THE UNIVERSITY IDEAL. 463 



Memory. Such was the ordinary and sufficing curriculum. It was 

 allowed to be varied with a part of the Ethics ; but in this age we do 

 not find the Politics ; and the Rhetoric is never mentioned. So, also, 

 the really valuable biological works of Aristotle, including his book 

 on Animals, appear to have been neglected. 



Certain portions of Mathematics always found a place in the cur- 

 riculum. Likewise, some work on Astronomy, w T hich was one of the 

 quadrivium subjects. 



All this was given in Latin. Greek was not then known (it was 

 introduced into Scotland in 1534). No classical Latin author is given ; 

 the education in Latin was finished at the Grammar School. 



Such was the Arts' Faculty of the fifteenth century : a dreary, 

 single-manned, Aristotelian quadriennium. The position is not com- 

 pletely before us till we understand further the manner of working. 



The pupils could not, as a rule, possess the text of Aristotle. The 

 teacher read and expounded the text for them ; but a very large por- 

 tion of the time was always occupied in dictating, or " diting," notes, 

 which the pupils were examined upon, viva voce; their best plan 

 usually being to get them by heart, as any one might ask them to 

 repeat passages literally, while perhaps few could examine well upon 

 the meaning. The notes would be selections and abridgments from 

 Aristotle, with the comments of modern writers. The " diting " sys- 

 tem was often complained of as a waste of time, but was not discon- 

 tinued till the third, or present, university dynasty, and not entirely 

 then, as many of us know. 



The teaching was thus exclusively text teaching. The teacher had 

 little or nothing to say for himself (at least in the earliest period). 

 He was even restricted in the remarks he might make by way of com- 

 mentary. He was as nearly as possible a machine. 



But, lastly, to complete the view of the first period, we must add 

 the practice of disputation, of which we shall have a better idea from 

 the records of the next period. This practice was coeval with the 

 universities ; it was the single mode of stimulating the thought of the 

 individual student ; the chief antidote to the mechanical teaching by 

 text-books and dictation. 



The pre-Reforraation period of Aberdeen University was little 

 more than sixty years. For a portion of those years it attained celeb- 

 rity. In 1541 the town was honored by a visit from James V, and 

 the university contributed to his entertainment. The somewhat penny- 

 a-lining account is, that there were exercises and disputations in Greek, 

 Latin, and other languages ! The official records, however, show that 

 the college at that very time had sunk into a convent and conventual 

 school. 



The Reformation introduced the second period, and made impor- 

 tant changes. First of all, in the great convulsion of European thought, 

 the ascendencv of Aristotle was shaken. It is enough to mention two 



