But nevertheless the call for educational opportunities was urgent. One hundred and ten students registered at the commencement of the session in all departments of the University, of whom fifteen were in Law, thirty-eight in Arts and fifty-seven in Medicine. The Faculty of Arts consisted of five professors and one lecturer; the Faculty of Law had one professor and two lecturers; and the Faculty of Medicine had nine professors. The annual calendar for the previous session, 1854-55, announced that “the board and lodging of students is a matter of much practical importance. From fifteen to twenty [Arts and Law students] may be received by the Professors resident in the College buildings and provision will be made when necessary for the reception of others into boarding houses, licensed by the Governors, upon settled economical terms and subject to proper rules of discipline and conduct.” Medical students, it was pointed out, “could obtain board and lodging in the town for from eight to sixteen dollars a month.” It was clear that the attendance would rapidly increase in succeeding years, and that provision must at once be made for their accommodation and instruction. The greatest hindrance to advancement was of course lack of funds.
The actual condition of the University at that time and the obstacles to be overcome were afterwards frequently described by Sir William Dawson, whose reminiscences of the period were always vivid:
“When I accepted the principalship of McGill,” he said, “I had not been in Montreal, and knew the college and the men connected with it only by reputation. I first saw it, in October, 1855. Materially, it was represented by two blocks of unfinished and partly ruinous buildings, standing amid a wilderness of excavators' and masons' rubbish, overgrown with weeds and bushes. The grounds were unfenced and were pastured at will by herds of cattle, which not only cropped the grass, but browsed on the shrubs, leaving unhurt only one great elm, which still stands as the 'founder's tree,' and a few old oaks and butternut trees, most of which have had to give place to our new buildings. The only access from the town was by a circuitous and ungraded cart track, almost impassable at night. The buildings had been abandoned by the new Board, and the classes of the Faculty of Arts were held in the upper story of a brick building in the town, the lower part of which was occupied by the High School. I had been promised a residence, and this, I found, was to be a portion of one of the detached buildings aforesaid, the present east wing. It had been very imperfectly finished, was destitute of nearly every requisite of civilised life, and in front of it was a bank of rubbish and loose stones, with a swamp below, while the interior was in an indescribable state of dust and disrepair. Still, we felt that the Governors had done the best they could in the circumstances, and we took possession as early as possible. As it was, however, we received many of the citizens, who were so kind as to call on us, in the midst of all the confusion of plastering, papering, painting, and cleaning. The residence was only a type of our difficulties and discouragements, and a not very favourable introduction to the work I had undertaken in Montreal....
“On the other hand, I found in the Board of Governors a body of able and earnest men, aware of the difficulties they had to encounter, fully impressed with the importance of the ends to be attained, and having sufficient culture and knowledge of the world to appreciate the best means for achieving their aims. They were greatly hampered by lack of means, but had that courage which enables risks to be run to secure important objects....
“Our great difficulty was lack of the sinews of war, and the seat of Government being, at the time, in Toronto, I was asked by the Governors to spend my first Christmas vacation in that city, with a view of securing some legislative aid. There was as yet no direct railway communication between Montreal and Toronto, and of course no Victoria Bridge. I crossed the river in a canoe, amidst floating ice, and had to travel by way of Albany, Niagara, and Hamilton. The weather was stormy, and the roads blocked with snow, so that the journey to Toronto occupied five days, giving me a shorter time there than I had anticipated. I received, however, a warm welcome from Sir Edmund Head, saw most of the members of the Government, and obtained some information as to the Hon. Mr. Cartier's contemplated Superior Education Act—passed in the following year—which secured for the first time the status of the preparatory schools, whilst giving aid to the universities. I was also encouraged by Sir Edmund and Cartier to confer with the Superintendent of Education and with the Governors of McGill on my return to Montreal, with reference to the establishment of a Normal School in connection with the University. This was successfully carried through in the following year.”
With the loyal aid of the Board of Governors the Principal at once undertook to arouse the interest of the general public in the University. He realised the necessity of securing their speedy co-operation and assistance. His belief was that the University should not be isolated nor removed from the stream of national life; his hope was that it should minister in a practical and tangible way to the community in which it was situated. On November 5th, 1855, he was inaugurated as Principal. A few days later he established the first real link between University and citizens, on the purely instructional side, by the commencement of a course of thirty popular lectures in Zoology, Natural Philosophy, Civil Engineering, Palæography and the Chemistry of Life. The fee for the course was £1. The course in Engineering was the origin of the department of Applied Science, which later expanded into a Faculty. Soon afterwards a course of lectures in Agriculture was given by the Principal, who, while Superintendent of Education in Nova Scotia, had given several lectures on that subject throughout the province. The fee for this course was £1 5s.
A direct appeal for financial assistance was then made to the citizens of Montreal. It met with an encouraging response, which greatly relieved the situation and was what Dr. Dawson, forty years later, called “the beginning of a stream of liberality which has floated our University barque up to the present date.” But other anxieties were soon to be felt. Early in 1856 the building occupied by the High School and the Faculty of Arts was destroyed by fire, together with the few books and the scanty apparatus that had been collected or had been given by Dr. Skakel many years before, as well as many of the Principal's natural history specimens. Teaching was not interrupted, however, and during the remainder of the session, the classes in Arts were held again, in part, in the original College buildings, then undergoing repairs, and, in part, in the Medical Faculty's building on Coté Street, in which rooms were generously placed at the disposal of the Faculty of Arts. Because of the occupation of part of the College buildings, and the expectation of soon again putting them to permanent use, improvements were commenced on the College grounds, by the planting of trees and the making of roads and walks, the cost of which was borne largely by the Principal. In 1856, general courses in Applied Science were established in connection with the Faculty of Arts, and degrees were first conferred in that department in 1859. The courses in the Law School, which had been formed into a separate Faculty in 1853, were extended to suit the conditions and needs of the country. But funds were necessary to meet the heavy extra expenses incurred, and in order to provide sufficient money for the payment of debts and contingencies, it was thought prudent to sell a portion of the College lands. From 1858 to 1860, therefore, forty-four lots, averaging in size one hundred by one hundred and twenty feet, were offered for sale by the University. Some of these were sold at auction. They were situated on Sherbrooke, Victoria, Mansfield and University Streets. Money was also loaned by the College authorities to purchasers of lots to enable them to erect buildings. The temporary revenue of the College was thus increased and expansion was consequently made possible.
