170 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



THE EOYAL PRUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AND 

 THE FINE ARTS. BERLIN. 



By EDWARD F. WILLIAMS, 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



IV. From the Reorganization in 1812 through the Reign of 

 Frederick William III., to 1840. 

 r I THIS period was a period of great men in almost every branch of 

 -*- learning, especially in science, of great statesmen and historians, 

 of great warriors and rulers. It was a period in which the intellectual 

 life of Germany developed rapidly, in which the gymnasia were much 

 improved, in which the new science of teaching was created, in which 

 the universities, more especially those of Prussia, stimulated by the 

 standards set up at Berlin, became worthy of a kingdom and the 

 patronage the world has given them. 



During the reign of Frederick William III., or from 1812 to 1840, 

 the character of the academy changed very little. Its statutes were 

 modified only when absolutely necessary, although under the influence 

 of the Humboldts and their sympathizers it became, what it was 

 organized to be, an institution for research, and through its publica- 

 tions, for the diffusion of knowledge. In the early decades of the 

 nineteenth century Germany began to take her true place as a leader 

 in scientific, historical and philosophical studies. She sought to make 

 her own what Cousin, the French philosopher, describes as 'the true, 

 the beautiful and the good.' The unity of all branches of learning 

 became apparent. It was in this new era of intellectual life that some 

 of the great undertakings for which the academy has acquired fame 

 were planned and set on foot. Men like Niebuhr, Schleiermacher, 

 Savigny and Bocckh felt the need of an institution which would con- 

 sider and execute enterprises for the diffusion of knowledge which were 

 far beyond the resources of private individuals. One of these enter- 

 prises, and one in which Boeckh was deeply interested, was the gather- 

 ing, arranging and publication of Greek and Latin inscriptions. Out 

 of the discussions in which Boeckh and many others engaged have come 

 the volumes of Latin inscriptions to which Mommsen gave so many 

 years of his life and which with their vast amount of information will 

 ever remain a monument to his industry, scholarship and rare skill as 

 an editor. The volumes of Greek inscriptions are of scarcely less 

 value than those of the Latin. Another result of the departure from 

 traditional methods has been the edition of the works of Aristotle, 



