of this volume). Then came the suggestion that one of the two degrees ought to be obtainable in three years. No decision has been reached, and perhaps no change will be made; but it is evident that, as has been the case during the last four or five years, the degree will be obtainable in some cases in less than four years. The magnificent courage of the Law and the Medical Schools in prescribing a degree as the condition of entrance puts the whole question on a different footing. Out of the 1,300 students in the Professional and Graduate Schools, 569 have degrees of other colleges and 399 have Harvard degrees, a total of 968 men, of whom many may be presumed to be willing to take a year out of preparation in order to put it into their profession. The main arguments for a three-year degree are, that it is impossible longer to maintain a four years' course between the secondary and professional schools; that improvements both in the secondary and the professional schools tend to squeeze the College out; that a year of professional study is more valuable than a year in college; and that any student who desires a fourth year of liberal study may find it in the Graduate School. The opposing arguments are, that college graduates get none too much education; that the four years' course has experience and success behind it; that the College has the public favor, because its course for the A. B. is the most difficult required anywhere in the country; that, if a three-year degree be adopted, a two-year degree must follow; that in general it is an abandonment of the ground on which the College was founded and still stands.

Admission requirements.

While discussion thus roars about the Senior, the summit of the Harvard pyramid, - the waters begin to eddy about the base of the system, the entrance examinations (a subject mentioned on page 84 of the September number). No report has yet reached the public of the proceedings of the Committee of Eleven which is discussing this subject. It is, however, easy to mention a priori the questions which must be faced by the Committee, and after it by the Faculty, the Corporation, and the Overseers. Shall the Committee propose to add to the sum of the present requirements, or to reduce them, or to leave them substantially where they now are? Shall it ask for additional subjects, or slight additions in present subjects, or simply for better teaching in the present list? Shall there be a different substitute for Greek from that now permitted? Shall there be additional optional subjects? Shall there be a general scientific requirement? Shall any effort be made to bring the entrance requirements into closer harmony with the public high schools of the country? Or shall the College set its standard and expect these schools eventually to conform? Shall any reference be had to

fitting the requirements into the programmes of the Committee of Ten? Shall teachers' certificates be allowed to take the place of examinations in any subjects? These are questions which interest the parent, the teacher, and the member of the Board of Education, quite as much as the college professor or trustee.

In one particular the Faculties have a freedom which is little shared with the other governing bodies. They are now exercising a Outside powerful influence on education in general throughout the influence. country. Harvard instructors sat in most of the conferences instituted in 1893 by that Committee of Ten which was headed by Harvard's president. Harvard is one of the few colleges which systematically tries to understand and aid in solving the problems of the secondary schools. College men are to be found in the educational associations and meetings throughout the country, and in the various technical associations, such as the American Economic Association, Modern Language Association, and American Dialect Society. A conference is shortly to be held to discuss the assistant method, and other ways of handling large classes, in all of which this College has had much experience. The most recent and one of the most important of these educational movements is a series of conferences first suggested by Mr. Wilson Farrand, President of the Schoolmaster's Association of New York and Vicinity, taken up by his Association, and called by President Low of Columbia. Under this initiative six conferences assembled in New York on February 1, each composed of twelve men, six from secondary schools, and a delegate from each of the six Universities, Columbia, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Pennsylvania, and Harvard. Each conference considered some subject for entrance to college, Greek, Latin, French, German, Mathematics, and History, and most of them reported a scheme for a common requirement in that subject. This action is likely to increase the harmony among the colleges, to bring the schools and colleges together, and to improve the teaching of every subject touched. It is another step towards a general national system of education, in the founding of which Harvard will have had an honorable part.

Numbers.

Meanwhile the University is quietly enjoying one of its most prosperous years. The registry is 310 greater than last year, being the largest increase (except in 1891-92) in the history of the University. Adding in the Summer School of 1895, and Radcliffe College, there are or have been 4,420 persons receiving Harvard instruction in this year; a gain of 460 over the similar figures of 1894-95. About 1,150 persons appear to be registered in the University for the first time;

the first-year classes are large in almost all the Schools, — suggesting a healthy growth in the future. In this prosperity most of the other universities share, as may be seen from a table below, based on catalogues cr official statements. The total enrolment of the University of Michigan is never completed till after this date, so that perhaps 200 more persons will be added to that institution in the course of the year.

STUDENT LIFE.

Debating.

Senior Elections. Work of the Memorial Society. - The War Scare. -John Fiske's Lectures. The Chess Tournament. - The French Play. - The Musical Clubs. Carlyle's Centenary. - The Civil Service Reform League. — Notes.

The Senior election of Class Day officers, held Nov. 13, passed off with little excitement. No attempt was made this year to organize the non-society element of the Class in support of an opposition ticket; and as a result all the officers, except the orator, were elected by acclamation. A. H. Brewer and C. Brewer had both declined nominations to offices. The following were elected: Secretary, Henry Randolph Storrs,

of Brookline (Mott Haven Team, '94 and '95, steward of the H. A. A. 'Varsity Mandolin Club, Hasty Pudding Club, editor of the Crimson). First Marshal, John Cummings Fairchild, of Boston (Class President, 'Varsity Football Eleven, Class Crew, member of the Athletic Committee, President of the Hasty Pudding Club, Vice-President of the Institute of 1770). Second Marshal, Edward Henry Fennessey, of Boston ('Varsity Crew, Vice-President of '96 Hasty Pudding Club). Third Marshal, John Richards Bullard, Jr., of Dedham (Captain of the 'Varsity Crew, Hasty Pudding Club). Orator, Harold Ethelbert Addison, of Chicago (President of St. Paul's Society, Vice-President of the Harvard Union, Chairman of the United Religious Societies). Chorister, Frank Bruce Whittemore, of Cambridge (Leader of the 'Varsity Glee Club, Vice-President of the Signet, Hasty Pudding Club). Ivy Orator, Ralph Milbourne Townsend, of Boston (Fresident of the Signet, 'Varsity Crew of '94, Hasty Pudding Club). Poet, Joseph Potter Cotton, Jr., of Newport, R. I. (editor of the Monthly, Librarian of the O. K.). Odist, George Henry Chase, of Lynn (Orator of the Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Eta). Class Day Committee, Edward Winslow Ames, of Chelsea (substitute on the 'Varsity Nine, Pi Eta); Ralph Blake Williams, of Boston (Librarian of the Hasty Pudding Club, steward of the H. A. A., member of the Executive Committee of the Lawn Tennis Association); Madison Gillham Gonterman, Chicago ('Varsity Eleven, Mott Haven Team, Pi Eta, Hasty Pudding Club). Class Committee, Robert Haydock Hallowell, of West Medford ('Varsity Eleven, Secretary of the Hasty Pudding Club, member of the Executive Committee of the Civil Service Reform Club); Isaac William Kingsbury, of Chestnut Hill (President of the Baseball Association, Pi Eta); Alfred Borden, of Fall River (Varsity Eleven, Manager of the 'Varsity Crew of '95, Hasty Pudding Club). Photographic Committee, Andrew Rothwell Sheriff, of Washington, D. C., member of the Executive Committee of the Republican Club, Pi Eta); Raphael Clarke Thomas, of Newton (VicePresident of the 'Varsity Glee Club, director of the Dining Association, President of the Christian Association); William Edward Putnam, Jr., of Brookline (Mott Haven Team, Pi Eta).

At the close of the last College year, several Juniors organized a Harvard Memorial Society with the object of making the past of Harvard a more living reality to the new College generations, as they come and go. At present, students know little about the traditions of the College, of life here in what seems to them the antediluvian period, and of the name and fame of the Harvard men who have gone before. The new Society had no time before College closed to do more than perfect a plan of organization. It draws its active members from the Senior

Class and resident graduates, but confers an honorary membership on prominent graduates throughout the country. The "shingle" of the Society bears an engraving of the original charter of Harvard College, and a seal designed by Prof. Moore. This seal has a cut of the end view of Massachusetts Hall. The Society began its active work this year by arranging the following course of lectures to be given in Sanders Theatre: March 20, Col. T. W. Higginson, '41, "Harvard College in the Forties; March 27, President Eliot, '53, "Harvard College in the Fifties; " April 3, John C. Ropes, '57, "Harvard in the Civil War;' April 10, Moorfield Storey, '66, "Harvard in the Sixties." Committees have been busily engaged unearthing old traditions, planning memorials, and making records of the occupants of College rooms. As a result, the Society has laid out for itself work which it will take several years to accomplish. Three bronze tablets, bearing the name of the building, the date of its erection, and the names of its most distinguished occupants, will be placed on the east end of Massachusetts Hall. The finger of the old sun-dial on this building will be restored. On the sandstone balustrade of Harvard Hall the Society intends to have cut the name of the Hall, the date of its erection, and the dates of the erection and destruction of the two ill-fated Harvard Halls that preceded it. Among other memorials which the Society hopes to provide in the future are a monument in front of Austin Hall, to mark the spot where President Langdon prayed for Prescott and his men on their march to Bunker Hill; a tablet on Wadsworth House; a properly inscribed granite block near Dane Hall, to mark the site of the old church where the College received Washington, and later Andrew Jackson; a tablet marking the spot where the first Harvard man fell in the Revolution. Another and more immediate work will be to mark with suitable transmittenda the College rooms of those graduates who have brought especial fame to Harvard. Of course the chief difficulty is the lack of funds; without money little can be done to carry out this programme. But though necessarily slow, the work of the Society will be of enduring value.

The Venezuelan war scare created no little flurry among the students, who, except in presidential campaign days of torchlight processions, are for the most part oblivious to politics. The Administration had its ardent supporters, and its no less ardent opponents, and with the aid of the morning and evening newspapers, the "approaching war" was fought over and over at breakfast and dinner. The following letter, originating among the students, appeared in the Crimson Dec. 21:

"We as members of Harvard University, recalling the spirit of patriotism manifested by our predecessors on every occasion of need, believe that the present aspect of our foreign affairs is so hostile to our