332 



NATURE 



\Aug. 17, 1876 



" In accordance with the reference made to them by the 

 Senate (Minute 128, May 13, 1874), the Committee, after 

 having revised the regulations relating to the Degree of 

 Bachelor of Arts, have given a long and serious considera- 

 tion to those relating to the Degree of Bachelor of Science. 

 It will be remembered that when those regulations were 

 first framed in the year 1859, no guidance was afforded 

 by previous experience, the degrees in science instituted 

 by this University being the first of their kind in the 

 United Kingdom. The Committee by which they were 

 drawn up desired to encourage science students, who 

 might intend to devote themselves to some particular 

 department of science as the pursuit of their lives, to base 

 their special study upon a broad foundation of scientific 

 knowledge ; and while the regulations for the Doctorate 

 were framed in such a manner as to permit a high degree 

 of specialisation, the regulations for the Bachelor's Degree 

 were d.esigned to secure the possession of such general 

 culture as should be likely to prevent its holder from 

 becoming a mere specialist. 



" Eighteen years' experience of the working of these re- 

 gulations, however, has made it obvious that the present 

 system is not well adapted to the requirements of scien- 

 tific education as now conducted. Almost every depart- 

 ment of science has undergone a higher development, so 

 as to render it more difficult for a student to obtain an 

 adequate mastery of its fundamental principles and con- 

 ceptions. Again, it has come to be generally felt that 

 scientific knowledge, to be real, must \iQ practical, as well 

 as theoretical ; and that a thorough knowledge limited to 

 a comparatively small range, is preferable to a slighter 

 acquaintance spread over a more extended area. And it 

 is the general experience of teachers, that there is from 

 the commencement of their academical course such a 

 decided preference on the part of nearly all students of 

 science for either the physical or the biological group of 

 subjects, that the attention of each student is given to one 

 group almost to the exclusion of the other. It was further 

 urged that the hiatus is too wide between the almost 

 elementary knowledge of the several departments of 

 science required in the Bachelor's Examination, and the 

 very high attainment in some limited department which 

 is required as the qualification for the Doctorate ; and 

 that it would be extremely desirable that this hiatus 

 should be narrowed, by limiting the number of subjects 

 to bs brought up by candidates for the B.Sc. Degree, 

 and proportionally raising the standard of proficiency 

 required. 



" Several of the ablest teachers in institutions connected 

 with the University, and of its most experienced examiners 

 (past and present), concurred, therefore, in recommending 

 to the Committee, that, keeping the First B.Sc. Examina- 

 tion nearly as it is, an optional divarication should be 

 allowed at the Second between the mathematico-physical 

 an'd the biological subjects ; and the Committee, feeling 

 satisfied that such a limitation would be advantageous, 

 proceeded to carry it out, by framing (with the assistance 

 of their examiners and other distinguished men of science) 

 new programmes in the several departments of study, 

 that should suit what are now felt to be their respective 

 requirements. But when these new programmes (in 

 which, wherever feasible, practical were combined with 

 •wi'itten examinations) were put together, the gonclusion 

 was forced on the Committee, that, even when the whole 

 aggregate of subjects it was deemed right to include was 

 divided into two groups, the acquirement of the proficiency 

 expected in the several subjects thus grouped, would be a 

 task too severe for the average capacities of science 

 students. And after much consideration and communi- 

 cation with their scientific advisers, the Committee have 

 arrived at the conclusion that it would be desirable rather 

 to diminish the number of subjects which each candidate 

 should be required to bring up at the Second B.Sc. Exa- 

 mination, than to exact anything short of the "competent 



knowledge " of each subject for which these programmes 

 provide. They are further of opinion that each candidate, 

 instead of being required to include either the whole or a 

 part of the subjects he selects in one or other of the 

 before-mentioned groups, should be allowed a free option 

 among all of them, so as to combine them in any way 

 that may best suit his taste and ulterior objects— thus 

 leading him onwards to the still higher specialisation of 

 the Doctorate. 



"Acting on this principle, the Committee have framed a 

 new set of regulations for the Degree of Bachelor of 

 Science, which they now submit to the consideration of 

 the Senate. In the First Examination, which every can- 

 didate will be required to pass, while the programmes in 

 mathematics, experimental physics, and inorganic che- 

 mistry have been carefully revised, little fundamental 

 change has been made in them. In place of the super- 

 ficial acquaintance with both Zoology and Botany for- 

 merly required at this examination, the Committee now 

 recommend a single examination (written and practical) 

 in General Biology ; in which a more thorough knowledge 

 shall be required of the simplest forms and elementary 

 phenomena of animal and vegetable life, such as is now 

 made the basis of the teaching of some of the most dis- 

 tinguished professors in each department. Thus the 

 student who may be intending to devote himself specially 

 to physical or chemical science, will be brought to appre- 

 hend the general conceptions common to the two great 

 organic kingdoms, without being required to master the 

 specialities of either. And the student who intends to 

 present himself at the Second B.Sc. Examination in 

 either physiology, zoology, or botany, or all combined, 

 will have laid the best foundation for those special studies 

 in the study of general biology. 



"The regulations for the Second B.Sc. Examination, on 

 the other hand, are framed with the view of allowing the 

 candidate to bring up a7i.y three of the following nine 

 subjects : — 



1. Pure Mathematics. 



2. Mixed .Mathematics. 



3. Experimental Physics. 



4. Chemistry. 



5. Botany, including Vegetable Physiology. 



6. Zoology. 



7. Anima) Physiology. 



8. Physical Geography and Geology. 



9. Logic and Psychology. 



"It is intended by the Committee that the examinations 

 in these several subjects should be, as nearly as may be, 

 on the same grade, as to the amount of attainment they 

 require. They have learned from the examiners in mathe- 

 matics, that their experience justifies them in stating that 

 any candidate who has thoroughly mastered the mathe- 

 matics of the First B.Sc. Examination, and who has such 

 an aptitude for the study as would lead him to select pure 

 mathematics as one of his subjects at the Second, would 

 find no difficulty in mastering the requirements of its 

 programme, by such an amount of study, carried on 

 tlhrough an eight months' academical session, as would 

 leave him free to bestow the same amount of time and 

 attention on two or even three other subjects. And the 

 Committee would wish it to be understood, therefore, that 

 in proposing that each candidate should have his choice 

 of a7iy three out of the nine subjects just specified, the 

 amount of proficiency expected in each would be that 

 which he might attain by the steady devotion to it of 

 about one-third of the sessional work of a diligent student. 



" With the further recommendation of the introduction 

 of an efficient practical examination in each of the sub- 

 jects in which it is feasible, the Committee now place the 

 mature result of their deliberations before the Senate, 

 with considerable confidence that it is the plan most 

 suited to meet the pecuhar requirements of the case, and 

 to promote the best interests of scientific education. 



