Lord Dalhousie founded the university in 1818, "in imitation of the University of Edinburgh" and as a non-sectarian institution, using as the initial endowment the customs duties that had been collected at Castine, Maine, when that port was occupied during the war of 1812-14. King's College was then at Windsor and was the only college in the colony. There was more to Lord Dalhousie's move, however, than a mere desire to increase the educational opportunities in a growing colony.

Governments of the day recognized that illiteracy spread rapidly in a pioneer community, and they generally took some steps to deal with the matter. In Nova Scotia, these took the form of land grants for schools; it was an attempt to provide at least a primary education for all. (In Newfoundland, no such provision was made and, by 1814, an appalling illiteracy forced the Methodist church to set up Sunday schools to provide at least enough instruction in reading and writing to enable their people to read the Bible and take part in hymn singing. This was the beginning of today's church schools in Newfoundland.)

King's College was established by Bishop Charles Inglis at Windsor in 1789, was endowed by British funds, and received regular provincial government grants. Even before all the Loyalists had left New York, some Anglican clergymen had proposed such a seminary to Sir Guy Carleton. The purpose was to provide, at home, a secondary education for the sons of the Loyalists, instead of sending them south to the States, where they would be subjected to the republican and egalitarian ideas from which the Loyalists had just removed themselves. This is a very understandable reaction, in the circumstances, and a similar proposal was also adopted by Simcoe, in Upper Canada.

The government of the day took further steps to prevent importation of the ideas the Loyalists had left behind. Although Bishop Inglis apparently held

somewhat liberal views, for his time, government was

concerned chiefly with developing a small eliteminority trained for Law and Divinity, instead of providing widely available secondary education. Sir Alexander

Croke, the Attorney-General, influenced the governors of King's to adopt, in 1803, a requirement that every student should subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. This eliminated all but Anglicans from the only college in the colony. The exclusion of dissenters from King's forced other denominations to set up their own schools, if for no other reason than the training of their own clergy.

Thomas McCulloch established Pictou Academy in 1808, where he established a fine reputation for the quality of his "classical and philosophical course" and for innovative methods of teaching natural philosophy. This reputation was justified: seven of his students at Pictou eventually held the degree of Doctor of Divinity and six were knighted, including Sir William Dawson, (the young man who assisted Sir Charles Lyell during his investigations in Nova Scotia in 1842, the "young Mr. Dawson, a very excellent geologist" according to Logan in 1843), who became Principal of McGill in 1855, and for whom our Dawson Geology Club is named. (It was his son, George Dawson, who became Director of the Geological Survey of Canada.)

McCulloch had obtained some reluctant assistance from government for his school, apparently on the ground that it was non-sectarian, although it came to be widely seen as a Presbyterian school. Eventually McCulloch came under great pressure to change the character and purpose of his academy, became deeply embroiled in the religious and political turmoil of the day, and lost much of the support of even the Presbyterian clergy as a result. He grew weary of this and turned to the scheme that was then being promoted by Joseph Howe.

Howe was advocating "one good college, free from sectarian control, and open to all denominations, maintained by a common fund, and rallying around it the affections of the whole people".

Dalhousie was the obvious location for such a college. Although Lord Dalhousie had founded the school in 1818, and the building on the Grand Parade had been completed in 1823, everything had languished because many of the trustees were Anglican and discouraged competition with King's. By 1836, there was persistent demand that Dalhousie should be available to those excluded from King's, and it was generally agreed that McCulloch was the best qualified to be its principal. This appears to have been genuine recognition of his abilities, and not political manoeuvering. He was made principal of Dalhousie by act of the Assembly in 1838.

The appointment immediately embroiled him

in political and sectarian warfare, and the consequences thereof are still causing trouble a hundred and fity years later. It was expected that different denominations would be represented on the teaching staff. Instead, the governors refused to appoint Crawley, an Anglican who had turned Baptist as the result of a schism in St. Paul's church. McCulloch, himself, refused to work with O'Brien, the Catholic nominee (... "When Mr. O'Brien comes in at one door, I go out at the other.") Crawley immediately proceeded to become the leader in building a Baptist College at Horton Academy, which had been opened in 1829 to raise the standards of the Baptist clergy. Today it is Acadia University. The Catholic bishop, Fraser, succeeded in obtaining an act of incorporation for St. Mary's College, in 1841. In 1831, the Catholic bishop in Prince Edward Island had opened St. Andrew's College in Charlottetown, again primarily to train priests for the diocese. In 1855, the name was changed to St. Dunstan's, and it is today the University of Prince Edward Island. The Methodists had remained largely outside the controversies, partly because their local group was subordinated to the English Wesleyan Conference. Partly also, they had been able to obtain government grants because their activities did not go beyond elementary education. In 1842, however, C. F. Allison, a wealthy merchant living in Sackville, N. B., provided buildings and staff for a Methodist college that is, today, Mount Allison.

In short, the religious intolerance of the mid-nineteenth century produced the initial impetus that has resulted in a multiplicity of universities in the Maritimes - nine degree-granting institutions in Nova Scotia alone. Now, a hundred and fifty years later, we are left to try to "rationalize" the situation and combine, by some mechanism, the operations of institutions widely dispersed and each tied into facilities and capital equipment that cost very many millions and are adaptable to very little else than their present uses.

Because their initial reason for existence was to train the clergy and other leaders for the growing colony, the early programs of studies had a strong emphasis on the classics, philosophy, and theology, although some "natural philosophy" was included. The exception was Mount Allison which, from its beginning, combined professional training with a general course.

McCulloch died in 1843 and Dalhousie closed in 1845. McCulloch's instructional program, which he carried to Dalhousie, was patterned after that of the Scottish universities, with a strong emphasis upon languages, the classics, and perhaps a generous dollop of natural philosophy. This was a very broad base, upon which the individual was expected to continue to build the broad education that was summed up in the phrase "a well-read person". At the same time, admission requirements were carefully tailored to make the College accessible to "any likely lad" (in the phrase of the day) whether coming from the schools or from private study. It has been argued that Dawson, at McGill, and Grant (another graduate of Pictou Academy) at Queen's, did much to spread this Scottish tradition in Canadian education.

After a period when its funds were used to support a high school, and a year when it was combined with the Arts Department of Gorham College, a Congregationalist school at Liverpool, Dalhousie re-opened in 1863, with James Ross, D.D. as its Principal. This resurrection no doubt had many causes; an important one was an act of the Legislature that empowered the Board of Governors to grant "to any body of christians, or any individual, or number of individuals, the privilege of nominating a representative to the Board, and a professor, for every chair ... supported by them to the extent of 1200 dollars per year". This caused the Presbyterian church to close its schools in Truro and Halifax and support two professors. It later withdrew this support after the two professors died. The Church of Scotland also endowed a chair in Mathematics - an endowment that may still be operating.

THE EARLY PROGRAM AT DALHOUSIE - 1863 TO 1900

As would be expected from the foregoing outline, the program of studies available to the students when Dalhousie re-opened was designed to train the graduate to take a responsible role in the growing province - and in the about-to-be-formed country. The staff consisted of:

• Rev. James Ross, D.D., Principal, who taught Logic, Ethics, Political Economy
• Rev. William Lyall, LLD, who taught Metaphysics, Esthetics, Belles Lettres
• George Lawson, Ph.D., LLD, who taught Chemistry and Mineralogy
• John Johnson, M.A., who taught Classics
• Charles Macdonald, M.A., who taught Mathematics
• Thomas McCulloch who taught Natural Philosophy

In October, 1865, James DeMill, M.A. was added to replace McCulloch who had died in March, 1865, and James Leichti was added as tutor in Modern Languages. DeMill taught Rhetoric and History. In 1866 Lyall's responsibilities were listed as Psychology and Metaphysics. One should note that this McCulloch was not the first Principal, but his son.

Admission Requirements

A student seeking admission presented "himself to the Principal or someone designated by him" and an assessor, appointed by the Governors, and was required to show an adequate knowledge of:

1. Latin or Greek grammar and "ability to translate and parse a passage from some easy Latin author" (Caesar, Virgil or Cicero) or "one easy Greek author" (Xenophon, Homer, The New Testament) "and to apply the rules of prosody in hexameter verse".
2. Mathematics: Arithmetic; the first book of Euclid.
3. English Grammar: English composition.
4. History of England.
5. Geography.

This implies individual examination, which was partly in writing - "to test the attainments of the applicant, in writing, spelling, and composition". The minutes of Senate, describing the Convocation of 19 Oct., 1864, say: "The Principal then having intimated that the Entrants to the College would be examined in the afternoon of this day, closed the meeting with a benediction". The following day the minutes report that nine students had passed. In 1866, "Thirteen students had presented themselves at the Matriculation Examination" and "ten had passed".

Of a student body of 25 in 1864, 2 survived to graduation.

Class Offerings, 1864

In the Winter Session, the following classes were offered:

First Year:

Classics, Mathematics, Logic

Second Year:

Classics, Mathematics, Metaphysics and Belles Lettres

Third Year:

Classics, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and Modern Languages, Psychology and Elementary Chemistry

Fourth Year:

Chemistry, Modern Languages, Ethics and Political Economy, and either Classics or Mathematics

The passing grade in all classes was "a Third Part of the value of the Examination Exercise in that Subject".

In the Summer Session classes were available in Classics, Mathematics, Modern Languages and "lectures will be given in such branches of science as may from time to time be thought most expedient, such as Classical and English Literature, Rhetoric, History, Botany, Geology, Mineralogy, & c".

There were the usual examinations in each class at the end of each year and, for the B.A. degree, in addition, at the beginning of the second session, in Greek and Roman History, and at the beginning of the third session, in English History, Literature and Composition.

Lawson taught "Chemistry and Mineralogy", but he must have wandered further afield than those terms would now imply. The calendar for 1865-66 lists, as texts in Mineralogy: Nichols' or Dana's Mineralogy, as one would expect, but also "Page's Text Book" and Dawson's Acadian Geology.

CHANGES IN SUCCEEDING YEARS

The program was rearranged and revised in 1866, in the light of the experience gained in the three years since re-opening of the College, but the changes were largely a re-arrangement of sequence, with little change in content. The revision process is one that has continued with remarkable regularity ever since.

The sessions began about mid-October and finished about the end of April. Presumably this was accomodation to the annual cycle of labour and the seasons in an agricultural community. Although there was also a summer session, which lasted till the end of June, it was not uncommon, in the early years especially, for scheduled classes to be cancelled because only one or two students had appeared for each class offered. In 1875, for example, only one candidate appeared and the entire summer session was cancelled. In 1876 and 1877, no candidates appeared for the summer school, although the student body had grown to 94 students: 47 undergraduates and 47 general, - up from a total of 53 in 1868.

In these early years, classes that would now be included in the sciences were limited to Chemistry, Botany, and Physics (the latter included in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy). As indicated above, Chemistry included some Mineralogy, and the summer session of 1866 included an offering in "Geological Mineralogy", although that was omitted again in 1867.

Science Course, 1871-1874

A Science Course developed very soon, however. By November, 1871, Senate was considering "further Regulations respecting the Degree of B.Sc. and the Degree of B.A. with Honours". At that time it was decided that special examinations for honours, for students of the fourth year, would be held at the close of the session (i.e. April, 1872) in Classics, Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, Metaphysics, Logic and Philosophy, Ethics, Political Economy and History, Natural Science, and Modern Languages. (It is worth noting how these topics were combined: Political Economy and History, for example.) "A student who satisfied the Examination for Honours in any of these subjects and passes in the prescribed subjects of the Ordinary Course, will obtain the B.A. degree with Honours."

In November, 1871, it was also decided that a B.A. could obtain the B.Sc. "by taking an additional year's attendance at College, in which he will be required to take the Classes prescribed for the B.Sc. course, viz:-German, Botany and Zoology, Chemistry, Mineralogy and Geology, Analytical Chemistry, and Anatomy or Physiology, and such other subjects as the Senate may from time to time prescribe for the B.Sc. Course; and passing the required Examinations in these subjects". There was a complication because "Botany and Zoology" was taught in alternate years with "Mineralogy and Geology", and both were imperatives. So a student was permitted to take, in his third and fourth year, the class that would not be available in the fifth - and there would be examinations in both at the end of the fifth year.

The above implies that the normal route to a B.Sc. degree was to complete first the B.A. program, and present-day students may recognize here the six classes still required as the minimum additional for a second degree. This B.Sc. program was discontinued in 1874.

Geology Program prior to 1879

When Dalhousie re-opened in 1863, the science of Geology was in its infancy. The last volume of Lyell's Principles of Geology was only 27 years old, although its impact had already been widely felt. On his way to set up the Geological Survey of Canada, Logan had measured the famous section of Joggins in 1845 and the first edition of Dawson's Acadian Geology had been published as recently as 1856.

The subject was included in "Natural Philosophy", which was taught by Thomas McCulloch, the son of Dalhousie's first Principal. The position of matters geological in the scheme of things can be inferred from the schedule of final examinations: in the afternoon of Tuesday, 26 April, 1864, there was a two-hour examination in "Logic, Metaphysics and Natural Philosophy".

One hundred and twenty five years later this may seem a little odd. We must remember the circumstances, however. To the philosophers of the late eighteenth century, the world was the work of a divine and infallible Creator. It therefore followed that it was without flaw and that all parts had been perfectly designed for the place to which each had been assigned in the Divine plan. (This was no doubt a comforting thought when considering social matters.) It followed, also, that all organisms fitted this perfect design and that species were therefore fixed and unchangeable. So we find Linnaeus developing his catalogue of organisms in an effort to see the full complexity of God's design, and Buffon going beyond Linnaeus in a search for general governing laws, comparable to those Newton had found in the mechanical universe.

The miners, however, and engineers such as William Smith, had recognized the principle of superposition and it was recognized that fossils in younger sedimentary rocks differed, in many cases, from those in older rocks and both also differed, in many cases, from modern forms. Then God must have changed His mind about retaining some of the organisms He had initially created? Or had there been more than one act of Creation? Or had He made the wrong organisms at the time of Creation? If so, where was Divine infallibility and perfection of the Universe? Could God have made mistakes? Could He do so again? These were profoundly disturbing questions well meriting the attention of natural (and other) philosophers. Small wonder that, in the nineteenth century, the geological problems were included where they were!

Thomas McCulloch died in March of 1865. For many years thereafter Professor Lawson taught "Chemistry and Mineralogy" or "Chemistry and Natural Philosophy" (1871). Continued classes in "Natural Philosophy" are indicated by the pass lists for 1873-74, but in the following year the corresponding class was listed as "Natural History".

Department of Science, 1879-1880

It is not clear why the B.Sc. program was discontinued in 1874, and the situation again changed fairly quickly. In May, 1878, Senate was considering "the Report of Professors Lawson and DeMill on the proposal of a Science Course". In November of that year, William M. Fraser included in an enquiry about his status a list of classes he had taken. This included Quantitative Analysis, Geology and Botany. He was instructed to take "this winter ... subjects of the Second Year's B.Sc. Course as laid down in the Calendar for the year". This implies that there was an established Science Course extending through the entire four-year program, although, no doubt, many parts of it coincided with the B.A. requirements - in Languages, for example. In June, 1879, Senate "agreed to classify, in the Calendar, under the Department of Science, those students who were studying Scientific subjects only". Incidentally, Mr. Fraser was awarded his B.Sc. in 1880, and apparently he was the first to receive that degree. He became the Public Analyst in Halifax.

Faculty of Science, 1880-1882

The Department of Science remained such for only a year. In March, 1880 it was converted to the Faculty of Science. Its staff consisted of "the Professors of the Faculty of Arts together with James Liechti, Professor of Modern Languages and Rev. David Honeyman, D.C.L., Professor of Geology, Paleontology and Mineralogy". Liechti had been on the staff since 1865. Honeyman had joined in 1879.

The new B.Sc. course occupied four years. The program indicates what the Senate of the day considered important, so it is worth a brief examination:

First Year:

(1) Mathematics (2) Inorganic Chemistry (3) Rhetoric (4) Latin or German

Second Year:

(1) Mathematics (2) Zoology (3) Organic Chemistry (4) Latin or German (5) French (6) Either (a) Extra Mathematics and Chemical Laboratory, or (b) Chemical Laboratory (Extended Course), or (c) Geology and Chemical Laboratory

Third Year:

(1) Logic (2) Latin (3) French (4) Geology (5) Mathematical Physics (6) Either (a) Mathematics or (b) Chemistry Laboratory

Fourth Year:

(1) Latin or German (2) French (3) Experimental Physics (4) Geology (5) Either (a) Mathematics and Optics and Astronomy or (b) Organic Chemistry and Chemistry Laboratory, or (c) Geology and Biological Laboratory

"Whichever Group A or B a student enter on, he must continue to the end of his course. If German be taken in the first year, it must be taken throughout the course; but Latin may be taken in the first two years and German the last two, according to the option of the student."

This program exposed the student to at least two languages, of which French was compulsory. One supposes the inclusion of German reflected the importance of German work in science, but the inclusion of Latin has less obvious reasons. Presumably this option was included for the same reasons that retained Latin as a matriculation requirement into the 1930's; the Latin requirement for the Medical School was finally abolished in February, 1947. The emphasis upon Mathematics is also notable, as is the appearance of "Mathematical Physics". There had previously been instruction in Mathematics and Physics under the name "Mechanics", but from the examination questions in "Mathematical Physics", as published in the calendars of that time, it appears that this was a class in Mathematics with some examples drawn from Physics.

When Honeyman resigned in 1882, Principal Ross took over his duties as Professor of Hebrew and Professor Lawson was instructed to make the best arrangements he could to provide a substitute for the Geology classes. Lawson offered to give a course of lectures in Mineralogy, and this was accepted as a substitute for the previous instruction in petrography, stratigraphy, dynamics, physiography, paleontology, and the "field and museum work" done in the summer session. Evidently this was making the best of a bad job and Honeyman's departure must have caused considerable difficulty, especially for the students of the third and fourth year in Science.

Although Honeyman's departure caused difficulty, no doubt it would be an exaggeration to say it precipitated the demise of the Science Faculty. Nevertheless, on 30 November 1882, the Committee on the Science Course recommended to Senate:

"(1) That as the College does not now possess sufficient teaching power in Science to warrant the offering of a degree in that department, the Science course and degree be for the present suspended, due provision being made for the graduation of those who have already entered upon that course.

(2) That as it is desirable that students should be able to enter upon a regular course of study embracing a study of those sciences in which we can offer instruction, and at the end thereof to obtain a degree; the classes of Organic Chemistry, Botany, and Practical Chemistry be introduced in the Arts Course as elective subjects.

(3) That as it is impossible at present to suggest with what subjects of the Arts Course the above scientific subjects should be made elective, a Committee be at once appointed to report on changes in the Calendar, including that referred to above.

[Senate] "agreed that the first recommendation be adopted, the third also adopted, and the second referred to the committee to be appointed."

Faculty of Arts, 1883

Through the period from 1863 to 1883, the Senate and the staff teaching the Arts Course were the same persons. When the Law school was established in 1883, however, the need to represent it on Senate forced the creation of a Faculty of Arts as a body separate from the Senate. Apparently the science program remained in the limbo to which it had been consigned in November, 1882, with some classes as electives in the Arts program.

Faculty of Pure and Applied Science, 1891-1906

On 9 March, 1891, MacGregor, the Munro Professor of Physics, "submitted a scheme for the organization of a new Faculty of Pure and Applied Science, to consist of the Professors and Lecturers in the

respective subjects of the Science curriculum". Senate approved immediately, so it was obviously a matter that had already been discussed thoroughly.

Staffing the new faculty, and the quality of instruction therein, was a major problem, however. By September, at the beginning of its first year, MacGregor was appealing to Senate for "additional assistance in teaching in the department of pure and applied science ...". In October of the same year, Senate found that they would have to refuse the offer of an 1851 Exhibition scholarship, for 1894 and subsequent years, unless funds could be made available to improve the laboratory equipment and supplies.

It is evident that shortage of laboratory facilities is not a new problem at Dalhousie, and the report of the Senate Committee shows not only the problems but gives some interesting indications of the costs of operating laboratories a hundred years ago. It is reproduced here in its entirety.

"The Committee of Senate appointed to report on the action to be taken by the Senate with regard to the offer of H. M. Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, to place one of their Scholarships at the disposal of the College for the year 1894, and with regard to the hope expressed by the Commissioners to place a similar Scholarship at the disposal of the College in 1896, and thenceforth periodically, beg to report as follows:-

On examining the conditions of the award of said Scholarship, the Committee find that in nominating a candidate therefor, the governing body of the College would require to certify, among other things, that "he indicates high promise of capacity for advancing science or its applications by original research," and that the candidate would require to give a specific statement "of original research in which he has been engaged". It is obvious, therefore, that the acceptance of the present offer of the Commissioners; and the expectation of its periodical repetition are justifiable only provided the University can furnish facilities for original research in some of the departments of Science, the study of which the Scholarships are intended to promote.

Your Committee has therefore enquired into the present state of the Chemical and Physical Laboratories, and they find that the Directors of these Laboratories have never been authorised by the Governors to make greater expenditure on them than is necessary for conducting the ordinary University classes, that for many years at least they have had no grant from the Governors for adding to the stock of apparatus at their disposal, or even for replacing working material not absolutely necessary which has been exhausted, that the only additions to apparatus made in recent years were made by means of the fund raised by Professors Bayn and MacKenzie fifteen years ago, and of certain donations subsequently received, that the additional working material thus secured is now nearly exhausted and that, while at present some facilities for research in a few very narrow departments can be afforded to Students, unless more liberal support can be given to the Laboratories, it will, in two or three years, be impossible not only to provide these meagre facilities, but even to offer practical instruction of any kind.

Your Committee having asked the Professors of Chemistry and Physics for definite statements as to the expenditures necessary for maintaining the Laboratories in their present efficiency, and for making what they considered the most necessary additions thereto, would report that in their opinion, the annual expenditure of about $100.00 or $150.00 on each Laboratory, while extremely small as compared with the expenditure which is being made in other Canadian Universities for a similar purpose, would enable them gradually to increase their efficiency, and to afford greater facilities for original research. This would require an annual expenditure in all of $400.00 to $500.00, on Laboratories, which would make an increase of about $300.00 or $400.00 on the present annual expenditure.

Your Committee therefore conclude that, while the present state of the Laboratories is such as possibly to warrant the governing body in accepting the offer of the Exhibition Commissioners, for 1894, it would probably be necessary to refuse a similar offer if made in 1896, unless the Board of Governors can see its way to making an annual grant of $100.00 to each of the Laboratories, and that, as other Canadian Laboratories are rapidly increasing their equipment, the periodical repetition of the Commissioners offer cannot be expected unless an additional annual expenditure of about $100.00 or $150.00 on each Laboratory can be provided for.

Your Committee would therefore recommend that the Letter from the Secretary of the Commissioners should be transmitted to the Board of Governors together with a strong statement of the Senate's opinion that it is of the highest importance both that the present offer should be accepted and that the periodical repetition of it should be secured, and with a recommendation that steps should be taken to provide the funds which would seem to be necessary to make such repetition probable.

Your Committee would further suggest that in the event of the Board's being able to make an annual grant to the laboratories, the expenditure of the grant should be placed under the supervision of the Senate."

Honorary Lecturers

Senate met the problem of staff by appointing "Honorary Lecturers", the same mechanism that had provided Honeyman as an unpaid professor for three years. The first batch of "Honorary Lecturers" was approved in April, 1896. Presumably they were to begin their work in the next academic year, although it is possible they were employed during a summer session. Included were:

• Charles Archibald, M. S., who taught Mining
• Alex. Dick, M.E. who taught Mining
• H. W. Johnston, C. E. who taught Surveying and was also Assistant City Engineer.

The same Senate meeting that approved these lecturers also nominated Douglas McIntosh, who was doing Honours Chemistry, as a candidate for the 1851 Exhibition Scholarship, so the Governors must have found sufficient money to provide at least minimal necessary improvement in the laboratories.

At its next meeting, Senate approved the award of the B.Sc. degree to this same Douglas McIntosh and also to Donald Sutherland McIntosh, B.A., who was later to be Professor of Geology for many years.

Other Honorary Lecturers were added from time to time. In April, 1900, F. H. Mason and W. R. Askwith were appointed "to give courses of lectures without salary" in Mining and Metallurgy, "in place of Mr. A. Dick who is no longer resident in the city". Mason was the lecturer in Assaying. And in May, 1901, "Henry S. Poole, M.A., F.G.S. was appointed Lecturer in Geology without salary". Poole had been publishing reports on the geology of Nova Scotia since 1854, had been superintendent of a coal mine at Stellarton in the 1860's, and Inspector of Mines about 1880. From this list it is evident that the Faculty paid much attention to Applied Science, and that heavy emphasis was placed on mining. It is not clear whether, in this Faculty of Pure and Applied Science, we in Geology were considered pure or not, but with that heavy emphasis no doubt Geology was involved to some considerable degree.

School of Mines

The Faculty of Pure and Applied Science operated till 1906. Within the Faculty a School of Mines was set up in 1902 and, one assumes, began functioning in 1903, although it was still acquiring equipment for several years thereafter. At a Senate meeting on 25 Sept., 1902, President Forrest reported that the "movement for raising funds for the establishment of a School of Mines" had subscriptions for $40,520, that public meetings had been held in Halifax, Sydney, and New Glasgow and would be held elsewhere, that "considerable canvassing had been done in ... Halifax", and it was hoped that $100,000 would be subscribed before the end of the year. In the event, it took somewhat longer to secure the necessary funds. In April 1904, the Governors engaged the Rev. James Carruthers to continue the canvas for the School of Mines, and in September of that year Senate was approving "the proposal to prepare a circular of information for the subscribers to the School of Mines". In the end, the campaign raised about $60,000.

To us of this generation, who have become accustomed to large expenditures, this sounds like a very modest effort, so it is of some interest to see just what it represents. At that time the currency was backed by gold, at $20.67 per ounce. The $60,000 subscription, therefore represented 2,903 ounces of gold. Today, the price of that gold would be about $1,643,000 so the citizens of Nova Scotia were, in fact, reaching deeply into their pockets to start their School of Mines.

Staffing and equipping such a school must have been a problem for a university that was unable, a year or two before, to find money for supplies for its Physics and Chemistry laboratories.

Extension Work in Mining Communities

In 1905, Senate looked into the need, and facilities, for extension work in mining in the different coal centres of Cape Breton, Pictou, and Cumberland, and then approved plans for schools at Sydney, North Sydney, Sydney Mines, Stellarton and Springhill. King's College was operating also in Glace Bay. Presumably this extension work was done in evening classes. In September, 1906, a lengthy report to the Governors indicated 175 students were enrolled in such classes: 74 in Mathematics, 80 in Engineering, and 56 in English.

My sources are not clear on this point, but this extensive extension work may well have grown out of a summer school operated previously. On 20 November, 1902, the Senate "decided to organize a Summer School in Geology & Mining to be conducted in Cape Breton during the coming summer, the subjects to be included being Geology, Mining, Metallurgy, Chemistry and possibly Electricity and Mathematics ...".

*Much of the material for this section is derived from:

Walsh, H.H.: The Christian Church in Canada, Ryerson Press, Toronto, paperback, 1968, pp. 151-166.