PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 
vol. vii. 1870-71. No. 83. 
Eighty-Eighth Session. 
Monday, 1 §th January 1871. 
Dr CHBISTISON, President, in the Chair. 
At the request of the Council, Principal Sir Alex. Grant, 
Bart., delivered an address “On the Educational System of 
Prussia.” 
Mr President and Gentlemen, —If I were addressing almost 
any other assembly, I should probably begin by saying that the 
subject of the educational system of Prussia possesses a peculiar 
interest at the present moment for two reasons—ls£, Because the 
wonderful successes of Prussia make one curious to know all the 
methods which have been applied to bring that nation to its pre¬ 
sent state; 2 dly, Because public instruction is just now one of the 
chief questions of the day for the inhabitants of Great Britain and 
Ireland. 
But in this Society considerations of the temporary and the 
contingent would be out of place. And therefore, omitting alto¬ 
gether such allusions, I propose to submit some account and esti¬ 
mate of the Prussian educational system merely as a sort of 
contribution to human natural history. 
Probably no human institution is perfect, and yet I think we 
may see nature working in and by means of human societies 
towards constant improvement—that is, towards the best. While 
a large portion of mankind seem content to remain stationary. 
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VOL. VII. 
