The following Extracts from the Reports of the Examiners will show the character of the Examination, and may be useful guides to future Candidates.

Mathematics.-Rev. Canon Heaviside, M.A.

The marks that I herewith transmit will express the result of my part of the Mathematical Examination for admission to Woolwich, just concluded, better than any remarks I can offer; more especially as I append to my Report my usual statistical comparison between this last Examination and the one that preceded it. In Section I. marks of the July Examination are not so favourable as those of the January Examination; in Section II. and in Mixed Mathematics, there is an improvement in July. On a comparison of the marks of July and January, 1867, it will be seen that in Section I. the average has fallen from 441.8 to 421 0. In January, 24 Candidates obtained 600 marks and upwards; in July, 22 Candidates reached that standard; but the average has been principally reduced by the Candidates at the lower end of the scale, in January, 10 Candidates, in July, 16 Candidates, fell short of 200 marks. Whilst the average marks of Section I. have thus declined from the average of January, it is satisfactory to find that the marks of Section II. and Mixed Mathematics have been raised on the average very considerably; in January this average was 119 8, in July it is 185 7. In the Mixed Mathematics I was much impressed with the improvement of the Candidates on this occasion. The remarks I have made in previous Reports as to the unsatisfactory manner in which mechanical questions were treated by the Candidates, do not apply in anything like the same degree to this Examination; at least there are indications that many had been led on to these subjects in a legitimate course of reading, and not, as I have so often observed, forced forwards before they had made good their foundations. Possibly the notice that the Council has given affecting the counting of the marks on this subject, at future Examinations, may have already induced more care and attention to the elementary subjects of Mixed Mathematics. Whatever the cause, however, I gladly call attention to the result. I still think that very few of the Candidates take up the Differential and Integral Calculus with advantage, and it would be better for the greater number of those who make attempts at answering questions on the subject, if they devoted their time to a more complete mastery of Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry, before they ventured on a course of reading for which their previous studies have not qualified them.

COMPARISON OF THE EXAMINATIONS OF JANUARY 1867, AND JULY 1867.

Mathematics. Rev. W. N. Griffin, M.A.

I subjoin a comparison of some results in this Examination with those in six preceding Examinations, as far as I have had part in them—

In the Examinations held in

{

July Jan. July | Jan. | July | Jan. July 1864. 1865. 1865. 1866. 1866. 1867. 1867.

The number of Candidates was 116 122 114 123 129 125
And of these Candidates, in

123

There is very little variation, it will be observed, in the numbers of the Candidates who present themselves at this Examination, and, to speak of them as a whole, their Mathematical attainments have a similar uniformity. The standard of qualification is now so well understood that few Candidates come forward without fair preparation, and the number of those who gain very high marks does not increase.

The last Report of the Council upon the Examination for admission to Woolwich, recommended that a minimum for counting should be placed on the subjects of Section II. and the Mixed Mathematics. The announcement would appear to have had its effect in increasing the number of Candidates who gain good marks in these subjects, and in lessening the number of those who send in papers on matter which they are quite unqualified to attempt. It may be inferred that students have been made less eager to open these higher subjects unless they have expected to reach a fair advancement in them. Whether the time thus abstracted produces a decline of excellence in Section I, is a result which must be traced by comparing several successive examinations. I think that on the present occasion there are instances where Candidates have been tempted to read their higher subjects disproportionately with their lower ones. It may be hoped, however, that this error will not extend itself, because experience shows that it is Section I. wherein Candidates gain their mathematical marks with the greatest ease and certainty, and as they are also looking forward to gain credit in the Royal Military Academy, as well as at their entrance, they

are aware that accuracy in computation, and readiness in Geometry and Mensuration, will be constantly required in the studies in which they expect to be employed.

Classics. Rev. George Rawlinson, M.A.

The impression, which the last Examination for entrance at Woolwich made upon me, has been confirmed and deepened by the present one. While the number of the Candidates who present themselves for Examination in Classics, and the quality of the work obtained from the ordinary run of the Candidates is about stationary, there is, I am convinced, a considerable falling off in the work sent in by the better class of Candidates. The falling off is especially in Latin, and is particularly observable in the prose composition. Of the 44 who on the recent occasion attempted more than a line or two of the Latin prose, there were only six who produced Latin that was free from grammatical error. The critical questions were generally answered fairly; but most of the translations, especially those of the passage from Propertius, were bad.

On the other hand I must observe that, with regard to the best Candidates of all, there is no falling off. Three of the Candidates produced very fair Greek Iambics, and about the same number wrote Latin prose that was moderately good. Some of the translations into English were extremely creditable. It will be found that the best Candidates have obtained quite as high marks in Classics as usual.

Latin.-Rev. O. Gordon, B.D.

This paper is certainly not above the average, and the number of failures is larger than usual among Candidates for Woolwich. Some few men have, however, done their work in a very satisfactory manner, but it is not to the credit of their teachers, that, though the first passage is from so common a work as "Cicero's Offices," not one Candidate has translated it so as to give the full sense of it, though several have avoided any grammatical error. The composition, as usual, is worth little, with a few exceptions.

Greek.-Rev. O. Gordon, B.D.

This paper also is of an average quality; but many Candidates have failed to reach the minimum. I have looked at the papers of these Candidates very carefully again, with the hope of being able to reduce their number, and have given them the full advantage of the slightest show of knowledge

Some Candidates have done the Greek paper better than the Latin, which is not often the case when the passages are taken from the Poets.

C

On the other hand it should be noted that, though the second passage is from the first book of the "Iliad," hardly a Candidate has translated it correctly.

English Language.-W. Stebbing, Esq., M.A.

I do not think the Candidates' composition on this occasion particularly good; but my questions on Grammar have been answered satisfactorily.

History.-W. Stebbing, Esq., M.A.

The average quality of the work in English History seems to me rather below that of some recent examinations. But several questions which require the display of a certain amount of thought, as well as knowledge of facts, have been answered fairly by many of the Candidates.

Geography.-W. Stebbing, Esq., M.A.

The answers in Geography are tolerably full, although disfigured by the usual proportion of absurd mistakes. Several very fair maps of the Spanish Peninsula and the West Indies have been shown up.

English, History, and Geography—G. W. Dasent, Esq., D.C.L.

This Examination, so far as my observation goes, is a satisfactory one. The number of Candidates who chose the subjects in which I examine was perhaps rather less than usual, but the amount of work done by those Candidates was unusually great.

In English and Geography, as a rule, the questions were well answered, and there were few cases of downright ignorance.

In History, which still remains the favourite subject, out of the whole number examined only four or five failed to gain a fair amount of marks, while many of the exercises showed great knowledge.

French.-Monsieur Esquiros.

I do not know whether, since the last Examination, more care and practice have been bestowed in the English schools upon writing an essay in French; but a good many Candidates have embodied this time a few personal thoughts and shaped their recollection of facts and places into something like an interesting and lively description. Unfortunately some good qualities, as readiness and familiarity with the French vocabulary, are too often choked by the multitude of mistakes which like weeds are suffered to grow among them. Such defects which destroy in many cases, and impair in all, the best abilities could, in my judgment, be avoided by a greater attention being paid to the work. Be that as it may, fluency