758 



UNIVERSITIES. 



these university officers are no longer the main sources 

 of instruction. The demand for instruction created 

 by the degree examination, is met almost exclu- 

 sively by lectures delivered in the several colleges 

 and halls, or, rather by private tutors in the colleges 

 and halls; so exclusively indeed, that, although 

 some knowledge of Greek is essential for a degree, 

 and a considerable proficiency for the higher class 

 degrees, the Greek professor has no lectures. What 

 is actually required for a degree of bachelor of arts, 

 is, that the student should display some acquaint- 

 ance with the facts and doctrines of the Christian 

 religion, and especially with the peculiar tenets of 

 the church of England, as set forth in its articles ; 

 some proficiency in the Greek and Latin languages, 

 in one or more of the ancient philosophical treatises, 

 ot, in lieu of this, in a portion of ancient history ; 

 some knowledge, also, either of the elements of logic 

 or of the elements of geometry. The statute, how- 

 ever, contemplates the probability of a much higher 

 standard of qualification in a portion of the stu- 

 dents; and for these it provides honours addi- 

 tional to that of a mere degree. Their names 

 are printed, arranged in four classes, according 

 to a fixed standard of merit for each class. 

 The candidate is permitted to name the books in 

 which he wishes to be examined ; and the examiners 

 are, besides, at liberty to examine in any books 

 which they may select. The following may serve 

 as a specimen of the ordinary lists admitted by ex- 

 aminers: Virgil, Cicero De Officiis, the five last 

 books of Herodotus, Person's four plays of Euripi- 

 des, and some work on logic. For the highest 

 honours in classes, the catalogue usually comprises 

 two or more treatises of Aristotle, with the addi- 

 tion, occasionally, of some of Cicero, or some parts 

 of Plato, Herodotus and Thucydides, and often the 

 whole or part of Xenophon's Hellenics, and Poly- 

 bius; a selection of Greek plays, and sometimes 

 Pindar ; a portion of Latin history, most commonly 

 two decades of Livy ; two or more Latin poets, 

 which are almost always Virgil, Horace, Lucretius 

 or Juvenal. Besides the examination in these books, 

 the student is obliged to perform exercises in Eng- 

 lish, Latin and Greek, in prose and in verse, at the 

 discretion of the examiners. The mathematical 

 examinations have been, for the last three or four 

 years, conducted principally by means of printed 

 questions, answered in writing. A candidate for 

 the first class may be stated generally to have ac- 

 quired a knowledge of, 1. the elements of analyti- 

 cal geometry and trigonometry ; 2. the differential 

 and integral calculus and its applications ; 3. me- 

 chanics, including the principles of its application 

 to the solar system, embracing the substance of the 

 three first sections of Newton's Principia, which 

 are also read in the original forms ; 4. the principles 

 of hydrostatics, optics and plane astronomy. The 

 examinations take place twice a year. Prizes are 

 given for the encouragement of composition in 

 prose and verse, in Latin and English. There are 

 also public scholarships, which operate as rewards 

 and encouragements of general proficiency or parti- 

 cular acquirements. These include classical litera- 

 ture, mathematics, Hebrew and law. The univer- 

 sity also affords facilities for the acquirement of 

 various branches which do not enter into the quali- 

 fications for a degree. Thus the several professors 

 of geology, chemistry, and many other branches of 

 science, are always provided with classes, often 

 with numerous ones. 



We now proceed to the college preparation for 



the public examinations. It is this that really con- 

 stitutes the Oxford education. The process of in- 

 struction in the colleges is by means of recitations. 

 Every head of a house appoints a certain number of 

 tutors for this purpose. Questions are put by the 

 tutor, and remarks made by him on the book which 

 is the subject of study. He also gives directions 

 respecting the proper mode of studying. The 

 students usually attend two, three or four tutors, 

 who thus give instruction in different branches. 

 The college tutor, moreover, has interviews, from 

 time to time, with his pupils, separately, for the 

 sake of ascertaining the individual's state of prepara- 

 tion for the public examination, assisting him in his 

 difficulties, &c. Besides these college tutors, how- 

 ever, there are private tutors, who superintend the 

 studies of individuals, and prepare them for attend- 

 ance on the exercises of the college tutors. These 

 private tutors are particularly useful to that large 

 class of students who come to college insufficiently 

 prepared. The course of college instruction closes, 

 at the end of each term, with a formal examination 

 of each member separately, by the head and tutors, 

 who assemble for this purpose. This summing up 

 of the business of the term is called, in the techni- 

 cal language of the place, collections, or terminals. 

 Each student presents himself in turn, with the 

 books in which he has received instruction during 

 the term, and, in many colleges, with the essays and 

 other exercises which he has written, his analyses 

 of scientific works, abridgments of histories, and 

 the like. In some colleges, the students are re- 

 quired to present, for their examination, some book, 

 also, in which they have not received instruction 

 during the term. Besides the other studies pursued 

 in the colleges, the students write weekly short 

 essays on a given subject, occasionally interchanged 

 with a copy of Latin verses, for those skilled in 

 versification. The liberality of donors has enabled 

 the colleges to provide indirectly for the promotion 

 of study by means of exhibitions, scholarships and 

 fellowships. Every college and hall examines, if it 

 thinks fit, its own candidates for admission, and 

 pronounces, each according to a standard of its own, 

 on their fitness or unfitness for the university. The 

 university has public examinations, called respon- 

 sions, for members who have been matriculated not 

 less than six, nor more than nine terms. These 

 are conducted principally with a view to ascertain 

 the elementary knowledge of the student, rather 

 than his progress in those branches of knowledge 

 which he is supposed to be pursuing. In regard to 

 the expenses, i. e. the necessary expenses, of a 

 student at Oxford, the Journal from which we have 

 extracted the preceding remarks states, that the ordi- 

 nary college account for the year, including univer- 

 sity and college fees of all kinds, postage, boarding, 

 lodging, washing, coals and servants, is oftener short 

 of 80 or 90 than above 100 For further infor- 

 mation respecting the English universities, see Ox- 

 ford, Cambridge, King's College, London University 

 (in article London), and for notices of the Scottish 

 Universities, see College, Education, and Scotland. 



The word university was used in France, during 

 the period of the empire, to designate the collective 

 body of the higher institutions of education, consist- 

 ing of twenty-six academies in the principal cities, 

 all under the control of a common head. 



In the United States of America, the word unt- 

 versity is sometimes applied to the colleges ; but 

 there are no institutions in the country properly 

 deserving the name. 



