376 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 219 



the highest marks in examinations, and have shown 

 themselves equal, if not superior, to the students 

 of the gymnasia. This fact has been substantiated 

 by the minister of state, Dr. von Sich, in the pub- 

 lic records, as well as in private letters. Six for- 

 mer pupils have gained professional chairs in the 

 high schools, and among them three are in Prussia. 

 These, as v^ell as the pupils from Principal Kriick 

 in Wurtzburg, for Bavaria, and from Principal 

 Stein bart in Duisburg for North Germany, have 

 given convincing proofs that the educational sys- 

 tem of the real-gymnasium is equivalent to that 

 of the gymnasium. Since the study of Latin in 

 the real-gymnasia was increased in 1882, the 

 faculties of law will scarcely be able to oppose 

 any longer the admission of their graduates. The 

 one in Stuttgart has furnished proof that they are 

 able to understand the institutes and pandects, as 

 they have passed very good examinations in these 

 branches 



Twenty years ago the author laid down this prop- 

 osition : that, in order to preserve the projier cohe- 

 sion in our education, the realist should be educated 

 in a more humanitarian manner, and that through 

 the one-sided huaianitarian education given in the 

 gymnasia the connection between life and the 

 school was severed, while it gave just cause for 

 the objections raised against the gymnasial sys- 

 tem. The Prussian government has tried to 

 remedy this defect, and mediate between the two 

 systems of education. It has made the earlier 

 real-schulen more like the gymnasia by increasing 

 the amount of Latin, and has made a real-gym- 

 nasium out of the former real-schule. That this 

 must bring an increase of privilege is clear. 



Du Bois-Reymond, formerly a violent opponent 

 of the system, now desires to open the profession 

 of medicine to thestudentsof the real-gymnasium, 

 and the faculty of that science in Tubingen no 

 longer opposes this concession. According to our 

 author, the free entrance to all the faculties will 

 eradicate this Kulturkampf which now threatens to 

 waste the best power of the German people. The 

 author considers the question concerning the 

 privileges of the gymnasium in a very direct way. 

 The teaching of Greek in a high school is a dis- 

 tinguishing mark as to whether it is a gymnasium 

 or not. In the beginning of this century, Greek 

 was an essential partof the study in no gymnasium. 

 Herder, Lessing, Schiller, and Goethe first drew 

 the nation upon classic ground, and the German 

 student was obliged to follow if he wished to be 

 in accord with the spirit of the age. Latin formed 

 the basis ; and because it was so strong, the super- 

 structure Greek attained such fine proportions. 

 From this the author draws the conclusion, that be- 

 cause the gymnasium's teaching was sustained by 



the approval of the greatest among the people, and 

 supported by the whole spirit of the times, it has 

 received its sudden impulse during the last fifty 

 years ; and that the system of education can only 

 reach its highest point of development, and at 

 the same time attain the ability to influence the 

 age we live in, as well as instruct the young, when 

 it is in accord with the ideas that are agitating 

 the world, gaining its incentive from them, and 

 in its turn placing them before the young. Latin 

 is the language of the gymnasium. As long as 

 the real-gymnasium makes a point of Latin in- 

 struction, and with all earnestness and power in- 

 terests itself in the teaching of that language, it 

 has a right — an historical right — to be a gym- 

 nasium, to be called by that name, and to be 

 recognized as such. 



Max Miiller, professor in Oxford, and the great- 

 est living philologist, replied to a committee of 

 Hungarians who asked him whether they should 

 introduce the system of gymnasia as it existed in 

 Germany, that Latin was indispensable, as our 

 whole culture rested upon that language, and that 

 Greek should, if necessary, give way to it. 



Upon many sides the old question concerning 

 Greek is renewed, whether one must study Greek 

 literature and customs, through the reading, 

 necessarily in a bungling way, of the original. 

 The author thinks, that for the teacher, with his 

 attainments and enthusiasm for Grecian antiquity, 

 this is essential, but not for the pupil. 



Von Rlimelin, always a conservative friend of 

 the gymnasium, says that the important works of 

 the Grecian authors are too difficult for any ex- 

 cept the most gifted as well as the most studious 

 pupils of the gymnasium. 



The philosophers themselves use a translation of 

 Plato's ' Republic ' by Schleiermacher, and why 

 should not a student of the higher classes read a 

 translation of one of the tragedies with more 

 aesthetic appi'eciation than he could feel in stum- 

 bling through a few strophes from one of the 

 choruses? 



Never was there a greater number of classically 

 educated men than in the assembly held at Frank- 

 furt-a.-M. in 1848. Never did assembly have a 

 meeting l^ss productive of results, nor one with a 

 more lamentable ending. Yet it held the noblest 

 enthusiasm, and its members had the best inten- 

 tions. The ability to create something great and 

 lasting was totally lacking ; and an eminent writer 

 in the Allgemeine Zeitung pronounced the hard 

 judgment that the old gymnasial system weakened 

 the spirit of energy and enterprise. 



The majority of men whose names and deeds 

 have become historical have not been trained in 

 the gymnasium. Among them are Thorwaldsen, 



