useful and efficacious means of extending university influence and the results of modern scholarship.

TRAVELING LIBRARIES.

The University Extension courses of Oxford are locally organized, supported, conducted, and supervised in much the same way as are the local lectures of Cambridge. A few strikingly original features have been added to the system by Oxford. One which deserves special attention is the English "Traveling Library." This ingenious device has been introduced into America in connection with well-regulated systems of University Extension like that now proceeding from the regents of the University of the State of New York and from the State library at Albany. The greatest practical difficulty which Oxford lecturers experienced in provincial towns and rural districts was the lack of good books and easily accessible libraries, And yet the encouragement of private or class reading upon topics suggested by the course is absolutely essential to its educational success. Accordingly, in 1885, the delegacy, or Oxford committee on University Extension, provided choice selections of text-books and standard authorities for the use of the lecturers in connection with their local courses. These books, neatly packed in small, portable cases, are the Oxford traveling libraries. They are duly exhibited to local classes and are placed at their service, under proper regulations, during the entire period of the lecture course. Sometimes, in the case of large classes, extra loan collections of standard books are lent by Oxford, for an additional fee. In towns where there are good circulating libraries a so-called “University Extension table" is sometimes provided for the temporary grouping of books which are of special interest in connection with the lectures then in progress. The University of Oxford endeavors to encourage private reading by offering prizes in books to those students who pass the best local examinations on University Extension work.

THE OXFORD SYLLABUS.

Another excellent feature in the Oxford system is the interleaved syllabus for note taking. It is a great stimulus to an intelligent student attending public lectures to have before him not only a good printed outline of the subject-matter of the lecture, with important dates, names, and quotations, but also, in proper connection, blank pages for noting additional points of particular interest. The student has at once "a set of model notes" and the opportunity for further note taking. The Oxford syllabuses are remarkably suggestive for their skillful display of striking quotations and for their references to good books. Just enough matter is printed to quicken the imagination and to excite interest in further inquiry. The ordinary syllabus of lecture topics is a bare skeleton, as unattractive as dry bones or tables of contents usually are. But the Oxford syllabus is in many cases rounded out with a certain literary substance and has sufficient color to captivate the reader's fancy. It is, so to speak, an illuminated syllabus.

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR EXTENSION STUDENTS.

In order to encourage good work in local extension courses and to give students an opportunity to study for a short time in Oxford, scholarships yielding from $25 to $50 were offered by generous individuals like the Marquis of Ripon, Mr. J. G. Talbot, M. P., the rector of Exeter College, Mr. F. D. Mocatta, the Rev. W. H. Shaw, Miss E. G. Kemp, and others. These scholarships were awarded for English essays on subjects drawn from English literature, English history, natural science, and political economy, including industrial history.

The subjects at one time proposed in history were the following:

(1) A comparison of Edward III and Henry V as conquerors and military leaders; (2) Cromwell and the permanent results of the English rebellion; (3) describe an

English county, its administrative organization and social life in the reign of Edward III.

In literature the following topics were suggested:

(1) Contrast in their general characteristics the literary productiveness of the age of Anne and that of the reign of Queen Victoria. To what causes would you ascribe the differences between them? (2) Compare Milton and Spenser; or Wordsworth and Tennyson.

In political economy the candidate was to discuss the economical and social effects of the introduction and use of machinery.

In science one of the following topics was to be taken:

(1) The effect of minerals and other constituents of the earth's crusts, and the effect of the form of the earth's surface, upon the industries and the distribution of the different races of man in any country. To be illustrated chiefly from Great Britain.

(2) The relation borne by various physical forces to one another.

Each candidate was allowed to write an essay on one subject only, but he might select it from any one of the four groups, history, literature, economics, and science. All competitors were required to have a certificate of attendance upon at least one course of instruction and to have attained "distinction" in the examination in that course. They must also be recommended by their local committee as in all respects suitable candidates for election to a scholarship. The university authorities, however, reserve to themselves the right of admitting any student to competition or of rejecting the name of any candidate. Students elected to scholarships are invited to visit Oxford and attend the summer meeting.

PRESENT METHODS, 1899,

The present aims and methods of Oxford University Extension are clearly stated in the official pamphlet of February, 1899. The delegacy or committee on Oxford University Extension declare it their aim to bring within popular reach opportunities for the higher education, so as to widen English intelligence and enlarge the sympathies. Instruction is still organized by means of local lectures, classes, written exercises, final examinations, and certificates of proficiency. The best books on the subjects of instruction are recommended. Good use is made of public libraries and traveling libraries composed of good selections of literature appropriate to the subject treated. The lecturers who conduct the local work are carefully chosen not only for their knowledge but for their gift of public teaching. They constitute a kind of extension faculty, whose circuit of influence ranges through perhaps 200 towns of England and Wales.

During the session 1897-98 there were no less than 18,212 students attending Oxford University Extension courses. They are given in small towns as well as great. If a community can not afford a full course of twelve lectures, which is the unit of Oxford, shorter courses of six or even less are allowed. The subject of the course is usually selected by a local committee acting in concert with the university delegates. The favorite subjects are drawn from ancient and modern literature, history, science, political economy, and art. The lectures are given at weekly intervals when there is a full course of twelve; but at fortnightly intervals when there is a half course of six lectures. This method gives time for students to read in connection with the lecture and to prepare for the class or conference which follows the ensuing lecture. Questions are still read out or distributed after each lecture to be answered by students at home. The answers are returned to the lecturer by post, and, after having been read and corrected by him, are returned to the writers at their next class meeting. Here criticisms of the papers are publicly given and difficulties are explained.

The final examination is open to students who have attended the lectures and at least two-thirds of the classes, and have written answers to at least two-thirds of the questions set after each lecture. The examination is entirely optional, but is restricted to students who are over 15 years of age. Examinations are often set for short courses, but are credited only by the examiner. So-called “terminal certificates" are given only after a course of twelve lectures. "Sessional certificates" are awarded for a complete session's work, embracing two unit courses of twelve lectures each.

The examiner in England is usually quite distinct from the lecturer and is specially appointed by authority of the university delegates. The examiners are almost always chosen from those who have been recent examiners in the "final schools of the university" and who know what the standards of a " pass examination" and an examination with "distinction" really are. Honors are awarded to extension students in such cases only as would be distinguished at the university. A prize locally instituted is often awarded to that extensioner who is considered by the examiner to be the student of greatest merit.

For the encouragement of continuous and progressive study under the direction of Oxford, local centers now guarantee to provide support for instruction in definite subjects over a period of years. Such towns are recognized as "centers affiliated to the university," and a higher grade of testimonials called "affiliation certificates," or higher certificates of systematic study, are granted in recognition of progressive study or a definite sequence of subjects. Oxford recognizes certificates granted by Cambridge, Victoria University, and the London Society.

A high award for local work is the vice-chancellor's certificate, which is awarded to those who have won a certificate of systematic study and have also passed an examination in (1) arithmetic, (2) Euclid, Books I, II, III, (3) algebra to quadratic equations, inclusive, and (4) Latin, and one of the following languages: Greek, French, German. This certificate is accepted by the education department of the English Government as qualifying the holder to be recognized as an assistant teacher. The education department also gives recognition to holders of University Extension certificates for those who wish to compete in the Queen's scholarship examination in one of the following branches of knowledge: (1) English language and literature, (2) geography, (3) history, (4) languages.

X. LOCAL COLLEGE EXTENSION IN ENGLAND.

In America much is said about the evil of multiplying local colleges. On the part of certain of our educational reformers there seems to be a growing disposition to centralize the higher education in the greater universities and to reduce the colleges to the level of local gymnasia, or preparatory schools. There are some good reasons for favoring this scheme, but on the other hand it should be noted that in England there is at the present time quite a different and more national spirit. There is a marked inclination, if not to decentralize, at least to distribute higher education and to foster the growth of local colleges by a system of affiliation with the great universities. Something can be learned by American educators from a careful study of the origin and rapid increase of local colleges in England, in connection with University Extension. Perhaps by an adaptation of English experience to the American situation a way may be discovered of combining university and college interests in a confederate or federal, if not a national, system of higher education for the whole people.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE.

The beginning of the local college movement in England will be found in the differentiation of University College and King's College from the University of London. This latter university was the institutional result of the successful agita

tion begun in 1825 by Thomas Campbell, Lord Brougham, Joseph Hume, and others, in the interest of nonecclesiastical education. For two centuries or more dissenters, unless willing to commit perjury, had been virtually excluded from university privileges at Oxford and Cambridge.

ENGLISH PROFESSORS IN VIRGINIA.

The men who began agitation for a nonecclesiastical university were friends and correspondents of Thomas Jefferson, who had already matured a scheme for the first secular university in the English-speaking world. Jefferson's friend and agent, Francis Gilmer, went to England in the year 1824 with letters to Thomas Campbell and Lord Brougham and with full knowledge of Jefferson's educational plans for the University of Virginia. These plans were already in print and were well known in England. Whether they influenced Thomas Campbell and Lord Brougham in shaping the University of London is now a matter of conjecture. The coincidence of the two nontheological establishments in England and in Virginia is certainly striking. The close academic connection of the two institutions is evident from the fact that the first professors1 called back to England and to the University of London, or University College, when it was opened in 1828, were George Long, professor of Greek, and Thomas Hewett Key, professor of Latin.

The idea of a possible connection between the University of London and the University of Virginia was first suggested by Mr. William P. Trent in his monograph on English culture in Virginia, published in the Johns Hopkins University Studies, volume 7, page 110. Mr. Trent says some such project as the University of London had been in Campbell's mind since his visit to Germany in 1820, "but it was not brought prominently forward until January 31, 1825, at a dinner given by Brougham." The matter was then pressed warmly by Brougham, Joseph Hume, Dr. Birkbeck, and others, and was brought to a successful issue in 1827. Now, as Campbell had allowed the idea to rest for five years, I do not think it at all improbable that Gilmer's visit, connected as it was with a similar movement in a kindred country, had a great deal to do with giving a fresh impetus to the scheme. Then, too, Gilmer had been thrown into intimate relations with Brougham and Dr. Birkbeck, and probably with Leonard Horner, and had doubtless by his enthusiasm kindled afresh their own natural impulses toward educational work-and these three were prominent among the founders of the London University. Besides there is a striking parallel in the untheological basis of both colleges. It is well known that this latter institution drew back two of the professors whom England had lent to America; but it is more than probable that the connection between the two universities began with Gilmer's visit."

KING'S COLLEGE.

The ecclesiastical spirit in English politics proved too powerful for the new and hopeful institution, although founded by private munificence, in the interest of dissenters and of scientific research. In less than a year after the opening of University College a reactionary sentiment found expression in the institution of King's College (1829) intended to combine with the original plan for teaching languages, mathematics, natural and moral science, history, economics, laws of England, medicine, etc., instruction in "the doctrines of Christianity, as the same are inculcated by the United Church of England and Ireland."

This meant a new religious establishment in the name of university education. So strong did the reactionary sentiment prove that in 1836 University College by a

1 See H. B. Adams on Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia, pp. 116-117, 160-161 (Bureau of Education, Circ. Inf. No. 1, 1888) and W. P. Trent's English Culture in Virginia, Johns Hopkins University Studies, vol. vii.

2 See the article on "Campbell" in the Dictionary of National Biography, and also Beattie's Life of Campbell.

distinct charter was dissociated altogether from the University of London, which was left henceforth high and dry, as a simple examining body with power to give degrees, but without any teaching force, which is the primary function of a real university. King's College, the ecclesiastical institution, now went rejoicing on its established way.

AN EXAMINING UNIVERSITY.

Until the year 1858, it was required that all candidates for degrees in arts, law, or medicine at the University of London should have received their previous training in colleges that were affiliated to the university. Since that time there has been no restriction as to the place of preparation. The University of London has rendered very great service to the cause of higher education in England by encouraging young men who could not afford residence at Oxford or Cambridge to come up for examination, and that without religious tests, before the award of degrees. During a period of fifty years nearly 59,000 candidates appeared for examination; of these, nearly 19,000 matriculated, and nearly 6,500 obtained degrees. Graduates of English middle-class schools are fond of taking the matriculation examination of the University of London and often regard this as their final educational test. The University of London and University College early lent their influence toward the higher education of women (1869), who were first admitted to the London degrees in 1880. Oxford, as we have elsewhere seen, gave a great impulse to University Extension by the institation of local examinations in 1857. Her first academic enterprise outside her own walls was the institution of the College at Bristol, in the year 1876. This was one of the many beginnings of the local college movement in England.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NOTTINGHAM.

In 1874, a resident of Nottingham offered £10,000 for the local endowment of University Extension if the town authorities would erect buildings suitable to the accommodation of university lecturers. Additional money was afterwards secured and the corner stone of University College, Nottingham, was laid 1877. This is said to be the first of the local university colleges arising from the influence of University Extension teaching. The buildings were erected mainly by the corporation, at the cost of about half a million dollars. Together with the Central Free Library, the University College forms the most striking architectural feature of Nottingham.

The institution is well equipped with lecture theaters, laboratories, class rooms, and "common rooms." It is attended by over 2,000 students who live in the city. Many others come from neighboring towns to enjoy these local advantages. There is a flourishing technical school connected with University College and also a Free Public Natural History Museum. The American visitor to Nottingham will be favorably impressed with the Central Free Public Library, which is a People's University in itself. It has a dozen or more free branch libraries and local reading rooms seattered throughout the city. One of them is known as the Children's Free Len ling Library. Thus in its growing municipal family the city of Nottingham provides for every grade of public teaching. An excellent popular history of Nottingham has been written by J. Potter Briscoe, the public librarian, who takes a commendable pride in the educational institutions of his city. A well-known public-spirited citizen of Nottingham is the Rev. Dr. J. B. Paton, one of the principal founders and promoters of the National Home Reading Union of England (suggested by the American Chautauqua). Dr. Paton is also an earnest champion of Evening Continuation Schools, in which recreation, in some measure, is combined with serious study. Although English educationists have laid great stress upon strictly studious work in the evening schools, nevertheless Dr. Paton's idea finds many warm supporters, and in all vacation and summer schools it certainly will continue to be prominent.