A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHAIR OF 

 NATURAL HISTORY AT SAINT ANDREWS 



WITH a somewhat hostile neighbour south of the Tweed, 

 and a recollection, according to Cosmo Innes, that northern 

 students were not popular, and even that they were molested 

 at Oxford, 1 it was no wonder that Bishop Wardlaw's efforts 

 to found the University of St Andrews were cordially seconded 

 by his King and his countrymen ; nor that with the friendly 

 relations then existing between France and the independent 

 Scots the University was, in 1411, modelled on the plan of 

 that of Paris, even to the shape of the gowns. But though 

 the power of granting degrees in medicine and law dates from 

 a very early period in the history of the University, Natural 

 History, and indeed all the natural and physical sciences, 

 found no place amongst the subjects originally taught. 

 Theology and the lines which led up to it, viz. Greek, Latin 

 (Literce Humaniores as they were called), Logic, Philosophy, 

 Metaphysics, Grammar, Poetry, and Oratory alone received 

 attention in the three colleges of St Andrews. In other 

 words, the purely classical, clerical, and literary subjects for 

 the most part held the foremost place for many generations. 

 Nor was this remarkable when it is remembered that it 

 was to the wise foresight, influence, and energy of the early 

 ecclesiastical scholars that the universities, and more especially 

 that of St. Andrews, came into existence. 



Passing, therefore, a period of nearly three hundred years, 

 the story of which does not immediately concern the present 



1 Story of the University of Edinburgh, Sir A. Grant, vol. i. pp. 1 and 3. 



