1 86 LIFE AND EXPERIENCES CH.VII 



University education." Finally the Duke of Devon- 

 shire, while conscious of the dangers of the experiment, 

 was unable to shut his eyes to what had been said as 

 to the requirements of classical knowledge excluding a 

 large proportion of those who were likely to take 

 advantage of the new University. On a division, the 

 resolution to exclude classics from the Science degree 

 curriculum was carried by eleven to five ; that is to say, 

 by a majority of more than two to one. A leading 

 article on the subject appeared in The Times of the 

 1 6th of April, in which the following passage occurs : 

 " Thus, though a new feature has been introduced into 

 English academical education, it is not such as to 

 alarm or startle reasonable minds, nor will there be 

 room for the somewhat illiberal prejudices entertained 

 as to the degrees conferred by the new University. 

 The proficient in engineering or in science will not be 

 a Bachelor of Arts, but a Bachelor of Science. This 

 provision, it may be hoped, dispels the fear that the 

 prestige of the older Universities has been impaired 

 by an influx of degrees bearing the time-honoured 

 names, but covering a host of upstart plebeian 

 accomplishments. Perhaps the strangest feature in 

 the objections to dispensing with Latin and Greek in 

 the Victoria University is the quarter from which they 

 proceeded. Apparently the men who might have 

 been chiefly expected to entertain a healthy disregard 

 for worn-out educational superstitions were the very 

 men who wished to retain them. The possessors of 

 academical honours, on the other hand, deprecated the 

 continuance of a curriculum which they saw to be 

 unsuitable to the local genius, and of which they had 

 witnessed even in their Universities the disadvantages 

 as well as the benefits." 



