yield $100,000 was authorized - $25,000 per annum for four years -of which one-half was to be distributed by the Regents among the academies, and the remaining half to be used for the benefit of common schools.

LITERATURE FUND. - The liberal policy of the State, in granting aid to academies, was still further exemplified in founding what has been termed the Literature Fund. The origin of this fund may be traced back to 1790, when the Legislature authorized the Regents of the University to take possession of and lease out certain State lands, and to apply the rents and profits to aid the colleges and academies of the State. In 1813 the Commissioners of the Land Office were directed to sell military and other lands, and to invest the proceeds as a principal sum, whose interest the Regents were authorized to distribute among the academies under their care. The fund received further additions in consequence of an act, passed in 1819, which directed that one-half of all quit-rents and commutations for quit-rents, received by the State, should be appropriated to the increase of the Literature Fund, and the remaining half to the further increase of the School Fund. Furthermore, in 1827, an act was passed conveying to the Literature Fund securities then belonging to the Canal Fund to the amount of $150,000. Up to this time the securities composing the Literature Fund had been held in part by the Comptroller and in part by the Regents; but in 1832 an act was passed transferring all the securities to the custody of the Comptroller, and, since that date, the fund has been managed, as in the case of other funds, by the general financial officer of the State. The following table exhibits the condition of this fund at successive periods:

GROWTH OF THE LITERATURE FUND.

Principal of Literature
Fund...

$132,529 $153,218 $268,164 $269,959 $271,989

The income of this fund was, in early years, distributed in two ways. The part of it in the hands of the Regents was apportioned among the academies in proportion to the number of "classical students" in each. The part in the hands of the Comptroller was appropriated from year to year by the Legislature to such colleges and academies as were able to present sufficiently urgent claims.

From the returns made by the Regents to the Legislature, we learn the manner of distributing what lay within their jurisdiction. In 1794, the sum of £1,500 was distributed among twelve academies, to be applied to the purchase of books and apparatus, and to the education of indigent youth. In 1803, copies of the lately published State map were presented to the academies. In 1817 a general regulation was made that future distributions should be made in proportion to the number of students pursuing the branches of study preparatory to admission to "well-regulated colleges." In 1825, each academy was provided with a thermometer and a raingauge. In the law passed by the Legislature in 1827, and which was championed by John C. Spencer, it was directed that the basis of distribution should be the pupils "who shall have pursued classical studies, or the higher branches of English education, or both." The inclusion of higher branches of English, then first made, was for the purpose of encouraging the academies to form classes for the instruction of teachers of common schools. The Revised Statutes, which went into effect in 1829, required that in making this distribution the Regents should divide the amount to be distributed into eight equal portions corresponding to the eight Senatorial districts; and that each of these should be apportioned among the academies of the district. This plan, although palpably unjust and disapproved by the Board of Regents, was continued to 1847. In that year the Legislature, in making the appropriation as required by the new State Constitution, directed that the income of the Literature Fund be distributed by the Regents among the academies in accordance with the old system, and in disregard of the districts.

In the following table are given the amounts distributed, at intervals, in dividends to academies. The great increase as shown by the table in the amount apportioned in 1840 and subsequently, and which began in 1838, is due to the receipt of the United States Deposit Fund and its dedication to education :

DISTRIBUTION OF THE LITERATURE FUND.

UNITED STATES DEPOSIT FUND. In 1836, the revenue of the United States being in excess of the expenditures, Congress passed an act authorizing the deposit of the surplus with the several States then composing the Union, in proportion to their representation in the Senate and House of Representatives; and on condition that the States should pledge their faith to repay the amounts without interest, when demanded. The amount received by New York was $4,014,520.71. This constitutes the capital of the United States Deposit Fund. The Legislature of New York accepted the deposit on the terms prescribed, and made laws as to the care and disposition of the fund and its revenue: 1. That the total revenue be devoted to education and the diffusion of knowledge. 2. That $110,000 of the annual revenue be appropriated to the support of common schools. 3. That $28,000 be annually transferred to the Literature Fund, to provide dividends to academies under the visitation of the Regents. The statutes directing the mode of distributing the revenue have been frequently modified. By the Constitution of 1846 the Literature Fund was declared to be devoted to education. According to the statutes at present in force, out of the income of the United States Deposit Fund, $25,000 is each year added to the principal of the School Fund; $28,000 is transferred to the revenue of the Literature Fund for dividends to academies; $75,000 is appropriated to the support of common schools; $30,000 is appropriated for the instruction of teachers' classes, and $10,000 for the maintenance of advanced examinations in the academies, and $3,000 for aid to academies for the purchase of books and apparatus.

ACADEMIC EXAMINATIONS.- The Legislature appropriates annually $10,000, to be divided among the academies under the visitation of the Regents. The distribution is directed to be made in proportion to the number of students in each who are pursuing classical or higher English studies; that is, studies that are properly academic. Previous to 1866 the Regents relied on the returns of the academies to determine the number of qualified scholars. At this time they arranged to hold simultaneous written examinations in all the academies under their care, and to grant money in proportion to the number in attendance of those who could undergo this test. The subjects chosen were arithmetic, English grammar, geography and spelling. It was deemed just that only those who could pass a fair and reasonable examination in these subjects were fitted to be classed as academic scholars. The first effect of this test was to reduce the

number of academic scholars from 21,947, claimed in 1865, to less than 6,000. From that point, owing to improved standards of instruction and to the increased attendance in academies, the number has steadily risen until, for the year ending June, 1884, it reached 10,873.

The influence of this practical supervision of the instruction was so salutary, and so much prized by the academies themselves, that the Legislature, in 1877, authorized its extension to advanced studies, and in 1880 made the future distribution of the Literature Fund depend, in part, upon the examinations in these studies. The Regents, in carrying out this branch of their work, laid down two courses of academic study, on the subjects of which they proposed to hold stated examinations. The first of these was intended to form a sufficient preparation for entering college, and was fixed after extended correspondence with college authorities. The other was designed as a course of English studies of a grade equal to the college entrance course. A liberal number of optional branches was arranged in order to meet the varying circumstances of schools in different localities. The candidates are allowed to offer the prescribed subjects in any order and any number, and are credited on the record when each is passed.

The examinations are held three times in the year. Printed questions are sent out, and the candidates, under every essential precaution, are required to write out answers. The papers of those who are claimed to have satisfied the requirements are sent to the office of the Regents where they are reviewed and their sufficiency or insufficiency determined. Appropriate certificates are issued and records kept. The preliminary examinations were begun in 1866, and the advanced examinations in 1878.

The following is a statement of the certificates issued upon these examinations up to and including the academic year, 1883–4.

As the studies in which the foregoing examinations are held compose the subjects in which instruction is given in the academies, a statement of these subjects is here given:

First. Before pupils are considered as fitted to enter upon studies, which are properly academic, and hence to be counted in the apportionment of the Literature Fund, they must have passed the Preliminary Examination, which includes arithmetic, English grammar, geography, reading and spelling, as requisites for the Regents' Preliminary Certificate. Pass-cards are issued on passing in one or more of these subjects, and the preliminary certificate when all are passed.

The advanced examinations are arranged for two courses of study the College Entrance Course, and the Academic Course. In the College Entrance Course, a diploma is granted on the completion of the entire group of subjects given in the fourth column.

In the Academic Course a diploma is granted for algebra (through quadratics), American history, physical geography, physiology, rhetoric and plane geometry, together with eight additional subjects, four to be chosen from group I, and four from group II. In each course a certificate of progress, termed an Intermediate Certificate, is granted, viz.: in the College Entrance Course for algebra (through quadratics), American history and Cæsar's Commentaries, and in the Academic Course for algebra (through quadratics), American history, physical geography, physiology and rhetoric. The substitution of language studies for others in the Academic Course is allowed as follows, viz.: Cæsar's Commentaries and Xenophon's Anabasis for three subjects, Virgil's Eneid, French translation, or German translation, for two subjects, and Sallust's Catiline, Virgil's Eclogues, Cicero's Orations or Homer's Iliad, for one subject; except that for at least two subjects in group I, and two in group II, and for algebra (through quadratics), geometry and American history, no substitution will be allowed. Pass cards are issued to the candidate on passing in one or more of the subjects, and when they show a sufficient number of subjects passed, a claim, including the date of preliminary certificate, must be sent to the Regents' office by the principal, and the certificate or diploma, to which the holder is entitled, will be issued.