279 
1882.] The Highest Education and its Difficulties. 
or to put it in the mildest form, careful undisturbed thought. 
Can a student, limited as to time and disturbed by the anxiety 
which most men feel when passing an examination, be fairly 
expected to deal with matters still open to doubt ? 
It is further to be noticed that in order to answer some of 
the questions the candidate must have been familiar with 
recent numbers of Prof. E. Ray Lankester’s journal, the 
“ Quarterly Journal of Microscopic Science.” As instances 
may be quoted the following : — “ Give an account of the 
fertilisation and early growth of the ovule of a flowering 
plant and compare the structures concerned with their homo- 
logues in Gymnosperms and Pteridophyta.” 
“ Give a classification of the Medusae and their related 
polyp-forms. Criticise the recent attempts to establish two 
groups of Medusae by reference either to the characters of 
the nervous system, or, on the other hand, to those presented 
by the ovaries and spermaries.” 
“ What is the mode of origin of the vertebrate red blood- 
corpuscule during embryonic and in adult life ? What faCts 
may be adduced from the histology of Invertebrata, which 
tend to throw light upon the origin and significance of 
haemoglobine-coloured corpuscles ?” 
Could either teachers or students expeCt that questions 
would be set upon matter only just published at the time of 
the examination ? 
We thing it will be further admitted that great and sudden 
changes in the character of an examination, unless duly 
announced as impending for some considerable time before- 
hand, such as a year, are radically unfair. Yet such a change 
is most palpable in the examination papers before us. Those 
for Trinity Term, 1879, Dr. Pye-Smith (M.D., London) 
being then the examiner, are exceedingly fair — sufficiently 
difficult to exclude the incompetent, yet at the same time 
not going beyond what may be reasonably demanded from 
candidates whose time and opportunities for preparation are 
such as have been described. The practical knowledge of 
the students is duly tested in making microscopic prepara- 
tions and dissections, as well as in naming numbered speci- 
mens of animals and plants, but no questions are asked 
demanding anything approaching to original research. W 
may here state parenthetically our opinion that when such 
research is required, the subjects ought to be either selected 
by the student himself, or otherwise should be given a couple 
of terms beforehand. To return to the examination papers. 
Those for Michaelmas Term, 1879, Prof. E. Ray Lankester 
and Dr. J. Burdon-Sanderson being now the examiners, 
