Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 63.djvu/165

Rh assumed great increase in the age of graduation, taken generally and so far as our material reaches, is absolutely non-existent.

The median age of graduation in Dartmouth, for instance, has in one hundred and thirty years fallen three months; in one hundred years the median for Middlebury has risen four months. But note that in 1830-39 the median for Middlebury was two months higher than now. In the case of Bowdoin, there has been a steady rise to a little over two years, which, however, reached its maximum in the decade beginning in 1860, and has since been falling. In seventy years, the University of Vermont median age has risen but two months; while in the same period that of Adelbert College has fallen three months. Again, we may compare the New York University with Oberlin College. While the age at the former has in sixty years risen one year and five months, in the latter it has fallen one year and seven months. It may be noted in passing that the number of graduates in the given