James Loudon, a physicist, became president of the University of Toronto in 1892. For many years he had fought for the introduction of a programme leading to the doctor of philosophy degree, and in 1897, after long controversy within the university and beyond, the programme and degree were inaugurated. Although he had strongly supported Loudon, who had promoted him to associate professor in 1892, John Squair was of two minds about the introduction of the PhD programme, at least at that time. An editorial in the Educational Journal in 1895 had deplored the lack of graduate instruction in Canada but had concluded with the remark that because of “an unwieldy mass of students, a faculty divided against itself, and an already insufficient income,” the University of Toronto could not even consider the possibilities of graduate work (the ma does not seem to

The Calendar of the University of Toronto and University College for the Year 1897-98 listed the regulations for the degree of PhD, which had been established “for the purpose of encouraging research in the University of Toronto.” A candidate was required to pursue for at least two years after the ba “the study of a special subject” – the major subject – under the direction of the professor of that subject in the University of Toronto, University College, or the federated colleges. “He” had to pass examinations in two other subjects – the minors – with “a standing in the examinations ... equivalent at least to that required for second class Honours in the examination for the b.a. degree.” These examinations were, however, dispensed with if the candidate had obtained first-class honours in those subjects at the ba examinations in the University of Toronto. Finally, he had to present a thesis “on some topic in his major subject embodying the results of

an original investigation conducted by himself.” Acceptance of the thesis was determined upon the report of the professors and heads of the department that included the major subject. The report also had to state that the candidate had passed a satisfactory examination in the major; the nature of the examination was not specified. The candidate then had to furnish to the university registrar one hundred printed copies of the thesis before the degree would be granted. The annual fee for registration in the university and University College was $50, and the fee for the PhD degree $50.

The calendar for 1897-98 then presented the list of major subjects arranged in groups, Oriental Languages and Literature being the only group in languages. A rather ambiguous and, as developments clearly indicate, misleading statement – “Minor subjects also may be chosen from the following groups” – introduced four

more groups, the eighth one being Modern Languages and Literature, comprising English, French, and German. The other three groups were Latin and Greek Languages and Literature, History, and Mathematics. In reality the first minor had to be chosen from the group to which the major belonged; only one minor could be chosen from the last four groups, and those groups were refusing to offer major subjects to PhD candidates.

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The earliest approved courses of study for graduate students appeared in the calendar for 1912-13. The courses offered by the Department of French in that year and up to 1915-16 were, we must assume, available only to Ma candidates and candidates for the PhD in other departments who were seeking a subject for a second minor. The calendar reading is deceptively simple: at the end of listing for the undergraduate courses appears the heading “Graduate Courses,” then the rather ambiguous instructions “Candidates for the higher degrees will be required to plan their course under the direction of the department. The following courses are open to properly qualified graduate students.” Presumably candidates for the ma who chose the course route selected an undetermined number of courses from the list that followed, while PhD candidates could choose among them for

their minor subjects. The list is interesting not only in itself but also because it provides the names of the “pioneers” in graduate teaching in French.

1 Critical Bibliography of French Philology and Literature, with practical exercises. Two hours a week. Professor de Beaumont. 2 Old Provençal. Phonology, morphology, and versification; reading of texts in prose and verse. Two hours a week. Dr Snow. 3 Social Forces in French Literature of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Two hours a week. Mr Will. 4 The French Novel of the Seventeenth Century. One hour a week. Mr Cameron. 5 The Philosophy of the Eighteenth Century. One hour a week. Mr Squair. 6 The History of Prose Fiction in France, with special reference to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Two hours a week. Mr Kittredge. 7 The French Drama in the Nineteenth Century. Two hours a week. Mr C. Goggio. 8 Contemporary

French Literature. Study of the literary and critical movements since 1850. One hour a week. Professor de Champ.

Although limited to the ma degree, this offering did represent progress towards a regularly structured graduate programme. In the following years the list of courses saw few changes. Professor de Beaumont substituted two half-courses on Old French Texts and Medieval French Literature for his original course. The irrepressible Professor Will offered a three-hour course in Old French Drama, along with his study of social forces, now directed to modern French literature; it is not clear whether he did indeed give both courses, which represented five hours a week, in the same year, as the calendar would seem to indicate. The course in Nineteenth Century Drama was probably never given, since Charles Goggio left in 1912 after one year at Trinity College.

Attendance became obligatory for candidates for the ma in 1916. The same year saw the entry of French into the PhD programme. Requirements for the master’s degree specified, “Proposed courses of study and the subject of the thesis must receive the approval of the staff in French, or in Italian, or in Spanish, in one of which the candidate must do the major part of his work.” The regulation concerning attendance followed upon a resolution by the Conference of Canadian Universities in early 1916 recommending, “The m.a. degree should represent at least one year of intramural work of a Ph.D. course, equivalent to that required by the Graduate Schools in the American Universities.” The British tradition was rapidly disappearing. That year the Department of Romance Languages offered twenty courses, nine of them, including Old Provençal, by members of the Department of French. For the first time some courses were specifically “intended for candidates beginning graduate work”: one by Professor Milton A. Buchanan

of the Department of Spanish on Methods of Research and Bibliography; another, probably taught by Professor de Beaumont, on Old French; a third, labelled “The Classic Ideal as Represented in Critical Writings from the Pléiade to the Beginnings of Romanticism” – to be covered in a one-hour course – an “ideal” that may have frightened off both instructors and students, for it disappeared from the calendar a few years later.

The number of graduate degrees in French in this period probably continued to be small: the President’s Report for the year ending 1903 shows a grand total of fourteen graduate students in attendance; that for 1907-08 indicates that overall one PhD and sixty-three ma degrees were conferred that year. For the academic year 1916-17, of twenty-six candidates enrolled in PhD programmes at the university, two were in the Department of Romance Languages; their names

appear in the register of students: H.E. Ford (who completed his PhD studies at Columbia) and F.C.A. Jeanneret, the future heads of the departments of French at Victoria and University colleges.