other might no doubt be dispensed with; but it is pretty universally conceded, that an examination is not in itself a decisive test, either of practical -whilst certicompetency or the reverseficates only prove opportunity, but not that it has been rendered available. Where, however, both tests are brought into operation, the chance of an incompetent practitioner passing muster, are considerably diminished.

A recent and very considerable error with respect to medical education in general, is the establishment of a rivalry among teachers, not as to the performance but the neglect of duty, founded on the preposterous principle, that inexperienced and (frequently) idle young men, mostly under age, are the proper persons to select their own preceptors. Every practitioner who conceives himself to be qualified as a teacher, is recognised as a professor. His concientious scruples as to vouching for the presence of those whom he believes to have been absent from his lectures, and for the diligence of such as he knows to have been negligent, are silenced by the reflection, that what he refuses will be granted by another, and that undue strictness on his part, will be contrasted with the lenity of his competitors whilst testimonials of equal (Collegiate) value, are to be procured according to the discretion of the juvenile auditory. Under such circumstances, the interest of the lecturer is continually warring with his duty; and it is needless to remark by which it is most consistent with human nature that he will be actuated in his conduct, if the latter is altogether uncontrolled.

We are convinced, therefore, that in the recognition of medical lecturers, very restricted limits must be assigned to competition; lest it should (as is unfortunately at present the case,) be regulated rather by the facility of procuring the certificate, than by the opportunity of acquiring information. The Board of Trinity College appear to have adopted an eligible medium, by establishing a fair rivalry between the professors in the School of Physic here and in Edinburgh. The certificates of the latter are, under certain limitations, recognised as qualifying for medical degrees in Dublin University.

brity. We are also entirely of opinion, that the Board have judged wisely in looking not to the number of courses, but to the strict attendance on each, as a test of medical education; instead of requiring a mass of certificates, in too many instances little more trust worthy than the vouchers in a servant's discharge.

Were we to propose any alteration in the regulations relative to medical education, it would certainly be an increase of At the same time, hospital attendance. it is to be recollected, that general rules must be adapted to a great variety of cases, and to the circumstances of persons who are, as well to those of persons who are not, otherwise qualified than by the prescribed system of study. Should the latter in any instance prove deficient, there is still a strict examination in reserve, as a check on incompetency. Above all it is to be remembered, that no test can secure practical knowledge, and that the object of degrees and diplo mas is not to coerce the selection of the public, but to constitute an eligible body of practitioners, from among whom they may choose with safety.

This we con

We have already mentioned, that according to the mode which the Board have superadded to the other methods, whereby a medical degree may be obtained, probably nearly one half of the medical studies will be completed during the undergraduate course. sider to be a decided advantage. So far from medical study interfering with that in arts, it contains much that is desirable by the general scholar, whatever his subsequent destination may be. The subjects of Botany and Chemistry, are scarcely less interesting to him than other branches of Natural Philosophy. Physiology, and even Anatomy, possess much that is attractive-and should he perhaps acquire some knowledge of the nature and treatment of disease, such information might prove far from superfluous to a country gentleman, or a parochial clergyman, to which occupations the great portion of collegians devote themselves in after-life. So that were even every undergraduate to act as if about hereafter to enter the medical profession, it would not, we think, present any objection to the intermixture of medical study with that in

Another question presents itself-Is an education in arts indispensable for a physician?

This question we answer like Irishmen, by asking another-Should a phy

on the left of the Vice-chancellor, who opened the convocation by announcing that the cause of their assembling was the admission of his Grace the Duke of Wellington to the office of Chancellor of the University, vacant by the death of Lord Grenville, and to which he had recently been elected by the unanimous voice of the Doctors and Masters of the University in Convocation assembled.

Upon this announcement the Bedels left the room, and immediately returned, followed by the Chancellor elect, habited in his robes of office, who advanced uncovered, to the seat on the right hand of the Vice-Chancellor, the whole Convocation rising upon his entrance. His Grace was accompanied by the following Royal and Noble Persons, who occupied seats at the lower end of the room, and who were present during the whole ceremony-His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, Chancellor of the University of Dublin; His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge; the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Duke of Beaufort; the Earl Talbot; the Earl of Eldon; Viscount Sidmouth; the Bishop of Exeter; Sir Henry Halford; Sir Charles Wetherell.

As soon as the Convocation was reseated, the Bedels deposited their staves of office upon the table, and the ViceChancellor handed the instrument of Election to the Registrar, who having read it aloud, returned it by the hands of the Bedel to be deposited on the table. The oaths of allegiance and supremacy were then taken by the Chancellor elect, before the senior proctor, and immediately after the oath of office was administered to his Grace by the ViceChancellor, the Duke reading the former and responding to the latter in an audible voice and most impressive manner.

The oaths having been taken, the ViceChancellor then delivered into the hands of the Chancellor the instrument of Election, the Statute Book, and the Keys and Seals of Office, at the same time addressing his Grace in a speech which, although concise, was admirably adapted to the occasion, and delivered with great feeling and emphasis. The Vice-Chancellor then solemnly admitted the Chancellor to his high office, and, placing his Grace in the Chair he had himself previously occupied, took his seat on the right hand, and remained uncovered during the continuance of the

ceremony, the Chancellor putting on his cap upon assuming his official seat.

The Public Orator (Dr. Cramer) then advanced, and addressed the new Chancellor in a speech of congratulation, in which, after alluding to the degree of Doctor in Civil Law formerly conferred upon his Grace by Diploma, at the time of the visit of the allied Sovereigns to Oxford, which had already enrolled the Duke among the number of her most distinguished members, he took occasion to revert to his Grace's victorious atchievements over the enemies of his country, nothing doubting but that his efforts in the defence of literature and religion would be attended with equal success; and congratulating the University on the election of a Nobleman, whose high principles, moral courage, and splendid talents, were the best security for her happiness and renown.

To this address the Chancellor replied in a speech which excited the warmest admiration in all present, as well for its pure Latinity, as his Grace's correct and emphatic delivery; and above all, for the high and honourable conservative sentiments that were expressed throughout the whole. His Grace modestly referring to the course of his early education and his career in after life as rendering him unfit to preside over an eminent literary body, but confessing that the same political principles in regard to Church and State, the same respect for the Royal authority, the same love for the Establishment, the same veneration for the laws and institutions of the country, expressed and inculcated by the University over which he had been called on to preside, rendered the office he had that day been invested with as peculiarly grateful to him, and engaging to use his best and most strenuous endeavours to preserve the reputation and the rights of the University unsullied and unimpaired.

At the command of the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor then directed the Bedels to resume their staves of office, and dissolved the Convocation; the members of the Delegacy retiring in the same order they had before observed, to the principal drawing-room, where they had the honour of being severally introduced to their new Chancellor.

In the evening the Delegates had the honour of meeting the same Royal and illustrious personages who had been present at the ceremony, at a splendid entertainment given by the Duke upon the occasion.

The following list of the Oxford Chancellors, from 1552, will be interesting to many of our readers:-1552, Sir John Mason, Knt.; 1556, Cardinal Pole, Archbishop of Canterbury; 1558, Earl of Arundel; 1560, Sir J. Mason, Knt.; 1564, Earl of Leicester; 1588, Lord Chancellor Hatton; 1591, Earl of Dorset; 1608, Bancroft, Aschbishop of Canterbury; 1610, Lord Ellesmere; 1616, Earl of Pembroke; 1630, Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury; 1641, Earl of Pembroke; 1643, Marquis of Hertford; 1648, Earl of Pembroke; 1650, Oliver Cromwell; 1658, Richard Cromwell; 1660, Marquis of Hertford, and Duke of Somerset, restored; 1660, Earl of Clarendon; 1667, Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury; 1669, Duke of Ormond; 1688, Duke of Ormond, grandson of the above; 1715, Earl of Arran; 1759, Earl of Westmorland; 1762, Earl of Lichfield; 1772, Lord North, afterwards Earl of Guilford; 1792, Duke of Portland; 1809, Lord Grenville.

Dr. Clark, V.P., being in the chair. Among the presents was a Proteus Anguinus, offered by Mr. Lunn, with some observations on the history of our knowledge of the animal. Professor Miller communicated a notice of some optical experiments, by which it appeared that the lines seen in the vapour of Bromine and Iodine are identical in position; and that the vapour of Perchloride of Chrome exhibits lines apparently equidistant much closer and fainter than the Bromine lines, but occupying the same part of the spectrum. Mr. Whewell read a memoir "On the Nature of the Truth of the Laws of Motion;" tending to shew that these laws may be demonstrated independently of experiment, so far as their terms go; but that the meaning of the terms must be assigned by a reference to experiment. A general meeting of the Society is called for Monday next, at half-past one o'clock.

KING'S COLLEGE.

The following is the exhibition at King's College, and the names of the successful competitors in the Divinity examination :-Anderdon, Arnott, Beasford, Busk, Capel, Chapman, Christie, Ford, Foster, Grinfield, Hare, Iley, Mathison, Morrice, Pitman, Skirrow, Spinks, Wilson, Winstanley, Wood, Brett, Boddy, Canton, Cotton, Delane, Dowding, Gandel, Girand, Nicholls, Ord, Parrot, Stedman, Winn, Woodthorpe, Hardcastle, Freeman. Juniors :-Brett, jun., Clark, Cumming, Haseltine, Kent, Newdigate, Peppercorne, Poole, Parrot, Wistinghausen, Baghot, Bellis, Bodkin, Cheere, Collins, Debary, Duffort, Dasent, Gant, Raester, Salmon, Stevens, Thompson, Wheeler, Williams, Collins, jun., Kays, Leyton, Murray, Robinson, Severne, Worner, Woodland.

The annual meeting of the society for the election of officers, &c. took place on Thursday, February 13th, at two o'clock.

Doctor Stokes being called to the chair, that portion of the laws of the society which relates to the annual general meeting was read, and the ballot commenced.

The report of the Council on the actual state of the society, and its progress during the past year, was then read by the secretary, and received by the society.

The treasurer gave an account of the state of the finances of the society.

At the close of the ballot the following were declared to be elected officers and

members of Council for the ensuing year:-President-Richard Griffith, esq. Vice-Presidents-Archbishop of Dublin; Lord Chief Baron; The Provost; Colonel Colby; Professor Hamilton. Treasurers-Henry Joy; Rev. Thomas Luby. Secretaries-James Apjohn, esq. M. D.; Rev. H. Lloyd. Council Lieutenant Bordes, R. E.; Maziere Brady, esq.; William Eddington, esq.; William Tighe Hamilton, esq.; John Hart, esq. M.D.; Robert Hutton, esq.; Arthur Jacob, esq. M.D.; John M'Donnell, esq. M. D.; John Nicholson, esq.; Captain Portlock, R. E.; Richard Purdy, esq.; Rev. George S. Smith; A, Smith, esq. M. D.; Whitley Stokes, esq. M.D.; Isaac Weld, esq.

The usual monthly meeting of the society took place at eight o'clock in the

evening of the same day-the Provost in the chair.

A letter from Colonel Colby was read, announcing, on the part of his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, the presentation of a copy of the Ordnance Maps of the County Antrim, in 70 sheets. Specimens of Magnesian limestone, found near Mountrath, Queen's County, were presented to the society by Ă. Smith, esq. M.D.

The Provost then read an address to the society on leaving the chair, in the course of which he gave an analysis of the various papers which had been presented during the past year.

The thanks of the society were given to the Provost, and the meeting then adjourned to the second Wednesday in March.