Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 7, no. 41, March, 1861 | Page 6

Old-German, the Cyrillic, are not
uncommon, though but poorly attended. The study of the modern
languages themselves must be pursued with private teachers. A
knowledge of these, as well as a thorough preparatory training in Latin
and Greek, is presupposed. Modern History, on the contrary, has of late
years become an important branch of study. The "Period of
Revolutions" is fully treated every semester, and always draws crowds
of students. The spirit that animates them is the unity of the Fatherland.
Classical studies, though not holding the same undisputed ascendency
as in former times, are yet very actively pursued, embracing Greek and
Roman history and antiquities, comments on classical authors, lectures,
critical and minute in the extreme, where every line is made the subject
of microscopic investigation, and different readings are weighed and
compared, with often an unlimited amount of abuse of editors who
have differed in opinion from the lecturer. The German philologers are
not remarkable for mildness when speaking of each other; and many a
one, as Haupt in Berlin, will enrich his vocabulary with ever-varying,
new-coined epithets to characterize the ridiculousness, tameness, and

stupidity of emendations proposed, and that, too, when speaking of
such men as Orelli and Kirchner, his own colleagues in the profession.
A laugh raised at the expense of a brother is enough to justify the
severest slash. Comparative Philology, which owes its existence and
progress to the labors of German scholars, and whose first
representative, Bopp, is still living and teaching in Berlin, is more and
more pursued of late. Sanscrit is now taught universally; and lectures
are delivered on the affinities of the Indo-Germanic languages with
each other and with the mother-tongue of all. A perceptible movement
is being felt to introduce this study into the preparatory departments.
Such a change would result in a complete revolution of the methods
formerly employed in elementary classical tuition. The higher laws of
affinity, as applied to the Romanic languages, are also daily more a
matter of investigation. Diez and Delius, in Bonn, are at the head of this
movement. In Philosophy, properly so called, the list of studies is often
very full, comprising lectures on Logic, the Encyclopedia of Science,
Metaphysics, Anthropology and Psychology, Ethics, the Philosophy of
Nature, of Law, of History, of Religion, the History of Philosophy,
general and special, and the Philosophy of Art, or Aesthetics,--the latter
general, or branching into specialities, as Music, Painting, Sculpture,
Ancient and Modern Art. Special points are also treated,--as the
Philosophy of Aristotle, of Kant, of Hegel, etc. Mathematics and the
Natural Sciences are not always cultivated to the same extent as the
above-named branches. They are made the subject of particular
attention, however, in the numerous Polytechnic Schools, the most
celebrated being those of Hanover and Carlsruhe. They have risen in
reputation and attendance of late to such a degree, that in the Grand
Duchy of Baden, for instance, a perceptible diminution is felt in
university attendance, while new appropriations have been made for the
enlargement of the Carlsruhe school.
The Theological Faculty ranks the highest, and comprises a wide range
of study. We quote from Dr. Schaff:--
"In modern times the field has been greatly enlarged by the addition of
Oriental Philology, Biblical Criticism, Hermeneutics, Antiquities,
Church-History and Doctrine-History, Homiletics, Catechetics,
Liturgies, Pastoral Theology, and Theory of Church-Government. No
theological faculty is considered complete now which has not separate

teachers for the exegetical, historical, systematic, and practical
branches of divinity. The German professors, however, are not
confined to their respective departments, as is the case in our American
seminaries, but may deliver lectures on any other branch, as far as it
does not interfere with their immediate duties. Schleiermacher, for
instance, taught, at different times, almost every branch of theology and
philosophy."
The Law Department, to which the celebrated school of Bologna served
as a first model, extends over a far wider field than similar institutions
elsewhere. Starting from the Roman Law, it embraces lectures on the
History of Jurisprudence, the Pandects, Civil, Criminal, and Common
Law, and Natural Rights, besides History and Philosophy, as applied to
legal studies,--branching into specialities for German Law and Practice,
local and general. To Americans, of course, only the first part of these
studies would be at all desirable. Moreover, the advantages are not all
of a practical nature.
The Medical Faculty embraces all the studies pursued in our medical
colleges, more specialities being treated,--the time required being
scarcely ever less than five years for the course, often more.
Examinations are severe. The faculties of Berlin, Munich, and
Würzburg are in especial repute,--Vienna also affording many
advantages. In some of the smaller university towns the means of study
are limited for the advanced student, extensive collections and large
hospitals being wanting. Medical studies are attended with more
expense than