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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



of uncertainty, unrest, and worry. The depress- 

 ing feeling that weighs down a man when he 

 feels that his obstacles may lie beyond the power 

 of his will, is very far from being healthy. Just 

 as those nations who dwell in lands where man is 

 to a great extent at the mercy of Nature become 

 timid and fatalistic, so the business-man of our 

 day cannot help feeling his want of controlling 

 power, and comes to look on all success as luck. 

 This difference that marks our modern time is 

 well illustrated also in our warfare. How easy 

 was self-assured valor, how exhilarating was the 

 wild rush into the mouth of death, when battle 

 was a great single combat, where man could at 

 every moment feel his own prowess — but how 

 different the feeling of him who marches in close 

 file into the thundering and smoking battle of 

 our days, when at any moment a fatal ball may 

 come and put an end to his existence ! For this 

 a different kind of valor is required, and only a 

 less enthusiastic kind is possible. Everywhere 

 the causes of discontent abound. 



There remains one more very important po- 

 litical source of pessimism — namely, the growing 

 spirit of centralization. 1 Germany owed, to a 

 great extent, its mental development to its par- 

 ticularism, so favorable to the utterance of in- 

 dividuality. Not, as in other countries, was it 

 generally from one centre that the nation's genius 

 emanated, but there was a conflux from all the 

 little corners. That was the secret of the Ger- 

 man's beloved and admirable gcnialiicit. Every- 

 where enlightenment found helping hands. When 

 Fichte could not lecture at Jena, he was received 

 at Berlin ; and so with Schelling, so with the crim- 

 inalist Feuerbach, and many others. It is impossi- 

 ble to imagine Dante — ay, the Renaissance — with- 

 out the particularistic Italy of that time. Every 

 little state, in order to show its independence, 

 tried as much as possible to distinguish itself from 

 its neighbor by giving vent to its individual charac- 

 ter. Thus the personality of state grew, and the 

 individual, seeing this before him, let loose his 

 whole individuality, and often great and beau- 

 tiful thoughts, works, and characters, which 

 might have been crushed by fashion, sprang to 

 light and gleamed far over the country, over 

 the earth. Many men who, in other countries, 

 would have been overlooked and would have 

 shrunk away at the first comparison with those 



1 Since this paper was written, the debate in the 

 Reichstag on the question of the seat of the Supreme 

 Court of Justice has given ample evidence how the 

 growing spirit of centralization was felt and opposed 

 by many. 



mental giants who extinguish all iesser lights, 

 find here some little corner where they are loved 

 and revered, and where it is worth while to seek 

 such love and reverence, for culture and suscep- 

 tibility exist there too. So the cold of disap- 

 pointment and neglect does not chill their pow- 

 ers ; but all'the power they have — and it is often 

 no small amount — is brought forward and encour- 

 aged. It is, we think, the trait which most dis- 

 tinguishes Germany from every other country, 

 that it has hundreds of small towns that are 

 Athens in miniature. In every German village 

 we find some " knight of mind ! " who lives in 

 happiness at being acknowledged and respected 

 by his surroundings. Not only is he himself the 

 happier, but the advantage reflects on others too, 

 for his thoughts, which in our great cities would 

 always remain in his books, or only circulate 

 among his literary friends or the higher society, 

 are here infused from his very lips into the minds 

 of the whole little town ; and so education is ef- 

 fectively transmitted into all layers of society. 

 We should not maintain that all this is no more 

 in Germany, but it is undeniable that centraliza- 

 tion is growing, and that this equality of educa- 

 tion is decreasing ; and this too is another death- 

 blow to genialitat. The prestige of all these little 

 towns is gradually being swallowed up by Berlin 

 and the great centres. The word " Berlin," as 

 an authority, is more and more coming into the 

 mouths of the people, and sometimes the intelli- 

 gent little burgher must laugh at his own preten- 

 sions, just as the long-haired idealist must occa- 

 sionally laugh when he sees himself in the mirror 

 at an elegant, black-frocked dancing-part)'. And 

 the little burgher is grieved too. 



We can see this growing tendency in the uni- 

 versities. Berlin and Leipsic are slowly pushing 

 back the historically grand smaller ones, as Hei- 

 delberg, Jena, Gbttingen, Halle, Tubingen, Gies- 

 sen, Marburg, etc. The number of students at 

 these two chief universities is continually grow- 

 ing, and varies between 2,000 and 3,000, while 

 Heidelberg, which not long ago had 1,200 or 

 1,400 students, had, during the winter of 1S74— 

 "75, less than 600. Berlin tries to draw all the 

 mind of Germany within its circle. In the last 

 few years it has taken, from Heidelberg alone, 

 men like Helmholtz, Zeller, Kirchhoff, and Yon 

 Treitschke.' There can be no doubt as to the 

 steady growth of this spirit of centralization ; and 

 there can be little doubt of its effect. Large 

 towns, whatever else, good or bad, they may do, 

 tend always to crush deep feeling and idealism ; 

 and " fast life," whether in its higher or lower 



