380 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [South Bridge.
~~ ~~~
mechanics, and such other branches of science as
were necessary in their various crafts, an association
was formed, and with this general object in view
the School of Arts was duly inaugurated on the
16th of October, ISPI, by a meeting at which the
Lord Provost, afterwards Sir William Arbuthnot,
Bart., presided. The two leading classes then
established, and which continue to this day to be
fundamental subjects of education in the school,
were Chemistry and Mechanical or Natural Philosophy.
The first meetings of the school were in a
General Hope, it was resolved that an edifice
should be erected with that view, appropriate to
the name and character of Watt, and that it should
be employed for the accommodation of the School
of Arts and to promote the interests of the class
from which he sprang.
The directors had by them L400, which they
resolved to add as a Subscription for this memorial,
to the end that their school should have a permanent
building of its own ; but it was not till
1851 that arrangements were completed, by which,
SURGEON SQUARE. (Rrom a Drawing by Sh#krd,julZishd zn 1829.)
humble edifice in Niddry Street, but after a time it
was moved to one of the large houses described
in Adam Square.
Continued success attended the school from
its opening; it had the support of all classes of
citizens, particularly those connected with the
learned professions ; the subscription list showing
a sum of ;E450 yearly, and from this the directors,
by thrifty management, were able to put aside money
from time to time, as a future building fund.
For the purpose of erecting a memorial in
honour of James Watt at Edinburgh, a meeting
was held in July, 1824. On thewotion of the
.*Me Lord Cockburn, seconded by the Solicitorinstead
of erecting a new house, the old one in
Adam Square, which had been occupied by the
school for nearly thirty years, was purchased, when
the accumulated fund amounted to ~ 1 , 7 0 0 , and
the directors adding ASoo, obtained the house
for A2,500, after which it took the name of The
Watt /nsfifufion and SchooZ of Arts.
In May, 1854, the directors placed a statue of
James Watt, on a granite pedestal, in the little
square before the school, where both remained
till r871, when the building in Adam Square, which
had become too small for the requirements of the
institution, was pulled down, with those which adjoined
it, to make way for the broad and spacious
South Bridge.] SCHOOL OF ARTS. 38 I