Book excerpt: Excerpt from The History of the University of Edinburgh, Vol. 1: Chiefly Compiled From Original Papers and Records, Never Before Published Tee origin and early history of Universities, which have contributed so essentially to the diffusion of knowledge among the inhabitants of Europe, are involved in considerable obson rity. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.