And again the Commissioners remark: “In a University so thoroughly imbued with the mathematical spirit, physical study might be expected to assume within its precincts its highest and severest tone, be studied under more abstract forms, with more continual reference to mathematical laws, and therefore with better hope of bringing them one by one under the domain of mathematical investigation than elsewhere.” After calling attention to these statements the Report of the Syndicate then continues:-- “In the scheme of Examination for Honours in the Mathematical Tripos approved by Grace of the Senate on the 2nd of June, 1868, Heat, Electricity and Magnetism, if not introduced for the first time, had a much greater degree of importance assigned to them than at any previous period, and these subjects will henceforth demand a corresponding amount of attention from the candidates for Mathematical Honours. The Syndicate have limited their attention almost entirely to the question of providing public instruction in Heat, Electricity and Magnetism. They recognise the importance and advantage of tutorial instruction in these subjects in the several colleges, but they are also alive to the great impulse given to studies of this kind, and to the large amount of additional training which students may receive through the instruction of a public Professor, and by knowledge gained in a well-appointed laboratory.” “In accordance with these views, and at an early period in their deliberations, they requested the Professors[34] of the University, who are engaged in teaching Mathematical and Physical Science, to confer together upon the present means of teaching Experimental Physics, especially Heat, Electricity and Magnetism, and to inform them how the increased requirements of the University in this respect could be met by them.”