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The student proposes certain questions to the presiding officer of the schools, who then nominates other students to oppose him. The discussion is syllogistical and in Latin and terminates by the presiding officer questioning the respondent, or person who is said to keep the act, and his opponents, and dismissing them with some remarks upon their respective merits.—Brande.

The effect of practice in such matters may be illustrated by the habit of conversing in Latin, which German students do much more readily than English, simply because the former practise it, and hold public disputes in Latin, while the latter have long left off "keeping Acts," as the old public discussions required of candidates for a degree used to be called.—Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 184.

The word was formerly used in Harvard College. In the "Orders of the Overseers," May 6th, 1650, is the following: "Such that expect to proceed Masters of Arts [are ordered] to exhibit their synopsis of acts required by the laws of the College."—Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. I. p. 518.

Nine Bachelors commenced at Cambridge; they were young men of good hope, and performed their acts so as to give good proof of their proficiency in the tongues and arts.—Winthrop's Journal, by Mr. Savage, Vol. I. p. 87.

The students of the first classis that have beene these foure years trained up in University learning (for their ripening in the knowledge of the tongues, and arts) and are approved for their manners, as they have kept their publick Acts in former yeares, ourselves being present at them; so have they lately kept two solemn Acts for their Commencement.—New England's First Fruits, in Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. I. p. 245.

But in the succeeding acts … the Latin syllogism seemed to give the most content.—Harvard Register, 1827–28, p. 305.

2. The close of the session at Oxford, when Masters and Doctors complete their degrees, whence the Act Term, or that term in which the act falls. It is always held with great solemnity. At Cambridge, and in American colleges, it is called Commencement. In this sense Mather uses it.

They that were to proceed Bachelors, held their Act publickly in Cambridge.—Mather's Magnalia, B. 4, pp. 127, 128.

At some times in the universities of England they have no public acts, but give degrees privately and silently.—Letter of Increase Mather, in App. to Pres. Woolsey's Hist. Disc., p. 87.

AD EUNDEM GRADUM. Latin, to the same degree. In American colleges, a Bachelor or Master of one institution was formerly allowed to take the same degree at another, on payment of a certain fee. By this he was admitted to all the privileges of a graduate of his adopted Alma Mater. Ad eundem gradum, to the same degree, were the important words in the formula of admission. A similar custom prevails at present in the English universities.

Persons who have received a degree in any other college or university may, upon proper application, be admitted ad eundem, upon payment of the customary fees to the President.—Laws Union Coll., 1807, p. 47.

Persons who have received a degree in any other university or college may, upon proper application, be admitted ad eundem, upon paying five dollars to the Steward for the President.—Laws of the Univ. in Cam., Mass., 1828.

Persons who have received a degree at any other college may, upon proper application, be admitted ad eundem, upon payment of the customary fee to the President.—Laws Mid. Coll., 1839, p. 24.

The House of Convocation consists both of regents and non-regents, that is, in brief, all masters of arts not honorary, or ad eundems from Cambridge or Dublin, and of course graduates of a higher order.—Oxford Guide, 1847, p. xi.

Fortunately some one recollected that the American Minister was a

D.C.L. of Trinity College, Dublin, members of which are admitted

ad eundem gradum at Cambridge.—Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 112.

ADJOURN. At Bowdoin College, adjourns are the occasional holidays given when a Professor unexpectedly absents himself from recitation.

ADJOURN. At the University of Vermont, this word as a verb is used in the same sense as is the verb BOLT at Williams College; e.g. the students adjourn a recitation, when they leave the recitation-room en masse, despite the Professor.

ADMISSION. The act of admitting a person as a member of a college or university. The requirements for admission are usually a good moral character on the part of the candidate, and that he shall be able to pass a satisfactory examination it certain studies. In some colleges, students are not allowed to enter until they are of a specified age.—Laws Univ. at Cam., Mass., 1848, p. 12. Laws Tale Coll., 1837, p. 8.

The requisitions for entrance at Harvard College in 1650 are given in the following extract. "When any scholar is able to read Tully, or such like classical Latin author, extempore, and make and speak true Latin in verse and prose suo (ut aiunt) Marte, and decline perfectly the paradigms of nouns and verbs in the Greek tongue, then may he be admitted into the College, nor shall any claim admission before such qualifications."—Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. I. p. 515.

ADMITTATUR. Latin; literally, let him be admitted. In the older American colleges, the certificate of admission given to a student upon entering was called an admittatur, from the word with which it began. At Harvard no student was allowed to occupy a room in the College, to receive the instruction there given, or was considered a member thereof, until he had been admitted according to this form.—Laws Harv. Coll., 1798.

Referring to Yale College, President Wholsey remarks on this point: "The earliest known laws of the College belong to the years 1720 and 1726, and are in manuscript; which is explained by the custom that every Freshman, on his admission, was required to write off a copy of them for himself, to which the admittatur of the officers was subscribed."—Hist. Disc, before Grad. Yale Coll., 1850, p. 45.

He travels wearily over in visions the term he is to wait for his initiation into college ways and his admittatur.—Harvard Register, p. 377.

I received my admittatur and returned home, to pass the vacation and procure the college uniform.—New England Magazine, Vol. III. p. 238.

It was not till six months of further trial, that we received our admittatur, so called, and became matriculated.—A Tour through College, 1832, p. 13.

ADMITTO TE AD GRADUM. I admit you to a degree; the first words in the formula used in conferring the honors of college.

The scholar-dress that once arrayed him,

The charm Admitto te ad gradum, With touch of parchment can refine, And make the veriest coxcomb shine, Confer the gift of tongues at once, And fill with sense the vacant dunce. Trumbull's Progress of Dullness, Ed. 1794, Exeter, p. 12.

ADMONISH. In collegiate affairs, to reprove a member of a college for a fault, either publicly or privately; the first step of college discipline. It is followed by of or against; as, to admonish of a fault committed, or against committing a fault.

ADMONITION. Private or public reproof; the first step of college discipline. In Harvard College, both private and public admonition subject the offender to deductions from his rank, and the latter is accompanied in most cases with official notice to his parents or guardian.—See Laws Univ. at Cam., Mass., 1848, p. 21. Laws Yale Coll., 1837, p. 23.

Mr. Flynt, for many years a tutor in Harvard College, thus records an instance of college punishment for stealing poultry:—"November 4th, 1717. Three scholars were publicly admonished for thievery, and one degraded below five in his class, because he had been before publicly admonished for card-playing. They were ordered by the President into the middle of the Hall (while two others, concealers of the theft, were ordered to stand up in their places, and spoken to there). The crime they were charged with was first declared, and then laid open as against the law of God and the House, and they were admonished to consider the nature and tendency of it, with its aggravations; and all, with them, were warned to take heed and regulate themselves, so that they might not be in danger of so doing for the future; and those who consented to the theft were admonished to beware, lest God tear them in pieces, according to the text. They were then fined, and ordered to make restitution twofold for each theft."—Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ., Vol. I. p. 443.

ADOPTED SON. Said of a student in reference to the college of which he is or was a member, the college being styled his alma mater.

There is something in the affection of our Alma Mater which changes the nature of her adopted sons; and let them come from wherever they may, she soon alters them and makes it evident that they belong to the same brood.—Harvard Register, p. 377.

ADVANCE. The lesson which a student prepares for the first time is called the advance, in contradistinction to the review.

Even to save him from perdition,

He cannot get "the advance," forgets "the review." Childe Harvard, p. 13.

ÆGROTAL. Latin, ægrotus, sick. A certificate of illness. Used in the Univ. of Cam., Eng.

A lucky thought; he will get an "ægrotal," or medical certificate of illness.—Household Words, Vol. II. p. 162.

ÆGROTAT. Latin; literally, he is sick. In the English universities, a certificate from a doctor or surgeon, to the effect that a student has been prevented by illness from attending to his college duties, "though, commonly," says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, "the real complaint is much more serious; viz. indisposition of the mind! ægrotat animo magis quam corpore." This state is technically called ægritude, and the person thus affected is said to be æger.—The Etonian, Vol. II. pp. 386, 387.

To prove sickness nothing more is necessary than to send to some medical man for a pill and a draught, and a little bit of paper with ægrotat on it, and the doctor's signature. Some men let themselves down off their horses, and send for an ægrotat on the score of a fall.—Westminster Rev., Am. Ed., Vol. XXXV. p. 235.

During this term I attended another course of Aristotle lectures—but not with any express view to the May examination, which I had no intention of going in to, if it could be helped, and which I eventually escaped by an ægrotat from my physician.—Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 198.

Mr. John Trumbull well describes this state of indisposition in his Progress of Dullness:—

"Then every book, which ought to please,

Stirs up the seeds of dire disease;

Greek spoils his eyes, the print's so fine,

Grown dim with study, and with wine;

Of Tully's Latin much afraid,

Each page he calls the doctor's aid;

While geometry, with lines so crooked,

Sprains all his wits to overlook it.

His sickness puts on every name,

Its cause and uses still the same;

'Tis toothache, colic, gout, or stone,

With phases various as the moon,

But tho' thro' all the body spread,

Still makes its cap'tal seat, the head.

In all diseases, 'tis expected,

The weakest parts be most infected."

Ed. 1794, Part I. p. 8.

ÆGROTAT DEGREE. One who is sick or so indisposed that he cannot attend the Senate-House examination, nor consequently acquire any honor, takes what is termed an Ægrotat degree.—Alma Mater, Vol. II. p. 105.

ALMA MATER, pl. ALMÆ MATRES. Fostering mother; a college or seminary where one is educated. The title was originally given to Oxford and Cambridge, by such as had received their education in either university.

It must give pleasure to the alumni of the College to hear of his good name, as he [Benjamin Woodbridge] was the eldest son of our alma mater.—Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., App., p. 57.

I see the truths I have uttered, in relation to our Almæ Matres, assented to by sundry of their children.—Terræ-Filius, Oxford, p. 41.

ALUMNI, SOCIETY OF. An association composed of the graduates of a particular college. The object of societies of this nature is stated in the following extract from President Hopkins's Address before the Society of Alumni of Williams College, Aug. 16, 1843. "So far as I know, the Society of the Alumni of Williams College was the first association of the kind in this country, certainly the first which acted efficiently, and called forth literary addresses. It was formed September 5, 1821, and the preamble to the constitution then adopted was as follows: 'For the promotion of literature and good fellowship among ourselves, and the better to advance the reputation and interests of our Alma Mater, we the subscribers, graduates of Williams College, form ourselves into a Society.' The first president was Dr. Asa Burbank. The first orator elected was the Hon. Elijah Hunt Mills, a distinguished Senator of the United States. That appointment was not fulfilled. The first oration was delivered in 1823, by the Rev. Dr. Woodbridge, now of Hadley, and was well worthy of the occasion; and since that time the annual oration before the Alumni has seldom failed. … Since this Society was formed, the example has been followed in other institutions, and bids fair to extend to them all. Last year, for the first time, the voice of an Alumnus orator was heard at Harvard and at Yale; and one of these associations, I know, sprung directly from ours. It is but three years since a venerable man attended the meeting of our Alumni, one of those that have been so full of interest, and he said he should go directly home and have such an association formed at the Commencement of his Alma Mater, then about to occur. He did so. That association was formed, and the last year the voice of one of the first scholars and jurists in the nation was heard before them. The present year the Alumni of Dartmouth were addressed for the first time, and the doctrine of Progress was illustrated by the distinguished speaker in more senses than one.[01] Who can tell how great the influence of such associations may become in cherishing kind feeling, in fostering literature, in calling out talent, in leading men to act, not selfishly, but more efficiently for the general cause through particular institutions?"—Pres. Hopkins's Miscellaneous Essays and Discourses, pp. 275–277.

To the same effect also, Mr. Chief Justice Story, who, in his Discourse before the Society of the Alumni of Harvard University, Aug. 23, 1842, says: "We meet to celebrate the first anniversary of the society of all the Alumni of Harvard. We meet without any distinction of sect or party, or of rank or profession, in church or in state, in literature or in science. … Our fellowship is designed to be—as it should be—of the most liberal and comprehensive character, conceived in the spirit of catholic benevolence, asking no creed but the love of letters, seeking no end but the encouragement of learning, and imposing no conditions, which say lead to jealousy or ambitious strife. In short, we meet for peace and for union; to devote one day in the year to academical intercourse and the amenities of scholars."—p. 4.

An Alumni society was formed at Columbia College in the year 1829, and at Rutgers College in 1837. There are also societies of this nature at the College of New Jersey, Princeton; University of Virginia, Charlottesville; and at Columbian College, Washington.

ALUMNUS, pl. ALUMNI. Latin, from alo, to nourish. A pupil; one educated at a seminary or college is called an alumnus of that institution.

A.M. An abbreviation for Artium Magister, Master of Arts. The second degree given by universities and colleges. It is usually written M.A., q.v.

ANALYSIS. In the following passage, the word analysis is used as a verb; the meaning being directly derived from that of the noun of the same orthography.

If any resident Bachelor, Senior, or Junior Sophister shall neglect to analysis in his course, he shall be punished not exceeding ten shillings.—Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ., App., p. 129.

ANNARUGIANS. At Centre College, Kentucky, is a society called the Annarugians, "composed," says a correspondent "of the wildest of the College boys, who, in the most fantastic disguises, are always on hand when a wedding is to take place, and join in a most tremendous Charivari, nor can they be forced to retreat until they have received a due proportion of the sumptuous feast prepared."

APOSTLES. At Cambridge, England, the last twelve on the list of Bachelors of Arts; a degree lower than the [Greek: oi polloi] "Scape-goats of literature, who have at length scrambled through the pales and discipline of the Senate-House, without being plucked, and miraculously obtained the title of A.B."—Gradus ad Cantab.

At Columbian College, D.C., the members of the Faculty are called after the names of the Apostles.

APPLICANT. A diligent student. "This word," says Mr. Pickering, in his Vocabulary, "has been much used at our colleges. The English have the verb to apply, but the noun applicant, in this sense, does not appear to be in use among them. The only Dictionary in which I have found it with this meaning is Entick's, in which it is given under the word applier. Mr. Todd has the term applicant, but it is only in the sense of 'he who applies for anything.' An American reviewer, in his remarks on Mr. Webster's Dictionary, takes notice of the word, observing, that it 'is a mean word'; and then adds, that 'Mr. Webster has not explained it in the most common sense, a hard student.'—Monthly Anthology, Vol. VII. p. 263. A correspondent observes: 'The utmost that can be said of this word among the English is, that perhaps it is occasionally used in conversation; at least, to signify one who asks (or applies) for something.'" At present the word applicant is never used in the sense of a diligent student, the common signification being that given by Mr. Webster, "One who applies; one who makes request; a petitioner."

APPOINTEE. One who receives an appointment at a college exhibition or commencement.

The appointees are writing their pieces.—Scenes and Characters in College, New Haven, 1847, p. 193.

To the gratified appointee—if his ambition for the honor has the intensity it has in some bosoms—the day is the proudest he will ever see.—Ibid., p. 194.

I suspect that a man in the first class of the "Poll" has usually read mathematics to more profit than many of the "appointees," even of the "oration men" at Yale.—Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 382.

He hears it said all about him that the College appointees are for the most part poor dull fellows.—Ibid., p. 389.

APPOINTMENT. In many American colleges, students to whom are assigned a part in the exercises of an exhibition or commencement, are said to receive an appointment. Appointments are given as a reward for superiority in scholarship.

As it regards college, the object of appointments is to incite to study, and promote good scholarship.—Scenes and Characters in College, New Haven, 1847, p. 69.

If e'er ye would take an "appointment" young man, Beware o' the "blade" and "fine fellow," young man! Yale Lit. Mag., Vol. XV. p. 210.

Some have crammed for appointments, and some for degrees. Presentation Day Songs, Yale Coll., June 14, 1854.

See JUNIOR APPOINTMENTS.

APPROBAMUS. Latin; we approve. A certificate, given to a student, testifying of his fitness for the performance of certain duties.

In an account of the exercises at Dartmouth College during the Commencement season in 1774, Dr. Belknap makes use of this word in the following connection: "I attended, with several others, the examination of Joseph Johnson, an Indian, educated in this school, who, with the rest of the New England Indians, are about moving up into the country of the Six Nations, where they have a tract of land fifteen miles square given them. He appeared to be an ingenious, sensible, serious young man; and we gave him an approbamus, of which there is a copy on the next page. After which, at three P.M., he preached in the college hall, and a collection of twenty-seven dollars and a half was made for him. The auditors were agreeably entertained.

"The approbamus is as follows."—Life of Jeremy Belknap, D.D., pp. 71, 72.

APPROBATE. To express approbation of; to manifest a liking, or degree of satisfaction.—Webster.

The cause of this battle every man did allow and approbate.—Hall, Henry VII., Richardson's Dict.

"This word," says Mr. Pickering, "was formerly much used at our colleges instead of the old English verb approve. The students used to speak of having their performances approbated by the instructors. It is also now in common use with our clergy as a sort of technical term, to denote a person who is licensed to preach; they would say, such a one is approbated, that is, licensed to preach. It is also common in New England to say of a person who is licensed by the county courts to sell spirituous liquors, or to keep a public house, that he is approbated; and the term is adopted in the law of Massachusetts on this subject." The word is obsolete in England, is obsolescent at our colleges, and is very seldom heard in the other senses given above.

By the twelfth statute, a student incurs … no penalty by declaiming or attempting to declaim without having his piece previously approbated.—MS. Note to Laws of Harvard College, 1798.

Observe their faces as they enter, and you will perceive some shades there, which, if they are approbated and admitted, will be gone when they come out.—Scenes and Characters in College, New Haven, 1847, p. 18.

How often does the professor whose duty it is to criticise and approbate the pieces for this exhibition wish they were better!—Ibid., p. 195.

I was approbated by the Boston Association, I suspect, as a person well known, but known as an anomaly, and admitted in charity.—Memorial of John S. Popkin, D.D., p. lxxxv.

ASSES' BRIDGE. The fifth proposition of the first book of Euclid is called the Asses' Bridge, or rather "Pons Asinorum," from the difficulty with which many get over it.

The Asses' Bridge in Euclid is not more difficult to be got over, nor the logarithms of Napier so hard to be unravelled, as many of Hoyle's Cases and Propositions.—The Connoisseur, No. LX.

After Mr. Brown had passed us over the "Asses' Bridge," without any serious accident, and conducted us a few steps further into the first book, he dismissed us with many compliments.—Alma Mater, Vol. I. p. 126.

I don't believe he passed the Pons Asinorum without many a halt and a stumble.—Ibid., Vol. I. p. 146.

ASSESSOR. In the English universities, an officer specially appointed to assist the Vice-Chancellor in his court.—Cam. Cal.

AUCTION. At Harvard College, it was until within a few years customary for the members of the Senior Class, previously to leaving college, to bring together in some convenient room all the books, furniture, and movables of any kind which they wished to dispose of, and put them up at public auction. Everything offered was either sold, or, if no bidders could be obtained, given away.

AUDIT. In the University of Cambridge, England, a meeting of the Master and Fellows to examine or audit the college accounts. This is succeeded by a feast, on which occasion is broached the very best ale, for which reason ale of this character is called "audit ale."—Grad. ad Cantab.

This use of the word thirst made me drink an extra bumper of "Audit" that very day at dinner.—Alma Mater, Vol. I. p. 3.

After a few draughts of the Audit, the company disperse.—Ibid. Vol. I. p. 161.

AUTHORITY. "This word," says Mr. Pickering, in his Vocabulary, "is used in some of the States, in speaking collectively of the Professors, &c. of our colleges, to whom the government of these institutions is intrusted."

Every Freshman shall be obliged to do any proper errand or message for the Authority of the College.—Laws Middlebury Coll., 1804, p. 6.

AUTOGRAPH BOOK. It is customary at Yale College for each member of the Senior Class, before the close of his collegiate life, to obtain, in a book prepared for that purpose, the signatures of the President, Professors, Tutors, and of all his classmates, with anything else which they may choose to insert. Opposite the autographs of the college officers are placed engravings of them, so far as they are obtainable; and the whole, bound according to the fancy of each, forms a most valuable collection of agreeable mementos.

When news of his death reached me. I turned to my book of classmate autographs, to see what he had written there, and to read a name unusually dear.—Scenes and Characters in College, New Haven, 1847, p. 201.

AVERAGE BOOK. At Harvard College, a book in which the marks received by each student, for the proper performance of his college duties, are entered; also the deductions from his rank resulting from misconduct. These unequal data are then arranged in a mean proportion, and the result signifies the standing which the student has held for a given period.

In vain the Prex's grave rebuke,

Deductions from the average book. MS. Poem, W.F. Allen, 1848.