678 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



set for matriculation the primary and initial step of the whole uni- 

 versity career ; a gate to further knowledge, which should be pru- 

 dently left as wide open as is consistent with a reasonably high 

 standard. The paper consisted in all of sixteen questions, and is there- 

 fore too long for quotation in full. Of these, says the heading 



^' Not more than eight questions are to he ansioered, of which at least 



two must be selected from Section A. 



A. 



" 1. State your reason for regarding a j^ound as a unit of mass and 

 not of force. What is the most convenient unit of force when a foot, 

 a pound, and a second are units of length, mass, and time, respec- 

 tively ? 



" 2. State the conditions necessary for the equilibrium of a body 

 free to move in one plane. To what do these conditions reduce when 

 one point in the body is fixed ? 



" 3. A solid right circular cone of homogeneous iron is 64 inches 

 in height, and its mass is 8,192 pounds. The cone is cut by a plane 

 perpendicular to the axis, so that the mass of the small cone removed 

 is 686 pounds. Find the height of the center of gravity of the trun- 

 cated portion remaining, above the base of the cone. 



" 4. A heavy body starting from rest slides down a smooth plane 

 inclined 30 to the horizon. How many seconds will it occupy in 

 sliding 240 feet down the plane, and what w^ill be its velocity after 

 traversing this distance ? [g = 32.] 



" 5. What is the ' kinetic energy ' of a moving mechanical sys- 

 tem ? A shot of 1,000 pounds moving at 1,600 feet per second strikes 

 a fixed target. How far will the shot penetrate the target exerting 

 upon it an average pressure equal to the weight of 12,000 tons ? " 



If it be borne in mind that judgment on the five momentous math- 

 ematical generalizations (for they are hardly within the pale of phys- 

 ics proper) was demanded of boys averaging sixteen or seventeen 

 years of age, fresh from school, it will be evident that the race of 

 schoolmen and of De Morgan's " Conundrum "-makers is not yet ex- 

 tinct, and that the current rumor of the aw^ard having been returned 

 to the examiners for mitigation may have some foundation in truth. 



It is interesting to note how this radical change in the scope and 

 subjects of education has reacted on our older and on the more recent- 

 ly founded universities. Far in the van stands that of Cambridge. 

 Here, from the traditional character of the instruction given, little 

 modification was required to bring modern requirements into harmony 

 with the older teaching. Ever since the appointment of the great au- 

 thor of the " Principia," the discoverer of the binomial theorem, and 

 of the " Fluxionary Calculus " to a junior fellowship in Trinity Col- 



