board is only too likely to become. "'The great Münchausen, says an illustrious professor of that seminary, 'allowed our university the right of presentation, of designation, or of recommendation, as little as the right of free election; for he was taught by experience that, although the faculties of universities may know the individuals best qualified to supply their vacant chairs, they are seldom or never disposed to propose for appointment the worthiest within their knowledge,"'[1] The system of patronage adopted at Göttingen was, in fact, identical with that which had already been instituted in the universities of the Netherlands by Douza (see infra, p. 850). Erlangen.The university of Erlangen, a Lutheran centre, was founded by Frederick, margrave of Baireuth. Its charter was granted by the emperor Charles VII., 21st February 1743, and the university was formally constituted, 4th November. From its special guardian, Alexander, the last margrave of Ansbach, it was styled "Academia Alexandrina." In 1791, Ansbach and Baireuth having passed into the possession of Prussia, Erlangen became subject to the Prussian Government. The number of the students, which at the commencement of the century was under 300, was 880 in 1887.
The English and German universities compared.On comparison with the great English universities, the universities of Germany must be pronounced inferior both in point of discipline and of moral control over the students. The superiority of the former in these respects is partly to be attributed to the more systematic care which they took, from a very early date, for the supervision of each student, by requiring that within a certain specified time after his entry into the university he should be registered as a pupil of some master of arts, who was responsible for his conduct, and represented him generally in his relations to the academic authorities. Marburg in its earliest statutes (those of 1529) endeavoured to establish a similar rule, but without success.[2]. The development of the collegiate system at Oxford and Cambridge materially assisted the carrying out of this discipline. Although again, as in the German universities, feuds were not unfrequent, especially those between "north" and "south" (the natives of the northern and southern counties), the fact that in elections to fellowships and scholarships only a certain proportion were allowed to be taken from either of these divisions acted as a considerable check upon the possibility of any one college representing either element exclusively. In the German universities, on the other hand, the ancient division into nations, which died out with the 15th century, was revived under another form by the institution of national colleges, which largely served to foster the spirit of rivalry and contention. The demoralization induced by the Thirty Years War and the increase of duelling intensified these tendencies, which, together with the tyranny of the older over the younger students, known as "Pennalismus," were evils against which the authorities contended, but ineffectually, by various ordinances. The institution of "Burschenthum," having for its design the encouragement of good fellowship and social feeling irrespective of nationality, served only as a partial check upon these excesses, which again received fresh stimulus by the rival institution of "Landsmannschaften," or societies of the same nationality. The latter proved singularly provocative of duelling, while the arrogant and even tyrannical demeanour of their members towards the unassociated students gave rise to a general combination of the latter for the purposes of self-defence and organized resistance. At all the great German universities both these forms of association are to be found existing at the present day.
Extinction of German universities during 1798-1815.The political storms which marked the close of the last and the commencement of the present century gave the death-blow to not a few of the ancient universities of Germany. Mainz and Cologne ceased to exist in 1798; Bamberg, Dillingen, and Duisberg in 1804; Rinteln and Helmstadt in 1809; Salzburg in 1810; Erfurt in 1816. Altdorf was united to Erlangen in 1807, Frankfort-on-the-Oder to Breslau in 1809, and Wittenberg to Halle in 1815. Munich.The university of Ingolstadt was first moved in 1802 to Landshut, and from thence in 1826 to Munich, where it was united to the academy of sciences which was founded in the Bavarian capital in 1759. Of those of the above centres which altogether ceased to exist but few, however, were much missed or regretted,—that at Mainz, which had numbered some six hundred students, being the one notable exception. The others had for the most part fallen into a perfunctory and lifeless mode of teaching, and, with wasted or diminished revenues and declining numbers, had long ceased worthily to represent the functions of a university. Whatever loss may have attended their suppression has been far more than compensated by the activity and influence of the three great German universities which have risen in the present century. Munich has become a distinguished centre of study in all the faculties; and its numbers, allowing for the two great wars, have been continuously on the increase. The number of its professors in 1887 was over ninety, and that of its students at the commencement of the session 1886-87 3209.
Berlin.The university of Berlin, known as the Royal Friedrich Wilhelm university, was founded in 1809, immediately after the peace of Tilsit, when Prussia had been reduced to the level of a third-rate power. Under the guiding influence of Wilhelm von Humboldt, however, the principles which were adopted in connexion with the new seat of learning not only raised it to a foremost place among the universities of Europe, but also largely conduced to the regeneration of Germany. A notable characteristic in the university of Berlin at the time of its foundation was its entire repudiation of attachment to any particular creed or school of thought, and professed subservience only to the interests of science and learning. "Each of the eminent teachers with whom the university began its life—F. A. Wolf, Fichte, Savigny, Reil—represented only himself, the path of inquiry or the completed theory which he had himself propounded. Its subsequent growth was astonishing. In 1813 Berlin had only 36 teachers altogether; in 1860 there were 173 in all, 97 professors, 66 privatdocenten, and 7 lecturers." In 1886 there were 296 teachers and 5357 students; and among the former a large proportion of the names are already of world-wide reputation, while its classical school stands unrivalled in Europe.
Bonn.The university of Bonn, founded in 1818, and known as the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm university, has 88 professors and 1125 students. Equally distinguished as a school of philosophy and a school of theology, it is notable for the manner in which it combines the opposed schools of theological doctrine, that of the Evangelical (or Lutheran) Church and that of the Roman Catholic Church here standing side by side, and both adorned by eminent names. This combination (which also exists at Tübingen and at Breslau) has been attended with complete success and (according to Dr Döllinger) with unmistakable advantages. When tried, however, a generation before, at Erfurt and at Heidelberg, its failure was not less conspicuous, and Erfurt was ruined by the experiment.
- ↑ Hamilton, Discussions, p. 381.
- ↑ "Volumus neminem in hanc nostram Academiam admitti, aut per rectorem in album recipi, qui non habeat privatum atque domesticum preceptorem, qui ejus discipulum agnoscat, ad cujus judicium quisque pro sua ingenii capacitate atque Marte lecturas et publicas et privatas audiat, a cujus latere aut raro aut nunquam discedat." Koch expressly compares this provision with the discipline of Oxford and Cambridge, which, down to the commencement of the present century, was very much of the same character (Koch. Gesch. des academischen Pädagogiums in Marburg, p. 11)
