THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT IN GERMANY. 



167 



schools the same habit almost absent in other countries 

 of looking upon private study and research as a 

 necessary qualification of the lecturer and teacher. The 

 educational organisation of the combined universities and 

 higher schools has thus become an equally powerful 

 organisation for research, and for increasing knowledge. 

 Wherever the progress of learning and science requires 

 a large amount of detailed study inspired by a few lead- 

 ing ideas, or subservient to some common design and plan, 

 the German universities and higher schools supply a well- 

 trained army of workers, standing under the intellectual 

 generalship of a few great leading minds. Thus it is s. 



The univer- 



that no nation in modern times has so many schools of ? it; y a * rai . n -. 



J J ing-school of 



thought and learning as Germany, and none can boast of research - 

 having started and carried through such a large number 

 of gigantic enterprises, requiring the co-operation and col- 

 lective application of a numerous and well-trained staff. 1 

 The university system, in one word, not only teaches 

 knowledge, but above all it teaches research. This is 

 its pride and the foundation of its fame. 



1 The editions of the ancient 

 classics brought out by Tauchnitz, 

 Weidmann, and Teubner are well 

 known. The collections of the His- 

 tories of all countries, begun by 

 Heeren and Ukert and continued in 

 this century by the publishing firm 

 of Salomon Hirzel of Leipsic ; the 

 ' Jahresberichte, ' started by Ber- 

 zelius for chemistry, and now separ- 

 ately conducted for all the different 

 sciences ; contain summaries of the 

 labours of the whole world syste- 

 matically arranged. There is the 

 geographical establishment of Peter- 

 mann at Gotha ; not to speak of 

 publications specifically national, 

 such as the 'Monumenta Germanise,' 



as other countries possess similar 

 undertakings. Von Zach was the 

 first to establish a regular inter- 

 national organ for astronomical 

 observations. It was started in 

 1798, and soon became the "living 

 organ of astronomy," equally ap- 

 preciated by Lalande and Gauss. 

 This "monthly" was soon succeeded 

 by Schumacher's "weekly," the 

 ' Astronomische Nachrichten.' See 

 Wolf, ' Geschichte der Astronomic,' 

 p. 764, &c. Humboldt's and 

 Gauss's scheme for a network of 

 magnetic observations all over the 

 world was taken up by English 

 men of science. 



