HUMANISM AND REALISM. b51 
good knowledge of German, French, English, mathematics, 
history, geography, natural history, chemistry, and natural 
philosophy. Latin was optional, though its suceessful study 
brought some advantages to the pupil. The successful candi- 
date had the privilege of having his length of service in the 
army reduced to one year, and of entering the Berlin Royal 
Academy for technology. Moreover, he was privileged to enter 
the postal and revenue departments, and to study forestry and 
civil engineering. The concessions offered to these modern 
schools were not very great, but they were nevertheless of the 
utmost importance. At last the barrier had been broken down, 
separating those who were receiving a realistic education from 
those who were educated in a curriculum that had been followed 
for more than a thousand years, and was defended by the par- 
tisans of the conservative element in State and church, men who 
looked upon the introduction of science in secondary schools as 
a dangerous, revolutionary, and heterodox element. If we were 
to trust the representations of Nicthammer, Thiersch, and others, 
we should suppose that the erection of the realistic schools had 
reduced the human race to a state of utter barbarism. With 
this concession of the State the Buergerschulen soon multiplied, 
and the number of their pupils grew rapidly, so that the atten- 
dance at the gymnasiums in many larger cities sensibly 
diminished. The citizen, merchant, manufacturer, mechanic, | 
and agriculturist, found at last that their children could now 
receive an education preparing them directly for their future 
duties in life, without being obliged to devote a great’portion of 
their time to one or two subjects that in most instances would 
be of little use to them ; that their education would be thorough, 
and that while the humanistic element would not be thrown out 
they would be able to follow and appreciate all the great dis- 
coveries of physical science, the great lever of modern society 
and civilisation. 
When, however, after the memorable year 1848, the re- 
action set in in good earnest in Germany, powerful enemies of 
the modern secondary schools were not wanting, who tried to 
abolish them again. These enemies consisted of a number of 
humanists, whose pride and narrow-mindedness found a welcome 
alliance with an autocratic government. Strange to say, in 
order to do this, provincial technological schools in the first 
instance were instituted where mathematics, drawing, and 
physical science formed the principal subjects, without any 
humanistic instruction being given. It was presumed that this 
in some respects would stay the progress of the modern schools, 
or even harm them to some considetable extent, by drafting 
their best pupils into the new, purely technical schools, so as to 
give them a kind of education fitting them for their future 
calling, without offering that amount of humanistic culture 
through which the pupils of the gymnasium should be favorably 
distinguished from them. But this jesuitic attempt did little 
arm to the Buergerschule, and when at last in 1859 the new 
