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of Edinburgh, Session 1870 - 71 . 
But yet it is endeavoured to keep up a thoroughly intellectual 
atmosphere in the Gymnasiens. The Prussian Government lays it 
down that culture for its own sake, and not with any premature 
regard to the practical exigencies of life, is to be the object of these 
schools. And it expressly forbids that those who propose to enter 
the army as a profession, should abate any of the higher classical 
studies of the first class. This is certainly very different from the 
principle adopted in English public schools. 
The crowning result, and the most distinctive feature of the 
Gymnasium is the abiturienten-examen , or leaving examination. 
The certificate of having passed this examination is, of course, 
ardently desired by the pupils, as it is the key to entry into any of 
the learned professions, and gives important exemption in military 
service. This being the case, it may be affirmed that in this 
country an analogous examination would often lead to over- 
strenuous preparation on the part of the pupils when the time of 
the examination drew nigh. But the Prussian Government takes 
the greatest care to obviate a result which they would deem utterly 
unsatisfactory. They lay down the strictest rules, both in general 
terms and in detail, to prevent the examination being of a kind for 
which any special preparation, spasmodic efforts, or cram would be 
of any avail. It is by no means to turn upon the learning up of 
names, dates, and isolated facts; but it is to exhibit (as the 
educational minute says) “the slowly ripened fruit of a regular and 
contant industry throughout the whole school course.” 
With this object, one of the grounds for the certificate is made 
to consist in a record of the pupil’s work throughout perhaps the 
nine previous years in all the classes of the Gymnasium from sexta 
to prima. In addition to this, the examination is to show how 
much of the school study has really been assimilated by the pupil, 
and has become part of himself. The Prussians are much wiser 
than some other countries in the matter of examinations. They 
always keep in view the exact end they are aiming at. In the 
abiturienten-examen they don’t want a paper, but a man ; and they 
certainly adopt the best means of testing the man’s real acquire¬ 
ments and deserts, when, on the one hand, the examiners have 
before them a continuous record of his previous work for years, 
and, on the other hand, submit him to such general exercises in 
