THOMAS McCULLOCH AND HIS BIRD COLLECTION AT DALHOUSIE by Eric L. Mills October 1, 2001 Thomas McCulloch (1776-1843) was the first President of Dalhousie College (now the University), 1838-1843. He came to Canada in 1803 from Scotland and settled in Pictou, Nova Scotia as a Free Church minister and educator. Pictou Academy, incorporated in 1816, under his direction was the best early educational establishment in the Province, with a fine collection of scientific instruments, a distinguished library, and a natural history collection including many bird specimens, all used in the teaching programme. John James Audubon (1785-1851), the French-American ornithologist, on his way from southern Labrador in 1833, visited Pictou, admired the collection, and was given some of McCulloch's specimens. Natural history collections like the one in the McCulloch Museum at Dalhousie were common in the early 19th century. They were ornamental, but also served educational and scientific purposes. To Thomas McCulloch, they were important components of a liberal education. A "liberal education" at Pictou Academy and Dalhousie College. McCulloch had a strongly developed philosophy of education and its role in developing a moral life, as the following will show. In 1818, in a local newspaper, he said, The system of instruction adopted ought to have a just regard to the relative importance of the different branches of learning and also to the degree at which the province stands in the scale of civilized society.... If I might hazard an opinion, I would say that a system of education adapted to the present state of this province, would be that whose principal force was directed to bear upon the active purposes of life. I would not be understood as disregarding classical literature. An acquaintance with Latin and Greek is essential to a good education. Every scholar should possess a moderate knowledge of these languages. But after all, they are merely the bricks and mortar of education; after they have been provided, the the fabric must be reared.... For a long time, few cases will occur among us in which a critical knowledge of the learned languages will be of great importance; and none of those persons who receive a regular education, have the prospect of spending their says in literary retirement. They must look forward to the discharge of duties high and important to the interests of the community. Upon these duties; therefore, the system of education should be made to bear; and in order to this end, instead of enabling them to display their pedantry by interlarding Latin and Greek phrases with the chit chat of life, it would be more profitable to give them an accurate acquaintance with the operations of their own minds, to teach them to classify their knowledge, and communicate their sentiments and to furnish them with those just views of the various social relations and duties and that knowledge of mathematical and physical science, which would be every day useful to the community and honourable to themselves. This was a none too subtle jibe at the classical education current at King's College, Windsor, but also a strong statement of principles. A year later in his essay The Nature and Uses of a Liberal Education he wrote, Man must be viewed as an intelligent being; and not only possessing powers of knowledge, but placed amid the works of creation, that by exercising their powers, he may increase his knowledge and intellectual excellence. We must consider him as he exists in society, having property, social relations, and an interest in the general prosperity: And we must view society itself, merely as a link in the chain of existence, and equally connected with past and future ages. Anne Wood (1987) shows how science (i.e. natural philosophy and natural history) fitted into this philosophy of education. For McCulloch, the object of education was not merely education, but science. From individual objects and circumstances, man first induced the materials of knowledge... and then proceeded to a knowledge of an abstract truth or principle...: "These principles are the primary objects of science", McCulloch wrote, "which in its various parts, constitutes the materials of a learned education ... A general principle applies equally to what passes within our own observation and to every other case of the same nature". Facility in ordering the flux of human experience as well as natural phenomena into general principles of understanding, classification or social action became the characteristic mark of a liberally educated person. Thus, understanding the natural order, as seen in collections like those at Pictou Academy (and later Dalhousie College), contributed to the educational and moral development of the individual and of society. Wood goes on to summarize succinctly the principles that lay behind McCulloch's practices as an educator. McCulloch's emphasis on general principles and his stress on an extensive series of facts reduced to luminous order demonstrated his enlightenment concern for rationality. The more abstract and mathematical scientific models ... would not have served McCulloch's purpose since he wished science to provide a moral model for mankind which would overthrow the shackles of superstition and episcopal authoritarianism. By cultivating a taste for scientific curiosity about the physical world, by inculcating through scientific experiment and collection habits of accurate observation, and by constantly subsuming these facts to general providential principles, McCulloch hoped that Nova Scotians would acquire intellectual self-discipline and respect for duty. They would thus eliminate their current ignorance, materialism and pleasure-loving ways. The process of scientific study, McCulloch believed, would lead them towards better habits of work and thus would increase material prosperity in the province. Finally, general principles, illustrated abundantly in scientific analysis and synthesis, would serve as models for political judgement; people would learn to rise above their particularistic self-interest and serve a Higher Reality in their everyday lives. The McCulloch Museum, understood in its contemporary context, is a striking reminder of the power of physical objects, properly understood and classified, to represent the moral and social order to many early nineteenth century people. That the specimens were also beautiful was another evidence of a beneficent and watchful creator. Background reading On Thomas McCulloch, see Marjorie Whitelaw, 1985. Thomas McCulloch: his Life and Times (Halifax: Nova Scotia Museum); William McCulloch, 1920. The Life of Thomas McCulloch, D.D., Pictou. (Ed. T.W. & J.W. McCulloch. Truro, N.S.) (In Dal Special Collections); and S. Buggey & G. Davies 1988 in Volume 7 of the Dictionary of Canadian biography, pp.529-541. There is also a short biographical account by Douglas Lochead in the Canadian Encyclopedia. Peter Waite, 1994. The Lives of Dalhousie University. Volume One, 1818-1925. Lord Dalhousie's College, Chapters 1 & 3 (Toronto & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press) provides a good account of the origins of Dalhousie College and how McCulloch came to Halifax. Nineteenth century university education in Canada, as exemplified in a sister institution, is described by Richard Jarrell, 1973. Science education at the University of New Brunswick in the Nineteenth Century. Acadiensis 2:55-79. The background of early 19th century natural history, including ornithology, applying well to Nova Scotia, is given by D.E. Allen, 1976. The Naturalist in Britain. A Social History. London: Allen Lane. Pictou Academy, its instruments, collections, and educational programme under McCulloch are well described by Susan Sheets-Pyenson, 1990. Sir William Dawson: the Nova Scotia roots of a geologist's worldview. pp. 83-99 in P.A. Bogaard (ed.), Profiles of Science and Society in the Maritimes prior to 1914. Sackville, N.B.: Acadiensis Press & Mount Allison University. On McCulloch's teaching, see D.C. Harvey, 1943. Dr. Thomas McCulloch and liberal education. Dalhousie Review 23 (3):352-362 (refers to the collection); B.A. Wood, 1987. Thomas McCulloch's use of science in promoting a liberal education. Acadiensis 17:56-73 (also on the collections, Audubon's visit, and the acquisition of the second collection by Dalhousie); and S. Buggey & G. Davies, 1988. McCulloch, Thomas. Dictionary of Canadian Biography (1836-1850), 7:529-541 (including mention of natural history and the collections). Eric L. Mills October 2001 Department of Oceanography & History of Science & Technology Programme Dalhousie University & University of King's College