OF REALITY. 425 



had elaborated the ideal of Wissenschaft, i.e., of science 

 and erudition combined, the union of the exact and the 

 historical spirit, have more and more become obliged 

 to train specialists in definite branches of knowledge; 

 and these specialists, who in earlier times were mostly 

 occupied with purely theoretical or learned work, 

 have latterly become largely practical experts, for 

 whom professional experts have had to make room. In 

 France the two great schools, the ficole Polytechnique 

 and the cole Normale, assumed more and more the 

 leadership in higher education, which was for a time 

 exclusively identified with instruction. 1 



In England the two older Universities had, in 

 modern times, never aimed at that universality and 

 completeness of learning which is the ideal of the 

 German University, having always put in the fore- 

 ground the imparting of a liberal education, 2 which 

 appeared indispensable to those who would occupy high 

 positions in the Church, in the State, or in professional 

 or social life. Accordingly we do not find that at the 

 latter i.e., at the English Universities any comprehen- 

 sive teaching of philosophy existed at all. To the Scottish 

 Universities belongs, almost alone in this country, the 

 credit of having kept alive the philosophical tradition in 

 academic teaching. This has had the result that, in 

 England at least, the higher branches of philosophy 

 were for a considerable time cultivated almost exclus- 

 ively outside the schools and, in consequence, with only 

 a subordinate regard for the requirements of teaching or 



1 See vol. i. of this History, p. I 2 See ibid., pp. 255 and 262. 

 112. 



