onial Office with his approval and his advice that it should receive
Royal sanction. The Board of the Royal Institution, realising from past
experience the slow methods of Downing Street, appointed an agent in
London to hasten the passage of the Charter through the different
offices of the Imperial Government. It was not until August, 1852,
however, that the amended Charter was finally approved.

Between 1849 and 1852 very few meetings of the Governors were held,
owing to the absence of the Governors from Montreal. The affairs of the
College were largely in the hands of the Vice-Principal and his
assistants. Conditions gradually became graver. The Lecturers in French
and Mathematics were dismissed because no money to pay them was in
prospect. By 1851 the buildings, which had not been completed and were
uncomfortable at best, had fallen into a dilapidated state. Rain and
snow fell freely through the cracks in the roof, and leaked to the rooms
below. Windows and doors, which in the course of time had been
shattered, were still unrepaired. There was not enough fuel to heat the
broken and damaged structures, for an allowance of "ten cords of maple
wood for the winter" was not sufficient to bring warmth. The College
grounds were uncared for. Students who dwelt in the city tramped through
snowdrifts to the cold College classrooms. Because of the discomfort,
the lack of adequate accommodation, and the inconvenient distance from
the Hospital and the city, the Medical classes, which had been held in
the Centre building since 1845, were removed in 1851, as already
recorded, to the building on Cote Street, built by three members of the
Medical Staff, Drs. Campbell, MacCulloch, and Sutherland, and leased to
the Faculty. A year later the City began excavations for the reservoir
in rear of the College grounds. The blasting in connection with this
work did not add to the peace or the safety of student life in McGill,
and later serious breaks in the buildings were caused by heavy stones
falling on the roof. For these various reasons it was ordered by the
College authorities that all occupants except the Vice-Principal should
withdraw from the College buildings. The chief excuse given was economy,
but the real reasons were not then disclosed to the public. The Arts
classes were afterwards carried on in part of the building used for the
High School. The McGill buildings were abandoned, except by the
Vice-Principal, and it was not until 18