some of the _Evangelicals_, that nothing can
be done to improve the state of morality in the Universities so
long as the present Church system continues.--_Ibid._, p. 348.

EXAMINATION. An inquiry into the acquisitions of the students, in
_colleges_ and _seminaries of learning_, by questioning them in
literature and the sciences, and by hearing their
recitals.--_Webster_.

In all colleges candidates for entrance are required to be able to
pass an examination in certain branches of study before they can
be admitted. The students are generally examined, in most
colleges, at the close of each term.

In the revised laws of Harvard College, printed in the year 1790,
was one for the purpose of introducing examinations, the first
part of which is as follows: "To animate the students in the
pursuit of literary merit and fame, and to excite in their breasts
a noble spirit of emulation, there shall be annually a public
examination, in the presence of a joint committee of the
Corporation and Overseers, and such other gentlemen as may be
inclined to attend it." It then proceeds to enumerate the times
and text-books for each class, and closes by stating, that,
"should any student neglect or refuse to attend such examination,
he shall be liable to be fined a sum not exceeding twenty
shillings, or to be admonished or suspended." Great discontent was
immediately evinced by the students at this regulation, and as it
was not with this understanding that they entered college, they
considered it as an _ex post facto_ law, and therefore not binding
upon them. With these views, in the year 1791, the Senior and
Junior Classes petitioned for exemption from the examination, but
their application was rejected by the Overseers. When this was
declared, some of the students determined to stop the exercises
for that year, if possible. For this purpose they obtained six
hundred grains of tartar emetic, and early on the morning of April
12th, the day on which the examination was to begin, emptied it
into the great cooking boilers in the kitchen. At breakfast, 150
or more students and officers being present, the coffee was
brought on, made with the water from the boilers. Its effects were
soon visible. One after another left the hall, some in a slow,
others in a hurried manner, but all plainly showing that their
situation was by no means a pleasant one. Out of the whole number
there assembled, only four or five escaped without being made
unwel