A Brief Survey of Science and Scientists at McGill

Abstract

In 1838 McGill College planned its Chemical Apparatus room; it could have been one small step for science but unfortunately the room was never built. The first science subject taught at McGill was meteorology, introduced in 1833 and entrenched when Smallwood built his observatory in 1846. In 1843 there was an expectation that the Arts Faculty would replace the Medical Faculty in teaching chemistry to medical students, but this did not occur. Nevertheless, Chemistry earned a high profile when in 1846 Thomas Christie won the Chemistry Prize in Medicine.