Oct. 29, 1874J 



NA TURE 



527 



regrettable accident, it ought to be recognised as natural 

 and desirable. If the real object of the examinations be 

 ■ to promote good teaching and sound learning, it is most 

 important that, in setting the questions, the examiners 

 should always keep in view their probable effect in giving 

 direction to the studies of future candidates ; and there 

 can be no doubt that the men who are both most likely 

 and most able to do this are those whose constant business 

 it is to consider how the subjects in which they have to 

 examine can be best brought before the minds of learners. 

 Moreover, it is very difficult for examiners who are not 

 also teachers, and teachers accustomed to pupils who 

 are at about the same stage of advancement in their 

 studies as the majoiity of the candidates, to know 

 what amount cf knowledge it is reasonable to expect. 

 A man, however minute his own knowledge of his 

 subject may be, generally soon forgets the exact steps 

 by which he acquired it ; and, unless he is in frequent 

 contact with the minds o( learners, he is no longer able to 

 tell what, at any particular stage, it is creditable to know, 

 and what it is disgraceful to be ignorant of. And again, 

 though this perhaps is a less important consideration, the 

 necessity which a teacher is under of periodically reviewing 

 the whole round of his subject, is a great help towards a 

 varied selection of questions. 



With regard to the particular kind of questions which 

 are most desirable in examinations like those of the Uni- 

 versity of London, I wish to say only a very few words. 

 If the general considerati"ns to which attention has been 

 drawn in an earlier part of this lecture are of any value, it 

 follows at once that examination questions in Physics 

 ought to be selected with a view to testing the reasoning 

 power and not the memory of candidates. If what are 

 called hook-uwrk questions are admitted at all, they should 

 be such as will bring out the power of reproducing trains 

 of consecutive reasoning, and bringing facts to bear on the 

 establishment of general conclusions, and not the power of 

 simply recollecting individual facts. It may be said that 

 such questions would be unfairly difficult. I can only say in 

 reply that, if teaching were what it should be, I do not 

 believe that this would be the case ; but if it should be 

 found to be so, I maintain that the inference is, not that any 

 other style of examining in Physics should be adopted, but 

 that the whole subject should be dropped. A late very dis- 

 tinguished member of the University once said that, in the 

 case of candidates for Matriculation, all that could be 

 fairly required at the examination in Physics was evi- 

 dence of " correct acquisition." It would in my opinion 

 be only a little more absurd to say that all that ought to 

 be required at an examination in Geometry is evidence of 

 the " correct acquisition " of Euclid. If Physics is not a 

 subject upon which the intelligence should be exercised 

 from the very beginning, it seems to me to be a waste of 

 time to teach it at all. 



The consideration of the kind of questions that are best 

 fitted to be of use in promoting improved methods of 

 teaching and learning, suggests a remark which bears 

 upon the distinction that has often been pointed out 

 between the subjects which it is desirable to teach and 

 those which are most suitable for examinations. In the 

 particular case of Physics, I am inclined to think that the 

 very elementary parts of such branches as Heat and Elec- 

 tricity are not well adapted to form the subjects of exami- 

 nations like those we are considering, where the examiners 

 have no means of knowing the exact points of view from 

 which the matters dealt with have been presented to the 

 candidates. My reason for this opinion is the difficulty 

 in these subjects of setting questions which require any- 

 thing more on the part of candidates than mere exercise 

 of the memory, and which at the same time are not 

 unreasonably hard. As a practical inference, it appears 

 to me that, if the amount of acquaintance with Heat, 

 Electricity, and Magnetism represented by the London 

 Regulations for the First B.ijc. Examination (supposing the 



regulations to be strictly interpreted) is all that can be 

 fairly demanded at this stage of a student's progress, it is 

 at least a question whether these subjects should not be 

 deferred until a more advanced stage, when something 

 more than descriptions of apparatus or the solution of 

 arithmetical problems might be reasonably required. 



If any of my audience have listened to this lecture with 

 the consciousness that they will soon be going up to one 

 or other of the examinations that I have been discussing, 

 it may very possibly seem to them that I have been 

 pleading throughout for making these examinations more 

 difficult. To any to whom this seems to be the tendency 

 of my remarks, I would venture to suggest one or two 

 further considerations. In the first place, I fully admit 

 that if examinations in Physics were to be such as I have 

 advocated, that is, if they required candidates to tliink, 

 while the teaching of Physics remained what too much of 

 it now is— a mere loading of the tiic/noiy — candidntes 

 would, no doubt, have a hard time of it ; but the whole 

 intention of what I have said is that examinations should 

 be improved i?i order that teaching may be improved 

 through their influence; and I believe that if teaching 

 were what it should be, good examinations would be found 

 to be no more difficult than bad ones. I may also observe 

 that after all the precise degree of difficulty which an 

 examination presents is not the most important considera- 

 tion even for an intending candidate ; what it really is 

 important, not only for candidates but still more for those 

 who regulate examinations, to consider is, what is the 

 permanent educational value of the work which an ex.ami- 

 nation requires, and not simply what is the amount of 

 work needed. I have many a time in reading examination 

 papers felt sincerely sorry for the writers when I saw how 

 much labour they had evidently gone through in order to 

 learn nothing — nothing that is of real use — and have 

 thought how much the same amount of labour might 

 have accomplished if it had only been better directed ; 

 and I beg leave to assure any who look upon examinations 

 from the under side, that I have no wish whatever to add 

 to the quantity of work that is already required of them ; 

 but what I do wish sincerely is, that whatever work they 

 may be required to do in preparing for examinations may 

 be such that they will be intellectually better and stronger 

 for having done it. It cannot be too often repeated that 

 degrees and university distinctions are of no more value 

 in themselves than the Queen's head upon the coin : 

 unless the metal is genuine, the stamp only makes it into 

 a lying counterfeit. This has been urged upon students 

 over and over again ; what I shall be glad if this lecture 

 tends in any degree to accomplish, is to press the same 

 truth upon the attention of our University authorities. It 

 is important for them to remember that a man is not 

 really either better or worse for all the degrees that they 

 can give him ; and that their boast should be, not in the 

 length of their lists of graduates, but in the extent to 

 which they have promoted " a regular and liberal course 

 of education." 



NOTES 



One of the first results of the Transit of Venus expedition 

 with regard to the geological aspect and vegetation of a com- 

 paratively little known island. Comes to us from Rodrigues, and 

 is contained in a communication from Mr. J. B. Balfour to Dr, 

 Hooker, under date, from the'above island, of August 23, 1S74. 

 As a proof of the inhospitable, or rather the uncivilised nature 

 of the island, it is stated that the party belonging to the expe- 

 dition were warned in Mauritius before starting for Rodrigues 

 that they must take everything from the former island that they 

 would be likely to require as it would be impossible to get any- 

 thing at Rodrigues, and even labour is most difficult to be 

 obtained. After providing himself with various articles of abso- 



