ENGLISH VIEWS OF GERMAN EDUCATION.

UNIVERSITIES-SCIENCE DEPARTMENT AND POLYTECHNIC SCHOOLS."

*

I. THE AMOUNT AND KIND OF TEACHING POWER PROVIDED.

The first fact which impresses the English observer of German Universities under this head is this-that the number of teachers, both of the first and second grade, is considerably greater than in English Universities and Colleges, even after account has been taken of the larger number of students; and this discrepancy is, perhaps, greatest in the Science Departments. Provision is thus made both for the effective instruction of students, and for the zealous prosecution of original research. It is in this fixed union of teaching with independent research that Prof. von Sybel, the Rector of the University of Bonn, in his eloquent lecture "on German and Foreign Universities," finds the special excellence of the German Universities to consist. The combination is cherished, not only with a view to the advancement of science, but because by this union in one body of students, teachers, and discoverers, a school is made, students are drawn from a wider area as to an acknowledged centre of intellectual action, and an esprit de corps is created, which reacts with incredible effect on the energies of teachers and learners alike.

BONN.

In the University of Bonn there are two professors of chemistry, Kekulé and Landolt, who are respectively ober-director and director of the newlyerected chemical institute; and under these are five skilled assistants-one for organic chemistry, one for qualitative and one for quantitative analysis, one for the lecture-room, and one a sort of supernumerary. Again, Professor Bischof is director of the chemical laboratory and technological cabinet. There are, besides, directors of the pharmaceutical laboratory and apparatus, and probably other officers in this department.

The directorate of the Department of Physics, with its cabinets, is vacant. In the Natural History Department we find two professors, who are also Directors of the Natural History Museum. The museum also possesses a Curator of the Paleontological Collection, who, at the same time, is an authorized lecturer on his subjects. Attached to the Botanical Garden and Institute are a professor. an inspector, and an assistant. No account is here taken of the anatomical and physiological professors, who are included in the faculty of medicine.

Of Astronomy there is one professor, Dr. Argelander, who is also Director of the Observatory; he has one skilled assistant.

In the Department of Chemistry we are able to make a comparison with the provision existing in Owens College, in a ratio with the number of students taught There are about 90 students in Professor Kekulé's largest class, and in the three laboratories is room for 60 workers, though these 60 places are not all filled. At Owens College, last session, there were 76 * Report by J. G. Greenwood and H. E. Roscoe, the former Principal and the latter Professor in Owens College, Manchester, to a committee charged with an extension of the College resources and curriculum, so as to include Instruction in Science adequate to the wants of one of the great industrial districts of England. This Report covers an account of their visit to the Science Department of the most prominent Universities and Polytechnic Schools of Germany, and is included also in the Report of the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction to Parliament in 1874.

students in the largest class, and 44 workers in the laboratory; and our staff consists of one professor and one assistant.

The total number of students at Bonn in the Philosophical Faculty (Faculty of Arts), for the summer half year of 1868, was 275; the number of ordinary professors was 27; of extraordinary professors, 11; and of authorized private teachers (lecturers), 19.

GÖTTINGEN.

In Göttingen chemistry is (against the usage in Germany) attached to the medical faculty; there are, however, three divisions-the general, the physiological, and the agricultural. In the first, we found Professor Wöhler, with four skilled assistants; two of these being also professors. In the physiological division is another professor, with one assistant; and in the agricultural division is one professor and one assistant. There are, further, four laboratory servants.

Prof. Wöhler delivers the principal course of lectures on systematic chemistry. His assistants lecture on special branches. The whole staff directs the laboratory; and over and above these are the two professors of physiological and agricultural chemistry, who conduct their own laboratories.

In Physics, Professor Weber and his assistants, Professors Listing and Kohlrausch, conduct an excellent physical laboratory, and lecture on the several branches of physics-Systematic Physics, Optics, Electricity, &c., Light and Heat, Meteorology. Prof. Ulrich treats of hydrostatics and

hydraulics.

In Natural History, Professor Keferstein lectures on comparative anatomy, and performs zootomical demonstrations in the Zoological Museum during eight hours weekly to the students; for four hours weekly the museum is open to the public, when the same professor is present to conduct demonstrations. Two professors lecture on botany (each six hours weekly), and combine with their lectures excursions and demonstrations in the botanical garden; there is also a third assistant professor. Professors Sartorius von Waltershausen and von Seebach lecture each four or five hours weekly on mineralogy and geology, and conduct practical demonstrations in the

museums.

Professor Klinkerfues lectures on astronomy, theoretical and practical.

We have given this minute analysis of the provision made at Göttingen for the study of the sciences of observation and experiment, as the routine of any one of the leading Universities serves to illustrate the method adopted in Germany. Göttingen, it will be remembered, is not one of the more recentlyfounded Universities, nor is it in any special degree subject to the influences which have so remarkably fostered the growth of the branch of education under consideration.

BERLIN.

Of Berlin University it will be enough to say that in chemistry four professors and five other lecturers give 20 distinct courses-theoretical and practical-among which, in addition to several distinct courses on systematic chemistry, are included such subjects as the history of chemistry, the chemical foundations of geology, metallurgy, and pharmacy.

Under the head of Physics, the following distinct courses were given in the summer half year of 1868:

Theses 10 courses are given by seven professors; and a physical laboratory is conducted by Professor Magnus.

In Natural History 10 professors and lecturers gave 21 courses, theoretical and practical.*

It is unnecessary to say that we do not set forth this list of teachers and lecturers as a pattern for us to follow in Owens College, or in English Universities generally. We only desire to point out and emphatically to press the importance of the principle that the existence (in due proportions) of a plurality of teachers is an indispensable prerequisite both for breadth and depth of instruction. Where only one teacher is charged with one leading branch of study, it is barely within his power to provide the systematic teaching necessary for pass-men; whereas, if, as in German Universities, several teachers lecture concurrently on subdivisions of a subject, the more advanced students have the opportunity of studying more thoroughly some one section of their subject. The teachers are also induced, by the opportunity of lecturing on special subjects, to engage in profounder investigations; and thus that other aim of University institutions-the advancement of science and the promotion of a learned class-is furthered. This is a consideration, however, at least so far as England is concerned, for a remote future; it is sufficient for us to insist on the necessity of this plurality of teachers in order to really effective teaching.

The Berlin Gewerbe-Akademie, which corresponds to the polytechnic schools of Zurich and Carlsruhe, is an institution of the first magnitude. There are 520 students between the ages of 18 and 25, and a very complete staff of professors. It is divided into three departments—(1) of mechanics, (2) of chemistry and metallurgy, (3) of shipbuilding; and it is proposed to add a fourth, to be called the philosophical department, to embrace subjects appertaining to general culture, including even the "beaux arts." The State allots £7,800 yearly to the support of the academy, and, in addition to this, large sums have been spent on the collections of models and casts, and on the very complete library.

FREIBERG-MINING ACADEMY.

This school offers many advantages over our Royal School of Mines inasmuch as it is situated in the centre of a mining district, and combines complete courses of lectures on all the branches of science allied to mining, with practical instruction, not only in the working of mines (chiefly lead, copper, and silver), but also in the metallurgical proces. es, carried out on the large scale, employed in the extraction of the metals from their ores. This school has been famous ever since it3 foundation in 1766. Among the names of its professors are found the most illustrious geologists, mineralogists, miners, and metallurgists of the time. The number of students at the school this last summer was 92, and of these nearly half were young men from the

* It will complete this analysis of the courses given in the University of Berlin in the summer semester of 1867-8, if we add that

In classics and the allied subjects 13 professors and lecturers gave 23 courses; and on other ancient and on modern languages 18 professors and lecturers gave 40 courses. In mathematics 6 professors and lecturers gave 13 courses.

In what we should term mental and moral philosophy, including pædagogy, 11 professors and lecturers gave 19 courses.

In the economic and agricultural sciences 7 professors and lecturers gave 12 courses. In history and geography 9 professors and lecturers gave 13 courses.

In belles lettres and the fine arts 7 professors and lecturers gave 10 courses.

All the courses enumerated above belong to the faculty of arts (philosophische facultät), and are exclusive, of course, of the three other faculties of theology, law, and medicine.

United States, who come over in large numbers to study mining; indeed almost every nation is here represented. Foreigners pay fees amounting to £30 per annum, but the fees for Saxon students are almost nominal. We were told that there is at present no demand whatever for miners in Saxony, and that in consequence the number of Saxon students has greatly diminished. The following list of lectures and practical courses delivered at Freiberg in the year 1865-6 gives an idea of the character and extent of the tuition:

One day per week is left free from lectures, to enable the pupils to visit the mines and smelting works. All those who wish to pass the Government examination, and thus to qualify themselves for a post in the Saxon mines (which are all worked and owned by Government), must, before they enter the mining school, undergo a preliminary examination in general knowledge, and then devote five months to practical mining. A similar preliminary course in smelting is necessary before the Saxon student can be admitted to the lectures of the academy; these two practical courses, while obligatory on all regular or Government students, are open to all who wi h to take advantage of them. After having gone through the academy, the Government student has to pass an examination arranged, according to the special part of the subject to which he devotes himself, (1) for miners; (2) for mining surveyors; (3) for machinists; (4) for smelters.

We were conducted by the veteran mineralogist, Breithaupt, to see the unrivalled collection of minerals which he has brought together during his 50 years of successful labor at the academy. The whole of this in many respects, the fine-t collection in the world has been made with the small annual grant of £45; but of course the mineralogical richness of the locality has greatly assisted the collector.

Connected, in a certain extent, with the Freiberg Academy is the recentlyfounded Free Mining School of Zwickau, established by the State chiefly for the education of the workmen engaged in the coal mines of Saxony. In this school the miners spend two days a week, working the rest of the time at their trade. The subjects taught are mathematics, German language, mineralogy and geology, and practical mining. Some of the most di-tinguished pupils of this school subsequently obtain free admission to the Freiberg Academy. The only institution analogous to this in our country appears to be the Bristol School for miners; it is high time that steps were taken to do something for the education of the higher class of pitmen in our district, amongst whom a deplorable state of ignorance exists.

LEIPZIC.

In Leipzic University the new laboratory is just approaching completion, and it appeared to us to offer one of the best models, as to plan, style and

cost. Provision is being made for 100 workers-60 of them beginners, and 40 more advanced students. Prof. Kolbe, the Director, will be furnished with three skilled assistants-two for the laboratory and one for the lecture-room -but Dr. Kolbe believes that four will, in fact, be necessary. In addition three servants will be provided.

HEIDELBERG.

In Heidelberg, as in Berlin, and even in a more perfect measure, large provision is made for the study of physical science. The Physical Laboratory conducted by Prof. Kirchhoff is very successful. Once weekly, Prof. Kirchhoff lectures, with experiments, on a given subject; in the following week each student in the laboratory goes through the experiments for himself; and in this consists the essence of the course. Students can also prosecute independent research for several hours in the week.

The Chemical School of Heidelberg has always been a celebrated one, and since the appointment of Bunsen to the University, its renown has greatly increased. In no other European laboratory, with the single exception of that of Liebig, at Giessen, have so many promising scientific chemists been trained, and this has been wholly due to the untiring interests shown in each student by the illustrious Professor, who, devoted heart and soul to his science, imparts to his students a portion of that interest in, and zeal for, original investigation, which are the real marks of a scientific spirit. Many of the chemical students at Heidelberg come, as with us, to study the science for the sake of its subsequent applications to manufactures, medicine, or pharmacy-for all the German druggists and pharmaceutical chemists are wisely compelled to attend a regular University course; but many, probably a large fraction of the number, study the science for its own sake, most of these students intending to qualify themselves for the higher posts of scientific instruction in various countries. Amongst the companions of those who studied at Heidelberg with one of the reporters were men who are now making rising reputations in most of the German Universities, or in the various scientific institutions of France, Russia, Portugal, Great Britain, and America.

The Physiological Laboratory, conducted by the celebrated philosopher, Helmholtz, is a novel and important feature in the science department in Heidelberg. A handsome and spacious building has recently been erected for the use of the professors of physics and physiology. This embraces lecturerooms, laboratories, rooms for apparatus and instruments, and for conducting special scientific investigations, besides dwelling-houses for the professors and their families.

We were conducted over the admirably-kept zoological collection by the chief director, Prof. Pagenstecher. The yearly sum at his disposal for the maintenance and augmentation of the collection is 1,400 gulden; in round numbers, £120. Of this sum he devotes £50 to the acquisition of new specimens; £35 to the cost of preparations; £25 to glass and other materials; and £10 to heating, &c. Many of the more costly specimens have not been purchased, however, but formed the nucleus of the museum. Still, by being always on the look-out, he often procures really valuable things for small sums. He told us with great triumph of his most recent acquisitions-a huge bison, from the Zoological Garden of Cologne, for £6, and a Belænoptera rostrata for £16.

The cases (which are fitted with iron, not wood, for the larger specimens) alone have cost more than £1,000; this sum is not included in the annual estimate.

Prof. Pagenstecher insisted with great animation on the necessity of suf