Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-10

the old times the ves} name had something
at once terrifying dlnd amusing. Though
Henri III did not feAr to call them thirty
or forty pedants besotted masters of arts
the doctors of the Sorbonne formed re-
doubtable tribunal, which judged opinions
and cases of conscience without appeal
and did not fear to condemn popes. and
kings
to be, by reason of tttoo much learning
ITO have a right to the title of doctor
Sorbonicus,'" says am old writer, they
must have studied in that college, and
have, during ten years. argued disputed
and sustained in public divers theses dis
tinguished as minor, major, sabatine ten
tative and lesser and greater Sorbonic In
this latter the candidate must, without eat
ing or drinking, without quitting his place
sustain and repulse the attacks of twenty
argufyers, who in half-hour relays give
him no rest, from o'clock in the morn
ing until o. clock in the evening"
It was a kind of intellectual fight to
finish on any old questionable subject of
the dispute being the least important thing
This habit of fencing in debate over OBJ,
jects of useless and often dangerous curios-
ity,'' declares a modern PHILOSOPHER gem
Grated in the French nation that quarrel
some humor and wordy readiness that has
ever been its betrayer.
Here is the lecture hall in which they
have never ceased disputing in four hum
dred years" said one of the doctors as he
was showing the ancient building to Casau-
bon: and it was to throw ridicule on these
endless disputes that Rabelais wrote his
memorable chapters on how a great scholar
| of England came to argue against Panta-
Cruel and was overcome by Panrrpa
Yes; but said Pantagruel. s'he is mar
| velously learned. How will thou be able to
answer him."
rs any man so learned as the devils are?"
inquired Panurge.
mo, indeed" said PantagrueI, without
Gods special grace
Yet for all that" said Panurge 81 have
a oai ncf thnpo
BANKED them in disputation and laid them
so squat on their tails that they looked like
monkeys. Be assured, therefore, that will
make this vainglorious doctor to skite vim
egar before all the world!'
In the Latin Quarter.
In these ancient times there were often as
many as 10000 students-half of them for
eign, from England ireland, Germany and
1taly-in the Latin quarter, and among them
the students of the Sorbonne always ranked
the highest. In those days the Latin quar-
ter governed itself. Students accused of
crimes, even of violence, were tried not by
the regular courts, but by the Sorbonne
and thousands of times its long-wnded
sour-faoed doctors threw their magical theo-
logical cloak over hardened first-class
scamps protecting them not only of sympa-
thy for their rioting, robbery and naughty
hlgh,roliing, but to defend the dignity and
privilege of the Latin quarter in general and
of the Sorbonne in particular.
Also, 1t must be remembered little
knowledge, even history, is a dangerous
thing. Only yesterday 1 heard young
Frenchman declare that the Sorbonne al
ways the enemy of progress, would have
burned Faust, the inventor of printing had
not Louis XI saved him, and that with diff
Guilty.
The true facts are as follows: During the
middle of the fifteenth century a pernicious
craze for magic and sorcery took hold of
the people of Paris. In particular the So
called magicians sold charms for 'hoodoo-
ing" enemies, and with this kind of magic
great deal of poisoning was mingled The
Sorbonne, alarmed by the. spreading charac-
ter of the tendency, MAYED vigorously to
stamp it out. Now5 very curiously, one of
the first uses of theI new art of printing had
been to flood Europe with an incredible
number of books on sorcery. Also the new
invention threatened the livelihood of
great number of worthy people connected
with the university-copyists parchment
dressers, illuminators, etc.
Thrown Into Prison
Therefore when Faust came to Paris the
Sorbonne lost no time in throwing him into
prison, the printer and circulator of
bad books, and it is true that it required
great eXertion on the part of Louis XII to
save him. Nevertheless, in 1910, the Sor-
bonnie itself set up the first printing press
in France, importing three experts from
Mayence-Gering Krants land Friburger-
to it. : no r.
With all this the doctors Of the Sorbonne
were patriots n77thefr way. From their
earliest beginnings they were celebrated for
the stoutness with which they maintained
Gallican-i. e., national-rghts in church
and state, and the absolute and divine right
of kings. In this way they sympathized with
Henry VIII of England, and told him to go
ahead with his divorce. In this way they
almost succeeded in keeping Henri " from
the throne of France, and after he became
king he obliged to make the Sorbonne
royal presents to placate them. In this way
they were the declared enemies of both jan
senists and Jesuits and all orders having
their roots outside of France.
An American doctor of the Sorbonne, A
foreigner imported to eXpound and praise
to young France the untrammeled and lux
uriant growth and towering of the new
world spirit Time, as it swings round,
brings strange changes!
STERLING HELLO.