February 17, 1910] 



NATURE 



473 



Lowest entrance agef 18 years 



isary degree o* The 



school, making:, togethe 

 with the three years at ; 

 preparato y school, ; 

 total of about 12 years 



.Scope and manner Advanced and complete 

 application of higher 

 mathematics aed mathe- 

 matical sciences ad- 

 vanced theory and de- 

 sign, facilities for the 

 attendance of lectures in 

 the deparrments o*^chem- 

 istry, civil engineering, 

 architecture, ait, science 



f the instruc- Training of experts, great 

 inventors, high technical 

 State and municipal 

 officials, " captains of 

 industry," owners and 

 managers of great works, 

 :ondary 



of 



Previous period olj G<: 

 experience ini m 



Length of 



ultine 



. &c. 



n. with a tendency 1 



1 municipal Hieher 

 al appoint the Pt ___ 

 Dpen losiu- technical 



tendency to 

 ippointments 



at No compuls 



At the special engineering 

 schools and other technical 

 schools, with courses in 

 mechanical engineering, 

 building and rlectro- 



14 and 16 years 



14 or 16 to 30 years 



Qualification lor the one- 

 year military service ; (6 

 years at a secondary 

 school); al<o compleuon 

 ofthe"VolkschuIe"(ele- 

 mentary school) and a 

 knowledge of mathematics 

 years' practical 



and' 



Tiple 



ire of in- 

 :e within 



arranged for praciiral 

 requirements, no h'gher 

 mathematics, elementary 

 theory and design ; no 

 facilities for instruction in 

 other technical depart- 

 ments or in letters, lan- 

 guages, philosophy, &c. 

 I'raining of ountr-; and 

 managers of smaller 

 woiks, foremen, clerks of 

 works, surveyors, minor 

 State and municipal offi- 

 cials, draughtsmen, tech- 

 nical travellers, &c. 



2 to 4 years as minimum. 



2 years being exa'-ted 

 almost without exception ; 

 very strictly observed 



2 to 2i years som.lime^ 

 ■ 4 years in rare cases 



3 and 3J years 



Lower appointments in the 

 State and municipal lech- 



Althougli English universities have been included in the 

 comparison, no mention has been made of tlie following 

 German institutions of equal or similar rank : — 



The twenty older nni- Thev cont.*in 48,000 students. Of thfse a large 

 \ersities (excluding number 'tudy chemistry, which is a department 

 the theological uni- of the faculty of philosophy at all German uni- 

 versities nf Uauns- versities 

 berg and Miinster) 



The three agricultural Same educational qualifications as at the technical 



high schools and older universities. Exceptions, however, 

 are allowed. Number of students^i402 



Agricultural depart- At seven of the older universities and at one tech- 



ments nical unive'sity 



The five veterinary high Same ed ucational qualifications as at the technical 



schools and older universities. Number of students 



The four forestry z 



= 132 



The forestry depart- At thn 



and one technical 



The result of this comparison between German and 

 British technical institutions shows that the former are 

 constituted and organised on a higher level. With the 

 possible e.xception of the Imperial College of Technology 

 and applied science departments at Cambridge, Edinburgh, 

 Glasgow and Victoria Universities, Trinity College, Dublin, 

 and some university colleges, there do not appear to exist 

 in the United Kingdom technical institutions which can be 

 compared with any of the great German technical 

 universities. 



Looked at from the basis of the German standard of 

 previous education and practical work, length, extent, and 



NO. 2103, VOL. 82] 



variety of the courses taken, and the number of diplomas 

 granted, it will probably be found that there are insufficient 

 students in the whole country to fill one of the large 

 German technical universities. Here and there a number 

 of students in a few departments come up to the German 

 level. Good technical institutes and departments in 

 England appear to be more on a level with the best 

 technical schools in Germany rather than with the technical 

 universities. Such schools are, for example, the Prussian 

 higher mechanical engineering schools at Dortmund, 

 Elberfeld, Breslau, and Cologne, the trade academy at 

 Chemnitz, the technical school at Cothen, and several 

 " Technikums." These schools do not admit students 

 before sixteen, require a six years' certificate from a 

 secondary school and proof of two years' practical work, 

 and have a course of at least two years. They are very 

 numerous in Germany. 



In England the tendency during the last ten years has 

 been to graft departments for higher applied science upon 

 the older or modern universities. This was done in 

 Germany very many years ago and soon abandoned. For 

 example, engineering was once taught at Giessen Uni- 

 versity, higher mechanics at Munich University, and 

 technology at Gottingen and other universities. At the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century lectures on technology 

 were given at Heidelberg, which were suitable in every 

 respect for a technical school. Building, mining, metal- 

 lurgy, forestry, surveying, and other subjects were also 

 taught. \X. the present time, with few exceptions, applied 

 science and technology generally have gone to the technical 

 universities and institutions of similar rank and to the 

 technical schools. Only comparatively few departments 

 survive, such as forestry, veterinary and agricultural 

 science, which are still taught partly at the older universi- 

 ties, but principally at independent institutions. K very 

 large amount of chemistry, principally pure chemistry, is 

 taught at all German universities. It forms the great 

 exception to the rule, and was taught so far back as the 

 beginning of the seventeenth century. Different countries 

 have, of course, followed different lines of procedure in the 

 development of their higher technical instruction. 



The German technical universities are not, strictly speak- 

 ing, new creations. They have been developed — with one 

 exception — from technical schools, trade schools, &c., 

 founded in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. One 

 of the great reasons for the foundation of these schools 

 was to render Germany independent of the English manu- 

 factures and machinery, which, together with English 

 capital and engineers, overran Germany in the first half of 

 the nineteenth century. 



The present organisation of English polytechnics repre- 

 sents a stage of development which German technical 

 education passed through about forty years ago, and out 

 of which nine of the ten technical universities have arisen. 



There is little doubt that the rapid development of the 

 German technical universities is owing, to a great extent, 

 to their independent position towards the older universities. 

 They do not enter into competition with them, but supple- 

 ment them by providing a new type of instruction which 

 the older universities, by reason of their environment, 

 traditions, and organisation into the four faculties of law, 

 medicine, theology, and philosophy, cannot give. The 

 same is true of the semi-classical (Realgymnasia) and 

 modern secondary schools (Oberrealschulen). Instead of 

 attempting to graft a large amount of science, modern 

 languages, mathematics, and drawing upon the older 

 classical gymnasia, new secondary schools were created 

 with the same length of courses, but of a semi-cIassIcal or 

 completely modern type. All three types remained in- 

 dependent, and have consequently flourished, although the 

 State still favours the classical gymnasia in State appoint- 

 ments and the liberal professions. .As the technical uni- 

 versities developed so did the new types of secondary 

 schools from which they receive so many of their students. 

 Coordination between the older and the technical universi- 

 ties has been effected in a simple manner by making 

 the leaving certificate of the secondary schools (the 

 " Maturitas ") the standard of matriculation for both types 

 of university, and bv putting university and technical 

 university terms on the same footing as regards the length 

 of study for the final examination. 



