When the elective pamphlet appears next May, there is one addition to its already broad list of electives which we would very much like to see. In almost all of our courses we are obliged to take extensive notes of the instructor's lecture, not only for the purpose of having a synopsis of the work and a guide for outside reading, but also because there are some things which he says which it is impossible to find elsewhere, or, if to be found at all, only after toilsome research. If the disagreeableness of note-taking were the only drawback, we would have little to complain of; but the great trouble is that while industriously taking down some important portion of thought, and are henceforth unable to profit by the instructor's remarks. If, now, there were in our curriculum a voluntary course in stenography, we might be able to acquire this very useful accomplishment of writing in shorthand, without being obliged to go to the great expense and trouble of getting instruction from private teachers Few men, on entering college, are fortunate enough to have acquired the art, and fewer still can take time from their regular courses to learn it, after they have entered.

Of course there is no necessity of making a verbatim report of a lecture, but by taking down quickly the more important portions, we would be able to give better attention to the rest. If a knowledge of short-hand writing were to benefit a man only while in college, few men would take the pains to learn it; but in many professions, especially in the law, it is of the utmost value, and every man who intends to become a lawyer ought to be expert in it An elective such as the one suggested, would undoubtedly be very popular, and we can see no objections which the college authorities could raise against a plan which would benefit such a large number of students,-it is estimated that at least fifty per cent. of Harvard graduates become lawyers,-and the expense of which would be so slight; for it would only be necessary to engage some expert in Boston to come out here and deliver two or three lectures a week.