings of parliament, and ratified by the 14th of November, 1579. St Salvator's College was to consist of a principal, and four professors, viz., regents of humanity and philosophy. The first regent was to teach the Greek grammar, and to exercise the students in Latin composition during the first, and in Greek during the second half year. The second regent, who was also considered a professor of humanity, was to teach the principles of rhetoric, and the practice of it as exemplified in the best Greek and Latin authors. This class was to spend an hour at least every day in composition; and during the last half year the students were to declaim once a month in Greek and Latin alternately. It was the duty of the third regent to teach, in the original language, part of the Logic of Aristotle, with the Ethics and Politics; and the Offices of Cicero in Latin. The fourth regent was to teach the necessary parts of the Physics, and the doctrine of the Sphere. Each regent was confined to his own department. Professors of mathematics and law were also established, who were to lecture at least four times every week; and the principal of the college was to act as professor of medicine. Similar arrangements were made in St Mary's College; with this difference, that no classes of mathematics and law were established in it, and the principal was to lecture on the philosophy of Plato. St Mary's College was appropriated solely to the study of theology, and the languages connected with it. The course of study was to be completed in four years, under the instruction of a principal and four professors, each of the professors having under his care only the students of one year. It embraced, in the first year, the elements of Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac; during the next eighteen months, the same languages, with critical explanations of the Pentateuch and historical books of the Old Testament; and during the remaining eighteen months, the prophetic books were examined in the same manner. During the whole four years, the fourth professor was to explain the New Testament, by comparing the original with the Syrian version; and the principal was to lecture on systematic divinity. The students were required to attend the lectures of three professors every day during the continuance of their theological studies. Such was the form of instruction drawn up by Melville, and recommended by Buchanan, which has been well characterized by Dr McCrie as "the most liberal and enlightened plan of study which had yet been established in any European university." This destination of the colleges continued till 1621, when, by an act of the legislature, their original constitutions were restored, "in all their heads, articles, and clauses," so far as was consistent with the reformed religion, with the single exception that St Mary's should be confined to the faculty of divinity. Professorships of mathematics and medicine were instituted in 1669 and 1721. We have not the means of ascertaining the precise number of students who belonged to the university at one time. In ordinary cases it appears not to have exceeded 200, and it did not fall much short of that number during the latter half of the sixteenth century. Fewer had attended it during the first half, and still fewer previously to that period.
The royal colleges continued without further alteration till the year 1747, when, in consequence of the inadequacy of the provision for the principals and professors of the two colleges of philosophy, a union of them was effected by parliamentary enactment, which enabled them to consolidate their endowments, and to make provision for a more extended course of instruction. By this statute the United College of St Salvator and St Leonard was to consist of a principal, a professor of Greek, three professors of philosophy, professors of humanity, civil history, mathematics, and medicine, and sixteen bursars on the original foundations. The same statute regulates the patronage of the professorships and bursaries, and makes provision for the disposal of the funds of the college. No change has since taken place in the constitution of the colleges, none of the suggestions of the royal commissioners appointed in 1826 having been carried into effect in any of the Scottish universities. The principal of United College takes an active part in teaching; the professor of ethics delivers a course of lectures on political economy, and the professor of chemistry teaches chemistry and chemical pharmacy. In St Mary's College there is a principal, who is also principal of the faculty of divinity, and considers himself as professor of systematic theology; a professor of divinity, who confines his lectures chiefly to biblical criticism; and professors of ecclesiastical history and oriental languages. The members of the colleges have long ceased to live in common; the bursaries are still paid to certain poor scholars, but chambers are no longer provided for them, nor do they eat at a common table. The professors of United College receive fees from their pupils, but those of St Mary's have no remuneration except their salaries, and a small grant of public money.
The university consists of a chancellor, rector, two principals, and eleven professors. These members, with the exception of the chancellor, form the governing body of the university, under the name of the Academical Senate. The Chancellor is the highest dignitary in the university, and the guardian of its privileges. He was originally the fountain of honour, and entitled to confer all academical degrees; but this part of his official prerogative has long been in abeyance. According to the original charter, the bishop of the see, as in the other Scottish universities founded by The salaries here given are those mentioned in the Report of the Royal Commissioners, as received in 1823. It being the practice of the college to divide every year nearly their whole revenue, the incomes of the members fluctuate considerably. In 1824 the salary of each was £5 more than in 1823.
The principal has a house and a small garden; the three professors have each a garden, but no house.
The number of students in all the Scottish universities has been much diminished within the last fifteen years. The diminution, we believe, has been produced by causes external to the universities themselves, and may be partly accounted for by the small inducements which the learned professions hold out to young men in Scotland; by the superior advantages which are offered by the arts, manufactures, and commerce of the country; by the emigration of many young men who would otherwise have received a university education; and by the schools, especially medical, which have been established in the principal towns of England and Ireland.
In the year 1450, Pope Nicholas V., at the solicitation of William Turnbull, bishop of Glasgow, issued a bull, establishing a studium generale, or university, "for theology, the can-
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**UNITED COLLEGE**
| Office | Salary | Class-Fee | Patronage | |-----------------|--------|-----------|-----------| | Principal | £367 | ... | Crown | | Greek | £219 | 3 | College | | Logic | £219 | 3 | College | | Moral philosophy| £219 | 3 | College | | Natural philosophy | £219 | 3 | College | | Humanity | £199 | 3 | Bishop of Portland | | Mathematics | £210 | 3 | Crown | | Medicine | £199 | 3 | University | | Civil history | £199 | 3 | Marquis of Ailsa |
**ST MARY'S COLLEGE**
| Office | Salary | Patronage | |-----------------|--------|-----------| | Principal | £258 | Crown | | Divinity | £231 | Crown | | Ecclesiastical history | £286 | Crown | | Oriental languages | £211 | Crown |
The funds and revenues of both colleges are managed by the principal and professors. The annual grants from the crown amount to £500. The fees formerly exacted for degrees in arts have been abolished. Those payable for graduation in medicine are £25, 16s. 11d.; and in divinity, when not conferred as an honorary mark of distinction, £14.
In United College there are seventy-five bursaries, varying in Bursaries amount from £5 to £25 each. Their aggregate value is about £900. Twenty-two of these are open to general competition, eight are given by competition at Madras College, seven are assigned by the university and United College, and the rest by private patrons. St Mary's College possesses seventeen bursaries varying from £7 to £18. Their aggregate value is about £200.
Number of students in session 1839–40, 145; Graduates in arts, 9; in divinity, 5; in medicine, 24; in law, 13.
**UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW**
In the year 1450, Pope Nicholas V., at the solicitation of William Turnbull, bishop of Glasgow, issued a bull, establishing a studium generale, or university, "for theology, the ca- non and civil law, the arts, and every other lawful faculty," at Glasgow; and granting to it all the rights and privileges belonging to the university of Bologna. The archbishop of Glasgow was constituted chancellor, with the same authority as was possessed by the heads of the Italian university, and particularly with the power of conferring degrees and licenses on candidates duly examined. No mention is made of medicine, as in the original erection of the university of St Andrews; but it is implied in the expression, "quavis alia licita facultate." In the following year a body of statutes for its government was prepared by the bishop and his chapter, which, with the papal bull, was confirmed in 1453 by a royal charter from James II. The king likewise exempted the members from taxes and all civic burdens; and in the same year various privileges were conferred by the bishop, similar to those granted by Bishop Wardlaw to the university of St Andrews.
In the original constitution of the university, that of Bologna seems to have been imitated as far as circumstances would permit. It consisted of a chancellor, rector, deans of faculties, procurators, regents, masters, and scholars; and was placed by the bishops beyond the control of the civil magistrates. The supreme power was vested in the scholars who had been matriculated, and whose names remained on the album; and these, in their comitia or congregations, enacted, amended, or repealed the statutes. The suppositi, or members of the university, were distributed into four nations, each having a procurator, elected annually from its own number, who was invested with considerable trust and power. The suppositi, assembled in comitia, also elected the rector through the medium of intrants, and at the same time chose four deputies to form the rectorial council. The rector, acting with the advice of his council, exercised supreme judicial and executive power over all the members of the university; he was invested with jurisdiction in all minor civil cases in which suppositi were concerned; graver offences were specially reserved for the decision of the bishop himself. Permission was given to the suppositi to bring their causes either before the rector or the bishop, and liberty of appeal to the latter was allowed to any one who thought himself aggrieved by the sentence of the former. In 1461 an ecclesiastical jurisdiction was conceded to the rector; and such a concession implies that this officer was always to be a person in holy orders. All houses and lodgings for the suppositi within the city were subjected to regulations similar to those established by Gregory IX. in the university of Paris. The magistrates and other officers of the city took a yearly oath to observe and defend the privileges and liberties of the university.
This university, at its first erection, was entirely unendowed, and for a considerable time possessed no funds, with the exception of small perquisites paid at promotions to degrees. Its meetings were held in the chapter-house of the Blackfriars, or in the cathedral; and the teachers were furnished with schools in the religious houses. In 1458, the faculty of arts commenced building a Pedagogium, at the expense of its common purse; but this design was superseded by the liberality of the first Lord Hamilton, who in the following year conveyed to the principal and the other regents of the faculty, for their use and accommodation, a tenement in the High Street, together with four acres of land. The donor required that the principal and regents should, on their admission to office, promise on oath to commemorate himself and his wife as the founders of the college. The annals of the university furnish scarcely any information respecting the means of instruction which it provided, and the mode in which that instruction was conveyed. In the higher faculties, the teaching seems to have been confined to occasional lectures. More attention appears to have been paid to the inferior branches of science. The records mention the admission of a regent of philosophy within two years after the erection of the university. It may readily be assumed that the want of salaries to the professors was the principal reason why the higher branches of knowledge were neglected; and even the instruction which the university diffused was furnished by men who derived their emoluments from other sources. The professors of divinity, and of the canon and civil law, depended for their support on the benefices which they held as ecclesiastics in various parts of the country.
By Lord Hamilton's deed of bequest, the faculty of arts obtained the nucleus of the college property; but it is not quite clear that the name of a college was then, for the first time, conferred upon it. Two sets of records are preserved, commencing with the origin of the university, one volume of which is entitled "Annales Collegii Facultatis Artium in Universitate Glasguensi;" and if this title was prefixed to it so early as 1451, the college must have existed as a corporate faculty before the charter of Lord Hamilton. It is not however till 1462 that express mention is made of the Collegium Facultatis Artium; and it may be questioned if even at that time the college was co-extensive with the faculty, and not rather a select body, which assumed the government of the whole faculty, like the colleges of faculties at Bologna. The exact imitation of all the customs of Bologna makes the latter supposition probable. It is at least clear that at this early period the term college had no reference to a building for common habitation or common maintenance.
The university remained in this state for about a hundred years, during which time it appears, from the language of certain grants, that the university and the college of the faculty of arts were frequently confounded. In the year 1557, two years before the reformation, James Beaton, archbishop of Glasgow, conveyed to the Pedagogium, or university, and to the masters and regents in the same, an ecclesiastical benefice, which, from the accompanying restrictions, was clearly intended for the benefit of the whole university. Similar instances might be adduced. At what precise period the two terms ceased to be used synonymously, and the existence of a separate college to be recognised, does not appear.
From its peculiar constitution, the university of Glasgow suffered more from the change of religion at the reformation than the other learned seminaries of Scotland. The professors in the higher faculties being all supported by their livings in the church, and adhering to the old religion, successors could not be appointed to them, owing to the total want of salaries. It likewise suffered materially from the fraudulent alienation and unjust seizure of its slender revenues. This evil was in some degree remedied in 1563 by Queen Mary, who granted certain houses and lands for the benefit of the college or university, and specially for the maintenance of five bursars. In 1572 the magistrates of Glasgow granted a charter, which was confirmed by act of parliament, conveying to the college certain church property for the support of a professor of divinity, who was to be principal or provost, two regents of philosophy, and twelve poor students. The regents and students were
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1 The four nations were, Natio Clydesdalensis, comprehending the natives of Lanarkshire, Renfrew, and Dumbarton, from Erchless, the source of the Clyde, to Dumbarton; Natio Theridalensis, including the Lothians, Stirling, and all the towns east of the river Urr; Natio Albae, embracing all the country north of the Forth; and Natio Rothessae, including Ayrshire, Galloway, Argyle, with the Isles, Lennox, and Ireland.
2 Commissioners' Report, p. 215. Malden, p. 156.
3 M'Crie's Life of Melville, i. 70. Confession of Faith. It might be supposed that these gifts would have been sufficient to place the college on a respectable footing; but it appears that even then the whole funds did not exceed L300 Scots, or L25 sterling.
Five years afterwards, James VI. new-modelled the constitution, and made a very considerable addition to the revenue. The charter then granted forms the basis of the present constitution, and is known by the name of Nova Erectio. According to it, the college was to consist of a principal and three regents, to each of whom certain salaries were assigned, four poor students, and servants. The principal, who was to have the ordinary jurisdiction over the members of the college, and to reside there constantly, is to be a proficient in sacred learning, and was required to lecture at least once every day for seven days in the week. He was to nominate, by the king's and faculty's appointment, the own within thirty days, the election devolves upon the chancellor, rector, dean of faculty, and five clergymen, including the minister of Glasgow. The regents were to be elected by the rector, dean, and principal, and were appointed each to a particular department of learning, a principle which had never before been adopted in Scotland, instead of conducting the students through all branches of instruction included in the course. The electors were invested with a visitatorial power over the regents, and might remove them. The principal, if negligent after three admonitions, was removable by the rector, dean, and regents. The rector, dean, and minister of Glasgow were to inspect and audit accounts four times in the year, and to direct the surplus revenue to be applied to the necessary uses of the college. It is obvious that the intention of this charter was to place the college under the effectual superintendence of the university. In 1631, Bishop Boyd granted to the college an additional endowment in the form of a fourth regent, who is believed to have been a professor of Greek. About the same time a new body of statutes was framed by royal authority, which still regulates both the university and college.
The course of instruction prescribed by the Nova Erectio is an additional proof of the enlightened views entertained by the early leaders of the Church of Scotland on the subject of public education; but having already alluded to this subject in connection with the university of St Andrews, our limits will not permit us to give it in detail. It may be sufficient to say, that it embraced every improvement which the learning and experience of Andrew Melville had been able to devise. Small fees, varying with the rank and standing of the students, were to be paid at matriculation to the tutor and beadle. New students, as well as those who had attended the former year, were to be examined in the beginning of October; and the examination of candidates for the degree of master arts was to be held on the third week of August. After due examination, the dean and others were to decide on the qualifications of the several candidates, and to arrange their names according to merit. The examiners were to be the dean, principal, professors, and the master of the grammar-school, all of whom were to be faithful and impartial. Degrees were to be solemnly conferred by the chancellor. Homoeopathic medicine was to be taught to the students, according to the rank and fortune of the students. Some of the nobility and barons of Scotland were to pay annually at least L3; those of the second rank, who, though inferior to the former, possessed means sufficiently ample, were to pay L2; those of the third rank to pay L1; the poor were to be admitted free of all charge.
The constitution founded on the Nova Erectio has at different times been extended and improved by commissions of visitation. One appointed by the General Assembly in 1639, and renewed in subsequent years, recognised, in 1640, a class of humanity, and instituted a separate professorship of divinity. In 1642, another professorship of divinity was established by the university, and distinct departments of study were assigned to the principal and the other two professors of this branch. A professorship of medicine, which had existed for some time, was declared to be unnecessary. By the same commission, strict regulations were made respecting the study of Greek and Latin, the performance of public exercises, and the regularity of attendance. The most material change effected on the constitution of James I. was this: "on the understanding that it was a disadvantage to students to change their masters annually, it was required that every master, instead of continuing to teach the same branch, should educate his own scholars through all the four classes;" four Glasgow years being the curriculum necessary for graduation in arts.
In 1727 a royal visitation made several important regulations, which have ever since remained in force. It declared the right of electing a rector to be in all the matriculated members, moderators, or masters and students; revised the system of teaching introduced by the charter of Nova Erectio; and assigned permanent professors to the three classes of philosophy. The Semi Class was set apart for logic and metaphysics, the Bachelor Class for moral philosophy and natural philosophy, and the Magistratus Class for physics and experimental philosophy. Besides the professors of humanity, Greek, and philosophy, the visitation recognised professors of divinity, law, medicine, botany, anatomy, oriental languages, mathematics, and history, requiring them to teach whenever five or more scholars presented themselves. The same commission defined the powers of the faculty meetings, and sanctioned certain privileges which had been assumed by them in contradiction to the statutes, and which by this time had passed into usage. As the meetings of the faculty were composed only of professors, this interpretation tended to give the college greater power of self-government, and to remove it from the control of the officers of the university."
The exclusive rights thus granted to the college were submitted to the Court of Session in the years 1771 and 1772. The court declared that the whole revenue and property of the college are vested in the principal and masters, and are not subject to the control of the rector and his assessors. At the same time it recognised the visitors appointed by the charter of foundation, and their right to audit the college accounts, and to dispose of the surplus revenue. The right of election to professorships, which the charter intrusted to the rector, dean, and principal, was found to be in the rector, dean, and faculty meeting, or, in other words, in the professors themselves. The distinctive privilege of professors of the university, and of the college of Glasgow, was finally made in 1807, in a lawsuit which arose out of the appointment of a regius professor of natural history. The incumbent claimed a right to participate in all the powers and privileges of the faculty, and to be admitted as a member of the college, which was resisted by that body. The Court of Session recognised the rank of the incumbent as a professor in the university, but declared that he was not a member of the college, and not entitled to share its property, or to vote in any of its meetings. This decision was acquiesced in by the crown; and, in all subsequent appointments to regius professorships, restrictions have been introduced which are intended to be in conformity with the deliverance of the court.
The university at present consists of a chancellor, rector, dean present of faculty, principal, professors, and students. The business of Constitution is transacted in three distinct meetings; those of the Senate (Senatus Academici), the Comitia or general Congregation, and the Faculty. The Senate consists of the rector, dean, members of faculty, and the other professors. In this meeting the rector presides, except when affairs are managed for which the dean is competent. Meetings of the senate are held for the election and admission of the chancellor and dean of faculty, the vice-chancellor and vice-rector, for electing a representative to the General Assembly, for conferring degrees, for the management of the libraries, and other matters belonging to the university. The constituent members of the Comitia are, the rector, dean, principal, professors, and the matriculated students of the university. In this meeting the rector or vice-rector presides. Meetings of the comitia are held for the election and admission of the rector, for hearing public disputations in any of the faculties previously to the conferring of degrees, for the admission of professors, and for promulgating the laws and other acts of the university and college courts. The Meeting of Faculty, or College Meeting, consists of the principal and professors of divinity, ecclesiastical history, oriental languages, natural philosophy, moral philosophy, mathematics, logic, Greek, humanity, civil law, medicine, anatomy, and practical astronomy. In this meeting the principal presides, and has a casting, but not a deliberative vote. The members of the faculty have the administration of the whole revenue and property of the college, with the exception of a few particular bequests, in which the rector and other officers of the university are specially interested. Along with the rector and dean they exercise the patronage of eight professorships, which is vested in the college.
The Chancellor, who is the highest officer in the university, is Chancellor, elected by the senate. As at St Andrews, he is usually a nobleman, and he holds his appointment for life. The chancellor nomi-
This mode of conducting academical education was long followed in all the universities of Scotland; and, chiefly from the influence of Dr Melden, who gave it a decided preference, continued to prevail at Aberdeen till 1800. Commissioners' Report, p. 221.
Melden, p. 159.
New Statistical Account of Scotland, No. vii. p. 173. nates a deputy or vice-chancellor, and by himself or deputy has the sole privilege of conferring degrees on persons found qualified by the senate.
The Rector is elected by the comitia, divided into nations, according to the act of visitation in 1727. This office in ancient times was invariably held by a clergyman; and it was not till 1717 that the royal commission ordered that the rector should not be a minister, nor bear any other office in the university. By the statutes, the rector is an annual magistrate; but it has long been customary to re-elect the same person for a second year. His duties were formerly important; but the practice of electing men distinguished in literature and politics, who are non-resident, has led to the remiss and inefficient discharge of them. The rector nominates a vice-rector, generally a professor, who in his absence is entitled to preside in the senate and comitia, and to exercise the other duties of the office, with the exception of the visitatorial power.
The Dean of Faculties is elected by the senate, and generally holds his office for two years. He is entitled to exercise a superintendence over the studies, and, in conjunction with the masters, to judge of the qualifications of candidates for degrees.
The Principal, who must be a minister of the church of Scotland, is appointed by the crown. In right of his office he is principalius professor of divinity; but the duty of teaching has long been discontinued. He is the head of the college, presides in all meetings of the faculty, and exercises the ordinary superintendence of the deportment of all members of the university.
The other officers are, a Factor, appointed by the college to collect the revenue, keep accounts, &c., who must not be principal, a professor, or master, in the university; a librarian, janitor, beadle, &c.
In the original foundation, the faculties of theology, the canon law, the civil law, and the arts, are expressly enumerated; and medicine and music, though not specified, are implied. Soon after the erection of the university, special efforts were made to teach the canon and civil law, and professors of divinity are occasionally mentioned; but till the reformation there seems to have been no regular course of instruction, except in the faculty of arts. The university now contains four faculties; those of arts, theology, law, and medicine. The faculty of law is confined to the single professor of the civil law; the other faculties have the usual complement of professors. The professors of Greek, logic, moral and natural philosophy, whose chairs were earliest endowed, are denominated regents, and enjoy, in right of their regency, certain trifling privileges. The regius professors, whose chairs have been recently founded and endowed by the crown, are members of the senate only, and not of the faculty of the college.
The Revenues of the university and college are derived from estates, tithes, and bequests, and, with some unimportant exceptions, are administered by the principal and professors of the college, under the control of the ordinary visiters. The gross revenue, including personal grants, which together make Ls.10, is invested in Ls.914 to Ls.916.10s. 3d. From this fund the principal and thirteen faculty professors receive their salaries; the others are endowed by grants from the crown.
Connected with the college are twenty-nine foundations for Bursaries, whose benefit extends to about sixty-five students. Their average annual value is Ls.1165. 10s. 4d.; the highest being Ls.50, and the lowest Ls.4. 10s.; and they are tenable for periods varying from three to eight years. Besides the bursaries, the principal and professors of the college possess the right of nominating students, natives of Scotland, who have attended two sessions at the university of Glasgow, or one session there and two at some other Scottish university, to ten exhibitions at Balliol College, Oxford, on the foundation of John Snell. Each exhibition is of the yearly value of Ls.132, and lasts for ten years. Another foundation, by John Warner, bishop of Rochester, of Ls.20 a year, to each of four Scottish students at the same college, during their residence at Oxford, is generally given to the Glasgow exhibitors, so that each of them has an income of Ls.132. Warner's exhibitions are in the gift of the bishop of Canterbury and the bishop of Rochester, who usually nominate on the recommendation of the master of Balliol College.
The Session commences on the 10th of October, and ends in the beginning of May. The only lectures delivered in summer are those of the professor of botany, whose course continues from the 29th of April till the 20th of July.
Students in the faculty of arts may enter either the humanity or Greek class, and must proceed regularly to the logic, moral, philosophy, and natural philosophy, in order to their obtaining degrees, or being admitted to the classes of divinity. Such as are not natives of Scotland may enter the logic class in the first year if found qualified. There is no examination previously to admission; but soon after the commencement of the session, the students of Greek, logic, moral and natural philosophy, are publicly examined on the subject of their studies in the preceding year. This is called the Blackstone Examination, and takes place in presence of the principal, the professor whose class is proposed to be entered, and of all others who choose to attend.
The ordinary academical Discipline is conducted by the principal and the five professors of the Gown classes, viz., the professors of humanity, Greek, logic, moral and natural philosophy, who meet with the students on the Saturdays in the common hall, and take cognizance of all petty delinquencies. Punishments are inflicted by admonition, fine, and sometimes by extra exercises. Cases of a graver character are brought before the faculty and rectorial court, whose jurisdiction extends even to expulsion. The professors are at due pains to enforce regular attendance, and to stimulate the industry of the students. All students, except those who obtain dispensations, are required to attend divine worship every Sunday in the college chapel. The students of languages and philosophy wear gowns of scarlet cloth or frieze.
The number of students in session 1830-40 was 940; Graduates in arts, 38; in medicine, 66; in surgery, 13; in divinity, 67; in law, 2. The fees for graduation in arts are Ls.1; in divinity, Ls.2; in medicine, Ls.2. 3s.; for LL.B., Ls.10, and for LL.D., Ls.20.
The following table contains a list of the professorships, with the date of their foundation, the patronage, the salary attached to each, and the fees exigible by the professors.
| Faculty professorships | Founded | Salary | Fees | Patronage | |-----------------------|--------|--------|-----|-----------| | Principal | 1577 | Ls.450 11 11½ | ... | Crown. | | Logic and rhetoric | 1577 | Ls.289 6 6 | Ls.3 3 0 | Faculty, rector, and dean. | | Moral philosophy | 1577 | Ls.296 11 0½ | 3 3 0 | Faculty, rector, and dean. | | Natural philosophy | 1577 | Ls.291 2 1 | 4 4 0 | Faculty, rector, and dean. | | Greek | 1581 | Ls.289 8 10 | 3 3 0 | Faculty, rector, and dean. | | Divinity | 1630 | Ls.423 10 7½ | 2 2 0 | Faculty, rector, and dean. | | Humanity | 1637 | Ls.289 8 11 | 3 3 0 | Faculty, rector, and dean. | | Mathematics | 1691 | Ls.292 0 0 | 3 3 0 | Faculty, rector, and dean. | | Oriental languages | 1709 | Ls.300 0 0½ | 2 2 0 | Faculty, rector, and dean. | | Theory and practice of medicine | 1713 | Ls.270 0 0 | 3 3 0 | Crown. | | Civil law | 1713 | Ls.310 0 0 | 5 5 0 | Crown. | | Anatomy | 1716 | Ls.250 0 0 | 3 3 0 | Crown. | | Ecclesiastical history | 1720 | Ls.322 0 0 | 2 2 0 | Crown. | | Practical astronomy | 1760 | Ls.270 0 0 | ... | Crown. | | Natural history | 1807 | Ls.100 0 0 | 2 2 0 | Crown. | | Surgery | 1815 | Ls.50 0 0 | 3 3 0 | Crown. | | Midwifery | 1815 | Ls.50 0 0 | 3 3 0 | Crown. | | Chemistry | 1817 | Ls.50 0 0 | 3 3 0 | Crown. | | Botany | 1818 | Ls.150 0 0 | 3 3 0 | Crown. | | Materia medica | 1831 | Ls.40 0 0 | 3 3 0 | Crown. | | Forensic medicine | 1839 | Ls.75 0 0 | 3 3 0 | Crown. | | Institutes of medicine | 1839 | ... | 3 3 0 | Crown. | | Civil engineering | 1840 | Ls.250 0 0 | ... | Crown. | The fee here given in the Greek class is that for the public class. The fee for the private class is L1.1s., and attendance is free after two sessions. The fee for private students in the natural philosophy class is L3. 3s., and for the experimental course L2. 5s. The professor of natural history has a class of minerals, the fee for which is L1. 10s. 6d. The fee for the class of civil law, which is taught by the professor of the civil law, is L4.
A part of the salaries of the principal and the professors of divinity is payable in grain, and varies with the price of that article. Several of the professors receive also the grant of land.
The principal and thirteen professors occupy houses erected by the college; the expense of keeping them in repair, the trees, and civic burdens being also defrayed out of the college funds.