4o6 



MV LIFE 



[Chap. 



My Experiences as an Examiner. 



It was, I think, in 1870, that I heard from Bates of the 

 examinations in Physical Geography under the Science and 

 Art Department, for which he was one of the Assistant 

 Examiners, and he advised me to apply to Professor Ansted, 

 the examiner-in-chief, if I wished to obtain the post of an 

 assistant. I did so; and began the work in 1871, and con- 

 tinued yearly till 1877. In 1871 I also had the examiner- 

 ship in Physical Geography and Geology for the Indian Civil 

 Engineering College, and in 1870 and 1871 for the Royal 

 Geographical Society. 



The work under Professor Ansted was hard while it 

 lasted, but was interesting, and often quite amusing, and it 

 was very well paid. The assistant examiners had each over 

 a thousand papers to examine. The work occupied about 

 three weeks more or less, and the remuneration amounted to 

 from £$0 to £60, or occasionally even more. In 1878 Pro- 

 fessor Judd and Sir Norman Lockyer were appointed joint 

 examiners, the syllabus being altered to include geology and 

 physical astronomy, while the subject of examination was 

 now changed from Physical Geography to Physiography, 

 and I continued to be an assistant examiner till 1897, with 

 the exception of one year during my American tour. 



During the earlier period a considerable number of well- 

 known scientific men, mostly geologists or biologists, were 

 among the assistant examiners, such as H. W. Bates, William 

 Carruthers, the botanist, J. F. Collingwood, Major Cooper- 

 King, Professor J. Morris, Professor T. Rupert Jones, Dr. 

 Henry Woodward of the Natural" History Museum, Professor 

 H. G. Seeley, and a few others less well known to me. There 

 were three meetings in London to compare results and secure 

 an equal rate of marking, and these afforded an opportunity 

 for a little conversation between persons who rarely met 

 elsewhere, and we also for some years had an annual dinner, 

 which was latterly discontinued when a considerable propor- 

 tion of the examiners lived in the country. 



