May 9, 1878] 



NATURE 



51 



endeavoured to show in my rectorial address at Heidelberg, there 

 is a very close relationship between the two orders of sciences ; 

 they pursue the same final end by processes which, at bottom, 

 are the same. If the greater part of the researches in the 

 natural sciences have not for their immediate object an intel- 

 lectual advantage, on the other hand, it should not be forgotten, 

 that the power of the pure intellectual method is here shown 

 much more clearly, and a penetrating analysis of phenomena 

 makes known the true and the false with much more precision 

 than can be the case in the complex problems of the moral 

 sciences. 



Side by side with the development of this new branch of 

 scientific activity, almost unkno^vn in antiquity, the changes 

 which have supervened in political, social, and even inter- 

 national relations, also exercise an influence which must be 

 taken account of. The circle of our students is enlarged ; the 

 transformation of public life entails new exigencies ; the various 

 branches of science are more and more subdivided ; it becomes 

 necessary to add to libraries other means of study more and 

 more considerable and more and more varied. It is difficult 

 to foresee what new wants and what new exigencies we shall 

 have to face in the near futiu-e. 



On the other hand, it is not only in our own country that 

 the German universities have a place of honoiur : they attract 

 the attention of the civilised world. Students speaking the 

 most diverse languages flock to them from the ends of the 

 earth. A false step may make us fall from -this high position, 

 and it would afterwards be difficult to regain it. 



In these circumstances it is our duty to seek to discern clearly 

 what has hitherto been the internal principle of the prosperity of 

 our universities, what essential element of their organisation 

 must be maintained intact as a thing sacred and inviolable, and 

 in what direction our efforts should tend when reforms become 

 necessary. I do not consider myself authorised to pronounce on 

 these questions in a definitive manner. The point of view of 

 each of us is necessarily a little exclusive ; the representatives of 

 other sciences may, from other points of view, advance different 

 considerations. But I think that, in order to arrive at definite 

 and fixed conclusions, it is necessary that each one seek to 

 express exactly what are his particular ideas on these questions. 

 Over all Europe, in the Middle Ages, the universities had 

 their origin in unions, free and private, of students grouped 

 under the influence of celebrated masters. These unions regu- 

 lated their own affairs. In recognition of the public services 

 they rendered, the Governments soon accorded them guarantees, 

 privil^es, and honours, notably the right of examining their 

 members and of conferring academic degrees. The students of 

 that epoch were, for the most part, mature men, who resorted to 

 the universities for the purpose of being instructed and without 

 any immediate practical end. Soon they commenced to send 

 young men also, placed very often under the care of older 

 students. Each university was divided into more restricted 

 associations, known under the names of Nations, Bourses, Col- 

 leges. The older graduate members of these associations, the 

 Seniores, administered the special affairs in each of them, and 

 met in general assembly to discuss the affairs conmion to all the 

 university. We may see even to-day in the court of the Uni- 

 versity of Bologna the list and the arms of the members and 

 Seniores of the various Nations which formerly composed it. The 

 oldest graduates were regarded during their whole life as 

 members of the association ; they preserved their right of voting, 

 a custom which has been continued almost to our own days, or 

 which exists still in the college of the doctors of the University 

 of Vienna and in the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge. 

 V Thus, a free union of independent men, all brought together, 

 masters and pupils, by the pure love of knowledge, the one 

 anxious to know the treasures of intellectual culture left by anti- 

 quity, the other labouring to communicate to the new generation 

 the enthusiasm for the ideal which had kindled their souls ; such 

 was the origin of the universities, whose organisation, in its 

 principles and its details, was founded on the most complete 

 liberty. We must not, however, believe that they admitted the 

 liberty of education in the modem sense of the term. The ma- 

 jority showed itself very intolerant to differences of opinion. 

 More than once those who found themselves in the minority were 

 compelled to quit the university. This occurred not only when 

 the Church intervened or when political or metaphysical ques- 

 tions were agitated. The faculties of medicine themselves, and 

 at their head that of Paris, the most celebrated of all, would not 

 tolerate any deviation from what they regarded as the doctrine 



of Hippocrates. They expelled from their midst those v/ho 

 practised the medicine of the Arabs or who admitted the circu- 

 lation of the blood. 



The transformation which led the universities to their present 

 situation was due principally to the action of the State, which 

 provided them with material assistance, and, in exchange, 

 assumed the right of interfering in their affairs. The progress 

 of this development was not the same in the various countries of 

 Europe ; it was determined in part by the political situation, in 

 part by the peculiar character of each nation. 



Those which underwent the fewest changes were the two old 

 English universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Their large 

 revenues and the political tendency of the English to respect all 

 acquired rights have preserved them almost absolutely from 

 alteration, even on points where changes would have been 

 extremely desirable. These two universities preserve even to day 

 the character of schools intended to recruit the clergy, formerly 

 the Roman Catholic clergy, now that of the Anglican church. 

 The laity participate in the education which is there given, in so 

 far as that may contribute to general intellectual cultiu-e ; but 

 they must submit to the discipline and the mode of life which 

 were formerly considered suitable for yoang clerics. They live 

 together in kinds of colleges, under the surveillance of a certain 

 number of elder graduates (Tutors) belonging to the same 

 college ; for the rest they follow the manners and customs of the 

 wealthy classes of England. They can only go about in a certain 

 costume, of a somewhat ecclesiastical cut, with special insignia, 

 indicating not only their academic grades, but also their social 

 rank. The education, in its basis and method, is that of our 

 gymnasia, but a little more developed ; in certain points only it 

 approaches more the repditions organised in our universities ; 

 thus, it is limited to the programme required for examination, 

 and the students are bound to study certain books, indicated 

 beforehand. The work of the students is controlled by very 

 detailed examinations, which must be passed in order to obtain 

 the academic degrees, and in which very special knowledge is 

 required, but only in certain very narrow subjects. All the old 

 degrees of the academic dignities, the baccalaureate, the licen- 

 tiate, the mastership in Arts, the doctorate, are obtained by 

 tests of the same kind. The lessons are generally given by the 

 Tutors above referred to. But they do not teach by virtue of 

 an official delegation like the masters in our gjmanasia ; there are 

 rather special masters chosen by certain groups of students. 

 There are few professors, and they give only a small number of 

 lectures to a scanty auditory, and usually on a very special sub- 

 ject. These lectures do not constitute an essential part of the 

 education ; they serve at the most to famish to some students, 

 having a special interest to make great efforts, the occasion for 

 more profound study. The various colleges are, moreover, com- 

 pletely separated from each other ; the examinations, the confer- 

 ment of degrees, the nomination of professors are the only matters 

 common to the whole university. 



It is only quite recently that students not belonging to the 

 Church of England have been admitted, and that some little 

 attempt has been made to provide for professional education in 

 law and medicine. Among the professors of the English univer- 

 sities, there is a great number of very distinguished men, and 

 who have a place in science. But the right of taking part in 

 their election is not reserved to the Fellows actually forming a 

 part of the corporation ; it belongs equally to all the former 

 Fellows, even when they have no longer any connection with the 

 university, when they have no interests in common with it, and 

 when they may be engaged in the straggles of political and 

 ecclesiastical parties. The result is that party considerations, 

 personal connections, and friendship, often exercise more influ- 

 ence on the elections than scientific merit. From this point of 

 view the English universities have preserved all the intolerance 

 of the middle ages. The professors are not requu-ed to reside in 

 the university town ; they may fix their abode in any part of the 

 kingdom ; they may even fill other functions at their convenience, 

 often, for example, that of parish priest ; it is enough that they 

 give their lesson at the university once a week, sometimes even 

 more seldom. 



The English universities devote a very small portion of their 

 enormous revenues to the endowment of chairs and to filling 

 them with masters having an indisputable authority in science, 

 and this little is badly employed. But they possess another in- 

 stitution which appears called upon to render the greatest service 

 to scientific studies, although hitherto it has done very little in 

 this respect ; this is the institution of Fellowships. The stu- 



