6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



quite without engagements. In the lecture world there is a mani- 

 fest survival of the fittest. 



When the course ends there is a formal examination, open to 

 all students who have attended a specified proportion of lectures 

 and done the requisite home work. Certificates are awarded to 

 the successful candidates, the results depending upon the term 

 work as well as the examination. I have not myself much faith 

 in academic labels, but these certificates have a certain value in 

 stimulating the students to carry their work to completion. 



Where university extension is still untried, half courses, of six 

 lectures each, are sometimes given by way of experiment, but in 

 this case no examinations are held and no certificates are awarded. 



The statistics of the movement show that it is still increasing 

 in popularity. All of the numerals which sum up its activity, 

 attendance, lecturers, courses, have much more than doubled 

 within the past five years. The figures of 1889-'90 show that 

 nearly four hundred courses were given, and that these were 

 attended by over forty thousand people. During the winter of 

 1890-'91 the attendance was over forty-five thousand. It is esti- 

 mated that about ten per cent take the examinations. A num- 

 ber of new and interesting developments have attended this 

 growth. Besides the regular fall and spring terms there are also 

 summer meetings at both Oxford and Cambridge, which have 

 been a most pronounced success. One can scarcely overestimate 

 the advantage of even this brief residence at the universities 

 themselves. It is no inconsiderable education simply to be in 

 Oxford. The tastes which are thus encouraged make possible 

 better things in the winter courses following. The Cambridge 

 summer meeting is, on the whole, more scientific in its scope, 

 and the numbers in attendance are consequently small, but are 

 increasing as the opportunity becomes better known. 



At Oxford the meetings have always been of a more popular 

 character. The students are numbered by hundreds and even of 

 late years by the thousand. The meetings only began in 1888, 

 when the session lasted for but ten days. Yet there were nine 

 hundred students present. Since then the sessions have length- 

 ened and the attendance has likewise grown. For obvious reasons 

 the students are largely drawn from the teaching class, the greater 

 number being women. The opportunity of hearing such men 

 as Max Miiller brings even an increasing company of Americans 

 to these summer meetings. 



While the expense is kept as small as possible, the question of 

 ways and means is too much for many of the poorer extension 

 students, and scholarships are being founded to enable these to 

 taste Oxford for at least a few weeks. 



There are many other features of the English work, such as 



