ABSTRACT
The administration of the University of Glasgow throughout most of the eighteenth century was based on the recommendation of a royal visitation of 1727. In return for collecting all the revenues the University was allowed to retain 300 annually, but accounts had to be submitted for one tack to the Treasury and for the other to the Scottish Barons of Exchequer. The Faculty meeting consisted of the Principal and the professors, twelve of them at Glasgow until 1760 when Alexander Wilson, who designed the type for the foundry in the University, was appointed to the new chair of astronomy. Before Adam Smith returned to Glasgow as a professor the unsolved nature of the problem of jurisdiction had become evident even where the 1727 Commission had made provision for better government. In the case of John Anderson, Smith was the leading figure among the dissenters, always supported by Joseph Black, from the first intimation of the vacancy to Andersons ultimate appointment.
