ticise the college government, and to give
gross caricatures and exaggerated statements of the mischief done by
this small percentage of students, and then include the entire
academic body in the same general censure. It is generally believed by
those qualified to know that the average morals and good conduct of
the students in college are much better than those of the same number
of young men outside the college community.

The chartered colleges are entitled to confer _degrees_ as a measure
of honor the college wishes to bestow on men and women of merit. This
privilege has been so much abused by some colleges that a little
confusion arises as to the true value and significance of the degrees
conferred. In 1890, there were 8,290 degrees conferred in course or on
examination, and 727 honorary degrees, by 415 colleges and
professional schools.

In the best American colleges, the student completing the classical
course receives the degree of _Bachelor of Arts_ (A. B.)--_bas
chevalier_, a knight of low degree; it signifies "inception in arts."
If the student, after taking his bachelor's degree, pursues for a few
years some literary or scientific study, he may receive the degree of
Master of Arts (A. M.), meaning fitness to teach, a title which began
to be conferred in the twelfth century. These degrees are granted as a
reward of merit, based on examination and general fitness. The degrees
of Doctor of Divinity (D. D.) and Doctor of Laws (LL. D.) are granted
as honorary degrees to men of pre-eminent ability or for conspicuous
services. The student who completes a college course or its
equivalent, and follows it with a professional course in a university,
receives a degree recognizing the fact. Schools of Theology confer the
degree of Bachelor of Divinity (D. B.) Schools of Law, Bachelor of Law
(LL. B.), and Schools of Medicine, Doctor of Medicine (M. D.)

A post-graduate course of study, looking to the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy (Ph. D.), has reference not so much to the professional and
practical side of life as to the original investigation and
exploration of a special subject, with no other immediate aim than the
discovery of truth and a philosophical insight into the same. The
student, before receiving the degree in the best universities, is
required, at the close of his post-graduate work, to write a thesis
which would be regarded as an original contribution to the subject
discussed.

There is no practical uni