faithfully, and not been too unpopular among his pupils. Some one in the general assembly was sure to propose a vote of thanks, couched in the most complimentary terms, to the rector and all the officials of the year.

The motion was carried without fail, and embodied formally in a decree. So flattering a proof of merit was not allowed to remain buried in the dusty archives. It was reproduced in more enduring form in stone, and posted, probably where all might read it, in the gymnasium of the college, whose walls were made to serve as a gazette of academic news. The custom was observed from year to year, till the marble slabs spread over a large area of masonry; and as in course of time, by the ravages of war, or the processes of slow decay, the buildings crumbled into ruins, the storied fragments were strewed upon the ground and covered over, till history lost sight of them for ages. But, gradually, one after another reappeared; and, as the ardor of antiquarian research revived at Athens in our own days, a lengthy series was at length pieced together and arranged, extending, though not of course in an unbroken order, from the Macedonian period to the third century of our era. We may gain a clearer insight into the social manners of the times, if we take the trouble to read over one of the decrees as a characteristic member of the series in question. The document is dated from the 8th of the month Boedromion; and the year, as indicated by the Archon's name, belongs probably to the beginning of the first century before our era.

Aphrodisius, the son of Aphrodisius the Azenian, moved;

That whereas the Ephebi of last year sacrificed duly at their matriculation in the Guildhall, by the sacred fire of the City, in the presence of their Rector and the Priests of the People and the Pontiffs, according to the laws and decrees, and conducted the procession in honor of Artemis the Huntress, . and took part in others of like kind, and ran in the customary torch-races, and escorted the statue of Pallas to Phalerum, and helped to bring it back again, and light it on its way in perfect order, and carried Dionysus also from his shrine into the theater in like fashion, and brought a bull worthy of the God at the Dionysiac festival, . . . and took part in all due offerings to our Gods and our Benefactors, as the laws and the decrees ordain; and have been regular in their attendance all the year at the gymnasia, and punctually obeyed their Rector, thinking it of paramount importance to observe discipline, and to study diligently what the People has prescribed; whereas there has been no ground for complaint, but they have kept all the rules made by their Rector and their Tutors, and have attended without fail the lectures of Zenodotus in the Ptolemæum and the Lyceum, as also those of all the other Professors of Philosophy in the Lyceum and Academy; and have mounted guard in good order at the popular assemblies, and have gone out to meet our Roman friends and benefactors on their visits; ... and have given 70 drachmæ, as the law provides, to the proper functionaries to provide the goblet for the Mother of the Gods, and offered another also in the temple at Eleusis; and have marched out under arms to the Athenian frontiers, and made themselves acquainted with the country and the roads, ... and have gone out to Marathon and offered their garlands, and said prayers at the shrine of the heroes who died fighting for their country's freedom; . . . and have gone on shipboard to the feast of Aiantæa, and held boat-races and processions there, and earned the praises of the Salaminians, and the present of a golden crown because of their good discipline and orderly behavior; and whereas they have lived in friendly harmony all the year without a jar, as their Rector wished, and have passed their Examinations in the Senate-house as the law

requires; and being full of honorable ambition and desire to help their Rector in his public spirited endeavors to promote the public good as well as their own credit, they have taken in hand one of the old catapults that was out of gear, and, repairing it at their own expense, have learned once more how to use the engine, the practice of which had been disused for years; and in all other matters have conducted themselves with all propriety, and have provided all that was required for the religious services of their own gymnasia-to show the wish of the Senate and the People to honor them for their merits and obedience to the laws and to their Rector, in their first year of adult life, the Senate is agreed to instruct the Presidents of the next assembly following to lay before the People for approval the Resolution of the Senate to pass an honorary vote in praise of the Ephebi of last year, and to present them with a golden crown for their constant piety and discipline and public spirit, and to compliment their Tutors, their trainer Timon, and the fencing-master Satyrus, and the marksman Nicander, and the bowman Asclepiades, and Calchedon the instructor in the catapults, and the attendants, and to award a crown of leaves to each; and to have the decree engraved by the Secretary for the time being on two pillars of stone, to be placed one in the Market-place, and the second wherever may seem best.

Again, a few days afterward, in a regular assembly in the theater, one of the presidents put to the vote the following resolution of the Senate and the people:

Whereas, the people always has a hearty interest in the training and discipline of the Ephebi, hoping that the rising generation may grow up to be men able to take good care of their fatherland, and has passed laws to require them to gain a knowledge of the country, of the guard-posts and of the frontiers, and to train themselves as soldiers in the use of arms, thanks to which discipline the City has been decked with many glories and imposing trophies; and whereas on this account the People has always chosen a Rector of unblemished character, and accordingly last year Dionysius, the son of Socrates, the Phylasian, had the care of the Ephebi intrusted to him by the People, and duly sacrificed with them at their matriculation, . . . and has trained them worthily, keeping them constantly engaged at the gymnasia, and making them all efficient in their drill, and insisting on decorum, that they should not fail throughout the year in obedience to the Generals, the Tutors, and himself; and whereas he has watched over their habits of order and of self-control, taking them with him to the professors' lectures, and being present always at their courses of instruction, ... and whereas he has also roused their public spirit by teaching them to be good marksmen with the catapult, and accompanied them in their rounds to the guard posts and the frontiers... and has arranged the boat-races in the processions at Munychia ... and also the foot-races in the gymnasia, and the escorts of honor for our Roman friends and allies . . . and reviewed them on parade at the Theseia and Epitaphia. . . and has been vigilant in all cases to maintain their pride, being constant in attendance on them through the year, and has watched over their studies, and ruled them with impartial justice, keeping them in sound health and friendly intercourse, treating them with a father's care-in return for all of which, the Ephebi have presented him with a golden crown and a bronze statue, to show their sense of his character and loving care; and whereas he has passed his accounts as the law requires, the Senate and the People, wishing to show due honor to such Rectors as serve with merit and impartiality, resolve to praise Dionysius, late Rector of the Ephebi of last year, and to present him with a golden crown, and have proclamation made thereof in the great festival of Dionysus, as also at the athletic contests of the Panathenaic and Eleusinian feasts.

In conclusion, we may briefly note:

1. The system of education thus described was under the control of the government throughout.

'The laws and the decrees' were constantly appealed to in the records, not as guaranteeing corporate status, or securing rights of property, but

as organizing and defining all the essentials of the institution. They insisted that a religious influence should be exerted, prescribing even the ritual established by the State; they claimed the right to interfere with the details, to correct and to reward the chief officials. It was a truly national system under government inspection, though largely supplemented by voluntary action.

2. It may surprise us that our information comes almost entirely from the inscriptions, and that ancient writers are all nearly silent on the subject. The later Athenian comedy, indeed, if that were left to us, would probably refer to it in illustration of the social manners of the times. But there was little to attract the literary circles in arrangements so mechanical and formal; there was too much of outward pageantry, and too little of real character evolved. The professorial teaching was a mere excrescence of the system. The Rectors passed so rapidly across the stage that none could stamp any marked impress of his genius on it; and originality must have been cramped by the straight-waistcoat of rigid forms.

3. Strangely enough, our information does not end even with all the complimentary phrases, of which a sample has been given in the foregoing decree. There is specified sometimes the exact number of the members of the college; and more or less lengthy fragments are still left of the muster-rolls, in which the proper names and the nationalities of each are stated. The native born and aliens are distinguished in the dif ferent lists: the varying proportions serve to mark the times when this special type of education rose and fell in popular esteem elsewhere. In the second century of our era, when more than one hundred strangers sometimes matriculated in the same year, only two or three Roman names occur, while the great towns of Asia Minor and the isles of the Ægean are constantly appearing. The Roman character was still too unimaginative and commonplace to prize the varied attractiveness of life at Athens. But the Syrian populations flocked to her, the men of Ascalon and Berytus above all, disguising partially their native names in a Greek dress. It is of special interest to note that at the very time when a new religious influence was spreading from the East, there is so much evidence of fusion between the Greek and the Semitic culture. In the last the Jews played probably no important part; they abounded in all the marts of trade and crowded cities; and, as in the Middle Ages at the schools of Cordova and Bagdad, they may have served to some extent as dragomans between the East and the West. But only a small proportion of such foreign students entered as Ephebi, for the out-college system seemingly was most in favor, and of the multitudes who flocked to Athens, and staid there for long years, by far the most were unattached, choosing their own course of reading and their private tutors, without any check of examinations or degrees. It is time to turn to the character and methods of their studies, and to deal with the larger and the most important sections of our subject.

SCIENCE AND ART INSTRUCTION IN IRELAND.

INSTRUCTION IN SCIENCE AND ART in Ireland is provided in numerous central and provincial institutions, aided by charges on the Consolidated Fund, by direct Parliamentary grants, or out of appropriations made to the Science and Art Department, viz. :-Professorships of natural philosophy, chemistry, botany, geology, and mineralogy, in the Royal Dublin Society, since 1854 transferred to other institutions; School of engineering in Trinity College, instituted in 1840; Chairs of mathematics, phyics, chemistry, and natural sciences, and Departments of engineering and practical science in the Queen's Colleges in Belfast, Cork, and Galway, established in 1849; Model agricultural schools, and the Albert Agricultural Institute at Glasnevin, under the Commissioners of National Education; the Schools of Art, and Schools of Navigation, and Classes of Science, under the Government Science and Art Department; the Royal College of Science for Ireland, the Royal Dublin Society, and other central and provincial schools. The College possesses a valuable Museum.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE FOR IRELAND.

THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, in Dublin, instituted or rather reorganized in 1867, is now in successful operation, with not a large number of students (32 in 1869) in the regular course, and 5,773 in its special and miscellaneous courses delivered in connection, but with an adequate teaching force and a well-defined plan of instruction, as will be seen from the following

PROGRAMME FOR THE SESSION 1869-70.

The Royal College of Science supplies, as far as practicable, a complete course of instruction in science applicable to the industrial arts, especially those which may be classed broadly under the heads of mining, agriculture, engineering, and manufactures, and is intended to aid in the instruction of teachers for the local schools of science.

Under Applied Mathematics is taken the application of Mathematics to those sciences generally included under the head of Mechanics, viz., Statics, Dynamics, Hydrostatics, and Hydrodynamics, as well as to some other branches of Physics.

Under Mechanism is treated only the relations of motion, or the study of machines merely as contrivances for changing one kind of motion into another, apart from any considerations of force.

Under Machinery is treated the application of Mechanics and Mechanism to machines used in the industrial arts.

Chemistry includes both lectures and laboratory practice.

The course of instruction extends over three years, each year being divided into two terms. In the first two years the instruction is general. In the last year it is specialized under the heads of Mining, Agriculture, Engineering, and Manufactures. The scheme of instruction is the following:

Students entering for the associateship are expected to be acquainted with the first two books of Euclid and the elementary rules of Algebra. Some famil 'iarity with the use of the ordinary drawing instruments is very desirable.

In their first and second years they are required to attend all the courses in the subjects appointed for these years. In their third year they are required to attend all those belonging to any one division, as follows:

Third Year.
Division A.-Mining.

Geology, with demonstrations in Paleontology.
Mineralogy and Mining. Assaying und Metallurgy.

Mechanism and Machinery.
Land Surveying.

Students in this Division are required to attend the lectures of the Professor of Geology, with demonstrations in Palæontology; also those of the Professors of Mining and Mineralogy, of Mechanism, and of Land Surveying. The labor. atory instruction will comprise a course of Assaying and Metallurgy.

Geology.
Agricultural Science.

Division B.-Agriculture.

Land Surveying.

Mechanism and Machinery.
Analysis of Soils and Manures.

Students in this Division are required to attend the courses in Geology and Palæontology; also the course of the Professor of Agriculture. They likewise receive instruction in Mechanism and Machinery and in Land Surveying, and also laboratory instruction in the Analysis of Soils and Manures.

Mechanism and Machinery.

Division C.-Engineering.

Mechanical Drawing, Engineering, and Surveying.
Geology and Paleontology.

In this Division the students are required to attend the courses of the Professor of Applied Mathematics, and those of the Professor of Descriptive Geometry in Mechanical Drawing, Engineering, and Land Surveying, also that of the Professor of Geology, with demonstrations in Palæontology.

Division D.-Manufactures.

Applied Mechanics, and Physics.

Applied Chemistry, and Technical Analysis.

Students in this Division are required to attend the lectures of the Professor of Applied Mathematics and of the Professor of Applied Chemistry, and to go through a further course of Practical Chemistry.

The Demonstrator in Palæontology gives instruction, during the second term of the session, to students of the third year. These demonstrations are also open to any student who attends, or has during the preceding session attended, the lectures either of the Professor of Geology, Zoology, or Botany.

A diploma of associateship of the College will be given to students who pass in all the subjects of the first two years, and of any one division of the third year. Students may also enter for the separate courses, and receive certificates after examination. A certificate of attendance in the chemical laboratory is not given for any course less than three months.

The course of instruction in this College is recognized by the Secretary of State for India as qualifying for appointments in the Engineering Department. There are four Royal Scholarships of 501. yearly each, with free education,