of Edinburgh, Session 1870 - 71 . 
333 
ordinary rates of expenditure in Germany, is something consider¬ 
able. We all know that the headmasters of Eton and Bugby 
realise L.4000 or L.5000 per annum, which is probably superior to 
most university emoluments within the United Kingdom. But no¬ 
thing of the kind occurs in Prussia ; the highest schoolmasterships 
are below, both in rank and emolument, the ordinary run of professor¬ 
ships. The best school appointment in Prussia appears to be the 
rectorship of the Schul-Pforta , an endowed gymnasium in Prussian 
Saxony; to this L.300 per annum and a house are attache!. The 
professors, being fairly endowed by Government, are far from being 
sheltered from competition by any kind of monopoly. The State 
can always appoint any eminent man as full professor, even in a 
faculty which has already its full complement. Then, secondly, 
the State at its pleasure appoints extraordinary or assistant pro¬ 
fessors, who have a small salary, their chief reliance being on fees. 
Thirdly, the Faculties appoint as Privat-docenten persons who can 
prove their fitness. The Privat-docenten appear not to fulfil the 
functions of what we should call tutors, but rather to be analogous 
to our extra-academical lecturers in the Medical Faculty. The 
Privat-docenten and the extraordinary professors form a reserve of 
men, establishing their reputations, from whom the future full pro¬ 
fessors will be chosen. Before the beginning of the session a 
harmonious arrangement is made between the professors, extra¬ 
ordinary professors, and Privat-docenten , in a Faculty, as to the 
subjects on which each is to lecture, so as to cover the whole field 
of instruction proper to the Faculty. The dean then publishes the 
programme, and the only restriction is that the fees must be 
uniform. 
There is, in short, absolute liberty of teaching to those who can 
prove their competent knowledge of any subject; and there is 
equal liberty of learning, for no student is obliged to attend any 
particular courses, or number of lectures, with a view to his degree. 
All that general culture which we endeavour to ensure by our Arts 
curriculum is provided in Prussia beforehand by the abiturienten- 
examen , and the student is considered fit to choose absolutely for 
himself his own University curriculum. In the professional Faculties 
he, of course, cannot dispense with instruction in all the separate 
branches; but in the Faculty of Philosophy, which answers to our 
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VOL. VII. 
