480 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
sit three or four hours , constantly receiving and giving nothing 
hade, without wasting a considerable portion of that time. It was 
possible, therefore, that a hint from the Oxford system might 
profitably be taken by their excellent institution, and that 
when it was known that the pupils were profitably employ¬ 
ing their time, they might with advantage be left more to 
themselves in the pursuit of their studies. There were even 
stronger reasons for doing so in the hospital than at Oxford. 
At the university a man, when summoned to lectures, could 
put a mark in the book he was studying, come back, take it 
up, and nothing was changed ; but in the hospital, if a man 
was engaged in chemistry, he could not leave his test-tubes 
and retorts simmering and fizzing, go off to lectures, and 
return without a certain interruption, loss of time and 
material, and a certain fret and worry of his thoughts. The 
same, he presumed, would be the case with regard to dissec¬ 
tion, and anything requiring time and the use of hands and 
instruments. If students could be trusted to w r ork, better 
leave them to it than to tease and worry them to come away 
for instruction.” 
There is much in the above with which we heartily con-, 
cur. Two sentences we have italicised, the one as being, 
as we consider, worthy of adoption in our schools, and the 
other being a great truth, although but little thought of. The 
mind, like the body, is capable of receiving only a certain 
amount of matter. Like it, too, it demands time to 
assimilate what it has received; and a system of instruction, 
therefore, should be adopted which is best calculated to 
ensure the end in view, or all the labour, both on the part 
of the teacher and the taught, will be in vain. 
The state of our pages, however, prevent for the present 
any further prosecution of this inquiry. Hereafter we may 
return to it, taking up some other points that have been 
adverted to. 
