170 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN. 



1848. habits of sound thought and correct reasoning which were 

 Education, among their best mental possessions, believed and said 

 that it is owing to the imperfection of the teacher, not to 

 the want of effort in the pupil, that the boy or young man 

 fails to make progress. There are doubtless cases in 

 which the capabilities are naturally wanting, and when a 

 strain to do what cannot be done is useless ; but this only 

 shows the necessity of discernment. Some of his friends, 

 who greatly liked the lecture of this year, saying that 

 all his arguments were unanswerable, still hesitated to 

 give in to all his conclusions. His old friend and fellow- 

 collegian, the Eev. Arthur Neate, among others, asked, if 

 the stimulus of competition were taken away, what would 

 be put in its place. I do not know what he replied to 

 Mr. Neate, but I know what he said to me at the time. 

 ' With such young men as those who struggle to be 

 highest, and who suffer in the struggle, no stimulus 

 is needed beyond their own pleasure in learning ; and if a 

 teacher cannot make them feel this, he does not deserve 

 the name of teacher.' 



Rev. Baden Among those who fully concurred with him was our 

 competitive friend the Eev. Baden Powell. His thoughts on the 

 tk>ns Una subject were suggestive. He wrote : c Accept my thanks 

 for a copy of your admirable Introductory Lecture. I 

 wish it could be more widely circulated among our 

 candidates here and at Cambridge. Perhaps there 

 was something in this respect better in the system of 

 our ancestors' Disputations, in lieu of examinations. 

 I have often wished there were something like making 

 a man read a dissertation on a subject of his own 

 choosing, and then cross-examining him on his own argu- 

 ment. Many would be plucked from not understanding 

 their own meaning.' And Sir John Herschel wrote, ' I was 

 greatly delighted with your protest against the cramming 

 system in your opening lecture.' So also Dr. Whewell : 

 ' I see you have been kicking against examination read- 

 ing. So far good. But is your College going to do 



