"It is said that owing to cases where several students in the English universities have broken down under the mental strain produced by their studies, searching investigations are being made into the entire system of instruction and requirements for degrees. If the stolid and hearty English frame cannot bear up under such an intense strain, how can we expect our American youth, with its constitutionally nervous temperament, to endure a long continued and severe course of study? Our burdens are continually growing heavier, owing to the ambitious rivalry between our colleges; will it not soon be found out that everything cannot be taught a man in a course of four years, and that hobby-riders and specialists must abate their claims?"

Thus writes a correspondent to one of our papers. It is gratifying to know that an investigation is being made into the method of instruction and the requirements made upon a student, but much more good would be done were the investigating committee to inquire into the manner of studying and the regularity with which such studies are pursued. From all sides one hears complaints from the students as to the large amount of work required by instructors: lessen the work as much as possible, and still the student complains that it is too much, and cases occur where the health breaks down under the mental pressure. One cause of this can be found to lie, not so much in the quantity of work as in the regularity and systematic way in which it is performed. Many high authorities concur in the opinion that an almost unlimited amount of mental work may be done by the brain provided it is performed at regular hours, and proper care is taken of the body.

The analogy between physical and mental work is alike in many respects. Commence with a small amount, taken regularly and at stated intervals, increasing each day, and at the end of a few weeks one is surprised at the amount done each day and the comparative ease with which it is performed.

In a large per cent of the cases of overwork caused by excessive study, it is found that the exhaustion is not produced by continued systematic work, but by a few weeks, or perhaps days, of hard "grinding" for examinations. The mind, unaccostomed to such work, naturally gives way under the strain of so much knowledge forced into it in such a short time, and forgets usually in as few days as were required to learn it. One can perform ten hours work each day with the brain as readily as with the muscles of the body, provided it is done regularly, and commenced from a small beginning.

We do not expect a man entirely unaccustomed to labor to do a hard day's work, neither can we expect one whose brain has been comparatively inactive to commence suddenly upon ten hours of work each day. Yet this is precisely what many of us are doing, and when our exhausted mind refuses to go further, we complain of the great amount of work laid upon us, and say that no human being could reasonably be expected to do it, forgetting that in most cases the fault lies in ourselves, and our own faithfulness from day to day.

True, there are cases in which the student has a very poor constitution to start with, but, owing to his ambition to excel, studies beyond his powers. To such our remarks cannot apply, but the indisputable fact remains, that were we to perform our work faithfully from day to day, it would seem much easier, and we should see that the fault was not altogether to be laid at the door of our instructors.