xxxiiiA] EXCURSIONS AND EXAMINATIONS 40; 



Although the drudgery and strain of reading through a 

 thousand papers, with replies to the same set of questions, 

 exhibiting every possible degree of ignorance of the subject 

 and often extremely diffuse, was very great, yet a little relief 

 was given by the highly amusing character of some of the 

 answers, of the more curious of which I, as well as several 

 others of the examiners, made notes. During intervals of 

 our more serious work, we often communicated some of these 

 to our fellow-sufferers, and thus contributed a little hilarity 

 to our otherwise strictly business meetings. 



On looking over my notes of these examinations extend- 

 ing over more than a quarter of a century, I think it will be 

 both amusing and instructive to give a few examples of these 

 replies, of which I have a rather large collection, as they have 

 an important bearing on the whole question of the utility of 

 such examinations, on which I may, perhaps, afterwards say 

 a few words. The first I will quote are from a rather long 

 series that occurred in 1873. It must be remembered that in 

 Professor Ansted's time sixteen questions were asked, ranging 

 over most of the subjects included in Physical Geography, 

 but only eight were to be answered, so that the candidates 

 need only attempt to answer those about which they knew 

 something. Further, they were all supposed to have had 

 some special teaching in the subject, and were sent up by 

 their masters in the hope of getting the allowance granted by 

 the Government for each one who passed. 



The first question was, "Show why the longest day in 

 Edinburgh is longer than the longest day in London." Out 

 of a large number of answers, showing more or less complete 

 ignorance of the cause of this interesting phenomenon which 

 must be known to every one who has spent a winter at any 

 two places in the north and the south of our islands, I have 

 preserved five. 



(1) Because it possesses a maritime climate. 



(2) Because the manufactures in London produce a smoky atmosphere. 



(3) Because it is not in such a warm place as London. 



(4) Because London is on a meridian and Edinburgh is not. 



(5) Because the first meridian shades the sun from London, while it 

 is shining in Edinburgh. 



