CONCLUSION. 727 



never be fully realised, because it is of the nature of those evils 

 which cannot be in any adequate manner estimated. 



*' There is no greater, and, unfortunately, no more general mis- 

 take than that Jiabit which many, of even the strongest of us — 

 it is often necessary in the case of the weak and debilitated — 

 have, namely, that of shutting ourselves up in our warm and 

 comfortable houses, and scarcely ever stepping foot outside. No 

 words can adequately express how dreadfully wrong it is for 

 healthy people thus to immure themselves, as so many do, in what 

 may almost be spoken of as veritable prisons, however luxurious 

 may be the mansions so persistently occupied. The great secret 

 of health, or one of the great secrets of that most desirable and 

 enjoyable state — at least for healthy people — is to go out and 

 see the world itself as it really is, and not as men have made it, 

 and breathe the pure air of heaven, and listen to the songs of the 

 birds, it may be, or perhaps to the richly-modulated music of 

 the sea. 



'* It is a very mistaken idea, that the Government of a country 

 should exercise direct control in spheres which ought to lie quite 

 outside Governmental influence. We refer more especially to 

 the management of railways and other enterprises of a commercial 

 character. 



"Mr. James Bryce, M.P.,in the Contemporary Review ioT ZxmQ, 

 1884, defines a University as * a body of men engaged in teach- 

 ing the highest knowledge.' On the primary necessity of its 

 teaching services, as opposed to its examining and degree- 

 conferring powers, he justly lays the most marked emphasis. 

 The highest aim of a University should be by direct teaching to 

 impart that stimulating impulse which disposes us to apply such 

 knowledge of facts, principles, and methods as we possess to the 

 best possible account. All branches of knowledge ought to be 

 recognised, and all comers ought to be admitted to any of the 

 courses of instruction carried on. Examinations are to be 

 regarded rather as necessary evils rather than as indispensable 

 and all-important adjuncts of the work of a University; and 

 when examinations become the chief controlling influences, dic- 

 tating peremptorily exactly what portions of a subject shall be 

 taught, they are liable to become excessively mischievous and 

 most misleading. First-rate teaching can go on, and often has 

 gone on, in the absence of formal examinations. Not only, then, 



