TERM EXAMINATIONS, EXERCISES, ETC. 143 Xenophon's Cyropædia, first three books.-Lucian, The principal entrance days are the first Mondays in July and November, and certain days specified by public advertisement in October and January. Besides these, entrances are held on the first Mondays of the remaining months, except August and September; pupils who enter after November, and intend to go on with the junior freshman class, must pay a year in advance instead of half a year, and their names must have been entered on the college books before the 8th of July. To encourage the cultivation of the Hebrew language, an examination is held immediately after that of the entrances in July, October, and November, when premiums are given to the best answerers in the Hebrew grammar and the first eight psalms. The days of examination, in every instance, are made known by notices fixed to the college gates and the door of the examination hall. For Sizarships.-This examination is held on the Tuesday next after Trinity Sunday, and the candidates are required to prepare, together with the ordinary entrance course, the classics read during the first two terms of the junior freshman year. Tutors' Lectures.-Every student must place himself at entrance under the tuition of one of the junior fellows who are tutors. The tutors lecture every day (Saturday excepted) on the science, and also on the Latin author appointed for the term. Term Examinations, Exercises, &c.-This very important class of college business has within a few years undergone some material alterations, and improvements. To understand the nature of these changes more clearly, it ought to be stated that, from the founding of the college, there were four terms kept here, and as these depended on the move 144 EXERCISES FOR SEVERAL DEGREES. able feasts, they were variable, and of very unequal duration. In 1833, however, the provost and senior fellows obtained a statute which directs that, from the year 1834, they are to consist of three terms only, these are fixed by permanent rules. By these it is directed that Michaelmas or October Term shall begin on the 10th of October, and end on the 20th of December; and Hilary, or January Term now commences on the 10th of January, and terminates on the feast of the Annunciation, (Lady Day,) 25th of March. Trinity, or Midsummer Term, begins on the 15th of April, ends on the 30th of June; but if it happen that Easter should fall within the limits of Hilary or Trinity Terms, then the term within which it falls shall, for that year, be increased by an additional week. The hours of examination are, on the first day of the general examination of each class, from half past nine to twelve, and from two to four. On the second day, on the day of the catechetical examination, and on the days of examination for honours, from ten to twelve, and from two to four. Students cannot be admitted after the doors of the hall have been closed; this is done the moment the appointed hour has struck. Exercises for the several Degrees.—The rule laid down in this university for keeping terms during the under-graduate course, is by answering at the regular examinations held at the beginning of each term, with the exception of the Divinity and Medical Terms, which are kept by attending the lectures of the professors; the latter, therefore, require the students to be resident in College, or in its immediate vicinity. The student who proposes to take the degree of Bachelor of Arts must, if he be a pensioner, keep four academic years, that is, he must have passed at a The terms, as fixed by the statutes of Charles I., coincided with the Oxford Terms, they are now made to agree nearly with those of Cambridge. FORMS AND EXERCISES, ETC. 145 least eight term examinations, together with not less than four catechetical terms or examinations. For the degree of A.B., the scholastic exercises necessary pro forma are two declamations, one in Greek, and one in Latin, and a thesis, also in Latin, in laudem philosophiæ; every candidate, whether moderator or not, must read these exercises. At a proper time previous to the day fixed for performing the exercises, the junior proctor delivers three official papers to the moderator; each of these contains four questions in logic, natural philosophy, and morality. On the appointed day the moderator, having selected a set of three candidate bachelors, appoints them each to defend one of these papers of questions, and to oppose the other two; thus each disputant in turn is opponent and respondent; he opposes the papers which the other two disputants have respectively undertaken to defend, by bringing an argument consisting of three syllogisms against each of the eight questions contained in those papers; he defends his own paper by briefly pointing out the errors contained in the syllogisms of his opponents, and also responds in two brief Latin theses on any two questions not consecutive with the paper he has undertaken to defend. To become a Master of Arts, the candidate must be a bachelor of arts of three years' standing. The exercises requisite for this purpose are, a declamation in Greek, and one in Latin, with one opponency and one respondency. To obtain the Bachelor's degree in Divinity, the applicant must be Master of Arts of seven years' standing, and in priest's orders; previous to obtaining the private grace of the house for this degree, it is indispensable that the candidate shall perform the proper exercises before the regius professor of divinity, or his deputy. These exercises are, one respondency, one opponency, one concio ad clerum in Latin, and one sermon in English ad populum. The candidate for the degree of Doctor in Divinity must be a Bachelor of Divinity of five, or a Master of L 146 JUNIOR FRESHMEN, SENIOR FRESHMEN. Arts of twelve, years' standing, of course in priest's orders. The exercises he is obliged to perform before the Regius Professor of Divinity are, one respondency, one opponency, a sermon ad populum in English, and a Latin sermon, ad clerum. When the degrees of B.D. and D.D. are taken at the same time, the exercises for both must be performed. A Bachelor of Laws. To be qualified for this degree, the candidate must be a Bachelor of Arts of three years' standing; to obtain the grace of the house he must respond and oppose once before the Regius Professor of Laws. A Doctor in Laws must be a Bachelor of Laws of five years' standing, or four years will be sufficient, should he have taken the degree of Master of Arts. The exercise consists of two theses on subjects appointed by the Professor, and two others selected by himself on any subject in Civil and Canon Law. Bachelors in Medicine. The times and qualifications for commencing B.M. will be found at page 149. SECTION III. REGULATIONS RESPECTING THE UNDERGRADUATE EXAMINATIONS. These regulations have, in a great degree, superseded those that had been formerly in operation, and certainly must convince all persons who are competent to give judgment in matters of high education, that very considerable vigilance, assiduity and intelligence must have been employed by the provosts and fellows of this university, within the last twenty years, to discover and introduce into practice so great a variety of useful and superior knowledge, which their experience taught them to believe would raise the intellectual and moral character of their college to its highest level, by introducing such additional information, and modes of instruction, as are consistent with the wants of society, springing as they do out of the constant progression of human knowledge. In no part of the system of education pursued in JUNIOR FRESHMEN.-SENIOR FRESHMEN. 147 this institution, does improvement take a more decided character than in the mode adopted within the last eight years, by which the undergraduate examinations are regulated; they are as follow: 1. The science taught in the first, or junior freshman year, is Mathematics; in the second, or senior freshman year, Logic; in the third, or junior sophister year, Astronomy and Physics; in the fourth, or senior sophister year, Ethics. Senior and junior freshmen are examined in the science taught in all the preceding terms from the beginning of the course; junior sophisters, in the science taught from the beginning of the second, or senior freshman year; and senior sophisters, in the science taught from the beginning of the third, or senior sophister year. 2. Under-graduates are required to appear at all the examinations of their class, and are liable to a fine for every examination omitted. No student can rise from a lower to a higher class if he have omitted, or lost by insufficient answering, a greater number of examinations than those fixed by the following rules: To rise from the class of junior freshman to that of senior freshman, one examination at least in the junior freshman year is necessary. To rise from the class of senior freshman to that of junior sophister, four examinations must be kept in the freshman years; one of which must be the Michaelmas or October examination of the senior freshman's year. No student can regularly present himself at this examination who has not previously kept three examinations, one of which must be in the senior freshman class; but if one of these be omitted, he will be allowed to answer in the business of the omitted examination at Michaelmas, and afterwards in the business of the Michaelmas examination in the succeeding Hilary term. This privilege is allowed only to those students whose names shall have remained on the college books without having been removed therefrom from the time of entrance. |