42 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 602. 



courses were conducted orally by the in- 

 structors acting with examining commit- 

 tees appointed by the overseers. These ex- 

 aminations, far from being severe, were in 

 some cases almost farcical. Some pro- 

 fessors held rehearsals of the examinations 

 prior to the visits of the overseers' commit- 

 tees; others gave the examinations in such 

 a manner that a student might without 

 difficulty discover just what question would 

 be asked him, and prepare himself accord- 

 ingly. Furthermore, the tim-e for exam- 

 ining a student on one subject could not be 

 extended beyond two or three minutes. It 

 may be imagined that the passing of ex- 

 aminations was not a difficult matter. In- 

 deed, it was not necessary for a student to 

 pass even these examinations. For the 

 faculty could not be prevailed upon to re- 

 fuse its degree to a student, however bad 

 his scholarship, if his conduct during his 

 residence at the university had not in- 

 curred serious censure. It happened once 

 in the early fifties that the faculty was 

 almost persuaded not to vote a degree to a 

 student of greater than usual incapacity, 

 when it was discovered that the candidate 

 had not once during his four years ab- 

 sented himself from prayers. The degree 

 was granted without further debate. 



Tutors Peirce and Eliot, dissatisfied with 

 these oral examinations, introduced, dur- 

 ing their first year, occasional written hour 

 examinations in place of the regular recita- 

 tions. These examinations were used by 

 the instructors in making their reports, but 

 did not replace the annual oral examina- 

 tion held in the presence of the overseer's 

 committees. Other instructors, notably 

 the teachers of the classics, followed the 

 lead of the mathematical department. This 

 new system of examination, requiring real 

 knowledge on the part of the student, 

 proved disastrous to the lazy and incom- 

 petent, and though bad reports of a stu- 



dent's scholarship did not at first prevent 

 his obtaining a degree, the results soon 

 made evident the impracticability of re- 

 quiring every man to do the same work. 

 There was resistance on the part of both 

 faculty and overseers to the introduction 

 of written examinations, and a still greater 

 resistance to the abandonment of a system 

 of required studies. But before very long 

 even the most conservative members of the 

 faculty were forced to admit that the real 

 examination must be a written one. At a 

 conference held by committees of the fac- 

 ulty and overseers were passed five resolu- 

 tions concerning examinations, which were 

 unanimously adopted by the faculty on 

 March 9, 1857, Of these resolutions the 

 most important were the following : 



1. Examinations in all courses shall be 

 annual and in writing. 



2. All marking shall be done by the in- 

 structors. 



3. All examinations shall be prepared 

 and printed by the instructors, and shall 

 be submitted to the several (overseers') 

 committees previous to the examinations. 



The introduction of written examinations 

 was largely due to James Peirce and 

 Charles W. Eliot. It made apparent the 

 necessity of giving students a greater field 

 of choice in their studies, but it did not by 

 any means bring with it the modern elect- 

 ive system. For the next ten years, almost 

 to the time when Mr. Eliot became presi- 

 dent of the university, there was in the 

 faculty a struggle between the advocates 

 and the opponents of the elective system. 

 The faculty at that time consisted of about 

 fifteen members. The younger members 

 and one or two of the elder ones were in 

 favor of giving the college the elective sys- 

 tem. But not till 1868 was any change 

 made in the required mathematics for 

 freshman and sophomores. For the first 

 time in the academic year 1868-69 sopho- 



