mathematical branches."[1] In another document we read: "The best way, perhaps, is that those who are chosen for this office [teaching mathematics] should, after the course of philosophy, study for a whole year the branches which they will have to teach."[2] This special course, in addition to the general training in mathematics received in the course of philosophy, was certainly a sufficient preparation for the amount of mathematics which was taught in former centuries.
It is evident, then, that both the general and special training of the Jesuit teacher were well attended to before he was sent out to teach.
Several weeks before the beginning of a new scholastic year, the young Jesuit arrives at the college which is to be the first field of his educational labors. After some time, during which the Rector of the college and the Prefect of Studies have formed acquaintance with the new-comer, a certain class is assigned to him for the next year. It is according to the spirit, not only of the Ratio Studiorum, but of the whole Institute of the Society, that great care be taken that the positions in colleges, as well as elsewhere, are assigned according to the talent, the knowledge and the practical abilities of the individuals. To quote only a few regulations of the Institute, the Constitutions declare: "Every one should be trained according to his age, talent, and inclinations," of course always considering "where the common good can be advanced best."[3] The Provincial is told "to take care that those who have a special inclination for a certain
