Excellent facilities for laboratory work are provided for at the University Museum. In addition, there are the College laboratories at Christ Church, Magdalen, Queen’s, New College, Balliol, and Trinity. Others are in course of construction at Jesus College and at St. John’s College (Rural Economy and Forest Botany).
In the Radcliffe Library are to be found more than 600 current scientific periodicals (English and foreign), and some 60,000 volumes dealing with all branches of scientific work. The University Museum contains excellent Zoological, Mineralogical, Geological, Palaeontological, and Petrological Collections. Here are to be found also the Hope Collection of Anthropoid Animals, the second in importance in the British Empire; the Hope Library, containing perhaps the most complete collection in the world on the Arthropoda; the Pitt-Rivers Museum, containing a very comprehensive Ethnological collection; and also the collections in Physical Anthropology, Human Anatomy, and Pathology. The facilities both as regards Working Staff and practical laboratory work deserve special attention.
Jurisprudence.
The curriculum provides for a systematic study of the principles and history of Law. There is no opportunity for practical work at Oxford—‘the case-system’ method is not used. On the other hand, the reading to be done under the direction of the Tutor will afford a very solid foundation of the general principles of Law before entering on the practical and special study in chambers or in court. This School is often taken after Honours have been obtained in some other Final School. The subjects of the Final Examinations are—(1) Jurisprudence, (2) Roman Law, (3) English Law (including the Law of Contract, of Succession, Real Property, and Constitutional Law), (4) History of English Law, and (5) International Law. The courses of lectures are given and arranged to meet these requirements.
Every one who wishes to become a Barrister or Solicitor—the two departments into which the practice of Law is divided in England—must have kept nine Terms at the Inns of Court, or have served five years as an articled clerk in some solicitor’s office, and must pass certain examinations. These are not under the control of the University, though certain exemptions and concessions are granted to those students who have passed examinations at the University.
Theology.
The subjects of the Final Examination in Theology are—(1) specified portions of the Holy Scriptures based on a study of the original texts, including (a) the history, religion, and literature of Israel, and (b) the history, theology, and literature of the New Testament; and (2) the history and doctrine of the Christian Church till 461 A. D.; this is based mainly on the study of Eusebius and certain Patristic texts. In addition there are certain optional subjects—Hebrew, Evidences of Religion, Liturgies, Archaeology and Textual Criticism of the Old and New Testaments, and certain special subjects. The main subjects of study for this examination are historical. ‘In addition to this training in historical method, the School also affords scope for education in scholarship, in so far as some texts must be read in the original languages.’ The candidate has a choice of texts in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. There is a good course of inter-collegiate lectures, and the Professorial lectures offer a very wide range of subjects. The library facilities are excellent. There are a number of other institutions not directly connected with the University which offer additional opportunities for study and instruction.
Oriental Languages.
The courses given in this School are intended ‘for the most part for the practical acquisition of the language studied’, and are of special value to candidates reading for the Indian Civil Service. ‘The general subjects are Sanskrit, Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian, and History as connected with the literature of those languages.’ There is a well-equipped library and museum in the Indian Institute.
English Language and Literature.