DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
“_Semel arreptos nunquam dimittet honores._”
MOTTO FROM THE EARLIEST GOLD MEDAL.
1792-1892.
Roman Catholics were not permitted to take Degrees in the
University of Dublin up to the year 1793. By an Act of the Irish
Parliament of that year, followed by a Royal Statute of the College
in 1794, this disability was removed, but neither Roman Catholics
nor Protestant Dissenters could at that time, nor for nearly
eighty years after, be elected to Fellowships or Scholarships on
the foundation of the College. In 1843 an attempt was made to
contest the law on this point. Mr. Denis Caulfield Heron, a Roman
Catholic Sizar, became a candidate for Scholarship in 1843, and
was examined in conformity with the Statutes. There were sixteen
vacancies, and his answering would have placed him fifth in order
of merit, but the electors did not consider him to be eligible
on account of his religion. Mr. Heron appealed to the Visitors,
who declined to enter into an inquiry on the subject. He then, in
Trinity Term 1844, applied to the Court of Queen’s Bench to grant
a _mandamus_ to force the Visitors to hear his appeal. This, after
argument, was granted by the Court in June, 1845. In accordance
with this command, the Visitors held a Court of Appeal in December,
1845, and they heard the arguments of eminent counsel on both
sides, aided by their assessor, the Right Hon. Richard Keatinge.
Their decision was to the effect that, considering the precise and
pointed language of the Act of 1793, and the whole body of College
Charters and Statutes, it was the clear intention of the Crown, by
the Royal Statute of 1794, merely to give to Roman Catholics the
benefit of a liberal education and the right to obtain Degrees,
but without allowing them to become members of the Corporation of
Trinity College, or in any manner changing its Protestant character.
In order that the students who were not members of the then
Established Church should not be debarred from the advantages
of Scholarships, the Board in 1854 decided to establish a class
of “Non-Foundation Scholars,” which should not be restricted to
any religious denomination. The Scholarships were awarded as the
results of the same examination by which the Foundation Scholars
were elected, and were confined to those whose answering at the
Scholarship Examination was superior to that of the lowest of those
who were elected to Foundation places. The tenure and the value of
the Non-Foundation Scholarships was the same as of those on the
Foundation, and they were awarded for good answering either in
Mathematics or in Classics.
Matters remained in this state until the year 1873, when the late
Mr. Fawcett, afterwards Postmaster-General, succeeded in passing
an Act of Parliament, 36 Vic. c. 21, with the full assent of the
College authorities, which abolished Tests in the University of
Dublin, except in the case of Professors and Lecturers in the
Faculty of Theology, and opened all offices and appointments in the
College to every person, irrespective of his religious opinions.
At the time of the Union with Great Britain, in 1800, the
University lost one of its two members, but it continued to
return one member to the Imperial Parliament, the electors being,
as before, the Provost, Fellows, and Foundation Scholars. This
constituency, taking account of minors, fell much short of one
hundred. By the Reform Act, in 1833, the second member was restored
to the University of Dublin, but the constituency was enlarged
so as to include ex-Scholars, Masters of Arts, and Doctors in
the several faculties, and special Commencements were held in
the following November, at which a very large number of Masters’
degrees were conferred; the number of registered electors at once
rose to 1,570. The constituency now numbers 4,334.
The history of Trinity College during the first half of the
nineteenth century offers but little to note, apart from the great
advances which were made in the studies of the University and the
Professional Schools, and which will be hereafter detailed in their
proper places. The increase in the funds of the College admitted,
and the requirements of the College demanded, an augmentation
in the number of Junior Fellows from fifteen to eighteen. This
increase was made by a Royal Statute in 1808. It was enacted that
there should be no election to any of these Fellowships in any
year in which there was a natural vacancy, and that in the case of
no such vacancy happening, one of these new Fellowships should be
filled until the number of three was in this way completed. These
three additions were made in the years 1808, 1809, and 1811. In
the years 1802, 1803, 1804, and 1806 there had been no Fellowship
vacant at the time of the annual elections, and, but for this
addition, from 1802 to 1811 there would have been seven years
without a Fellowship Examination.
At this period, although the Statutes of the College forbade the
marriage of the Fellows, yet it was well known that for a good
many years many of them more or less openly violated the law of
the College in this respect. In some cases their wives continued
to be known by their maiden names; and the public understood this,
and did not discountenance it. In 1811 a new and very stringent
Statute was enacted, which required every Fellow on his election
to swear that he was then unmarried, and that, should he marry at
any time of his tenure of Fellowship, he would within three months
inform the Provost. This practically required all future married
Fellows to resign. An exception, however, was made in favour of
the existing Fellows, whether married or not in 1811. The Celibacy
Statute, as it was called, remained in force until 1840, when it
was repealed, and all restrictions upon marriage removed. This
repeal was not effected without considerable agitation, which
commenced in 1836. The value of the benefices in the gift of the
College had fallen at least twenty-five per cent., in consequence
of the commutation of tithe payable by the occupier of land into
a rent charge payable by his landlord. In the greater part of the
South of Ireland where the anti-tithe war had raged, and where the
clergy had found it impossible to collect the revenues of their
benefices, the change was decidedly advantageous. In the North of
Ireland, however, where the College livings lay, no such resistance
to the payment of tithes had been experienced, and consequently the
change was a loss to the clergy. This, added to the poor’s rate,
which was then introduced, and the ecclesiastical tax upon livings,
which was at that time first imposed, had so greatly reduced the
value of the College benefices, that many of them failed to attract
the Fellows. In addition to this, the income of the Junior Fellows
had become more equable and more certain, and their labours had
diminished in consequence of the change which was effected by the
adoption of a division of tutorial fees and of tutorial lectures
in 1835; consequently few of the Junior Fellows were disposed to
change an agreeable literary life in Dublin for a retirement in the
country, even though they should be thus enabled to marry.
In February, 1836, the Provost and Senior Fellows, two only
dissenting, agreed to join the Junior Fellows in an application
to the Lord Lieutenant for a repeal of the obnoxious Statute,
suggesting, however, that the six most Junior of the Fellows should
be exempted from the permission to marry. The Earl of Mulgrave,
then Viceroy, declined to recommend the change. At the end of
1838 a further memorial was presented to the representative of
the Crown, praying that the Fellows above the lower nine of the
body should be allowed to marry. The Provost and Senior Fellows
concurred in the prayer of the memorial, stipulating, however,
that the plan should be accompanied by such measures as would
prevent the College livings from being declined by the whole body
of Fellows. On the arrival of a new Viceroy (Lord Fortescue) in
1839, a memorial was presented to him by the College asking for a
repeal of the Celibacy Statute. To this there was a considerable
opposition on the part of the great body of the Scholars and
prospective Fellowship candidates, on the ground that the existing
Fellows would be settled for life in the College, and the vacancies
for fresh elections would become very rare, and thus the highest
mathematical and literary studies in the College would suffer. It
was known, also, that the Archbishop of Armagh, Lord John George
Beresford, who was then Vice-Chancellor, and who took a warm
interest in the welfare of the College, was strongly opposed to
the repeal of this Statute. In the end the Government was guided
by the advice of Dr. Dickinson, afterwards Bishop of Meath, and in
1840 the Celibacy Statute was repealed; ten new Fellowships were
added, one to be elected each year; the six junior of the Fellows
were excluded from the emoluments of the tutors, and restricted to
the statutable emoluments of a Junior Fellow (about £37 a-year,
with rooms and dinner in the Hall); and the number of Tutor Fellows
was increased from fifteen to nineteen, the average income of the
tutors being thus diminished by 21 per cent.
It could scarcely be expected that an institution like Trinity
College, which at that time had many political enemies, should
escape a searching inquiry at the hands of a Royal Commission;
and accordingly, in April, 1851, a full and minute investigation
was made into the working of the College, the Commissioners being
Archbishop Whately, Lord Chancellor Brady, the Earl of Rosse,
the Bishop of Cork, Doctor Mountiford Longfield, and Edward J.
Cooper, Esq. The Commissioners reported in April, 1853, and in a
manner highly favourable to the College. They found “that numerous
improvements of an important character have been from time to
time introduced by the authorities of the College, and that the
general state of the College is satisfactory. There is great
activity and efficiency in the different departments, and the
spirit of improvement has been especially shown in the changes
which have been introduced in the course of education, to adapt
it to the requirements of the age.” They ended in recommending
some twenty-five changes. But they took care to add that these
recommendations did not involve any great or fundamental alteration
in the arrangements of the University, or in the system of
education pursued in it. “From its present state,” they add, “and
from what has already been effected by the authorities of the
College, we do not believe such changes to be required.”
Most of these recommendations have since that time been carried
out by Royal Statutes, which were obtained at the request of the
Provost and Senior Fellows, and in the application for which they
were strengthened by the report of the Commissioners. 1. The
Statutes underwent a complete revision. 2. Senior Fellows ceased to
hold Professorships. 3. The Board obtained power to vary, with the
consent of the Visitors, the subjects prescribed for the Fellowship
Examinations, and to regulate the mode in which the Examination
should be conducted, so that any Junior Fellow who holds a
Professorship may now be summoned to examine in the subject of his
Professorship. 4. Each vacancy for Fellowship or Scholarship is
now filled by a separate vote of the electors, and the successful
candidates are placed in the order of merit. 5. The fees payable
to the tutors are no longer divided irrespectively of the number
of pupils of each tutor, but a proportion of the fees paid by each
student is paid directly to his College tutor, and the remainder
paid into a common fund, from which certain Professorships are
endowed, which are tenable by Junior Fellows alone. 6. The general
obligation to take Holy Orders is no longer imposed on the Fellows,
the number of Lay Fellows being at first increased from three to
five. 7. Ex-Fellows are now eligible for the Regius Professorship
of Divinity. 8. The Professors of Modern Languages are now elected
as other Professors, and these languages may now be selected by
students of the Sophister Classes and for the B.A. degree in lieu
of Greek and Latin. 9. The Board and Visitors have now the power
of altering the subjects for the Scholarship Examination, and by a
recent Statute the tenure of the Scholarship has been limited to
five years. 10. Twenty Senior and twenty Junior Exhibitions of £25
each tenable for two years have been founded, and they are open to
students without respect to creed. 11. No distinction is now made
between Pensioners, Fellow Commoners, and Noblemen as to the course
of education required for the B.A. degree. 12. The formal exercises
then required for the different degrees have been discontinued,
and (except the M.A. degree) all the higher degrees have been made
real tests of merit. 13. Full power to admit readers to the College
Library has been conferred upon the Provost and Senior Fellows. 14.
An auditor of the College is now appointed by the Visitors, and
an audited balance sheet and account of income and expenditure is
annually presented to them, and is open to the inspection of all
members of the Corporation. 15. The Bursar is now paid by salary
and not by fees, and local land agents have been appointed in cases
in which the occupying tenants hold directly from the College.
16. The College officers formerly paid by fees are now paid by
salaries in proportion to the services performed by them. 17. There
has been a gradual reduction in the number of Non-Tutor Fellows
created by the Statute of 1840. These form the great majority of
the recommendations of the Royal Commissioners.
In addition to these alterations some considerable improvements
were effected by the Royal Statute of the 18th Victoria. The whole
of the College Statutes were carefully revised, and the obsolete
and injurious enactments were repealed. The power of assigning or
of transferring pupils from one tutor to another, which Provost
Hutchinson attempted to exercise in an arbitrary manner, was
removed from the Provost and vested in the Board; and to the Board,
with the consent of the Visitors, was given the power, which they
had not before, of founding new Professorships and offices, and
of assigning salaries to be paid to them from the revenues of the
College.
Immediately after these powers had been granted by Letters
Patent, the Board and Visitors acted in conformity with their
new authority. In 1855 a decree was passed dividing the subjects
of the Fellowship Examination into four--Mathematics, Classics
(including Hebrew), Mental and Moral Sciences, and Experimental
Physics; the time for the examination was greatly extended. Science
scholarships were founded, and the number of days of examination,
both for classical and science scholarships, increased; and in the
same year a similar decree regulated the salary and duties of the
Regius Professor of Greek, and founded new Professorships of Arabic
and of English Literature. In 1856 certain salaries of College
officers were fixed, and the salaries of the Professor of Geology
and of Erasmus Smith’s Professor of Natural Philosophy (when held
by a Junior Fellow) were regulated. In 1858 a decree was passed
which transferred all fees hitherto payable to College officers to
the general funds of the College, and assigned fixed salaries in
lieu of them. Two Senior Tutorships, each with a salary of £800,
were founded; the salary of the Examinerships held by Non-Tutor
Fellows was raised to £100 per annum; Classical Honour Lectureships
were instituted, and a Professorship of Sanscrit and Comparative
Philology. In 1862 two Professorships of Modern Languages were
established, the salaries of the holders being paid out of the
funds of the College--the Act of Parliament 18 and 19 Victoria,
cap. 82, having deprived the College of two annual sums of £92
6s. 2d. each, which had been granted by the 41 George III., cap.
32, out of the Consolidated Fund for this purpose. The same Act
dispossessed the College of its earliest, and only, subvention from
the State, which was granted by Queen Elizabeth--an annual charge
of £358 16s. on the revenues of Ireland; the grounds assigned
for this deprivation being the removal of the stamp duties on
Degrees,[98] which had been imposed on the College only thirteen
years before. These duties (which have long since been abolished in
England) were £1 on matriculation, £3 for the degree of B.A., and
£6 for any other degree.
The University--consisting of the Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor,
Doctors in the several faculties, and Masters of Arts--having
been governed for more than two hundred years by certain rules
or Statutes which had, by lapse of time, become in many respects
obsolete and unsuited to the present state of the University, and
doubts having been raised as to whether the Provost and Senior
Fellows of the College had the power to alter or amend these rules,
Letters Patent were asked for and granted by the Crown (July 24,
1857), confirming all former powers, usages, and privileges,
giving the Board power to make laws concerning the conferring of
Degrees, provided that such laws should be afterwards confirmed
by the University Senate, enacting that no “grace” should be
proposed to that body which had not been first adopted by the
Board; incorporating the University Senate under the name of the
Chancellor, Masters, and Doctors of the University of Dublin, and
giving the Senate power to elect the Chancellor from three names to
be submitted to them by the Board, who relinquished their old right
in this respect. Further Letters Patent were obtained in 1858,
which enabled the Board to commute the fees of certain offices for
lesser salaries, and to forego fees hitherto payable to them for
Degrees which were in future to be applied to the benefit of the
College; and out of the funds so transferred fourteen Studentships
were founded, at a salary of £100 per annum for each, tenable for
seven years, to be given every year at the Degree Examination; two
new offices (Senior Tutorships), to be held by Junior Fellows,
were created; two of the Non-Tutor Fellowships were merged among
the Tutor Fellowships, and the remaining four were gradually
discontinued. The Board was given power to sanction new rules for
the distribution of the tutorial fees, and a clause was added
enabling candidates for Fellowships to attend only on the days on
which the courses in which they compete are examined in, and giving
other powers to the Board.
In conformity with the powers granted to the Board by the Letters
Patent of 1857, in December of the following year they remodelled,
with the approval of the Senate, all the University rules with
respect to Degrees. Further Letters Patent were obtained in 1865,
rectifying defects in the existing Statutes, specially with respect
to the examination for Fellowships, and in 1868 for the creation
of a Regius Professor of Surgery. In 1870 the Provost and Senior
Fellows founded a Professor of Latin, under the same regulations
which prevailed with regard to the Professor of Greek; and at the
same time they founded forty Exhibitions of £25 each, tenable
for two years, twenty Senior and twenty Junior, to aid deserving
students in the prosecution of their undergraduate course. In 1871
the Professorships of Ancient History and of Zoology were founded,
and in 1872 a Professorship of Comparative Anatomy.
The Act of Parliament amending the law with regard to promissory
oaths, and that of 1873 abolishing religious tests in the
University of Dublin, necessitated further changes in the Royal
Statutes of the College, and these were effected by Letters Patent
of 1874, which also founded the Academic Council, and transferred
to it, from the Provost and Senior Fellows, the nomination to
Professorships, and gave to it, concurrently with the Board, the
power to regulate the studies of the College.
This Council consists of sixteen members and the Provost--four
elected by the Senior Fellows, four by the Junior, four by the
Professors who are not Fellows, and four by the Senate at large
(excluding those who are already represented). The representatives
of each class hold office for four years, are elected at the same
time, and vacate office in rotation. The electors can give all
their votes to one candidate, or they may distribute them among
the candidates as they think fit. The election to Professorships
in the Divinity School, of Medical Professors founded by Act of
Parliament, and of Professors of private foundation the appointment
of which is by the wills of the founders vested in the Provost and
Senior Fellows, remains with the Board.
In 1851 a very important Act of Parliament was passed, which
extended the leasing powers of the College in respect to the
estates belonging to the Corporation. Prior to that year it was
precluded from giving leases of the lands belonging to the College
for a longer period than twenty-one years, except in cities, where
sites for building might be leased for forty years. The rent to
be reserved should be equal to one-half of the true value of
the lands, _communibus annis_, at the time of making the lease.
The Provost and Senior Fellows, however, might grant leases for
twenty-one years at a rent equal to that which was hitherto payable
out of the lands, even though it was less than half the value.
The custom was for the College to renew these leases when a few
years had expired, on the payment of fines which were in some
cases considerable, and which were divided among the members of
the Governing Body of the College. These renewal fines formed the
principal part of the incomes of the Senior Fellows. By the Act of
1851 (14 and 15 Victoria, cap. 128) additional powers of leasing
were granted up to ninety-nine years without fines, reserving a
minimum rent of three-fourths of the annual value; making, however,
a reduction in respect to the tenant’s interest in an unexpired
lease when it was surrendered. Also, powers of granting leases in
perpetuity were given to the Board on the surrender by the tenants
of the existing leases. These perpetuity rents were fixed by a
regulation contained in the Statute, and were variable from time
to time, at intervals of ten years, according to the changes in
the prices of certain agricultural commodities. Renewal fines were
abolished, and the Provost and Senior Fellows were compensated
for the loss of them by a fixed annual sum of £800 paid to each
of them out of the revenues of the College. Consequent upon the
changes which have been indicated above, the Senior Fellows
relinquished their claims to an annual sum, which, according to the
Report of the University Commissioners, amounted to about £2,650,
their official salaries being now fixed at sums according to the
duties of the office; and, on the whole, the income of each Senior
Fellow is on the average about £363 less than it was in 1851. The
difference has been employed in the foundation of Studentships and
Exhibitions, the annual charge for which is about £2,000.
The most serious danger with which Trinity College has been
threatened during the present century arose from an attempt which
the Government of the day made in 1873 to deprive it of its
University powers, and of a large portion of its endowments. A
Bill was introduced into the House of Commons by Mr. Gladstone
for the purpose of establishing one University in Ireland, and an
essential part of its proposals was that Trinity College should
cease to be the University of Dublin, and that another Mixed Body
should take its place. That the power of conferring Degrees and
regulating Professorships in this University, and of appointing
and dismissing the Professors, should be vested in a Council of
twenty-eight members, of which Trinity College should have the
power of nominating only two. It proposed that there should be a
number of affiliated Colleges in the country, and that they too
should be represented on this Council, so that a College able to
matriculate fifty students should send one representative, and a
College able to matriculate one hundred and fifty should send two
members, and that no College, however numerous its students, should
be represented by a larger number of members. It was, moreover,
another essential part of this measure, that neither Mental and
Moral Science nor History should form any part of the Professorial
instruction or of the University Examinations. In order to assist
in making up an endowment of £50,000 per annum for the purposes
of this University, it was proposed to suppress Queen’s College,
Galway, and allocate the £10,000 a-year of its endowment; to put a
charge of £12,000 annually on the estates of Trinity College; and
to transfer, moreover, the Degree fees, which are now paid into the
general funds of this College, to the Governing Body of the new
University. The buildings, the library, and the remainder of the
endowments were to belong to the College, which in other respects
should remain, as at present, as a teaching institution.
It is needless to say that this Bill, if carried into a law, would
have ruined Trinity College. A large number of its students would
have been withdrawn, for they could have the prestige of the
Degree of the University of Dublin without being members of the
College, and the fees which they at present pay to the support of
the College and its teachers would have been no longer available.
It is not too much to assert that the College would have lost 33
per cent. of its available revenue, and that it would have been
impossible to maintain it on the income which remained.
Fortunately for the College, the Roman Catholic Bishops opposed the
plan of the Government, which did not include the endowment of a
Roman Catholic College, and which did not meet their demand for a
Roman Catholic University. After a debate lasting for four nights,
the Government proposal was rejected on the 11th of March, 1873, by
a majority of three.
There were two important occasions upon which entertainments on
a scale of considerable grandeur were given during the present
century in the Hall of Trinity College. The first was in 1821, on
the occasion of the visit of George the Fourth to Ireland, when the
King honoured the College with his presence at a great banquet. His
Majesty was received in the Library, where addresses were presented
to him, and after receiving them most graciously he was conducted
through a passage made for the occasion into the Examination Hall,
where were collected at dinner a considerable number of the Irish
nobility, the Bishops of the Irish Church, the Judges, and many
of the most influential persons in the country, along with the
distinguished suite which attended the King.
His Majesty afterwards expressed himself as much gratified by the
reception which he met with in the College. On this occasion the
scholars were entertained at the same time in the Dining Hall,
under the presidency of Dr. Sadlier, then a Junior Fellow, and
afterwards Provost. It was in connection with this visit of the
King that the University of Dublin asserted and secured its right
of precedency after the Corporation of the City.
The second occasion was in August, 1835, when the British
Association made its first visit to Dublin; Dr. Bartholomew Lloyd,
then Provost, was the President of the Association, and some of
the leading scientific men of England and of the Continent were
present. A considerable number of these were accommodated during
the meeting with chambers in the College, and had their breakfasts
and dinners in the Hall. A great banquet was, moreover, given to
the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (the Earl of Mulgrave), and to about
300 members of the Association, in the Examination Hall. The guests
assembled before dinner in the College Library, and His Excellency
took the opportunity of conferring the honour of Knighthood upon
the Professor of Astronomy, William Rowan Hamilton. This was
the first instance in which an Irish Viceroy had so honoured an
individual for eminent scientific merit. At the dinner which
followed, Professor Whewell of Cambridge remarked in his speech
that it was then just one hundred and thirty-six years since a
great man in another University knelt down before his Sovereign
and rose up Sir Isaac Newton. Among the foreign visitors were De
Toqueville, Montalembert, Barclay de Tolly, L. Agassiz, and many
others.
The general history of Trinity College during the nineteenth
century would be incomplete if some reference were not made to a
matter which elicited considerable public feeling at the time,
but which is now almost forgotten. On the 12th of March, 1858,
the Earl of Eglinton, who had been very popular as Viceroy of
Ireland on a previous occasion, returned as Lord Lieutenant on
a change of Ministry. It was quite a holiday in Dublin. Several
hundreds of the students had assembled within the enclosed space
in front of the College (which was at that time larger than it
is now), and had crowded out into the street, for the purpose of
witnessing the procession in its progress up College Green and
Dame Street to the Castle. For some time previous to the approach
of the Lord Lieutenant, they amused themselves by letting off
squibs and crackers, and by throwing orange peel and other similar
missiles at the crowd outside, as well as at the police. The
Junior Dean, apprehending some ill results if the disposition
and temper of the students were misunderstood by the people and
by the police, went out amongst them, and begged that they would
not resent these demonstrations on the part of the students. No
political display was intended by them, and consequently if good
humour were preserved on both sides all would pass off quietly.
Colonel Browne, who was in command of the police, on two or three
occasions went inside the railings to reason with the students;
his reception on each occasion was courteous, and he was cheered
by the College men. From the period when the Viceregal procession
came in sight, there was a suspension of the bombardment from
within the College rails. As the Lord Lieutenant passed by, there
was very little political manifestation by the students. After
the procession had passed, those within the railings commenced
again to throw crackers, squibs, and oranges, and the confusion
increased. Colonel Browne rode up, and in vain endeavoured to be
heard. He was struck in the face by an orange, amidst a shout of
laughter from the students and from the crowds in the street.
At this time he seemed to lose his temper, and went to Colonel
Griffiths commanding the Scots Greys, who were posted near the Bank
of Ireland, and asked him to charge. Colonel Griffiths laughed,
and asked whom he was to charge--was it a parcel of schoolboys?
Colonel Browne then brought a party of the mounted police in front
of the soldiers, and drew up immediately in their rear a body of
the foot police, with their batons in their hands. At this juncture
the Junior Dean, foreseeing that something serious was likely to
ensue if the students did not at once disperse, called on such
of them as were outside the College railings to come within the
College gate, and he succeeded in getting a considerable number
of them inside the College, and had the gates closed. Many of the
students, however, were unable to get inside--some were with the
Junior Dean inside the railings and some in the street. Immediately
after this Colonel Browne ordered the mounted police to Charge.
The outer gates of the enclosure were forced open; the police,
mounted as well as on foot, at once rushed on the students within
the railings (the statues of Burke and Goldsmith had not at that
time been erected); they cut at them with their sabres, rode over
them, and the unmounted men used their batons in every direction
and indiscriminately as regarded the persons with whom they came
in contact. The students had no means of defending themselves, the
Junior Dean having early in the proceedings induced them to give up
to him the sticks which they carried. Several of them were struck
down, and deliberately batoned again and again while on the ground
by the foot police in a most inhuman manner. The Junior Dean then
went outside the railings, and, addressing Colonel Browne, said
that he would engage to withdraw the students if the Colonel would
withdraw the police. This was assented to, but the foot police
for a considerable time waited within the enclosure. So great was
the violence of the assault of the mounted men that, in following
the students who rushed into the College through the open wicket
gate, they used their swords with such vigour against the wooden
gate that it showed several marks of their sabres, large pieces
being cut off in some places. Among the students whose lives were
endangered by the onslaught of the police were Mr. Leeson, Mr. J.
W. Gregg, Mr. Pollock, Mr. Fuller, Mr. Leathem, Mr. Brownrigg, Mr.
Kennedy, Mr. Lyndsay, and Mr. Chadwick. Some of them suffered very
severe injuries. Mr. Clarke was wounded in the back with a sabre
cut while he was stretched on the ground from the blow of a baton.
The College authorities prosecuted Colonel Browne and some of the
police criminally for an assault on the students, but they were
acquitted by a jury at the ensuing Commission. It is pleasing to
add that since that time the best relations have existed between
the students and the Metropolitan police; indeed, the feelings of
the latter body were supposed at the time to have been excited by
some strong observations which were made in the columns of a Dublin
newspaper which appeared on the morning of the occurrence.
THE DIVINITY SCHOOL OF TRINITY COLLEGE.--The institution of a
special school designed for the instruction of the future clergy
of the Church of Ireland did not take effect until the close
of the eighteenth century. The students of Trinity College,
under instruction, were at the beginning of this century either
undergraduates or Bachelors of Arts. The undergraduates were
lectured in classics and mathematics by public lecturers appointed
by the College, and their religious training was specially
entrusted to the Catechist. After they took the B.A. degree they
still continued under instruction by the several Professors of the
mathematical and physical sciences, of Greek, and of the several
faculties, while their religious instruction was under the special
care of the Regius Professor of Divinity, and of a Lecturer of
early but uncertain foundation, which latter post was afterwards
endowed with the interest of £1,000 by Archbishop King. Junior
Bachelors attended the prelections of this Lecturer, and Middle
and Senior Bachelors the prelections of the Regius Professor; and
this attendance was compulsory upon all graduates in residence.
Many ex-Scholars of Trinity College remember well that until recent
times all Scholars who were graduates were obliged to attend, at
their choice, certain courses of lectures with the Professors of
Greek or Oratory or Mathematics or Law, but all were, without
distinction, under pain of losing their salaries, obliged to attend
lectures with either the Regius Professor of Divinity or Archbishop
King’s Lecturer. In the year 1790, at a meeting of the Irish
Bishops, it was determined that they would in future not ordain
any candidate who had not the B.A. degree and a certificate of
having attended lectures in Divinity for one academic year (at that
time consisting of four terms), and they forwarded to the Board a
list of books in which the Bishops had decided that candidates for
Holy Orders should be examined prior to ordination. The Board, in
reply, informed the Bishops that they would direct the assistant to
Archbishop King’s Lecturer to prepare the students in these books.
From 1790 to 1833 Divinity students attended the lectures of the
assistants to Archbishop King’s Lecturer (the Regius Professor had
not at that time any assistants) on two days in the week, Tuesdays
and Thursdays, from eight to nine in the morning. They were put
through Burnet on the Thirty-nine Articles, and if any student
attended three-fourths[99] of the lectures in each of the four
terms of the Junior Bachelor year he received a certificate, which
was inserted in the testimonium of his degree, and on this he was
entitled to present himself for the Ordination Examination. The
Rev. Richard Brooke, in his _Recollections of the Irish Church_,
gives a very vivid account of his experience as a Divinity student
in 1827. The books he then read--they could not have been all
lectured on (and there is no record of any compulsory Divinity
examination)--were Burnet, Pearson, Mosheim, Paley’s Evidences,
Magee on the Atonement, Wheatley on the Common Prayer, Tomline on
the Articles, Butler’s Analogy, and the Bible and Greek Testament,
with Patrick Lowth and Whitby’s Commentary. It is believed, from
the testimony of clergymen who were students at that period, that
the lectures were confined very much to Burnet and Butler.
At that time, Archbishop King’s Lecturer in Divinity was an annual
office poorly endowed, and, like the Professorships of Greek, of
Mathematics, and of Civil Law, held always by a Senior Fellow. Such
was the condition of things up to 1833. The Divinity Professors
were mainly engaged in prelecting to graduate Scholars, and to such
graduates as desired to attend their lectures. In that year the
Divinity School was arranged upon its present basis. Dr. Elrington
was, in 1833, Regius Professor of Divinity; and the annual
office of Archbishop King’s Lecturer was separated from a Senior
Fellowship, was endowed with £700 a-year from the funds of the
College, and was given to Dr. O’Brien, afterwards Bishop of Ossory,
but at that time a Junior Fellow, as a permanent Professorship.
The course was extended to one of two years’ length, compulsory
examinations were instituted, assistants to the Regius Professor
were then first appointed, and he and they had the care of the
Senior class, consisting only of those who had passed the B.A.
examination. Archbishop King’s Lecturer and his assistants had the
instruction of the Junior class of Divinity students entrusted to
them. These were for the most part Senior Sophisters.
The Divinity course now comprises two years’ study of Divinity,
each consisting of three academic terms. Students generally begin
to attend lectures at the beginning of their third year in Arts.
In the Junior year they are lectured by Archbishop King’s Lecturer
on the Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion, and in the
Socinian Controversy; and by his assistants in the Greek of the
Gospels and of the Epistle to the Romans, and in Pearson on the
Creed. There are three days set apart for composition of sermons
and essays each term, when the students are brought into the Hall,
and are given either a text of Scripture, or a subject connected
with the Professor’s lectures for that term, to write upon; two
such compositions at least, in each term, are obligatory. During
the Christmas and Easter recesses the students are obliged to study
one of the Epistles in Greek, and a portion of Ecclesiastical
History, in which they are examined on the first lecture-day of
the following term. Having completed three terms’ lectures, they
pass an examination in certain text-books connected with the
studies of the Junior year, and in the English New Testament; in
specified portions of the Greek Testament, and in the Professor’s
prelections. Having passed this examination, they are permitted to
attend the lectures of the Regius Professor of Divinity and his
assistants for the next three terms. The lectures of the Regius
Professor are upon the Book of Common Prayer, the Canon of Holy
Scripture, and the Roman Catholic Controversy; and his assistants
lecture upon Bishops Burnet and Browne on the Thirty-nine Articles,
and upon the Greek of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians and
the Epistle to the Hebrews. The rules with regard to study in the
intervals between the terms and composition are nearly the same as
those of the Junior year; and when the student has completed his
sixth term of study, he presents himself at the examination for the
Divinity Testimonium, after he has, in nearly every case, taken
his B.A. degree. Lectures in Ecclesiastical History, in Hebrew, in
Pastoral Theology, and in Biblical Greek are provided, but they
are not compulsory. The number of Divinity Testimoniums granted
for each of the last five years averaged 35, and for each of the
previous five years the average was 32.[100]
The subjects of the Divinity lectures for the Junior year were
arranged in reference to the controversies which were most
prevalent in the Irish Church in the year 1833, and also in
reference to the special theological aptitudes of Dr. O’Brien. He
was peculiarly fitted to treat of the evidences of natural and
revealed religion, and to reply to the objections to both which
were then current. Those who remember his prelections can bear
testimony to the wonderful ability and skill with which he dealt
with the infidel controversy of his time, and the light which he
threw upon the well-known arguments of Bishop Butler. The Socinian
controversy at that period occupied the serious attention of the
Irish clergy, and it was necessary that all the young ministers
of the Church should be prepared to deal with the arguments of the
Unitarian when they entered upon their duties as curates.
Prior to 1814 the Regius Professor of Divinity held no public
examination in the subjects of his course. In 1813 Dean Graves,
who at that time held the office, submitted to the Board a plan
for the improvement of Divinity lectures, and a new Royal Statute
was obtained regulating the duties of the Professor. He was bound
to deliver prelections during term, but they were practically
confined to the first week in Michaelmas term, the first and
second weeks in Hilary term, and the first week in Easter term.
He was also bound to hold an examination once a-year, open to
Bachelors of Arts. The subjects of this examination were fixed
by Statute. On the first morning it was the Old Testament, the
first afternoon the New; on the second morning in Ecclesiastical
History, and the second afternoon in the Articles and Liturgy of
the Church of England. In 1814 the Board instituted prizes at this
examination, which was otherwise voluntary. On the first occasion
thirty graduates entered their names for the examination, but only
five attended, and it ended in only three or four highly prepared
Divinity students presenting themselves each year for a searching
examination in an extended course. In 1859 these Divinity prizes
were enlarged into Theological Exhibitions, two of which, of £60
and £40 a-year, tenable for three years, are now awarded as the
result of this examination, greatly enlarged and extended by
the addition of selections from the writings of the Fathers and
specified portions of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. Prizes
also at the end of the first Divinity year, called after the name
of Archbishop King, were founded in 1836. Both these stimulants to
theological study, aided by annual prizes at examinations held by
the Professors of Biblical Greek and of Ecclesiastical History,
have very widely extended the reading of the best class of Divinity
students. Candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Divinity are now
required to pass an examination in the whole of the extended range
of theological subjects required of candidates for the Exhibitions;
but as those who seek Divinity degrees are generally clergymen who
are engaged in the duties of their calling, they are allowed to
divide the examination into parts and to pass it in detail instead
of on one occasion. Few of the modern arrangements have been so
successful as this. By directing and encouraging a wide course
of theological reading among the younger clergy, it has produced
an excellent effect, and the popularity of the arrangement is
manifested by the large increase in the number of candidates for
the B.D. degree by examination.
It would give an incomplete account of the preparation of
candidates for Holy Orders in Trinity College, Dublin, if we were
to omit the mention of the important training which the College
Theological Society affords to the students. Once in each week
during term the members meet under the presidency of either the
Regius Professor or of Archbishop King’s Lecturer in Divinity;
essays on theological subjects, or on one of the important
religious questions of the day, are read by the students in turn; a
debate upon the essay follows, which is watched over and moderated
by the President, who, at the conclusion, makes such observations
as he thinks fit. The students are in this manner practised in
thoughtful and carefully prepared composition, and in extempore
speaking; and the great benefits derived by Divinity students from
this voluntary society are universally admitted--advantages which
have been mainly due to the unremitting care of the late Bishop
Butcher, formerly Regius Professor, and his successors in that
chair.
THE MEDICAL SCHOOL.--The marked and rapid growth of the Medical
School of the University of Dublin has been one of the most notable
events in its history during the nineteenth century. Although it
was in existence in Trinity College since 1711, it was only in
1786 that it was placed on its present footing by an Act of the
Irish Parliament, which united the College of Physicians with
Trinity College in the joint management of the instruction given
in this school. Five of the teachers are appointed by the Provost
and Senior Fellows, and four (designated King’s Professors) by the
College of Physicians, the Trustees of Sir Patrick Dun’s estates.
This Statute further required that all who shall be in attendance
on medical lectures, whether students of Trinity College or extern
students in Medicine, shall be matriculated by the Senior Lecturer.
For the first fifteen years these matriculations averaged only 4·7
each year. The numbers gradually increased, until in the years
1809-1813, inclusive, the average reached 41·4 each year; from 1814
to 1824 they rose to an average of 66·5. In the next quinquennial
period they increased to the large number of 90·8 annually. In
the years from 1831 to 1835 the average fell to 63, and in the
following two years the number barely exceeded 28 each year. The
great increase of medical students in the period between 1814 and
1835 is to be attributed mainly to the eminence of the University
Professor of Anatomy and Chirurgery--James Macartney[101]--a
man of the greatest powers both as an anatomist, a biologist,
and surgical teacher. On his ceasing to hold the Professorship,
the number of students in the Medical School fell to what it had
been before his appointment; and having continued at a low level
for thirty years, it suddenly rose to an average of nearly 80
entrances in 1864, in which year Doctor Edward H. Bennett, the
present Professor of Surgery, was appointed to the office of
University Anatomist--an office which had, after being in abeyance
for a century, been revived in 1861. From this time the numbers
have gradually risen until they amounted to more than they were
in the most flourishing period of Doctor Macartney’s teaching.
Doctor Macartney held the Chair of Anatomy for twenty-four years,
until July, 1837, when he resigned the office, very much because
he was unwilling to submit to the rules laid down by the governing
body of the College. In the year 1834 a complaint was made to the
Provost and Senior Fellows, by the other Professors of the Medical
School, that he had fixed his lectures at an hour, from 3 to 4
p.m., which interfered with those of the other Professors of that
school. In December, 1835, the Board informed him that they would
permit him to continue his lectures during that session at the
hour which he had announced, but that this privilege would not be
further continued. In November, 1836, Dr. Macartney persisted in
lecturing at 3 o’clock. He was ordered by the Board to lecture at
another hour, and this order was conveyed also to the College of
Physicians. Dr. Macartney persisted; and the Board took the advice
of counsel as to their powers, and, as a result, they ordered the
Anatomy House to be closed from 3 to 4 o’clock. In the end the
Professor yielded. But another cause of dispute soon rose. In
April, 1836, the Board received a letter from the Registrar of the
School of Physic, which stated that Doctor Macartney wished to
have his lectures advertised as being two in Anatomy and two in
Surgery each week. This was held by the Board to be insufficient,
inasmuch as the University of Edinburgh required five lectures
in each of these subjects every week, and would require from the
Dublin Professors certificates to that effect. Notwithstanding the
remonstrance of the Provost and Senior Fellows, Doctor Macartney
persisted in his advertisement. Doctor Sandes, one of the Senior
Fellows, undertook at their request to write to the Professor
in the hope that he would be able to induce him to change his
decision, but his attempt was not followed by success. A case was
laid before Mr. Pennefather, K.C., and as a result of his opinion,
on November 26, 1836, Doctor Macartney was required to deliver five
lectures in each week at one o’clock during the session. On July
13, 1837, he resigned the Professorship--four years before his
tenure of office would otherwise have expired.
In consequence of his quarrel with the authorities of Trinity
College, all Doctor Macartney’s valuable collection of preparations
became the property of the University of Cambridge. That learned
body agreed with Macartney that he should transfer his collections
to them in consideration of an annuity of £100 for a period not
exceeding ten years. In making arrangements with Doctor Harrison,
his successor, the Board took care to renew the understanding
which they had made in 1802 with Dr. Hartigan, but which they had,
through an oversight, omitted to establish on Doctor Macartney’s
election--that all such preparations should become the property of
the College.
It should be added, in justice to Dr. Harrison, who succeeded
Macartney, and who was an excellent human anatomist and a most
painstaking and attractive lecturer, that the great falling off
of medical students in his time must be attributed to many causes
beyond his control: first, the refusal of the Irish College of
Surgeons to receive certificates of his lectures, very much
through professional jealousy; secondly, the opening of large
medical schools in the central parts of England, which drew away
all the Welsh students who had before that time come to Dublin in
considerable numbers, and the opening of the Ledwich School of
Medicine in Dublin; and thirdly, to the institution of the Queen’s
Colleges in Belfast, Cork, and Galway, which retained in those
towns the students in Medicine who had previously been in the habit
of coming to Dublin for lectures.
The old Anatomy House, situated between the College Park and the
Fellows’ Garden, was a small and inconvenient building. It became
altogether unsuited to the numbers attending Doctor Macartney’s
classes. In 1815 space was made for them by the removal of the wax
models from the room in which they had been placed to that over it,
and a small building was erected in the Fellows’ Garden adjacent
to the old house. This was but a temporary expedient, for we find
that in 1820 the floor of the lecture-room was reported to be in
a dangerous condition, and the Board directed that, in future,
lectures in Anatomy and Chemistry should be delivered in the
public lecture-room in No. 22 of the Library Square. A committee
was appointed to arrange for a new site for the Medical School.
That which was at first fixed upon was at the east side of the
Fellows’ Garden, between the old Anatomy House and Nassau Street;
but on further consideration it was changed to the ground, hitherto
the Bowling Green, at the remote extremity of the College Park.
On April 1, 1823, estimates were laid before the Board for the
building of an anatomical and chemical theatre on the above site.
The estimates ranged between £3,980 and £5,350, and a contract was
made for the work. Macartney seems to have taken a great interest
in the selecting of the site. Thus we find him writing to the
Registrar, Dr. Phipps, from Newry, in May, 1822:--
“As our interest, and that of our successors, and the future
prosperity of the Medical School, will be affected by the
situation and mode of erecting of the building intended for the
Anatomical and Chemical instruction, we beg leave to lay our
opinions before the Board on this subject. (1.) With respect to
situation, we consider any part of that side of the Park next
Nassau Street as being eligible, but if we were to select a
particular place on this line it would be opposite to Kildare
Street, showing the front towards the street. The Bowling Green
we think a disadvantageous situation, as being damp, and the
entrance being through a private yard, which has been proposed
by the architect, we think would be highly injurious to the
respectability of the School. The distance of the Bowling Green
would be very inconvenient to students in Arts, of whom our
classes are chiefly composed. The above objection equally applies
to the side of the Park next Brunswick Street. (2.) We are of
opinion that, to make the buildings distinct, however contiguous
in situation to each other, would much facilitate and simplify
the plans, and expedite their erection, and would add greatly
to the respectability of both establishments; as the shape
and disposition of the apartments in the two houses might be
different, we are satisfied that less expense would be incurred
by adopting a separate plan for each house.”
And while the building was being erected he wrote about the light,
sending the following characteristic letter to the Board (29th
March, 1823):--
“The light we want in the lecture-room may still be had without
displacing a single timber of the roof as it at present stands,
but after the copper is put on, any change will be attended with
delay and expense, and I am satisfied that the Board (if not now)
will hereafter be disposed to yield to the just complaints of
the pupils with respect to the want of light. I think it will be
generally acknowledged that, after the experience of teaching in
different lecture-rooms for twenty-five years, my opinion ought
to have more weight than that of any architect. I wish to add
that I have no direct interest in the matter; whether there be
good or bad light would not increase or diminish my class, as is
fully proved by the number of pupils who attend in my present
room, where one half of the objects used at lecture cannot be
seen for the want of light, and where, from want of space, some
are obliged to stand in the lobby; but I should think myself
deficient in public duty if I did not persist in stating to the
Board the inconvenience and injury that will be sustained by the
pupils, of what they have now for several years anticipated the
removal, by the erection of a suitable building for carrying on
the business of the School.”
These Medical School buildings were in use from 1825 for more
than fifty years. When of late years the number of medical
students increased so largely, and it was found that this latter
building was altogether unsuited for the modern requirements of
the school, the present chemical laboratory and dissecting-room
were erected, and a histological laboratory and physiological
lecture-room were added. In 1884 a bone-room, a preparation room,
and private laboratories were built. In the same year the new
chemical theatre was opened, and in the following year the new
anatomical theatre was completed, which is fitted for a class of
230 students. Since that time the entire of the new great Medical
Schools have been finished, which, in addition to Professors’ rooms
and lecture-rooms, contain a fine chamber specially fitted up for
the great pathological collection originally purchased from the
late Doctor Robert Smith, whose lectures as Professor of Surgery
had a large share in the great recent success of the school. This
collection has been largely added to by the indefatigable labours
of his successor, Doctor Edward H. Bennett. The anatomy and
chemistry lecture-rooms of 1824 were completely removed, in order
to make a space for part of the present range of buildings, which
have been completed at a cost of over £20,000.
In a lecture delivered in 1837, the Professor of the Practice of
Physic (Doctor Lendrick) attributed to Provost Bartholomew Lloyd
the improvements which were even at that time beginning to be
effected in the medical education of the members of the College.
“The candidate for a medical degree,” he said, “no longer finishes
his medical education in a single year, nor is he compelled to
complete a septennial period of (perhaps) idleness before being
permitted to practise his profession.” In the years 1832-42,
inclusive, the average number of degrees of Bachelor of Medicine
annually conferred by the University was 18. In the next decade
this number fell to 11·7. After the great improvements in the
medical education and the appointment of more attractive lecturers,
this number rapidly increased. In the decade 1872-1881 the average
was 39, in the following ten years the annual average was 43·6,
being nearly four times that of forty years before the present time.
During the first half of the present century the University
conferred degrees in Medicine only. The Irish College of Surgeons,
towards the end of that period, refused to recognise the lectures
delivered in the Medical School of Trinity College as a part of the
professional education required for a surgical diploma, although
two of the Trinity College Professors had previously occupied a
similar position in the College of Surgeons’ School. The University
of Dublin was consequently, in 1851, obliged to institute for their
medical graduates a diploma or license in Surgery. This they did,
following the best legal advice, under the clause in their charter
which gave them authority to grant degrees “_in omnibus artibus et
facultatibus_.” This was followed by the institution, in 1858, of
the degree of Master of Surgery. This degree was, by the Act 21
and 22 Victoria, chap. 90, recognised as a qualification for the
holder to be placed in the Medical Register--a privilege which was
afterwards, by the Act 23 Victoria, chap. 7, extended to diplomas
or licenses in Surgery. In 1872 the degree of Bachelor of Surgery
was instituted, and placed on the basis of Bachelor of Medicine.
To be admitted to either of these degrees the candidate must have
previously graduated in Arts, and must have spent four years in
the study of Medicine and Surgery. Degrees are now given also in
Obstetric Art. The University of Dublin was the first in modern
times to institute degrees in Surgery, and its example has been
since followed by Cambridge and other English, Irish, and Scotch
Universities.
The change of opinion in the Universities with respect to the
status of the profession of Surgery is well illustrated by a
correspondence, which has been preserved in the College Register,
between the University of Cambridge and the authorities of Trinity
College, Dublin. On June 30, 1804, a letter was received from
the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, in which it was stated that
that University had declined to consider any student who had,
subsequently to his admission, practised any trade or profession
whatsoever as qualified for a degree, and consequently had refused
this to Frederick Thackeray, who, since the time of his admission
as an undergraduate, had been constantly engaged in the practice
of surgery. The Provost and Senior Fellows, in reply, informed
the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge that, after consideration of his
letter, they had agreed to adopt the same regulation.
In the early part of this century, before Sir Patrick Dun’s
Hospital was erected, great difficulty was experienced in the
clinical instruction of the medical students. In 1800 the Governors
of Stevens’ Hospital permitted Dr. Crampton to give reports of
medical cases under his care in the Hospital for the winter six
months to matriculated medical students, and to none others.
Attendance on these lectures was required for medical degrees.
In 1804 clinical lectures by Dr. Whitley Stokes at the Meath
Hospital were considered to be adequate for this purpose. In
1806, attendance for six months with Doctor Crampton at Stevens’
Hospital was sanctioned by the College of Physicians as adequate
for a medical degree. On the completion in 1808 of the west wing
of Dun’s Hospital, which had been commenced in 1803, the clinical
instruction connected with the School of Physic was given in the
wards and lecture-rooms of the Hospital; and in 1835 candidates
for medical degrees were required to present a certificate of one
year’s attendance at this institution. Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital
was originally intended for medical cases only, but in 1864 the
College of Physicians, which had hitherto occupied the central
position of the building as a library and Convocation Hall,
transferred this part of the building to the Governors of the
Hospital, and it was enlarged and changed into a medico-chirurgical
institution for the complete instruction of the students both in
Medicine and Surgery. Attendance at this hospital is no longer
compulsory on the candidates for degrees; nine other Dublin
hospitals are joined with it, and the student may, if he wishes,
receive his clinical teaching in any of these.
In the early part of the century, Trinity College for a short
time granted diplomas in Medicine to matriculated students who
were not students in Arts, but who attended the same lectures and
passed the same examinations as were required of Bachelors of
Medicine. This system prevailed up to 1823, when the Board received
a letter from the College of Physicians in London, in which it
was stated that that College did not consider such a diploma as
sufficient to warrant them to grant an examination for a license
to practise physic in England. The issue of these diplomas was
then discontinued. For a short period the degree of Bachelor of
Medicine was granted to students who had completed two years’
study in Arts, but this was found to be so unsatisfactory, that the
University decided that no one should be admitted to a degree in
Medicine or in Surgery who had not previously graduated as Bachelor
of Arts.
As to the method of conducting examinations for degrees in
Medicine, we gather some curious information from a letter which
the College of Physicians sent to the Provost and Senior Fellows
in October, 1814, in which they informed the Board that they had
ordered the King’s Professor not to be present at any examination
for medical degrees in the University in which any question may be
put, or answer received, in the English language. The Registrar
was directed to write to the Regius Professor of Physic (Dr. Hill)
to inquire whether these examinations were conducted in Latin. In
reply, Dr. Hill assured the Board that he would not, under any
circumstances, examine in English. It may be conjectured that the
newly-elected Professor of Anatomy (Mr. Macartney), who was not a
University man, broke through the old rule as to the language in
which he examined.
The great growth of medical and surgical studies in the University
may be gathered from the number of the degrees of Bachelor of
Medicine which have been conferred at different periods of the
present century. In nearly all cases, students of the University
who now graduate in Medicine take also degrees in Surgery and
the Obstetric Art. The number of Medical Matriculations for
the last three years has been as follows:--1889--Students in
Arts, 55, Externs, 28; 1890--Students in Arts, 61, Externs,
26; 1891--Students in Arts, 100, Externs, 28. During the five
years previous to 1889 these numbers averaged--Students in
Arts, 62; Externs, 34; total of each year, 96. The religious
professions of the medical students who were matriculated in
1891 were as follows:--Church of Ireland, 85; Church of England,
10; Presbyterian, 12; Roman Catholics, 12; Methodists, 6; other
denominations, 3;--total, 128.
ARTS COURSE. 1792-1892.--At the beginning of this period, and for
some years after, there were four academic Terms each year, during
which the students, both undergraduates and graduates, attended
lectures. In each Term two days were set apart, according to
the directions of the Statutes, for the general examinations of
all the undergraduate classes. It was found that the increasing
number of students could not be properly examined in this limited
time. Application was made to the Crown for a Royal letter giving
power to the Provost and Senior Fellows to increase the number of
days for this purpose in each Term, and a Statute to that effect
was enacted in 1792. In the following year a new and greatly
improved list of the subjects for each examination in all the
parts of the Undergraduate Course was adopted.[102] At the same
time, a scheme was devised for stimulating the study of the Greek
and Latin Classics, and for extending the cultivation of Latin
Composition, both in prose and verse, by special prizes at these
examinations.[103] The subjects for the examination for admission
to the College were also carefully re-modelled and set out for the
use of schools; and in 1794 a well-devised system of examinations
and of prizes for proficiency in Hebrew was instituted. Yet at
this period there were no special lectures for advanced students,
either in Mathematics or in Classics. The dull and the clever
student were taught together, both at the public lectures and by
the College Tutor; and at the Term Examinations all the students
in each division were taken together, the Examiner having at the
same time, in a very limited number of hours, to satisfy himself of
the progress which each undergraduate had made in his studies, to
distinguish between the idle and the diligent, between the badly
and the well-prepared, and at the same time to pick out and reward
the best answerer in each division of about forty students.
The first earnest attempt to provide Classical instruction of
a higher order for the better class of students was devised by
Provost Kearney in 1800. Special Classical Lectures were arranged
to be given by the ablest scholars among the Fellows twice a-week,
at 7 a.m. The first special Lecturers appointed for this purpose
were--Dr. Miller in Greek, and Mr. Walker in Latin. These lectures
appear to have been instituted for the purpose of advancing
the classical studies of such graduates as intended to devote
themselves to the instruction of boys in schools; for it was
arranged, at the same time, that every graduate, who should appear
to the Provost and Senior Fellows to merit such encouragement, was
to be entitled to a certificate under the College Seal testifying
that he was “qualified to instruct youth in the grammatical
principles, the classical idioms, and the prosody of the Greek
and Latin languages.” The salary of each of these Lecturers was
fixed at £40 annually. In 1804, Dr. Miller was succeeded by Mr.
Kyle as Lecturer in Greek, and Mr. Walker by Mr. Nash as Lecturer
in Latin. In 1801 the Professor of Oratory was authorised to give
prizes for excellent answering at the lectures delivered by him and
his assistants; and, in order to stimulate the study of the Hebrew
language at school, prizes for good answering in that subject, at
the monthly entrance examinations, were instituted; and in order
to encourage further the study of composition, both in Greek,
Latin, and English Prose and Verse, in 1805 the Vice-Chancellor
assigned that portion of the fees for Degrees which was then
payable to him, to form a fund for prizes, to be given at the time
of the Commencements, for the best compositions in each branch.
In 1808 Catechetical Lectures and Examinations in Holy Scripture
for the two Freshmen classes on the basis of the ordinary Term
Examinations were first instituted, and, at the same time, regular
weekly instruction by the Clerical Fellows in a fixed course
of Holy Scripture and religious knowledge was arranged. On the
same occasion Algebra was for the first time made a part of the
Undergraduate Course, the only Mathematics which all the students
had been taught before that time being four books of the Elements
of Euclid.
In order to stimulate the more advanced students to an increased
pursuit of Mathematical Physics, Dr. Bartholomew Lloyd was
appointed to deliver lectures on Mechanics at a salary of £100
annually, on the condition that he should resign his claims to any
other Professorship, Lectureship, or Assistant’s place, except that
of Catechetical Lecturer. In 1815 a new scheme of Mathematical
Lectures was promulgated. The following distribution of the work
to be done by the Professor and his assistants was arranged by the
Provost and Senior Fellows:--
The Junior Assistant to lecture on Arithmetic and Algebra to
Biquadratic Equations, including Newton’s Method of approximation
to roots of Equations, also on the application of Algebra to
Geometry as given by Newton. The Senior Assistant to lecture
on Logarithms, Analytical Trigonometry, with its application
to Terrestrial Measurement, application of Algebra to Geometry
managed by the equations of figures. The Professor to lecture
on the more advanced parts of Mathematics, including the Method
of Indeterminate Coefficients, with its application to the
management of Series, and other matters not contained in the
Course of the Assistant, also Differential and Integral Calculus
and the Method of Variations.
The programme of the subjects of these lectures shows that there
was a large advance in the mathematical education of the students
made at this time. Analytical Geometry and Trigonometry were taught
to the Honour men among the undergraduates, and the Differential
and Integral Calculus and the higher branches of Mathematics were
expounded by the Professor of Mathematics to the candidates for
Fellowship. Hitherto the mathematical studies of the members of
the College were mainly geometrical. The great start in analytical
science, which has developed itself so largely in the University,
seems to date from this time, and is due very much to the influence
of Dr. Bartholomew Lloyd, who had in 1813 been appointed to the
Chair of Mathematics. It was not until 1830 that a similar progress
was made in the study of Mixed Mathematics. We find that in
November of that year a committee, consisting of the Professors of
Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, with Dr. Wall, was appointed
to recommend to the Board a proper course of Mixed Mathematics,
and they were instrumental in introducing the Mechanics of Poisson
into the subjects for examination for the higher mathematical
honours. A small but important improvement in the existing method
of conducting the Term Examinations of ordinary students was made
at the same time. Hitherto some of the classes were submitted to
be tested by the same Junior Fellow in Science and in Classics.
In 1831 it was decided that these branches of studies should be
judged by separate examiners in every case. At this time there was
no special examination for the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Senior
Sophister students who answered in an unsatisfactory manner at the
Michaelmas Term Examination were “sent to the Regent House” to be
examined.
In 1807 it was decreed that every student who is “cautioned
to the Regent House” shall be examined in every part of the
Undergraduate Course for which he has got a _mediocriter_ at
his last examination. It was not until October, 1838, that this
examination in the Regent House was formally discontinued, although
it had fallen into disuse. It was then arranged that one _vix
mediocriter_ for the B.A. degree should subject the candidate to
another examination.
This is the suitable occasion upon which to mention in detail the
great services which the mild energy and enlightened views of Dr.
Bartholomew Lloyd performed in the reformation of the studies and
the literary work of Trinity College. To no one man during the
present century does the University owe so much. A native of the
County of Wexford, he was elected a Fellow in 1796, and after a
service of twenty years as College Tutor, which he discharged with
zeal and ability, he was co-opted to a Senior Fellowship in 1816,
and he was appointed to the Provostship in 1831. Dr. Lloyd held the
Professorship of Mathematics from 1813 to 1822, when he exchanged
this chair for that of Natural Philosophy. He occupied the latter
office until he was made Provost, and he was thus for eighteen
years engaged in the direction of the highest studies of the most
advanced classes in the branches of Pure and Mixed Mathematics.
He quickly saw the need of introducing a more complete knowledge
of the more advanced analytic methods which prevailed on the
Continent, and he compiled a course of lectures, as we have seen,
in order to introduce them to his class; and partly by his lectures
and partly by his writings[104] he completely revolutionised the
mathematical and physical studies of the University, and was
the means of directing the researches of the higher class of
thinkers to the methods which have rendered the Dublin school of
mathematicians so celebrated in Europe.
Shortly after his appointment to the Chair of Natural Philosophy,
he published his well-known treatise on Mechanical Philosophy,
which supplied a want widely felt by students of that science in
this and the sister country, and which was the means of introducing
to them the researches of the French labourers in the field of
Applied Mathematics.
During the six years of his Provostship he was the means of
effecting very large and beneficial changes in the College. Up to
1831 all the important Professorships were held by Senior Fellows,
and in most cases (except in those on the foundation of Erasmus
Smith) they were held, like other College offices, as the result of
an annual election. Dr. Lloyd saw the necessity of setting apart
some of the Junior Fellows for the fixed and exclusive work of
Professorial study and teaching. For this purpose he influenced
the College Board to set apart three of the Junior Fellows, whose
tastes were specially directed to these particular studies, to
the Professorships of Mathematics, of Natural Philosophy, and the
office of Archbishop King’s Lectureship in Divinity. Mr. M‘Cullagh
was elected to the first of these chairs, Mr. Humphrey Lloyd to
the second, and Dr. O’Brien to the third. They were freed from all
the distracting cares of College Tutors, and the salaries were
fixed at something rather below the average value of a Junior
Fellowship. The tenure of the Professorship was terminated by the
co-option of the holder to a place among the Senior Fellows. The
Fellowship Examination was improved by a Royal Statute which was
then obtained, and which enabled the Professors of Mathematics and
Natural Philosophy to be called up to undertake the examination in
the courses belonging to their respective chairs.
Provost Bartholomew Lloyd saw also the necessity of fostering the
study of Mental and Moral Philosophy among the members of the
College. Prior to 1833 the study of these sciences was joined with
that of Mathematics and Physics under the common designation of
_Science_. But for the attainment of prizes and other University
distinctions, the Mathematical part of the examination placed that
of the Logical and Ethical portions of the curriculum completely
in the background. In 1833 a new system of awarding Honours and
Medals at the Degree Examination was instituted, and in addition
to the distinctions in Mathematics and Classics, which had been
in existence since the year 1815, a third course was fixed for a
separate examination in Ethics and Logics, and gold and silver
medals were awarded for distinguished answering in these subjects,
in addition to the similar rewards for merit under the designation
of Senior and Junior Moderatorships in Mathematics and in Classics.
This arrangement was carried out in 1834, and the first name in
the list of Ethical Moderators of that year was that of William
Archer Butler--a brilliant and afterwards most distinguished man,
both as a writer and a preacher, who was taken away by death from
the service of the Church and of the University at the early age of
thirty-four.
Provost Lloyd had long seen the necessity of a separate
Professorship of the Moral Sciences, and in 1837 he induced the
Governing Body of the University to found it. On the day on which
it was instituted Archer Butler was appointed to the Professorship,
which he held for ten years, much to the benefit of the class
of thinkers to whom these studies were interesting. By these
arrangements Dr. Lloyd may be well said to be the founder of the
distinguished school of Metaphysics which has taken such deep
root in the College, and has borne much fruit. In 1850, mainly
through the exertions of his son, Dr. Humphrey Lloyd, a fourth
Moderatorship in Experimental Physics was founded.[105] But it
was not only with the advancement of higher class education that
Provost Lloyd was engaged: he effected enormous improvements in
the lectures and examinations of the undergraduates at large. To
this he was stimulated by a remarkably thoughtful and searching
pamphlet, written in 1828 by Dr. Richard MacDonnell, who was then a
Junior Fellow, and had an experience of twenty years of the great
defects in the method of conducting the Term Examinations. Most of
the suggestions in this pamphlet were adopted in course of time.
Before the year 1833 the work of the College was distributed over
four separate Terms, at the beginning of each of which the students
were examined in the subjects in which they had been instructed
during the previous Term. These Terms were of unequal and variable
length. The Easter Term was far too short for the appointed course
of study; and the Trinity Term, depending on the movable feasts,
was often merely nominal. In order to obviate these inconveniences,
the Provost and Senior Fellows applied for and obtained a Royal
Statute reducing the number of Academic Terms from four to three,
and fixing them so that they would be generally of equal length.
The hours of examination for each class of students were altered so
as to meet the change of social habits; and while it was formerly
the custom to have the first part of the examination of each day
to continue from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., followed by a breakfast at the
chambers of the College Tutors, in 1833 the change was made to the
present hours of examination--from 9.30 to 12 in the morning of
the first day, and from 10 to 12 in the morning of the second day
of each Term Examination. The subjects of the Undergraduate Course
were in the same year submitted to a very wide-reaching review.
In the year 1793, great improvements had been made in the Classical
Course set out for the studies of the undergraduates. These were,
it is said, largely due to the influence of Dr. Thomas Elrington.
On that occasion the works of the great Greek historians, Herodotus
and Thucydides, were brought for the first time under the attention
of the classical students in Trinity College; but, during the
forty years which followed, little change had been made in the
classical authors which were read by the undergraduates. In 1833,
for the first time, a distinct and shorter course was arranged
for students who were not candidates for Honours, while a larger
portion, generally of the same authors, was set out for candidates
for Honours, and a wider course of classical studies was appointed
for those who competed for Classical Moderatorships at the Degree
Examination. Similar arrangements were adopted for the students in
the Mathematical and Physical portion of their curriculum.
Before this time the students of the same division, of from thirty
to forty men, were examined together, and they had no opportunity
of competing with other men of their year in the Sciences; and in
classical studies at the Scholarship Examination only, at which
they rarely competed until the third year. It was now arranged that
those who answered well at each Term Examination in Science or in
Classics should be returned by the Examiner to compete at a more
searching examination in an extended course, at which all the best
men in the class should be examined together, on days separate from
those of the Term Examinations, by three Examiners in Science and
three in Classics set apart for that purpose; and so by this means
each student was able to measure himself each Term, not only with
those who happened to be in his own division, but with all the men
of his year; and in this way the undergraduates were incited to
continued study by healthy competition. Premiums in books, which
were formerly awarded at each examination to the best answerer in
each division, but which could be obtained only once in the year,
were confined to that of the Michaelmas Term, at which there were
two orders of prizes, first and second--the number of the first
rank prizes being restricted to one fortieth of the class, and that
of the second to one twentieth.
There was another and a very important improvement in the teaching
of the undergraduates which Provost Lloyd was mainly instrumental
in effecting. Hitherto the lectures of each Tutor were given to
his own pupils. He was supposed to instruct all the men of each
of the three Junior Classes at the least for an hour every day.
Each Tutor received the fees of his own pupils, and those who had
a large number in what was technically called his “chamber” had a
considerable income, but others who were not so popular had but a
scanty support.
In 1835 the Tutors, under the persuasion of the Provost, agreed to
adopt a new system. The fees paid by the pupils were put into a
common fund, and the Tutors were divided into three grades, in the
order of seniority, and their dividends were fixed, not in relation
to the number of their pupils, but of the standing of the Tutor
among the Fellows; each of them was thus assured of a certain and
increasing income--the only advantage accruing to the Tutor from
the number of his pupils arose from the arrangement that, when he
ceased from any cause to be a Tutor, the payments of the Tutorial
fees of his existing pupils, as long as they remained in College,
instead of being paid into the common fund, were paid to the Tutor
himself or to his representatives.
A corresponding division of Tutorial labour, as far as lectures
were concerned, was effected at the same time. Each Tutor was
required to lecture only two hours every day, except on Saturday;
and the efficacy of the lectures was greatly increased, and the
regularity of the attendance of the lecturer in the instruction
of his class guarded by stringent rules. Every student in the two
Freshman Classes was now lectured for two hours instead of one;
under the old arrangement the lecture in Classics was often a mere
form, not always observed; by the new system an hour’s lecture
in Latin was secured to each undergraduate in these classes. The
Junior Sophisters were lectured by the Tutors in Mathematical
Physics and Astronomy only. In addition to the Tutorial Lectures,
the undergraduates attended, as they did before, the Public Science
Lectures, the hours of the lecture being changed from 6.15 to 7.30
a.m., and the lectures of the assistants to the Greek Professor on
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, which were delivered at 9 a.m.
Again, there was a great improvement effected with respect to the
attendance of the undergraduates at Tutorial Lectures. At this
time these lectures were not obligatory; Terms were not kept by
attendance at them, nor did the College keep any record of them. A
student did not advance in any way his College standing by seeking
the instruction given by his College Tutor. No cognizance was taken
of irregularity, either on the part of the lecturer or of the
lectured. A Tutor was often absent from his class, and the class
was oftener absent from the Tutor. An important rule was adopted
to counteract this: a weekly return was required to be made to the
Tutorial Committee of the attendance upon his lectures, which was
to be transmitted to the Provost, and the Tutor had an opportunity
of judging of the regularity of the studies of his pupils, who
were, according to this inter-tutorial system, in attendance on the
lectures of other Tutors. In a very few years the lectures were
much better arranged, some of the Tutors being set apart to lecture
the candidates for Honours in each class, while others devoted
themselves to the greater drudgery of instructing the mere pass-men.
In order to secure the diligent discharge of the duties assigned to
each Tutor, the Tutorial Committee was bound to employ deputies to
lecture in his place in case of his failure from any cause, and to
remunerate the deputies out of the income of the defaulting Tutor.
That this division of labour added very much to the ease of the
conscientious Tutors is quite evident. Doctor Romney Robinson, who
was a Fellow and Tutor under the old system, wrote as follows in
the preface to his treatise on Mechanics, published in 1820:--“The
Fellows of Trinity College can scarcely be expected to devote
themselves to any work of research, or even of compilation;
constantly employed in the duties of tuition, which harass the
mind more than the most abstract studies, they can have but little
inclination at the close of the day to commence a new career of
labour.... In the present case the author happened to be less
occupied than most of his brethren, yet he was engaged from seven
to eight hours daily in academical duties, for the year during
which he composed this work.”
Had Bartholomew Lloyd lived, he would no doubt have originated many
other improvements in the Arts Course, and in the other studies
of the College which have been effected since his time. He was,
however, suddenly removed by death from his exertions in reforming
the College, on the 24th November, 1837, at the age of 65, having
held the Provostship for only six years. He was succeeded by Dr.
Franc Sadleir, and during the fourteen years of his mild sway the
improvements originated by his predecessor were gradually carried
into effect. Dr. Richard MacDonnell succeeded him in the office
of Provost. He had been long engaged in the work of the College
as an able and painstaking Tutor, and a vigorous administrator of
the College Estates. Dr. MacDonnell had long seen the necessity
of large reforms in the education of the students, and had ably
pointed out the abuses which required to be remedied, in the
pamphlet which has been already mentioned. Most of these defects
he lived to see corrected, and the most important of which were
removed when he was himself Provost.
One of the events which, beyond question, stimulated intellectual
exertions among the undergraduates in the University of Dublin,
was the opening of the appointments in the Civil Service of India,
and of the Army and Navy Medical Service, to public competition
in 1855. A number of the ablest students had a new career opened
to them, and they were afforded an opportunity of measuring their
attainments with students of similar calibre from Oxford and
Cambridge. The course of study was at once widened. Classical
studies received an impetus which roused the teachers from their
old routine. The English Language and Literature, and Modern
History, as well as foreign languages, became important parts of
Collegiate education. The heads of the College at once saw the
necessity of largely remodelling the instruction given to the
undergraduates. The Greek Professorship was very soon separated
from the offices which were restricted to Senior Fellows; a
Professor was elected from among the Tutors under the same
arrangements which had been carried out in the cases of Natural
Philosophy and Mathematics. He was enabled to give his entire
time to the duties of his chair. Similar arrangements were made
as to the Professorships of Geology and of Experimental Physics.
A Professor of Arabic and Hindostanee was established, and soon
after one of Sanskrit as well. The Professorship of Oratory was
virtually changed into one of English Language and Literature.
The immediate effect of these changes was at once visible in the
great and remarkable success of the Dublin candidates at the open
competitions for the Indian Civil Service and the Army Medical
Services. In the first seven years, fifty-three succeeded from
the Dublin University for the former and twenty-nine for the
latter appointments. The new regulations with regard to the study
of English Literature which were made in 1855 have produced very
widely felt effects in the intellectual life of the University.
It was not for the first time that a want of the means of being
acquainted with this important branch of knowledge was felt by
the students; and in order to remedy it, in October, 1814, during
the Provostship of Dr. Thomas Elrington, the Board directed that
lectures in the English Language and Literature should be regularly
delivered by the assistant to the Professor of Oratory, and
elaborate rules were made as to the means of carrying this course
into effect, but it seems to have ended in failure; at any rate,
during the next forty years there was no public instruction given
to the students in this important subject. The plan adopted in 1855
of making History and English Literature a distinct branch, in
which honours and medals at the Degree Examination can be obtained,
aided by the special prizes which are given for proficiency in
these subjects during the Undergraduate Course, has created a
widely felt interest among the students, and has eventuated in
the spread of a refined taste for these subjects among the members
of the College. The subjects in which the student can distinguish
himself at the B.A. Degree Examination have now been increased
to seven--1, Mathematics, pure and mixed; 2, Classics; 3, Mental
and Moral Science; 4, Experimental Physics; 5, Natural Sciences;
6, History, Law, and Political Economy; 7, Foreign Languages and
Literature. Frequent and well-considered changes in the courses for
the ordinary students, and in the subjects read by the candidates
for Honours, have been made since that period, and they have been
on the whole successful.
One of the most marked developments in the intellectual life of
the College during the present century has been the growth of the
great Classical School for which it is now so well known. This may
be mainly attributed to the separation of Classics from the other
branches which form the subject of competition for Fellowships.
A keen competition among Classical men for those highly-coveted
prizes has been the consequence. The tone of Classical Scholarship
has been raised among the best of the candidates for University
Honours, and some of the ablest men devote themselves to stimulate
the knowledge of the Greek and Latin Languages and Literature
among the students. There has, moreover, a higher Critical School
grown up in the University, limited in numbers, being composed of
Classical Graduates who are engaged in reading for Fellowship, or
who have competed for the Berkeley Medals in Greek, or for the
Vice-Chancellor’s Medals in Latin. This school, exclusive of the
Fellows and Professors, never numbers more than ten or twelve in
the College at one time, but from the ability and classical culture
of its members it has more influence in giving a tone to the
studies which are pursued in the University than its numbers would
at first sight render probable. The causes of the growth of this
school are--1st, the Critical Examination for the highest Classical
distinctions; 2nd, the fact that there is an examination for
Fellowship every year; 3rd, the annual publication of _Hermathena_;
4th, the publication of critical editions of the Classics by the
Fellows of the College.
We can trace the growth of the Mathematical studies to the
wonderful genius of MacCullagh and Hamilton, and to the labours of
Townsend, of Jellett, of Roberts, and of others who have passed
away. Fortunately for the College, all the creators of the revived
School of Classics are still spared to the College, and their names
are therefore not here mentioned.
Another vast improvement effected was in the method of conducting
all examinations in the College. Prior to 1835 they were (with the
solitary exceptions of those for gold medals at the B.A. Degree
Examinations) altogether oral. The examination for Fellowships
was a public _vivâ voce_ trial of the candidates, and in the
Latin language, without any use whatever of writing. Greek authors
were translated into Latin, and Latin authors were interpreted in
the same language. This continued to be the practice down to the
year 1853. Now, all this is changed. The Fellowship Examination,
which is spread over a much longer period, is mostly conducted in
writing, although there is in every course a public examination of
the candidates _vivâ voce_ and in English. The examinations for
Honours (except in Classical subjects) are now altogether written,
and at the ordinary Term Examinations students are tested orally
and by written questions by separate Examiners. At the general Term
Examination at the end of the second year, and at the B.A. Degree
Examination at the end of the fourth year, the candidates are
arranged according to their answering in three classes, and those
whose marks do not entitle them to be classed, but who satisfy
the Senior Lecturer, are passed without any mark of distinction.
This method of examination for the B.A. degree was adopted in
July, 1842, at the suggestion of the then Senior Lecturer, Dr.
Singer, afterwards Bishop of Meath. It was found to work in such
a satisfactory manner that, in 1845, it was adopted at the other
public University Examination, at the end of the second or Senior
Freshman year.
ENGINEERING SCHOOL.--The University of Dublin was the first to
establish a course of education and degrees in the art of Civil
Engineering. Shortly after the construction of railways in Ireland
was undertaken, there was a necessity found for properly educated
men to carry on the required work; and the plan of an Engineering
School originated with Doctor Humphrey Lloyd, Professor of Natural
Philosophy; Doctor MacCullagh, Professor of Mathematics; and Doctor
Luby, Assistant Professor of Natural Philosophy. These three
gentlemen laid a memorial before the Provost and Senior Fellows on
April 3rd, 1841, recommending the foundation of a Professorship
of Civil Engineering, and giving a plan for the studies of the
proposed school for teaching that branch of education. This was
finally approved by the Board early in the following June. The
length of the course as first proposed was two years, and on July
9th, 1842, Mr. M‘Neill (afterwards Sir John M‘Neill) was elected
to the Professorship. It was arranged that the business of the
School of Engineering should be conducted by five lecturers--viz.,
the assistant to the Professor of Mathematics, the Professor of
Natural Philosophy and his assistant, together with a Professor of
Chemistry and of Geology applied to the art of Construction, and a
Professor of the practice of Engineering.
Mr. M‘Neill was so completely occupied with his large works in
the construction of railways that he could give only a general
superintendence to the school, and on the 5th of November, 1842,
Mr. Henry Rennie, formerly a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers,
was appointed Assistant Professor and Lecturer. After holding the
office for two years he resigned, and Mr. Thomas Oldham, B.A.,
was appointed in his room. Doctor Apjohn was elected to the joint
Professorships of Chemistry and Geology; but in 1843 it was found
necessary to appoint a distinct Professor of Geology, and on
December 30th, 1843, Mr. John Phillips, the eminent geologist,
was elected to this chair at a salary of £200, to be increased
to £400 on the death of Doctor Whitley Stokes, then an old man,
which took place in 1845. In the latter year Mr. Phillips resigned
the Professorship, and he was succeeded by Mr. Thomas Oldham,
afterwards Director of the Geological Survey of India. In 1846 Mr.
Samuel Downing was appointed to the Professorship of Engineering,
which he continued to hold until his death in 1882.
It was soon found that a two years’ course in Engineering was
insufficient, and in 1845 it was extended to one of three years.
The studies of the first year are in the main theoretical; in the
second and third years they are practical--viz., drawing and office
work, levelling, surveying and general engineering, and chemistry
as taught in the laboratory.
At first, diplomas in Engineering were granted to students who had
passed successfully through this school. In 1860 it was resolved
by the University Senate that in lieu of these the license of the
University should be conferred publicly at the Commencements;
and in 1872 it was further resolved that the degree of Bachelor
in Civil Engineering should be created, and that it should be
conferred on Bachelors of Arts who were entitled to the license by
having completed the full course in Engineering. From the year 1860
to 1891 inclusive, 352 students obtained degrees and licenses in
Engineering. The degree of Master of Engineering is conferred on
those who, after taking the degree of Bachelor of Engineering, have
practised for three years in the work of their profession.
At each final examination in Engineering, special certificates
are awarded to students who answer in a distinguished manner in
the following subjects:--I. Practical Engineering; II. Mechanical
and Experimental Physics; III. Mining, Chemistry, Geology, and
Mineralogy.
SCHOOL OF LAW.--The lectures of the Professor of Feudal and English
Law remain very much as they were in 1792. The Professorship of
Civil Law was then and for many years afterwards held by a Senior
Fellow, often by a clergyman; the duties were nearly nominal,
and the salary small. In the year 1850, however, the Board, being
anxious to found an effective Law School in Dublin, decided that
in future the Professorship of Civil Law should be held only by a
Doctor of Laws, and a Barrister of at least six years standing; and
as such he was required to regulate the courses and lectures in the
Civil Law class, and bound to deliver at least twelve lectures in
each Term.
The Law School of the University of Dublin is under the control of
the Provost and Senior Fellows of Trinity College, who, however,
act in concurrence with the Benchers of the King’s Inns.
The Regius Professor of Laws delivers lectures on Roman Law,
Jurisprudence, and International Law. The Regius Professor of
Feudal and English Law delivers lectures on the subject of Real
Property; a third professor, whose chair was founded in 1888 by
Mr. Richard T. Reid for the study of “Penal Legislation, including
principles of prevention, repression, and reformation,” delivers
lectures on--(1) Penal Legislation; (2) Constitutional and Criminal
Law; (3) the Law of Evidence. These lectures are open to the public
and King’s Inns students, who have credit for the Term’s lectures,
and those who have credit for the academic year have their names
reported to the Benchers.
The Law Professors also examine all candidates for degrees in
Law. These degrees, like those in the other professional schools,
can only be obtained after a course of legal study or strict
examinations in Law.
THE COLLEGE SOCIETIES.
THE COLLEGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, which was formed in 1770, had in
1794 come into collision with the Governing Body of the College,
in consequence of the action of many of the Graduates of some
years’ standing, who, though they were no longer subject to College
discipline, continued to be active members of the Society, and
acted without respect to the orders of the Board. The Society was
consequently excluded from the College, and a new Association
of the Students, under the same name, was organised. Their
meetings for debate were permitted by the Board, on the distinct
understanding that they would not choose for discussion any
question of modern politics, or admit into their proceedings any
allusion to such subjects. They continued to meet in the old rooms,
now the Common Room of the Fellows and Professors, until 1815,
when they again got into trouble with the College authorities, who
insisted that they should expel, without discussion, two of the
members of the Society whose conduct in its debates was disapproved
of by the Board. The discussions upon the private business of the
Society became imbued by party spirit, and the younger members,
who exceeded in number the seniors, who had greater experience
and wisdom, took upon themselves the management of the Historical
Society, and it became continually engaged in angry debates. The
Board consequently insisted that Junior Sophisters should be no
longer admitted as members, and ordered a committee of five to
be appointed to settle all private business of the Society. Four
of the five refused to act, and the result was that on the 5th
of February, 1815, the last debate was held. It is a strange
coincidence that, shortly afterwards, similar difficulties arose
between the Cambridge _Union_ and the Cambridge University
authorities. In the month of March, 1817,[106] Mr. Whewell was
President. Dr. Wood, at that time Vice-Chancellor, took with him
the Proctors, together with a Tutor from Trinity College, and
another from St. John’s: they proceeded to the place of meeting
for debate, at the Red Lion Inn. The Proctors were sent into the
room to desire the members to disperse, and to meet no more. The
President requested the Proctors to retire, in order that the
Society might discuss the subject. This they refused to do. At
last a deputation, consisting of Mr. Whewell (afterwards Master
of Trinity), Mr. Thirlwall (afterwards Bishop of St. David’s),
and Mr. Sheridan, was permitted to have an interview with the
Vice-Chancellor. The deputation urged their claims strongly, but
the Vice-Chancellor insisted that, while they might conclude the
present debate, they should not meet again for a similar purpose.
After frequent petitions to the Board, supported by the Junior
Fellows, the Historical Society was again, on the 16th November,
1843, permitted to meet within the walls of the College, on which
occasion William Connor Magee, Scholar, afterwards Archbishop of
York, delivered, as Auditor of the Society, an opening address of
remarkable eloquence and of great promise, which produced an effect
such as has never yet been equalled in the Society. Since that
period the College Historical Society continues to meet regularly
for debate within the College walls. Junior Sophisters are again
admitted as members, but the subjects for discussion must always,
in the first instance, receive the approval of the Board. The
Society has been allowed, moreover, to have Reading and Committee
Rooms within the College. During the half-century which has elapsed
since the restoration of the Society, perfect harmony has existed
between the members and the Governing Body of the College.
THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.--During the year 1842, some of the
students of Trinity College whose age and reputation did not
warrant their seeking admission into the leading scientific
societies of Dublin, but who were anxious to improve themselves in
knowledge and in the art of composition, combined to form a Society
called the Dublin Philosophical Society, the object of which was
the reading of papers on scientific and literary subjects, and the
discussion of these papers by the members after they were read. The
first meeting was held in November, 1842, in a room in Marlborough
Street, and the first volume of their transactions was published at
the end of 1843.
In the beginning of 1845, after the Historical Society had been
received back within the walls of the College, the Committee
sought permission to have the use of one of the lecture-rooms for
the purposes of their meetings. This was granted. The name of the
Society was changed into “The Dublin University Philosophical
Society,” and new rules were adopted, which were required by the
closer connection of the Society with Trinity College. The members
were nearly all graduates, and although junior students were by
no means excluded from the Society, few of them were disposed
to join in the proceedings. The Society continued to exist for
some years, but the members, being generally senior men, were too
soon called away from aiding in its meetings by the requirements
of professional or official duties. This Society published five
volumes of Transactions, containing papers by young men, many of
whom afterwards became distinguished in science and literature.
The Society having fallen too much into the hands of graduates, in
the year 1854 the undergraduates, feeling the want of a similar
organisation which should give them free scope for their own
literary exertions, formed a new Society called “The Undergraduate
Philosophical Society,” the ruling body of which was composed of
students who had not taken their B.A. degrees. The new Society
became rapidly popular among the students of the College, and
its numbers largely increased. The first Philosophical Society
having been at length discontinued, that which was managed by the
undergraduates took its place as the University Philosophical
Society. All undergraduates are now admissible as members, and at
present it so happens that the majority of the officers of the
Society and the Committee are graduates.
At the first, the spirit which actuated the former Philosophical
Society influenced its younger sister, and scientific subjects
formed the main topic of discussion. After one or two sessions,
essays and discussions on literary subjects were introduced,
followed by poetry, fiction, biography, and history; so that
ultimately questions of abstract science disappeared from the
proceedings of the Philosophical Society, and questions of pure
science are now discussed at the meetings of the University
Biological Association and the University Experimental Science
Association.
THE THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.--Shortly after the Divinity School was
placed upon its present basis, it was found that a place of meeting
was required where theological students could discuss the important
questions which formed the subjects to which their attention was
directed. The Society was founded outside the College on November
23, 1838. Its first presidents were Rev. Doctor Singer, then a
Junior Fellow, the Rev. Robert J. M‘Ghee, and the Rev. Charles
M. Fleury. The Society met in a room in Upper Sackville Street,
and the discussions of the members were very much confined to the
Roman Catholic controversy. It was soon found necessary that the
Society should be brought more under the control of the teachers
in the Divinity School, and in 1860 the then Regius Professor of
Divinity was appointed President; the other Professors in the
Divinity School, along with the assistant Divinity teachers,
were made Vice-Presidents; and since that year the Society meets
in a public room in the College. Dr. Butcher, the then Regius
Professor, always presided at the weekly meetings up to 1866, when
he became Bishop of Meath. His successor, Dr. Salmon, gave the same
unwearied attention to the Society until he became Provost, and
the discussions of the Society, which now take a much wider range
in Theology, are always conducted under the control of the Regius
Professor, or of Archbishop King’s Lecturer in Divinity.
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FOOTNOTES:
[98] These stamp duties had been imposed on the English
Universities by an English Act of Parliament (55 Geo. III., cap.
184), but were not exacted in Ireland. In 1842, when Sir Robert
Peel imposed an Income Tax on England, from which Ireland was
exempted, he assimilated the stamp duties in the two countries
in order to make up for the relaxation of the Income Tax in the
case of Ireland. A few years afterwards, when the Income Tax was
extended to Ireland, the stamp duties were still exacted.
[99] In the case of scholars not students in Divinity, two-thirds
of these lectures sufficed for the term. At the present, Divinity
students are obliged to attend every lecture in the term, except
one, in each subject.
[100] From a calculation made in 1880, there were at that time
2,322 names of holders of Divinity Testimoniums in the University
Calendar for that year. Of these there were then serving as
clergymen in Ireland, 841; in England, 638; in the Colonies,
unaccounted for, and dead, 843. Of holders of Divinity Testimoniums
from the disestablishment of the Irish Church in 1869 to 1880, 89
were clergymen in England, 121 in Ireland, and 30 were unaccounted
for. Of those who obtained the Divinity Testimonium from 1866 to
1880, 170 were in England, 187 in Ireland serving as clergymen, and
67 unaccounted for.
[101] James Macartney was a native of the County of Armagh. He
pursued his studies partly in Dublin, but mostly in London. He was
not a graduate of the University, nor does he appear to have ever
been a student in Arts. He became in 1800 a member of the London
College of Surgeons, and shortly afterwards commenced to lecture
on Anatomy and Physiology in St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London.
Macartney died March 6, 1843, aged 73 years. He left a sum of money
to defray the cost of editing and publishing an account of his life
and labours. This task was committed to the care of his nephew, at
one time his Demonstrator, Hugh Carlile, or Carlisle, who died in
1860, as Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, at Queen’s College,
Belfast, before he made any marked progress in this work. The
executors then handed the material left partly sorted by Carlisle
to Dr. E. Perceval Wright, but on the decease of the executors,
while the work was in preparation, it was found that the money for
the book was not forthcoming, and the wishes of Macartney have not
yet been carried into effect.
[102] See Dr. Stubbs’ _History of the University of Dublin_, p. 257.
[103] _Ibid._, p. 258.
[104] He published his treatise on Analytic Geometry in 1819.
[105] It may be well to remark that the University of Dublin was
really in advance of Cambridge in encouraging new studies at the
B.A. Degree Examination. In 1816 the examination for gold medals
in Classics was established in Dublin; eight years afterwards
Cambridge instituted the Classical Tripos. In 1834 the examination
for Moderatorships in Ethics and Logics was founded in Dublin;
seventeen years after that date the Moral Sciences Tripos was
instituted at Cambridge. In 1833 Theological Examinations, as they
are at present, were first established in Dublin; this example
was followed by Cambridge in 1856. In the latter year the Provost
and Senior Fellows founded a Moderatorship in Law and History.
Cambridge did the same twelve years after. In one case the two
Universities acted simultaneously, in founding in 1851 the Honour
Degree Examination in the Natural Sciences.
[106] _William Whewell_, by Isaac Todhunter, vol. i., page 8.
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