332 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



the earliest historical times, and terminating with the end of the 

 seventeenth century. Most of them may be answered from any 

 of the usual school histories. The questions frequently have 

 reference to the dates of the most important events, to points 

 of constitutional importance, to legislation by charter and by 

 statute, to conflicting claims to the Crown, to battles, and to 

 general biography. It is, therefore, desirable that these subjects 

 should be carefully read. Candidates should also be able to 

 draw from memory an outline map of England, and to fill in 

 the most important geographical divisions and places in Roman, 

 Saxon, and modern times. 



VI. FRENCH OE GERMAN. 



Either the French or German language must be so far mas- 

 tered as to enable the candidate to answer grammatical ques- 

 tions, limited to the accidence,* and to translate short and easy 

 passages from prose works not previously announced, and short 

 and easy French and German sentences at sight. 



VII. SANSKRIT OR ARABIC. 



In the case of these languages, the candidate must be able 

 to translate passages into English, and to answer questions in 

 grammar. The candidate is also examined on certain Sanskrit 

 books specified in the yearly regulations. 



The whole of the subjects required at the matriculation 

 examination have now been mentioned. 



It is, of course, impossible to even estimate the time requisite 

 for their preparation, or to lay down any inflexible rule as to 

 the hours and modes of reading. These matters depend upon 

 the previous knowledge, ability, and leisure of individual candi- 

 dates, but in the majority of cases a year and a half or two 

 years will, with ordinary application, be sufficient for the purpose 

 of preparation. A few words upon the mode of reading may, 

 perhaps, be useful in affording some general hints. They are, 

 however, offered merely as suggestions, and must yield to 

 individual tastes and circumstances. It is, we think, desirable 

 to gain a general acquaintance with each of the subjects before 

 proceeding to acquire a knowledge of those portions of them 

 especially required at the examination. The Greek and Latin 

 grammars, the lessons in Greek and Latin in the POPULAR 

 EDUCATOR, and the first part of Arnold's " Latin Prose Com- 

 position," or some similar work, should be thoroughly studied 

 before the translation of the selected authors is commenced ; 

 and in the study of French and German it is equally desirable 

 to master the accidence and to gain a general acquaintance with 

 the elements of the language in the first instance. This done, 

 the special subject should be read and re-read until the student 

 is perfectly familiar with it, and able to translate any passage 

 with facility, in order that more time may be devoted at the 

 examination to the consideration of those questions which may 

 pot have suggested themselves in the course of reading. 



It is, in our opinion, desirable that all the subjects should be 

 read concurrently rather than successively. If, for instance, 

 three hours a day can be spared for study, a portion of the time 

 should bo devoted on alternate days to each of the branches of 

 the examination. If this plan be adopted, although the stu- 

 dent's progress may be less perceptible, he will, on the eve of 

 examination, find himself familiar with even the details of the 

 whole of the subjects, and fresh from their preparation ; while 

 the more usual and ably advocated system of reading each 

 branch separately tends to create an inequality iu the candidate's 

 knowledge of the various elements of the examination. f In the 

 subjects most recently prepared he is strong, but the details of 

 those studied at an earlier period, and laid aside as finished, 

 will have faded somewhat from the memory a fatal defect in 

 an examination in which a competent knowledge of all is abso- 

 lutely essential. The change produced by reading the different 

 subjects contemporaneously furnishes another argument in favour 

 of this system ; each forms a relief to the other, and it is possible 

 by judicious variation to read for a much longer period without 

 fatigue, than can be done if one subject only be adhered to. 



It is an excellent plan to construct periodically a time-table, 

 allotting to each subject a certain portion of the hours of study 

 in proportion to the progress made and the amount of prepara- 



* This limitation does not apply in the case of German when that 

 language is taken as an alternative to Greek. 



tion requisite. Such systematic reading is worth double the 

 amount of cursory study. 



It may be useful to analyse and note down briefly certain 

 subjects of the examination for instance, the chemistry and 

 history and to write out the translation of the classical authors. 

 But this course, if adopted at all, should be deferred until the 

 student's knowledge of the subjects is such as to enable him to 

 discriminate those portions which it is desirable to commit to 

 writing. It must also be remembered that the note-book should 

 never be a substitute for the memory, which it is apt to become, 

 A more useful and less dangerous plan is to mark, by perpen- 

 dicular lines drawn down the margins of the text-books, those 

 passages which are of most importance, and which it is desirable 

 to commit to memory, such as definitions and generalisations ; 

 the number of these may be again reduced, either by a parallel 

 line, or by some other distinctive mark ; and it is a recom- 

 mendation of this or some similar system that it enables the 

 most essential points to be referred to at the last moment 

 before the examination. 



We advise students who have studied thus systematically 

 to read until the moment of entering the examination-room. 

 In the case of those who possess neither notes nor marked pas- 

 sages, such a course is calculated to produce confusion and ner- 

 vousness ; but it has a reverse effect with those who are in a 

 position to glance over the whole subject in a few hours before 

 the commencement of the examination in each branch. 



We add one or two hints for observation in the examination- 

 room. First, let no candidate omit to write his name legibly 

 on each book of his answers to the questions. Such an omission 

 has in more than one instance led to the rejection of competent 

 men. It is desirable to answer each question in consecutive 

 order, and to complete, if possible, the first before proceeding 

 to or even looking at the second. A hasty glance at the whole 

 in the first instance is apt to magnify the difficulties of the 

 paper, which will probably vanish before a little thought, but 

 which at first sight may seem insuperable, and so give rise to a 

 paralysing nervousness. It is generally necessary to write 

 quickly, and it is a good rule, though the paper may be finished, 

 to remain in the examination-room and to carefully revise it. 

 Such a course may lead, as it often has done, to the detection of 

 errors and to the remembrance of answers previously forgotten. 



Lastly, we recommend our students to avoid merely cramming 

 the minimum of knowledge requisite to pass this or any other 

 examination. Such a course is neither a safe nor a useful one ; 

 on the contrary, an extensive acquaintance with each branch 

 will not only prove of service at future examinations and in the 

 world, but is an insurance of success. It may be stated for the- 

 encouragement of nervous candidates, that half the marks in 

 each subject will suffice for a mere pass, but such an equivocal 

 position as that of the second class should be carefully avoided.. 

 A place in the Honours Division must be an object of aspira- 

 tion to one and all our readers ; and it is to be hoped that the 

 more material rewards promised to the first six candidates at 

 each matriculation examination, in the shape of scholarships 

 of 30, 20, and 15 each, tenable for two years, and prizes 

 of books, philosophical instruments, or money, may be awarded 

 frequently to the self-taught students to whom these remarks 

 have been especially addressed. 





HYDROSTATICS. I. 



OBJECTS OF THE SCIENCE PRINCIPLE OF EQUALITY OF 

 PRESSURE. 



THE branch of Natural Philosophy the study of which we are 

 now about to commence is called Hydrostatics, and it is con- 

 cerned in examining the conditions of equilibrium in liquids, the 

 pressures they exert, and their motions ; just as Mechanics was 

 concerned with solid bodies. 



All matter exists in one of throe states the solid, the liquid, 

 or the gaseous ; and the sciences of Mechanics, Hydrostatics, 

 and Pneumatics treat respectively of its motions and the forces 

 which act upon it in these three states. We must not, however, 

 imagine that a body can exist in only one of these conditions, 

 for many assume at different times all throe. To take the 

 simplest illustration, water is best known to us in a liquid state, 

 that being the one in which we most commonly meet with it, 

 but if a certain amount of heat be taken away from it, it will 



