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Les diagrammas suivants illustrent ta m*thode. 1 2 3 4 5 V ^0VASC0TI4 •••••• ••••■'1 ,«_ .>:^i^' PROVINCE HOUSE ! f REMARKS UNIYERSITY EDITCaTION IX NOVA SC By HUGO REID, PRINCIPAL OF DALHOUSIE COLLEGE, AUTHOR OF "TIIE PRINCIPLES Of EDUCATION," kc PRINTE HALIFAX: MES BOWES AND S0 2*f3. ^i£ t i--i li^if^'> ^immmsmj'- mmmma^MM UNIVERSITY EDUCATION » NOVA SCOTIA. 1 *■ i \\' The many endeavors that have been made to establish a course of University Education in this Province, sufficiently show that great numbers have been quite awake to its advantages, wliile tlie want of success* that has attended these efforts proves, either that the attempt is premature, or that tlic means adopted have been inadequate, or in some way not well directed to secure the end in view. * No disrespect is meant towards the founders and supporters of our presoiit Colleges, whose efforts to supply the advantages of a Collegiate education for the youth of this Province, are, indeed, most honorable to them. Every one must acknowledge the great obli- gations the Province is under to those who have begun and perse- vered in such efforts, under circumstances of great discouragement, and undoubtedly their labors have been of benefit to the country.' But when, in a population of nearly 300,000, including a consider- able number of persons of ample means and superior intelligence, we find that the best of these Colleges has only fifteen students] of whom about lialf are preparing for the ministry, and that another leading one cannot maintain a Professor of Modern I;anguages, nay, not even a Professor of Mathematics— it must be admitted' that they have been anything but successful, and have not conferred on the people of this Province the advantages to be derived from an efficient University. '*T atf T K P' . '- A f», Bv - - v^~ It willhanlly be muintaincl tl.nt the country is not yet sufficiently -lvance.1 for the establishment of a rniversity' As a mone^mak- .n«, or even as a Helf-supporting Institution, \ova Seotia ennnot --ntau,a V>b.,c; an.lJf.eju.lgebythecxperieneeofothercot - nes, U Ks doubtful if she ever will. No where, either in present r n ornu-r tnnes .lo we f.n.i self ..pportin, I'niversities. Those of Oxlord and Cambn.lKe, Glasgow, Aberdeen and l),.blin, as well as the Cont.nental Colleges, are supported by liberal endowments,- partly from the Government, partly from munificent bem.ests of private nubvulual.. These induce learned men to accept the chairs -to devote themselves to research and discovery in their peculiar subjeets-and to hoM out an opportunity of obtaining the hi- hest education to that small class that appreciate and desire it ; r class almost every where too small to renumerate the professor by their ices. •' A University is designed to be in advance of the wants of the great l.ulk of the community. It is required to di.ect and stimulate those wants ; to aul struggling genius ; to foster and encourage literature and the sciences. Its nnssions, besides preparing for the learned professions are: l.-To educate to the highest point a certain class who have means and leisure to continue at their education beyond the ordinary school period, and who, mi.xins in the M-orl.l With the accomplishments and higher tastes acquired at their Aim-; Mater, shall exercise an elevating and refining influence on the mass -.— lo assist and forward the education of those in humbler circum- •stances whose talents render it desirable to secure them for litrrary or scientific pursuits. 3.-To sei.e new discoveries and enlarged views as they arise, teach them to the class within their reach, Tnd thus aid in diffusing a knowledge of them and rendering them pro- ductive. 4.-T0 set aside, in the professors, a body of men of talents and acquirement, for the special cultivation and extension of literature and philosophy. Wherever we find a few with talents and a taste for knowledge • wdierever two or three are found witli genius and an ardent .ealfo^ literary or scientific pursuits, but without means to provide for the cultivation of these tastes and talents ; wherever there are a few I — ^^ •" T ( t f ' Viammmmf frrrmc: 4 T I with suflflclcnt mcnns and leisure to prevent the necoflstty of thrlr Ijeiiif? sent direct from school to business, — there the University will find its mission and its ni)proi)riato work. If UniversiticH were needed, and founded, nnd did jrootl service in the thinly peo- pled nnd semi-barharous states of Kurope, hundreds of years since, there is surely scopt for one such institution in Nova Scotia, a country that starts from the vantage ground of modern times, with their multitudes of new sciences and new arts. The failure of the University system in Nova Scotia, must, I apprehend, bo attributed to imperfections in the means adopted for carrying it out ; and there appear to be three principal causes why the attempts hitherto made have met so scanty a measure of success. 1. Waste of power and means in the endeavour to maintain tevrol T'olleges in so thinly peopled a country. 2. The sectarian character of these Institutions. :.. Tho lo-^ation of the Colleges in coiuitry villages instead ol in ih'* large towns. First, I would submit tliat a small province such as this, with a population of not more than three hvmdred thousand, cannot sup- port more than one efficient University, and that the attempt to c tablish more is a waste of means and power that can result only in failure. Let us enquire what is necessary to constitute a University. We find in the College at Edinburgh, exclusive of chairs especially de- signed for the lea.ncd professions, no less than f/tcen professorships, and this University is considered somewhat behind the wants of the age in luiving no chair of " The English Language and Literature," no chair of " Modern Languages,'' and no chair of " Geoloo-v.'' that subject being included along with Zoology, &c., under "Na- tural History,"' In University College, London, a more modern institution, and which may, therefore, be taken as a better exponent of the demands of modern times, there are no less than twenfi/-one Wftmmmui mimtmtimm'i " m^ m j' ^ ,,,ii^iy j , iAfa i« profeteorahips, bcsidci thoHc (Icsignccl pccniiurly fur youth entering the learne«l profemionii.* We cannot hope to attain to anything like citlicr of these ; and some of the chairs in these universities may, pe«-hap8, bo viewed aa cducutional hixuries. ]hit I tiiink it nil! be co*iceilcd tliat there nxnnot be anything prctmuling to the character of a University, at all commensurate with the progress of science and learning, with- out at least seven or eight chairs, as follows : 1. fAtirury Department. Enolish LANouAor., Literature, and History, v Ith Comparative Grammar and General History. TlIK Cl.AHSUAr, LaNGi'AOES. MoDEUx Lanouaoes. Logic and Mental Philosophy. 2. Scivniific Depart tnent. ]NLvTHEMATics, with Mccliauics and Astronomy. Chemistry, with Heat, Electricity, and Magnetism. Gkolooy axd I'uYsicAL (iEOGHAi'H V, including Meteorology, (i. 0., the Earth and Atmosphere.) OiiOAXic Science (Botany and Zoology, with Human Physi- ology and Ethnology). * The following are the Chairs, each filled by a separate Profes- sor, in University College, London : Literary Department. Scientific Department, English Language and Literature. Matlicmutics. Comparative Grammar. Natural Philosophy and Astro- Ancient and Modern History. nomy. Philosophy of Mind and Logic Political Economy. Latin, (ireek. Erench, (ierman. Italian. Sanscrit. Chemistry. Practical Chemistry. Botany. Zoology. Geology aiul Mineralogy. Civil Engineering. Mechanical Principles of Engi- neering. Architecture. Besides these, there arc thirteen Professorships in the Faculties of Law and Medicine. % mm .MvJikl.iJM s iL "I It is poMiblo that tl profcisor might he found capabU of takitig the two last, reducing the number to itven ; but tlii^ {■ not desir- able. In tlio present extended and atUanccd state of these various subjects, it is not to bo expected that one man can do justice to more than one of them. Now, it is liardly necessary to say that there is not the slightest prospect that, within a reasonable time, any one of the existing colleges can supply what i?, ccrtiunly, the minimum of profes- sorial chairs for uii efficient university in this, the latter half of the nineteenth century. Undoubtedly, a large amount of most valuable instruction, and an admirable course of intellectual training, arc given at such an institution as King's College ; but it cannot be denied that the great majority of those who might, do not avail themselves of its advantages, and that it still falls much short of what a university, in the present day, ought to be. The waste of power in thus attempting several colleges is ruin- ous. We have four or five professors of classics, where one might amply suffice for the wants of this province for many years. When we do need two, we should like to see them, not in separate col- leges, but giving greater strength and efficiency to the same univer- sity — one for Latin, the other for Greek, as is usual in all the British colleges. While we have thus several professors of classics, in different places, each spending his time and talents and the college means on some ten or twelve students (if so many), there is only one professor of chemistry in the whole province, no pro- fessor of history, no professor of comparative grammar and the English language and literature, and no professor o{ geologg* ♦ In the present very extended state of these scienc 's, it is im- possible that any one man can do justice to the three \.i c subjects, chemistry, geology, organic science. These form four distinct chairs in almost every European college of modern foundation- chemistry, botany, zoology, and geology. The professot should not have his mind distracted with too many subjects. This is a point of no small importance, as may be judged from the advanced state of scientific knowledge, and the numerous separate professor- ships in all newly established colleges. m 8 Liigland, Mith A populution more tlmn lixty timet that of Nova Mcotiu, huH not more than c'ni,ht Uiuvorsitlca. In the rnitoil State*, where the dcmocrntic niul Fcdtml nj'Htcm (^Ivch unu)iuul t'licouruge* inctit tu the ((rot^th of i>e|iarutc- iuHtUutloim, there \a only nbuut oiio ( ollegc for a popuhifion ei|Uiil to tltut of (hi« province, if wu can reckon even ho many ; at a number of the sO'eulkHl ('oUe(j;cs are h.irdly entitled to tliu nunr*. being in u very inefHriont Ktutu indeed. Scotland, with ten timen the populution of Xova Hcotiu, huH but lix ( olle'^ei, — about one for u p()[>uli'tion of half u million, — while wo have three or four for little more '.han half the numl»or. What wt want in one complete und ellUlout rniversity, not Muvci'ul imperfect ones, each deficient in one or more pointn of the first 'mportance. We know thut the present system does not sup- ply one College meeting the rcciuiremeiits of the times, and wo ice by the experience of other countries thut it cannot be reuBonubly expected that it ever will bo al ' .' to do so. Their sectarian character U the next impediment to the su ijess rf the existing Institutions. Men arc averse to sending t \eir sons where they may ac(piirc a bias in favor of a different Church from that in which they wish o rear them ; and, ult'aongh thcro is no doubt that the Profc>'sors and Governors of the present Colleges act with the strictest honor on this point, and scrupulously abstain from influencing in any way the religiou/* views of such of their pupils as belong to other denominations ; still, the associating much with honored teachers u'ul friendly f'llow students of another sect, ij apt to implant a leaning towartU tluit sect — certainly to moderate the prejudices against it ; a happy effect, in tiulh, if it operated equally in favor of all sects, but of more questionable advantage when it is in fa^or of one sect only. IJosiiles, there is a sectarian e^iprit dc cordis, which renders men reluctant to aid in supporting and strengthening other religious denominations. These feelings combined must, and, as every one knows, do prevent the great ma- jority sending their sons to our denominational Colleges. Many who would take advantage of the existing Colleges, imperfect as tiiey are, are repcll'.'d from them by theii sectarian character. If we consider the necessary expenditure, and judge by the < A 9 experience of Mritnin niul the I'niicd Statci, we may cnfcly my thac f I nivoriiity, ndaptctl to modern tim«'H, r(<(]titrei the support of ft popiilutlon of not leta Vmn n (jiurtcr of a million; and thut no lUnomlnationa! ('oHj'gc, drawing on Its own sert alone, or mainly, for endowments nnd Htndcntk, can ni'iintuin iftclf in an efficient condition on a much narrower basia. Vet it u attempted in this P'ovincc to cittnhlish CoUcgPi for Bcctu iiamboring only a sixth of the nbovo amount. It ill highly disirablc, Intlcod, that yciith of various nligious tcctn slujuld mtet and form tricnditups n^ College, rub ott' their ««etarian corners, and thus early learn to like and c stte.n those of diHVrent religious views, ; ' to tKut differences of opinion with report und moderation. . i$ indirect but great benefit of mixed education is lost where ail or the gioat majority belong to one sect, for the simple reason that, generally, parents will aot rend their cliildren to the Collegen oi other denominati'ins than thoir own It is also of the utmost importance to remove every impci "nt which may indispose men to giving their sons a superior c • . .»on. There are so many plausible reasons for neglecting ihis, besides want of appreciation of the advantages of a College education — economy, unwillingness to send their children too early from under the parchtal eye, opportunities of settling them in business — that we should be cuicful not to add to these the very unnecessary objection, that there is no c.ccessible College but one of sectarian dcbcription. 1 am aware that the different religious bodies require cevtain special professorships, for training their youth to the ministry : but it (!oes not seem necessary, in order to obtain this, that each sect should (if it could,) mointain a whole College. In this Province, lor many years, there will bo but few 'n each denomination, in training for the ministry: and n small room in the College set apart fo*- the purpose, or u room in the professor's house or hired outside, would generally suflice. Then, we might have one great University, in which all sects would unite for the secular depart- ment, while each would maintain such Theological Chairs as it might require. Surely all I'rotestant bodies may unite upon the 2 If ^..-l„ 10 Chairs mentioned above ; nay, even the Roman Catholics might also jciu. Perhaps they mi{jht not desire to have their youth attend the Protestant Professors of History and Mental Philoso- phy ; but surely, every denomination of Christians, and even Jews and Mohammedans, might unite to learn Chemistry, Mathematics, and Mechanics together, and thus, by combining their strength, have ore complete and efficient University, instead of several inefficient ones, which, besides their incompleteness, repel by their denominational character. The third cause of the failure of the universities in this province is to be found in their situation, in thinly peopled villages in the country, instead of being in the large towns — in Halifax if there is but one, and in Pictou, if a second should be required. The majority of parents have a well-founded objection to sending their sons from home at the very critical period between sixteen and twenty-one years of age. They may appreciate the advantages of a first-rate education, continued up to the latter period, but think that the serious risks to which a youth is exposed when left to himself, freed from the parental control, guidance and example, are too great to compensate for these advantages ; and accordingly they prefer sending him to business to occupy him and keep him under their own eye at this trying time of life. Hence, the uni- versity should be in the largest town, to be brought to the homes and firesides of the greatest number of the class for whom it is designed. But there is y. t another important consideration, ivhich should lead us to place the university in the largest town. Such an insti- tution is not only for those preparing for the learned professions, or those who desire to pursue a complete general education ; it is invaluable also for another and a quite distinctj class — those who have a peculiar taste or aptitude' for some special department of literature or science, and who, for the public interest as well as their own, should have easy access to the means of acquiring full instruction, extending to the most recent and advanced information, on their favorite subjects. Take, for example, chemistry : where- cver there is any populous community, a certain number vriil be I! t ! 4'"^ I' » "» - >; j ^ 11 gifted with a taste and talent for that science. It is for the public good that SMch persons should be able to procure thorough instruc- tion in clicmistry. Their peculiar gifts will not then be lost to society ; and chemical science, and the various arts dependent on It, wdl be enriched by their after labours, if they have been well grounded in the principles and practice of the science, and placed in possession of the latest views and discoveries. So with mathc- matics, Mechanics, botany, zoology, geology, classics, history, &c. xn every community there are numbers who have such peculiar aptitudes ; the means of thorough instruction are required for the development of these jieculiar talenta ; and as the cities afford the greatest number and variety of such talents, it is iu the cities, above all, that the means of cultivating them should be supplied. Some would attend the chemical class, who have little interest in other subjects ; mathematics, geology, metaphysics, would be the at^rac- t^on for others. Thus, the university in the populous city has the most powerful effect, not only in placing a superior education within the reach of the greatest numbers, but in promoting that great general good, the extension and improvement of the sciences and arts, and in eliciting that latent talent, which must lie dormant and useless if not thus called forth into life and action. It is in tliis way that the Scotch colleges, notwithstanding some serious defects in their system, hive been of very great service to the ocottish people. Placed in the large towns, perfectly accessible on easy terms, devoid of any sectarian character, and affording the opportunity of studying any subject without the necessity of takin- others not required, (tliough, of course, there is a curriculum for a degree,) they have given a great stimulus to general education encouraged the study of every department of science and learnino- and fostered every variety of taste and talent. "' What can be a better instance of the inutility of the present system, than the position of the one professor of chemistry in the province. Wasting his sweetness on the desert air, at Windsor when Halifax, with its thirty thousand, wants him, and the whole country wants him, and would have access to him in. nwH •WP ..,,,*-»... J 1 12 the capital ; when, stationed there, ho would give an impetus to the study of this fascinating and most useful science throughoui the Icngtii and breadth of the land, and by lectures, practical classes and analyses, would greatly increase his own emoluments, at the same time that he wo Jd be doing an essential service to the pro- vince. In a young country like this, we desire particularly to devclope its material resources. For this end we need professors of clmnistry, mechanics, lotany and gcologi/ ; and we need them placed where they can instruct and stimulate the greatest number. Ihit here, we find the great, tho wonderful discoveries of the last tliree hundred years — far exceeding, in amount, all previously known of physical science — so rich in applications to agriculture, manufac- tures, and every useful art — laid upon the shoulders of one man, and withheld from the great bulk of the population; for he is placed exactly where he is of the Ipzzt possible use to tho greatest possible number.* It would appear, then, that a university, to attain the utmost usefulness of which it is capable, and to have any prospect of suc- cess in a young and thinly peopled country, ought to be placed in the centre of the most populous district. The University of Nova Scotia, if there ever is to be one, must be in Halifax. To attain this great end it is not necessary, nor is it desire. i)lc, that the efforts made by various parties to establish colleges in this province, should bo thrown away. If the existing colleges were to unite their means and strength, they could form a complete and highly useful central Institution in the capital ; separate, not one of these is a College such as tbe times require, and they are in situ- ations where they can get little support for themselves and do little good to the country. United, they supply means and materials for an Institution that would command extensive support, and be a real benefit to the Province, * The Governors of King's College have rescued this province from a great reproach. But for this one appointment, it miglit be said that the collegiate system of Nova Scotia ignored the whole splendid range of modern discovery. I { i M i nKWti ' J L: n .O I { Nova Scotia has need of a University to ])repare her youth at home fur the leurned professions ; to impregnate those who will be her future public leaders with the refined and intellectual spirit imparted by high mental cultivation and am acquaintance with lite- rature and science ; to draw out and foster the native genius of her people ; to scatter abroad a knowledge of the sciences and useful arts, by which alone we can hope to render available the rich mate- rial resources of the country. Who doubts that Nova Scotia abounds in natural poets, oratois, mathematicians, mechanics, and numbers of others fitted to enrich and adorn their country, if their minds were stored with the requisite knowledge, and invigorated by the requisite cultivation. Perhaps in this neglected spot is bid Some licart once pregnant with celestial fire, Hands tliat the rod of empire might have sway'd, Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre ; But hnoidedge to their eyes her ample page, Rich with the stores of time, did ne'er nnrol. That a people may avail themselves of all their resources, and take rank among the nations by contributing to the stores of liter- ature and philosophy, they must have the means of educating the varied talents of their sons to the highest point. The natural force of genius will do little without information and training. This was the case, even in former times, when the first prizes to be won lay on the surface, inviting men to gather them. If we cxam- '■-".a the lives of those eminent men who have enriched mankind by their literary works and scientific discoveries, — who have laid the foundation of the present magnificent structure of literature, philo- sophy and the arts, — we find them, with few and trifling exceptions, to have belonged to the most highly educated classes, numbers being founu among the priests and nobles.* All that the unedu- ^ * This will be at once seen on enumerating the names of Coper- nicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Bacon, Galileo, Napier, Newton, Leibnitz, Pascal, Boyle, Cavendish, Lavoisier, Laplace, Cuvier, Lyell, the two Humboldts, Grotius, Montesquieu, Locke, Voltaire, Adam Smith, Hume, Gibbon, Reid, Robertson, Burke, Johnson, Bcntham, Byron, Wa or Scott, Goethe, Bulwer, Macaulay, .Ssc. wn mi ; T kiw f m .. l i ^'u. }\ m- .u-tim i > v. ' . ' m -m ^ t li I ■MHia lifif HliilTiMiJ«T ■MiMiii l b w ill Jk t ,L 14 catcil peasant or artizan has given us, Is nothing compared with what wc owe to the higlily cchicated class; the latter, too, a mere fraction, in point of numbers, compared witli the uneducated classes. If this was true formerly, wlien the spoils to be gathered lay on or near the surface, how much more must it be the rase now, M-hen he who would find treasures must dig :lcep ; when so vast an amotmt of knowledge has been accumxdated in every depart- ment of literature and science, which must be known and built upon by those who would add to the structure ? The great educational want of this Province is a University in its capital, with a full complement of professorships^ to provide the most complete instruction on every useful subject, especially on the physical sciences; and, with scholarships or hursaries, to place this instruction within the reach of youth of talent and merit, who are unable to avail themselves of it from their own resources. With- out some such institution the education of the country must be behind the age, and lielow the standard of that of uthcr nations. How such an institution is to be established and supported is, undoubtedly, a question of some difficulty. The Legislature may undertake it, as an important national work ; the existing collcf^es may unite and form one efficient college in the capital ; or the wealthy inhabitants may found and endow it, as was so often done in old times.* That it will be done some day, in one or other of tlicse ways, or by a combination of them, there can be little doubt. The sooner that day arrives, the sooner will Nova Scotia derive the full benefxt of the genius of her sons and the treasures of her soil. ^ * In innumerable instances in the old world and in the United States, educational institutions have been endowed by the munifi- cence of private individuals, who thought that superfluous stores of wealth might well be employed in the extension of the means of education and encouragement and advancement of Icarnino- Such were William of Wykcham, George Kcriot, Owens of Manchester Girard of Philadelphia, &c. '^^ 1' k \, '^-^ r h HMtai ._.i -1.1 EDUCATIONAL WORKS BY MR. EEID. Mental Arithmetic, 1vol., sin. 3vo! Is. Sd. Just published. learner 'ioTM" '? 1 '^'^.P^'^"- ^^ C'"?»«"'8 »''« /'n/...-;,/., and >•«/« for the icainer lo «tu..v, aii.l hm immense variety ol iiiiestionH ibr mental exercise with the unswers, for the use of the teacher. ci*,rci9e, Supi'LeMBNT TO Lgnnie"s Grammah (in the press), con- taining Dcrivalion and Amlym of :<'eiitences. IltSTOr.IC "i>lEMORANDA, 3d. TiiE Principles or- Education, 1 vol., 12mo. 4s. 4|[d. "The work is one of a very high chaiacter, and we know of no clasH of educator., of wlialever ago or experience, who may not reap groat adv.-ntaao from a ca -eful ^^n^y of the volume. It contains a va.st deal of clear, sensible and well-arrangoil matter, and embodies n.ost valuable sugges ions ami directtons for the teacher.';- Scoilht, Eool<. T. will supply a lon^ felf want amongst the educationists of this Province.— ^or/nnV^CAromc/e v„., ~ i^-^'""^! "1 K^^f T^ principles,— containing just the things whic'i ai-e reqnire.1 't- n text-book for general n^.- Christian Messewjer. bee also Express, Wesleyan, Cape Breton Mws, Liverpool Transcript. Wester., .Xews, Journal, Recorder, Yarmouth Tribune, &o. «''»'^"7'^ IftlMu [D. ■*, f,', \ -"^^ 3(1. Just d rulen for tlie isntal oxercis«, ess), con- 18. 4s. 4 id. of no class of cat adv;?ntago Icar, sensible, itgcstions aud Journal. tory that has is especially wl views." — and existing lis little book iiler. hool and the ivc\. 8vo. lO^d. iously had.— d much new ! to the A.rne- ilar, than we —An'igonish ; felr want ;8 whic'i ai"e Transcript, CI Ji