" Immediately on Dr.Reid's appointment to the place of one of the regents of King's College, he prevailed on his colleagues to make great improvements in their system of university education.The session was extended from five to seven months; a humanity class was added, on a higher scale than had been taught previously; and the teaching of the elements of Latin, by the professor of humanity, discontinued; some of the small bursaries were united, and an account of these alterations was given to the public, in 1754.Dr.Reid was in favor of one professor teaching the whole or the greater part of the curriculum, and therefore did not follow the plan of confining the professors to separate branches, as had been done in Glasgow since 1727, and at Marischal College since 1723.The plan of a seven-months' session, after a trial of five years, was abandoned." In Aberdeen he was surrounded by an able body of colleagues in the two universities, by not a few thoughtful and accomplished men, ministers and professional men of the town and neighborhood and he had under him a succession {202} of shrewd students, whom he conducted, in a series of years, through all the higher branches.He managed to bring together the literary and scientific men by means of the famous "Aberdeen Philosophical Society," which he was the main instrument in founding, and which helped to call forth and combine what may be called the Aberdeen branch of the Scottish philosophy.To that society he contributed a series of papers containing most of the views which were afterwards embodied in the work which established his reputation, "An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense." That work was published in 1764.
In the end of 1763, he was invited by the University of Glasgow to the professorship of moral philosophy there, and entered upon his duties the following year.In this new sphere he confined his instructions to the intellectual and active powers of man, and unfolded a system of ethics comprising some general views with respect to natural jurisprudence and the fundamental principles of politics; he delivered, besides, a few lectures on rhetoric to an advanced class.We have here a sketch of him by his most distinguished pupil and biographer: " In his elocution and mode of instruction there was nothing peculiarly attractive.
He seldom, if ever, indulged himself in the warmth of extempore discourse; nor was his manner of reading calculated to increase the effect of what he had committed to writing.Such, however, was the simplicity and perspicuity of his style, such the gravity and authority of his character, and such the general interest of his young hearers in the doctrines which he taught, that, by the numerous audiences to which his instructions were addressed, he was heard, uniformly, with the most silent and respectful attention.On this subject I speak from personal knowledge, having had the good fortune during a considerable part of the winter of 1772 to be one of his pupils."We have preserved letters of his to his old Aberdeen friends, Dr.Andrew Skene and Dr.David Skene, which give us glimpses of the Glasgow college life of the period.-- " Glasgow, Nov.14, 1764.I must launch forth in the morning so as to be at the college (which is a walk of eight minutes), half an hour after seven o'clock, when Ispeak for an hour, without interruption, {203} to an audience of about a hundred.At eleven, I examine for an hour upon my morning prelection, but my audience is little more than a third part of what it was in the morning.In a week or two, for three days of the week, I have a second prelection at twelve, upon a different subject, when my audience will be made up of those who hear me in the morning, but do not attend at eleven.My hearers attend my class two years at least.The first session they attend the morning prelection and the time of examination at eleven;the second and subsequent years they attend the two prelections, but not the hour of examination.They pay fees for the first two years; and then they are caves of that class, and may attend gratis as many years as they please.
Many attend the moral philosophy class four or five years, so that I have many preachers and students of divinity and law of considerable standing, before whom I stand in awe to speak without more preparation than I have leisure for.Ihave great inclination to attend some of the professors here, several of whom are very eminent in their way, but Icannot find much leisure.Much time is consumed in our college in business meetings, of which we have, commonly, four or five in the week.We have a literary society once a week, consisting of the masters and two or three more, where each of the members has a discourse once in the session.The professors of humanity, Greek, logic, and natural philosophy, have as many as I have, some of them more.All the other professors, except one, teach at least one hour a day, and we are no less than fourteen in number.The hours of the different professors are different, so far as can be, that the same student may attend two or three, or perhaps more, at the same time.Near a third part of our students are Irish.Thirty came over lately in one ship, besides those that went to Edinburgh.We have a good many English, and some foreigners.Many of the Irish, as well as Scotch, are poor and came up late to save money, so that we are not fully convened, though I have been teaching ever since the 10th of October.Those who pretend to know say that the number of students this year, when fully convened, will amount to 300.The masters live in good habits with one another, and manage their political differences with good manners, although with a good deal of intrigue and secret caballing when there is an election." {204}
