COLLEGE LIFE IN MID-CENTURY
College life in mid-century, or rather in the "forties and fifties,"
during the early dark days of struggle and ten years thereafter,
differed greatly from College life in our day. It is difficult perhaps
fully to realise the changes since that time in other ways than growth.
The McGill of our day is not the McGill of seventy years ago, not merely
in its accommodation and its advantages, but in its internal activities.
[Illustration: _McGill College in_ 1855]
Under the original Statutes of the College the administration was under
the control of four distinct bodies: (1) The Corporation, which met
annually on the day after commencement day "to inspect the Books and
Accounts of the Registrar, Bursar and Secretary and to transact all such
business relative to the property of the University as might be
necessary." This body seems to have taken no part in strictly Academic
discussions. (2) The Board of Governors, which met quarterly in March,
June, September and December, and which was in supreme control; two
constituted a quorum and the Principal had a double or casting vote. (3)
The Caput, which met weekly and consisted of the Principal,
Vice-Principal and Professors, three forming a quorum. The duty of this
body was "to frame Rules and Regulations for the discipline, lectures,
studies and internal government of the Lecturers, Scholars, Students,
Inferior Officers and other members of the College and to make
regulations regarding the expenses and system of living within the
College." They had no control at first, however, over studies or
lecturers in the Faculty of Medicine. (4) The Convocation, which met
"four times in every Term for the purposes of conferring Degrees, such
meetings being regulated by the Caput." Every Professor, Lecturer and
Tutor had to take the oath of allegiance and of office.
Discipline was severe and was rigidly enforced. Every Professor was
given power to punish students by confinement and fine, the fine not to
exceed five shillings and the confinement not to exceed twelve hours.
Many of the early regulations are of interest. The duties of the
Vice-Principal seem to have been responsible and arduous. All
disciplinary measures as well as the general conduct of the University
were under his direct supervision. He was compelled to reside in the
College, and during the non-residence of the Principal he was to be "the
parent and guardian of the College Household." It was his duty "to
examine students for matriculation, maintain the observance of the
Statutes by Professors, Students, Inferior Officers and all other
resident members of the College, enforcing such observance by
admonitions and punishments; to direct the students in their studies,
promoting by all the means in his power their progress in Religion, and
Learning; to preside over the Collegiate Exercises and regulate the
Inferior Officers and Servants of the College." At meals served in the
College distinctive tables were provided, one for "Members of
Convocation and Bachelors of Civil Law, Lecturers, Fellows and Tutors";
one for Bachelors of Arts and Students in Law and Medicine who had
graduated in Arts; and one or more for undergraduates. The academical
year consisted of three terms, the Michaelmas Term, the Lent Term and
the Easter Term, and it extended from the first Wednesday in September
until the third Wednesday in June. The Arts course extended over three
years. Until a Chapel should be built it was imperative that Divine
Service should be held in some convenient room, and on the first and
last days of every term the Principal or one of the Professors,
Lecturers or Tutors selected by the Principal for the purpose, preached
a sermon in the College or in one of the Protestant churches of
Montreal; attendance in full academic dress of all the members of the
University excepting those who had obtained a dispensation was
compulsory. The prayers in the College Chapel were said morning and
evening; the service was conducted in rotation by Officers of the
College.
It was required that "the dress of all members of the University should
be plain, decent and comely without superfluous ornament." No member of
the Arts Faculty was allowed to appear in Church, Chapel, Lecture or
Dining-hall without his gown and only by special permission from the
Vice-Principal was a student permitted to go outside of the College
grounds without his academic dress. Students were not allowed to resort
to any inn or tavern or place of public amusement without special
permission from the Vice-Principal. They were not allowed to remain out
of College nor to entertain visitors in their rooms after 10 o'clock at
night, and the Vice-Principal, Professors, Lecturers and Tutors had
authority to enter at all hours the rooms of undergraduates. Junior
students were required "to pay the respect due to their Seniors both in
public and in private by taking off their caps, giving place to them and
by other useful modes of attention and civility."
The course of study leading to a degree in the Faculty of Arts was of
three years' duration. Courses were of two kinds, from which students
could make a choice. One consisted of Mathematics, Logic, and Ethics;
the other of Classics. In the former the First Year was devoted to the
study of six books of Euclid, Algebra to the end of Quadratic Equations,
and Trigonometry to the end of the solution of Plain Triangles. In the
second year the course included a repetition of all the first year work,
Analytic Geometry, Differential and Integral Calculus, and Logic,
consisting of Fallacies, Induction and "a sketch of a system of
Philosophy of the Human Mind." The work of the third or final year was
in Physics, Astronomy, and Ethics, principally "Butler's Analogy." In
the Classics course selections from Homer, Virgil, Euripides and Horace
were read in the first year; selections from Cicero, Horace, Demosthenes
and Sophocles in the second year; and selections from Herodotus,
Æschylus, Thucydides, and Tacitus in the third year. In the first and
second years the students were "exercised in Greek and Latin
Composition, and they were also given a few lectures in Ancient History
and Geography." In the third or final year they were exercised in
English Composition.
Conditions in the Medical School at that period have been described by
a contemporary, Dr. D. C. Maccallum, who graduated in 1850, when the
Medical Classes were held in two rooms of the Arts building:
"A large proportion of the students," he said, "were men verging on, or
who had passed, middle age. Indeed, several of them were married men and
the heads of families. There was sufficient of the youthful, however, to
keep things lively. 'Footing Suppers,' practical jokes, and special
country excursions to secure material for practical anatomy, were of
frequent occurrence. The last, involving as it did a certain amount of
danger, commended itself particularly to the daring spirits of the
class, who were always ready to organise and lead an excursion having
that object in view. These excursions were not at all times successful,
and the participators in them were sometimes thwarted in their attempts
and had to beat a precipitate retreat to save themselves from serious
threatened injury. They contributed, moreover, to the unpopularity of
the medical student. 'Footing Suppers' were functions of the simplest
and most unpretentious character. Each new matriculant was expected,
although many failed to conform to the arrangement, to select an evening
on which to entertain his fellow students, the entertainment consisting
generally in furnishing biscuits and beer--the old, time-endorsed 'cakes
and ale.' In partaking of these, smoking, relating humorous stories,
chaffing each other and singing rousing songs, the evening usually
passed with much _bonhommie_. But sometimes they were rather boisterous,
or, at least, noisy and exciting....
"Dissections and demonstrations were made only at stated times during
the morning and afternoon of the day. There evidently existed a marked
disinclination on the part of both demonstrator and student to work at
night in the highest story of a lonely building, far removed from other
dwellings, imperfectly heated, and lighted by candles, the light being
barely sufficient to render the surrounding darkness visible. Having
occupied for two seasons the position of Prosector to the Professor of
Anatomy, I had to prepare, during the greater part of the session, the
dissections of the parts which were to be the subject of the Professor's
lecture on the following day. This necessitated my passing several
hours, usually from nine to twelve o'clock at night, in the dismal,
foul-smelling dissecting room, my only company being several partially
dissected subjects, and numerous rats which kept up a lively racket
coursing over and below the floor and within the walls of the room.
Their piercing and vicious shrieks as they fought together, the thumping
caused by their bodies coming into forcible contact with the floor and
walls, and the rattling produced by their rush over loose bones,
furnished a variety of sounds that would have been highly creditable to
any old-fashioned haunted house. I must acknowledge that the eeriness of
my surroundings was such that I sometimes contemplated a retreat, and
was prevented from carrying it into effect only by a sense of duty and a
keen dislike to being chaffed by my fellow-students for having cowardly
deserted my work....
"The examinations for the degree of the University were conducted
orally, ten minutes being allowed to each examiner. The janitor,
supplied with a watch and a large bell, was placed in the hall outside
the door of the library, the room in which the examinations took place.
At the expiration of each ten minutes he rang the bell, and the
candidates went from one examiner to another. This was repeated until
the student had completed the round of examining professors. Immediately
on the termination of the examinations, the professors met and decided
then and there the fate of the candidates. The latter, in the meantime,
waited in the College in a rather painful state of suspense. They were
summoned separately before the Professors, and the result, favourable or
unfavourable, was in each case made known to the individual....
"It was customary at this time for the student to be indentured to a
practicing physician, or, if not so bound notarially, to make a private
arrangement with him to be allowed to study in his office and to be
considered as his pupil. For this privilege a fee of £20 was usually
demanded. Apart from the éclat which was supposed to be attached to the
position of a student under a popular physician, and the belief of the
possibility of the patron being able to forward the interests of his
pupils, there were, as a rule, few advantages derived from this
association. It is true that in exceptional cases, if the physician had
a large clientele and took a warm interest in his students, he could, by
arranging their studies, occasionally examining them on the work done,
and directing them in the routine of office work, be of material
assistance to them. The office work of a physician in large practice,
however, offered an excellent opportunity to acquire much practical
knowledge. As, with few exceptions, physicians prescribed and dispensed
their own medicines, the articled student had the opportunity of making
up all the prescriptions. He compounded pills, a variety of which were
always kept prepared for use, and he made the different tinctures and
ointments. He had the privilege, also, of assisting at minor surgical
operations, such as were performed in the office, of making physical
examinations, of applying tests; in short, office practice offered the
same facilities for acquiring practical knowledge, although in a minor
degree, that the outdoor practice of a hospital or the practice of a
dispensary affords...."
The recreations of students who dwelt in the College or its vicinity
were few and simple. There were no athletic teams or athletic games.
Indeed, the number of students in Arts and Law was scarcely sufficient
to permit the forming of athletic teams, and the medical students were
too busy all day and were too far from the College grounds to take an
active part in college sports. There was no gymnasium and no physical
instruction. There were no fraternities other than the fraternity of
McGill itself. There was no Union, no Y. M. C. A. On evenings in spring
and summer a military band usually played near the "ornamental bridge"
over the stream in "the hollow" near the present Physics building.
Citizens came up from the City to listen to the band, and before the
Easter term ended students, too, enjoyed the music. The College grounds
were long used by citizens as a park. The students seemed to have had an
occasional dance during the spring term, and at times there were
receptions in Professors' rooms to which students were invited. Later in
the "fifties," after the coming of Principal Dawson, other forms of
entertainment were added. Of these Dr. Dawson wrote: "Evening gatherings
at regular intervals during the session were arranged, and cards of
invitation for these were sent to the different classes or years in
rotation. At such gatherings there was usually music, sometimes a short
recitation or address on some topic of interest, and scientific
instruments, specimens and photographs were shown, simple refreshments
provided, and every effort made to cause those who attended to feel
thoroughly at home." Sometimes there were gatherings which took the form
of what were known as "conversaziones," during which conversation,
supposedly on literary or scientific subjects, but more frequently on
less dignified topics, took the place of the dances of to-day.
On the whole, college life in the mid-century was characterised by a
Spartan simplicity. The students of that period seemingly enjoyed its
somewhat humble joys and its unostentatious and frugal amusements. Life
in that time was, at least, not artificial or luxurious or competitive
or sectional; but whether the plain living of the period was more
conducive to high thinking than the multifarious student activities of a
later day cannot here be answered.