28 APRIL 1866, Page 2

Mr. Maine has been delivering a remarkable speech before the

Calcutta University in defence of eramming. considers that " to cram" is nothing but to impart knowledge quickly, and be- lieves the crammers are making very important experiments. The science of education is very little understood, and it is quite pos- sible that methods may exist indefinitely •better than those 'nevi employed, and may be discovered by men as deeply interested in finding them as the orammers are. 'Mr. Maine gave apparently no illustrations, 'but it is certain that teachers in general do not understand, theinanense power concentration sometimes imparts. Let a lad, it example, study a foreign tongue in the regular way for six weeks, and he will know very little.; but let him study that only for ten hours a day, reading, writing, and speaking absolutely nothing else, and he will in many cases have mastered many of its vocables and all its machinery. The secret of cramming is to bring the will of the pupil to bear upon the lesson as well as his memory.