stimulate them. If this be true of the better students, it is far more so with those of the inferior grades. There is regularly a class of inefficient young men hanging about the skirts of every large institution, who desire the credit of being members, yet are not willing to do the work which the rules of the institution require. Others who are well meaning and faithful in attendance are men tally slow or even sluggish, and need a spe cial treatment. An institution which does not take due care of all these classes and see that they attend faithfully to their duties, only partially fulfils its mission. For these various purposes, it is of prime importance that regular attendance should be secured, and that the professors should know, by rollcall or otherwise, whether the students at tend or not. Many who in the outset are remiss in this respect become constant when they become interested. It is extremely difficult to arouse interest unless attendance in the beginning is compulsory; after a time they will begin to relish that which at first they treated with indifference or even with dislike. There is no doubt an opposing theory in education, which holds that attend ance in the so-called University courses of study in the higher institutions should be voluntary. This method may suffice for a certain class of students. They are the few, the picked men. These need no care, no watching. But the larger number will be occasionally absent or inattentive, yielding to slight indisposition or other plausible but insufficient causes. But as the topics in law are continuous, not one unnecessary absence should occur during the entire course. To borrow a phrase from James Harrington, students " should be driven like wedges," with a regular and unceasing pressure. Some remarks recently made by Sii Fred erick Pollock (the distinguished author of the work on Contracts), who has had great experience in legal education, are well worth quoting. He says : " Education is a difficult art; not the least of the difficulties is to make boys and young men do things which
they would not do of themselves, and of which they cannot at the time understand the value " (Nineteenth Century, February, 1889, p. 289). This thought must not be merely apprehended; it must be firmly grasped and made effective in legal as well as other educational training. It is particularly essential in the New York Law Schools to insist upon actual and regular attendance, since by a rule of court, an attendance in a law school not exceeding a fixed period can serve as a substitute for a corresponding time of clerkship in a law office. The attendance is to be shown by the certificate of the Dean or Warden of the Law School; and this, of course, cannot be conscientiously given without authentic evi dence at his command establishing the fact to be certified. The writer is well aware that other sys tems of legal instruction are warmly advo cated by law instructors of great ability and experience, and pursued with much success. One of these is well described in an article in the first number of this magazine. Much can properly be said in favor of it, particu larly in reference to the superior class of students. But it is not to be forgotten that there exists and always will exist in the pro fession of the law a great and important class of men of average ability, who fill most re spectably and usefully the humbler avenues of professional life. These men must be trained as well as those of superior powers. During the course of their educational train ing they thrive best with daily leadership and constant suggestion and stimulation. While it is not conceded that the alternative method is better for any students, it seems clear that it is inferior to true teaching in its effects upon those of average powers. Again, it is worthy of remark that the methods pursued in the Columbia Law School closely connect themselves with col legiate training. Graduates of the Colleges find substantially the same methods of edu cation in use here to which they have been already accustomed. They traverse the field
