THE theory of shortening the examination time is that cramming is thereby prevented and more time given to recitations during the year; and this view of the case does not, at first sight, seem unreasonable. But it is extremely doubtful if shortening the period does prevent cramming. On the contrary, it forces an enormous amount of work into a few days, and leaves the student in a state of mental collapse that effectually prevents any work for some time. Cramming, in the case of a majority of students, is not a hurried effort to get a superficial knowledge of the half-year's work in a day or two, but merely a review of work which has been performed from day to day. Such a review few will attempt to condemn. It is all very well to say that we should do our reviewing in the Christmas vacation or during the year, but it is impossible to perform faithfully regular work and review past work at once. As for vacation, the less said about that the better; vacation is given us presumably for rest, but from the extras forced upon us in more than one course, the vacation is partially, if not wholly, consumed in hard work. In the not unique case where a man has four examinations, one in laboratory work, in three days, it is perfectly evident to an unprejudiced mind that the exhausted student will not do himself justice on the fourth examination. A short extension of the semi-annuals would remove all these evils, and we trust that the examinations in June may not be crowded into a space of time which is out of all proportion to the work that is to be done in it.