There is another point however to be taken on the subject of hour examinations, and this, since there is no immediate probability of their being abolished, if only heeded, will render them far less objectionable-we refer to their length. It is common to set a paper that ostensibly will take a man the full hour to answer, but which in reality it is impossible for him to finish in the allotted time. This of course brings buried work, and, in most cases, correspondingly poor work. Especially is this true in the examinations on languages. A man is given a piece to translate which he has only time to render into awkward and rough English, and which is therefore of no possible advantage to him as an exercise. Now if more care and judgment were used, all this might be avoided, and we should at least be spared the trouble of having to go over a paper at break-neck speed, in addition to enduring all that makes such an examination most undesirable.
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Communications.
