from those who attend the professors' lectures. The extraor dinary professors receive from the state about one-half the amount paid to the ordinary, while the tutors depend solely on their class-room fees. It is often supposed that foreign students are a large factor in German universities, yet there are only about 1000 foreigners in attendance. About one-third of these are from North America. It would be interesting could one determine what proportion of the 29,317 students finish the university course by taking a degree, but the German student is so mixed up with the state by service and examination, and the statistics are so imperfect and difficult to obtain, that it is quite impossible to attain any exact result. It is clear, however, that not more than onefourth of the students, probably not more than one-fifth, are granted degrees. A small but interesting element in the question concerning the uncrowned studenthood is that all who make for degrees do not make them. The question as to how large an element this is, as well as the question of the distribution of the degrees among the different grades for dissertations and examinations, cannot be answered in many Out of 741 examinations held in four of the best universities no first grade degree was given, but of the second grade there were 36, of the third grade 270, of the fourth grade 153, and 282 failures. Some universities and some professors seldom or never give first grade, others give it only for original investigation which is of positive value, while others are careless in the matter. These figures are not to be taken as representative but merely as suggestive. The following table shows the numerical constitution of the twelve leading universities in the summer semesters of the years 1878, 1885, and 1890. Lecturers... Students.... 64 57 120 107 110 160 136 88 66 1329 59 73 117 108 ΙΟΙ 175 152 91 68 1468 ΟΙ 91 122 129 120 194 170 89 77 1649 1878 215 100 106 415 418 988 914 94 203 750 2861 1364 1137 922 14641 957 3075 2825 1422 1291 21280 In Theology..... In Law... In Philosophy. In Medicine 1878 150 175 179 140 39 4409 4545 6162 1878 888 312 369 1878 1185 422 584 93 79 472 460 203 1222) 409 192 205 1878 346 154 178 132 181 114 117 103 335 456 164 475 1 5535 6626 5478 2755 6075 7124 This table, for the most part, explains itself. I may mention a few points which it suggests but does not make entirely clear. It is evident that the growth of the universities in numbers is remarkable, but when all the universities are considered, the advance is still more striking. The attendance on the universities has doubled, while the population of Germany has advanced about sixteen per cent. In the last twelve years the universities have added nearly fifty per cent. to the number of students. This alarms the Kaiser, who agrees with Bismarck that the danger of Germany lies in the existence and rapid growth of a "learned proletariat," "candidates for hunger," as they are termed, and this is one of the arguments he urges for un-humanizing the Gymnasien. That such a class exists, and has existed for many years, there can be no question; it is a large factor in journalism, and is responsible in part for Germany's large annual output of books. But our table shows that Göttingen has sixty students fewer than ten years ago, while Breslau has lost 114 students in the last five years. The small advance of Berlin in this latter period will be, perhaps, more noticeable. The attendance at Berlin during the past three semesters was, chronologically, as follows: 6187, 5731, and 4781. This means that Berlin has lost 1406 students very recently. The fact is often overlooked, that Berlin has each semester from 1800 to 2000 nominal attendants upon lectures who have no more connection with the university than with the theaters which they attend, and it is seldom noticed that Munich has much larger numbers in jurisprudence and medicine than Berlin. I asked a well-known professor how he explained this numerical superiority of Munich to Berlin and Leipzig. He replied: "They have in Munich a professor who draws more students than any other in all Germany-Professor Beer." Berlin's attractions are different. They lie not altogether in the faculty of the university but in the city itself. Berlin is the nerve-center of social, material, and imperial Germany, and her libraries, especially the Royal, are in every possible respect superior to any others in Germany. As Berlin is the nerve-center, her university feels most the reaction, in attendance on universities, which has taken place in the last three years. That there has been an effectual check on growing numbers there can be no question. The total number of students in each of the last six semesters is as follows: 29,190, 28,923, 29,491, 29,007, 29,317, and at present (1891) 28,711. The rapid growth began in 1870 and continued to 1887. Erlangen is the only university that makes noticeable headway against this recoil, although Leipzig in the present semester has five students more than ever before. Glancing at the table, it is seen that in the last twelve years there has been a large increment in the teaching force and in the number of students; the absolute gain in the former being 320 and in the latter 8537. Moreover, while theology has made an absolute gain of 2450, law of 1753, and medicine of 4369 students, philosophy shows a loss in twelve years of 57, and in the last five years a loss of 1148 students. The difficulty of accounting for this condition is augmented by two important considerations. (1) Almost the entire increase in the teaching force in the last twelve years (I speak of professors), has been in philosophy. In 1878 the faculties stood P THE ALIA in the following proportions and relations: theology 8, law 13, medicine 21, philosophy 51; and in 1890 they stand 8, 12, 21, and 60. Thus, while the faculties of theology, law, and medicine have remained about the same in the larger universities, the philosophical faculties have each added about nine members during the last twelve years. (2) While theology, law, and medicine are professional and clearly defined departments, philosophy covers any phase of knowledge which remains after these departments are subtracted. Thus we find in the universities, which have four faculties, the following sub-divisions under philosophy: philology, Oriental, classic, and modern; philosophy, including history, pedagogy, geography, and political science; natural sciences, including mathematics and astronomy; and art and archæology. Considering that the philosophical faculty comprehends all the natural sciences, supplies nearly all the teaching force of the Gymnasien, and covers the curriculum of the best American colleges, it is somewhat difficult to account for the falling off of students in this department while they have continued to increase in the three other departments, and while nearly the whole increase of professors has been in the philosophical faculty. The increase in the teaching force can be partially accounted for by division of labor and the introduction of new chairs in geography, political economy, and natural science. The diminution of students is due in part to the overcrowded condition of the teaching profession and to the present low condition of philosophy and philology. The faculties of philosophy are large and strong throughout Germany, but in the last few years there has been so rapid a decrease of students that at present the ablest professors complain of the small number of their hearers. Dr. J. Hutchinson Stirling is at much pains to show that philosophy ends with Hegel. This is admitted by many German professors, but in a sense very different from that which Dr. Stirling urges. The speculative period of German philosophy is dead, says Professor Jodl, and we believe there are not many who dispute him. Nevertheless it appears to have been Hegelianism rather than Hegel that "disgusted Germany with speculative philosophy." Of the 137 students studying philosophy in Leipzig, So are foreigners, and the proportions are not much different throughout Germany. The following table shows the distribution of hours per week given to those subjects which more than five-sixths of the American students are studying in Germany. This table shows the number of hours given per week by professors, exclusive of Docenten, in lectures and seminars. In using the terms Ancient and Modern, I take the close of the thirteenth century as the boundary line. Under ethics, theological ethics are included, and in classical philology the small fraction of Oriental philology. The schedule cannot be regarded as exact, for the freedom and flexibility allowed in the German university are disturbing elements when statistics of instruction are regarded. Not all the courses advertised are given, and it often happens that a professor substitutes another course for the one announced. The same difficulties are even greater as regards seminars. But the student may expect at least one well-conducted seminar, provided the university shows more than ten hours per week on the subject in question. It is also to be noticed that the German university, while nominally in session for nine months of the year, affords in fact not more than six months of active service. Vacations |