4 PRESIDKXT S ADDRESS. 



must be allowed to ])ass. whose attainment^ in both are. from 

 various causes, ver_\- inconsiderable. Still if the system be so 

 conducted as to encoura^i^e exertion, it v/ould be absurd to reject 

 those of the more moderate ])retensions. who have passed 

 through their period of residence with good conduct, and a toler- 

 ably regular attention to the i^-escribed duties. Nothing but 

 ■ extreme incapacity, extraordinary want of school education, or 

 gross idleness at the University, will absolutely exclude a student 

 from his degree at tiie regular time. ( )f this description some 

 few are found every }ear. I'.ut even these are not finally 

 rejected ; they mav ai)]:)ear at the following examination and. 

 unless the same insufficiency is again observed, generally pass." 

 A\'ith such an admission ]niblicly made, it is obvious that the 

 knowledge-testing was not profound. 



Another writer ends an attack by saying:* " W'e (at Cam- 

 bridge ) have professors of everything, wdio hold their situations 

 and do nothing. In Edinburgh the income of the professor 

 depends upon his exertions ; and. in consequence, the reputation 

 of that university is so high that Englishmen think it necessary 

 to finish their education l3}- i)assing a year there. They learn 

 shallow meta])hysics there, and come back worse than they went, 

 inasmuch as it is better to be empty than flatulent." 



But there are stories aljout examining in the Scotch univer- 

 sities. ( )ne gives the following oral examination : " Professor, 

 * State the Binomial Theorem.' No reply from student. Pro- 

 fessor, ' Is it a beast?' Student. ' No.' Professor, ' Thank you, 

 that will do." " 



I should add here as a jjarenthesis that for much of the nine- 

 teenth century at the Scotch universities the percentage of 

 students who proceeded to a degree was small ; the teaching of 

 the professors, the intimate association with men of his own 

 age and standing and. in general, the influences of a society 

 given to the search for knowledge were regarded as completing 

 a university education. 



The system of competitive examinations was at first a real 

 movement of reform in the universities, but in its development 

 the good servant has become a bad master. Endless examining 

 bodies have sprung up, each with its certificates, and the crown 

 of these was the University of London, of which the University 

 of the Caj)e of Good Hope was a copy. It held jiublic examina- 

 tions for degrees without in any way regarding how its exami- 

 nees were taught. The movement spread to Scotland, and at 

 one 'time there was a ])ro])osal that there should be a common 

 examinatif)n for degrees of the four Scotch universities, but it 

 was negatived. Nowadays the evils of the examination system 

 are recognised. iUit the cliangc from the i)rist to the new here 

 has not only had dilliculiies arising from how to make the change, 

 but also from o])i)osilion on the ])ari of su])porters of the old 

 system. In the discussion in the Lower Mouse in 1873 on the 



* Ibid., p. 22. 



