It will be readily admitted, that a degree conferred by an
university, ought to be a pledge to the public that he who holds
it possesses a certain quantity of knowledge. The progress of
society has rendered knowledge far more various in its kinds than
it used to be; and to meet this variety in the tastes and
inclinations of those who come to us for instruction, we have,
besides the regular lectures to which all must attend, other
sources of information from whence the students may acquire sound
and varied knowledge in the numerous lectures on chemistry,
geology, botany, history, &c. It is at present a matter of
option with the student, which, and how many of these courses he
shall attend, and such it should still remain. All that it would
be necessary to add would be, that previously to taking his
degree, each person should be examined by those Professors, whose
lectures he had attended. The pupils should then be arranged in
two classes, according to their merits, and the names included in
these classes should be printed. I would then propose that no
young man, except his name was found amongst the "List of
Honours," should be allowed to take his degree, unless he had
been placed in the first class of some one at least of the
courses given by the professors. But it should still be
imperative upon the student to possess such mathematical
knowledge as we usually require. If he had attained the first
rank in several of these examinations, it is obvious that we
should run no hazard in a little relaxing: the strictness of his
mathematical trial.

If it should be thought preferable, the sciences might be
grouped, and the following subjects be taken together:--