8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Oxford, where they remained for two years, or till the decision of Pope 

 Gregory IX. so favored the students that they felt it safe to return to 

 Paris. It was in this university that William of Champeaux and 

 Abelard taught. Early in its history there were the four faculties of 

 theology, law, medicine and the arts. In the department of the arts 

 there were as many students as in the other three departments of the 

 university combined. Hence in the " congregation," or board of control, 

 the masters of the arts department had four votes, while each of the 

 other departments had but one each. About 1250, Thomas Aquinas, 

 Alexander Hales and Saint Bonaventura were members of the theo- 

 logical faculty. Their refusal to take the oath of allegiance to the 

 university, on the ground that their obligations were to the church, was 

 the beginning of legislation which continued for seven years and ended 

 only with the decision of the Pope that mendicants, or members of 

 orders in the church, should have the same right to teach in the uni- 

 versity as the regular masters. The outcome of this struggle was the 

 establishment of several colleges which were grouped around the uni- 

 versity, but were in a measure independent of it. 



The university was at the height of its fame in the fourteenth and 

 fifteenth centuries. Students nocked to it from every part of Europe. 

 By order of Xapoleon it was made in 1808 a part of the University 

 of France, and deprived of the rights it had enjoyed as an independent 

 institution. Since 1898, when the law of 1896 under which fifteen 

 universities in France were recognized and made substantially auton- 

 omous, it has regained a good deal of its former authority, although 

 the universities are still to a certain extent under the control of the 

 minister of public instruction. But the government, while providing 

 for the support of the professors, no longer provides new buildings for 

 the universities, equips laboratories, or buys books for the libraries. 

 For these increasing needs, local gifts are expected. In the larger 

 cities these have not failed. The increase in attendance, therefore, 

 has been in the universities belonging to the larger cities. There were 

 in the University of Paris in 1904 nearly 13,000 students. It is now- 

 one of the best equipped universities in the world. Its professors are 

 among the most famous in the world. The opportunities it furnishes 

 for study are not surpassed by any university in Germany. 



The Sorhonne 



The Sorbonne, one of the most noted colleges in existence, was 

 founded by Bobert de Sorbon, chaplain of Louis IX.. October 21, 1250. 

 His object was to provide for the support of poor young men while 

 in training for service in the church. Although the students had been 

 divided into four nations, Picardv, France, Xormandy, England, in 

 the hope and belief that they would aid each other through this closer 



