ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

great things which have been achieved by mankind, and partly because, when philosophically studied, it gives a certain largeness of conception to the student, and familiarizes him with the action of great causes......... In no other way can he so completely realize, in his own mind (howsoever he may be satisfied with the proof of them as abstract propositions), the great principles by which the progress of man, and the condition of society are governed......No where else will the infinite varieties of human nature be so vividly brought home to him; anything cramped or one-sided in his own standard of it so effectually corrected; and no where else will he behold so strongly exemplified the astonishing pliability of our nature, and the vast efects which may, under good guidance, be produced upon it by honest endeavours. The literature of our own and other modern nations should be studied along with history, or rather as part of the history.

"In the department of pure intellect, the highest place will belong to logic and the philosophy of mind; the one, the instrument for the cultivation of all sciences the other, the root from which they all grow. It scarcely needs be said that the former will not be taught as a mere system of technical rules, nor the latter as a set of concatenated abstract propositions...... The tendency, so strong everywhere, is strongest of all here, to receive opinions into the mind without any real understanding of them, merely because they seem to follow from certain admitted premises, and to let them lie there lifeless and void of meaning. The pupil must be led to interrogate his own consciousness, to observe and experiment upon himself; of the mind, by any other process, little will he ever know."

"With these studies should be joined all those sciences in which great and certain results are arrived at by mental processes of some length or nicety; not that all persons should study all these sciences, but that some should study all, and all some. These may be divided into sciences of pure ratiocination, as mathematics; and sciences partly of ratiocination, and partly of, what is far more difficult, comprehension, observation, and analysis. Such are in their rationale even the sciences to which mathematics are subservient, and such are all those which relate to human nature. The philosophy of morals, of government, of law, of political economy, of poetry and art, should form subjects of systematic instruction under the most eminent Professors who could be found."

"Again. It is important to disengage our minds from the microscopic contemplation of the details of the various sciences, and elevate them to the idea of science as a whole; to the idea of human nature as a whole; of the place which these various sciences occupy in the former, and the functions which they perform in the latter.' To consider the methods of the various physical sciences, i. e., the processes by which they severally arrive at truth; the peculiar logic of each science, and the light thrown thereby on universal logic; the various kinds and degrees of evidence on which the truths of these sciences rest; how to estimate them; how to adapt our modes of investigation to them; how far the habits of estimating evidence which these sciences engender are applicable to other subjects, and to evidence of another kind; how far inapplicable.' Thence we are led to the more extensive inquiry what these physical studies are capable of doing for the mind; which of the habits and powers that constitute a fine intellect those pursuits tend to cultivate; what are those which they do not cultivate; those even (for such there are) which they tend to impede; by what other studies and intellectual exercises, by what general reflections, or course of reading and meditation, these deficiencies may be supplied; how highly a familiarity with mathematics, with dynamics, with experimental physics, and natural history, conduces both to the strength and soundness of a fine understanding; and yet how possible it is to be master of all these sciences, and to be unable to put two

ideas together with a useful result on any other topic. We should be taught to set a high value on these attainments; yet to see in them seemingly, as branches of a general education, what they really are, the early stages in the formation of a great mind; the mere instruments of a high culture. We must consider the tendency of scientific pursuits in general; the influence of habits of analysis and abstraction on the character; how without these habits, the mind is the slave of its own accidental associations, the dupe of every superficial appearance; on the other hand, how their exclusive culture, while it strengthens thé associations which connect means with ends, effects with causes, tends to weaken many of those upon which our enjoyment and social affections depend, by accustoming the mind to consider in objects chiefly the properties on account of which we refer them to classes, and give them general names, and leave our conception of them as individuals lame and meagre; how, therefore, the corrective and antagonist principle to the pursuits which deal with objects only in the abstract, is to be sought in those which deal with them altogether in the concrete, clothed in properties and circumstances; real life in its most varied forms; poetry and art in all their branches."

We make no apology for giving these extracts so prominent a place : the great truths which they advance are the very truths which even the most active friends of Educational improvement are, in these days, too apt to overlook. We trust that they will be adopted as the basis of all Oxford legislation and if their importance is once fully recognised, we can have no fear of the delusion any longer existing that College Tutors can adequately perform the office of University Instructors without any assistance from Professors.

:

But we must proceed with the plain narrative of events, to which we had intended to confine ourselves. Lent Term passed away; the measure proposed to Convocation had been rejected, with the exception of such innocent parts of it as seemed to embody the principle that something further must be done; and the Board of Heads of Houses, with most praiseworthy energy set itself down to the task of constructing a more acceptable measure. The result was, that, before the beginning of June, not only was a Prelectorship of Logic established, but a Prelector actually elected, with a salary of about £240, and capable, with the approval of Convocation, of holding his office for life. This was doubtless a great improvement on the proposed Prelectorships of Lent Term: still, however, but little had been done; and that little seemed only valuable as an earnest that something better was in store. And happily, what has taken place since the University re-assembled in Michaelmas Term, seems to augur that such hopes are not groundless. Judging by the reports which prevail, of plans weekly discussed within the Sanctuary of the Hebdomadal Board, and by the substantial and businesslooking pamphlets which have issued since Michaelmas from the press, neither Heads of Houses nor other members of Convocation have forgotten

the good resolutions of last Spring, in the torpor of the long vacation. In fact, the most important possible step has been made, for the writers of this Term are no longer engaged in discussing first principles, but have submitted two definite plans for a thorough revival of the Professorial system in its vigour.*

The earliest published of these pamphlets,† though dedicated, by a single resident member of Convocation, to the patronage of the Warden of New College, bears strong internal marks, as the dedication would lead us to expect, that more than one hand has been engaged in the collection and arrangement of its materials. The Introduction distinctly states that the opinions therein advanced are “not to be considered as a mere expression of individual opinion, but that many members of Convocation have signified that they would willingly, if an opportunity were offered them, co-operate in carrying out the principles " therein embodied. And hence we are led to expect that the Board of Heads of Houses being assured of active co-operation in the lower House, will not long hesitate to propose some rigorous and efficient

measure.

Our limits will not allow us to enter here on any comparison of the two plans suggested in these pamphlets. Suffice it to say, that they both embody the very important principle, of the propriety of which the reflection of the long vacation seems to have convinced all, that no plan of Professorial instruction is to be admitted in the University which does not maintain in their integrity both the Tutoral system and the present course of Classical and Mathematical study required from candidates for honours at the B.A. degree. And those who wish to see how the present system in both these respects may be not only completely retained, but much more fully developed with the co-operation of an able and active body of Professors, must consult the pamphlets themselves. Both pamphlets maintain that whatever distinctly Professional instruction is to be given to Lawyers and Theologians and the disciples of physical science, must come after the present examination in "Arts." It is plain that any attempt to confound together the time for that preparatory general liberal education in " the Arts" (in the maintenance of which consists the principal excellence of the English Universities), and for that education which is strictly professional, must be

*Hints on the Formation of a Plan for the safe and effectual Revival of the Professorial System in Oxford, addressed to the Rev. the Warden of New Col. lege, by a Resident Member of Convocation.

+ Considerations of a Plan for combining the Professorial System with the System of Public Examinations in Oxford, by a Tutor of a College.

most injurious to both. Preparatory education, if it is made professional, must cease to be liberal; and professional education, if it be general, will fail of its whole object, to teach men the particular business of their calling. It is plain, then, that the University must still continue to devote the first three years to preparatory education, and give every encouragement to those who wish it to seek the other afterwards. It is difficult to say for which of these two branches of a full academical course the general want of able and constant Professorial lectures is most sensibly felt. Still we must not forget, as has been suggested in a third pamphlet, to which we shall again allude, that "the Arts at all times demand our chief care in this place, as being its essential distinction, and the foundation of all that is most valuable in our system; and we must be therefore the more careful, as we enlarge our studies in other directions, to maintain them in their just supremacy. The Professors in Arts have accordingly, in every point of view, the first claim on our attention."

One other point has been distinctly treated of in the publications of this Term: the means by which the Professors are to be paid. It is plain that, unless Professorships are at least 6007. or 700l. a-year in value, they never can be held by men of eminence, who have no other occupation. The writer of the first pamphlet of Michaelmas Term endeavours to prove, by a calculation, that a fund perfectly adequate might be raised by allowing reasonable fees to be exacted, and suggests a plan borrowed from the Prussian Universities, by which the fees might conveniently be collected and distributed. And it has been suggested by the third pamphlet above-mentioned, that Parliament should be petitioned to attach Stalls at Christ Church to some of the Professorships in Arts. It is plain, that in the want of adequate funds for the endowment of a sufficient number of Professorships, lies the great difficulty of the whole question; and we earnestly recommend it to all well-wishers to the cause of Education to endeavour to suggest some means for the completely satisfactory solution of this problem.

And now we are reluctantly compelled to leave this important subject, trusting to be able to renew our narrative at some future time, by announcing that a rigorously efficient measure has been proposed by the Board of Heads of Houses, and has received the sanction of Convocation; and, in the meantime, we would earnestly call to this subject the thoughtful attention of all well-wishers to improvement in both our Universities; for we feel perfectly convinced that, without a thorough revival of the Professorial system, the Universities cannot even adequately provide for the instruction of their own members, still less

discharge the deep obligation under which they lie to the Church, to assume and maintain their proper place in the kingdom, as the centres of all National Education.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE PENITENTIARY OF LA ROQUETTE,

FOR THE REFORMATION OF JUVENILE OFFENDERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE SEINE.

[merged small][graphic]

DURING a recent visit to Paris, I inspected with much interest a Penitentiary for the reform of young offenders of the Department of the Seine, established of late years by the French Government. The circumstance of residing in the neighbourhood of a similar Institution, of which I hope the Isle of Wight will have every reason to be proud, was an additional inducement to me to endeavour to make myself acquainted with the management of this establishment, of which the following is a short account. It is compiled partly from my own notes made on the

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »