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l.-io) 
 
 MCGILL UNIVERSITY 
 
 ANNUAL CONVOCATION 
 
 FOR 
 
 DBGREBS IN ARTS. 
 
 I 
 
 APRIL 29tti, 1893. 
 
McaiLL UNIVERSITY. 
 
 ANNUAL CONVOCATION FOR CONFERRING 
 DEGREES IN ARTS. 
 
 APRIL 29th, 1893. 
 
 The members of Convocation having first assembled in the Library 
 proceeded to the Convocation Hall, followed by the graduating 
 classes and students. The space reserved for the public had already 
 been closely packed with the friends of the University. 
 
 The Chancellor, Sir Donald A. Smith, presided, and accompany- 
 ing him on the platform were : 
 
 Governors — Mr. J. H. R. Molson, Sir Joseph Hickson, Messrs. 
 VVm. C. McDonald, H. McLennan, E. B. Greenshields, S. Finley. 
 
 Principal — Sir William Dawson. 
 
 Fdloivs — Prof. A. Johnson, Rev. Dr. Cornish, Rev, Dr. Mac Vicar, 
 Mr. J. R. Dougall, Rev. Dr. J. Clark Murray, Prof. H. T. Bovey, 
 Rev. Dr. Henderson, Prof. J. S. Archibald, Dr. S. P. Robins, Dr. F. 
 W. Kelley, Rev. Dr. Barbour, Dr. T. W. Mills, Dr. D. McEachran, 
 Rev. A. B. Love, Prof. C. E. Moyse. 
 
 Acting Secretary^ Registrar and Bursar — Mr. J. W. Brakenridge. 
 
 Officers of Instruction — Professors P. J. Darey, G. P. Girdwood. 
 J. Stewart, G. H. Chandler, D. Coussirat, A. J. Eaton, A. McGoun, 
 C. A. Carus Wilson, Messrs. F. D.Adams, Nevil Norton Evans, W. 
 E. Decks. 
 
Ci'il 
 
 
 
 Graduates of the University — Rev. Dr. VV. J. Shaw, Henry M. 
 Ami, M.A.; Rev. Thos. Y.. Cunningham, M.A. ; Chas. J. Fleet, 
 B.A., B.C.L. ; Rev. VVm. H. Garth, B.A. ; J. A. Nicholson, B.A. ; 
 H. Walters, B.A. ; Rev. D. J. Fraser, B.A. ; A. G. Nicolls, B.A. 
 
 Also the following guests of the University : Dr. Sandford Fleming, 
 Mayor Desjardins, Kx-Judge Doherty and Rev. Principal Ad?ms, 
 
 The proceedings were opened with prayer by Rev. Dr. Cornish ; 
 after which the Chancellor shortly addressed the Convocation, con- 
 gratulating it on the close of a very successful session, and referring 
 to the return of the Principal in restored health. 
 
 Dr. Johnson, Vice-Principal and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, 
 read the lists of honours and prizes, and called up the principal 
 candidates to receive their rewards. He then presented the 
 graduating class as follows '. — 
 
 m'gill college. 
 
 In Honours — James T. Brown, Elizabeth M. Fairclough, 
 Charles C. Gurd, Joseph W. A. Hickson, Annie L. Jackson, Agnes 
 S. James, Mabel Lee, Charles Mansur, Martha Seymour, Albee A. 
 Skeels, Charlotte Smardon. 
 
 Class I. — John S. Gordon, Mabel A. Boright, H. A. Honeyman. 
 
 Class II. — David Hutchison, Frances R. Angus; A. H. Farns- 
 worth and Albert Mahaffy, equal ; Archibald McVicar, Edith M. 
 Millar, Stewart M. Munn ; John A. Dresser and Jessie H. Mac- 
 donald, equal ; Jerome Intornoscia, Tiiomas A. Sadler. 
 
 Class III. — Cecil L. Brown, William Patterson and Francis Pratt, 
 equal ; William Donohue and William McN. Townsend, equal ; 
 Albert J. Robertson, J. A. McGerrigle, Lovisa E. Hunt ; Saumarez 
 Carmichael and Peter D. Muir, eijual ; Ed. F. McL. Smith. 
 
 Aeger — H. M. Killaly, Evander J. Maclver, James Thompson. 
 
 MOPRIN COLLEGE. 
 
 Class I. — Margaret Macridam. 
 
 Class IL— Ethel L. Gale, E. J. C. Chambers. 
 
 The Principal then conferred the degree, after the affirmation had 
 been administered by the Acting Secretary, Mr. Brakenridge. 
 
 The Chancellor then called on Mr. Albert Mahaffy, B. A., to 
 pronounce his Valedictory. 
 
Mr. Chancellor, Mr. Principal, Members of Convocation, 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : — 
 
 There has been a tendency in past years to begin the class vale- 
 dictory with an apology; but this seems to us unnecessary. 
 
 We are accustomed to speak of the endless variety which nature 
 presents to the eye, from day to day, and year to year, ; but the fact 
 is she is simply repeating herself. She has a limited number of 
 materials to work upon, and although she has such an immense 
 workshop, and moulds and patterns in amazing profusion, yet she 
 represents to us the self-same objects in but slightly modified forms. 
 And we are not dissatisfied. She takes a piece of carbon and, mix- 
 ing with it a few particles of one or two other elements, she fashions 
 with infinite skill, the venerable oak, or spreading elm, and we give 
 her great applause. She takes more delicate quantities of these 
 materials, and, by some subtle means unknown to us, she converts 
 them into the sweet-smelling rose, or leafy fern, and we applaud 
 louder and louder. To change the metaphor, we may say she next 
 draws the curtain over these lovely objects ; but before we have 
 become impatient she presents a new set of figures on the stage, this 
 time attired in a beautiful dark coloured dress, and called Lignite, 
 Bitumen, or Anthracite, and we at 450 N. lat. never fail to show our 
 appreciation. Rut just as we are about to give vent to new feelings 
 of admiration, she ushers forward a dazzling figure, destined to be 
 the most admired of all, and named Diamond, at sight of which we 
 spring to our feet and rend the air with acclamations of praise and 
 delight. Then the chemist appears on the scene and tells us the 
 essential constituents of all the objects we have seen are identical. 
 
 The class of '93 is essentially the same as other classes you have 
 acen before ; :.nd yet we shall be found to ditfer somewhat from our 
 predecessors. If we are to believe the statements of some of our 
 professors, we are a shade better than any former class. We rep- 
 resent the last slate of metamorphism which the heat and pressure 
 of examinations has produced — the analogue of the diamond. And 
 so we feel assured you are pleased to meet with us to-day, to join 
 with us in celebrating this very important day in our lives, and to 
 express by voice and countenance your good will towards us ; and 
 we feel sure you will appreciate the attempt we make to give 
 expression to our gratitude for ihe kindness you have manifested 
 towards us in the past four years. 
 
6 
 
 i 
 
 Numerically, we are not large. We were once. Some have fallen 
 out of the ranks through sickness, some by the hand of death ; but 
 most who have left us are martyrs to their own honest convictions. 
 
 As the remainder of us stand to-day at the goal to which our best 
 energies have been directed for a number of years, we have mingled 
 feelings of satisfiiction and regret. We feel, with all graduates of 
 McGill, that our course has been a good one, and very worthy of 
 our efforts, and we have special reason for regretting that it is ended, 
 in view of the glorious future that is about to burst upon our beloved 
 Alma Mater. 
 
 Taking a retrospective view of our college days, many scenes are 
 presented to our mental vision. We remember the pride with which 
 we took our seats in McGill's time-honored halls ; the halo we saw 
 in the vicinity of the professorial chair, till we discovered that its 
 occupant was human like ourselves ; the graceful Donaldas stirring 
 within us thoughts of the homes we had left behind ; and how, in 
 our innocence, we wondered at the decree which prevented us from 
 coming under their benign influence ; our struggles with roots and 
 rules, with syntax and syllogism; our rambles amidst fauna and 
 flora; our investigations of the properties of mind and matter; the 
 awe inspiring facts of natural philosophy that have been presented 
 to us, and the never-ending conflicts of mental and moral philosophy. 
 The panorama of the celestial sphere has been explained, and earth 
 has yielded up her long hidden "ecrets; a master hand has traced 
 for us the rise and fall of nations, and has pointed out the beauties 
 of our English literature These are some of the pleasures that 
 await the student in Arts. 
 
 But in addition to the knowledge she thus imparts, aud the mental 
 discipline acquired in the pursuit of this knowledge, the McGill Arts 
 Faculty has that peculiar, subtle power of dismissing her sons and 
 daughters, possessed, not with the idea that they have reached the 
 limits of scholarship and learning, but that they have merely come 
 within sight of these vast domains. Like an ancient patriarch, we 
 have been permitted to ascend an eminence from which we have 
 caught a glimpse of the vast heritage that lies beyond, inviting us to 
 subdue and possess. 
 
 During these past four years, too, it has been our privilege to see 
 a surprising internal development of our Alma Mater. Her advance 
 
has been unprecedented. The untiring zeal of our beloved Principal, 
 whose return to our midst has been the signal for universal rejoicing, 
 and the faithfulness and attachment of the members of Corporation 
 and teaching staff have been supplemented by princely gener- 
 osity, and lavish outlay of money, on the part of our honored 
 Chancellor and a few faithful friends, such as the world ha.s seldom 
 seen. We call them benefactors of McGill. Shall we not rather 
 say they are friends of humanity— benefactors of the world ! 
 Especially is this felt when we consider how opportune is the time 
 for such munificence. Never in the worlds history has there been 
 such freedom for the pursuit of literary and scientiac study as now. 
 At no time has there been less danger of interruption and interference 
 on the part of those who would suppress all speculative thought, 
 retard every wheel of progress, and hurl anathemas at every inno- 
 vation. This age is free to tliinV and act ; to seek for truth outside 
 the cloistered wall, and hoary tradition. Then how great the boon 
 to students of McGill, to the people of Canada, yea, we shall not 
 speak extravagantly, when we say, how great the boon to the world, 
 to receive donations that vfWl place our Alma Mater in the forefront 
 of the educational institutions of the day ; with efficient teaching 
 staff, laboratories and workshops fully equipped, library well filled 
 with useful volumes — everything necessary for the elucidation of the 
 world's unsolved problems, and for advancement in all those lines of 
 investigation and research that tend towards the unbinding of fetters 
 of ignorance, and the general amelioration of the state of mankind. 
 
 But, while we thus forecast the future, and joyfully muse on the 
 golden period of McGill's history which is fast dawning, we are 
 reminded that we have now to say farewell, and leave these glories 
 behind us. We would feign tarry longer, but after four years' 
 pleasant intercourse together, we are now called upon to sever 
 old ties, and emerge from the sheltering care of old McGill to fight 
 our way independently, and individually, in the sterner school of 
 life. 
 
 Ere we go, however, we would tender our Professors our hearty 
 thanks for their kind interest in our welfare. There was a time 
 when we had doubts as to the purity of a professor's conscience, and 
 the tenderness of his heart, but time has revealed to us the fact that 
 though, like Socrates, you have a mania for asking questions that 
 
8 
 
 tends to make you unpopular at times, yet your regard for our 
 piogretis and general advancement, has been sincere and constant. 
 For one session only had ^ve the i)leasure of listening to our 
 honored Principal. Though h s work of lecturing has been carried 
 on most efficiently in his absence, we would fain have heird him 
 speak ou a subject in the exposition of which he has long been a 
 recognized authority of the highest order. The class of '93, with 
 every student of the l;niversity, will, I am sure, join with me in 
 thankfulness for his restoration to health. 
 
 To our friends in the city, who have received uh into their homes, 
 we have nothing but gratitude to offer. Not only is Montreal noted 
 among College men, for the generosity of her citizens, but also for 
 their hospitality ; and 1 believe I voice the sentiments of my class- 
 mates, when I say that this constitutes no inconsiderable portion ot 
 the attractive power that brings students to McGill. We have to 
 regret tl at our professors were not of the same mind as you, so that 
 we migl t have appreciated your kindness better, and responded to 
 your otiers of entertainment more frequently. 
 
 In saying adieu to the undergraduates of McGill we have no 
 catalogue of precepts to otter. We trust you have been careful to 
 observe the deportment of the class that is now leaving you. Follow 
 their example and your success is ensured. In one word we would 
 say : Try to realize your privilege as a University student, and then 
 make the best possible use of it. It is needless for me to urge you 
 to be faithful in the preparation of your work, and in the support ot 
 college societies ; and if you have dealings with the College author- 
 ities, think not that you can pour contempt on the enactment 
 that pertains to college habiliment. 
 
 And now fellow class-mates as we are about to separate, and 
 enter upon different spheres of labor, you do not expect any paternal 
 admonitions from me. It must be evident to the onlooker that if I 
 should attempt this I should usurj) the functions that more properly 
 belong to those of our number whose patriarchal appearance be- 
 tokens a richer and more varied experience than I possess. Let me 
 simply exp'eso the hope that wc may go forth wherever duty calls 
 us, determined to make the best possible use of the knowledge we 
 have here acquired, and to put into practice the lofty principles of 
 conduct that have been urged upon us by our professors. 
 
"'W 
 
 
 
 We have sometimes wished that they had trumpet voices so that 
 they might be heaid far beyond the College walls. This want is 
 being supplied in part, by the University Extension movement ; but 
 our Universities will speak mosf effectively through the medium of 
 their graduates. Then, classmates, let us be alive to our respon- 
 sibility. We begin our life's work in somewhat troublous times. 
 We see much restlessness about us. We hear our country calling 
 loudly for faithful servants ; for men who have the courage of their 
 convictions — men who will not sacrifice principle and honour, for 
 position and emolument. If we are called to our legislative halls, 
 then let us endeavor to ettace the dark blots that disfigure the recent 
 pages of Canadian History, by advancing, and acting upon the 
 noble principles of conduct which we have heard from our illustrious 
 professor of Moral Philosophy. If called to the bar, let the same 
 lofty motives move us, and keep us far from all connivance with 
 duplicity. If we choose the medical profession, let us cause the 
 loftier object of mitigating the sufferings of humanity to overshadow 
 the meaner one of mere personal aggrandizement. If the pulpit 
 claims us, let us manifest that spirit of love and tolerance, that 
 desire for truth'from whatever source it may come, which we our- 
 selves have beheld in our instructors. 
 
 Thus let us separate to uphold the right and hate the wrong ; to 
 disseminate knowledge and btinish ignorance ; to assist in harmon- 
 izing the discordant notes of the universe, and in removing the 
 reproach of the bard, when he sang of " Man's inhumanity to Man." 
 Thus we shall attain the true object of existence. 
 
 ' Sumnium crede nefas animam praeferre pudori, Et propter vitam 
 vivendi perdere causas." 
 
 Thus we shall justify the great liberality of the benefactors of our 
 College. Thus we shall glorif> Him who has called us into being, 
 and bring honor and renown to our beloved Alma Mater, to whom 
 we must now say with truest filial affection "Fare thee we"" 
 
 Miss Martha L. Seymour, B.A., was then called on for the vale- 
 dictory on behalf of the graduates of the Donalda Department. 
 
 Mr. Chancellor, Members of Convocation, Fellow-Graduates : 
 
 " How singular is the thing called pleasure, and how curiously 
 related to pain, which might be thought to be its opposite ; for they 
 

 i 
 
 10 
 
 never come to an end together, and yet he who pursues either of 
 them is generallv compelled to take the other." Thus said the 
 ancient philosopher, and v/e echo the words to-day, when, at the 
 moment of our joy at reaching the goal for which we have so long 
 and earnestly been striving, we must turn now to bid farev/ell to 
 those who have done so much to fill these years with happiness, and 
 to the Alma Mater, " about whom how many sweet thoughts swarm 
 as bees about their queen." 
 
 Pleasant it would be to review our class history of these four years ; 
 to cast a lingering glance on each scene as it passes in swift pano- 
 rama before the vision of our memory. But not to me belongs the 
 skill of painting \yord-pictures which could catch the full expression 
 of those scenes, or reproduce the glowing tints with which they have 
 been touched by the fingers of our fancy ; for surely such things as 
 these are only for the artist's pencil and the poet's pen. 
 
 Some one has truly said, " Every life has its prose translation as 
 well as its ideal meaning." ^.nd it is of the prose translation of the 
 brief life of the Donalda Class of '93 that I would speak. On this 
 the red-letter day of our student life, as we look back, how different 
 are the actual facts to the dreams which we entertained when first 
 we sought the halls of old McGill in the pursuit of knowledge and of 
 wisdom ! What an easy possession fame then appeared ! For were 
 we not the largest class yet recorded on the Donalda register? 
 Above all — for we know that quality is to mere numbers what the 
 costly gem is to the gold-setting by which it is encircled — did we not 
 possess qualities of the mind which would make us tlie most brilliant 
 of all McGill's long roll of students ? 
 
 Yet where now can we find the realization of these visions ? (?an 
 we point to any deed which we have wrought that stands out boldly 
 — a sign forever to mark our passage through McGill ? Is there any- 
 thing in our history which will entitle our class-group to hold the 
 place of honour upon the walls of the Donalda reading-room ? And 
 as they look thereon, can we hope that future generations of students 
 will bestow on i:s a praise similar to that which Shakespeare puts in 
 the mouth of Hamlet : " Behold a class, we ne'er shall look upon'its 
 like again " ? There are endless possibilities in the future, and it 
 may be from its mists and shadows some future bard may yet arise to 
 sing our praises ; but very soon in our course did we learn not to 
 
11 
 
 expect the glittering rewards of fame, and we turned to follow, with 
 single heart and ain. ' thena, " the goddess of the cloudy shield 
 and olive crown," content with the thought, " 'Tis not in mortals to 
 command success, but we'll do more, we'll deserve it." 
 
 Yet often in the prose translation of a poem the meaning of an 
 author may be more easily read and understood ; and so we hope it 
 is with our translation of a university career. We trust that we have 
 caught its true meaning and have clearly shown it forth. 
 
 This day, which we call by the name of Convocation, is in some 
 other universities called Commencement Day, and perha])s in one 
 respect this term is more appropriate, for in it the keynote of all 
 education is sounded. The university is a place of preparation for 
 what Herbert Spencer terms '•' living completely " : it is a place 
 where the faculties are sharpened, where the senses are quickened 
 and the sympathies widened for the combat of life ; and not alone is 
 it the aim of a university education to win fame for those pursuing 
 it or to fill them with knowledge that they may become living ency- 
 cloj)aedias on all sorts of subjects. These are but the rhetorical 
 figures and ornaments of an university career. Therefore the great 
 benefit which we have derived from McGill is not to be found in the 
 knowledge we have gained ; for although we have learned many 
 things, much will doubtless soon be forgotten and the greater part 
 will have little practical bearing on our future duties. The real gain 
 is in our increased capabilities of acquiring knowledge : not so much 
 iu what we have learned, but that we have been taught how to learn. 
 By patient, continuous study we have been strengthening the mem- 
 ory and training our minds to habits of concentration and of accurate 
 thought, without which no great work can be accomplished. By 
 short glimpses into the wonders and mysteries which surround us on 
 every side our curiosity has been awakened, and a desire has been 
 stimulated to know more of them aud of the laws by which they are 
 governed ; and we have been taught how we may obtain this know- 
 ledge. We have come to doubt our own wisdom, and so the way 
 has been opened up for truth to enter ; but we have learned to 
 know that all which is given to us as such may not be truth, and if 
 we would have true stability of character, and not be blown about by 
 every chance opinion, we must test and prove all things. 
 
 No doubt the same results might be obtained by other methods, 
 
12 
 
 5 
 
 and possibly in a shorter time, by actual contact in the school ot 
 life ; but do we not all know how much truth is concentrated in the 
 apothegm : " Experience is a good schoolmaster, but the school fees 
 are heavy " ? Wc are grateful that we have been permitted to learn 
 some things from the experience of others ; that we have been pri- 
 vileged to stand as it were upon a higher platform from which a 
 wider prospect may be gained, and where we may form a clearer 
 and better idea of what life means and what its aims should be. 
 
 Again, education in its primary signification means to draw out, 
 and hence the ideal education is that which leads those who seek it 
 out of the narrow bounds of ignorance and selfishness, and makes of 
 them men and women of the highest culture and refinement. This 
 has been the goal of all our efforts, and if in the least degree we 
 have attained it, shall we not think our efforts well repaid ? 
 
 Such, then, has been the prose translation of our college life — a 
 peaceful, happy life s])ent by each of us in the faithful discharge of 
 the duties which each clay has brought to us in its wake ; and as in 
 the beginning of cur career Hope reigned supreme, and never in ou'' 
 brief course has its light been entirely extinguished, thougli often the 
 flame has burned very low — when failure seemed inevitable and 
 there appeared ro loophole of escape, — so now, when the tale is 
 completed and we leave the past, Hope still shines brightly. We go 
 forth to meet the future, courageously and cheerfully, to cast in our 
 mite in the cause of truth and in the cause of progress which we 
 have learned to discern in all things, graven deeply on our hearts 
 the watchword and motto of our year, "Onward." And verily we 
 find, " In the lexicon of youth, which fate reserves for a bright 
 womanhood, there is no such word as fail." 
 
 To our Professors we must now say farewell ; but before doing so 
 we are glad to welcome back our Principal, whose presence has 
 been so greatly missed from their midst this year. We trust many 
 years of health and usefulness and added honor yet remain for him, 
 whose long life of earnest work has blessed not only his own country 
 but the world. Always with the memory of McGill and of our 
 student life will come the recollection of the men who by their 
 toil have made McGill what she is. We hope that for us your labor 
 has not been in vain ; that we have caught a little of the enthusiasm 
 which you have always brought to your work, and we tender you our 
 
13 
 
 kindest thanks for the assistance and sympathy which you have 
 always so wiUingly given to us, and our kindest wishes for your 
 prosperity and success in the future. 
 
 With you, O undergraduates, our brief intei ^urse together has 
 been very pleasant, and it is with sorrow that we part with you. 
 What to you shall be our farewell message? You are treading the 
 path which we have just passed over, and it may be you, like us, 
 sometimes find it long and dreary. Perhaps you, too, have found 
 that the facts you thought you had mastered so completely have fled 
 from you, and, in your impatience and despair, you have felt that 
 the pursuit of knowledge is a vain thing, and is but the repetition of 
 the Grecian myth of Sisyphus or the ancient fable of the Danaides 
 trying to fill broken pitchers with water. Perhaps you have won- 
 dered if you will ever stand where we have stood to-day and receive 
 the little roll of parchment which is the ambition of all students in 
 Arts. Be not discouraged, O fellow students. Like the mirage of 
 the desert, the obstacles which seem now to block your path will 
 vanish into nothingness as you approach. What better or more 
 fitting message can we leave to you than the words of one who 
 knew whereof he spoke, " What one is, why may not millions be ?" 
 Press on where others have been before you, and let me remind you 
 that perseverance is the "open sesame " which opens more than one 
 storehouse of enchanted grain. 
 
 During the convulsions of the French Revolution a woman silently 
 and secretly recorded all events as they transpired, weaving the story 
 into the pattern of her knitting. As we, dear classmates, now leave 
 McGill's peaceful cloisters to take up the graver duties and responsi- 
 bilities of our womanhood, what will be woven into the story of our 
 lives ? 
 
 A thick veil obscures the future, and we know not what awaits us. 
 But this we know — that wherever the lot of a member of the Donalda 
 Class of '93 shall bejcast, in whatever sphere she shall be called upon 
 to move — whether she tread the " flowery walk of letters," climb the 
 more rugged steeps of professional life, or fulfil the quiet duties of 
 the home — she will not be found wanting, if each one possesses in 
 her individual character the qualities which, possessed by the class 
 as a whole, have earned for it the reputation it has borne so long — 
 that of a good, steady year. Let each one be loyal to herself, to 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
u 
 
 her Class and to her Alma Mater, to whom now, as undergaduates, 
 we say — Farewell ! 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Clark Murray then addressed the graduates as 
 follows : 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen, graduating in the Faculty of Arts : 
 
 i^ 
 
 f 
 
 1 
 
 :l 
 
 You now go out into the world with the official decoration of that 
 culture which our Faculty represents. It is hot necessary to remind 
 you that such a decoration is merely a symbol of a reality, without 
 which it can have no significance or value. Symbols indeed play no 
 unimportant function in the world. Human existence would be a 
 poor affair if it were not enriched by those symbolic forms in which 
 the imagination and sentiment of man find a legitimate satisfiction, 
 as well as by that pomp and ceremony which lend an appropriate 
 dignity to the more solemn offices of life. But just because of the 
 value attaching to symbolic forms it becomes important to preserve 
 them from that degradation into which they fall when they are 
 emptied of all living significance. It is this that shocks every earnest 
 sentiment of the human mind on the contemplation of religious rites 
 which have withered into the ghastly corpse ot a vanished spiritual 
 life; and a shock similar in kind, if not in degree, is apt to be evoked 
 by the display of decorations which are designed to express scientific 
 and scholarly cuUure, but have degenerated into meaningless forms. 
 The ignoramus, who parades in the borrowed plumes of the scholar, 
 is, not undeservedly, greeted with a contempt akin to that excited by 
 the hypocrite. 
 
 The truth is, that here, as at many other points, intellectual virtue 
 passes over into the virtues of the moral life. In the spirit of the 
 advice which Shakespeare puts into the mouth of old Polonius it 
 may be said, that the only way in which a man can be perfectly true 
 to others is by being first of all perfectly true to himself. And 
 therefore if a graduate desires to be perfectly honest to other men — 
 if ^ 'I'^sires to avoid imposing upon the world with regard to the 
 . v^f his degree, — he must firsi of all be perfectly honest with 
 hi.iiself in his endeavour to realize, in spirit and in truth, the culture 
 which his degree is intended to symbolize. 
 
 Such living realization of the significance of his academical stand- 
 
15 
 
 ing is surely to be expected, above all, from the graduate in the 
 Faculty of Arts. For, as we are often reminded, this is, in a very 
 special sense, the Faculty of Culture; it is that department of the 
 University, whose very existence is a perpetual declaration of the 
 value which must be attributed to culture for its own sake, apart 
 altogether from the uses to which it may be put. It is not, indeed, 
 to be supposed that, by thus differentiating the Faculty in which 
 you b ive graduated to-day, any slight is thrown upon the other 
 Faculties of the University. It is quite true, that in these Faculties 
 scientific and literary attainments are sought, not so much on 
 account of their own intrinsic value, as rather for the purpose of 
 being applied to some extrinsic professional use ; but it would be 
 obviously unfair to assume that a man, who applies his intellectual 
 culture to any of the purposes of practical life, is thereby committed 
 to a crass utilitarianism which can see no value in anything apart 
 from the professional gain to which it may contribute. So far is this 
 from being the attitude of the professional Faculties, that they all 
 require a preliminary examination for entrance, which implies a fair 
 degree of liberal culture. But, apart from this preliminary require- 
 ment, it ought not to be overlooked that the studies of the profes- 
 sional Faculties are departments of intellectual work, and cannot be 
 successfully pursued without developing a very valuable form of 
 intellectual culture. The truth is, that the real aim» of professional 
 training is the personal culture of the professional man, the culture 
 of those intellectual aptitudes by which he may be fitted promptly to 
 apply to the varied exigencies of practical life the teachings of pro- 
 fess; ional science. 
 
 13 ut while acknowledging to the fullest extent the value of the 
 liberal culture incidental to professional studies, we cannot ignore 
 the fact, that the distinctive feature of these studies opens the way 
 to some of the unhappy influences that are unfortunately associated 
 with pursuits of an industrial character. For, the immediate end of 
 industrial work being the production of wealth, there is always in 
 industrial society a strong temptation to degrade man into a mere 
 instrument for the attainment of this end; and under such a temp- 
 tation the value of educational systems and methods is apt to be 
 estimated, mainly it not exclusively, by their efticiency in converting 
 men into instruments for the production of jalth. It is therefore 
 
 II 
 
l ■' } . 
 
 16 
 
 ' '■>■ 
 
 infinitely important to maintain all those institutions, to encourage 
 all those activities, which tend to remind us that '* a man's life con- 
 sisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth," that 
 man himself is greater than all his possessions, and that it can profit 
 him nothing in fact to gain a whole world of external possessions if 
 he lose possession of himself. This is the true lesson of all culture, 
 whether liberal or professional, whether intellectual, moral or reli- 
 gious. The man who has not learnt this lesson, has learnt nothing 
 of real value ; in reality he is nothing, and will continue to be no- 
 thing until the lesson is learnt. 
 
 It is for this reason that all the higher interests of academic life — 
 the interests even of professional study itself — are intimately bound 
 up with the maintenance of the Faculty of Arts in a high state of 
 efficiency. For, however imperfectly the Faculty may fulfil its high 
 vocation, that vocation is perfectly clear. The culture, at which it 
 aims, is not planned, primarily or mainly, for the purpose of fitting 
 men or women to produce >vealth, — to add to the abundance of 
 their possessions.. — by the practice of any industrial occupation. 
 Its studies are designed to discipline the intellectual and moral 
 energies so as to develop the highest perfection of which humanity 
 is capable, under the conviction that, for all men and women, the 
 production of wealth, as well as every other object in life, must be 
 subordinated to the supreme ideal of a perfectly cultured manhood 
 or womanhood. 
 
 But here again the professional mind has a legitimate word of 
 explanation or defence, even though it may be obliged to leave the 
 strictly professional point of view, and take to the common stand- 
 point of all mankind. For it may be said of culture, as it is said of 
 pleasure, that, in order to attain it, you must not make it the direct 
 object of pursuit. The most cultured man is not one who flatters 
 himself with self-complacent reflections on his own personal culture, 
 but rather one who goes out, in self-forgetting activity, to promote 
 the welfare of his fellowmen. Apart from such activity any culture 
 of intellectual life is a{)t to degenerate into an idle dilettanteism, 
 which is as far removed from true human worth as that spurious 
 development of the moral life, which substitutes a weak gu.sh of 
 maudlin sentiment for the stern force of practical virtue. 
 
 It is this aspect of active beneficence, that forms by far the most 
 
17 
 
 attractive feature of professional meiit, and evokes the noblest 
 enthusiasms of professional life. One of Bacon's writings gives 
 incidentally a slight, but significant indication that he had clearly 
 seen what must be the inspiration of the highest intellectual work. 
 In the ideal commonwealth, which he constructs under the title of 
 The Neiv At/a/'tis, lie places a great scientific institute which, by a 
 pious conceit of seventeenth century type, is styled The House of 
 Solomon ; and in portraying one of the Fathers of this House he 
 notes among his features, that '■ he had an aspect as if he pitied men." 
 At times when one studies the lives of great scientific toilers, 
 especially among the noble army of those who have devoted them- 
 selves to the science of healing, one may surely trace, if not in their 
 external appearance, at least in their internal character, some feature 
 which seems to indicate, that, like the Father of the House of 
 Solomon, " they had an aspect as if they pitied men " ; and such 
 pity for men — such an enthusiasm of humanity — forms the only 
 effective and sustained inspiration of any intellectual labour that is 
 worthy of an intelligent being. 
 
 The glorious ideal of life, on which this enthusiasm depends, is 
 one that commonly gleams wiih a more brilliant splendour upon the 
 fresh imagination and sentiment of youthful years. As you travel 
 farther into the cold dull clime of life's uninteresting routine, you 
 may often be dispirited to find that the splendid visions of early life 
 seem " to die away and fade into the light of common day." But, 
 however disheartening this effect may be at times, do not part with 
 your faith in the sublime ideals of youth's generous ardour. These 
 ideals form the light-bringing star that rises over the eastern horizon 
 of human life ; and now, as of old, those are wise men who follow the 
 guidance of that star ; and now, as of old, they who are wise enough 
 to follow its guidance shall assuredly find that it leads at last to the 
 Light which lightens every man that cometh into the world. 
 
 The Vice-Principal Dr. Johnson then reported on the past session 
 as follows : — 
 
 Mr. Chancellor and Members of Convocation : 
 
 We all to-day rejoice at the return of the Principal, Sir William 
 Dawson, to resume his functions after his long absence from the 
 University. We all, too, are aware of the serious illness and the 
 
 j 
 i 
 

 i 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 -i 
 
 
 
 ! 
 
 d 
 
 11 
 
 
 18 
 
 prolonged period of convalescence which were the causes of that 
 enforced absence. It was my oftice to discharge his duties, as Acting 
 Principal, while he *. as away, and it consequently devolves upon 
 me now to give an account of the session which is just closing. 
 
 Our number of students has increased largely. It is about loo 
 more than last year, and more than double that of ten years ago." 
 We have now over 900 in all the Faculties, and of these about 500 
 attend lectures in the Faculty of Arts ; 150 of whom, however, belong 
 specially to the Professional Faculties. I use round numbers for 
 convenience. 
 
 What are the consequences of this influx? Well, there is one 
 that might naturally be expected — an overcrowding of some of the 
 class-rooms. It so affected the Faculty of Medicine that they were 
 driven to ])ropose an heroic remedy, but they were saved from that. 
 The Faculty of Arts has been so hard pressed for room this session 
 that, although the heroic remedy is out of its power, it may ho"e to 
 adopt a measure equally strong. If there are too many people on 
 an island, some of them must step off. If there are too many 
 students for a class room, some must stay out. And yet the space 
 accommodation of the Faculty has been largely extended this very 
 year by the occupation of the class-rooms in the East wing vacated 
 by the Engineering students and by the erection of that noble build- 
 ing for Physics. Next year, too, the present Library building will 
 be at the disposal of the Faculty; yet all will not be enough. It is 
 not the cubical space that will be insufficient, but the arrangement 
 of it that will be unsatisfactory. Solid jjartitions are obstacles to 
 the human voice ; and if a lecturer be in one end of a large build- 
 ing while his laboratory is at the other end, the students must be 
 the losers. 
 
 The great event of the year has, of course, been the opening of 
 those magnificent McDonald buildings for Physics and for Engineer- 
 ing, which are the pride of Canada and the admiration of the 
 ■'States." But it is unnecessary to do more than refer to them. 
 Their glories have been told in prosejhroughout America and even 
 sung in verse. The name of their donor is a household word. 
 
 Next in importance in our history was the violent attack on our 
 Medical Faculty, in common with the other Medical Faculties of the 
 Universities of the Province. It failed, as it assuredly deserved to 
 
 it ^-. 
 
 1 i:' 
 
fail, but it caused us much trouble for a lime. There have been, 
 however, compensating advantages. First, it brought the different 
 niodical schools of the Province to act together, and so tended to 
 promote that friendly feeling which ought always to exist among 
 men engaged in so noble a profession. Secondly, it showed us that 
 our local Parliament, largely consisting as it does of the French- 
 speaking element, however much it may be likely to go astray when 
 misled by the energetic representations of one-sided views, yet, when 
 the opposite side is made clear to them, is able to rise above the pre- 
 judices that have been instilled and to decide on the merits of the 
 case. 
 
 I am not sure but that we ought to count the gifts, subsequently, 
 to the Medical Faculty of $60,000 from Mr. John Henry R. Molson 
 and of $100,000 from Sir Donald Smith as another compensating 
 advantage. We cannot absolutely say that they were given on ac- 
 count of the persecution the Faculty suffered, but it looks possible, 
 especially when we consider the similar case of the Law Faculty a 
 few years ago, and the gift of $150,000 from Mr. McDonald. 
 
 I may say, parenthetically, that the framers of the English language 
 never seem to have contemplated a case like that of McGill Univer- 
 sity. Our mother tongue is singularly wanting in a proper variety 
 of adjectives applicable to such gifts, and therefore I have left the 
 statement of them in its unadorned simplicity. They speak for 
 themselves. 
 
 It would seem, however, that persecution excites sympathy, and 
 that the compensation for a violent though happily short persecution 
 is valued ut about $150,000 at present. We certainly arc not in- 
 clined to court persecutions, but under this condition worse things 
 might happen to us. 'J"he troubles and anxieties of the Professors 
 are changed by a magic transformation into new professorships, new 
 buildings, and additional students. 
 
 Another event, whose consequences may in the future even over- 
 shadow these, but of whose actual importance we cannot at present 
 judge, has been the movement to weld the University into one har- 
 monious whole, by inducing the students of the Professional Facul- 
 ties to study for at least two years in " Arts " before entering on their 
 professional courses. It has given me the greatest pleasure to find 
 how warmly this suggestion has been taken up by the Professional 
 
20 
 
 i' 
 
 Faculties, and 1 was no less gratified yesterday to hear the Dean of 
 the Faculty of Law, himself one of the most distinguished of our 
 graduates in Arts, speak so eloquently in favor of the scheme which 
 would enable men to complete the curricula for the B. A. and the 
 Professional degrees in six years. The idea is being discussed else- 
 where on this continent. It is " in the air," according to a common 
 expression, but the quickness with which it has been seized here is 
 one of the most striking indications of the present vigour of the Uni- 
 versity and one of the most hopeful signs of its future. If it can be 
 Curried out, however slowly, it will convert the alumni of a series of 
 professional schools, who, according to the standard of the univer- 
 sities of highest reputation, are university graduates only by a legal 
 fiction, into real university graduates in the fullest sense of the term. 
 In connection with this it ought to be remembered, when we are 
 counting the number of students in the University for the purposes of 
 comparison with other universities, that there are different systems of 
 counting — many universities having the same as ours, while others, 
 and these the highest, would regard the i8o undergaduates in Arts 
 and the Bachelors of Arts who are continuing their studies as the 
 only students of the University. 
 
 From this point of view also will be understood a criticism that 
 has been lately ma- e, namely, that in McGill University everything 
 was being strengthened except the University. Of course, the mean- 
 ing was that the Faculty of Arts, which is sometimes called the Uni- 
 versity Faculty, was not as well equipped as the other Faculties. 
 This is, no doubt, true, but all the parts of the University cannot be 
 expected to grow simultaneously, and the present condition will, no 
 doubt, soon be changed, judging from the signs of the times. 
 
 The liberality with which universities have been endowed in the 
 United States in recent years reminds us strongly of the age of 
 Edward the Sixth and Elizabeth in England, when so many of the 
 great colleges and schools of England were founded. The estab- 
 lishment ot the new University of Chicago marks emphatically the 
 presence of this new era in education, which may perhaps hereafter 
 be called the Era of the Great Donors. The salient points which 
 receive attention in this new era are the professors, the students and 
 the graduates. A university ought to have a sufficient number of 
 professors, so that none of them should be loaded down like a pack- 
 

 21 
 
 horse with a conglomeration of subjects and an excess of lectures, 
 but that each should have time not only for adecjuate preparation of 
 his lectures, but also for original work in connection with them dur- 
 ing the session. I'his presupposes that the professor is a man of 
 high ability and is relieved from the worries and cares incident to a 
 too narrow income. A professor ought generally to be a man of 
 investigation and research — " Hunc an.xietate carens animus facit." 
 To attract such men there must bo adecjuate salaries, and Chicago is 
 acting on this principle. It is easy to call any man a professor, but 
 it is not easy to get ane who conies up to the European standard. 
 Two pieces of steel may be so exactly like one another that the eye 
 can see no difference, but the one may be a magnet and the other 
 not. Stroke other pieces of steel with the magnet and you convert 
 them into magnets, but to attempt this with the steel that has not 
 the magnetic power is waste of labour. So is it with the action of 
 mind on mmd, of professors on students. But the students must be 
 of the proper material for the professor to act on. You may stroke 
 a piece of soft iron with a magnet until you are weary and it receives 
 no permanent power of attraction. Yet it may look like steel. But 
 the proper test must be applied to decide this. So with candidates 
 for university training of the highest kind ; we must select the steel 
 and leave out the unimpressible soft iron by an adequate examin- 
 ation. But in 80 doing we must keep in touch with the school sys- 
 tem of the country as a whole. To fix a theoretical standard for 
 admission which the schools cannot reach is to try to build a uni- 
 versity in the air, having no conuection with the solid earth. If the 
 laws of nature permitted the existence of such an institution, only 
 candidates possessed of private balloons could reach it. 
 
 It is very imlikely, that in this country a university which had a 
 body of well-paid professors and empty lecture-rooms would long con- 
 tinue to exist. There is a barrier, however, to the entrance of clever 
 students which is more dititicult to throw down tliAn that of excessive 
 requirements at an examination. The ablest candidates are often 
 unable from want of means to come to the university. It is in the 
 interest of the nation at large that the greatest and most highly cul- 
 tivated intellectual power should be at its service when needed, and 
 therefore it is, and not for the sake of the individual student, that 
 every civilized nation does its best, through endowments for its uni- 
 
00 
 
 s 
 
 
 versities, to enable such men to study. When it induces such men 
 to give lip some of the best years of their Hves to study which has 
 often no pecuniary recompense afterwards, an obhgation is con- 
 ferred by these men on the nation which is at least fully as great as 
 the favour conferred on thci!i personally. From a money point of 
 view they are certainly, as a body, losers by the transaction, it 
 would be well indeed, if we had adequate means for attracting the 
 ablest students from the best schools. Provision is made for this in 
 the best universities elsewhere. 
 
 But in thid new era the genesis of the professoriate is also pro- 
 vided for. The transition stage between the graduate and the pro- 
 fessor is one of peculiar difticulty, and until recently no provision 
 has been made to prevent the men best qualified to be professors, 
 from being diverted or driven to other pursuits. In the United 
 States they have now in many universities fellowships for such men 
 to enable them to continue their stiidies and to have them in 
 readiness for vacancies. Neither in McGill nor in Canada is there 
 any such provision at present. The loss is very plain to those who 
 are familiar with the facts. 
 
 In speaking of this \)a^t session, uf what the university is and of 
 what we hope it may be, we are necessarily reminded of what it has 
 been ; how small it was, less than forty years ago, .md how it has 
 grown since. In 1854 it had less than 200 graduates, chietly in 
 medicine. There were only seven Bachelors of Arts on the register 
 of the University, and yet it had been in existence for thirty-three 
 years, since 1S21. A couple of days ago I was told by the Acting 
 Secretary that if he had to send out circulars for any reason to all the 
 graduates the number would amount to 2,500. The number of de- 
 grees in Arts conferred on this day only is six limes as great as the 
 number in the first thirty-three years. We all know under whose 
 guidance this immense extension has been achieved. 
 
 On a late occasion I said that as James McGill was the founder 
 of the University, Sir William Dawsor must be regarded as the 
 builder on that foundation — builder and ar'^hitect as well ; while the 
 citizens of Montreal took their share by supplying t!:e materials 
 with which he raised the siperstructure. But no one simile would 
 convey an adeijuate idea of his labours. The vitality of the Univer- 
 sity was very low when he took it in charge. 
 
28 
 
 He had not ouly to inspire the people of Montreal witii faith in 
 an institution which had been so long among them, showing so little 
 life, and thus get financial aid, but he had also, and this was the 
 harder task of the two. to convince people outside ihe city that there 
 really was an efficient scat of higher education in Montreal, and so 
 draw students to it. Ho had to keep the small spark alive from 
 which to kindle a great fire as a yourci) of heat and light. The 
 number of papers and pamphlets of all kind; .hat he wrote for this 
 purpose in those early days would, I think, ^r ve (surprising if col- 
 lected. Their object was to keep the idea of tne University con. 
 stantly before the public. His subsequent addresses and successful 
 efforts to gather educational institutions of all kinds around the 
 University to give a constant supi)ly of fuel for the flame, cannot be 
 projierly known but to those who, like myself, were intimately 
 associated with him. 
 
 If it were the fashion in these dciys, as it was in the Middle Ages, 
 to regard Virgil as a conjuror, and had any one before the middle of 
 this century been inclined to try the " Sortes Vi.gilianaj" by open- 
 ing a volume of Virgil at random and selecting the first lines the 
 eye fell upon as an oracular prediction regarding Sir William Daw- 
 son's future life, a fitting jjassage would have been that in which the 
 kindling of a fire is graphically described, when the spark is first 
 caught in leaves and then fuel placed around — 
 
 " Suscepitqiie i(^tiem foliis ; atque ariila circum 
 Nutrinieiita dedit." 
 
 The first clause would be applicable to his writings (leaves were a 
 material for writing, as in the case of the " folia Sil)ylla2 "), and the 
 second would apply to his subsequent labours in gathering "feeders " 
 round the University. 
 
 If on each side of that excellent portrait of him lately painted we 
 had pictures of the College as it was and as it is, this passage from 
 Virgil would, I think, form no inappropriate superscription for the 
 whole. 
 
 Pressure of work has compelled me to cast these thouglits hastily 
 in a very rough mould, but u seemed to me that on an occasion like 
 this, when the University at large has no convenient method of 
 expressing its sentiments to Sir William Dawson, I, as one of those 
 colleagues who have been longest associated with him, should endca- 
 
t < K ' 
 
 11 
 
 24 
 
 vour to show our a]:)preciation of his great services ; and I am sure 
 tliat the whole of this Convocation — Chancellor and Governors, 
 Graduates and Students, with the friends of the University here 
 assembled — join heartily in thanking him for those services, in con- 
 gratulating ourselves on his return, and in wishing him a long life, 
 with renewed strength, and that h"? may still be able to do great ser- 
 vices, while the University goes on with increasing momentum on 
 the great career on which he has launched it. 
 
 The Wicksteed medals for physical culture were then awarded, 
 the silver medal being given to J. A. McGerrigle, and the bronze to 
 S. Young; J. T. Brown, Stevenson and Huestis receiving honorable 
 mention 
 
 The degree of M.A., in course, was then conferred upon Messrs. 
 D. J. Frazer, B.A. ; A. G. Nichols, B.A. ; J. A. Nicholson, B.A., 
 and H. Walters, B A. 'I'he degree of B. V., ad euiuhni, was con- 
 ferred upon Mr. Cameron Waller, B.A., Cambridge. 
 
 The Principal au'.iounced the granting of the honorary degree of 
 LL.D., to Prof. 11. 1". Bovey, M, A. in the following terms: — 
 
 Mr. Chancellor, I have much ])leasure in announcing that the 
 degree of I.L.I )., honoris causa, has been granted by the corpor- 
 ation to Henry Taylor Bovey, M.A. of the University of Cambridge, 
 and Dean of the faculty of api)lied science. 1 he eminent services 
 of Dr. Bovey to the university and to the engineering profession 
 in Canada are too well known to require mention, and havt' already 
 been reco.:ni/ed by two of our sister universiiies in Canada and also 
 in the United States. Dr. Bovey is also the author of two import- 
 ant works on applied mechanics which have been favorably received 
 in England and America, and of several valuable papers on this and 
 allied subjects, I may add that the proposal for the degree was 
 introduced to the corporation by representatives of the whole body 
 of graduates. 
 
 Prof. Bovey then came forward and the degree was conferred by 
 the Principal. 
 
 The Chancellor then introduced the Mayor of Montreal, remark- 
 ing on his eminent i)ublic services and interest in educational affliirs. 
 
 The Mayor addressed a few words to the Convocation and Gradu- 
 ates, expressing the high value attached by Montreal to the work of 
 
25 
 
 the University, and congratulating it on the success it had achieved 
 in the past session. 
 
 The Chancellor then introduced Dr. Sandford Fleming, C. M. G. 
 the Chancellor of Queen's University, Kingston. 
 
 Dr. Fleming referred to the interest he had taken in University 
 matters, and added his congratulations to McGill on its present 
 prosperity. He also conveyed in approp Le terms the fraternal 
 greetings of Queen's. 
 
 The Principal then spoke as follows : — 
 
 Mr. Chancellor and Membf:rs of Convocation, Ladies and 
 Gentlemen : — 
 
 After a long and in many respects agreeable and profitable sojourn 
 in the sunny south, I rejoice and thank God once more to take my 
 place in McGill, and to greet the old familiar faces of the city and 
 the land I love ; and. my pleasure is enhanced by the cordial welcome 
 of colleagues and friends, and not least by the warm greeting of the 
 under-graduates — a reception which renews my youth. It has been 
 a source of much gratification to me to learn from time to time of 
 the continued prosperity of the university and more especially of the 
 golden showers that kind friends have been pouring into her lap. 
 To-day, at the close of one of the most successful sessions of the 
 university, it seems as if its governors and officers had entered into 
 a conspiracy to prove how well they can get on without a Principal. 
 I know, however, how much of care and labor the sudden breaking 
 down of my health last autumn has occasioned to the vice-principal. 
 Dr. Johnson, and to other officers of the university, and we owe 
 sincere thanks to them for the cheerful and able manner in which 
 extra duties have been discharged, and for the evidenr- that this 
 university is in a position in which the absence or removal of no 
 one man can do it substantial injury. It is true that the liberal gifts 
 by which this session has been signalized have not fallen so much 
 on the central faculty of the university, represented here to-day, as 
 on the professional faculties. We must not, however, forget the 
 opening of that magnificent abode provided by Mr. McDonald 
 for our Department of Physical Science, and the new Univer- 
 sity Library, the gift of Mr. Peter Redpath, which is to be 
 formally opened in October. Both of these large additions belong 
 
2fi 
 
 to the Faculty of Arts, the college proper, in which resides all our 
 teaching in pure science and philosophy, as well as in literature ; 
 and while we and all friends of education rejoice in the prosperity 
 and extension of the professional faculties, we shah still more rejoice 
 when it comes to the turn of the Faculty of Arts to be raised above 
 its present penury, and to have its staff augments J ip to the needs 
 of the time. It must be noticed here that not only is the Faculty of 
 Arts now the largest in point of number of students ; but the grow- 
 ing specialization of the literary, philosophic and scientific subjects 
 which it covers, has obliged the universities of the mother country 
 and the United States to divide and sub-divide these subjects in a 
 manner unheard of in former times. 
 
 In the new University of Chicago, endowed by one of the million- 
 aires of that city, I find the subjects covered by our Logan chair of 
 geology divided into nino, each represented by a separate man, and 
 some of these men among the best in America in their several 
 specialties. Other chairs are treated in like manner. We in McGill 
 are far at present from such subdivision, ihit when we think of 
 this, we cannot fail to be astonished by the good work done by 
 our -^mall staff, each member of it burdened with work which might 
 we' be divided into several chairs, and in some cases very imper- 
 fectly supplied with means and appliances. Viewing Ihe matter in 
 this way and in connection with the small economies v.'e have been 
 obliged to j^ractise, the friends of education should hold our working 
 men in the Faculty of Arts in no small respect and esteem. In my 
 absence these matters have occupied much of my thought. On the 
 one hand I have been amusing myself with jotting down the early 
 history of McCiiil, its small beginnings and steps of early progress to 
 its present position, and on the other noting the points in which we 
 are surpassed by the older universities and those more recently 
 endowed in the United States. With these details I cannot detain 
 you now, but some day they may see the light in a connected form 
 which will bring the little romance of the early struggles of McGill 
 before the minds of the men and women of to-day. Rev. Dr. Murray 
 has most eloquently presented the ])aramoun! .laims of that 
 education which fcrrr;s the character of the man or woman, as com- 
 pared with that which is merely professional ; and Dr. Johnson has 
 clearly stated the wants of the Academical F'aculty, m connection 
 
27 
 
 with its early history. Referring to the report for the past session 
 as presented by the vice-principal, the facts that we have had about 
 a thousand students actually attending lectures, that the faculty 
 of arts has had 347 students, and that in this and the previous 
 meetings ot convocation we have conferred 135 degrees, 42 of them 
 in arts, constitute a proud record for a Canadian university, t .^tg 
 with especial pleasure in this record the success of our effort Jie 
 higher education of women, as evidenced by the large number of 
 students and graduates, and by the high standing they have attained. 
 In the annual report the Vice-Principal has ably treated the seeming 
 paradox that McGill, while receiving so great benefactions, continues 
 to be so poor. The work established by the old board of governors 
 consisted mainly of the primary essentials of a liberal education, and 
 to these the McGill endowment and later benefactions up to recent 
 years wete devoted. The later benefactions have been largely for 
 the establishment of new work or for extension of special departments. 
 Hence the older and more general work, always slenderly endowed, 
 has remained unaided, and has even had larger demands made on it 
 by each succeeding benefaction. Thus some departments are prac- 
 tically impoverished and greater stress of work laid on them while 
 others are enriched. It would seem that the heavy end of the log, 
 as well as the shorter levers, belong at present to the older and 
 purely academical branches. "We have, however, been accustomed 
 to this in McGill, and, like the school-boy out at elbows, have not 
 been concerned, knowing that the sight of the bare skin would be 
 sure to produce either a jjatch or a new coat. There has always 
 been on the part of our governors and benefactors that good general- 
 ship which can see that one part of our educational army cannot be 
 unduly advanced or another allowed to be beaten back without 
 danger of ('efeat, and we may be sure that a similar policy will pre- 
 vail in the future. '1 o the graduates of to-day, I may say that we 
 have full confidence that you will sustain the honor of the university, 
 and will regard the education you have received as a sacred deposit 
 of which you are stewards, and which is to be used for the good of 
 all, for the advancement of your country and for the glory of God. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Adams, Principal of the University of Bishop's 
 College, then pronounced the benediction, and the proceedings 
 terminated. 
 
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