RANKKS SEMINARY METHOD 269
It is clear, then, that the seminary method of instruction in history was an adaptation by Ranke of a method already well tried in classical philology at the suggestion of a teacher of science who keenly realized the value of practical work. Ranke 's own experiences in the classical seminaries of Her- mann and Beck, and his instincts as a teacher, disposed him favorably to Raumer's suggestion. ^
His own ideas of the function of the seminary are expressed in the preface to the first published work of his students, Jahrhilcher des deutschen Reiches unter dem Sdchsischen Hause (1837). "On the subjective and personal side this undertaking began in the following way. A university pro- fessor very soon perceives that he has two classes of stu- dents, those who want to be well grounded in science either through their desire for general culture or on account of their future careers, and others who feel within themselves the impulse and call to take active part in the advancement of science. The lectures, I believe, may be suitably directed
hint of a change of method, and evidently regarded 1825 as the beginning of his seminary (see below, p. 270). His work in Berlin was suspended from 1827 to the spring of 1831 by his Italian journey. Giesebrecht distinctly implies that the seminary was formed in the latter year, or early in 1832 {Geddchtnissrede, 11). Apparently the earliest of his pupils to gain distinction was Waitz, who joined his seminary in 1833.
1 Professor Lincoln writes: "These exercises, as he called them, and which he instituted in imitation of Beck's Philological Seminary, of which he was a member in Leipzig, proved to be the seminary of all historical seminaries which have since been established in the German universities with such signal educa- tional results." — In Memoriam John Larkin Lincoln, 577. The latter part of his sentence is from Giesebrecht ; the former part is the only assertion of the kind I have met with in reading a considerable body of Ranke literature. Possibly Professor Lincoln got it from Hanke himself, whom he knew as a student, and later. Ranke may have been influenced, too, by Boechk's Philological Seminary, founded at Berlin in 1812. In 1835 he was a member of the Griechische Gesell- schaft, conducted by Bekker. Both Boechk and Bekker were students of Wolf's. The announcement of Boechk's seminary reads :
"In seminario philologico Euripidis Iphigeniam in Aulide sodalibus inter- pretandam proponet Boechk dieb. Merc, et Saturni hor. X-XI. Ceterisque Seminarii exercitationibus more solito pragerit." In the theological seminary, Marheinecke and Neander announced exercitationes in church history. Dwight's Travels, 450.
