October 20, 19 10] 



NATURE 



497 



versity, handed in his document, and was greeted by 

 the rector. This part of the proceedings went for- 

 ward quietly, though at intervals applause broke out 

 /IS well-known personages were recognised. Thus 

 Poincare, of Paris, Sir J. J. Thomson, of Cambridge, 

 Lord Stratlicona, of Montreal, JNIacan, of Oxford, 

 -Mittag-Leffler, of Stockholm, and Hadley, of Yale, 

 were specially cheered. 



Thereupon the prorector. Dr. Kahl, read a long list 

 of jubilee gifts and benefactions. They included one 

 of 5000/. from Frau von W'ildenbruch for scholarships, 

 a large but unnamed sum from friends of the Univer- 

 sitv for the foundation of students' hostels or resi- 

 dential colleges, 7500/. from Dr. Hans Meyer, of Leip- 

 zig, for the endowment of a chair of colonial geo- 

 graphv, and a multitude of other donations in money 

 and kind. For all of these grateful acknowledgments 

 were expressed, and then, by the whole assembly, the 

 Emperor leading, the Gaudcamus igitur was intoned 

 as a finale. The ceremony had lasted over three 

 hours. 



Immediately after the ceremony, it was officially 

 announced that the titles of Excellency and full Privy 

 Councillor had been bestowed upon Prof. Harnack, 

 ro\al librarian ; Prof. Diels, philologist ; Prof. Wilamo- 

 witz-MoUendorf, classical scholar; Prof. Emil Fischer, 

 chemist; Prof. Brunner, jurist; and that a host o( 

 decorations of all grades had been conferred upon 

 other officers of the L'niversity. Even the chief janitor 

 or bcdellus was not forgotten. 



.'\t three o'clock a banquet for six hundred was 

 served in the hall of the exhibition park. The feast 

 and the .speeches lasted until nearly eight in the even- 

 ing. Prince Rupert of Bavaria, Prince .=\ugust 

 A\'illiam of Prussia, the Chancellor von Bethmann- 

 Hollweg, formerly a Berlin professor, and the Minis- 

 ter of Education, Count von Trott zu Solz, were 

 among the guests. The Chancellor and the Minister 

 spoke for the German (iovernment ; the Prorector and 

 Dr. Wilamowitz-Mollendorf for the L'niversity and its 

 staff; Rector Holder, of Leipzig, and Prof. Mahaffy, 

 of Dublin, for the Teutonic and non-Teutonic guests 

 respectiveh' ; the President of the Gymnastic .Associa- 

 tion, ".Arminia," for the students. To him Prof. 

 Harnack replied, thanking the undergraduates 

 iitrit(sque sexiis, and draining the newlv presented 

 loving-cup to their welfare. Some ominous head- 

 shakings among the professors were observable as the 

 one ladv student present. Miss Use Tesch, of the 

 facultv of medicine, came up to join in the pledge. 

 The situation was saved by Prince .August \\"illiam, 

 himself a Berlin student, who promptly shook hands 

 with his " Commilitonen " tttriusque scxiis, and 

 solemnly shared the cup with them. The assembly dis- 

 solved in laughter and loud applause. Presently the 

 company reassembled at the Royal Theatre, where, in 

 the pre.sence of his M.ajestv and the Court, a festal 

 performance of Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" was 

 given in honour of the L'niversity and its guests. 



On Wednesday morning, October \2, the new Aula 

 ■was the scene of the second Festakt. The Emperor 

 was represented bv his son, and the place of the 

 courtiers was taken bv the city fathers and other 

 representatives of municipal institutions. But in other 

 respects the gathering resembled that of the preceding 

 day. Prof. Lenz, the historiographer of the L'niver- 

 sity. delivered an eloquent and impassioned address 

 on its origin, evolution, and present position. The 

 ideas of its first sponsors, Fichte, Schleiermacher, and 

 William von Humboldt, had been realised or sur- 

 passed. Even in the dark days of the Fatherland, the 

 I'niversitv had not desoaired. Hundreds of its mem- 

 bers had given their labours and laid down their lives 

 for the unity of Germany. Based on that unity, now 



NO. 2138, VOL. 84] 



once for all achieved, the University had risen 

 triumphant to its present glory. Its watchword was 

 ■• freedom of research " ; its guiding conviction that 

 knowledge is the power that conquers. 



Then followed the academic ceremony of conferring 

 honorary degrees. In accordance with German cus- 

 tom, the list of graduands had been kept a secret. 

 For days before the newspapers had speculated re- 

 garding the recipients, but, except in a few instances, 

 the current guesses appear to have been wide of the 

 mark. The precedence of the faculties in Berlin rests 

 with divinity; it is followed bv law, medicine, and 

 philosophy. It was therefore at once surmised that 

 something abnormal was about to happen when the 

 dean of the law faculty came first to the dais. In a 

 few words of German he explained his mission, and 

 then in stately Latin proceeded to create, pronounce, 

 and proclaim the Emperor himself a doctor utriusqtie 

 juris:, cujus auctoritate juris civilis Germanorum codex 

 post scvculi labores prodiit. The announcement 

 brought the assembly to its feet; a loud fanfare, and 

 cheer after cheer, welcomed the new graduate. The 

 dean of the faculty of theology followed, in a formal 

 and courtly protest, v^-aiving his precedence for that 

 occasion only. He, by resolution of the Senate, and 

 with the approval of his Majesty, proclaimed some 

 fifteen or sixteen doctors of divinity. The Burgo- 

 master of Hamburg, a distinguished merchant, and 

 Dr. James Hope Moulton, of Cambridge and Man- 

 chester, were among the number. The dean of the law 

 faculty reappeared, and conferred the LL.D. degree 

 on Prince Rupert of Bavaria, Judge Oliver Wendell 

 Holmes, of New York, Prof. Vinogradoff, of Oxford, 

 the Burgomaster of Berlin, and a long series of pro- 

 fessors and high officials holding office in the German 

 civil service. In medicine, professors of philology, 

 philosophy, and law were promoted, side by side with 

 Poincare, de Vries, Richards (Harvard), the painter 

 Thoma, the musician Reger, the humorist Raabe, of 

 Brunswick, and the master of cererr'onies, Knese'oeck. 

 It needed all the dean's ingenuity to relate the 

 functions of the honorary doctors of medicine to those 

 of his faculty. 



The list of the philosophical faculty, which includes 

 all the departments not covered bv the other three, 

 was of considerable length. Some forty names were 

 read out, and a few words were said on each. Prof. 

 .Ashley, of Birminghaln, Dr. .Arthur Evans, of Oxford, 

 and Dr. Lazarus Fletcher, of the British Museum, 

 represented British learning; and the Presidents of 

 Harvard, A'ale, and Columbia were selected for the 

 L'nited States. The Imperial Chancellor and the 

 President of the Reichstag, with many other exalted 

 personages, military and administrative, and one lady, 

 Frau Cosima Wagner, of Bayreuth, were included. 

 It gave rise to some remark that none of the British 

 delegates, though Lord Strathcona, Lord Reay, .Sir 

 William Ramsay, Sir J. J. Thomson, and Sir Joseph 

 Larmor were among them, received any academic 

 recognition. 



The solemnities of the seniors were thus accom- 

 olished. But the junior members of the L'niversity 

 had festivities of their own to celebrate. The after- 

 noon was occupied by a popular GartciifesI in the 

 exhibition park, where students in the costume of iSio 

 and earlier, old alumni, professors, citizens, and some- 

 what b.ewildered eruests, held high carnival. The 

 halls of the exhibition, and the arches of the railway 

 viaduct that spans the grounds, were thronged by 

 thousands of cheerful spectators of the numerous 

 entertainments, organised by the students' com- 

 mittee. -As the public were admitted on payment, the 

 crowds made sightseeing difficult, and conversation 

 well-nigh impossible. As the evening fell, the 



