panied by the customary "good moral character." The latter alternative is shortly modified so that candidates for the Master's degree who have received the bachelor's degree later than 1874 "must furnish satisfactory proof of having pursued professional or other advanced studies." Cat. 1873-4, p. 131.

The increasing and widespread regard for graduate work which began to appear about this time-some two years before the opening of Johns Hopkins Universitywas due, among other causes, to students having returned from Germany and to the recovery of the nation from many of the depressing effects of the then late Civil War. In the life of Northwestern this interest in higher work is distinctly reflected in the following paragraph from the catalogue of 1873-4, p. 132; "Graduates who have pursued a course of advanced study under the direction of the faculty on examination and presentation of satisfactory thesis, will receive the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. In these Post Graduate Courses breadth of culture is designed. But students will be allowed to specialize in Philosophy, Literature, Politics, Philology, History, Mathematics, or Natural History."

It appears little short of a misfortune that the financial condition of our University at this period did not permit the faculty to pursue farther the ideals set forth in the above announcement. But the fact is that all consideration of work leading to the doctorate is dropped from the next succeeding catalogue and does not reappear until

eighteen years later, when introduced by President Rogers. The disappointed hopes of an ambitious faculty may be easily imagined.

In the meantime, however, the requirements for the much abused Master's degree were distinctly improved, as witness the following from the catalogue of 1886-7, p. 42; After the year 1890, the Master's degree will not be conferred in course but upon examination."

The academic year, 1891-2, is marked by the introduction of conditions for the Master's and Doctor's degree, which are essentially identical with those in force to-day (1904) in this and other institutions of the first rank. From this it will be evident that our history of "graduate work"-in the modern acceptance of that phrase-dates from 1892.

During the twelve years that have elapsed since then only a few slight changes have been made in the nominal requirements for advanced degrees; but the character of the work demanded by the faculty to satisfy these requirements has kept even pace with the rising standards of scholarship found in all the leading American universities. The average thesis required of the candidate for the Master's degree to-day is a distinctly more scholarly and important piece of work than that expected ten years ago. In absentia study has been persistently discouraged, and for many years has been limited to our own alumni and practically to those alumni who have specialized in the department in which they apply.

For the Master's degree, the essential conditions to be

met are the following: 1. The possession of a Bachelor's degree fully equivalent to that of our College of Liberal Arts. This rule. has been adhered to with great rigidity. Alumni of other colleges have always been welcomed as graduate students; but they have been admitted to candidacy only after satisfying the full requirement of our bachelor's course, and after completing, if necessary, an undergraduate major in some chosen department.

2. Resident study of one year-thirty semester-hoursdevoting at least one-half the time to a major subject.

3. The preparation of an approved thesis on a topic relating to the candidate's major subject.

4. An examination on the major subject by a committee of three members of the faculty, selected from related departments.

5. Since 1895, a concession of three-fifths of a year's work has been made to candidates from our own professional schools in consideration of the advanced character of their studies.

For the Doctor's degree the conditions are distinctly more severe both in point of quantity and quality of work. Three years of resident work along some particular line is demanded, together with a thesis which shall be an important contribution to human knowledge. These fundamental