tracted the old man's roving eye. It is probable that young Albert saw
him on occasion; certainly be was ever conscious of him as part of his
own heritage. ⁸

When, at the age of twelve, Albert Gallatin departed Mlle. Pictet's
home to become a boarding student at the College of Geneva, he was
touched for the first time by another of John Calvin's legacies to the
city of Geneva. Calvin's system of public education was so unusual, and
its influence on young Albert so transcendent, that it deserves more than
passing description. ⁹

As Gallatin himself observed years later, "Whatever may have been
his defects and erroneous views, Calvin had at all events the learning of
his age; and however objectionable some of his religious doctrines, he was
a sincere and zealous friend of knowledge and of its wide diffusion
amongst the people." In order to diffuse knowledge widely, the reformer
had made it possible for the sons of all Genevese citizens to obtain an
education from the A B C's through professional studies virtually free of
cost. Through his influence, the city in 1559 had taken over an old
Latin and logic school and new-modeled its organization so that it con-
sisted of two departments: "the College," training boys from six to fifteen
years of age; and "the Academy," offering a general classical education
to youths aged fifteen to nineteen and professional training in either the
divinity or the law for young men between nineteen and twenty-three.

In 1773 Gallatin left Mlle. Pictet's roof to enter the next to the highest
form of the College. That institution, which with the Academy still oc-
cupied the ancient quadrangle of grey stone buildings near the heights
of the Old Town, had changed astonishingly little since Calvin's time.
Educationally, it was in a period of sharp decline. The rigid discipline
and religious doctrines imposed by Calvin had been dropped, but the cur-
riculum was substantially unchanged. Only classical languages and litera-
ture were taught--"Latin thoroughly," as Gallatin put it, "Greek much
neglected." Each form had a single instructor. As there were a hundred
students in the average class, they received little individual attention, un-
less solicitous parents or friends provided it. Looking back in his later
years, Gallatin was inclined to believe that this regimen was a good one.
It put the students into the habit of studying on their own. Moreover,
although the curriculum was narrow and although Latin was useless in
itself and was soon forgotten by those who did not pursue their education

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