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

any other.
The _Cameralistische Facultät_ is devoted to those preparing
themselves for practical statesmanship. It is new, and established only
of late years in a few of the universities. In others, the branches taught
are still comprehended under the philosophical. Munich is in especial
repute. It comprises lectures on Political Economy in all its branches,
Mining, Engineering,--in fact, whatever is necessary to fit one for
service in the State.
Let no one, from the above comprehensive list of studies, form the idea,
that the outward incarnation of the German intellect, in speech or deed,
corresponds to its inner worth and solidity. The name Dryasdust must
cling to many a learned professor more firmly than to the most
chronological of the old historians. Germany is not the land of outward

form. To one accustomed to public speaking, the lecturers will often
appear far below the standard of mediocrity in their manner. Though
such men as Lasaulx in Munich, Häusser in Heidelberg, Droyson and
Werder in Berlin deliver their lectures in a style that would grace the
lecture-room of any country, yet the great majority are far, very far,
from any eloquence in their delivery. Timid and bashful often to an
extreme, they ascend their rostrum with a shuffling, ambling gait, the
very opposite of manly grace and bearing, and, prefacing their
discourse with the short address, _"Meine Herren"_ keep on in one
long, never-varying, monotonous strain, from beginning to
end,--reading wholly or in part, often so slowly that the hearer can
write down every word, often only the heads and substance of
paragraphs, definitions and the like,--and that so indistinctly, so
carelessly of all but the very words themselves, that it is not only
unpleasant, at first, but even repulsive to many. This dictating of every
word, a relic of the times when printing was yet unknown, is fast dying
away. Many, both students and professors, are loud against it, yet the
tedious method is still pursued in many places. The introductory
remark of a celebrated lecturer is characteristic. Seeing all his hearers,
on the first day of the course, ready with pen and paper, he
began,--"Gentlemen, I will not dictate: if that were necessary, I should
send my maid-servant with my manuscript, and you yours with pen and
paper; my servant would dictate, yours would write, and we in the
mean while could enjoy a pleasant walk." This is, however, not the
only point that will be likely to produce an unfavorable impression. To
see a man whose name you have met in your reading as the highest
authority, whose works you have so often admired, his style energetic,
fiery, and impressive,--to see him ascend his rostrum with every mark
of negligence, uncouth and awkward in his appearance, with every
possible mannerism, talking through his nose, indistinctly and
unsteadily mumbling over his sentences, careless of all outward form
and polish, awakens anything but pleasant feelings, as the preconceived
ideal must give way to the living reality. And yet so it is with many!
It may have contributed not a little to the reputation of Göttingen and
Heidelberg with foreigners, that a good and clear German is spoken in
both places by the professors. In Tübingen, on the contrary, even in
Munich, to a great extent, the local dialect prevails to such a degree,

that students from Northern Germany, many of whom frequent these
cities in the summer session, find it difficult, nay, almost impossible, to
understand at first, especially the broad Suabian of Tübingen. Here,
however, as the system of dictation prevails, the slowness of utterance
compensates in a measure for its indistinctness and incorrectness.
In some places, where academic freedom, as the students style it, exists
to a high degree, a general scraping of the feet admonishes the lecturer
to repeat his words or be more distinct and clear in his enunciation.
This pedal language, though often disregarded, still does not fail in the
end in producing the desired effect.
With such characteristics, it cannot be a matter of wonder, if some time
be required to be spent in hearing lectures daily before the full benefit
can be fairly appreciated. Many will appear slow in the extreme; and
the constant recourse to notes, and the tedious manner, will create a
feeling of weariness hard to overcome. However, these peculiarities are
soon forgotten in the excellence of the matter, and their
disagreeableness is scarcely noticed after a few weeks, except in
extreme cases. The mannerism fades away, and the hearer learns to
follow from thought to thought under the guidance of an experienced
leader, whose living words he hears, whose thought he feels as it is
communicated directly to him.
Not so much from the actual things heard, the actual facts mastered, is
the lecture-system valuable to the student, as for the