ox THE RELATIOX OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES TO SCIENCE IN GENERAL. 



Delivered before the University of IleideUierg, hi/ D>: Herman HehnhoUz. 



[Trauslatod for tho Smithsonian Institution, by Prof. C. F. KuoEll.] 



Our university renews, on the annual return of this day, her grateful re- 

 nunnbrances of Charles Frederic, the enlightened prince who, at a time 

 when the whole established order of Europe was revolutionized, labored 

 most zealously and efiBciently to improve the well-being and facilitate the 

 mental development of his people, and who clearly perceived that the 

 revival of this university would be one of the principal means for the 

 attainment of his benevolent object. Since it is my duty on this occa- 

 sion to speak of our whole university as its representative, it is proper 

 to review the connection between the sciences and their study in gen- 

 eral, as far as may be possible, from the circumscribed point of view of 

 an individual observer. 



It would seem indeed, to-day, as if the mutual relations of all sciences, 

 in virtue of which we unite them under the name of a univcrsitas Utter- 

 arum, had become looser than ever before. We see the scholars of our 

 times absorbed in a study of details of such immense magnitude that 

 even the most industrious cannot hope to master more than a small 

 portion of modern science. The linguist of the last three centuries 

 found sufficient occupation in the study of Greek and Latin, and it was 

 only for immediate practical purposes that a few modern languages 

 were learned. Now, covqMrative 2)hilology has set for itself no less a task 

 than to sttidy all the languages of the human race, in order to deduce 

 from them the laws of the formation of language itself, and its votaries 

 have brought immense industry to bear upon this gigantic work. Even 

 within classical philology they no longer confine themselves to the study 

 of those writings which, by their artistic finish, the clearness of their 

 thoughts, or the importance of their contents, have become the models 

 of the poetry and prose of all times ; the philologists are aware that 

 every lost fragment of an ancient writer, every remark of a pedantic 

 grammarian or of a Byzantine court-poet, every broken tomb-stone of a 

 Eoman official that is found in some remote corner of Hungary, Spain, 

 or Africa, may contain some information or proof of importance in its 

 proper jilace, and hence a large number of scholars are occupied in the 

 gigantic task of collecting and cataloguing all remnants of classic anti- 

 quity so that they may be ready for use. Add to this the study of his- 

 torical sources, the examination of parchments and papers accumulated 

 in states and towns, the collection of notes scattered through me- 



