IL] UNIVERSITIES I ACTUAL AND IDEAL. 59 



about. And, no doubt, the supplying of a proper 

 amount of this tutorial, practical teaching, is a diffi- 

 culty in the way of giving proper instruction in 

 Physical Science in such Universities as that of Aber- 

 deen, which are devoid of endowments; and, unlike 

 the English Universities, have no moral claim on 

 the funds of richly endowed bodies to supply their 

 wants. 



Examination thorough, searching examination 

 is an indispensable accompaniment of teaching ; but I 

 am almost inclined to commit myself to the very 

 heterodox proposition that it is a necessary evil. I am 

 a very old Examiner, having, for some twenty years 

 past, been occupied with examinations on a consider- 

 able scale, of all sorts and conditions of men, and 

 women too, from the boys and girls of elementary 

 schools to the candidates for Honours and Fellowships 

 in the Universities. 1 will not say that, in this case 

 as in so many others, the adage, that familiarity 

 breeds contempt, holds good ; but my admiration for 

 the existing system of examination and its products, 

 does not wax warmer as I see more of it. Examina- 

 tion, like fire, is a good servant, but a bad master; 

 and there seems to me to be some danger of its 

 becoming our master. I by no means stand alone in 

 this opinion. Experienced friends of mine do not 

 hesitate to say that students whose career they watch, 

 appear to them to become deteriorated by the constant 

 effort to pass this or that examination, just as we hear 

 of men's brains becoming affected by the daily 

 necessity of catching a train. They work to pass, not 



