IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I [fritt ^ 1^ 1.25 M 2.0 1.8 U III 1.6 VI ^ a % //a "«V^ '/ Photographic Sdences Corporation '^- \ 9) 6^ >> a^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4S03 '■^"^ ^ -& ^^ Qr i/i h. CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. D D D D D n D Coloured covers/ Couverturo de couleur I I Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagde Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurde et/ou pelliculde I I Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque I I Coloured maps/ Cartes g6ographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) □ Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ PlancI :hes et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Relid avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ Lareliure serr^e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intdriaure Blank leaves added during resto at'on may appear within the text. Whenevei possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajoutdes lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela dtait possible, ces pages n'ont pas 6t6 filmdes. Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppl^mentaires; L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mdthode normale de filmage sont indiqu6s ci-dessous. D D D V D D D Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommagdes Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurdes et/ou pelliculdes Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages ddcolor^es, tachetdes ou piqudes Pages detached/ Pages ddtachdes I } Showthrough/ Transparence Quality of prir Qualitd in^gale de I'impre^sion Includes supplementary materia Comprend du materiel supplementaire I I Quality of print varies/ I I Includes supplementary material/ Only edition available/ Seule dditlon disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been ref limed to ensure the best pOi sible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t6 filmdes d nouveau de fapon d obtenir la meilleure image possible. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmd au taux de reduction indiqud ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X SOX y 12X 16X • 20X 24X 28X 32X )laire >s details ques du nt modifier Kiger une ie filmage The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: Harold Campbell Vaughan Memorial Library Acadia University The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce d la g6n6rositd de: Harold Campbell Vaughan Memorial Library Acadia University Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec Ie plus grand soin, compto tenu de la condition et de la nettetd de l'exemplaire filmd, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. d/ iu6es Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrate.i impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimde sont film6s en commen^ant par Ie premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par Ie second plat, selon Ie cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmds en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte ur<) telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol —»- (meaning "CON- TINUED "), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon Ie cas: Ie symbole — ♦► signifie "A SUIVRE", Ie symbole V signifie "FIN". aire Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvdnt dtre filmds A des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est film6 d partir de Tangle sup^rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant Ie nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. by errata led to ent une pelure, Faqon d 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 32X .^ THE UNIVERSITY OF HALIFAX CRITICISED IV A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE CHANCELLOR BY I A PROFESSOR. HALIFAX, N. S. : NOVA SCOTIA PRINTING COMPANY, 1877. To the Chancellor of the University of Halifax. Sir, — f The scheme for a new University for this Province, that shall be an Examining and Degree-conferring one, is now so far a realized fact as to relieve the Educationist who ven- tures to criticise it from the charge of being premature in his judgments. If I am unable to join in the commendation of it which has hitherto been so very generally expressed, the reasons for my dissent will abundantly appear from my stric- tures. I wi...i at this place merely to say that I am careful to separate yourself, the Chancellor of the University and the Chairman at the late meetings of its Senate, from direct res- ponsibility for the details of the Senate's action. To one who was not behind the scenes of the little drama of Provincial politics, the action of the Government last Ses- sion with respect to our Colleges, which called into existence the University of Halifax, seemed born of a political need. The representatives of the Religious Denominations — like sturdy beggars hustling with shout and menace a simple- minded gentleman from whose fears more is to be expected than from his pity — had extorted f esh doles for their Educa- tional Institutions from a Government incapable of a manful A'o. The refusal was postponed for five years ; and the Gov- ernment, sensible that something was due to its reputation as well as to its feelings, passed two connected Bills, whose main features are, (i) that all Government aid to the Colleges of the Province is to be withdrawn at the end of five years ; (2) the establishment of a new University. The former Bill was understood by many to be little more than a threat ; and, at a public meeting held last winter to discuss University ^^'A.^OG m Education, we were informed by a very high authority that it would not be alloived to mean v '\ It is with the latter Kill and its consequences, realised and prospective, that 1 wish now, with deference, to deal. The preamble of the Bill !5ets forth that " it is desirable to establish one University for the whole of Nova Scotia, on the model of the University of London, for the purpose of raising the standard of higher education in the Province, and of enabling all denominations and classes to obtain Academic Degrees." The first object here expressed — one University for the whole Province, a common standard of Graduation, so that the public who at present have reason to suspect the laxity with which Degrees are granted at the various Colleges, may know, when they get a Graduate, what measure of attainments they have got — is, from many points of view, highly desirable. Put, in order to put an end to present evils, a scheme for a new University ought at least to have accomplished two things, (i) the withdrawal of University powers from the Colleges, and (2) the preptiration of a Curriculum suited to the educa- tional capacities of the Province and which all might adopt. But the Government did not withdraw the University powers, and the Senate has not offered a suitable and workable scheme. This latter assertion I shall by and by prove. When the Government failed to clear the way properly for the new University, many of us, and those net unac- quainted with Educational methods and their results, had misgivings as to whether any good could come out of the scheme. Want of confidence in it was felt also by some who, hoping perhaps against hope, consented afterwards to act as members of the new Senate. For it did not seem easy to devise such a Curriculum of studies as could be fairly compassed by all our Colleges and give due weight to any superiority that individual Colleges might have in speci^.l subjects Then it was probable that there was great diver- sity in the modes of instruction and the treatment )f details — far greater than in England, where there is approximate uni- formity of educational system, and where a common stand- V ard is therefore more easily attainable. Then, again, it was possible the ICxaminations would be founded on Text-books ; a method so little satisfactory, as it tends to nullify the ad- vantage of Professorial lectures and criticisms, and leads to cram. And still more : the difficulty of finding in the Province competent Examiners, men who should be at once qualified by attainments in science and literature, practised in the com- munication and gauging of knowledge, and at the same time free from all suspicion of partiality or bias in conducting Ex- aminations seemed very great. Except the Professors and Tu- tors in the Colleges, there were not known to be any men fit- ted on the score of competence and experience to examine ; but unfortunately these might not be impartial. It was therefore with a sense of peculiar relief that we read the other day the statement of one who is a distinguished member of Senate that from the village of Sackville alone half-a-dozen men, equal to this arduous work, could be extracted ; but Sackville is the only place, probably, in the Province favoured by the presence of such accomplished savants. Yet if the Senate should secure their services, it is to be feared that confidence in them would not be universal, and the diflficulty would re- main as great as many of us from the first thought it to be. These objections to an Examining University for Nova Scotia would have remained in force hrd the new Institution, by a thorough-going Govcnment measure, absorbed into itself all Degree-conferring powers. But, when it is known that tne Colleges are to continue to grant Degrees as before, with all the laxity and indiscriminateness with which they are, justly or unjustly, charged, we may ask, what evil does the University of Halifax cure } What is it more than an addi- tional Graduating nuisance ? It is the old story, the fifth wl.eel to the carriage, coals to Newcastle, more Christmas-pie to the already surfeited Jack Horner, or whatever else is superfluous and absurd. Before entering on a comparison of the new University with its model, the University of London, I have some re- marks to make on that part of the Act constituting the Uni.ersity, at the end of Section 15, which reads, "Provided always that it shall not be lawful for such Senate to Impose, &c., nor to do or cause or suffer to be done any thing that would render it necessary or advisable that any pcrsim .ihould pursue the study of any materialistic or sceptical system of Logic or Mental or Moral Philosophy." Rev. Or. Cramp at Acadia College last summer, and Pro- fessor Jol-iison recently in Halifa.x, spoke in just condemna- tion of this Provision. Dr. J. G. McGregor also at the first meeting of Convocation of the new University protested against it. To these condemnations I desire to add another not less emphatic. And for these reasons : — (i) Tlic Provision has no definite meaning. Setting aside the nonsense of a Materialistic system of Logic, what is meant to be described by a Materialistic or Sceptical system of Mental Philosophy .' In all ages there liave been Mate- rialists and Sceptics perhaps, and many of them have written, but few have written systevts. Lucretius in the century before the Christian era wrote a "system," which every Latin scholar reads or has noted among his books to be read. Hobbes in his " Leviathan" developes a " system ;" in recent times Comte in France, and Herbert Spencer, our English contemporary, have delivered series of connected opinions on philosophical subjects which are recognized as "systems." But, while the isolated opinions and writings of numerous authors may be roughly described as tending to materialism or scepticism, few have tried their hand at the arduous busi- ness of system-making. May we not require to know what is the scope of the word " system " in this strange Provision of the Act t I should have no satisfaction in pressing a verbal ad- vantage, and therefore concede, as I truly believe, that the Provision is levelled against Books (many of them of note) in which materialistic or sceptical opinions and theories are broached or inculcated. But who shall judge, whether, in some special case, the charge of materialism or scepticism is true .-" There is no " note " that we know of, as there is of the true Church. There may be some authors and books we should all agree about, though perhaps in the wrong ; but ccrtaii..y we do not all sec with the same eyes. There are peculiarities 'of mental eyesight as of organic, where one man declares red that which another maintains to be green. So one authority might judge to be sceptical a writer that another might hold to be substantially orthodox. Many who have heard the name of Darwin and his books on " the Origin of Species " and " the Descent of Man " would class him as sceptical, if not materialistic, and many would class him otherwise. Darwin certainly does not consider himself a sceptic, and is, or was very lately, a devout adherent of the Church of England. Again, the modern doctrine of Energy, its transmutation and permanency, the great doctrine which has been the subject of the labours of philosophers all over the world for the last twenty years at least, is considered by some to have a leaning to materialism. Others of us do not think so, but who is to judge ? Who but the Senate of the University of Halifax ? And how is a student to know what course of study wiii be useful to him at University Examina- tions, unless they publish their Index Bxpurgatoriics for his guidance .'' Let them do so ; let them strike out of their Curriculum all reference to modern discoveries and modern discussion, and they will be saved from being the laughing- stock of the educated world by nothing less great than their — obscurity. (2) This Provision is to be denounced as injurious and unfair to the interests of education and of truth, and as being equally idle and abortive as it is unfair. That material- ists and sceptics are wrong we may be all agreed ; but we are so, because we think they can be shewn to be wrong. What is true will stand of itself, without the rotten scaffold- ing of misrepresentation and anathema. We do not wrap up a Hercules in mufHers or stand between him and the north wind ; nor do we swaddle the limbs of a healthy child in tight bandages and blankets. The one is impertinence, the other is cruelty. And yet it is proposed to treat sound knowledge and true science as if they were invalids of whose constitution we had the worst hopes. This, I repeat, is unfair, injurious, and inept: and it will suggest to Under- 8 graduates as well as to others that you arc afraid, and have lost confidence in the value and power of truth itself ; like unto which there is no scepticism so deplorable and aban- doned. (3) I have said it is inept to enact such a Provision. It is the height of folly to treat the opinions of materialists and sceptics as bogies. You have no power to keep young men from knowing them ; and it is well that such opinions should be considered and handled by them under the guidance of competent Teachers who are able to deal with false opinion, — not by shrieks and cries but, by the more excellent way of dispassionate reasoning and logical exposure, liesides, you cannot prevent young men from reading and, at least, trying to think for themselves. They will be misled by specious argument unless they have been forearmed with sound argu- ment. Curiosity, and that desire of intellectual exercise which it is the main purpose of education to stimulate and to train, will impel them to know something of those discus- sions which, whether members of Senate arc aware of the fact or no, embrace no small part of current literature. Blue-Beard's Chamber of Horrors would have been safe from intrusion if his wife had not been furnished with the key. (4) Some of those who are commonly classed as material- ists or sceptics, have laid science under obligations which are universally recognised. What would Metaphysics be without the name of Hume, or Ethics without the questions raised by the Utilitarians } Is all knowledge of the writings of such men proscribed 1 or, if it is permitted at all, is it neces- sary that it should be second-hand knowledge, got up from some Text-Book carefully prepared, like " soothing syrup," for the infant orthodox. If so, then is the Undergraduate practically told that, in a large number of the most important subjects of human thought, a flimsy knowledge is at least as good as a thorough knowledge ! And this at the great Uni- versity on the model of London ! How unlike the model, to be sure, or any other University ! (5) Under this deplorable Provision, room is afforded for endless disputes as to the legality of questions that might be asked and the value of answers that might be given. A dis- appointed Candidate at Examinations in the mental sciences would have the easy means of giving cmbarassing lj\)uble ; and cases would no doubt occur in which an Examination could be legally set aside. ...But in fact no man of compe- tence to examine in these subiects would undertake the duty under such a preposterous and pararalysing Provision. (6) And the following is a ludicrous consequence of the Provision : — that if a benefactor, wishing to encourage the cause of sound logic and philosophy, were to offer a i)rizc or other reward for the best defence against some materialistic or sceptical opinion — say, for the criticism of Huxley's Theory of the "Automatism of the Human Will" or the " Expericntialist doctrine of the Origin of the Moral Sense," the new University would be unable to receive or administer such benefaction. For these reasons, Sir, (and others might be added) I consider myself within the bounds of moderation when I des- cribe the Provision (Sec. 15) of the Act as a folly, and an affront to sound science and learning : as an insult alike to our young men and to those. Professors and others, whom we have hitherto considered competent to be their teachers. If there were no other objection to the new University than this, it were already condemned. It is useless to reply that the Provision was a compromise without which common action in supporting it could not have been secured. The answer is obvious. The University was not a necessity ; but to avoid complicity with such a disgraceful Provision was, for the friends of Education, in the last degree imperative. Let me now briefly make some comparison between the small and the great, between the University of Halifax and its mighty exemplar, the University of London. Before the University of London was instituted, (1839), there were in all England only two seats of learning where Academic Degrees could be obtained, — the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge ; but these by their Church tests were practically closed against all who refused subscription to the standards of the English Church. Dissenters had their Colleges in- 10 deed — some of them in excellent efficiency ; but these Colleges were little more than Higher Academies, having no Degree- granting power. The Government of England, influenced partly, no doubt, by the authority of the Church, but largely also by the jealous regard it had for the exercise of a fu i.rtion so important as that of granting Degrees, had against solici- tation witheld this power from the Colleges. But Dissent, which was meanwhile lengthening its cords and strengthen- ing its stak 's, at last became too strong and too clamant to be longer snut out from Academic privileges. Hence, as we all know, the London University — the Dissenters' University, as it might have been called, though all were welcome to its Examinations and its Degrees. The London University was instituted, primarily, to grmit Degrees to those ivho coidcftit get the'u elsewhere. The University of Halifax is a direct contrast to this. The grievance in England had been that the young Englishman, not a Churchman, while he coii/d get an Education^ could get no Degree; with ns the suspicion has been hitherto thai; the young Nova Scotian, while he can easily get a Degree^ can get no Education. Then again the London University started from a realized basis of re- quirements. They took the Curriculum of a C^ll jge already in existence (University College) as a foundation: and in less than forty years they have developed their Syllabus to its pres- ent brei.arh and complexity. In the Syllabus of the require- ments in Arts of the University of Halifax (and it is the Faculty of Arts that is here spoken of) there is no likeness ti he Curri- culum of any of our Colleges : the standard is at best a fancy one. The Z ondcn University is indeed copied 'vith indiscrimi- nating sequacity ; a proceeding which, to one v^ho considers the disparity of Educational means and inducements in the two countries, has all the force of an artless but offensive caricature. When our new University was first mooted, notions of a very "high falutin' " kind began to crop out respecting the kind of Institution we v/ere about to be favoured with. " Yes, Sir, a University that shal^ be equal to any in the world, that shall be an honour to the country, and to the .),. II .1 British name : whose Degrees shall be as good as any in Eng- land or the States or anywhere else : our young men have it in them, and they will not be behind the youth of any coun- try in the world " — and so on. Did we not all hear and read such stuff? But it w;' supposed by the sober-minded among us that this nonsense was the utterance of the bumptious illiterate. Whether it is so, I shall not say ; but I know that language of a kindred strain was held the other day at a Meeting of the new Fellows. In reference to a proposed subject of Examination, it was urged by one of the Senate that it was too difficult, students had not time for it or the means of getting it up : hence he advised it to be struck out. This interposition was sensible but unavailing : and how so ? How so, indeed ! It was met by the triumphant speech of a very distinguished member of the learned body — " I have con- Jidence in the young men of Nova Scotia." This patriotic senti- ment of the irrelevant Fellow was permitted by the majority of Senate to override their common sense, and the subject was passed. Can the force of bunkum and incoherence go further ? By such talk, which is at once the cause and efilect of ignorant expectations, the contrast is obscured between the two countries, England and Nova Scotia, and the corres- ponding difference which ought to obtain between the University of London and its newest copy. Yet this contrast is very great, and the Educationist, if he were wise and practical, would take it into account in framing his educa- tional methods and standards. In England there are abundant educational means. The vast number of public and private schools officered by accomplished teachers who have dis- tinguished themselves at the Universities, and have adopted Education as an honourable and sufficient profession ; the private tutors at school and college ; the army of " coaches " or " grinders," also for the most part distinguished University men, whose services in getting up for examinations can be secured by those who are able to pay for them ; the cheap facilities in the way of Lectures at Public Institutions, Free Librarie.5, books at little more than half the price they cost the i 12 poor student here, — such is the apparatus for the purposes of Education that now covers the land, and isyearly growing in vol- ume. What has Nova Scotia to set against this ? Nothing. Then, again, in England, a young man's start in life depends very largely on the question how he has satisfied Educational tests. These are applied in nearly all branches of the public services, and at entrance into courses of Professional study. A good Degree will give him not only a better start, but better chance of succeeding promotion : and it brings him in the n.eantimc consideration and admission to society. (It has been said, for instance, that to be senior wrangler at Cam- bridge gives a position equal to being the son of a Duke). Meantime, and throughout his Academic career, there are Prizes, Honours, Fellowships, substantial money rewards to stimulate the ardour of the needy or the ambitious. All these and such like inducements tend to make it worth a young man's while to submit to an extended discipline before he goes to College at all, and to work hard and long, if need be, to secure distinctions which count for so much. Can the same thing be said for Nova Scotia ? Is it worth the Nova Scotian's while to spend so much time in educating himself.'* Is it to be expected of him that for the mere sake of science or literature and the winning of an Honour — which a society that judges men by their Bank balances or the speed of their horses, neither understands nor cares for — he will consent to work six or seven years at little else than Latin, Greek, and elemen- tary mathematics, and superaded to this four or five years at a College .'' The young Englishman has a tangible reward in prospect, and he has means and helps towards it. The young Nova Scotian has neither prospective inducements nor present appliances; and yet you pretend to expect from him results equal to what England expects from every youth that does his duty. When London University Degree-standards are made those fcr the Nova Scotia student, this is but a repetition of the old tyranny, of demanding the same tale of bricks while straw is not to be had : but the tyranny is paralyzed in this case by the fact that the Israelites are free. Students will not present ./- 13 .(■' themselves at your Examinations or solicit your Degree. Able fellows who have had exceptional advantages, and could meet your Examinations, will carry their abilities to Univer- sities of older and more assured renown than yours. For the mass of our youths, acquirements so much out of their reach are practically no objects of desire. Unless, indeed, you tell them that you are shamming, and that though you seem to demand so much, you arc really content with very little. But such a procedure is, as regards the public who behold your nominal standards, delusive and mendacious. The success of London University is due to the great demand for Academic distinctions in a community where there were abundant means of educating up to any standard that might be expedient. That University has done some excellent work, though it has been charged with encouraging " super- ficial omniscience." But its success, whatever that is, is no more a proof of the excellence of its constitution, or a testimony in favor of Paper Universities in general, than is the rapid devel- opment of the Western States of America a demonstration of the wisdom and glory of the institutions of our neighbours across the border. Already there are manifest signs of dissatis- faction with London University. (On this subject there have appeared of late several well considered articles in the Daily Reporter, whose idea of a Teaching University instead of the present one is the wise and right idea. lUit, not to press a point which may be disputed, is it not clear that Education of the kind now under consideration, is in the condition of a commodity offered to the public, and must be adjusted to the demand. Its standards must be reasonable, not requiring too long a course of study, for the obtaining of a Degree ; and they must be proportional, in the demands made upon the student, to the advantages and rewards that are to follow success. Ifyour course is judged too long, young men will not enter on, or will not complete it ; if it is to bring them no advantage, social or professional, it will be regarded by most as an unwise investment of time, and will be declined by all but the leisured and high-minded few, who seek culture for its own sake. You cannot, except to the detriment of education, raise your standard much above what the country demands. In a healthy state of a community, the standards will rise naturally with the general social amelioration. Ikit in a country like ours, you can no more raise the Higher Education to the English level, now or for many years to come, than you can train water to a point above its source, or float a balloon outside the air which holds it up. If you wish to influence Education, give us a few middle class schools : insist upon some sound preliminary training for the professions of Divinity, Law, Medicine, Engineering, &c. ; and throw open at least some departments of the Public Service to deserving young men of tried and cultivated ability. To promote Higher Education, this were a more excellent way than that of our new University. Some notion that the Degree-tests adopted by the new University were in advance of the educational needs and possibilities of the Province, was sure to occur to members of Senate : and occur it did to at least a few. But this difficulty they set aside by the reflection that the Colleges were to go on as before, and tJiis was to be '' in fact, yoii knoiv, an Honor- University" (!) not intended for the rank and file of students at all. The idea is certainly a novelty, aud it is directly opposed to the obvious meaning of the Act of constitution. It is a novelty worthy of an age of invention, and illustrates the ingenious and learned gentlemen who, no doubt, simul- taneously conceived it. But, if the idea is to be carried out, would not fairness to the graduates and the public, nay the world, require that so important a circumstance should be signalized by the style and title of the Institution .-' which, therefore, ought to be changed to the " Honour-University of Halifax." Such a sonorous name would be one of which the Senate might naturally be proud. And since there are to be Honour Courses in the new Institution, — for even in Honours there are differences, though all are honourable — we might have a series of courses of study, starting from the lowest degree of impracticability, and ascending up to the highest grade of unfitness and profundity, like the successive stories of a great building, or like the successive ethereal uiiverses described for us in the recent remarkable work of Professors 15 Tait and Balfour Stewart.* The simplest course of study being an Honour Course, the successful candidates in this department would be Honour-men ; in the next, Champion- honour-men ; and higher still. Top-sawyer-champion-honour- men ; and so on. Or we might proceed in our nomenclature from the top of the scale, and, borrowing from the language of the Fancy for a fancy University, (on the principle of similia siniilibus,) call the first man in the Course of greatest difficulty, Superior Bruiser ; then would follow Bmizers simpUciter ; after whom there might be Hittites senior and junior^ all the way down, ending in millers and ordinary Honour-men. This hint is offered to the Senate with all due respect, and it is hoped that they may turn it to some account. I am far from charging the Senate as a whole with respon- sibility for this grotesque idea of an Honour-University. Some there were who wished for a moderate scheme of examinations which might be acceptable to all the Colleges, and, which in time, might, with obvious benefit to the community, take the place of their present Degree-tests. But, like the rioters at Ephesus, •' the more part knew not wherefore they were come together," and were carried away by persistency and pretence, It is no wonder, then, that the syllabus of examinations which has been evolved chiefly from the London University Calendar, bears marks of wilfulness and unwisdom. To crib success- fully, requires some judgment, and knowledge of the matters cribbed. Let me now say a few words respecting the Syllabus of Examinations for the Arts Degrees, which has been pub- lished "subject to consideration on one or two points." The area of Examination for matriculation is less imiss than might have been expected. The amount of Latin and Greek translation is moderate, indeed small for an Honour- University. But if they knew the state of classical ecV' :ation in even good schools, the Senate would not make the transla- tion of English sentences into Latin indispensable, unless * The Unseen Universe. i6 they attach a different meaning to " short and easy" sentences from what the London University do. Here are four sen- tences from the Matriculation of the London University ; appended to which are the probable renderings of a Nova Scotia matriculant. 1. They wish to seem just, but they hurt good men. Cupiiuit vidcri jiistos, scd botios homines noccnt. 2. I hope that he will conquer, but I fear that he will be conquered. Spcro at vincet, sed timeo ut vincctur. * 3. He said that the walls were going to be built. Dixit micros esse euntes aeciificari. 4. The work is too hard for me to do. Opiis est nimis durum miJii facere. One would like to know what value the Senate would put on efforts like these, and whether they would consider them Latin at all. They will hardly get better. And again : if easy Latin composition is impv,rative at matricula- tion, why require exactly the same thing at the first B. A. Examination, as the books mentioned prove they do? The candidate ought to have made progress in the meantime ; but he is assumed to have remained stationary or to be retrograde. Further : as no mention of the subject is made in the final B. A. Examinations, it is safe to conclude that the Senate expects the candidate by the time he has advanced so far, either to have mastered the subject completely, or utterly forgotten it. Under the head of Arithmetic, Square Root ought not to have been required. The extraction of Roots is included under the Algebra, without which the arithmetical rules on the subject are senseless. In the Classics of the first B. A. Examination, the alter- native Latin subjects are far from equivalent. The Senate surely do not realize the amount of work involved in getting up tiuo books of Livy. One book of Livy is at least the equi- valent of the two essays of Cicero, De Senectuii and De Amcitia. Considering the collateral history, &c., I should say it is decidedly more. But they have set down two books of Livy. What is the cause of this disparity in things that 17 ought to be equal ? The Greek of this Examhiation is meagre like that of the London University. But demanding Logic and Chemistiy, where the London Examination requires only French, the University of Halifax excels its prototype and has a good deal to spare. The inequality of the alternative courses in Latin, for the final B. A. Examination is more remarkable still. The second course, viz., a play of Terence or Plautus, and Cicero's Dc Oratore, is at least equal to twice the first in length and difificulty. Did not the Senate know that Cicero's Dc Oratore is an elaborate treatise, four or five times as long as a Book of Tacitus .'' Did they know that the work is of an abstruse and technical kind, and to be read even with diffi- culty by the advanced Latinist .'' Of course they did ; and therefore may we say of them in the mournful words of the prophet, " As for them, their ways are not equal." It is, however, in the department of Mathematics that their demands are most exorbitant and ill-considered. Ana- lytical^ Geometry and Spherical Trigonometry are subjects that ought not to be imperative for a pass-Degree. These subjects are certainly not obligatory at Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Montreal, or, so far as I have heard, at Toronto : and Spherical Trignomctry not even at London University itself. Practical educators seem to be agreed that such studies are not profitably pursued except by those who interest themselves especially in Mathe- matics. The public will therefore judge what a magnificent ideal is set before them in the new University, and that the purpose of its Senate is nothing less than to make it " wollop creation," It is known that the insertion of Analytical Geometry among the subjects of the first B. A. Examination was the occasion of some discussion in the Senate. Some of the Fellows represented that this was laying a burden upon the non-mathematical student greater than he could bear. But here again wise moderation was overruled, chiefly on the authority of a prominent gentleman who asserted that this subject " conld be got up ^>■ afeiv days!' (The subject is the i8 equations of the Conic Sections referred to rectangular co-or- dinates.) This statcmeni; will surprise Mathematicians, young and old, who will contrast it with their own recollections. If the learned gentleman, falling back on his memory, was citing what he himself had done when, after three or four days* study of Analytical Geoiuetry, he was so instructed in it as to be able to answer such questions as those of the London University on this subject, he is certainly to be classed with the mathematical geniuses of all the ages. Newton could have done no more, nor have we record that he ever did so much. And this gentleman, with maihematical abilities of lo high an order, had it in hirn, — nay, mus": have it in him still — to render distinguished the age in which he happen.', to appear, and the country in which he has conde- scended to live. Unlike the flower " born to blush unseen," he vvas evidently born — not perhaps to d/us/i, though of that nothing is here affirmed, but assuredly— not to continue unseen. Talents such as we are required to credit him with, would have illuminated mankind with a nev/ Calculus, sur* passing that of Des Cartes, or Leibnitz, or Hamilton ; and of him we have only to lament that it has to be said, as of another great statesman, that he " To party gave up what was meant for mankind." This, if the gentleman spoke from recollections of himself. But if he was only talking of that he knew nothing about, then he ought to be chastened by the information that, while to him assertions may come easily, even at the rate of several per minute, yet to felK ws abler even than himself Analytical Geometry does not supervene after the study of " three or four days." With this exposure of him, both you, sir, and the public may be satisfied. How the London University gets this part (Analytical Geometry) of its Syllabus satisfied, none of us may know ; but we can infer that the work is but poorly done, from the large per centage of " the plucked" in Mathematics at their First B. A. Examination. This is true even in Eng'and where cramming is carried to such perfection by professional 19 "grinders," I 'lat they accomplish all but impossibilities in putting men tfirongh Examinations. How would it be in Nova Scotia ? The Second 1j. A. Examination of the University of Halifax — exi-tillng its model by requiring the objectionable subject, Spl-.'-.-ical Ttigonometry — is quite exhaustive in the department of Fiiysics. But how is a student to get them up ? Where arc the courses of instruction provided in this country, as tht:y are abundantly in England, in such subjects as Physical (")ptics. Heat, Sound, Electricity, Magnetism ? Th?se subjcH rs irc not to be acquired sole!) from books or without experimental demonstrations. Ar i save that this year there has been established a Physics 1 Dalhousie Cillege, there is, so far as know- vision in the ]-rovuice for teaching such sul' Senate means unless to compel all their U attend Dalhuisie for at least a part of their \ not obvious The last three alternative su!-^ ond B. A. I^vimination, (i) French, Ger (2) Mental .r.ul Moral Philosophy; (3) C'.' tory and Po!"tical Economy, — any two of wh pulsory) — form a melancholy close to the S graduate stiK'i :.s. Has it come then to tn tional History and Political Economy to_ upon the same humble level as a moder even that one of lliese vast fields of knowlej . should be valued by men who undertake the Education as no higher, more educative, moi than what, fter all, comes to little more th prattle! IVat, deeper degradation still, thi great study of mankind, wiiich underlies and moulds all opinion in ^' Ings social, political, and religious. Philosophy, — si» called pa ■ CX' cellence and so esteemed wherever culture ha> been sou' ac— comes down and sits in the dust beside — French. I venture to say that, out of Nova Scotia, perhaps outride the Senate itself, this allocation of equivalent subjects in which they have been so infelicitously original will, .^ soon as it is known, be universally considered a jest. Cic ro tells us how Lectureship in no regular pro- rs. What the Tgraduates to i;ts Course, is ts of the Sec- I. or Hebrew ; 'jitional His- ■)nly, are com- mas of Under- lat Constitu- •r are placed mguage ; nay e and enquiry isk of directing useful subjects 1 a schoolsirl's 20 the two Roman augurs, solemnly heading their processions which were advancing from opposite quarters, grinned a significant grin to each oth is they passed. Surely there must have been some such i 'orous manifestation on the countenances of the learned r^eilows, when they gave sanc- tion to the arrangement respecting the three last subjects of the B. A Examination. If there was not, they must be powerfully dull Fellows indoed ! These criticisms of the course of study to which the new University invites its Undergraduates, are not offered as ex- haustive of the subject ; but enough has been said, I think, to reinforce the conclusions involved in my remarks on the Act of Constitution, and in the comparison of this Institu- tion ^with its model. The verdict I arrive at on the whole is that this University — perhaps the most Paper one ever in- vented — has but an imperceptible bearing on the needs of Nova Scotia, tends to exert no influence, except perhaps an unfavorable one, on the Higher Education, and does not de- serve support, by the readjustment of its Curriculum, from any College in the Province. If the Colleges which, last winter when the subject was submitted for their approval, went in for the scheme, should arrive at conclusions similar to those I have expressed, there will be no inconsistency between their position nozv and their positiori f/icu. J. express the mind of others, as well as myself, when I say that we agreed lo do what we could to make the proposed scheme a success, on the understanding that the new University would offer 2, possible syllabus of studies with tests impartially administered — a syllabus accommodated to the teaching faculties of the Colleges, and fitted to such level of attainments as is accessible to the majority of our students. We expected that our College Degrees, as soon as existing responsibilities to our students should be satisfied, would fall into abeyance, and that perhaps the power of grant- ing them would be at length withdrawn ; and we thought of the future University Examinations as the common Denomi- tion to which all our separate college-teaching was to be reduced. Or, if some of us feared that such desiderata could 31 J scarcely be accomplished, \vc anticipated that an honest, possibly a wise, endeavour towards them would have been made. lUit, had it been suggested that the novel Institution was to be an Hotioiir-Univcrsity, that it was not to be for the ordinary student, that the standards of the London University were to be matter of serious mimicry — in some cases even to be outdone, — some of us would have declined to have anything to do with it, and entered our instant protest against it. For the perversion of that idea of the University which we were originally led to entertain, the Government is probably not to blame. They, doubtless, meant as well by the Act of last session as it was, in their circumstances, per- mitted them to mean. But the issue of their good intentions has been the conjuring up of what has been aptly called a "great ghost," which can be satisfactory only to the delusion- ist behind the scenes, and impressive only to the sense of the sciolist and the ignorant. Intelligent men will stand awe- less and scornful in presence of the gibbering impostor. That some of our young men may be induced by the prizes offered by the new University to present themselves as candidates at its Examinations is Iikcl"enough ; but it can be expected only by members of its Sen.te that the authorities of the Colleges will adjust the Courses of instruction which they control, and the advantages of which they have proved by experience, to meet new requirements that are to a large extent fictitious. The new University, in other words, ought to have no influence on the Colleges ; which will no doubt maintain, in reference to it, not so much the position of masterly inaction, as neglectful indifference. I could have wished, Sir, to be spared the unpleasant duty of making the frank criticisms which the foregoing pages contain ; but, in the interests of sound learning and science, of education, and of truth, some one must have taken up the irksome duty. A provincial University, acknowledged and utilised by all, and above the recognition of Denominational rivalries, is now perhaps further off than it has been for many years. One thing the Government could, I think, still do for the Higher 22 Education in Nova Scotia. They could appoint Inspectors of Colleges, or Assessors at Examinations, to report on the Educational condition of these seats of learnin^^ and to make sure that Degrees are worthily and impartially bestowed upon real acquirements, however humble. The acceptance of these functionaries as Co-ordinate Examiners with the members of the teaching faculties might be nndc tlie con- dition of the continuation of the College grants, The ex- pansion of this suggestion is, however, too long to be entered upon here, since I have already made no inconsiderable claims on your attention. I have the honor to be, Sir, Faithfully and respectfully yours, A PROFESSOR. Halifax, yany, 1877. rs he ke sd ce be n- X- Jd le