are: 1, Religious instruction, i. e. Bible history and catechism; 2, Reading; 3, German language, including grammar; 4, Geography and History of Prussia; 5, Arithmetic; 6, Geometry on Pestalozzi's system; 7, Weights and measures of the country; 8, Natural history; 9, Writing; 10, Singing. A modification of this course is found in the higher primary schools, which exist in the cities. They exhibit a greater variety of branches and more thoroughness of instruction, and prepare boys for the gymnasium.

In the Secondary Period we find a branching off or division of the subject, more apparent than in the primary, viz: 1st. Instruction preparatory to the learned professions; and 2nd. preparatory to the higher practical operations. The former liberal training is imparted in the gymnasia in the German States, corresponding to our American colleges: the latter is acquired in the "Real schulen," i. e. scientific schools, and in the "trade schools." These are for the benefit of those who, for any reason, cannot receive a regular education. They give prominent attention to the formulæ and facts and directions bearing immediately on man's relations to the physical world.

In Secondary instruction, a selection is made from the following branches: Latin, Greek, Hebrew, the vernacular and other modern languages, mathematics, physics, chemistry and other natural sciences, ge ography, history, moral and mental science, religious instruction and the arts. There are ultra classical institutions, which confine the pupils to the Ancient Languages, with only enough attention to other things to avoid the imputation of absolute ignorance. And there are ultra Real schools, which so far exclude the classics as to make them inefficient for mental training. Between these two extremes there is a great variety in the combination of these elements. The most numerous and popular schools-because experiment has shown them to be the most productive of good-are those in which all are united, with a prominence given to the " Humanities," as Latin and Greek studies have been most appropriately termed, for many centuries, because

of their refining, humanizing influence. This variety is one of the excellencies of this country, resulting from her readiness to assist the mind for whatever sphere in life. Every one knows that "all men are not born equal." No two men were ever born or grew up equal. The elements of humanity exist in combinations as various as human faces. There is a universal inequality in men, intellectually, morally, physically and socially. The individual peculiarities from which this results, become more marked as men grow older. Hence, the higher we advance in human culture, the greater must be the variety in the means employed for this culture; the differences in moral and intellectual curricula must be more accurately defined; the quota of pupils in cach system becomes less and less, as we advance higher, until finally no man finds a master exactly suited to his peculiarities, and each man becomes his own master; for he can find no one to whose words he can swear. In this second period of instruction, then, we already find two grand divisions to suit the two classes into which the young faculties, taken in connection with their circumstances, may, at this time of life, be arranged, viz: the gymnasia and the Real schools. Very few of the latter exist; but, including them in the former class, the "Conversations-Lexikon" for 1846, gives their number in Prussia as 114; the number of teachers, 1404; the number of pupils, 24,000-furnishing an average of one teacher to seventeen scholars.

A general plan is arranged by the School Board for the use of the gymnasia, from which, however, many slight variations are allowed. We must here enter somewhat into detail on these directions of the ministry of public instruction.

As to admission, they advise ten as the minimum age, and require the following qualifications: 1, Facility in reading both German and Roman text, and the rudiments of grammar and orthographic writing; 2, Writing from dictation; 3, Practice in the four grand rules in Arithme tic, with first principles of fractions; 4, Elements of geography, especially that of Europe; 5, Stories of the Old Testament

and Life of Christ; 6, Elementary notions of drawing and of form.

The following are the subjects to be pursued after admission: 1, Religious instruction; 2, German; 3, Latin; 4, Greek; 5, Mathematics; 6, Physics; 7, Natural History; 8, Geography; 9, History; 10, Writing; 11, Drawing; 12, Vocal music. And there is always provision for gymnastic exercises. The ministry appeal to experience for proof that these studies best develope the intellect: and they give a schedule of hours for this course. (See Bache p. 458.) Out of one hundred and eighty eight hours, they give fifty-eight to Latin, twenty-four to Greek, twenty-two to Mathematics. In the four highest classes, beginning with the sixteenth year of the pupils, there are eighteen hours of Latin to twelve of Greek and to eight of Mathematics-one-third more time to the first than to the second, and one-third more to the second than to the third. For, Latin is much more difficult than Greek, and the pure Mathematics require comparatively little time. A knowledge of French is not considered necessary to the true training purposes of a gymnasium. It has been made a subject of public instruction, only because it is useful in after life, not because it has any properties which make it useful for mental discipline. The modern dialects are called "living languages," merely because they are used by the now living race of men. But as languages, they are utterly dead when compared with the Latin, Greek, Sanskrit and others, from which they are derived. They are like a tree built up artificially with small blocks and chippings, incapable of being attenuated into those delicate branches which give it grace and flexibility; while each of those old synthetic idioms is a tree developed naturally, spreading out a thousand boughs, formed by accretions, absorption and respiration—a living form of strength and beauty.

There is an examination at the close of the two terms, into which the scholastic year is divided.

The vacations are, two weeks at Easter; one at Whitsuntide; three in August;

one at Michaelmas, and two at Christmas, making nine in all.

There are six classes: the lower three of one year each; the upper three of two years each-requiring nine years for the course, and admitting students to the University at the average age of nine

teen.

They have about six study hours for each of the six working days, excepting Wednesday and Saturday, the afternoons. of which are free.

The Discipline is very mild-confined almost entirely to moral suasion. Each teacher manages his own room; handing over offenders to the Director, only when admonition has failed. Dismissions are rare. The scholars are interested in their pursuits by the engaging manner of instruction peculiar to Prussian teachers. They study at home, and come to the class-room not to recite what they have learned; for there is no word in the German language which answers to our recite: but they bring what they have learned, as material, which the teacher uses in drawing out their powers. He asks questions, makes explanations, and throws

so much life into the dull statements of books, that the minds of the pupils are aroused-they follow him eagerly, and catch some of his enthusiasm. They prepare their lessons and come to school to learn them from the teacher. In our country they are taught by the text-book, with the aid of the teacher; there, they are taught by the teacher, with the aid of the text-book.

Since the Ancient Languages are regarded, as is shown in the schedule of hours, as the most important means for mental training-"as the palæstra of the mind, where its athletic powers are to be evoked and employed"-let us follow, in his Latin studies, some promising youth, whose zeal and abilities are equal to his opportunities. (For the substance of these minutiæ as to the gymnasia, I am indebted to an article in the Biblical Repertory for October 1852, which is understood to be from the pen of a German who was educated in Berlin, fled to this country because of some political articles which he had published at home, and is

now a missionary to India.) The pupil has been drilled, for more than two years, in the etymology and the prinpal rules of Syntax; he has applied these rules by translating from German into Latin, and from Latin into German, and has written about one hundred Latin exercises and extemporalia. Extemporalia are exercises, in which the teacher speaks some sentences in German, of which the pupils write down an ex tempore translation into Latin, when, of course, no time is allowed for asking a question, much less for consulting a Lexicon or Grammar. As soon as the sentences are finished, the teacher receives the papers which he corrects at home. Our pupil has also committed some Latin to memory, and has prepared, for his next lesson, half of the 1st chapter of Miltiades in Népos, his first Latin author. In this preparation, he has written out the meanings of all the words which he had to look for in the Dictionary, and has committed them to memory. In class, he first gives a literal rendering, then a fluent German translation. Then the teacher reads the lesson himself, in both ways, interspersing remarks and questions, pointing out the differences of idiom, usage, etc., between the text and the translation; shows the different meanings of each word, arranged in their logical or historical order; fills up the historical allusions, so as to give some idea of the times described, and so on. The rules of the grammar, previously learned, are thus constantly repeated and deeply impressed on the memory, whilst new matter is being gradually, but steadily, added. For the next lesson, the same process is repeated, in this same section, only with less assistance from the teacher; and perhaps a written translation is required. This seems a slow method; but he learns to read faster, when he becomes better acquainted with the style of the author.

When now the life of Miltiades is finished (covering about five pages of ordinary 8vo.,) the whole is translated fluently, with questions at the end of each chapter. At the next lesson, the narrative is related, without the aid of

the book, as nearly as possible in the language of the author. Once a week the teacher gives, orally, a translation of one of the lives not read in the class, requiring the pupils to translate it, orally, back into Latin, with reasons for translating thus and not otherwise. At the third lesson in this chapter, it is repeated from memory, in German and in Latin. And when the biography is finished, all the chapters are repeated together. And this custom of repeating all that has been learned before, is some times kept up for two years. Thus we see how the pupils acquire a stock of words and phrases, and learn the rules and delicacies of construction and position by praetice, as we learn them in our vernacular. Thoroughness is a characteristic of this instruction; so that what the pupil has had once explained to him, he is expected to know ever afterwards. The extemporalia, written once a week, are based on material previously acquired. Emulation is excited in these, by assigning the seats in the room, according to the grade of excellence in the extemporalia of the preceding week. Nor is it because these tests are too easy, that some are found to have the omission of a comma as the only mistake; for others are returned as "wholly incorrigible."

The process of reading, just described, seems very slow; yet this very method imparts an ability to read, and read fast, such as we should look for in vain in our otherwise "fast" country. Nearly the whole of the Iliad is sometimes read in a year, in three lessons per week, the Odyssey requiring only three-fourths of that time; and this includes committing to memory numerous extracts. Then the pupils are called on, at the examination, to recite the contents of a whole book, coherently, in Greek, changing the Homeric into the Attic dialect.

We see here the two extremes in the methods of reading the classics-the cursory and the dilatory, as they are called. Each has had its advocates, to the exclu sion of the other; but the results of experience have decided this, as all other things in Prussian education, and they are both now adopted in every gymna

sium: yet so, that the cursory method is not superficial, nor the dilatory slow and tedious. They are made to alternate in reading the same author, or one is adopted in one part of the course, and the other in another. In the one, every thing which possibly admits of an explanation or elucidation, receives it, and all the niceties and minutiae of the language are understood. In the other, the student learns more of the author's subject and is more interested in what he reads; difficulties are surmounted, not removed; obscurities receive a short explanation, not an explication. In practising the cursory style in the higher classes, the mere reading of the Latin or Greek text with the proper intonation and emphasis, is frequently sufficient to convince the teacher that the student understands what he is reading.

The writing of Latin Exercises is another important element in this system. They are written at home, with all the aid the pupil can secure from Dictionary and Grammar. Then Latin Compositions on some given subject. Then translations from Greek into Latin, or from the style of one period of Roman literature into that of another; e. g. changing a chapter of Tacitus into Ciceronian Latin. In the highest classes, Latin is spoken during the recitations on the classics. After careful observation, these great experimenters are fully convinced that the writing of Greek and Latin is a powerful means for developing the man; and much attention is now devoted to the preparation of proper books for assistance in this department.

The thorough mode which is adopted in the classics, prevails in all the departments, thus furnishing minds well prepared for the University. For the Gymnasium is never regarded as the school for securing both an education and a profession, but only as laying a reliable foundation for either or both. Hence the course in Mathematics, and the sciences includes only the leading principles, and not the countless applications appropriate to University study. If, however, we enter a class room of a Gymnasium, we shall hear no more correct answers given

than in our schools-perhaps not so many. The teacher raises various questions suggested by the text book, rather than dictated by it; and this very process is a characteristic of German teaching. The pupils do not learn by rote; they do not follow or imitate; they are made to think for themselves. Pastime knowledge of realia is not the object, but the cultivation of the humaniori. As we might expect, from so rigid a system, while all are trained more or less, comparatively few retain enough positive knowledge, as a proof of their being trained, to secure the certificate of fitness for University discipline. Examine the catalogues of the college in Berlin, and you will find that a Gymnasium with five hundred pupils will furnish about twenty-five annually, with these certificates. The others are let out by the side door, as with us, and engage in business, or enter a school preparatory to some special occupation.

The final examinations for the University are very rigid, partly written and partly oral. The student's knowledge of the classics is tested by every possible means. And those who have theology in view, must show a similar proficiency in Hebrew also. Latin and Greek authors which have not been studied in the class, taken from the whole range of ancient writers, are translated, their style discussed, all the minutiae in construction and position and etymology are exposed, and the history involved in them is placed in its proper position in general history. In short, the student can read and write Latin and Greek with an ease which few mature scholars in our country have attained, and he is now prepared for the exegesis, archæology, criticism and deep philosophy of language, which the University lectures will present to his eager mind. He has not yet grappled with mental and moral science; but he has the best possible preparation for these departments, in his classical proficiency. He is grounded in the leading principles of pure mathematics-reaching through the sophomore class in our best collegesand has a respectable acquaintance with chemistry, botany, zoology in all its divisions; geology, astronomy, optics,

acoustics, and generally, logic. He has committed to memory large portions of the Bible, the Lutheran catechism, and many hymns, besides analyzing some of the books of the New Testament. He is master of his language and of its literature, which is more extensive than that contained in any other known idiom. He has declaimed and recited many extracts from the German classics, and, of course, can write correct verse and all styles of prose. His study of geography, continued through five years, has made him familiar with every country of the world, in its physical and political relations, and enables him to draw accurate maps of them. He is acquainted with the leading events, in the history, political, religious and social, of each nation that has left its record, and is familiar with the annals of Greece, of Rome, and of Modern Europe. His practice in writing has given him a regular, legible chirography, and he has made a fair beginning in writing short hand. He can exhibit beautiful specimens of his drawing from objects and landscapes. Singing by note is mastered early in the course, and private lessons generally secure to him great skill in performing on some instrument. And finally, the exercise in the physical gymnasium has developed and strengthened the whole body, imparting to it grace and activity.

Such is the beginning of a liberal education in a Prussian Gymnasium. I have described it thus minutely, because it is the prominent feature in the whole system, giving character to the education of the country.

As has already been mentioned, there is another class of schools, corresponding to these in the age of their pupils, viz: the real or scientific schools. In some of them, Greek, Hebrew and logic are replaced by English and chemistry, with an increase in the time devoted to mathematics. Nearly all of them, however, give more hours to Latin, than mathematics. In the remaining few, French and English are the only languages taught. The times called for special training in some of the higher trades, and these institutions were established. They

have been successful in fitting men for their relations to the digable, hewable, money world, and their number has, consequently, been increasing for several years. Their course embraces about nine years. The establishment of such schools proves an advanced state of education, analogous to the division of labor in our perfect factories. But the character and aim of these various schools is well understood; and a boy of twelve years of age is in that one which is to fit him most liberally for the profes sion already chosen for him. No man regards either one as a substitute for the other. Nor dare the scientific schools be mentioned as aiding either Gymnasium or Universities. The former are understood to give only a make shift, compromise training for those who can reach nothing higher. If money and time and abilities permit, the youth attends the gymnasium first, and then follows up his special calling, adding a profession to a general scholarship and regularly developed mind. If circumstances forbid the higher aim, as is the case in a large majority of instances, some of the scientific or trade schools offer their valuable assistance.

We have now seen the instruction in the primary period almost uniform; and in the second period, exhibiting two main classes, viz: literary and scientific. We expect then a greater variety in the next higher period, the "Superior," as we have termed it. And such is indeed the system. We find eight Universities, the polytechnic school, forty-five seminaries for teachers of the elementary schools, schools of arts, schools of mines, school of commerce, military academy, school of architecture, veterinary school, agricultural school, etc. If the pupil Has the required qualifications for admission, he completes his course in from one to four years, in the institution which is intended for his profession. Excepting the University, the number of students in each of these is not great. But the University itself is only a union of many schools of the highest grade, each of which has few pupils. The catalogue of the most prominent University-that in Berlinfor the session of 1855-'6, shows 2,20%