Your committee feel that, in order to prevent mistake, it is desirable that they should say a word or two, by way of explanation, on a point respecting which the curiosity of some of their constituents may be excited; they mean-how far their students should be encouraged to proceed in graduating while members of this institution. 'It does not seem desirable, then, your committee think, to encourage any of their students (except under very unusual circumstances) to proceed further than the B.A. degree, during the term of their study at Spring Hill. This degree might very well be taken without infringing on the time allotted to theology, with which, it is conceived, nothing should be allowed to interfere; and if a student should be desirous of taking his M.A. degree, it should be clearly shown that he can do it without detriment to his theological studies. As, however, the M.A. degree may in every instance be taken at the student's leisure, your committee are decidedly of opinion, that the best arrangement for our students, would be to postpone the taking of it till the termination of their college course; the more especially as, being allowed to take it in any one of the three great departments of classics, mathematics, and moral philosophy, even their theological studies would to a certain extent advance their object, provided, as would be every way desirable, they should select the department of moral philosophy. But probably the generality of students who might choose to take the B. A. degree, would prefer another, and in some cases, a preferable course. To those who have taken that degree, the University of London offers a separate theological examination, rewarding the successful candidate with a certificate of proficiency. Such is the theological education given at Spring Hill College, that it is not violating truth to affirm, that there are few of your students who would feel any difficulty in creditably passing such an examination, if there were no other obstacle than the requisite amount of knowledge. As to the privilege of taking honors in the separate examinations instituted for that purpose, over and above the examinations for taking degrees, the cases are so very rare in which permission would be likely to be asked, or in which it could be granted, that it would hardly be worth while, and would perhaps even be undesirable, to make any general regulations on the subject. In the first place, the expense would be considerably increased; in the second place, as we must look for stability of character in all who are received as students to such an institution as Spring Hill College, it naturally happens that, in a great majority of cases, the age of students is a year or more beyond that at which, by the laws of the university, the privilege of competing for honors terminates. In the next place, very few students could by possibility devote the requisite time to the very various departments of science and literature to which these examinations extend, without serious injury to their theological studies. On these and similar grounds, it is certain that applications for this privilege must be of the rarest occurrence. Were it otherwise, it would indeed be necessary to make some regulations on the subject; for it might well become a question whether such competition for literary honors would not be attended with some injury to that spirit of piety which it is our object to cherish, and whether prolonged absorption in secular science might not induce a partial oblivion of those sacred objects to which with us such science is but subsidiary. It is never to be forgotten that with us the limits within which all literature and science are to be pursued are determined by the question-can they be rendered subservient, either as discipline or as knowledge, to our ulterior object? Up to this point they ought to be pursued; further, it would in us be criminal to go. As, however, cases might occur, in which great mental vigor, extensive attainments, and solid piety would seem so happily united as to justify the conclusion that the desire to be examined for honors might be sanctioned without any hazard to other and higher objects, it would perhaps be most prudent to leave this question to the Educational Board, to be considered as occasion might require.' As the regulations of the university may not be in the hands of many of our readers, we shall subjoin them so far as they relate to the examinations for matriculation and the Bachelor of Arts degree. The matriculation examination is far more severe than anything of the kind at either of the old universities, while he who has creditably passed the Bachelor of Arts examination, has no reason to believe that he would find any difficulty in obtaining the like degree either at Oxford or Cambridge; at the same time we must again state that the quantity demanded in the principal departments is by no means excessive. UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. REGULATIONS FOR EXAMINATIONS FOR Degrees. ARTS. MATRICULATION EXAMINATION. THE Matriculation Examination shall take place once a year, and commence on the first Monday in October. No Candidate shall be admitted to the Matriculation Examination unless he have produced a Certificate showing that he has completed his Sixteenth year. This Certificate shall be transmitted to the Registrar at least fourteen days before the Examination begins. A Fee of Two Pounds shall be paid at Matriculation. No Candidate shall be admitted to the Examination unless he have previously paid this Fee to the Registrar; and if he fail to pass the Examination, the Fee shall be returned to him. The Examination shall be conducted by means of Printed Papers ; but the Examiners shall not be precluded from putting any viva voce questions upon the written answers of the Candidates, when they appear to require explanation. Candidates for the Matriculation Examination shall be examined in the following subjects: MATHEMATICS. ARITHMETIC and Algebra: The ordinary rules of Arithmetic. Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division of Alge- Proportion. Arithmetical and Geometrical Progression. Simple Equations. GEOMETRY: The First Book of Euclid. MECHANICS : NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. Explain the Composition and Resolution of Statical Forces. Describe the Simple Machines (Mechanical Powers), and state the Ratio of the Power to the Weight in each. Define the centre of Gravity. Give the General Laws of Motion, and describe the chief experiments by which they may be illustrated. State the Law of the motion of Falling Bodies. HYDROSTATICS, HYDRAULICS, AND PNEUMATICS: Explain the Pressure of Liquids and Gases, its equal diffusion, and variation with the depth. Define Specific Gravity, and show how the specific gravity of Describe and explain the Barometer, the Siphon, the Common ACOUSTICS: Describe the nature of Sound. OPTICS: State the Laws of Reflection and Refraction. Explain the formation of Images by Simple Lenses. CHEMISTRY. The Component parts of the Atmosphere and of Water. The influence of Heat upon the bulk and states of matter. BOTANY: NATURAL HISTORY. The Characters and Differences of the Natural Classes and principal Orders of Phanerogamous Plants belonging to the ZOOLOGY: Flora of Europe, in the Botanical Classification of De Candolle. The Characters of the Primary Divisions of the Animal Kingdom, and of the Classes and Orders of the Vertebrate Subkingdom, according to the system of Cuvier. CLASSICS. THE GREEK AND LATIN LANGUAGES: One Greek and one Latin subject, to be selected one year previously by the Committee of the Faculty of Arts from the works of the under-mentioned authors: Homer....One Book. Xenophon. .One Book. Virgil.....One Book of the Georgics, or the Sixth Book of the Horace....One Book of the Odes. Sallust....The Conspiracy of Catiline, or the War with Jugurtha. Casar ....The Civil War, or the Fifth and Sixth Books of the Gallic War. Livy. ....One Book. Cicero..... The treatises De Senectute and De Amicitiâ; or two of the shorter, or one of the longer Orations. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: The Grammatical Structure of the Language. Proficiency in Composition will be judged of by the style of answers generally. OUTLINES OF HISTORY AND GEography : History of England to the end of the Seventeenth century. The papers in Classics shall contain questions in History and Geography. Until the year 1841, Candidates who show a competent knowledge in Classics, Mathematics, and Natural Philosophy, shall be approved by the Examiners. In the year 1841, and subsequently, Candidates shall not be approved by the Examiners unless they show a competent knowledge also in all the other branches of Examination. In the first week of examination, the Examinations shall be conducted in the following order: Tuesday.... Chemistry. Natural History. Thursday... The English Language. On the Monday Morning in the following week the Examiners shall arrange in two divisions, each in alphabetical order, such of the Candidates as have passed. Until the year 1841, Candidates examined in Chemistry and Natural History at the Matriculation Examination shall be arranged in the order of proficiency in those subjects. EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS. The Examination for the Degree of B.A. shall take place once a year, in May or June. No Candidate shall be admitted to this Examination unless he have produced Certificates from the authorities of one of the Institutions in connexion with this University, to the following effect : 1. Of having been a Student during two years at one of such Institutions; 2. And of good conduct so far as their opportunities of knowledge have extended. These Certificates shall be transmitted to the Registrar at least fourteen days before the Examination begins. After the year 1840 no Candidate shall be admitted to the Examination for the Degree of B.A. within two academical years of the time of his passing the Matriculation Examination. In 1839 and 1840 Candidates shall be admitted to Examination for the Degree of B.A. who have shown evidence that they have completed their 18th year, and who have produced the Certificates as before stated. The Fee for the Degree of B.A. shall be £10. No candidate shall be admitted to the Examination unless he have previously paid this Fee to the Registrar, and if he fail to pass the Examination the Fee shall be returned to him. The Examination shall be conducted by means of Printed Papers, but the Examiners shall not be precluded from putting any vivá voce questions upon the written answers of the Candidates, when they appear to require explanation. Candidates for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts shall be examined in the following subjects. MATHEMATICS AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. ARITHMETIC AND ALGEBRA : The ordinary rules of Arithmetic. Vulgar and Decimal Fractions. Extraction of the Square Root. Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division of Algebrai |