57 
PATH 
excefiive blindnefs or culpable connivance on the part of 
the profeffors, the nobleft faculties of youth have been 
perverted in favour of extravagant projects and enterpri- 
fes, which, though impotent or abfurd, are not the lefs 
reprehenfible and criminal, fince thefe fatal delufions 
have given rife to crimes difhonourable to the German 
character. The late melancholy events at Gottingen will 
fully juftify us in the above remarks. 
In moft of the univerfities there are what are called 
freitifche (free tables) for the poorer ftudents. Inde¬ 
pendently of thofe provided by the government, indi¬ 
viduals often leave lands or money to fup'port a certain 
number of thefe freitifche. A ftudent appointed to one 
of thefe, receives his dinner daily at his own houfe. By 
this excellent plan, the feelings of the obliged are fpared, 
and the intention of the donor fully carried into exe¬ 
cution, by the fupport given to merit in diftrefs. Befides 
the freitifche , there are Jiipcndiem, or grants of money, ap¬ 
propriated to the fame purpofes ; burfaries or exhibitions. 
The ftudents refide in lodgings, and dine either at a 
table d’hote or have their dinner fent them from an 
eating-houfe. Boarding is quite unknown. 
Among the advantages which the ftudents enjoy, we 
nmft particularly notice the cheapnefs and independence 
of living at the univerfities, the low price of books, and 
the liberality of the public libraries. The general price 
of lodgings vary at different univerfities: at Gottingen, 
which is by far the moft expenfive, the price of two 
rooms may be quoted from three to eight louis d’ors for 
iix months ; dinner from one to two louis d’ors per 
month. Every thing elfe is reafonable in proportion. 
No ftudent is fo poor as not to polfefs a library. The 
difference in the price of books is very great, and yet 
there is no clafs of men more generally opulent and re- 
fpedtable than the German bookfellers. By contenting 
themfelves with a moderate profit, the books bear a 
price which puts them within the reach of almoft every 
ftudent. In Great Britain, ftudents are obliged to con¬ 
tent themfelves with elementary books, and to borrow 
others from public libraries. Independently of the dif¬ 
ficulties attending the delivery of works in thefe inftitu- 
tions, it is no fmall inconvenience to the ftudents not to 
have his books at all times, and to be able to ftudy at his 
own time and in his own way. We are well aware of 
the difference of price in paper and printing in the two 
countries, but we contend that they are not fuch as to 
juftify the difference in price; and, if they did, the German 
bookfellers have another drawback : no fooner does a 
work of merit make its appearance, than a pirated edi¬ 
tion is publifhed in a neighbouring ftate: and yet, with 
ail this, books are one-half or two-thirds cheaper. Thus 
.. Blumenbach’s Phyfiology fells- in Germany at about 
5s. 6d. The tranflation of the fame volume in London, 
a book of the fame fize and nature, (and, as books go 
here, a cheap book,) fells at 12s. This is a favourable 
inftance, for we could fliow cafes where the proportion 
is as 3s. 6d. to 15s. 
The public libraries in Germany are better conduced 
and more ufeful than ours. They are not fo much com- 
pofed of old and curious books, as of works of general 
utility. They are perfectly open to the ftudents, nor 
did we ever hear of a book being purloined or defaced. 
There is another advantage which the fchools of Ger¬ 
many afford—a very conliderable facility of diffedfion. 
While our prefent reftraints upon the ftudy of anatomy 
exift, fo that it cannot be purfued to any ufeful extent, 
or at any reafonable expenfe, nor without expofmg the 
ftudent to the vengeance of the law, or the dread of vio¬ 
lence from popular prejudice, it is in vain for us to hope 
to rival the Germans in the ftudy of elementary, much 
lefs of minute, anatomy. The fmalleft fchool in Germany 
is better provided with fubjedls than any of our univer¬ 
fities or even hofpital-fchools, and this without violating 
the feelings of any one. The rooms are in general fup- 
plied by the dead bodies of thofe who die in the liofpitals, 
" Vol. XIX. No. 1287. 
O L O G Y. 
and who have no friends or relations to claim them. We 
rejoice that this fubjedt has- not efcaped the notice of one 
whofe eloquence can hardly fail of fuccefs when the 
objedt is, as in this cafe, to benefit the caufe of huma¬ 
nity and improve the profeffion of which he is fo great an 
ornament. See the Hunterian Oration for 1819. 
In recommending the fchools of Germany to fuch of 
our countrymen as may vifit the continent, we mult be 
uqderftood as addrefling ourfelves only to fuch as view 
the profeflion of medicine in the light of a liberal and en¬ 
lightened fcience : to others the appeal would be in vain. 
The former we mult exhort not to be deterred by-the 
manner in which Germany and her fchools are often 
mentioned in this country, and that too by men whofe 
reputation makes them an authority. They fpeak of the 
Germans as illuminati, as proficients in animal magne- 
tifm and nothing elfe, as mere book-men, &c. &c. but 
negledf to obferve, that no country has adorned the pro¬ 
feflion of medicine with fo many eminent men, or la¬ 
boured more affiduoufly in her caufe, than Germany; 
the land of Hoffman and Richter, Meckel and Walter, 
Wrifberg and Zinn, Schmidt and Hildenbrand, the land 
which ftill boafts of Franck and Soemmerring, Blumen- 
bach and Beer, and Springle and Hufeland. 
The German ftudent enters the profeflion much better 
prepared than the generality of our ftudents. A thorough 
knowledge of the claflics, and fome acquaintance with 
natural philofophy, are confidered indifpenfable; while 
moft of them poffefs fufficient literary acquirements to 
feel the dignity and importance of the profeflion upon 
which they are entering. Their diligence is unwearied 
and univerfal. 
One great caufe why the produdfions of the German 
fchool are fo little known or valued in this country, is 
the ignorance of the German language which is fo gene¬ 
rally prevalent. The war haying fufpended our inter- 
courfe with the Germans, our knowledge of their labours 
has been derived from French tranflators, the very word 
medium through which it could have been conveyed. 
It cannot however be denied that, with all the zeal and 
induftry which the Germans have difplayed, the benefit 
derived from the application of their vait- learning to 
practical purpofes (whether in our profeflion or in other 
fciences) has not been equivalent to what might have 
been expedted from their acknowledged talents-and un¬ 
wearied induftry. The fault has not lain with them, 
but with the peculiar conftitution of their country. 
Divided into a number of fmall and inconliderable ftates, 
which were 'bound by no common union and cemented 
by no common feeling, its general refource.s were weak¬ 
ened, and too few opportunities afforded for putting 
fcientific difcoveries to the teft of practical application. 
Difcoveries often lay dormant, or, in the ftruggle to 
make them known, were i'eized by nations more happily 
circumftanced, and their real country and author for¬ 
gotten. Lefling has expoled this feeling in one of his 
charming fables fo happily, that we Ihall give a tranfla¬ 
tion of it to our readers. “ A hen, which had become 
blind, continued to fcratch together her fmall heap of 
corn. Little did it avail theinduftrious fowl; for another 
hen, which was not blind, followed her fteps, and en¬ 
joyed the fruits of her labour. As foon as the blind 
hen had laborioufly fcratched up a grain, the other carried 
it off The induftrious German coliedls the knowledge 
which the lively Frenchman puts to ufe.” 
The moft celebrated of the Proteftant univerfities of 
Germany is that of Gottingen. This univerfity was 
founded by George II. when Eledfor of Brunfvvick and 
Luneburg, on the 7th of December, 1736. The imperial 
licence had been granted by the Emperor Charles VI. fo 
early as January 1733, and ledfures were firft delivered in 
Odtober 1734. The univerfity was folemnly opened on 
the 17th of September, 1737, and named after its founder, 
the “Georgia Augufta.” The celebrity which this uni¬ 
verfity has acquired in fo ftiort a period of time, is to be 
Q afcribed 
