University of
Aberdeen.

Marischal College.

Professor Knight.

19 September 1827.

Number of Students attending this Session

Of whom there were Bursars

And obtained vacant Bursaries from the Principal and Professors,
on account of their proficiency and good conduct .
Excused by the Professor from paying Fees, for various reasons
Paid Fees as free Students

Aberdeen, Thursday, 20th September 1827.

The Earl of ABERDEEN in the Chair.
The Reverend George Glennie, D.D., called in and examined:

You are Professor of Moral Philosophy in this College?—I am.
Do you concur in the Answers transmitted by the Senatus Academicus to the Questions
of the Commissioners ?-I do.

The

Will you have the goodness to state to the Commissioners particularly the manner in which you conduct the Moral Philosophy class?-The method of teaching adopted in my class is by lectures and examinations; by dictating such notes as are necessary for preparing the students to be examined on the subjects of the lectures; and by exercises in English composition. Occasionally I cause the students to write Latin essays, to be read in presence of the Senatus and all the students, in the public school; and to read and translate passages of the Greek and Latin classics, connected with the subjects of the course. authors selected for this purpose are Aristotle's Treatise of Poetry, and his Rhetoric, Longinus, Xenophon's Memorabilia, Cicero de Officiis, Horace, and Virgil. The subjects of the course are those mentioned as taught in the 4th class, in No. 17 of the Returns. In the introductory lectures I specify the different departments of human knowledge; the mental faculties exercised in the cultivation of each department, and their mutual dependencies; the nature and extent of philosophical investigation in general, and the peculiar nature of the mental philosophy. In Psychology is explained the nature of the intellectual and active powers, always with a view to their practical improvement, both in respect to the acquisition of knowledge, and moral culture. In Natural Theology are taught the proofs, à priori and à posteriori, of the existence and attributes of God; the relative importance of these modes of proof is pointed out, and sceptical objections are answered; to which are added, the natural and moral proofs of the immortality of the soul. Under the head of Moral Philosophy, strictly so called, are treated the chief questions respecting the nature of the moral faculty; the duties we owe to God, to ourselves, and our fellow-men; and the general principles of jurisprudence, economics, and politics. The last department of the course comprehends Logic and Rhetoric. In the former of these branches, after shewing that the foundation of a proper system of logic must be laid, in an analysis of the mental faculties, the topics remaining to be discussed, after the practical inferences introduced in the preceding part of the course, are, the distinction of the various kinds of terms, and the right use of them; the nature and varieties of propositions, and an explanation of their properties, modifications, and essential parts; an analysis of arguments shewing how their truth may be discovered, or their fallacy detected; and a description of the methods of classification and arrangement which best enable us to retain and apply the knowledge we have acquired. To Rhetoric is referred the theory of language, introduced in an early part of the course; the difference between ancient and modern criticism, as far as the latter is denominated philosophical; the nature of poetical composition, as distinguished from prose; the nature and use of tropes and figures, and the rules for the structure of the various sorts of periods and sentences. About the middle of the session I begin to give two lectures every week on Logic and Rhetoric.

Do you prescribe exercises to the students in your class ?—I do.

Of what description ?—They are generally connected with the subjects of the course, or critical observations upon passages either of the Latin or English authors that are pointed

out.

How often may these exercises be prescribed ?-Perhaps once a week, after the first two or three weeks of the session.

Is the performance of them imperative upon the students?—No, it is not.

Is no part of them imperative ?-Some of them are imperative; that is to say, the students will be fined if they do not produce them at the time required.

What proportion of the class may generally perform these exercises?-Perhaps there are only two or three of them that ever decline performing these exercises; those students are always marked in my catalogue as being deficient. I always mark the appearance that the students make in every department, distinguishing between those who perform all the exercises and answer properly in the examinations, and those who do not perform these things as I could wish.

Do you make them criticise the productions of each other?-I have attempted to do that, but I do not think that it is attended with good consequences; I have been obliged to give

that over.

Do you find any backwardness in the students to be examined ?-None in the least; they are well acquainted with that sort of exercise before they come to me; and one of the lectures in the beginning of the course is intended to point out the advantages to be derived from the examinations.

Do you conceive examination to be quite essential to the successful teaching of Moral Philosophy?—I do; and I think examination is a great assistance to the person writing out or composing the lecture, because he can know by the examination when he is understood, and when he is not understood, and can alter his illustrations according to the answers that have been given; and there are many illustrations introduced into my subject in the course of the examinations that would appear too familiar if introduced in a regular discourse.

Have you experienced that you have not sufficient time for the full discussion of such a variety of subjects as are comprehended in your course?—The subjects I am obliged to go No. IV.

P

University of
Aberdeen

Marischal College.
Professor Glennie.

20 September 1827.

over might furnish employment for three or four different Professors, if fully discussed; but I have adhered as much as possible to the plan of education laid down by the Senatus of Marischal College in the year 1753.

Would you consider it as desirable, that there should be a separation of the Rhetoric and Logic from the Moral Philosophy class?-If a Professorship were appointed for that purpose, amply endowed, it might be of consequence surely.

Do you give prizes in your class ?—No, I do not.

What is your opinion as to the effect of the practice of giving prizes?—It must depend entirely upon the manner in which the prizes are adjudged if they are adjudged, as they are in some instances, by the students themselves, I should think that is liable to great objections.

Have you reason to think, that where that mode of adjudging prizes is adopted it is attended with bad effects?—I have never attempted it myself: but reasoning à priori, I should think it must give rise to very improper applications of one student to another, in order to influence his judgment.

Have you a separate hour for the examination in your class?-There is generally; for every two lectures that I give, I have an hour of examination; but perhaps I may not be able to go through, in that hour, all that I have gone through in the two preceding hours of lecturing.

Do you lecture two hours a day?--I sometimes lecture two hours a day; sometimes two lectures succeed one another; and on other days there is only one; but the class meets three hours a day.

Will you mention what you generally do at each hour?—I have not a particular hour in the morning, forenoon, or afternoon, appropriated for any particular subject; but I generally examine in the forenoon at 11 o'clock, and lecture the other hours; and the exercises in Latin and in Greek are generally in the morning.

What portion of time is occupied in dictating notes ?-The proportion of time occupied in dictating notes, and in the other exercises I have just mentioned, may be perhaps something less than one-third of the hours employed in teaching.

What do you mean by dictating notes?-The subjects I have to discuss are so very abstract, that if I were not to give in writing the heads of the lectures pretty fully at the beginning of the session, it is impossible that the students could answer so precisely as I wish them to do. Another reason is, that it would take much longer time in examining them. I have attempted to teach without dictating notes, but I then found that much more time must be employed in examining the students than when I gave the heads of the lectures in notes. Sometimes, upon difficult subjects, I give much more than the heads —the general outlines.

Did it ever occur to you that it would be advantageous to publish a synopsis of your lectures?—I think it would be of importance; but I believe that some of those that have held a similar office before me, have been longer employed upon the subject than I have been, before they found it expedient to do so. As an instance of this, I can mention Dr. Beattie, my predecessor.

In those notes, do you intimate to the students the subjects upon which they will be examined at a subsequent hour on that day?-They may not be examined at a subsequent hour on that day, but they will be examined in the course of that day or the next; but I always take care that they shall have the notes containing the subjects of the lectures they have heard before they are to be examined. No student in my class can know before-hand the questions that are to be put to him, or the time he is to be examined.

If the class of Logic were detached from that of Moral Philosophy, do you think the students are able to bear the expense of paying an additional fee ?—I do not.

What other classes do they attend during the fourth year?-Several of them may attend the Mathematical class, and the higher Latin and Greek classes.

Yours is the leading class for the fourth year?-Yes.

Do they attend the Mathematical class, after having attended Natural Philosophy?— Some of them do; six or eight of my class may be attending the third Mathematical class. Do you introduce any political economy into your course?-I do not; no further than some incidental remarks upon one branch of the subject.

Have you lectures upon jurisprudence?—Yes; but of late, since we have had a class of Law, I have not extended these so much as I did formerly.

What proportion of your course is devoted to Logic?-The philosophy of evidence is introduced in explaining the various faculties of the human mind, because that is one of the practical inferences I wish to draw from the explanation of the phenomena; and the lectures upon Logic may be, in the course of the after part of the session, 10 or 12; but a great many of the subjects of the practical part of my course are introduced in the speculative part incidentally; and those are passed over, or only briefly recapitulated when I come to the latter part. To keep the theoretical and the practical branches distinct, I would think as improper as to propose to lay the foundation of a building in one field and rear the superstructure in another.

Was there a large proportion of the students in the practice of graduating, previously to the late regulations, at the end of the session?-There was; but I suppose, very soon there will be just the same proportion that will graduate, after the new mode has become better known.

Has there not hitherto been a diminution in the number?-There has; from the novelty of the regulations, and the greater strictness of the examination.

You have a church in the town ?-I have the West Church.

Do you know what is the practice of the students as to going to church? I make it a rule to have an account given to me by the person that keeps the catalogue of the church, that each student of my class attends. This I take every session, at the beginning of the

course.

University of
Aberdeen.

Marischal College.

Are any means adopted to secure the attendance of the students generally; do the Pro- Professor Glennie. fessors accompany them?-The Professors attend in the gallery; but I really must say, 20 September 1827. from the structure of the seats there, that I would not advise any student to attend in that church who could go with his own family to any other church; because the Professors all sit in the front of the gallery, with their backs to the students, and have no means of knowing whether the students behave properly or improperly, except when they hear a noise; and the seats in the church shew that very improper behaviour is going on, for they are almost all cut with the names of the students.

In point of fact, is it the case that there is only one Professor generally present?-When I am there, there are always two; that is, when I am not preaching in the West Church. Can you state upon what ground the custom of a Professor walking with the students from the College to the church was discontinued in 1814?-It was when the change of holding a public school took place, and when there were only those that gave in their names to attend there. I can safely say there were then, perhaps, not eight or ten who ever gave in their names for going with the Professor to the College Church.

Did the students not attend at all?-They attended with their own families, which was even then thought to be much better than to attend in the gallery in the College Church. Is it not the fact that a great proportion of the students come from distant parts of the country?—Yes; and that is the reason for my insisting upon knowing whether they actually attend church along with their families, or those to whom the care of them is intrusted.

In point of fact, the Senatus take no measures to ascertain whether those young men that come from the country attend divine worship or not?—I have never seen anything done of late in that way.

Might it not be easy to contrive some method, by which one of the Professors might sit with his face towards the students?—That has been attempted. I have sat with my side to them, but even then it would be impossible to know whether improper practices were going on. I know that very improper practices have gone on there.

Inasmuch as improper practices go on, even in the presence of the Professors, is there not, on that account, greater reason to increase the strictness with which the attendance of the students at church is required?-Not of the attendance of the whole of the students in one place, except they were more under the eye of the Professors.

When were you appointed?--I was appointed in 1796.

It seems that a great proportion of the students attending the junior classes do not go forward to the Moral Philosophy class; can you explain how that happens?—That has always been the case.

Must not all the students from this College who attend the Divinity Hall have previously attended you?—Yes.

Have most of the students at the Divinity Hall in this College attended the previous course at this College, or do many of them come from other Colleges to the Divinity Hall here?-Some, I believe, come from other Colleges, but I do not know what proportion. Is any lecture on the New Testament delivered by the several Professors on the Sunday, as required in the Charter ?-None.

Do you know whether the practice obtained at any former period?—It is not consistent with my knowledge.

Are the students who do not graduate, in the practice of applying for certificates when they leave the College?—They are; and those that do graduate also.

Do you regulate your certificate according to your opinion of the proficiency or acquirements of the young men ?-I do, always.

If you have been dissatisfied with the proficiency of a student, would you certify that, or would you merely certify his attendance?—I would merely certify that he had attended my class.

Are you in the habit of receiving students at this University who have been expelled from other Universities?-Never. In the year 1798 we had a list of students who had been expelled from the University of Dublin sent to us here, but not one of them ever appeared here.

Do you understand it to be the practice, when a student is expelled from any of the Universities, that notice is given to the other Universities of that fact?—Yes.

So that, if you received no notice, you would accept any student who came, without any inquiry?—Yes; but if we were in any doubt, an inquiry would be instituted, to see whether that form had been neglected or not. An instance of that occurred with respect to a student who attended my class last year, of the name of Gellie; he came to be introduced, I think, to Dr. Knight's class and Mr. Cruickshank's class, and they went over to King's College to ascertain whether he had been actually expelled or not, before they would admit him, and they got satisfactory answers before he was admitted to their classes.

You understand that there is a difference in practice between what is called expulsion, accompanied by notification to other Universities, and simple dismissal?--Certainly. In the one case, is it not with a view of securing his reception at another University, and in the other of prohibiting it?—Yes.

What is your opinion of the method in which the Rector of this University is elected?He is elected strictly according to the letter of the Foundation Charter; but great irregu