EDITOR'S TABLE. 



271 



what modifications need to be intro- 

 duced into the education of women. 

 The principle of equality once firmly laid 

 down, it remains to be said that, from 

 the point of view of the intellectual fu- 

 ture of the female sex, too much impor- 

 tance probably is being attached to what 

 is called "higher education." It is safe to 

 say that such intellectual advantages as 

 men now enjoy are but in a minor degree 

 dependent on colleges and universities. 

 "We constantly see men arriving at high 

 scientific and literary eminence, with 

 little or no aid from scholastic institu- 

 tions ; and what is possible for men is 

 possible for women. The last thing we 

 should wish to do would be to dispar- 

 age systematic training ; but still it is 

 an indubitable fact that many have 

 contrived to accomplish great things 

 without it. Upon the whole, it is an 

 encouraging thought that " higher edu- 

 cation" is not confined to seminaries of 

 learning. It can be imparted largely in 

 the home-circle ; it can be obtained by 

 independent study and reflection. Let 

 the seminaries flourish, but let it be un- 

 derstood that common sense and right 

 feeling, and worthy aims in the house- 

 hold and in society, constitute in them- 

 selves the conditions, and even in some 

 degree the elements, of higher educa- 

 tion. We should like to see this whole 

 question reduced to its true proportions 

 and brought into direct relation with 

 the realities of life. We believe that 

 women (like men) have at the present 

 moment within their reach far more 

 extensive means of culture than they 

 care to avail themselves of; and that 

 what is really wanted for the diffusion 

 of higher education in the best sense 

 is not so much the multiplication of in- 

 stitutions of learning, as the communi- 

 cation of an impulse to individuals of a 

 nature to lead them to lay hold of the 

 means of intellectual improvement that 

 abound on every side. Could this be 

 accomplished, the general intelligence 

 of society would advance with rapid 

 strides ; while the multiplication of in- 



stitutions of learning, and dependence 

 on them for intellectual results, will 

 only give us a select class of educated, 

 sometimes over-educated, persons, and 

 will leave society at large but slightly 

 modified by the culture that really ought 

 to mark this advanced stage of human 

 progress. 



THE GREEK QUESTION AGAIN. 



Since the article on the " Present 

 Status of the Greek Question " ap- 

 peared in the May number of " The 

 Popular Science Monthly," we have 

 been informed by a graduate of the 

 University of Cambridge, England, that 

 it is now possible to obtain the degree 

 of B. A. from that ancient institution 

 of learning without any knowledge of 

 Greek whatever. This marks, of course, 

 a new era in the history of this question 

 in England. 



It may be worth while to glance for 

 a moment at the amount of Greek re- 

 quired for the B. A. at the various Brit- 

 ish universities where it is still insisted 

 upon as a required subject of examina- 

 tion. We have not the requisitions of 

 Oxford before us, but we are assured 

 that they do not exceed those of the 

 University of Edinburgh and other Scot- 

 tish universities for the M. A. Accord- 

 ing to the "Edinburgh University Calen- 

 dar " for 1883-'84, the Greek set for ex- 

 amination for the degree of M. A. com- 

 prised the following : " Odyssey," book 

 vi; Sophocles's "Electra ; " Thucydides, 

 book vi, and Plato's " Protagoras. " 

 Now, when we consider that these au- 

 thors and the particular works or por- 

 tions of their works to be set are thus 

 announced a year beforehand, it will 

 be seen how small an amount of work 

 in Greek is really required for this de- 

 gree. It does not amount to more than 

 is required for entrance to the classical 

 course of any good American college. 

 A Cambridge graduate has asserted that 

 it was quite feasible for a man, in the 

 days when Greek was required at Cam- 



