districts of Bengal as the Wrangler. I may here mention that the greater part of the yearly income of the University is derived from fees, and that the principal item in the yearly disbursements is remuneration to examiners.

The students of our colleges are not required to wear academical costume on ordinary occasions. The fact is, the multiplication of vestments is not conducive to comfort in a hot climate. But they appear in full academical costume on the day when degrees are conferred. The regulations for academical costume laid down in the Monthly Calendar contain a curious mixture of the European and Oriental styles of dress. For instance, it is enacted: "That graduates shall wear a European dress with a College cap, or a white chapkan and trousers, with a shawl pugree, and black taz.* They also shall wear gowns and hoods for the several degrees, as described below: For the degree of B.A., a black silk or stuff gown. The hood shall be of black silk or stuff, edged on the inside with a border of dark blue silk." And so on for the other degrees. The costume for the degree of Doctor-in-Law is truly magnificent: "A violet silk gown with blue sleeves. The hood shall be of scarlet silk, with a lining of white satin." The degrees are usually conferred about the middle of March. The University hall is filled with the benches arranged for spectators instead of the little tables used for the purposes of examination. The students about to receive the degrees sit on the two sides of the daïs set apart for the Vice-chancellor and Fellows, clad in their academicals. A few of the front seats in the body of the hall are occupied by European ladies, and perhaps a native Christian lady or two, and behind them are arranged male European spectators, the friends of the candidates, and the graduates of preceding years. At the appointed time the Vice-Chancellor and Fellows enter in procession, and take their seats on the daïs, and the Vice-Chancellor declares the convocation opened. After the degrees are conferred the Vice-Chancellor addresses the meeting. Sir Henry Sumner Maine's polished and eloquent discourses will long be remembered as models of what a University address ought to be.

The zeal with which our students devote themselves to athletic sports varies in different parts of India. In the north-west provinces and the Punjab cricket flourishes in the cold weather. It is also cultivated in Dacca; but the western Bengalees have not as yet displayed much aptitude for it. Gymnastics flourish in the schools and colleges of Bengal, and some of the students attain considerable proficiency in this exercise; but no amount of gymnastics, however much it may develop the muscles, can give the moral and intellectual training of cricket and football. Some of the students take to boating in a mild way. An Oxford or Cambridge rowing man would call their boats tubs.

Numerous debating societies and essay societies exist among the students. Discussions are apt to take a political turn, and much harmless treason is said to be talked at some of these réunions. So precocious is the political instinct in Bergal that boys have been known to undertake the editorship of a paper before passing the Entrance Examination. There is a graduate association composed of some sober heads who exert themselves to keep up a feeling of esprit de corps among the graduates of the University.

The principal defect of the University of Calcutta is one inherent in

* Cap round which the shawl is folded.

its nature, that is, that it is an examining body. The original taint is, of course, ineradicable; but much might be done to diminish its evil effects. If the University were less precise in fixing text-books (often mere manuals) on every subject, greater freedom would be left to lecturers and students. At present a lecturer on history in a college affiliated to the University is depressed by the knowledge that the class take no interest in what he says. He has no motive to exert himself, to consult original authorities, or to put his subject in new lights. The student cares only for what is found within the four corners of his manual; for this alone, he knows, will be of importance in the examination, and upon the result of that depends his success in life. This is demoralising enough to a student whose only object is to "pass;" but when we reflect that the B.A. examination of this University is in one sense also a "class" examination, candidates being arranged in order of merit, it becomes infinitely more serious. The best historical scholar in the view of the Calcutta University is practically the man who can reproduce most of the manual. Strange to say, though Indian students have little or no memory for English poetry, their power of recollecting the very words of a nauseous handbook is something astonishing. The fact is, the University has adopted as its motto-width, not depth, non multum sed multa. It seems to consider all knowledge equally important, for the same man, and at the same time. Accordingly the unfortunate examinees of our Alma Mater are tortured with a bewildering multiplicity of subjects sufficient to confuse the brain. of a Whewell. In fact, examination is here revealed in its most hateful form; those who worship that uncomely goddess (and her votaries seem to be increasing in England) may well turn to her shrine in Calcutta as their intellectual Mecca.

But a vigorous effort has been made of late to diminish the number of subjects, and raise the standard of knowledge required in each, and at the same time to afford a wide field of choice, so that each student may devote himself to his own specialité. Mr. A. W. Croft, the energetic Director of Public Instruction in Lower Bengal, has taken an active part in the movement, and through his exertions, in spite of vigorous opposition from the native members of the Senate, the University is now committed to the principle of this measure. If it should be carried out in the sense and to the extent contemplated by its supporters, a great educational reform will have been effected. It will then be possible for our schools and colleges to give a really liberal education to their pupils. I hope in some future letter to be able to announce that this sanguine anticipation has been fulfilled.

Little fault can be found with the examination for the degree of M.A. The standard must of course be revised some day, but I believe that this examination does even now really encourage genuine study. I only regret that so few proceed to the degree, for it is pretty generally admitted that those who receive it are the only alumni of our University who have any claim to be considered educated men.

UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA.

I KNOW not whether a few words from our University will interest your readers, but I send you this letter to represent it, if you think proper, in the "Spirit of the Universities," which you have intro

duced into your valued magazine, as I think that the land of Boabdil "el Chico" should also raise its voice and join in the literary contest, and show that Granada, in spite of her age, can still place herself side by side with other literary centres. I shall hope, after giving you a short sketch of the original history and establishment of our University, to continue from time to time to inform you more fully of its interior life and the studies pursued.

The history of our University may be called almost ancient, for the institution dates from the year 1236, when Ferdinand III., surnamed the Saint, on gaining Cordova and Seville, transferred to our city the general Arab schools of Cordova, where, from the time of the first caliphs, the studies of mathematics, medicine, and fine arts had been cultivated with much fruit.

It appears to be a disputed point among men of letters where this general school was first installed, but it is currently believed to have been in the Alhambra; and this appears very possible, because astronomical observatories were established in the Albaicin. The foundation of these schools, which served as a beacon of enlightenment for Europe during the middle ages, proves that Arab Spain largely contributed to the civilisation of Christian Spain, and that Granada was the spot where the arts and sciences were gathered together. When, later on, Granada was wrested from the Moors by Ferdinand V. and Isabella, one of their first acts was to order the preservation in this city of all that appertained to science and enlightenment, purging it, however, of all Mahommedan superstitions, and, unfortunately for us, this zeal, in which perchance political reasons had more to do than piety, was the cause of casting to the flames a multitude of valuable Arabic manuscripts, a loss which is deeply deplored in our days by men of letters. Many, however, were saved from destruction and preserved by the learned; but the University proper was not founded until 1531, when the Emperor Charles V., not wishing that Granada should be deficient of the proudest jewel in her crown, obtained from Pope Clement VII. the Bull for its installation. This Bull declared the University of Granada to be ranked as one of the greater Universities, according to it all the privileges and rights granted to the Universities of Paris, Bologna, Salamanca, and Alcala de Henares, founding in it a school of medicine under the supervision of the celebrated Doctor Mellado. Other colleges were then added, viz., Santa Cruz de la Fé, Santa Catalina Martir, and the imperial college, called San Miguel Archangel.

When, in 1768, the Jesuit order was suppressed throughout the Spanish monarchy, by Don Carlos III., it was decided by royal assent and special council to incorporate the literary University of this city and kingdom, and apportion for its use the Colleges of San Pablo de Granada, Santa Catalina Martir, and San Miguel, leaving the rest of the building for extending the archiepiscopal offices of the Curia. The library of the University stands now where formerly stood the College of San Miguel, and the collection of books is very choice and admirably arranged.

The studies pursued at the present day in our University comprise philosophy and the learned professions, pharmacy, medicine, natural and exact sciences, and law, with the addition of a particular school of the Notariado; the usual attendance of students being about seven hundred. Among the studies pursued in this University, medicine has stood preeminent for some years past. This science has been much enhanced and augmented by the arduous labours and teaching of eminent professors,

such as the Señores Coca and Amado Salazar (now deceased), the Maestre San Juan and Señor Creas, who has been lately transferred to the University of Madrid, Lopez Argüeta, Garcia Duarte, and others. The Maestre San Juan has distinguished himself by his anatomical studies, of which he has given us his ripe experience in an excellent work on the subject.

Señor Creas is famous for his surgical operations, and he is the well-known author of several works, particularly one on surgical anatomy. Pharmacy is represented by Don Mariano del Amo, author of an important "Flora Fanerogamica Española," published, in this city, in six bulky volumes. He was formerly senior professor of this University.

Our present senior professor, Don Manuel de Gongora, who conducts the studies of philosophy and science, is renowned for his archæological and geographical studies and for his able work on the prehistoric antiquities of Andalucia (“Antiguedades Prehistoricas de Andalucia"). We also enjoy the privilege of possessing among us, as professor of metaphysics and philosophy, Don Leopoldo Eguilar, the consummate scholar of Spanish literature, who is preparing for the press a glossary of Spanish terms of Arab origin, "Glosario de Voces Españolas de Origen Arabe"; and our professor of Arabic and of Arab literature, Don Francisco Javier Simonet, is at the present moment bringing out a voluminous glossary of Iberic and Latin terms in use among the Arabs and Mozarabes, "Glosario de Voces Ibericas y Latinas usadas entre los Arabes y Muzarabes." He is the author of several published historical and geographical works of the period Arabigo-Hispano.

We have a private college, called Nuestra Señora de las Angustias, founded in 1844, for the study of humanities, by its director, Doctor Don José de Alcaráz y Barreda, which is affiliated to the University, and possesses all the necessary advantages for the four years' study of 'philosophy, as well as the requirements and objects for the study of physics, chemistry, and natural science.

Among the educational establishments worthy of note in this city rank foremost the renowned College del Sacro Monte, the Ecclesiastical Seminary of San Cecilio, the ancient College of San Bartolomé and Santiago, the Provincial Institute, the School of Arts and College of the National Schools, all of which possess rich libraries and are conducted by excellent professors. We also have a College of "Noble Ladies," in which orphans of tender age are received and educated. This college was founded by Don Pedro Castro.

Granada has always merited the renown of being one of the provincial capitals of highest culture and enlightened literary advantages. Its University and colleges and literary societies have formed the minds and characters of men who have distinguished themselves in every branch of science and learning in ancient as well as in modern times, and she preserves to this day her proverbial love for the arts and sciences. And this city, marvellously favoured by nature, hallowed by the traditions, records, and monumental embellishments of so many diverse epochs and interesting events-which, too, has felt the footprints of many races, none of which has passed away without leaving its own trace, record, or tradition for the thoughtful student- -can proudly boast of having been the birthplace of a Suarez, Alonso Cano, Bermudez de Pedraza, Martinez de la Rosa, Burgos, the Marquis de Gerona, and many others whose names are indelibly recorded in the pages of the literary and artistic history of Spain.

CURRENT LITERATURE.