100 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Slosson, in the Cyclopaedia of Education, '^'^ asserts that: "The 

 University of Michigan, remodelled in 1852 by President Tappan in 

 accord with German ideals, became the pioneer and typical State 

 University." 



Some of the enthusiasm for the State university was doubtlessly 

 kindled by the reports of what Von Humboldt had done through the 

 University for Prussia, devastated and downtrodden by Napoleon. 

 What the people of Prussia had lost by force of arms he undertook 

 to recover by force of intellect. So successful was he that the King 

 of France commissioned Victor Cousin, a peer of France and the most 

 distinguished philosopher of his age, to report upon the state of 

 Public Instruction in Prussia, This report excited a lively interest 

 in England as well as in France. It captured the imagination of 

 Crary and Pierce, who w^ere responsible for the establishment and 

 organization of the new University of Michigan. Hinsdale, in his 

 history of that university, is credited with the statement that "it is 

 no exaggeration to say that the single volume of this report that 

 found its way into the oak openings of Michigan and into the hands 

 of Crary and Pierce, produced results direct and indirect that surpass 

 in importance the results produced by any other educational volume 

 in the whole history of the country." ^^ 



It is worthy of note that the Report on Education,^" which Dr. 

 Duncombe presented to the Legislature of Upper Canada before the 

 Act amending the Royal Charter of King's College was passed in 

 1837, contained extracts from Cousin's Report. Cousin's Report also 

 came to the attention of Robert Baldwin, who, in 1849, transferred 

 King's College from the control of the Church to the State. Egerton 

 Ryerson knew it and adopted some of its ideas. 



There is little doubt that the same enthusiasm for higher educa- 

 tion, which had called colleges and universities into being in the 

 United States, spread to Canada. As Duncombe says: "The spirit 

 of reform is abroad and is reconnoitring the whole field of operation 

 with a vigilance and an energy that declares unequivocally something 

 must and shall be done. Nay, the work is already commenced, and 

 as Lord Brougham declares, 'The schoolmaster is abroad.' Scotland 

 has taken the lead, England is not far behind, Germany, Prussia and 

 France follow close in their wake, and enterprising industrious America 



^■'Cyclopaedia of Education, vol. 4, p. 664. 

 ^^Educational Problems, Univ. of Mich., p. 12. 



^^Duncombe's Report on Education to Legislature of Upper Canada, 1836, p. 9, 

 p. 53, pp. 69-84, pp. 9, 53, 69-84. 



