EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
715 
perfectly futile. To every section of liis studies he will 
consequently have to give sedulous attention, and he 
should avail himself of every means to acquire knowledge 
during the as yet too limited period he is required to 
attend the lectures and other instructions given at the 
College. What these are will be best left to the respective 
teachers to communicate. Occasional examinations, also, 
are doubtless very profitable, as by them the reasoning 
faculties are awakened; and the memory strengthened by 
accumulating facts, which it is necessary the mind 
should retain as in a storehouse, hereafter to be withdrawn 
as emergency may arise. The cultivation of the intellectual 
powers is likewise thus aided, since the judgment has to be 
exercised, and thought called forth, by which the real man 
is built up. 
The plan we are now advocating is altogether opposed 
to mere learning by rote, as well as to the system of “ cram¬ 
ming,” by which only a superficial acquaintance with things 
is gained, and to be lost almost as soon as gained. Very 
specious is this system, but very deceptive. 
Moreover, occasional or periodic examinations as to pro¬ 
gress will arouse a spirit of healthy and laudable competi¬ 
tion, which is of no mean worth if persons are striving to 
obtain an object, since they will call into requisition all their 
energies, not so much for the mere possession of the object 
itself as from a desire to be known to excel. Especially is 
this to be desiderated at the present day, when local ex¬ 
aminations are being instituted by Government, and prizes 
are given to the middle classes for competence, in the 
sciences generally. On this account it is, emphatically, an 
age in which the march of mind, so patent to all, may be 
said to be a race; and he who is contented to leave his 
nobler part uncultivated and untrained must take the con¬ 
sequences. Into the race he cannot, with any hope of 
winning, enter, or should he, he will be sure to be distanced. 
It is true this love of knowledge is rarely born with us; 
it is not innate, but generally result of mind-culture, 
although it must be confessed it has much to do with the 
intellectual faculties and their correct training; the last- 
named being almost wholly within our province to direct. 
