Mat 14, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



761 



attendance at the twenty-two German uni- 

 versities reveals at once the most striking 

 fact developed in the course of this in- 

 vestigation. It will be seen that prior to 

 1870 (the year ' of the Franco-Prussian 

 war) this attendance was fairly uniform 

 (the yeast of the spirit of 1848-9 can, 

 however, be seen to have been slightly 

 working), keeping regular pace with the 

 population and thereby betokening a cer- 

 tain stable condition of the social order. 

 Immediately after this date we find the 

 curve taking a sharp upward bend and an 

 increase in attendance growing much more 

 rapidly than the population. Nor does 

 this increase show the slightest tendency 

 to fall ofE. It is even more marked if we 

 plat the combined attendance at all the 

 German universities, polytechnic and pro- 

 fessional colleges above gymnasial rank as 

 in Curve A.'' 



At the beginning of the period of rapid 

 development (1870) we find one student 

 for every two thousand inhabitants, while 

 in 1907 we find one student for every 

 thousand inhabitants. This denotes twice 

 as wide-spread a participation in the bene- 

 fits of higher education — and, involving, 

 as this must, higher personal efficiency, 

 needs and aspirations, it is not too much 

 to claim that we are well on the way 

 toward an entirely new social order; that 

 we are in the midst of an intellectual 

 renaissance of profoundest import, of a 

 movement which is one of the most signifi- 

 cant in the history of the development and 

 progress of the race. 



Were Germany alone in this movement 

 so broad a statement would be unjustifi- 

 able—but she does not stand alone, she is 

 simply preceding the other nations. 



Chart No. 2 deals with the statistics for 

 the United States and is based upon data 



' The disturbed political conditions of 1887-8 

 show in the form of an offset in both curves; 

 more marked in B. 



compiled from annual Reports of the 

 Commissioner of Education. Curve B 

 gives the combined attendance at all the 

 colleges, universities, scientific, technical 

 and professional schools, omitting pre- 

 paratory departments. Up to the year 

 1885 we see a condition of practical sta- 

 bility, but beginning with that year the 

 curve takes an upward bend and continues 

 with no sign of falling oif. We see re- 

 peated the same story told by the German 

 curves but beginning fifteen years later. 

 In 1885 we find one student for every 

 seven hundred inhabitants, twenty years 

 later, in 1905, one for every four hundred 

 —or, if we include the Normal Sch®ol at- 

 tendance as given by Curve A, one for 

 every three hundred inhabitants. 



Even though the United States shows 

 the same phenomenon, our broad state- 

 ment might have to be qualified. But the 

 following table (I.) shows that the move- 

 ment is not confined to these two countries. 

 Here we see that Russia is the only west- 

 ern country of prominence which has not 

 passed Germany's figure of the year 1870, 

 namely, one student for two thousand in- 

 habitants. Perhaps the most striking fact 

 displayed by this table is the way Great 

 Britain has lagged in this vast movement 

 of the democratization of the advantages 

 of higher education — and, scarcely less 

 significant, the strong leading position of 

 the United States. 



To analyze the forces underlying this 

 great wave of emancipation, fascinating 

 as the study may be, is a task lying beyond 

 our present powers. It remains a prob- 

 lem for the future historian. We must 

 content ourselves with noting the phe- 

 nomenon and passing on to some of its 

 effects. It is also to be noted in passing 

 that going side by side with the great in- 

 crease in numbers there has been a vast 

 improvement in the standards of the edu- 



