THE UNIVERSITY AS A SCIENTIFIC WORKSHOP. 181 



these, even if the teacher can and does give them, are less plainly- 

 set forth among the mass of details and by being scattered through 

 the hours. Or take natural science and archaeology : A hundred 

 years ago a teacher went over the whole subject in a reasonable 

 number of lectures. Now it takes several teachers to do the work, 

 each of whom devotes a course of lectures to a special field. It is 

 evident that this method will make it much harder for the student 

 to get a simple comprehension of the whole. It may easily come 

 to pass that he is bewildered and distracted by the mass of detail, 

 and amid the diversity of views and methods of different teachers 

 gropes unintelligently hither and thither, and does not reach a 

 clear understanding and free view of the whole till after many- 

 terms have been wasted. Or, if he seeks to escape this evil by at- 

 taching himself to a single teacher, he encounters the other dan- 

 ger of confining himself in that special field, giving himself up 

 to the working out of a single problem, and of soon burying him- 

 self in it so deeply that he can see nothing else in heaven and 

 earth, and of ultimately leaving the university a one-sided spe- 

 cialist. Another evil result that occurs to me is, that the increas- 

 ing division of labor is attended with a loosening of the relation 

 of the university teacher to practical work. This is especially 

 evident in the juridical and theological faculties. The law pro- 

 fessors formerly, as members of the bar, regularly took part in 

 the administration of justice. Now they are quite outside of 

 legal practice, and by a reflex action their teaching has become 

 more abstract and dogmatic. The theological professors were 

 formerly engaged also in preaching and pastoral work, and in 

 church and school direction. In the beginning the relation was 

 often such that the pastoral office was regarded as the chief ob- 

 ject, and the theological professorship as a secondary work ; and 

 the instruction given to the students was a direct introduction to 

 the duties on which they were about to enter. 



It should not be forgotten that very earnest and successful 

 efforts have been put forth during the present century to make 

 scientific instruction more fruitful. Among the results of these 

 are the exercises and experiments in seminaries and institutes of 

 various kinds, of which students enjoy the advantages; the in- 

 crease of means of instruction, such as the more extensive use of 

 demonstrations with which the lectures are accompanied, and the 

 great increase and freer use of libraries, are not to be despised. 



After considering all these facts, we conclude that the asso- 

 ciation of scientific research and scientific teaching, as it has 

 been developed in the history of the German universities, may be 

 regarded as a happy joining, which we should by all means main- 

 tain in the future. The universities have so far devoted them- 

 selves legitimately to both purposes, and on the whole with good 



VOL. XLVI. 14 



