246 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. YI., No. 137. 



In every important institution of learning in 

 this country, there are scholars who have felt 

 the beneficent effects of German method in 

 their own intellectual culture, who have been in- 

 spired by German enthusiasm and devotion, who 

 have profited by German erudition and research, 

 and who are endeavoring to hold up to Amer- 

 icans the example of German scholarship. To 

 all these persons we particularly recommend 

 the study of Dr. Conrad's volume. It will not 

 show what wonderful contributions have been 

 made to knowledge during the past fifty years, 

 nor the effect of universit}- education upon the 

 political and religious condition of the country. 

 It will introduce the reader neither to great 

 books nor to great men. But it will reveal the 

 results of academic administration in bring-ino; 

 together large bodies of teachers and students, 

 and of holding them by positive restrictions and 

 requirements to prolonged and s^'stematic study. 



We hear a great deal of the freedom of aca- 

 demic life in German}^, Lehr-freilieit and Lern- 

 freiheit, and especiall}^ from those who would 

 carr}^ the elective principle through all our 

 institutions of learning ; but, in the German- 

 university system, laws and regulations, tradi- 

 tional, political, and institutional, are to be met 

 with at ever}' turn. To begin with, the estab- 

 lishment of a universit}' does not depend upon 

 the bount}^ of a millionnaire, nor upon the reli- 

 gious zeal of some ecclesiastical body. Univer- 

 sities are not established to bring fame to pri- 

 vate individuals, to give value to corner-lots, or 

 to make a local school for boj^s or girls appear 

 to better advantage because it bears an aristo- 

 cratic name. In this countr}-, the name uni- 

 versit}^ is not protected b}- law or b}' tradition ; 

 and authority to confer the rights and dignities 

 of academic degrees can be secured in most 

 states more easily than a charter for a horse- 

 railroad or a bank. But in German}^ since 

 the first foundation at Prague in 1348, only 

 forty-two universities have been established ; 

 and of these, sixteen, for various reasons, have 

 been given up, or combined with other institu- 

 tions. Onl}^ three new foundations have been 

 laid in this century, — at Berlin, Bonn, and 

 Munich ; and of these, the two last were based 

 on earlier undertakings. The new universit}^ 

 at Strassburg is, in fact, the revival of an old 

 name. There are to-day, in so much of Ger- 

 many as constitutes the German empire, but 

 twentj'-one universities, — ten in Prussia, six in 

 South German}^, four in the minor confederated 

 states, and one in the Reichslande ; but what 

 a score they are ! i 



1 The map which we have reproduced from this volume 

 shows their geographical position. 



The restrictions placed upon the establish- 

 ment of universities are equalled b}^ those 

 which control their interior organization, their 

 distribution into faculties, their responsibil- 

 it}" to the government, their employment of 

 funds, their modes of instruction. So also 

 even the boasted freedom of students is a 

 freedom based upon law which would seem 

 t3Tannical to the American public. The uni- 

 versity portals are not open to every one. 

 Those who would enter them, if belonging to 

 the countr}^, must bring the final certificate 

 of the gymnasium ; and that cannot usually be 

 acquired without eight or nine years of rigid 

 discipline in a school where the studies are 

 obligatory, and where every hour of every 

 week has its appropriate pre-appointed task. 

 Great opposition has been made to the admis- 

 sion of students from the real-schools to the 

 universities, especially in Prussia ; and the 

 controversy^, in respect to the essentials of 

 a liberal education, is still in progress, with a 

 tendenc}', so far as we are able to judge, to- 

 ward the re-affirmation of the principles of 

 gymnasium instruction, and the belief that this 

 is the onl}^ fit introduction to university priv- 

 ileges. 



From these general remarks, we proceed to 

 gather from the copious stores before us some 

 statements in detail which may interest those 

 who have not access to the pages of Dr. 

 Conrad. Noteworth}^ fluctuation has been ap- 

 parent in the attendance at German univer- 

 sities. At the end of the twenties (1821-31), 

 the number of students was extraordinarily 

 large ; at the beginning of the thirties, there 

 was a great and sudden decrease ; in the seven- 

 ties, a powerful increase ; and the causes of this 

 ebb and flow are an interesting field for trained 

 conjecture. The drift of students toward 

 Berlin, Leipsic, and Munich is remarkable, 

 these three universities having forty- two per 

 cent during the last semester which was under 

 review. There has been an increase in the 

 number of foreigners in attendance, but the 

 importance of this element has relatively 

 decreased during the last twenty years. In 

 1880 there were a hundred and seventy-three 

 students enrolled from the United States, — 

 mostly devoted to the philosophical faculty. 

 The ' migrations ' of German students are a 

 very interesting subject of investigation. Just 

 now north Germans go to the south, much 

 more than south Germans go to the north. 

 " It is the fine scenery, the mild climate, the 

 geniality of south Germany," which prove 

 attractive. "The desire to study at a large 

 university, and the preference for cheap liv- 



