educative work. But at present examinations are undoubtedly a necessary factor in the process of real learning. Nothing can take their important part, nothing, at least, that is now over the pedagogic horizon.
Theoretically, examinations should be always at unannounced times, thus training the student in continual preparedness and insuring a degree of attention to the daily work which can be obtained in scarcely any other way. This expectation develops the important subconscious habit of "attending to business." It trains, too, in the power of suddenly turning our attention and then of using it to its utmost, mental dynamogeny. This, as President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard University points out, is required frequently in real life,—this power of clearly and vigorously turning our mind to any required topic on demand at an unexpected moment; many occupations depend on such ability.
Oral Examinations. Oral examination is the ideal form of them all. It is generally far more efficient as a means of testing our ignorance or knowledge of a subject than is a written examination. The universal objection to the oral examination is that it requires too much of the
