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NATURE 



{April ^, 1878 



prepared to hear that one great reproach to the Scottish 

 University system is commonly thought to lie in the 

 shortness of the session, as it is called. This is a great 

 point with would-be University reformers — "Go to, ye 

 are idle," But it will be found, on examination, that the 

 compulsory working-time per annum is longer at the 

 Scottish than at[the English Universities : — whence men 

 go down regularly whenever term divides. In Scotland 

 the majority of the lectures continue uninterrupted (except 

 by the week from Christmas to New Year) from the end 

 of October to the middle of April ; and by that time both 

 students and professors require some relaxation, especially 

 those who have to teach or attend the summer classes, 

 which occupy the whole of the months of May, June, and 

 July. The Commissioners have no hesitation on these 

 points, and meet the grumblers very sharply. They 

 say : — 



" Without saying that the present arrangement of the 

 academical year is the best that could be devised, it is 

 that which long experience has shown to be the most 

 suitable to the circumstances of Scotland. Nor is it 

 without its advantages for the purposes of study. To 

 the well-advanced and intelligent the vacation affords an 

 opportunity for reflection and self-culture, so as to prevent 

 his University education from degenerating into a mere 

 acceptance of facts and conclusions from the mouth of 

 his teacher. For a student, indeed, who is backward or 

 indolent, the leisure afforded by the long vacation may 

 be useless and hurtful. But to meet the case of such 

 students the fitting remedy is that which we have already 

 stated, the institution of summer tutorial classes where 

 these do not now exist, and their extension, if necessary, 

 where they do." 



Our readers are already acquainted with the Report of 

 the Devonshire Commission. A good deal of the evi- 

 dence which that body collected has been taken as 

 repeated before the present Commissioners, and they 

 adopt, and strongly urge the carrying out of, several of 

 the recommendations of their predecessors: — especially 

 those which concern grants of public money for the exten- 

 sion of buildings and appliances for Science teaching in 

 the Scottish Universities. It is well that this has been 

 done, for attention has thus been recalled to one of the 

 most important documents connected with education 

 which has ever been laid before Parliament, and which 

 (probably because of the moneys it recommended to be 

 granted) has been practically shelved for some years. 



So' far we have been dealing with the Report as a 

 whole. We must now more particularly examine it as 

 regards Science. And this, we fancy, wili be allowed to 

 be its weakest point. The Commission was exceedingly 

 strong on the Hterary, legal, and general-culture side : — but 

 very weak — numerically at least — on the scientific. It is 

 no disparagement to such men as Dr. Lyon Playfair and 

 Prof. Huxley (who were the two representatives of Science 

 among twelve Commissioners) to say that they cannot 

 adequately represent all science. For there are three 

 great divisions of Science, the Observational, the Experi- 

 mental, and the Mathematical, and the third and greatest 

 of these was altogether unrepresented on the Commission. 

 This was a very grave defect, and the value of the Report 

 is considerably reduced in consequence. 



So strong, in fact overwhelming, was the general cul- 

 ture side — including Members (or ex-Members) of both 

 Houses of Parliament, Scottish (and Indian) Judges and 



Advocates, &c. — that the Report cannot fail to surprise all 

 readers by its general tenor. For there can be no question 

 that in it Science has managed to carry the day against 

 all comers : — the .greater the pity that it was not fully 

 represented, if but by the addition of a single mathe- 

 matician. To make room for him, a lawyer might easily 

 have been spared. 



We cannot spare space for more than one instance 

 of the proposed revolution : — but we choose an important 

 and typical one, the modifications to be made in the 

 mode of attaining the degree of M.A. This degree has 

 hitherto, in Scotland, involved a certain amount of know- 

 ledge of each of the following seven subjects : — Latin, 

 Greek, Mathematics, Logic, English Literature, and 

 Moral and Natural Philosophy : — and has not been at all 

 nearly so easy to attain as the ordinary (or Poll) degree in 

 the English Universities — which, though at first styled 

 only B.A., becomes M.A. by mere lapse of time and pay- 

 ment of additional fees, and is therefore practically the 

 same thing. In Scotland it is now proposed that there shall 

 be five distinct avenues (several with alternative branches) 

 to this degree in addition to the present one : — (p. 25) 



" Moved by these considerations, we have come to the 

 conclusion that to secure a basis of general culture every 

 student proposing to proceed to the degree of M.A. should 

 be required to pass a ' First Examination ' in Latin, 

 Greek, Mathematics, English, and, when the state of 

 education in the schools renders it practicable, in Ele- 

 mentary, Physical and Natural, Science. This examination 

 should be passed at the beginning of the University ses- 

 sion, — either the winter or the summer session, — every 

 student proposing to graduate being required to pass it, 

 whether he may have been previously a student in the 

 University or not. With some modification, the examina- 

 tion might be so adapted as to apply not only to students 

 proceeding to a degree in Arts, but to those also intending 

 to graduate in Law, Science, or Medicine. In the case 

 of persons proceeding in Law, we think that an examina- 

 tion in translating from French or German should be 

 allowed as an option for Greek. Again, in the case of 

 students proposing to graduate in Science or Medicine, 

 we think that, as some knowledge of modern languages 

 is most important to them, they should be examined either 

 in translating from French and German, or in translating 

 from one of the languages and in Greek. In this way, it 

 would be necessary for them to show ability to translate 

 from at least one modern language. 



" As we shall explain afterwards, we regard this as the 

 best equivalent for an entrance examination. Through its 

 application to all proposing to graduate, whether pre- 

 viously students at the University or having come direct 

 from school, a salutary reflex action on the schools will 

 be secured by the encouragement given to them to send 

 their pupils to the University in an advanced state of pre- 

 paration. In a different shape, and if accompanied by 

 the condition of exclusion from the University should the 

 candidate fail to pass, an entrance examination would, in 

 our opinion, be attended with injury rather than benefit. 



" After passing the * First Examination,' the candidate 

 for a degree in Arts should be allowed to proceed in tlie 

 present course, if he please, and as, no doubt, many will 

 still do. If, however, he prefer to take a different course, 

 we propose that he should be allowed to take any one of 

 the five following departments or lines of study, viz. : — 



" I. Literature and Philology. 

 II. Philosophy. 



III. Law and History. 



IV. Mathematical Science. 

 V. Natural Science. 



