244 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. 



Br WALTEE C. PEEEY. 



THERE are now twenty-one universities in 

 the German Empire, with 1,250 professors, 

 and some what more than 17,000 students. Of 

 the German universities in other countries, seven 

 are in Austria, with 6*76 professors and 7,700 stu- 

 dents ; four in Switzerland, with 230 professors 

 and 1,091 students; and one in the Baltic Prov- 

 inces of Russia, with 66 professors and 874 

 students. 



The salaries of the professors in ordinary 

 range from £120 to £450, exclusive of fees. In 

 the case of very distinguished men they rise to 

 £500 or even £600 per annum. 



Referring to the amount expended on the 

 universities, Mr. Gladstone, in a recent speech at 

 Nottingham, says : " I think about £70,000 is the 

 sum expended by the Germans and the Govern- 

 ment of Northern Germany in producing that 

 which is absolutely necessary in order to give 

 efficiency to the higher education of the coun- 

 try." I do not know what " the Government of 

 Northern Germany " exactly means, but Prussia 

 alone spends 5,343,000 marks (£267,150) a year on 

 her universities ; and the extraordinary expenses 

 of the present year amount to 3,000,000 marks 

 (£150,000), chiefly for new university buildings. 

 The total annual sum expended for educational 

 purposes in Prussia is 38,068,000 marks (£1,903,- 

 400), and the minister Falk asks for an additional 

 grant of 12,000,000 marks (£600,000). 



The German university consists : 



I. Of the Ordinary professors, appointed by 

 royal patent and paid by government ; the Ex- 

 traordinary professors, named by the king's min- 

 ister, who are not entitled to any salary, but often 

 receive a small one ; and the Privathn docentes, 

 who derive their Licentia docendi from the Fac- 

 ulty to which they belong, and depend on fees alone. 



II. Of the various directors and officers of 

 the institutions connected with the university. — 

 the museums, observatories, anatomical theatres, 

 laboratories, etc. 



III. Of the matriculated students. 



IV. Of the academical police, and the infe- 

 rior officials, as secretaries, quaestors, bedells, etc. 



The professors and students are divided into 

 the four Faculties of Theology, Jurisprudence, 

 Medicine, and Philosophy (Arts), under which 

 last head are included, not merely Mental and 



Moral Philosophy, but the Ancient and Modern 

 Languages, History, Archaeology, Mathematics, 

 the Physical Sciences, the Fine Arts, Political 

 Philosophy, Political Economy, and Diplomacy, 

 etc. The Minister of Education is represented at 

 some universities by a resident " Curator and 

 Plenipotentiary," who acts as a sort of resident 

 chancellor, and is the connecting link between 

 the university and the government. The imme- 

 diate government of the university is carried on 

 by a Senate, composed in some cases of all the 

 ordinary professors, in others of a certain num- 

 ber chosen by and from them, with an annually- 

 appointed Rector at their head. The Senate gen- 

 erally consists of the Rector, the ex-Rector, the 

 four Deans of Faculty, some, or all, of the ordi- 

 nary professors, and the University Judge. The 

 Rector is chosen by the ordinary professors, and 

 is president of the Senate. He still retains the 

 old title of " Magnificence," and derives a salary 

 from a percentage on fees for matriculation, and 

 the granting of testimonials and degrees. The 

 University Judge is appointed by the Minister of 

 Education, and transacts the legal business of 

 the university. He is not a professor, but a prac- 

 tical lawyer, whose office it is to see that all the 

 transactions of the Senate are in accordance with 

 the laws of the land. He is also the connecting 

 link between the academical authorities and the 

 town police. 



The courses of lectures (Collegia) delivered 

 by the professors are of three kinds : 



I. Publico. — Every ordinary or extraordinary 

 professor is expected to deliver, gratis, two 

 courses (of at least two lectures a week), extend- 

 ing through the whole of each " Semester," on 

 some material point of the science he professes ; 

 and these are the " Publica Collegia^ They are 

 but thinly attended by the students. 



II. Priiala. — The arrangement of which is 

 entirely left to the different Faculties. These 

 are the principal lectures, and the professors re- 

 ceive fees (honoraria) from those who attend 

 them, varying according to the number of hours 

 in the week which they occupy, the labor re- 

 quired in their preparation, the cost of apparatus, 

 etc. These lectures generally occupy an hour a 

 day, four, five, or six times a week. The most 

 usual fee is about eighteen shillings. 



