Imperial Kazan University Research Articles

Формирование полицейско-правовой теории: анализ и оценка полицеиста В. В. Ивановского

Introduction. The article is devoted to the work of Viktor Viktorovich Ivanovsky (1854-1926), a prominent jurisprudent of the Russian Empire, specialist in police law, sociologist, whose scientific activity was closely connected with the Kazan Imperial University. The contribution of V. V. Ivanovsky to the development of police and administrative law, political sociology, the theory of local self-government, and the methodology of legal research significantly influenced the development of police law theory in Russia. However, his ideological heritage has not yet received a comprehensive analysis. Methods. Methodological principles of research – the principles of unity of theory and practice, objectivity, complexity, comprehensiveness of the study of social processes and phenomena, the unity of historical and logical – are based on dialectics, acting as a general methodology of scientific cognition. The main methodological approaches of the study were systemic and value approaches. General scientific (historical, functional) and special (formal-legal, historical-legal, comparative-legal) methods of legal research were used. The method of problem-theoretical reconstruction and interpretation of legal ideas was very important. Results. V. V. Ivanovsky has showed himself as a jurist, scientist and historiographer. He characterised the formation of police-legal theory and identified the features of ideas about the means of public administration, models of relations between state bodies and the population of Western European and domestic thinkers.He revealed the interdependence of the sciences of police and administrative law; identified the features of the origin of the dogmatics of administrative law; substantiated the need to change the principle of regulation of public relations and the transition from the rule of law to the principle of administrative law.

Professor M.Ya. Kittary and Technical Education in the Russian Empire

Throughout its history, Kazan University has always been proud of its distinguished alumni and esteemed professors. Among them, Modest Yakovlevich Kittary, a professor at Kazan Imperial University and the head of the Department of Technology from 1850 to 1857, stands out as a strong advocate for technical education. He was one of the few who embraced and supported the state’s vision for universities as centers of academic, pedagogical, educational, and cultural progress within the province, region, and the entire nation. As a passionate civic and public activist, he championed the importance of technical education for industrialists and the general public, recognizing its potential to elevate the level of culture, literacy, and prosperity. His work prompted the revival of the Kazan Economic Society, the opening of new factories, as well as technical and technological advances. M.Ya. Kittary’s life has been the research focus of many Kazan University scholars. Here, his contribution to promoting technical education is analyzed in greater detail based on the materials from the Journal of the Ministry of National Education. Particular attention is paid to the changes in the educational system of the Russian Empire during that period, as documented by the above journal, and the central role of M.Ya. Kittary in the modernization of the higher technical education landscape.

To the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Kazan Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

In Kazan, training in the “midwifery art” has been carried out for more than 200 years. Scattered publications contain information about the influence of the St. Petersburg school of obstetricians and gynecologists on the formation of the Kazan school of obstetricians and gynecologists. It is of interest to establish connections, continuity and development of the Kazan school with the St. Petersburg school of obstetricians and gynecologists. The study of primary sources showed that from the moment the obstetric clinic was created in Kazan in 1833, its first leaders communicated with St. Petersburg colleagues, adopting their experience (Lentovsky A.E., Kozlov A.I.). Subsequently, obstetrics and gynecology department and clinic of the medical faculty of the Kazan Imperial University were led by students of the St. Petersburg Military Medical Academy (Slavyansky K.F., Florinsky V.M., Fenomenov N.N., Gruzdev V.S.). All of them at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries made a lot of efforts for the scientific and practical development of obstetrics and gynecology in Kazan. A particularly noticeable mark was left by Professor V.S. Gruzdev, creating an independent scientific and practical school of Kazan obstetricians and gynecologists. Later his work was continued by student of V.S. Gruzdev — Professor P.V. Manenkov with his students.

Психология юридического труда: аналитический прогноз для будущих юристов (к вопросу о разработке психологической теории юридической деятельности)

The absence of the concept of “legal work” in modern psychological science leads to a negative tendency to interpret it through the legal norms established in Russian legislation in modern research in the field of legal psychology and economic theory. This fact leads to a fundamental error in obtaining objective scientific knowledge associated with the use of methodological tools not peculiar to this field of scientific knowledge. The research of V.L. Vasiliev, M.I. Enikeev, M.M. Kochenov, A.E. Zhalinsky, Yu.V. Chufarovsky is primarily focused on the study of the professionograms of individual legal specialties, while the fundamental issue of the formation of an approach to the definition of the concept of “legal work” has not yet been resolved. Being multifaceted, the sphere of legal activity often, contrary to the laws of economic theory, does not provide any surplus product, while the regulatory and establishing function of this activity allows us to talk about it as a transitional stage to the introduction of the concept of “artificial intelligence activity” into scientific circulation and legislation in the near future. The issues of defining the concept of “legal labor” in the conditions of the prevailing scientific concepts of labor psychology cause a lot of difficulties. Thus, the concepts of L.S. Vygotsky, S.L. Rubinstein, V.D. Shadrikov recognized in the scientific community do not provide answers to a number of questions related to the essence of legal work, such as the possibility of distinguishing “legal action” and a number of others. Despite the recognition in scientific legal circles of the research of D.I. Meyer, by the way, professor of Kazan Imperial University, the concepts of “legal action” proposed by him from the point of view of modern psychological science are absolutely unacceptable, since he primitively calls all actions performed by a person “legal”, without taking into account that such legal actions can only be performed within the framework of regulated by the law of public relations. So eating breakfast in the morning, this sign is absent in most cases, and therefore there is no need to qualify this action as legal. Despite the described scientific problems, the trends in the development of this scientific field of knowledge (“psychology of legal work”) are very dynamic. They will be discussed in the publication.

Вклад Михаила Дмитриевича Рузского в изучение фауны птиц Волжско-Камского края

Mikhail Dmitrievich Ruzsky is one of the last encyclopedic scientists of the 20th century, known for his works on zoology, ichthyology and ornithology, hydrobiology, and entomology. Professor Mikhail Dmitrievich Ruzsky (1864-1948) is one of the country outstanding biologists and founders of the national science of ants, the first researcher of the myrmecofauna of Russia and neighboring countries. He made a significant contribution to the development of not only individual sciences, but also the formation of university education in Russia. The Kazan period of his biography is significant for his life and career. Mikhail Dmitrievich began his bird watching in Kazan and its surroundings while still being a very young researcher. His formation as a scientist began in Kazan Imperial University. Ruzsky had his first publications on birds in 1889, although he began conducting ornithological observations from the first years of university. The significant coverage of the territory allowed him not only to obtain new data on the distribution of birds in these areas, but also compare the lists of species and changes in their composition. His interest in studying fauna was influenced by the works of his predecessors - famous local historians and scientists of Russia - Pallas, Eversman, Bogdanov, and others. Ruzky gave the first list of birds of the Kazan province. In 1893, he presented his master’s thesis, Materials for the Study of Birds of the Kazan Province, whose results were published in the Proceedings of the Society of Naturalists of Kazan University. Ruzsky was the curator and collector of the Zoological Museum of Kazan University; within just one decade (from 1887 to 1896), he delivered 439 specimens of birds to the museum. His works made it possible to compile the first list of the avifauna of Kazan. He noted 56 species of birds directly inhabiting the city, and about 50 species found in the vicinity. A comparison of Ruzsky’s regional avi-faunistic lists with the data from recent years made it possible to present the dynamics and main changes that occurred in the composition of the bird fauna of the Volga-Kama Region over two hundred years. He was one of the organizers of the Kazan City Museum (now the National Museum of the Republic of T atarstan), chairman of its Council (1912), and having received the title of honorary member of the museum staff, he became director of the Natural History Department (1908-1913). Mikhail Dmitrievich was directly involved in the formation of the third Zoological Museum in Kazan located in the Veterinary Institute (now the Kazan State Academy of Veterinary Medicine), where he also worked for some time. The studies conducted on the avifauna of the Volga-Kama Region laid the foundation for subsequent large-scale work on both zoogeography, species distribution, and species ecology. In 1913, Mikhail Dmitrievich Ruzsky was elected professor of the Department of Zoology in Kiev and Tomsk Universities. He faced the choice and gave his preference to Tomsk devoting next 35 years of his life to working for the benefit of science in Tomsk University. The article contains 2 Figures, 13 References. The Authors declare no conflict of interest.

КАЗАХСКИЕ СТУДЕНТЫ Г. КАЗАНИ ВТОРОЙ ПОЛОВИНЫ XIX В.: ДЕЛОПРОИЗВОДСТВЕННАЯ ДОКУМЕНТАЦИЯ И ИСТОЧНИКОВЕДЧЕСКИЙ АНАЛИЗ

Today it is necessary to conduct research that systematizes historical documents and reconstructs the history of education and the fate of Kazakh students in higher educational institutions of the Russian Empire. Based on this, the purpose of my article is to analyze the office documentation of Kazakh students of the Imperial Kazan University and Veterinary Institute. For the scientific analysis of office documentation of Kazakh students of the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. a systematic approach and source study synthesis were used, which allows us to see the integrity of historical sources and opens up opportunities for expanding social research, involving in the field of studying socio-cultural changes in the Kazakh steppe of the second half of the 19th century. Additional materials. The type of documents we studied is varied: petitions for admission to students of a certain faculty, graduates of higher educational institutions, metric certificates, information about health status; certificates of completion of gymnasiums; certificate of scholarship amount, educational programs, commission protocols on passing state exams, etc. The source analysis of the office documentation of Kazakh students in Kazan turned out to be perspective, because it reveals not only little-studied aspects of the life of Kazakh students in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries, but also identified Kazakh families where Kazakh families where the importance of gaining knowledge and educating their children in educational institutions has become a pattern. And accordingly, from the second half of the 19th century, Kazan became one of the centers of formation of the Kazakh intellectual elite.

Microbiologists M.R. Sharipova and A.M. Mardanova are Talented Students and Teachers

The history of the formation and development of the microbiological discipline at the Imperial Kazan University began in the middle of the XIX century. Then the first attempts were made to control infectious processes in the Kazan province (cholera, influenza, smallpox). With the advent of the microscope, university researchers have gained a new opportunity to observe microorganisms. At the end of the 19th century, the issues of medical and general microbiology were widely discussed in the scientific community of the city. At the very beginning of the twentieth century, the Bacteriological Institute was opened at the Faculty of Medicine, which became the flagship of these studies. However, microbiological research began to develop at other faculties of Kazan University already under Soviet rule (the work of A.P. Ponomarev and his student S.I. Limanova-Kolosova). They mainly dealt with issues of ecological and geological microbiology. At the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the University Laboratory of Microbiology was headed by M.I. Belyaeva, who in 1969 achieved the opening of the Department of Microbiology as part of the Biology and Soil Faculty of Kazan State University named after V.I. Ulyanov-Lenin. She was the founder of a new modern direction — the study of enzymes of microorganisms. Her students, who later became professors, R.P. Naumova and I.B. Leshchinskaya, have already educated their talented followers. This article is devoted to a review of the scientific and pedagogical activities of professors M.R. Sharipova and A.M. Mardanova, employees of the Department of Microbiology of Kazan Federal University. Bangladesh Journal of Infectious Diseases, December 2023;10(2):104-109

Kowalewski Apropos the Chinese Book “Ming Xin Bao Jian”: Following up a Diary Entry

This article examines the notes of the prominent Russian mongolist of Polish origin Józef Kowalewski (1801–1878) in his “Diary of studies for 1832”, the manuscript of which is kept in the Department of Manuscripts of the Vilnius University Library. This diary entry has been previously published several times in the form of a facsimile. It is an excerpt in English from the annotation on the Chinese book Ming xin bao jian (明心寶鑑, Precious Mirror for the Enlightenment of the Mind) from the Protestant missionary magazine published in Malacca. The article clarifies and significantly supplements the previously published commentary on this entry, defines The Indo-Chinese Gleaner magazine as the source of the English annotation and William Milne (1785–1822) as its author. It is assumed that J. Kowalewski’s acquaintance with W. Milne’s note had determined later choice of Ming xin bao jian as a Chinese language teaching material at The Imperial Kazan University. The very fact of choosing this book by a Protestant missionary to be presented as an important manual on the Chinese language and the traditional worldview of the Chinese is discussed. The conclusion is made that, formally remaining in opposition to the earlier Catholic missionary work, Protestant preachers in assessing Ming xin bao jian were in consent with their predecessors.

«Нәсыйхәтнамә ли-әһле замана» (Маһруй Мозаффариянең язма мирасы)

The article is provided to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the outstanding educator, teacher, and poetess Makhrui Gadbelvalievna Muzaffariya (1873–1945). The paper highlights the life and work of the teacher and gives a brief overview of her written heritage. The academic novelty of the study lies in the fact that the article analyzes in the most detail the book by M. Muzaffariya "Nasihatname li-ehli zamana", i.e. "Instructions to Contemporaries", which has not been an object of research until now. The manuscript of the book was prepared on April 21, 1900; it was censored on November 27 of the same year and was published in the printing house of Kazan Imperial University in 1901. The book is not large, it consists of 14 pages. The work was written in the form of instructions and recommendations. It includes three small chapters, which discuss mainly the issues concerning a woman’s life. In the first chapter, the author focuses on the problems of education and upbringing; the second chapter contains recommendations to mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law; and in the third chapter, the duties of husbands and wives are addressed. The book is also notable for the fact that it helps to identify or clarify the pages of M. Muzaffariya’s life, to find out the author's personal view of past events and to present the atmosphere of that time, since the content of the book is supplemented with examples from the educator’s life.

Faddey Gregorovich as the Pioneer of Penitentiary Law Doctrine at the Kazan University: His Fate and Legacy

This article traces the life of Faddey Vladislavovich Gregorovich, a prominent professor of the Department of Criminal Law and Procedure at the Imperial Kazan University who has almost faded from the memory of most scholars today. The documents from the State Archives of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Kalvaryja Cemetery in Minsk are analyzed. New documents that give a picture of F.V. Gregorovich’s family circle, which influenced his choice of profession, and solve the dispute on the exact date of his death are introduced and discussed for the first time. These new documents not only fill in some gaps in F.V. Gregorovich’s biography but also reveal how the scholar developed a strong passion for the theory of criminal law throughout his life. The myth about a conflict between F.V. Gregorovich and A.A. Piontkovsky is proven to be groundless. The cause of F.V. Gregorovich’s early retirement is identified: he was diagnosed with a nervous disease, and it led to his negative image in historiography. Since F.V. Gregorovich took part in the V International Prison Congress of 1895, it means that the academic community of the period under study recognized the establishment of prison studies as a special branch of jurisprudence at the Kazan University.

The history of the journal Neurology Bulletin (to the 130th anniversary)

The article prepared for the anniversary of the Neurological Bulletin journal, describes the history of the creation and the first years of work of the Society of Neurologists and Psychiatrists and its press edition the Neurological Bulletin journal. The purpose of the Society was to unite the scientific forces of the Imperial Kazan University for the continuation of complex studies of the nervous system by clinicians together with representatives of the natural sciences (histology, anatomy, physiology), as well as psychologists and lawyers. This determined the theme of the new journal, which published articles on a wide range of issues.

Early Organic Chemistry in Kyiv: Serhii Mykolayovych Reformatskyi (1860-1934) and his Name Reaction.

Serhiy Mykolayovych Reformatskyi, [Ukrainian: Рeφopмaтcьκий, Cepгiй Mиκoлaйoвич; Russian: Sergei Nikolaevich Reformatskii, РeΦopмaтcκий, Cepгeй Hиκoлaeвич (1860-1934)] was a product of Zaitsev's laboratory in Kazan Imperial University in Russia and one of the founding fathers of organic chemistry in Ukraine. He discovered his eponymous reaction while a graduate student in Kazan under Zaitsev, studying the synthesis of homoallylic alcohols. He modified this reaction by replacing the olefinic π bond of an allyl halide with a carbonyl group. In the prototype reaction, he treated ethyl haloacetates with zinc and aldehydes or ketones. The reaction gave the corresponding β-hydroxyesters and remains an important synthetic method. Work on the reaction over the ensuing century and a quarter has led to the discovery of analogous reactions using a wide range of metals, and even permitting the use of water as a solvent.

«Жизнь, сплошь занятая одним только упорным трудом…»: Алексей Иванович Михайловский в истории Казанского университета

The article for the first time presents a biography and considers the circumstances of the tragic death of Alexei Ivanovich Mikhailovsky, a lecturer in English and a compiler of the fundamental three-volume reference book “Teachers who studied and served at the Imperial Kazan University (1804–1904)”. Attention is paid to the conditions of Mikhailovsky’s work on a reference book in connection with the preparations for the 100th anniversary of Kazan University. The features of the material published by him as a unique source on the history of the university are revealed.

To the 200th anniversary of the beginning of pediatric education in the Republic of Tatarstan: pages of the life of the outstanding pediatrician Pyotr Mikhailovich Argutinsky-Dolgorukov

The paper describes the main milestones in the life of one of the founders of the pediatric school in Kazan Professor P.M. Argutinsky-Dolgorukov. He made a lot of efforts to organize the teaching of pediatrics at the Kazan Imperial University, was one of the initiators of the construction of a new children's clinic on the Arsk field in 1900. Professor P.M. Argutinsky-Dolgorukov connected mainly with the study of infectious pathology. His students Professor V.K. Menshikov, E.M. Lepsky, A.A. Agafonov later became well-known pediatricians and infectious disease specialists who took an active part in the creation of pediatric and infectious diseases services in the Republic of Tatarstan. P.M. Argutinsky-Dolgorukov was the founder of the study of malaria in children in Russia. Under the guidance of the professor, progressive methods of diagnostics and treatment were introduced into clinical practice, in particular, the method of treating scarlet fever with Moser's serum, the study of the measles causative agent, and X-ray examinations at the patient's bedside.

ИСТОКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ МУЗЫКОТЕРАПИИ

Music in the context of therapy poses a question to researchers: what is the scientific basis of music therapy? The scientific works of outstanding representatives of Russian medicine of the XIX - early XX centuries, including experimental research, laid the platform for music therapy as a scientific discipline based on a natural-scientific approach. The first series of experiments on the effects of music on humans was carried out by Professor I.M. Dogel of Kazan Imperial University and initiated further research by I.R. Tarkhanov and I.N. Spirtov in St. Petersburg. These studies were conducted under the supervision of Academician V.M. Bekhterev.

Professor N. P. Zagoskin – rector of the Imperial Kazan University

The article is devoted to the biography of Nikolai Pavlovich Zagoskin (1851-1912), an outstanding representative of Kazan professorship, whose fate was connected with Kazan Imperial University for more than forty years. In 1906 he was highly honored and trusted by his colleagues and was elected the rector of the Kazan University. N.P.Zagoskin's rectorate was held during one of the most difficult periods in the history of Russian universities. The years of the first Russian revolution are characterized by the unusual activity of students' movement, accelerated involving of the university representatives into social-political life of the country, strained relations of the university professorship with the higher administration represented by trustees and people of the Ministry of education. In spite of the short period of N.P.Zagoskin's term in office (1906-1909) this administrative experience was of great importance for the university and for the rector himself. N.P. Zagoskin belongs to the most prominent and influential rector in the history of Kazan University.

“Kazan Medical Journal” — the successor of the “Diaries of the Physicians’ Society” at the Imperial Kazan University

The article defines the structural specifics of the scientific periodicals of the Kazan Physicians Society, characterizes the logic of its evolution, shows its place in the development of the general logic of qualitative changes in the methods of constructing and manifesting medical knowledge broadcast on its pages. The stages of the evolutionary transformation of the Diaries of the Physicians Society, which were the printed organ of the Physicians Society at the Imperial Kazan University, into a special edition the Kazan Medical Journal are analyzed in detail, the date of its official approval as a printed organ is specified. Based on the materials of the State Archives of the Republic of Tatarstan, many of which were not previously introduced into scientific circulation, the succession of the development of scientific periodicals was demonstrated, which makes it possible to reasonably indicate 1872 as the year when the Kazan Medical Journal started to be published. The article gives a brief description of the published volumes of this stage of the transformation of the Diaries of the Physicians Society, indicates the specifics of their formal, as well as content and, in particular, intertextual structure. The role and place of various types of published materials, such as original scientific articles, abstracts of current scientific literature of that time, annual literature reviews in various medical specialties, meeting reports of representatives of scientific societies, reports of medical congresses and the so-called doctoral disputes at Kazan University at that time, reports of practical health care institutions of Kazan, special correspondence, reviews of scientific works, scientific bibliography, were determined. An analysis of these elements evolution in the content of scientific periodicals made it possible to substantiate the logical model of the structural transformation of this printed organ as a special type of historical source, to determine the forms of its cultural and communicative functioning, to indicate its role in the development of the professional culture of the medical corporation of Kazan University and the city of Kazan.

НОВЫЕ ФАКТЫ ИЗ ЖИЗНИ ПРОФЕССОРА Д.Ф. БЕЛЯЕВА В СВЕТЕ ПЕРЕПИСКИ С Д.А. КОРСАКОВЫМ

The study presents an analysis of the epistolary heritage of Dmitry Belyaev (1846–1901), the resident professor of Kazan Imperial University, classical philologist and byzantologist. These precious documents are currently kept in the personal fund of professor D. Korsakov– the addressee of D. Belyaev – in the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan. For the first time in Russian historiography, the identified and formed complex of the sources provides information on a number of events from the scientific biography of the scholar previously little-known and sometimes virtually unreported in science. The sources under consideration allow us to clarify the circumstances of the philologist’s personal life, to supplement his biography with qualitatively new characteristics. The above archival documents cast light on such an important event in the researcher’s life as moving to Kazan in 1877 to work at Imperial Kazan University, identify his circle of scientific communication, and also provide information about the activities and personalities of the Faculty of History and Philology in the 1880s–1890s. Along with that, it is possible to specify some of the peculiarities of the professor’s scientific work on Byzantine antiquities. The conducted research makes it accessible to rediscover the facts from the scholar’s biography previously forgotten in home historical science, to carry out a more definite and accurate historical and biographical reconstruction of the life and scientific heritage of Dmitry Belyaev

Фотографическое наследие казанского аптекаря Арнольда Бренинга: история и состав коллекции. 1904-1937 гг.

The article presents results of studying photographic heritage of the Kazan pharmacist Arnold Brening (1879–37). Its first part examines his biography drawing on documents from the State Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan and on private archive of his granddaughter Tatyana Brening. Close attention is paid to the professional development of A. Brening, from his apprenticeship at the Brening Heirs Pharmacy to obtaining a pharmacist's degree at the Imperial Kazan University, from tenant to owner of the pharmacy at the corner of Bolshaya Prolomnaya (Bauman street, since 1930) and Universitetskaya. In the same part, the history of formation and development of his photographic practices is revealed. Brening’s passion for photography began during his military service in Harbin in 1904–06. Having returned to Kazan, he continued taking photographs. He subscribed to photographic literature, experimented with retouching and technologies, bought new equipment. Brening regularly cultivated his skills during his walks with camera, “photographic excursions.” He took pictures of architecture, street scenes, town events. After his marriage, his photographic repertoire expanded to portraits of his wife. Brening not only showed his photographic results to a close circle of friends, he sent them to photographic journals and exhibitions in Moscow. After the Russian Revolution, his family lived in Siberia about three years. Upon his return, Brening continued to work in the field of pharmaceuticals and to take photographs of the city and its suburban area. In the 1930s, he worked at Osoaviakhim and later at the Institute of Chemical Technology. In 1937 he was arrested and shot. Among incriminating evidence was his photograph taken in 1917. The second part of the article presents the history of Brening’s photographic heritage. It establishes current location of its disparate parts: at the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan, the State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan, the Zelenodolsk Museum of Historical and Cultural Heritage, personal archives of citizens; and briefly demonstrates some items. Until late 1980s, Brening’s photographs remained forgotten. They were preserved thanks to the efforts of his wife, children, and granddaughter, and actualized in active work of local historians, journalists, museum specialists in the 1990s–2000s. This article is one of the first steps in scientific understanding of Brening’s photographic heritage.

“...It is impossible not to come to... the conclusion that Opacki’s further stay at the university is completely useless...”: Episodes of the biography of the latinist S. Opacki

The study is an attempt to reconstruct the Kazan stage of the scientific and pedagogical activity of the latinist Stanislaw Opacki (1847–?) in the context of studying the institutional history of pre-revolutionary antiquity in Kazan. In the process of working on the reconstruction of professor Opacki’s “lifestyle”, a corpus of unpublished archival documents was studied, currently stored in the fund of the Imperial Kazan University (Fund 977) of the State Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan. In order to comprehend the scientific biography of the scientist, a problem-chronological method was applied, which ensured the formation of an accurate picture of S. Opacki’s life in Kazan in 1885–1900. The analysis of the selected archival files made it possible to learn about such little-known aspects of the scientist’s life as relationships with colleagues at the faculty, students and university employees, their nature and influence on the life of a Latin scholar and a professorial corporation. Special attention is paid to the communication of Opacki with Dean Dmitry Belyaev and Dariusz Nagujewski, his colleague at the department. The sources shed light on the assessment of the scientist’s scientific and pedagogical competencies by contemporaries, the circumstances of the appointment of the researcher to the post of extraordinary professor in 1890. In the course of the work, the history of the scientist’s resignation from the university in 1889 and 1900 was established. As a result, it was possible to find an explanation of the difficult relationship between Opacki and his Kazan colleagues, to identify the causes of conflicts and classify them, to determine the significance of Opacki’s stay at the faculty for the development of ancient philology in Kazan in 1890–1900.