President Eliot, in his annual report, gives a very interesting summary of the various steps which the college has pursued in arriving at its present stand with regard to elective studies. Speaking of the studies which are yet required, he says, "The rhetoric, French, or German, and the elementary scientific lectures, are obviously matters which properly belong to the secondary schools; so that these few remaining requirements of the college course are of a temporary and provisional character, retained in college only until the secondary schools deal with them satisfactorily."

This statement, when taken in connection with the late action of the faculty, makes clear beyond doubt what is intended by such action. The chairman of the first committee of Overseers, Joseph Story, contemplated changes in the college curriculum as early as 1825. The growth toward a more free election of studies has steadily progressed since then. And the near future will see the course of study purely elective. The present stand of the faculty has thus been necessarily forced on them by the gradual development of an elective system inaugurated by the first board of overseers.

The change in the course of study only gradually gained recognition and adoption. Professor Ticknor labored long in advancing the system, and Professor Longfellow, holding to his methods, aided the reform as it gradually gained ground. From 1825 to 1839 the system was unceasingly agitated. In 1839 the required classical work was restricted to the freshman class. This was a great advance, and from this time on the system grew more rapidly into favor. In 1841 it was officially announced that the new system of election had greatly improved the scholarship of the students, and additional privileges were allowed. President Sparks was a determined opponent of the elective system, and energetically opposed it. Curtailments in the choice of elective courses followed. Shortly after, a reaction set in, and in 1866 the advance toward free election was inaugurated anew, and has culminated in the action of the faculty which has recently been taken. The college has steadily grown with the enlargement of the curriculum, and each year has shown a steady rise in the scholarship of the students, until last year 77 per cent. of the freshman class received 50 per cent. or over for their year's work. If greater ease is allowed the student by the new regulations, it is compensated for by the elevation of the required percentage.