288 APPENDIX. [No. XX. 



men always in some way to try to vie with their neighbours, and ill-feeling 

 is produced by continual attempts to have some slight advantage or 

 superior rank. From boyhood it will be desirable that knowledge should 

 be cultivated for a more noble end. The infant should be taught that 

 knowledge itself is above all considerations of wealth or station ; that it 

 should be valued for its own intrinsic worth and for its positive power of 

 conferring happiness upon the possessor, independently of any accidental 

 adjuncts as wealth, position, or power, which may or may not be its 

 accompaniments. The infant should be taught that knowledge itself 

 confers upon the individual an inexhaustible source of pleasure which will 

 remain through every vicissitude of life. 



I perceive another reason for employing prizes very cautiously. To 

 obtain a prize the pupil is led to give up his own mode of thought and 

 substitute that of his examiners. In any extensive system the minds of 

 the pupils are led to esteem knowledge for the opinion the world has of it, 

 instead of being encouraged to follow and practise that more severe frame 

 of mind which judges of knowledge by knowledge, tests theories by facts, 

 and gives that moral courage which enables the man to put forward and 

 maintain his well-considered opinions against those of all the world 

 besides. For this reason I fear that an extensive central system of prizes 

 might retard knowledge, and produce one general public opinion and a 

 universal mediocrity. 



The answers given in competing for a prize are not of necessity a test 

 of the opinions of the writer. The sceptic may give answers inferring' his 

 belief, and lately the medical profession was greatly scandalised by a 

 gentleman answering all the questions upon the treatment of disease, by 

 describing the most approved medical practice, whereas within a few hours 

 he announced himself as a subscriber to the absurdities of Hahnemann. 



I can speak from experience that those who work for prizes not only 

 seek a knowledge of the subject, but make a practice of ascertaining the 

 modes of thought of the examiners, and a competitor sometimes obtains 

 success by confining his studies to those parts of the subject which he 

 considered would probably be selected for examination. 



In the medical profession it is notorious that the questions likely to 

 be asked at the public examinations are narrowed into a small compass, so 

 that whilst a student makes himself acquainted with his profession he also 

 frequently considers it necessary to make himself acquainted with the 

 knowledge and peculiarities of his examiners. 



If, however, prizes are not carried to great excess, I believe that they 

 are useful. I am, however, inclined to believe that far greater benefits may 

 arise from affixing a certain designation to a certain standard of knowledge, 

 as I have observed that the designation of M.A. and of F.R.S. are esteemed 

 by the public as indications of a certain standard of knowledge. 



Substantial prizes, as fellowships, scholarships, and annuities, I should 

 greatly prefer to honorary prizes, as being better adapted to promote the 

 desired end. Being of intrinsic value, they would in most cases be free 

 from the objections which appear to be attached to purely honorary 

 distinctions. 



