COLLEGE LIFE. 46 



It was his mother's wish that Alexander von Humboldt 

 should devote himself to the study of finance, as a preparation 

 for entering the service of the State. 



The science of finance, or political economy, was at that time 

 at its lowest ebb. The contempt in which it was held is evi- 

 denced by the expression ' He is studying finance ' having become 

 proverbial for any idler who was learning nothing. Beckmann, 

 the most noted lecturer on political economy at Grdttingen, 

 brought before the consideration of the young students of 

 finance in his principal course of lectures, a herbarium consisting 

 of peas, onions, radishes, turnips, and other common vegetables. 

 Nor were his lectures on mineralogy, technology, and manu- 

 factures much more instructive, for Leopold Krug, 1 as late 

 as 1805, makes the following complaint: 'They learn to draw* 

 plans for a brandy-distillery, a tar-kiln, or a flour-mill, they( 

 learn the requisite number of threads in the warp and woof 

 of linen and taffeta, they learn how to make cheese and to 

 smelt iron, and how to destroy caterpillars and noxious insects ; 

 but of the higher principles of political economy they have not 

 the faintest conception.' Even so late as the year 1813 it 

 was found desirable to issue an order in council, dated Septem- 

 ber 27, recommending that ''the students be disabused of the 

 erroneous notion that the study of finance requires less strained 

 application of the intellectual powers than that of theology, 

 medicine, or jurisprudence.' 



Among the professors connected with the University of 

 Frankfort, there were none who exercised any permanent in- 

 fluence in the world of science. The names most worthy of 

 notice are Schneider, known by his Greek and German lexicon, 

 and Loffler, distinguished for his work on the Neo-Platonism 

 of the early Fathers. Otto, the translator and editor of Buffon's 

 works on natural history, was not till a later period professor 

 at Frankfort. 



There is but little to be gathered concerning the course of 

 study followed by the two Humboldts : they attended few 

 public lectures, and received most of their instruction privately 

 a plan which well suited their ability and zeal, and best corre- 



1 l Betrachtungen iiber den Nationalreichthum des preussischen Staats ' 

 (Berlin, 1805), vol. i. Preface, p. 5. 



