collection of copper engravings, at Berlin. The master in his chair is
here shown "reading" to his students.]

To provide a loan collection of theological books for poor students we
find, in 1271, a gift by will to the University of Paris (R. 119) of a
private library, containing twenty-seven books. Even if the students
possessed books, the master "read" [23] and commented from his "gloss" at
great length on the texts being studied. Besides the mere text each
teacher had a "gloss" or commentary for it--that is, a mass of explanatory
notes, summaries, cross-references, opinions by others, and objections to
the statements of the text. The "gloss" was a book in itself, often larger
than the text, and these standard glosses, [24] or commentaries, were used
in the university instruction for centuries. In Theology and Canon Law
they were particularly extensive.

All instruction, too, was in Latin. The professor read from the Latin text
and gloss, repeating as necessary, and to this the student listened.
Sometimes he read so slowly that the text could be copied, but in 1355
this method was prohibited at Paris (R. 121), and students who tried to
force the masters to follow it "by shouting or whistling or raising a din,
or by throwing stones," were to be suspended for a year. The first step in
the instruction was a minute and subtle analysis of the text itself, in
which each line was dissected, analyzed, and paraphrased, and the comments
on the text by various authors were set forth. Next all passages capable
of two interpretations were thrown into the form of a question; _pro_ and
_contra_, after the manner of Abelard. The arguments on each side were
advanced, and the lecturer's conclusion set forth and defended. The text
was thus worked over day after day in minute detail. Having as yet but
little to teach, the masters made the most of what they had. A good
example of the mediaeval plan of university instruction is found in the