One of the events which, beyond question, stimulated intellectual exertions among the undergraduates in the University of Dublin, was the opening of the appointments in the Civil Service of India, and of the Army and Navy Medical Service, to public competition in 1855. A number of the ablest students had a new career opened to them, and they were afforded an opportunity of measuring their attainments with students of similar calibre from Oxford and Cambridge. The course of study was at once widened. Classical studies received an impetus which roused the teachers from their old routine. The English Language and Literature, and Modern History, as well as foreign languages, became important parts of Collegiate education. The heads of the College at once saw the necessity of largely remodelling the instruction given to the undergraduates. The Greek Professorship was very soon separated from the offices which were restricted to Senior Fellows; a Professor was elected from among the Tutors under the same arrangements which had been carried out in the cases of Natural Philosophy and Mathematics. He was enabled to give his entire time to the duties of his chair. Similar arrangements were made as to the Professorships of Geology and of Experimental Physics. A Professor of Arabic and Hindostanee was established, and soon after one of Sanskrit as well. The Professorship of Oratory was virtually changed into one of English Language and Literature. The immediate effect of these changes was at once visible in the great and remarkable success of the Dublin candidates at the open competitions for the Indian Civil Service and the Army Medical Services. In the first seven years, fifty-three succeeded from the Dublin University for the former and twenty-nine for the latter appointments. The new regulations with regard to the study of English Literature which were made in 1855 have produced very widely felt effects in the intellectual life of the University. It was not for the first time that a want of the means of being acquainted with this important branch of knowledge was felt by the students; and in order to remedy it, in October, 1814, during the Provostship of Dr. Thomas Elrington, the Board directed that lectures in the English Language and Literature should be regularly delivered by the assistant to the Professor of Oratory, and elaborate rules were made as to the means of carrying this course into effect, but it seems to have ended in failure; at any rate, during the next forty years there was no public instruction given to the students in this important subject. The plan adopted in 1855 of making History and English Literature a distinct branch, in which honours and medals at the Degree Examination can be obtained, aided by the special prizes which are given for proficiency in these subjects during the Undergraduate Course, has created a widely felt interest among the students, and has eventuated in