250 
NATURE 
[Fuly 28, 1870 
suggestive ; the natural history of the district receives a 
due share of attention, and in the two reports before us 
we havelists of the birds, Lepidoptera, and flowering plants, 
with dates of appearance, record of new species, &c., 
besides a copious list of local Lias fossils, A museum 
and library are in course of formation. 
The Wellington College Natural History Society held 
its first meeting on May 13, 1868, and its rules are based 
upon those of the Rugby Society. One report only has 
as yet been published, in which we find selections from 
the papers, including one by Professor Kingsley. Botanical 
and ornithological lists are given, but the comparatively 
recent formation of the Society renders any detailed 
criticism unnecessary. 
Last comes the IVinchester College Natural History 
Soctety, established in March last, a notice of which has 
already appeared in NATURE. Of course little has been 
done, and nothing published at present ; but we learn 
from the secretary-that the plan of working by sections 
has been adopted, and that the meetings are well attended. 
To this and to all similar bodies we heartily wish success. 
We are sorry to see that Eton is “conspicuous by its 
absence” from our list. The publication, two years since, 
of “ The Birds of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire,” by 
Mr. Clark-Kennedy, “an Eton boy,” induced us to hope 
that a school which in position is second to none, would 
not be left behind in the onward march ; but as far as we 
can ascertain, nothing in the way of a society has been 
established at present. We shall be glad to learn that 
we are mistaken in this matter, and trust that, even should 
no such body at present exist, it may not be long before 
we hear of its formation. 
THE RELATIVE VALUE OF CLASSICAL AND 
SCIENTIFIC TRAINING 
Wodureh die humanistischen Gymnasien fiir die Uni- 
versitat vorbereiten ? Rede an die Studirenden der 
Ludwig - Maximilian’s Universitit zu Miinchen 
gehalten am 4 Dezember, 1869, von Dr. Med. Max v. 
Pettenkofer, Professor der Hygitne, z. z. Rector. 
(Miinchen, 1869.)* 
HE German-reading public can possess itself at a 
very trifling cost of a very weighty opinion as to 
the relative value of classical and of scientific training, by 
the purchase of an address delivered last December in 
Munich by Professor Max v. Pettenkofer, in his capacity 
of Rector or Chancellor of the University for the time 
being. There is in existence an English document (we 
fear we cannot speak of it as a publication) in the shape 
of a report, laid before the authorities of Owens College, 
Manchester, which has appended to it a name nearly, or 
quite, as familiar to the student and readers of NATURE 
as Pettenkofer’s—viz., that of Professor Roscoe, and in 
which the same process of “ ponderation” is applied to 
the classical “Gymnasia” and the modern “ Real- 
Gymnasien” severally. V. Pettenkofer, who is not re- 
ferred to in that report, shall here speak for himself, 
* “Tn what way do classical schools give students a preparation for the 
University?” An address delivered to the students of the Ludwig-Maxi- 
milian University in Munich, on the 4th of December, 1869, by Max. vy. 
Pettenkofer, M.D., Professor of Hygiéne, and at the time Rector of the 
University. (Munich, 1869.) 
and we may say at once, that after stating more or 
less fully the objections which are ordinarily urged against 
the classical system, he declares himself an adherent of 
the party which stands safer antiguas vias, The two 
delegates of Owens College appear to incline in the 
same direction somewhat, but are more eclectic and more 
careful in balancing their utterances as to the possibility 
of combining the two systems than either v. Pettenkofer, 
whom we shall forthwith cite on the one, or than Helm- 
holtz, whom they cite on the other side. 
The argument from authority has a legitimate place in 
questions concerning such matters as the genesis of 
culture and as the existence of capacity and capabilities ; 
for in such questions neither the facts themselves nor the 
mode of their origination can be always looked upon as 
beyond the region of probability. But as we are writing 
ina scientific periodical, we will begin at least with some- 
thing which admits of being quantitatively estimated ; and 
we will do this by giving the time-tables of the classical 
(Humanistischen) and of the modern (Real-Gymnasien) 
schools in Bavaria, as we find them in y. Pettenkofer’s 
address (pp. 5 and 18). 
In classical schools, out of 99 hours per week :— 
8 hours per week are given to German. 
26 ne 5 Latin. 
22 a or Greek, 
8 =F on French, 
(7.2, 64 hours, or 65 per cent., are given to languages, 
three-fourths being Latin and Greek, and one-fourth German and 
French. ) 
17 hours per week are given to Mathematics. 
10 History. 
8 Religious Instruction. 
” a” 
” ” 
In “ Real-Gymnasien,” out of 112 hours per week ;— 
9 hours per week are given to German. 
14 ” A} Latin. 
13 ” iv French, 
4 1} = English. 
(i., 40 hours, or 33 per cent., are given to languages, of 
which time only one-third is given to one ancient language, one- 
third to French, the other two-thirds to German) 
27 hours per week are given to Mathematics. 
(2, algebra, elementary geometry, trigonometry, deserip- 
tive and analytical geometry and higher ana'ysis, taking 22 
per cent, of the whole number) 
4 hours per week are given to Tlistory, . 
19 ” rs Natural Science and Geo- 
graphy. 
24 9 5 Drawing and Modelling. 
8 iy 5 Religious Instruction. 
The “Real-Gymnasien” are thus seen to exact 25 per 
cent. more hours than the classical schools ; and it is by 
this increase on the one hand, coupled with a curtailment 
of the quota assigned to languages on the other, that time 
is found for mathematics and for natural science, with 
the drawing and modelling so indispensable to it. V. 
Pettenkofer deprecates the making of any material in- 
crease in the number of hours to be spent in the gym- 
nasien, on the undeniable ground that the day is no longer, 
and man no stronger now than were the days and the 
men of 2,000 years ago ; and space for such additamenta 
as must be made to the curriculum must be found by 
