LITERARY NOTICES, 



373 



Some say that they are dry, but m all such 

 cases the aridity is subjective. Statistics 

 are the intellectual representations in their 

 most precise form of the phenomena and 

 realities to which they apply. Mr. Rug- 

 gles's facts are the foundations of impor- 

 tant truths, a report of the circumstances of 

 a great people, a register of their advance- 

 ment, and the basis of prophecy. His pam- 

 phlet is not suitable to be read at a tea- 

 party, and cannot be set to music ; but, as 

 Mr. Emerson says that the most important 

 part of education is its provocative element, 

 this little digest answers to that character ; 

 it is a provocation to endless thought on 

 important questions, and, as such, it may 

 be a valuable help to the education of the 

 American people. 



Higher Schools and Universities in Ger- 

 many. By Matthew Arnold, D. C. L. 

 London: Macmillan & Co. 12mo, 270 

 pp. Price, $2.00. 



Mr. Arnold was, in 1865, charged by the 

 School Inquiry Commission of Great Brit- 

 ain with the work of investigating the sys- 

 tem of education for the middle and upper 

 classes of the principal nations on the Con- 

 tinent. In 18G8 he published a volume on 

 " Schools and Universities on the Conti- 

 nent," giving the results of his investiga- 

 tion. The present volume is a reproduction 

 in separate form of that part of the origi- 

 nal book which related to the German edu- 

 cational system. The Prussian system is 

 taken as an example of what existed through- 

 out Germany. The higher schools of Prus- 

 sia are gymnasiums and real-schools. There 

 are subordinate branches of each of these, 

 known respectively as progyranasiums and 

 upper burgher schools. They are essen- 

 tially the same as the former, with the 

 omission of one or more of the higher 

 classes. Gymnasiums lead to the universi- 

 ties, and therefore afford professional train- 

 ing, while real-schools, leading only to busi- 

 ness, present a practical course of studies 

 intended to fit the pupil for the ordinary 

 affairs of life. Sometimes the gymnasium 

 has a department corresponding to the real- 

 school, for the advantage of pupils display- 

 ing a peculiar fitness for that class of stud- 

 ies. The gymnasium is the stepping-stone 

 to the university. The certificate of having 



passed the " leaving examination " of the 

 former is an indispensable card of admis- 

 sion into the latter. The gymnasium and 

 real-school have each six classes. Twenty- 

 eight hours for the lower classes, and thirty 

 for the higher, is the required time, per 

 week, for school-work in the gymnasium. 

 This is distributed among the different 

 studies in varying proportions : Latin gets 

 the most — ten hours — natural sciences get 

 two hours in the highest class, and one in 

 the next ; religion gets two hours in the four 

 higher classes, and three hours in the two 

 lower ones. The scholastic term consti- 

 tutes nine years — one year each for the 

 three lower classes, and two each for the 

 higher. The universities have four facul- 

 ties each — theology, law, medicine, and 

 philosophy. Philosophy embraces the hu- 

 manities, or languages and their literatures, 

 the mathematical and the natural sciences. 

 Some universities have a distinct faculty for 

 political economy, others embrace it under 

 the general head of philosophy. All schools, 

 both public and private, are under the con- 

 trol of the state. No one wanting the 

 proper qualifications for a teacher is al- 

 lowed to set up a private school. Private 

 schools of the higher kind are also discour- 

 aged, by the fact that a pupil cannot enter 

 a university without having passed the 

 " leaving examination " of the gymnasium. 

 As is well known, school attendance or effi- 

 cient private instruction is compulsory on 

 the children of all classes. Catholic schools 

 are maintained for Catholic children, and 

 Protestant for Protestants. A small num- 

 ber of either sect attending a school of the 

 opposite persuasion are not compelled to re- 

 ceive the established religious instruction, 

 but may be provided with instruction of 

 their own sect, at the expense of their 

 parents. In schools where the number of 

 Protestants and CathoUcs is very nearly 

 equal, an instructor for each sect is ap- 

 pointed. For the government of the schools, 

 the state is divided into eight provinces, and 

 subdivided into twenty-six districts. Each 

 province has a school-board composed of 

 a president and a director, with two or 

 three other members, who are usually a 

 Protestant, a Catholic, and a person prac- 

 tically versed in school matters. Each 

 district has also a school-board constructed 



