After this there were repeated replies
and rejoinders, all in viva voce Latin, the Moderator sometimes
interposing a remark in Latin. When he considered that one argument
was disposed of, he called for another by the words "Probes aliter."
The arguments were sometimes shaped with considerable ingenuity, and
required a clear head in the Respondent. When all was finished, the
Moderator made a complimentary remark to the Respondent and one to the
first Opponent (I forget whether to the second and third). In my
Respondency of 1822, November 6, the compliment was, "Quaestiones tuas
summo ingenio et acumine defendisti, et in rebus mathematicis
scientiam plane mirabilem ostendisti." In an Opponency (I forget
when) the compliment was, "Magno ingenio argumenta tua et construxisti
et defendisti."
The Acts of the high men excited much interest among the students. At
my Acts the room was crowded with undergraduates.
I imagine that, at a time somewhat distant, the maintenance of the
Acts was the only regulation by which the University acted on the
studies of the place. When the Acts had been properly kept, license
was given to the Father of the College to present the undergraduate to
the Vice-Chancellor, who then solemnly admitted him "ad respondendum
Quaestioni.
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