ON ACADEMIC FKEEDOM IN GEKMAN UNIVEESITIES. 263 



do not rebel against authority. We can then, however, 

 only speak of free conviction in a very limited sense. 



You see how different was the plan of our fore- 

 fathers. However violently they may at times have 

 interfered with individual results of scientific inquiry, 

 they never wished to pull it up by the roots. An 

 opinion which was not based upon independent con- 

 viction appeared to them of no value. In their hearts 

 they never lost faith that freedom alone could cure the 

 errors of freedom, and a riper knowledge the errors of 

 what is unripe. The same spirit which overthrew the 

 yoke of the Church of Eome, also organised the Ger- 

 man Universities. 



But any institution based upon freedom must also 

 be able to calculate on the judgment and reasonable- 

 ness of those to whom freedom is granted. Apart 

 from the points which have been previously discussed, 

 where the students themselves are left to decide on 

 the course of their studies and to select their teachers, 

 the above considerations show how the students react 

 upon their teachers. To produce a good course of 

 lectures is a labour which is renewed every term. 

 New matter is continually being added which necessi- 

 tates a reconsideration and a rearrangement of the 

 old from fresh points of view. The teacher would 

 soon be dispirited in his work if he could not count 

 upon the zeal and the interest of his hearers. The 



