(Latin). By a leap. A promotion or degree given without going over the ground usually prescribed. Thus, a clergyman on being made a bishop has the degree of D.D. given him per saltum- i.e. without taking the B.D. degree, and waiting the usual five years.
“They dare not attempt to examine for the superior degree but elect per saltum.” Nineteenth Century, January, 1893, p. 66.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894