September 2, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



113 



■ written recitations, and ' tests,' which resemble the written exami- 

 nations, but are less severe. 



2. The purpose and method of the examination should be fully " 

 explained to the pupils, and their mistakes and failures should be 

 pointed out. 



3. The questions set should be adapted to the age and ability of 

 the pupils, easy enough to encourage them to attempt all, and 

 difficult enough to call for their best efforts ; should pertain to the 

 work actually done ; should be explicit, concise, logical, and call 

 for thought and a mastery of principles, as well as for memory. 



4. Too much importance should not be attached to the results. 

 They should be reckoned as only one element, among several, in 

 determining the standing of the student, and his fitness for promo- 

 tion or graduation. They should never be made the basis of rank- 

 ing, or the sole ground of promotion. 



5. They should always be regarded and treated as simply one 

 means or device in the process of education, and should never be 

 treated as if they were the goal to be gained. They are a means, 

 and not an end. 



6. They should not be so severe or prolonged as to overtax the 

 students' powers, should be conducted with absolute fairness and 

 impartiality, as well as with good sense in regard to time, place, 

 and circumstances, and proper allowance should be made for any 

 exceptional circumstances, such as illness on the part of the stu- 

 dent. The ' final ' examination should be held long enough before 

 the close of the term to allow the teacher to make the proper use 

 of the results before the class separates. 



Thomas J. Morgan. 



In the current discussions on the use and the abuse of examina- 

 tions, it seems frequently to be assumed that their one great pur- 

 pose is to test, — to furnish a basis for estimating the pupil's 

 knowledge and ability, and the teacher's skill and success in in- 

 struction. If this were really the only purpose they serve, it would 

 be easy to justify them, notwithstanding the fact that some evils 

 undoubtedly flow from them. These evils do not exist in examina- 

 tions per St', but are faults of administration ; and, if a teacher 

 proposes to abolish them on the ground that they encourage im- 

 morality, he utters an indictment of his own professional skill. 



But admit, with certain extremists, that examinations have no 

 justifiable use as tests ; that, for example, a pupil's fitness for pro- 

 motion, or for learning a subject, is best determined by the teacher's 

 personal knowledge, without any formal test : even then the exami- 

 nation can hold its ground, regarded either as a motive or as a 

 discipline. 



I feel sure that my experience in the management of public 

 schools has taught me that the intellectual tone of a school cannot 

 be kept at the proper pitch by any other motive. Even the best of 

 pupils need to feel that they must study with a view to rendering a 

 formal account of their opportunities. Here, again, the stress may 

 be too great ; but this is simply a fault of administration, which is 

 a direct reflection on professional skill. 



But leaving also the motive power and value of examinations out of 

 account, they have a third and adequate defence in the fact that they 

 afford a discipline of incomparable quality. The ability to render a 

 clear, exact, and comprehensive account of what we know on a given 

 subject, under some stress, or in view of something important de- 

 pending on the result, is an endowment of supreme importance ; 

 and I know of no instrument for this purpose save a judicious ex- 

 amination. 



As it seems to me, the only debatable question in the case is that 

 of use and abuse : it is simply a matter of administration. 



W. H. Payne. 



The purpose of all education must be the development of 

 thought and character in the widest sense of these terms, — " the 

 generation of power." 



Examinations are of use only in so far as they are in harmony 

 with this general purpose. They are a great power for good or 

 evil ; they may be made a blessing or a curse to schools. An ex- 

 amination of pupils conducted by a supervising officer should have 

 a threefold aim : — 



First, It should be made a test as far as the pupils are concerned. 

 Right here comes the danger of all examinations. What shall the 



test be ? Quantity of knowledge .' Then ' cramming ' will be the 

 inevitable result ; and the superintendent who thus plants thorns 

 and thistles has no right to expect them to bring forth grapes and 

 figs- 



The examination must test power, and not mere quantity of 

 knowledge, — power to do intellectual work. As all food that is 

 eaten is not converted into physical force, so all knowledge acquired 

 is not converted into mental power. The test-question in the 

 former case is, not " How much have you devoured ? " nor even 

 " How much do you weigh ? " but " How much can you lift ? " So 

 in the latter case it must be, not " How much do you remember ? " 

 but " How much can you do ? " 



The examination, therefore, should not require a mere reproduc- 

 tion of what the pupil has learned, but it should test his power of 

 dealing with new questions and problems closely allied in principle 

 to those which he has studied. 



Secondly, It should stimulate the pupil to work in right lines. 

 The pupil will work for the examination, and jt is right that he 

 should. If by working for it his work is wrong, the fault lies with 

 the examiner and the examination. A superintendent has it in his 

 power in this way to direct, in a large measure, the study of all the 

 pupils in his schools. 



Thirdly, It should test the character of the teaching, and should 

 direct the work of the teacher. The teacher, like the pupil, will 

 work for the examination to a very large extent. That which is 

 made the chief test in the examination will be the motive of work 

 with both teacher and pupil. 



The examination is therefore a powerful lever, in the hands of a 

 competent superintendent, to force school-work into right lines. 



Thomas M. Balliet. 



THE ASSOCIATION OF OFFICIAL AGRICULTURAL 

 CHEMISTS. 



The fourth annual meeting of this Association was held in the 

 Library of the Department of Agriculture, Washington, beginning 

 Aug. 16, and lasting three days. The president. Dr. E. H. Jenkins 

 of Connecticut, in his opening address, congratulated the Associa- 

 tion on the success which had attended its efforts in securing the 

 adoption of uniform methods for the analysis of fertilizers. He 

 also recommended that the Constitution of the Association be 

 amended so as to include chemists of agricultural colleges, and all 

 official chemists having control of fertilizers, dairy products, and 

 agricultural products in general. 



The first business of the session, after listening to the President's 

 address, was the reception of the report of the committee on fod- 

 ders and feeding-stuffs, of which Prof. G. C. Caldwell of Cornell 

 was chairman. The committee had sent out a number of samples 

 of fodders and feeding-stuffs for comparative analysis, and the re- 

 sults obtained were presented. They showed that in the same 

 sample widely different results were obtained by different analysts. 

 These variations showed the necessity of adopting a strictly uniform 

 method of analysis. Such a scheme was reported by the committee, 

 and, after discussion and amendment by the Association, was adopt- 

 ed to be used by all analysts connected with the Association during 

 the coming year. 



The report of the committee on dairy products was presented by 

 Dr. H. W. Wiley of Washington. The committee had sent out 

 various samples of butters and butter-substitutes for examination 

 by members of the Association. The tabulation of the analyses, as 

 in the preceding cases, showed wide variations in many particulars. 

 After discussion and amendment, the following method of analysis 

 for butter and milk was adopted. For butter, preliminary exami- 

 nation with polarized light and selenite plate was recommended, 

 while it was stated that the melting of butters and butter-substitutes, 

 and their subsequent examination after cooling by polarized light, 

 appeared to have no value as means of qualitatively sorting butters 

 and butter-substitutes. The method of determining the specific 

 gravity of the butter-fat at 40° C, in a picnometer, was adopted. 

 For Reichert's method, the saponification is to be made in the flask 

 to be used subsequently in the distillation, saturated solution of 

 potash with a small amount of alcohol to be used, and the fat-acids 

 subsequently to be freed by phosphoric instead of sulphuric acid. 



