Wherein lies the secret, then, of this wonderful change wrought in
the brief span of two generations, between 1770 and 1830, and amid
the dire confusion of the great Revolution and the Napoleonic era? The
change was twofold. It consisted, first, in allowing to the professor
the free play of his individuality; second, in providing him with a
properly trained body of students. From the practical recognition
of these two principles, which have nothing to do with wealth and
buildings, proceed the power and glory of the German universities.
Viewed from the English, or even the American point, some of these
universities might be pronounced poor, not to say starvelings. The
buildings are old and out of repair, the professors are scantily paid,
the students are needy, there is a general atmosphere of want and
discomfort. But the work they do is noble, and its nobility consists
in its freedom, its heartiness, its strict devotion to truth.

We are not concerned in this place with the study of the growth of the
German school system that prepares the German student. We have to do
with the professor. Although the gymnasium and the university are
not to be dissevered in actual practice, the one being the necessary
prelude to the other, still we can discuss either one of them
separately with a view to ascertaining its salient features.

The German university allows to the professor the free play of his
individuality. By this is meant that each professor has his specialty,
which he teaches as a specialty and after his own fashion. He has been
appointed because of his specialty, and to the end that he may teach
it. His salary is paid to him, not so much for what he does as for
what he is. It is in a measure the reward for having made for himself
a name. His standing in the university is based, not so much upon the
number of students that he may attract to his lectures as upon the