THE PRUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 175 



render them more nearly equal. But the objection to Hegel on the 

 part of many, and the admiration felt for him on the part of others, 

 made it well-nigh impossible to elect any one to the historical class. 

 This abnormal condition of things was brought to an end by the sudden 

 death of Hegel on November 14, 1831. A commission was appointed 

 to see if some means could not be devised for reducing the four so- 

 called classes of the academy to two, a mathematical-physical class and 

 a historical-philosophical class, the arrangement which now exists, but 

 which was not brought about till 1838, although the difficulties between 

 the classes had long before passed away. By special decree on March 

 31, 1838, many desirable changes were favored and made legal by the 

 king. In 1837 it had been definitely decided that the academy should 

 stand for research, chiefly in science and literature, that the number of 

 members should not exceed fifty, equally divided between the classes, 

 and that each class should nominate only one hundred corresponding 

 members. The mathematical-physical class voted to have two mem- 

 bers each for chemistry, physics, botany, zoology and anatomy, and six 

 for the mathematical sciences. In May, 1839, the historical class pro- 

 posed three members for the study of philosophy and its history, three 

 for the study of general history, two each for archeology, mythology 

 and oriental literature, four for the old classical literature, one member 

 for the study of German philology, and one for the study of politics. 



With this arrangement of its forces the academy could now be 

 defined as 'a society of learned men organized to advance and spread 

 general knowledge apart from the function of teaching. ' It was agreed 

 that each class should determine and direct its own work, that special 

 meetings for each class should be held once a month, general meetings 

 each week, that no person should belong to two classes at the same 

 time, that each class should propose its own members, though they must 

 be elected by the vote of both classes of the academy and that vote 

 confirmed by the king. The right to lecture in any Prussian univer- 

 sity was made one of the perquisites of members of the academy. 

 Ordinary members were paid $50 a year, the botanist, the chemist, the 

 astronomer, two philologists and two historians, more than twice as 

 much. The four secretaries while managing their special sections 

 were to preside in turn at general meetings four months each. 



Three public meetings were appointed for each year, Frederick's 

 Day in January, Leibniz Day in July and the king's birthday. For 

 January the program was to be a general history of the year ; for July, 

 an account of the special work done. Persons not belonging to the 

 academy could be employed for special service, but only two men at 

 a time for each class, and not more than $300 a year could be paid 

 out for this kind of work. "With slight modifications these arrange- 

 ments and regulations are still in force, although the members are paid 

 $225 (900 Marks) each a year, and divisions into sections in the 



