Marischal College and University. ALTHOUGH the Foundation Charter of 1593 contemplates the existence of a Chancellor, it prescribes no mode of election, and the successors of the Founder-the Earls Marischal-under the title of " Patrons of the Earl Marischal's College -seem to have been regarded as Chancellors until their forfeiture in 1715. In 1727, a petition was presented to George II., representing the difficulties experienced from the want of a Chancellor, and praying His Majesty to appoint the Duke of Cumberland to the Office. The result of the petition is unknown. The first recorded appointment of a Chancellor is that of the Earl of Bute in 1761, as the office is become vacant by the death of his Grace the Duke of Argyll ". From that time the Chancellor was elected for life by the Senatus Academicus. Besides a Rector to be chosen annually by the " suppositi," divided into four Nations, the Charter established an official entitled the Dean of Faculty (to be elected at the same time by the Chancellor, Rector, Principal, Regents, and Senior Minister of Aberdeen), whose duty was to preside at Examinations, and at the granting of Degrees. No formal record of these elections is extant of earlier date than 1664. The officials charged with the ordinary work of tuition were the Principal and Three Regents, to whom a fourth was added in 1620, when the Principalship + was temporarily conjoined with the Divinity Chair. It was the intention of the Founder that * The Duke of Cumberland, who in 1727 was only six years of age, became, in 1746, Chancellor of St. Andrews. The Principalship in Marischal College was in two instances, in the 17th century, held by Doctors of Medicine. each Regent should devote himself to the teaching of some special branch or branches; and this system seems to have prevailed until the short-lived union with King's College in 1641, after which date each Regent began to carry his students through all the four years of the curriculum. After 1717 one of the Regents was, in tardy compliance with the Act of Visitation of 1700, set apart to the duties of Professor of Greek, and in 1753, the other Regencies became Professorships of Moral Philosophy of Natural Philosophy, and of Civil and Natural History respectively. To the original offices the following Professorships were added ---Mathematics in 1613, Divinity in 1625, Medicine in 1700, Oriental Languages in 1732, Chemistry in 1793, Church History in 1833, Humanity, Anatomy, and Surgery in 1839, and that of Medical Logic and Medical Jurisprudence in 1857. * No Professor of Mathematics was appointed until 1626. +Further details as to the Officials will be found in the New Spalding Club's Fasti Academiae Mariscallanae, vol. ii., 1898. See under King's College (list of Principals). * Afterwards Principal of St. Mary's College, St. Andrews. "A Dissertation on Miracles," &c. § Previously Professor of Church History, Moral Philosophy, and the Law of Nature, Utrecht University; author of the first Burnet Prize Essay on Theism. || Afterwards Latin Secretary to King James VI. One of the "Aberdeen Doctors " ** Afterwards Regent, King's Coll. Afterwards Principal of Edinburgh University. Afterwards Professor of Divinity, Edinburgh University. REGENTS (Continued). 1753 William Duncan, Professor of Natural Philosophy 1758 William Kennedy, Prof. of Greek George Skene, Professor of Natural 1775 Patrick Copland, Prof. of Natural 1779 Robert Hamilton, Prof. of Natural Philosophy 1782 John Stuart, Prof. of Greek 1787 James Hay Beattie, Prof. of Moral Philosophy 1788 William Morgan, Prof. of Civil and James Beattie, Prof. of Civil and 1796 George Glennie, Professor of Moral 1811 Robert Rainy, Prof. of Civil and James Davidson, Prof. of Civil and 1817 Patrick Copland, Prof. of Natural 1823 William Knight, Prof. of Natural Philosophy 1827 Robert James Brown, Prof.of Greek 1841 Wm. MacGillivray, Prof. of Civil and Natural History § 1845 David Gray, Professor of Natural Philosophy 1846 William Martin, Professor of Moral Philosophy 1853 James Nicol, Professor of Civil and Natural History 1856 James Clerk Maxwell, Professor of Natural Philosophy || PROFESSORS OF DIVINITY. 1745 Robert Pollock 1795 William Laurence Brown 1843 William Robinson Pirie * Afterwards Regent, Edinburgh University. + Appointed Regent at King's College in 1711, but declined to accept. Author of the "Essay on Truth," "The Minstrel," &c. § Author of "A History of British Birds," and other Zoological works. Author of "A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism," and other works on Physics. Afterwards Professor of Experimental Physics, Cambridge University. Previously Regent, St. Salvator's College, St. Andrews. One of the "Aberdeen Doctors ** Afterwards Professor in New College, Edinburgh. |