November 4, 1909] 



NATURE 



25 



dozen students, so that the almshouse became a nursery 

 as well. 



In the eighteenth century the great struggle was, first, 

 to secure admission of the German language for formal 

 purposes, and, secondly, to ally research with study. In 

 1710 Augustus the Strong granted an observatory, very 

 much in opposition to the University authorities, who, like 

 true scholastics, deemed all teaching should be theoretical. 

 "If a professor made chemical or physical experiments, 

 such were utterly outside his profession. . . . Even an 

 anatomical lecturer did something very supererogatory if, 

 even once a term, he exhibited the position of the entrails 

 to his class. ..." But the Universitas Scholastica — not 

 yet the actual universitas litterarum — even in its theoretical 

 teaching, had to be permeated by the modern spirit, and 

 to admit, as subjects, architecture, military science, and 

 so forth, and even, in the universality of its strivings, 

 quite technical matters, afterwards more fitly relegated to 

 the polytechnics. Later, at the beginning of the last 

 century, when the University of Berlin was inaugurated, 

 Humboldt's words mark the great change. " Research 

 and teaching must coexist, each in its pface, and teacher 

 and pupil must 1^ partners. . . . The strength of the elder 

 mind, more practised, but weaker and more cramped, 

 must act in unison with the spirit of youth, less reliable 

 but more enterprising. With this process of exchange the 

 State must not meddle ... it must supply the wherewithal 

 and select the right men." So too Schleiermacher. "The 

 teacher must be wholly free and gather round himself a 

 seminary of fellow-seekers, thus constituting scientific re- 

 search as a means to something greater, namely, a school 

 of character." But Prof. Wundt sees two sorts of dangers 

 ahead. First, that politics may enter into the scholastic 

 world and affect the choics of competent instructors, and, 

 secondly, that university teachers, though they be civil 

 servants, may not recognise the essential differences be- 

 tween them and ordinary State officials, e.g. that such rules 

 as promotion by seniority cannot apply to them. Instances 

 of the former peril at Leipzig have been the enforced 

 resignations of Mommsen, Otto Jahn, and Moritz Haupt. 



One great reform the University of Leipzig has accom- 

 plished. The old foundation, professing to be universal, 

 was little more than an ultra-conservative high-school for 

 Saxony, in which great men found it hard to breathe 

 freely ; thus Leibniz was forced outside. But the modern 

 State institution is at least German, and not " particular- 

 istic." The teachers are drawn from every part of 

 Germany and German-speaking Austria, and the Uni- 

 versity, if not international, as in olden time it professed 

 to be, is a national school of a united nation. 



The early attendances at the University are difficult to 

 gauge. The practice of matriculating children, of not 

 including teachers and students who came in extra 

 ordinem (i.e. not as members of the corporation), the 

 irregularity of attendance (varying for the terms ; in the 

 winter the students mostly went home), and the inadequacy 

 and vagueness of the old lists, all these causes make any 

 accurate computation impossible. The average is from 

 350 to 450, rising between 1609 and 1629 to 800, sinking 

 in 1634 3nd 1645 to less than 100. This severe fall more 

 or less corresponds with the Thirty Years' War. Another 

 noticea'ble drop (1520—40) may tentatively be accounted for 

 by the superior attr.activeness of Wittenberg (where Luther 

 was staying) and the troubles of the Reformation. After 

 the establishment of the present Empire the numbers rose 

 in ten years from 700 to 2000, and in 1908 stood at more 

 than 2300. 



Prof. Wundt's long address, which is published by Mr. 

 W. Engelmann, of Leipzig, leaves, something to be 

 desired. He gives few details as to the modern extensions 

 of the University, of its new buildings, of the student 

 .associations, and in his estimate of the coming problems 

 he expresses himself indecisivelv, perhaps discreetlv. It 

 would, too, have been interesting to be able to correlate 

 Vtter the progress of German history and the developments 

 of this ancient corporation ; but perhaps there is little 

 more to be said, for, until the revolutionising change of 

 1830, there was little alteration. But a university with 

 so high a claim to veneration for antiquity, so great a 

 repute for modern achievement, could hardly have found 

 a more distinguished commemorator. 

 NO. 2088, VOL. 82] 



T' 



INTERN.iTIONAL CONGRESS ON PURE 



FOODS AND ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES. 

 HE second International Congress on Pure Foods and 

 .■\limentary Substances, held in Paris on October 

 17-24, will be memorable as having brought together more 

 than 2000 delegates and members from all parts of the 

 world. The actual number of countries represented was 

 twenty-eight, and these included States so remote as China, 

 Japan, Uruguay, Mexico, and Brazil. All the European 

 States, as well as America and the British colonies, were 

 fully represented. 



The British delegation was a representative one, and 

 included delegates from various learned societies and other 

 I associations interested in a pure food supply. The meet- 

 ings were held in the College of Medicine, Paris, which 

 was kindly placed at the disposal of the congress by the 

 faculty, and the various class-rooms, together with the 

 commodious amphitheatre, were taxed to their full capacity 

 to accommodate all those present. Indeed, on the official 

 opening day, October 18, it was quite impossible to find 

 room for half the members who desired to hear the 

 speeches. The address of welcome was given by M. Ruau, 

 Minister of .Agriculture of France, who dwelt on the great 

 work being carried on by the White Cross Society of 

 Geneva, under the auspices of which the second Inter- 

 national Food Congress was held. The White Cross Society 

 was called into existence as a companion organisation to 

 the Red Cross Society, the efforts of which have proved so 

 successful in mitigating the horrors of war. It is the 

 mission of the White Cross Society to try to ameliorate 

 the evils of our modern social system, and in no respect is 

 this more needful than in connection with the food supply. 



Prof. Bordas, chief of the customs laboratories of France, 

 as president of the congress, reminded the members present 

 that the first congress, which was held at Geneva, had 

 defined what should be the constitution of pure food, 

 primary products in connection with drugs, and various 

 alimentary substances, all of which had been set forth in 

 the Comptes rendus. It would be the business of that con- 

 gress to continue these definitions and determine precisely 

 what operations should be allowable in the handling of 

 such substances. When that was complete it would then 

 be necessarv to try to unify analytical methods or show 

 exactly what relation one analytical process bore to another, 

 so that the results attained would be comparable equally. 

 When such a basis of comparison was arrived at, it would 

 then be easv to place the whole department of the supply 

 of food and alimentary substances under legal control in 

 all countries. 



The work of the congress was divided up into various 

 sections, the dutv of which it was to come to definite con- 

 clusions in connection with various substances and report 

 such decisions to the section of hygiene, which formed a 

 kind of court for reviewing the work done in other depart- 

 ments. 



The sections included ;— (i) drinks and beverages, wines, 

 liqueurs, cider, perry, beer, vinegar ; (2) bread, fiour, 

 pastry ; (3) confectionery, honey, sugar, sugar preparations, 

 cocoa, chocolate ; (4) spices, tea, coffee, mustard, salt ; 

 (5) dairying, milk, cream, condensed milk, butter, cheese, 

 eggs ; (i)) charcuterie, the meat industry, edible fats, pre- 

 served provisions, preserved fruits and vegetables, sausages ; 

 (7) primary products in connection with drugs, essential 

 oils, chemical products ; (8) medicinal and other mineral 

 waters, ice. 



The consideration of such a formidable list necessarily 

 meant continuous hard work, and it is only fair to say 

 that the attendance at the sections was everything that 

 could be desired, and the department of hygiene _ was 

 crowded from first to last, it being estimated that in it 

 alone the average attendance exceeded 500. 



It would not be desirable to attempt to review the various 

 discussions in detail, suffice it to say that the definitions 

 were completed, and, as the president announced, will be 

 Dublished as soon as possible in French, German, and 

 English. It may be of interest, however, to refer to some 

 of the more notable decisions. 



Bread was declared to be the product resulting from the 

 baking of dough made from pure wheat flour, with the 

 additi(Dn of yeast, water, and salt. Any other product 



