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fellowship, poverty was still pressing. Such a college as the Sorbonne 

 seemed to be needed. For a long time only poor students were ad- 

 mitted to its hospitality, and although the fare it furnished was 

 luxurious in comparison with that which the young men had previously 

 enjoyed, it was scant enough to justify the title the college received of 

 " pauperrima domus." During the reign of Louis 100 scholars were 

 lodged in it. They paid nothing. The house which the king made 

 over to his chaplain for the college once belonged to Jean d'Orleans, 

 and on its site with some additional space the present magnificent 

 buildings stand. 



Students in the Sorbonne have always been compelled to work. 

 Even in the thirteenth century three severe examinations were re- 

 quired before one could obtain a bachelor's degree. In order to obtain 

 the right to teach or to be known as doctor, at least ten years' study 

 was necessary. Many theses were written, and their authors subjected 

 to many tests of scholarship. The final examination occupied an 

 entire day, beainnino- at 6 a.m. and closing at G P.M. There was no 



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intermission for food, drink or exercise. Twenty wranglers, relieving 

 each other every half hour, conducted the examination. They made 

 it as difficult as possible and did all in their power to confuse the 

 student. 



In 1274 the Sorbonne provided courses in the humanities and 

 philosophy as well as in theology. Its faculty has always been very 

 conservative. It pronounced judgment against Jeanne d'Arc, con- 

 demned Luther and reform of every sort, and opposed the philosophy 

 of Descartes. Since the revolution there has been no theological 

 faculty. Instruction has been confined to literature and science. 

 There are schools of law and medicine in the vicinity. The literary 

 and scientific faculties of the university are installed in the buildings 

 of the Sorbonne. Here also are the libraries, both of the university and 

 of the college, numbering altogether about 300,000 volumes. 



In 1821 the professors of the university complained that their 

 laboratories were too small and their examination rooms inadequate 

 and dark. It was in this year that the schools of the Sorbonne, which 

 had been closed by the revolution, were reopened. Its property had 

 been taken by the state in 1801. Renting it for a time, the state 

 finally turned it into a lodging house for artists, sculptors, painters, 

 architects and men of letters. . 



The complaints of the university brought up the question as to 

 the ownership of the property. Was its title in the state or in the 

 university? Legislation was protracted, hut a decision rendered in 

 1852 gave the property to the university. Meanwhile the university 

 faculties continued to ask for more room. There must be, they said, 

 new laboratories for the proper study of chemistry, zoology and physics. 



