654 STUDY AND RESEARCH. 



of education, upon the elementary and secondaiy schools, which are to 

 supply us with zealous young knowledge-seekers, and no less upon the 

 instruction dispensed at the higher schools, especially tbe technical 

 institutions, many of which have latterly manifested the laudable ambi- 

 tion to be, or at least to be called, high schools (Hochschulen). For the 

 X)rimary establishments the university is a constant warning to equij) 

 their wards so thoroughly that they may take in our instrnction with 

 full understanding; for the higher institutions, it is a model by which 

 to fashion their methods and expedients. On the other hand, the uni- 

 versity has the duty to fnrnish the state and society with generation 

 after generation of well-trained young men permeated with systematic 

 knowledge, governed by high moral views, keeping alive the sacred 

 torch of science, and bearing it aloft through all the i)erplexities and 

 darkness of daily life. 



Time was when not only this exalted position of the universities was 

 generally recognized, but when they were distinguished by great priv- 

 ileges, many of which are now lost. We have passed tlie period — a 

 fortunate even if not a permanent condition — when universities were 

 exposed to violent attacks, and most irksome restrictions of their lib- 

 erty were demanded. But we will not forget that this university, too, 

 established in sad days to be in the words of its founder, Frederick 

 William III, " a nursery of better times," fell under suspicion, and was 

 subjected to rigid surveillance. Various reasons combined to produce 

 so sad a condition of affairs. One of them, and I beg that you, my 

 dear students, give it your special attention, arose out of the attitude 

 of many students, and was due to the widespread misconception with 

 regard to the objects of study and the position of the students. 



No less a man than Johann Gottlieb Fichte was the first to give 

 expression to this thought on an occasion similar to the present one. 

 In his memorable address "on the only possible interference with aca- 

 demic liberty," delivered on October 19, 1811, when he assumed his duties 

 as the first rector of our university, he said, "Only he that studies is a 

 student;" a severe dictum, but worthy of consideration. With pro- 

 Ijhetic insight he describes the consequences when students, instead of 

 considering study their chief task, "instead of concentrating all their 

 thinking and planning upon their chosen science," spend their time in 

 cherishing obsolete traditions connected with a separate, privileged 

 student class, and in keeping up supposed prerogatives. Let it suffice 

 to refer to this address, which every student may profitably read. Fichte 

 was careful to point out that he was not speaking of conditions preva- 

 lent at our university, but that he had in mind the "state of affairs at 

 other universities," and the serious tone of his admonition plainly dis- 

 closes his opinion of the gravity of the danger, so threatening, indeed, 

 Jthat he considered it the "only possible interference with academic 

 liberty. " 



The serious crisis which occurred a few years later, overwhelming all 



