Among the changes which have taken place in staff of the Calcutta Mudrissa, is the assumption of his Changes. office of Principal by Dr. A. Sprenger, on the

7th November 1850.

The office of Ameen, which had been vacant ever since the death of Hafiz Ahmud Kubeer, who died at Rampore on the 3rd September 1849, was first offered to Mouluvee Mamlookul Alee, first Professor of Arabic in the Delhie College, but owing to his age and infirmity he declined it. Upon this the Professors of the Calcutta Mudrissa renewed their claims to the vacant post, on the ground that in other branches of the service officers were promoted by seniority, and they intimated that they should consider it a supersession of their rights if a stranger were raised to the office of Ameen. The Council of Education decided that the candidates should be examined, and that he who had passed the best examination, should be appointed. The best answers in the examination were those of Mouluvee Alee Akbur, who had assisted Dr. A. Sprenger in making a catalogue of the Lucknow library, but owing to his youth, and want of experience, he was not selected for the post, and he has since been appointed head Mouluvee of the Agra College. The Ameenship of the Calcutta Mudrissa was conferred on Mouluvee Sudeedooddeen Khan, who was second in success in the examination, and has spent his life in teaching, and had earned the approbation of his superiors whilst head Mouluvee at Agra.

Death has deprived the Mudrissa of the services of Mouluvee Abdoor Ruheem, who had of late years filled the chair of teacher of Government Regulations. He died at an advanced age on the 30th July 1851, after long and faithful service.

Mouluvee Rusheedoon Nubee, third assistant Professor, was compelled by ill-health to visit his home, and he was eight months absent on that account. His duties were performed during his absence by the fourth assistant Professor, who was re-placed by Mouluvee Abdool Ghunee, one of the most distinguished pupils of this Institution.

During the past session certain irregularities occurred in the Mudrissa, which for a short time interfered with the duties of the Institution. It is not deemed necessary to detail the occurrences referred to; the differences have been adjusted, and the College is now in a more healthy and efficient state than it has been for some years past.

The general examination, which is usually held before Ramazan, was this year dispensed with in General Exa- the Oriental department, because the pupils mination. had been admitted only a short time previously, but it was held in the English and Anglo-Arabic departments by Mr. Woodrow, M. A. The report of the examiner is not very favorable, and there is no prospect of improvement with the present staff of teachers, which is quite insufficient.

In April last, the pupils of the English department applied to be permitted to study Persian and Arabic along with English. This application, and the plan of study in future to be followed in the Mudrissa, is still under the consideration of the Council of Education.

Mr. R. C. Raikes, magistrate of Mymensing, had the kindness to point out to the Principal the necessity of the pupils who wish to find employment knowing how to read and write Bengali, and he promised that if the Principal would send a pupil who was well versed in Bengali he would give him employment on trial. He further had the kindness to send to the Principal, on his application, copies of cases and other Bengali papers in use in public offices to enable the pupils to practise deciphering such documents. The Principal has also to thank for similar papers the magistrate of Hooghly; seeing the importance of the study of the Bengali language, the pupils showed much anxiety to acquire it, and in a short time the number rose from 22 to 49.

A great stimulus to the study of the Moohummudan Law has been given by the Sudder Dewani, Mr. B. J. Colvin, the register of that court, having applied to the Principal for a well-qualified Mouluvee for the office of Law Officer at Sarun. The person recommended for the office was Azharool Hak, a pupil of the Hooghly College, and it is gratifying to hear that he is giving satisfaction to his superiors, particularly as the Judge of Sarun is himself wellversed in Moohummudan Law, and therefore fully capable of judging of his merit.

State of the

Libraries.

The books of both the English and Oriental libraries are in good condition, but the English library is infested with white ants, and it is very likely that, some time or other, notwithstanding the vigilance of the librarian, the books will suffer from these insects, unless suitable means are sanctioned for their better preservation.

The two wings of

State of the College Buildings.

the building are in a very bad state; though the roof of the examination hall was repaired only eighteen months ago, it is likely that it will soon come down again, the beams being infested with white ants. The roof of the eastern wing is leaky. The central building is in tolerably good repair.

Report of the Examination of the English and AngloArabic Departments.

The following is Principal Woodrow's report on the English and Anglo-Arabic departments:

"At the request of the Secretary of the Council of Education, I examined the first three classes of the English and Anglo-Arabic departments of the Mudrissa in English literature and mathematics. The report of the examination in 1849-50 prevented me from holding any high expectations of the proficiency of the scholars; while the fact, which was repeatedly represented to me by the masters, that the prescribed course of study had been pursued for only three months, necessarily limited the amount prepared for examination. Being thus carefully forewarned of the state of the studies, both in quantity and quality, I was on the whole gratified with the result.

"The examination was held from half-past six to half-past ten o'clock daily on the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday preceding the Ramazan.

"This department consists of forty-five students and is instructed by Mr. Clinger, assisted by Babu Chooneelal English Department. Goopto and Moonshee Deen Moohummud. First Class." This class consisting of four students was not examined, as they were preparing for the scholarship examination in September. Second Class." This class contains three students and is instructed by Mr. Clinger.

"The course of study comprehends:-One book of Pope's Homer, Pinnock's Catechism of the History of Greece as far as Alexander the Great,-English Grammar,-Geography, general questions of the four quarters and the rudiments of the use of the Globes-Euclid Book I.Arithmetic as far as fractions. They read fairly, but with the usual native pronunciation; were faulty in explaining words and phrases, e. g., they did not know the meaning of ambush,' courser,' tumultuous throng,' &c.; were accurate in vivâ voce spelling, but I forgot to try writing at dictation, which in other classes was found a much better test of orthography. In Grammar they acquitted themselves well. In Geography badly-in History they were ignorant of the dates, imperfect in the events, but knew the positions of the most important places. In Euclid Book I. all failed in the 7th and 24th Propositions; but did the 16th and 47th tolerably. In Arithmetic all were ignorant of fractions and did not work the other questions in a good style. In a question in reduction, I was amused by two of them using the Mahometan divisions of a year; but gave them full marks.

"The three students were so very nearly equal, that I am unable to select any one as the best, and suggest that the decision be left to Mr. Clinger, the master of the class.

Third Class." This class, consisting of 11 students, of whom three were absent, is under Babu Chooneelal Goopto, and was examined in the Azimghur Reader pages 1 to 34; Lennie's Grammar pages 1 to 17; Clift's Geography, the chapter on Asia; and the first four rules of Arithmetic. "The boys could not read well, but were singularly good in vivâ voce spelling and the meaning of words-they did not answer well in Grammar nor in Geography. In the latter I was surprised to find that they knew the position of places on a large map which they used in the class, but were unable to point them out on a small but good map in Arrowsmith's atlas. In arithmetic two did nearly all the questions correctly and three failed completely.

"I consider Bugloor Ruhman, Abdoor Ruhman and Abdoollah the three best.

"The remaining classes in the department were examined by Dr. Sprenger, as Urdu was the principal means of communication. I believe that the third class would have done better had I been able to put the questions in that language.

"This department contains ninety students, and is entirely under the instruction of Mr. Lawler. The course of study Anglo-Arabic ranges from the alphabet to such subjects as GoldDepartment. smith, Watts, Euclid, &c. It is physically impossible that one teacher can do justice to ninety boys differing so widely in their attainments. The Principal, Dr. Sprenger, is fully aware of the fact, and regrets its necessity, but the means of remedy are not in his own hands. In spite of these serious disadvantages, the classes passed a fair examination, which is due, as I am requested to state, to the extra instruction given by Mr. Lawler at his own house and to the gratuitous assistance of Gholam Surwur, the senior scholar in this as well as in the Arabic department.

First Class.-"This class consists of three students, of whom two were absent on leave. The third, Gholam Surwur, labours under many disadvantages. His attention has been devoted to other studies: to Arabic, in which he is the senior scholar in the College; to the subjects for the junior scholarship examination for which he is a candidate; and to the instruction of the junior classes, in which he kindly assists Mr. Lawler. The subjects of the examination were Watts' Improvement of the Mind, vol. I.; Goldsmith's Deserted Village and Traveller; the History of Rome to the defeat of Brennus; Geography; Euclid, 1st four books; Arithmetic as far as decimal fractions and the extraction of the square root.

"Gholam Surwur had used Watts simply as a reading-book, and could answer no questions on the subject; understood Goldsmith tolerably, though puzzled by such expressions as shouldered his crutch'; read with a strong native accent; could spell correctly; in Roman history answered questions on the reigns of the kings well, but beyond that æra imperfectly; in Geography answered tolerably; in Euclid wrote out correctly five from a paper of seven questions, the mistakes being in Euclid II. 13, and in finding the angle of a hexagon by the corollary of Euclid I. 32. His style of writing was bad. In Arithmetic he answered correctly eight questions out of nine.

Second Class." This class contains eleven boys, five of whom had been admitted only six weeks before the examination, and were consequently inferior in some of the subjects, especially Arithmetic.

"The work prepared was:

"The No. 4 Prose Reader, chapters 2nd and 3rd; Gay, the Introduction and six fables; Lennie's Grammar to the end of syntax; Geography, the situation of places in Europe and Asia; Arithmetic as far as division of decimals and the extraction of square roots.

"The majority read with a native pronunciation, but otherwise well; explained fairly various passages; could spell correctly every word in the chapters prepared for examination, but failed, with three exceptions, in writing at dictation a piece taken from another part of the book. The Arithmetic of the older division was good, more than three quarters of the marks in a paper of sixteen questions being obtained by every one; the other division could do hardly anything; the style of writing out was bad. The Geography was done better than Grammar, but neither very well except by Munzoor Ahmed. I select as the three best students "Munzoor Ahmed, Kasim Ali, and Abdoor Ruhman.

Third Class.—“This class consists of ten students, who had been admitted only six weeks before the examination, and consequently had prepared but little. The subjects were: Prose Reader No. 3. Twentyfive of Esop's Fables; Lennie's Grammar to the end of adjective pronouns; Arithmetic to compound addition; writing at dictation.

"The principal defect in reading was the pronunciation; they understood and explained their respective pieces, fairly-and could spell quite correctly all the words in the appointed portion, but utterly failed, with three exceptions, in dictation. Indeed the difference between the spelling vivâ voce and in writing was most remarkable, and shows the necessity of greater practice in the latter, which is undoubtedly the most efficacious manner of teaching the subject. In Arithmetic two did all the questions correctly and four nothing, four did the Grammar well, and the rest did badly. The three best are Abdool Hye, Ahmed and Moula Buksh. The other three divisions were examined by Dr. Sprenger."

English De- The following is Dr. Sprenger's report partment. on a portion of the English department: "The examination of those English classes in which the pupils do not know sufficiently English to express themselves in that language was held by me, and I have now the honor to report to you the result.

"The second division of Chooneelal's class contains seven pupils, who, on an average, may be 15 years old; they were prepared to be examined in Reader No. II., Lennie's Grammar, Clift's Geography, and the Elements of Arithmetic, but in each of these books they only knew a few pages. The Council are no doubt acquainted with the trick which is practised in every bad school: for the examination the pupils are drilled in the first pages of the two or three books which are far above their capacity. To counteract it I laid down at Delhie, in the beginning of the year, how much is to be studied during the term, and what the pupils will be examined in. This plan was adopted by the Government and introduced in all the Colleges of the N. W. Provinces. I beg leave to recommend that a similar course be introduced in the Mudrissa.