Practical Essays by Alexander Bain (best electronic book reader TXT) 📕

marks should be assigned to each subject, and that the place of a candidate should be determined by the sum total of the marks which he has gained. The marks ought, we conceive, to be distributed among the subjects of examination in such a manner that no part of the kingdom, and no class of schools, shall exclusively furnish servants to the East India Company. It would be grossly unjust, for example, to the great academical institutions of England, not to allow skill in Greek and Latin versification to have a considerable share in determining the issue of the competition. Skill in Greek and Latin versification has, indeed, no direct tendency to form a judge, a financier, or a diplomatist. But the youth who does best what all the ablest and most ambitious youths about him are trying to do well will generally prove a superior man; nor can we doubt that an accomplishment by which Fox and Canning, Grenville and Wellesley, Mansfield and Tenterden first distinguished themselves above their fellows, indicates powers of mind, which, properly trained and directed, may do great service to the State. On the other hand, we must remember that in the north of this island the art of metrical composition in the ancient languages is very little cultivated, and that men so eminent as Dugald Stewart, Horner, Jeffrey, and Mackintosh, would probably have been quite unable to write a good copy of Latin alcaics, or to translate ten lines of Shakspeare into Greek iambics. We wish to see such a system of examination established as shall not exclude from the service of the East India Company either a Mackintosh or a Tenterden, either a Canning or a Horner."

[ORIGINAL SCHEME FOR THE INDIA SERVICE.]

Now, reverting to Macaulay's Table of Subjects as above exhibited, I may observe that, till quite recently, no very serious alterations were ever made upon it. The scale of marks, indeed, was altered more than once, and sometimes Sanskrit and Arabic were struck off, and Jurisprudence and Political Economy put in their stead; but, if we except the exclusion of Political Philosophy in 1858, at the desire of the present Lord Derby, from the Moral Science branch, the list remained, till Lord Salisbury's late innovation, to all intents and purposes what it was at the beginning. Here, for instance, is the prescription for 1875:--


MAKES
English Composition 500
History of England, including that of the laws
and constitution 500
English Language and Literature 500
Language, literature, and history of Greece 750
Rome 750
France 375
Germany 375
Italy 375
Mathematics, pure and mixed 1,250
Natural Sciences, that is, (1) chemistry, including
heat; (2) electricity and magnetism; (3) geology
and mineralogy; (4) zoology; (5) botany 1,000

*** The total (1,000) marks may be obtained by
adequate proficiency in any two or more of the five
branches of science included under this head.

Moral Sciences, that is, logic, mental and
moral philosophy 500
Sanskrit, language and literature 500
Arabic, language and literature 500


But Lord Salisbury's changes have been great and sweeping. They are probably in keeping with the restriction of the competitor's age to "over 17 under 19"; but, if so, they serve only to shew all the more conclusively that the restriction is a mistake. A scheme that distributes marks on anything but a rational and intelligent system; a scheme that excludes the Natural History Sciences, mineralogy and Geology, as well as Psychology and Moral Philosophy from its scope altogether; a scheme that prescribes only _Elements_ and _Outlines_ of such important subjects as Natural Science (Chemistry, Electricity and Magnetism, &c.) and Political Economy--stands self-condemned. But, to do it justice, let us produce the Table _in extenso_:--


MAKES

English Composition 300
History of England, including _a period selected_
by the candidate 300
English Literature including _books selected_ by
the candidate 300
Greek 600
Latin 800
French 500
German 500
Italian 400
Mathematics, pure and mixed 1,000
Natural Science, that is, the _Elements_ of any
two of the following Sciences viz.:--
Chemistry, 500; Electricity and Magnetism, 300;
Experimental Laws of Heat and Light, 300;
Mechanical Philosophy, with _Outlines_
of Astronomy, 300.
Logic 300
_Elements_ of Political Economy 300
Sanskrit 500
Arabic 500

Further remarks are reserved for the sequel. Meanwhile,
I give the scheme advocated by myself in the
present Essay:--

GENERAL SCIENCES:--

Mathematics 500
Natural Philosophy