The Scottish Theological Diaspora

Scots were disproportionately influential in the founding of Canadian educational institutions and Scottish Common Sense philosophy was almost universal as the context for theological discussion in nineteenth-century Anglophone Canada. When Common Sense was challenged by the theory of evolution in the latter half of the nineteenth century, it was replaced by another Scottish philosophy, the idealism of Edward Caird, which presented religious belief as itself an evolutionary phenomenon. This chapter traces the influence of Scottish philosophy on prominent Scoto-Canadian philosopher-theologians, including Thomas McCulloch, J. W. Dawson, John Clark Murray, John Watson, Lily Dougall, and Walter Williamson Bryden.

“Attractive to Strangers and Instructive to Students.” The McCullochs’ 19th Century Bird Collection in Dalhousie College

Thomas McCulloch, Presbyterian minister and educator, founder of Pictou Academy, first President of Dalhousie College 1838-1843, established a museum in Pictou, NS, by 1828, including a bird collection. To McCulloch, the order of the natural world instilled in students principles of a liberal education and a model of society. His first collections were sold, but when McCulloch came to Dalhousie in 1838 he started a new collection, hoping to make it the basis of a provincial museum. In this he was aided by his son Thomas, who had been trained as a taxidermist. The younger McCulloch kept and expanded the collection until his death, after which it passed to Dalhousie College. The current McCulloch Collection, mainly the work of Thomas McCulloch junior, seems to exemplify purposes and practices of 19th century natural history. But research shows that the collection has a hybrid origin and must be viewed with great caution as an historical artifact. This is a case study in the difficulty of interpreting 19th century natural history collections without careful examination of their history.

Evidence for the Collection of a Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens) in Nova Scotia During the 19th Century and its Association with the McCulloch Collection of Birds

Based on several lines of evidence, a specimen of an adult white-morph Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens) now on display in the Macdonald Museum of the Annapolis Valley Historical Society in Middleton, Nova Scotia, probably originated from the 19th-century Nova Scotian bird collections of Thomas McCulloch senior (1776–1843) and his son Thomas (1809–1865), likely between 1838 and 1865. The only other records of this species in Canada are sightings in Nova Scotia in 1965 and 1966. This may therefore be the first specimen evidence of the species in Nova Scotia and Canada. Historical evidence links the specimen with the McCulloch collection of birds, part of which has survived at Dalhousie University.