The following Report on the general state of the College was presented by the Council to the Annual General Court of Governors and Proprietors, held on the 20th of April, 1850, His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Chair.

THE Council of King's College, London, in presenting their Nineteenth Annual Report, once more congratulate the Court of Proprietors on the results of a system of education, which the experience of twenty years has shown to be as successful in its practical application, as it was sound and comprehensive in its design.

The number of Students during Lent Term was as follows, care being taken, as usual, that the name of no Student, although he may be attending several distinct classes, should be reckoned more than once.

To these must be added for the first time

The Military Department

20

937

Whilst these were the numbers during the Lent Term taken alone, the Council annex an account of the aggregate number of those who have attended the College during the year which has elapsed since the last General Court.

Matriculated Students:

Theological Department and the
Preparatory Class

General Literature Department.

Applied Sciences .

Military Department

the}

87

190

66

32

The THEOLOGICAL Department appears already to realize the expectations which led to its foundation. Fifty-four Students, in the space of two years, have obtained the Principal's Certificate; and most of them, having received Holy Orders, are now discharging their sacred functions in different Dio

ceses.

When it is remembered how large a proportion of these well-trained men would, but for the facilities afforded by the College, have been lost to the ministry of the Church, the importance of this branch of the Institution cannot be called in question. It is satisfactory also to observe, that the average supply of new Students is sufficient to fill up the vacancies occasioned by the departure of the Theological Associates.

The Preparatory Class, established for the benefit of Candidates for entrance into the Theological Department, is found to be extremely useful. The training lasts for one or more terms, according to the wants of individuals. Some of those

Students, who commenced the study of Greek and Latin in this class, have been admitted, after a creditable examination, into the Theological Department, properly so called.

The Council have made provision for two branches of instruction, which although not hitherto considered indispensable to the training of Theological Students, appear likely to further the efficient discharge of their ministerial and parochial duties; and which were not lost sight of in the original scheme for the foundation of this department.

The first of these measures is the appointment of a Lecturer in Public Reading. It is superfluous to say much on the value of good, clear, unaffected reading, when applied not only to the delivery of a sermon, but to the due performance of Divine Service in all its parts. The beauty of the Liturgy of the Church of England, and even the sense of Holy Scripture itself, are too often obscured, if not desecrated, by indistinct and inarticulate reading; while it not unfrequently happens that a sermon, excellent in respect of doctrine, of reasoning, and of composition, fails to reach the hearts, or even the ears, of the congregation, for want of a little attention to the merely physical management of the voice and lungs. Nor is it unimportant to add that the health, and consequently the usefulness, of many of the Clergy in large parishes is sacrificed to disregard or ignorance of the simplest elementary rules on this subject. The Council have the satisfaction of announcing that they have intrusted this new and important office to the Rev. A. S. Thelwall-a gentleman thoroughly qualified by his scientific investigation of the subject, and by his long experience, to take the lead in a path hitherto comparatively untrodden.

The second measure adverted to is the foundation of an annual Course of Lectures on the Physical condition of the poor, with particular reference to its bearing upon the management of a parish. It is now generally admitted, that little progress can be made in the attempt to persuade men to be Christians, so long as their physical condition is degraded below the level of humanity. It seems essential to the full success of the Pastoral office, with respect even to its primary

objects, that the health and outward well-being of the Parishioners should be, in their degree, cared for, as necessary though secondary elements in the cure of souls. The local influence of the Clergy cannot be more beneficially employed, or more surely increased, than in promoting amongst their people habits of cleanliness, decency, and self-respect; in providing a sufficient supply of pure air and water; and in eradicating the seeds of the various forms of disease and wretchedness which lurk in over-crowded, dark, unventilated dwellings. And if attention to these particulars is becoming more and more imperative upon the Parochial Clergy, a knowledge of the principles upon which physical improvement depends can hardly be acquired too early. Such were the considerations which induced the Council to establish this course of lectures, open at a trifling expense to all Students of the College, but especially designed for the gratuitous instruction of Theological Students. Dr. Guy, Professor of Forensic Medicine in the Medical Department, has been appointed to deliver these lectures. During Lent Term the Professor treated of the subjects alluded to above, and he is about to devote the concluding lecture of this most interesting course to a consideration of the measures to which a Clergyman, in the absence of medical advice, can safely have recourse, to meet such emergencies of sudden disease or accident as may easily arise in populous parishes.

The DEPARTMENT of GENERAL LITERATURE and SCIENCE fully maintains its well-merited reputation, both in the College and in the Universities. At Oxford a former Student of King's College was placed in the first Class in Mathematics, and subsequently obtained the University Mathematical Scholarship, open to Bachelors of Arts. Two others have been elected to Scholarships open to the whole University. At Cambridge, a former Student, the first who obtained the Senior Mathematical Scholarship of this College, was this year second Wrangler and second Smith's Prizeman. Four others were in the list of Wranglers, one of whom was also placed in the first Class of the Classical Tripos, and four were amongst the

Senior Optimes. One has been elected a Fellow of Trinity, and another a Fellow of Clare Hall.

The General Court will be gratified to hear, as a proof of the wide-spread reputation and usefulness of this Department of the College, that seven Egyptians, sent by the Pasha of Egypt to be educated in England, have just enrolled themselves as occasional Students in General Literature and Science, with the special object of qualifying themselves for the profession of diplomacy. Mr. Stutzer, Lecturer in Modern History, has taken charge of this class.

Professor Bullock, to the great regret of the Council, having been compelled by the pressure of his judicial functions, to resign the office of Professor of English Law and Jurisprudence, immediate steps will be taken for supplying his place, with a view to the resumption of Lectures on those subjects.

In the DEPARTMENT of the APPLIED SCIENCES the progress of the Students continues satisfactory. The number of occasional Students attending various classes in this Department is much increased; and the diminution which is to a certain extent observable in the number of its matriculated Students, is accounted for by the general depression which, as a natural consequence of the excess of railway speculations, still affects the profession of engineering, but which may before long be expected to pass away. The Council have learnt with great satisfaction that several former Students of this Department are employed in various situations of trust, some of them not connected in any way with engineering. Experience has indeed shown, that the course of education prescribed in the Department of Applied Sciences is admirably calculated to fit men for many important practical pursuits, without reference to any profession in particular; and it is understood that many of the Students have entered the Department with a view to these general objects, and without any intention of becoming engineers.

The office of Curator of the Museum of George III., which Mr. J. E. Cock retains, has been separated from that of Superintendent of the Workshop, which the state of his health has