A direct appeal for financial assistance was then made to the citizens of Montreal. It met with an encouraging response, which greatly relieved the situation and was what Dr. Dawson, forty years later, called "the beginning of a stream of liberality which has floated our University barque up to the present date." But other anxieties were soon to be felt. Early in 1856 the building occupied by the High School and the Faculty of Arts was destroyed by fire, together with the few books and the scanty apparatus that had been collected or had been given by Dr. Skakel many years before, as well as many of the Principal's natural history specimens. Teaching was not interrupted, however, and during the remainder of the session, the classes in Arts were held again, in part, in the original College buildings, then undergoing repairs, and, in part, in the Medical Faculty's building on Coté Street, in which rooms were generously placed at the disposal of the Faculty of Arts. Because of the occupation of part of the College buildings, and the expectation of soon again putting them to permanent use, improvements were commenced on the College grounds, by the planting of trees and the making of roads and walks, the cost of which was borne largely by the Principal. In 1856, general courses in Applied Science were established in connection with the Faculty of Arts, and degrees were first conferred in that department in 1859. The courses in the Law School, which had been formed into a separate Faculty in 1853, were extended to suit the conditions and needs of the country. But funds were necessary to meet the heavy extra expenses incurred, and in order to provide sufficient money for the payment of debts and contingencies, it was thought prudent to sell a portion of the College lands. From 1858 to 1860, therefore, forty-four lots, averaging in size one hundred by one hundred and twenty feet, were offered for sale by the University. Some of these were sold at auction. They were situated on Sherbrooke, Victoria, Mansfield and University Streets. Money was also loaned by the College authorities to purchasers of lots to enable them to erect buildings. The temporary revenue of the College was thus increased and expansion was consequently made possible. [Illustration: _William Molson, Esq.,_ 1793-1875 _Founder of Molson Hall_]