thirty pupils as well. One particular defect to which he called attention was the length of school hours. While six hours' intellectual application a-day was sufficient for any full grown man, the boys in the High School were compelled to work nine or ten hours a-day. They paid too much attention to cram and too little to the physical development of the boys. He had become convinced of this; and to prove it by examination, he had asked a class of fifty-five boys if any of them had ever felt their eyes over-taxed. He found that out of that class twenty-seven had at one time or other in the course of their studies been unable to use their eyes, and four of his best scholars were compelled every night to interrupt their studies on account of pain in their eyes. He concluded by making the following practical observations:-1st. That the proper education of each individual in a State is a blessing to the whole community, and therefore every good citizen should do all that he can to aid the full development of the intellectual powers of all its members. 2nd. That education should have a definite aim, and that aim the activity of the man, in the most rational way and with his fullest powers, for the good of the community. 3rd. That the methods and subjects of instruction should be based on a philosophical knowledge of the nature of the boy in his various stages. 4th. That there are certain limits beyond which a boy's attention cannot be exerted, and that all attempts to arouse him beyond that point are enfeebling and destructive. 5th. That there are certain limits beyond which a teacher's energies cannot remain fresh, and all teaching on his part beyond these limits is injurious to himself and his pupils. 6th. That no teacher can awaken strong desires for knowledge and inquiry who does not possess them himself, and, therefore, that no teacher can do his work satisfactorily who is not gathering up fresh ideas and thoughts for himself. 7th. That the success of any system of education hinges exclusively on the character of the teachers; and, 8th. That the duty of those who are not actively engaged in the work of teaching, after once having elected the best teachers, is to furnish these teachers with the best means for carrying on their work; in one word, to enable them to act with the greatest freedom on the best conditions of success.

DISCUSSION.

Professor BLACKIE expressed his great delight and satisfaction with what he had heard. Thirty years ago he was urging this question, publishing pamphlets which nobody would buy, and writing in the newspapers, abusing and being abused; and he was glad to find it now mooted before the public in a great national arena. If anything were wanted to prove the utility of the Association, it was the fact that this subject was brought before the people of Scotland by its aid. The grand idea that Scotland ought to listen to was contained in these two admirable papers by Dr. Bryce and Mr. Donaldson, expressed by the former with clearness, taste, and point, and by the latter with great vigour, Scotch robustness, and Scotch philosophy. The chief point was this, that Scotland had neglected her middle schools altogether-that series of schools which were enjoined by John Knox in that Book of Discipline which Scotchmen swore by but did not practise. It was there laid down that they should have these middle schools as a necessary stepping-stone from the parish to the university, yet Scotchmen had so far degenerated that it was thought a great point of excellence

that Scotch lads were able to jump from the parish school to the college. Till that idea was given up they would have no proper university teaching. They had one building without a foundation and another without superstructure. They had the parish schools-fair and respectable, if it were not for the squabbling of the Churches, as to which he would only remind them that the "wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." But whenever they got above the parish schools they began to blunder, by attempting to slump the universities and the middle schools together. They devolved on the professors the duty of grinding the youths who came up from the schools, which gave them much trouble, small honour, and little pay. And they ignored the higher teaching, forgetting that Greek and Latin lay at the foundation of all sound philosophy, ay, and of all sound theology too; for without them they could not read their own Bible. They had left these classes merely in the condition of schools, without any foundation for criticism, unless perhaps they should happen to have a professor with some high notions in his head on the subject-higher than they cared for. What they had to do was to make the school do its proper work, and the university do its proper work. They had to treat the schoolmaster as a gentleman. A most laborious, intelligent, highly-cultivated, and philosophical race of men they were; but how did they treat them? Did they pay them as they would a sheriff for sentencing a thief or settling a miserable squabble between two shopkeepers for a paltry sum? They gave the sheriffs sometimes £1,000; but take the case of Perth or Stirling, where they had perhaps £600 or £700; what was the salary of the classical master? Possibly £200, possibly £150, or even less. In fact, they had thrown contempt on the teacher. The Scotch people must repent of this. To quote the words of Dr. Chalmers "The system was weak, because it was weak radically." They must put the foundation right. If they could not do that with the public money, they must do it with their private money. £2,000 a-year would provide a first-class school in every county of Scotland, and that could be got by a small county tax. No Scotchman would object to that. He was perfectly satisfied that until they adopted that system, they would never have good middle-class education, for which he was resolved to fight under the banner of John Knox until. the object was attained.

The Rev. Mr. RENTON, Kelso, after a few remarks on the other papers, referred to a principle laid down by Mr. Donaldson, which seemed to involve that education should be provided by the State. He deprecated that doctrine. It was perfectly true that the State was interested in education-because the more highly educated a man was, the greater good did he do in his sphere in lifebut he did not see why Government should interfere in assisting men to acquire Greek, any more than they should interfere to assist them to acquire knowledge of engineering or of any mechanical trade. He held that all classes-aristocrats, middle-class, and working class-were as much bound to provide their own education, as they were bound to provide their own clothes.

Professor PLAYFAIR said, he believed the resolution passed by the Department would be concurred in by all who had given their attention to this important subject. But if inquiry were necessary in the south, it was no less necessary in Scotland. Not only were their grammar schools limited in number, but there was no point of connexion between them and the university, nor was there any point of connexion between the university and the large body of proprietary schools throughout the country, many of which were admirably conducted. It had been explained that the University of Edinburgh had made a first step in this direction, and prepared a scheme, which was probably not perfect, but which went as far as they thought they were likely to get the other universities of Scotland to co-operate with them. The Commissioners who were then supreme, though they were now officially dead, prevented them going forward, thinking it not expedient at that time to carry on the scheme. He was extremely glad Mr. Dalgleish had opened the question again, for he believed if the universities did not make this point of union between the schools of the country, it would be done for them by persons whom Scotch nationality would be sorry to see crossing the Border, but whom he should be the first to cooperate with, if the universities again refused to go forward in this matter.

Already a first step had been taken on the other side of the Border, for next month the Committee of Privy Council of the Department of Science and Art were to hold an examination in Edinburgh for the purpose of giving certificates to the working classes. The universities were not so intimately connected with the education of the working classes, but probably all present would be glad to see the Committee of Council take this step, for in Edinburgh they had large institutions for the working classes. The question of connecting the schools with the universitics by means of middle-class examinations had fallen asleep, but he was certain from his correspondence with Dr. Temple, the master of Rugby, and the promoter of the Oxford scheme, that unless the universities in a short time offered facilities for public and private schools, connecting themselves with them, Oxford would send down its delegates and hold these examinations, and he believed the schools would gladly avail themselves of them. Therefore, they had received sufficient warning, and, on the part of the University of Edinburgh, he would say that they were perfectly ready to take up the subject, and that they were quite willing to be advised by schoolmasters throughout the country how to perfect their first scheme, and make it more suitable to them and to the country generally.

COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION.*

Mr. WALTER SCOTT DALGLEISH read a paper on "Open Competition in Theory and in Practice." He said the progress which the system of competitive examinations is making-however sure it may be-is but slow. The Indian Civil Service continues to be the only case in which the system exists in its completeness, there being really no such thing as absolutely open competition in the Home Civil Service. Limited competition would better describe the principle in force in the latter service, for the competition is confined to those who have obtained from the patrons of the office a nomination or right to compete. In fact, this limited competition is but a slight modification of the old system of patronage. It still confines the applicants to much the same class of persons as before, and it selects the candidates, in the first instance, on grounds which do not imply either general capacity or special fitness. Even competition of this limited kind, however, exists in the Home Civil Service to a comparatively small extent. The end to be reached was to secure the best possible men for the public service,-the best morally, physically, and intellectually. Now the question of moral and physical fitness had no place in the discussion. They could be ascertained equally well by either system. The issue, therefore, came to be, whether patronage or competition afforded the best guarantee for intellectual fitness. Under patronage, no pains were taken to ascertain this point with any accuracy. The competitive system, on the other hand, supplied us with a definite educational test, yielding definite and appreciable results. Such a test was obviously superior to no test at all. It tested the knowledge required; but it also tested mental capacity, which was the most important thing to ascertain. Good and sound, however, as the system was in theory, it was to be feared that it was abused in practice. The educational activity called forth by it was not all good. Much of it was of a spasmodic and

* See Transactions, 1858, p. 200; 1859, pp. 274, 279; 1860, 302, 311, 318.

spurious character. The author, however, refused to make the system responsible for the obnoxious "cramming" which was generally supposed to be inseparable from it. He believed that the existence of cramming was owing (1) to the "limited" nature of the competition; (2), to the character of the subjects prescribed; (3), to the nature of the questions asked. The examiners had the remedies in their own hands. They should (1), abolish the unnecessary variety of subjects required for different situations; (2), give greater promis nence to intellectual subjects, and less to fact and rote subjects; (3), introduce into all their papers a larger number of questions of an intellectual character. It would be observed that he had exempted from these strictures the mode of administering the open competitive system and examinations for the Indian Civil Service. That department was administered with admirable judgment, thoroughness, and skill. And as the Indian Service was the only case in which the competitive system had had a fair and full trial, so the friends of open competition might confidently point to it as an example of its signal success.

NATIONAL EDUCATION.*

The papers of Professor Milligan and the Rev. Mr. Fraser, are printed at pp. 292, 303.

The Rev. Dr. BELL, M.D., read a paper, entitled "Remarks on some Points of the Revised Code of the Committee of Council on Education, of May, 1862." Dr. Bell said the object he had in view was to impress, if possible, on the minds of those who took an interest in the instruction of the masses of our population, how unfair the New Code was in its application to the schools under Government inspection. One point to which he called attention was that the income from Government was to be uncertain, while the expenditure on account of the regulations was certain. For instance, a certain number of pupil-teachers on a fixed payment must be kept up. Now, it was not right to demand this when they were told that the schools would be judged of by results. His decided opinion was, that managers of schools ought to be allowed freedom of action in bringing about those required results. Managers should be left in a position to engage such assistance in place of pupil-teachers as they could secure. He contended that there was no medium between the old system and the one he proposed-namely, to leave the managers free from all fetters as to the means of instruction they should pursue in bringing about the required results. Having always worked cheerfully with the Committee of Council in his capacity as clergyman of an English parish, and manager of an English school, he did not wish to say anything which might be deemed uncourteous; but he maintained that the system carried out by the Committee had been too rashly dealt with, and that it must either be in a great measure

* See Transactions, 1860, p. 335–360. See also Discussion, p. 420.

restored, or the managers must be left at liberty to secure the desired results in their own way. The proposal he would make in relation to the Revised Code was this :-First, that the principal teacher in every school, for the education-intellectual, moral, and religious-of the masses of our people should be certificated, and that he or she should have a certain allowance from Government as a recognition of the certificate, so long as they continued at their post, and were approved of by Government and managers. Secondly, that everything connected with the aid that the teachers might need to bring about the required results, in regard to the education of scholars, be left to the managers.

DISCUSSION.

The Rev. NASH STEPHENSON said, that the attention of the Department had been directed by the paper read by Dr. Bell to the operation of the Revised Code in elementary schools for the poor, and he (Mr. Stephenson) would wish to offer a few remarks on the Minute published by the Privy Council Office on the 19th of May last. Endowments under the Revised Code were permitted in schools up to the amount of 30s. per child, and to this settlement of the question no objection had been hitherto urged; but by the Minute of the 19th of May, all endowments would be reckoned as abatements of public grants made to the schools. Of course this rule held good in Scotland as well as in England. But more than this. If schools were to be mulcted by the amount of their endowments, it appeared to him, whatever might be the present interpretation of the Minute by the Office in London, that in no long time in Scotland the school managers would have their school rates or heritors' tax equally abated before the handing over of the balance of a grant earned by a school. A tax of £35 must be raised by rate in parishes in Scotland, and this fixed sum had been granted by the heritors in ages past. Alt land had been bought and sold subject to this fixed charge; both vendor and purchaser had clearly made a certain reduction in consequence thereof; and it would be hard to say how many if any, of the heirs or liueal descendants of the assenting parties to this national impost were now in possession of the very land which had come down to them by inheritance with this burden upon it. While, therefore, he allowed that any rate beyond the fixed rate of £35 should be deemed to be voluntary contributions on the part of heritors, he maintained that there was no practical difference between the fixed rate and an endowment, and that ere long this view would and must be taken as a necessary corollary to or explanation of the Minute of the 19th of May on Endowed Schools by the Legislature. The effect would be that, supposing a school earned £40 of public grants from the Committee of Council on Education, and they had rates or endowments to the amount of £35, the amount receivable by such schools would not be £40, but £5. This was a very serious consideration, for although he could not state the pecuniary amount at issue, or the number of endowed schools in Scotland, he could state that in the 16,000 parishes in England there were upwards of 4,000 endowed schools; most of them left for the use of and attached to the Church of England. The managers of English schools would materially suffer by this Minute when it came into operation, which was not until the 1st of July 1864, and in small rural parishes he was quite sure that it would be the means of ruining the schools. By means of endowments the managers of such schools had been enabled to meet the Government requirements, and raise the sum needful for securing the services of a certificated teacher, and by consequence obtain a portion of the public grant. It was perfectly easy to say that the average for a child's education should be 30s., as made out by the Education Commissioners, and that such a sum should be raised in every parish by school-pence and voluntary contributions. But they must bear in mind that an average was upon the gross, and not applicable to the smaller schools. "The expense of a small school," as the Commissioners admit, “when efficiently conducted, is far greater in proportion than the expense of a larger one." The