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SCIUIfCU. 



[Vol. IX., No. 211 



two classes. In the classe de rhetorique, the lan- 

 guages prevail, while in the classe de philosophic, 

 metaphysics, tnathematics,and the natural sciences 

 prevail. A good idea of the proportion may be 

 obtained from the time devoted to each subject. 

 In the classe de rhetorique, French. Latin, and 

 Greek have each four hours ; modern languages, 

 history, two hours each ; mathematics, etc., three 

 hours, and geography one. In the classe de phil- 

 osophie, mental and moral science and logic, and 

 the French authors, occupy eight hours, Latin 

 and Greek one, modern languages one, and his- 

 tory two ; science (including arithmetic, algebra, 

 geometry, physics, chemistry, and physiology) 

 has eiglit hours. A fair idea of the difficulty of 

 this final year's work may be obtained by a glance 

 at the authors in the classe de rhetorique. Nearly 

 all the principal French classical authors are read ; 

 in Latin. Terence. Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, 

 Cicero, Livy, Tacitus ; m English and German, 

 Shakspeare, Irving, Byron, Tennyson, Dickens, 

 George Ehot, Lessing, Goethe, and Schiller ; a 

 good deal of modern history is added, with plane 

 and spherical geometry and some chemistry. It 

 mio;ht be stated that two hours a week are de- 

 voted to drawing, but that in the higher classes it 

 is considered an extra. 



If we reduce the above sketch to percentages, 

 taking into account the whole time of the stu- 

 dent, from entrance into the eighth class till the 

 end of his course, we obtain the following : — 



Subject, French, 20.63 per cent; Latin and 

 Greek, a3.74 ; modern languages, 13.23; history 

 and geography, 14.68 ; mathematics and science, 

 14.68 ; mental and moral science, 5.00 ; drawing, 

 1.25. 



In this course some things are obvious. The 

 preponderance given to language and literature, 

 Latin and Greek, is especially noticeable. It can- 

 not be said that the programme is a light one. 

 Another point is, the very small part which options 

 play in it ; certain options are allowed to those 

 who intend to become teachers of the natural 

 sciences or mathematics, otherwise the framers of 

 it seem to take for granted that every boy should 

 go through the same course of mental gymnastics. 

 For those who wish to study a profession, or for 

 such as wish to specialize further, the university 

 is open, and the university course presupposes 

 as a basis the broad, general culture of the lycee. 



During the winter of 1885-86 there were 14,- 

 633 students in the Italian universities : 3,894 of 

 these were at Naples, 2,073 at Turin, 1,216 at 

 Rome, 1,168 at Bologna, 1,008 at Padua, and 1,005 

 at Pavia. At Ferrara there were but 39. Of the 

 whole number, 5,195 were students of medicine. 



WHEN SHOULD THE STUDY OF GREEK 



BE BEGUN? 

 The biennial conference of the head mas- 

 ters of the great English schools and colleges 

 always develops some interesting discussions 

 on educational topics of current interest, as 

 well as some very uninteresting ones on 

 matters of purely local interest and impor- 

 tance. At the meeting in December last, Dr. 

 Fearon of Winchester moved two resolutions re- 

 garding the study of Greek, and spoke at length 

 in support of them. The resolutions read, 1°, 

 that it is desirable that the teaching of Greek to 

 boys should be begun at a later age than it is at 

 present ; 2°, that it is desirable that a knowledge 

 of Greek should not be required for admission to 

 the classical side of the public schools. 



In the published report of Dr. Fearon's remarks, 

 we read that he began by explaining what he 

 meant by the words, ' at a later age than at 

 present.' He said that he had recently himself 

 collected statistics, and found, that, of 885 boys 

 now learning Greek, 213 had begun at ten or 

 earlier, and of these 213, seventy-four had begun 

 at nine or earlier. The average age was ten, or 

 rather younger. He had also consulted a number 

 of preparatory school-masters, and, almost without 

 an exception, they put the time that it took them 

 to prepare boys in Greek for ad mission into public 

 schools at from two to three years. The first prop- 

 osition he wished to establish, was, that the cause 

 of Greek would not suffer by raising the age of be- 

 ginning from ten to thirteen. For the last year 

 and a half he had kept accurate records of all 

 boys who had passed through Winchester, and 

 he had submitted their records to his staff. It 

 was difficult to arrange particular facts in a way 

 that would carry general conviction, but the in- 

 ference that he and his assistant masters — al- 

 most without an exception — had drawn, was, 

 that boys who had started Greek at ten were no 

 better than those who had started at eleven. 

 Some of the most able and brilliant classical 

 scholars at Oxford and Cambridge had begun 

 Greek after they were fifteen. But he did not 

 rest his case on his experience with promising 

 boys, who, it might be argued, would come out 

 well under any system. The facts as to backward 

 boys could not be got over, and were most humili- 

 ating. Of thirty-five boys who had lately entered 

 in the bottom division at Winchester, only three 

 had reached a point in the school where they 

 read anything harder than the shorter form of an 

 elementary Greek reader. One of them had 

 studied Greek for three years before entering, 

 and for seven years at Winchester ; two others 

 had reached that point after three and a half 



