256 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



schools of France trained the civil and military engin- 

 eers in that country, and produced text- books for the 



in the statute of 1696. It must 

 not be forgotten, however, that the 

 "Order of Jesus " (founded 1540), 

 whose higher educational work lias 

 found so much appreciation from 

 men like Sturm the Protestant 

 educationalist Lord Bacon, and 

 Descartes (see the quotations in 

 Schmidt's ' Geschichte der Padago- 

 gik,' 4th ed., vol. ii. p. 248), was also 

 active in the direction of popular 

 and primary education. In emula- 

 tion of the Protestant movement, 

 it had introduced "school regula- 

 tions " in many Catholic countries, 

 and even founded a special order 

 the " Patres piarurn scholarum " 

 (1600) for the education of the 

 poorer classes (ibid., p. 253). Whe- 

 ther the statute of 1696 is the ear- 

 liest official document referring to 

 popular education and providing the 

 means of maintaining an adequate 

 number of schools (one in 1000 of 

 population) to teach the lower 

 classes, I cannot say. It appears 

 that Duke Ernest of Gotha, in the 

 course of the seventeenth century, 

 established a general system of 

 primary education in his terri- 

 tory which was ' ' quite unique, at 

 first an object of ridicule, but then 

 very soon of emulation" (ibid., p. 

 333). The regulations were cer- 

 tainly most wise and liberal, and 

 attendance was made compulsory. 

 The question of popular education 

 was taken up on a much larger 

 scale by Frederick the Great in the 

 middle of the eighteenth century. 

 The year 1763, which marks the 

 end of the Seven Years' War, is 

 also the year of an edict which 

 forms the basis of the regulation 

 of popular education for the whole 

 monarchy : it establishes village 

 schools with compulsory attend- 

 ance. It met with much opposi- 

 tion, and its ends were only slowly 



realised, and only as training-schools, 

 where a sufficient number of teach- 

 ers were educated, sprang up, and 

 as popular school and story-books 

 were provided. Campe, with his 

 edition of ' Robinson Crusoe,' marks 

 an epoch in this direction. In fact, 

 the cause of universal popular edu- 

 cation remained in the hands of 

 private persons, frequently of men 

 of great insight and organising 

 ability such as A. H. Francke 

 (1663-1727), the indefatigable friend 

 of the poor and of orphans ; Base- 

 dow (1723-90), the founder of the 

 Philanthropin and populariser of 

 Rousseau's ideas ; Von Rochow 

 (1734-1805), the friend of the coun- 

 try - folk and founder of village 

 schools; Von Felbiger (1724-88), 

 the adviser of Maria Theresa and 

 Joseph II., the organiser of the 

 popular educational system in Aus- 

 tria (1770-80) : or else it was de- 

 pendent on the casual favour of 

 enlightened princes and sovereigns. 

 At length, in the middle of the 

 eighteenth century, training-schools 

 for teachers, so-called " seminaries," 

 were founded all over Germany. A 

 beginning had been made by Duke 

 Ernest of Gotha (1601-75), but- 

 had been neglected like many 

 other beginnings. But in the 

 second half of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury no less than thirty-three semi- 

 naries were founded all over Ger- 

 many, including Austria. For details 

 on this important and interesting 

 subject, see the third volume of 

 Schmidt's ' Geschichte der Pada- 

 gogik. ' Freytag's ' Bilder aus der 

 deutschen Vergangenheit ' also con- 

 tains many interesting details ; but 

 above all I would recommend for 

 the countries of the west and south 

 of Germany the valuable researches 

 of C. T. Perthes contained in his 

 ' Politische Zustande und Personea 



