WE have received several complaints of the recent examination in Solid Geometry from members of the Freshman Class; and after careful inspection of the examination paper, we have come to the conclusion that these complaints are by no means groundless. Sixteen questions were given, two of the four easiest of which were to be omitted at option; answers to fourteen were required. And these fourteen are a series of problems and propositions whose solution might well perplex a far wiser mathematician than the average Freshman is supposed to be.

The paper, in fact, appears to have been constructed on the hypothesis that the entire time of the student has been devoted, like that of the tutor, to the contemplation of a single subject. In the years when the elective system is open to the student, such a supposition is not unwarrantable; but the studies of the Freshman year are arranged, if we mistake not, with the purpose of giving the scholar a taste of many branches of study, in order that he may choose his future course with more certainty.

In view of this fact, a good general knowledge of a subject is all that can be expected and fairly demanded of a Freshman. Indeed, it is a question whether a good general knowledge should not be sufficient to carry a man through his entire course, while more remarkable exhibitions of scholarly attainment should be reserved for the honor papers. This Freshman paper in Geometry, however, is a long succession of mathematical puzzles; and we are informed that the scale of marks has been so low that nearly one hundred members of the class are in imminent danger of conditions. We are bound to express our surprise that the number is so small, and to utter a remonstrance against an excess of rigor which can only be explained by the supposition of inexperience on the part of the instructor.