ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

J. ARMINIUS.

in favor of religious liberty, and capital punishment for religious opinions ceased from this time in Holland and Germany.

[graphic]

These religious controversies were scarcely adjusted when another contest broke out, of a different nature, but hardly less intense and bitter. The early days of the university were made memorable by the residence in the beautiful shaded retreats near the city of Spinoza, and later of Descartes. The former lived in almost perfect solitude, known to but few, and carrying on his studies in silence. Descartes had laid aside his roving life, half military, and half man of the world, and dwelt in retirement at Oestgeest. Though older than most students, his name was enrolled on the books of the university in order to enjoy the special privileges which attended academic citizenship. Here he carried on an active correspondence with scholars in France and Germany. His curious mind carried him also to England to investigate strange natural phenomena. ple, took part in this memorable contest. Up to this time Aristotle had been worThe inhabitants of the city were divided shipped in all the schools of the Continent, into two hostile parties. The old hatred and his theories had formed the basis of once felt toward the Spaniards was now all instruction in philosophy. The deterdirected against fellow-citizens. Reli- mined attacks made by Descartes on the gious questions became the current polit- dicta of Aristotle kindled again a flame in ical issue. The grandest statesman of Hol- the quiet academic life. Both philosophy land was led to the scaffold. Episcopius, and theology were imperiled. Two parthe friend of Arminius, who formulated ties were rapidly formed. The new views his doctrines, and who appears in theolo- were instantaneously attractive to many gical literature as a greater character than of the professors of philosophy, and to some his master, narrowly escaped being stoned of the scientists. The strife grew furious: to death in the city streets. The famous rival professors attacked bitterly those Synod of Dort condemned the Five Prop- holding opposite views. The students arositions of Arminius, and his adherents rayed themselves actively on the sides of were deprived of all civil and sacred of the leading representatives of the differfices, and banished from the country. In ent theories. In a debate in the philothe midst of this tumult the gentle Ar- sophical school a contest broke out, and minius died, and the quiet words of his students pulled each other's hair and joinwill bear no witness to the stormy life he ed in fisticuffs. Upon the street they exhad led: "I have studied to inculcate changed such epithets as Pelagian, atheist, everything which might contribute ac- Aristotelian, bigot, Socinian, Arminian, cording to the word of God to the propa- heathen, and church owl. Again the gation and increase of truth, of the Chris- lofty power of the States-General intertian religion, of the true worship of God, fered. The curators forbade the name of of general piety and a holy conversation Descartes to be mentioned in lectures on among men, and finally to that tranquil- philosophy. lity and peace which befit the Christian name." No one who knew him doubted but that his life had been true to his favorite motto: "A good conscience in paradise."

The storm passed away. With the death of Prince Maurice toleration began. Episcopius lifted up mightily his voice

Several professors were deposed, and barely escaped banishment. In all these controversies no tests of conscience were ever imposed on the students.

As soon as it was determined that France was to be a Catholic country, and the University of Paris Catholic, the centre of learning was transferred from

France to Holland. The early enthusi- | Morocco and the Levant.

The

asm for Greek literature, which had prevailed throughout Europe at the dawn of the revival of learning, gradually declined. Greek studies came again into prominence in the German universities as an aid to the study of theology. efforts of Melanchthon in Germany saved Greek from utter neglect. The scientific study of Greek began with the coming of Hemsterhuis to Leiden. He was the most wonderful Hellenist of his time. His pupil Ruhnken says of him, "With a mind almost superhuman and an exhaustless store of learning, he of himself restores to the university the splendor it had under Scaliger and Salmasius." His observations are found on nearly every Greek and Latin author. Gems, coins, and statues had each a language for him in elucidating the marvellous genius of the Greeks. So thoroughly had he imbibed the spirit of the language that he could trace the passages in Polybius and Plutarch and Dionysius where they sought to imitate his favorite Thucydides. He could even say of the renowned Englishman Bentley, who was noted for his emendations in the texts of Greek authors, "Though Bentley alters many passages which ought not to be altered, in most cases the writers would have done better if they had written as he corrects them." Like the best of the Humanists, he loved knowledge not merely for its own sake, but for the healthful influence which it might exert on the heart and life. The intimate connection which existed at this time between English and Dutch scholarship is shown by the fact that the two Vosses, father and son, held honorary appointments in the English Church, the one as prebend of the Cathedral of Canterbury, the other as canon of Windsor. Charles II. assigned apartments in Windsor Castle to the younger during his residence in England. This eminent scholar did not believe in the divine origin of the Christian religion, which led the monarch to say, "This learned divine is a strange man: he will believe everything except the Bible." Dutch scholars were even called to professorships in the English universities.

The university has enjoyed a unique reputation for the study of the Oriental languages-a renown which it still retains. The library possesses more than 3000 Oriental manuscripts, brought from

VOL. LXII-No. 370.-32

Schultens first

[merged small][graphic][merged small]

and returned laden with treasures. An impulse to the study of these languages was also derived from the learned Jewish scholars who now found a home in Holland.

Students even wrote Hebrew and Arabic poems in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Scientific studies were already cultivated. Under Boerhaave, Albinus, and Sylvius, the medical school became the most famous in Europe. Boerhaave was equally great and equally a discoverer in botany and medicine, and in advance of his time in the infant science of chemistry. All Europe was filled with the praise of this distinguished physician.

A hundred patients were frequently waiting in his anteroom. The Czar Peter once waited two hours for an interview. A Chinese mandarin addressed a letter, "To the illustrious Boerhaave, physician in Europe," which reached him without

HERMANN BOERHAAVE.

delay. His insight into disease was wonderful. Symptoms hidden to others were clearly manifest to him. He first instituted the modern system of clinical instruction in medicine. His theory of the balance of humors in the system, translated into more exact scientific phrase in the light of modern research, has a clear and definite meaning. His views upon the preliminary studies and culture necessary for a physician are worthy of study at the present time. His statue stands in front of the grounds of the new medical college. His monument in the Pieterskerk bears the simple inscription, "To the health-giving genius of Boerhaave." His colleague Albinus was scarcely less renowned throughout Europe. His investigations in anatomy have never been set aside, even in the light of later discoveries.

|

a professor of history at Leiden, was the friend and correspondent of Washington, Jefferson, and Adams. To him Washington wrote when he was removed from office at the instigation of the Directory in Paris: "The man who acts from principle, who never deviates from the path of truth, moderation, and justice, must finally succeed. America is under great obligations to the writings and actions of such men as you." John Quincy Adams was enrolled as a student in the university, and studied under this eminent man.

The later scholarship of Holland has not been adequately recognized by other nations, owing to the general ignorance of the Dutch language. When Latin was the common language of scholars, the results of study here were more widely known and recognized. At present many of the most valuable works of Dutch scholars are published in other languages. Dozy's great work on the Moors in Spain is written in French; Kern writes alike in English and German, as well as in Dutch; De Vries often in German; Cobet in Latin; Kuenen, though writing in Dutch, has published some works first in England. The narrow limits in which the language is spoken will always be an obstacle to the general diffusion of its literary products.

[graphic]

The Dutch mind is more like the American, in its methods of thought, than is that of any other nation of the Continent. There is the same intensity of feeling on all religious questions, the same keen practical genius. An invisible line separates Holland from Germany, and yet the national characteristics are sharply defined. There is none of that vague soaring into infinity which marks his neighbor across the border. The purpose of the Hollander is direct, and he goes directly to its accomplishment. He is not burdened or crushed beneath his learning. These qualities distinguish the scholarship of the two countries. There is in Holland the same patient, industrious research, but, in proportion, more practical valuable results. The Hollander understands AmerThe sympathy of Holland with the Unit- ica and republican institutions, and their ed States has always been marked. In- true foundation in the intelligence and deed, I have fancied that the genuine Hol- self-control of the people. I always felt lander still feels that his nation has been sure of being understood when speaking unjustly defrauded of this great republic, with an educated Hollander, whether disand that rightfully it should still be Dutch. cussing church and state or our current All through the American struggle for in- political questions. He could rightly estidependence, scholars in Holland watched mate the real and unreal dangers which the contest with deepest interest. Luzac, attend democratic government, as our Eng

Among the Englishmen who came to Leiden to study at this time was Oliver Goldsmith. He spent a year here, mostly in carousing.

lish cousins are not always in the habit of | have gone to Germany in the middle of doing.

Holland has three national universities. Of these Leiden and Utrecht are the most celebrated. The little University of Franeker cast for two centuries a brilliant but fitful light amid the broad moors of Friesland, until its extinction by Napoleon in 1815. The University of Amsterdam, as recently reconstituted, although a city university, will rank hereafter equal with the others. Groningen has always had some eminent scholars among its profess ors, but it is local in its constituency, and its future is doubtful. In 1877 a new law for regulating the courses of study and the administration of the universities throughout the kingdom went into effect. It had been carefully prepared after consultation with the various faculties, and was designed to make more uniform the requisitions for graduation, and to define more nearly the studies essential to degrees in the different courses. The lack of a uniform administration of the German universities is deeply felt by the wisest scholars in that country. There is an inequality in the amount demanded by different universities preliminary to the bestowal of the doctor's degree. Even in the same university the various faculties differ according as there is a disposition to insist on the utmost, or to be satisfied with meagre acquirements. A new professor frequently tones up the requisitions to a new tension. Students are quick to understand and take advantage of this fact. They know that a degree may be taken on easier terms at some other university, and so they migrate for their academic laurels, and after a brief residence, receive the degree previously denied. American students who pursue the study of science abroad, escape upon the easiest terms, while those who study history and political science are only a little less fortunate. Students who desire a degree in philology experience far greater difficulty, as they are brought into comparison with the splendidly disciplined scholars from the German gymnasia. The ease with which foreign students are admitted to a German university-often by the mere presentation of a visiting-card or the exhibition of a passport-favors this looseness. I have known under-graduates to leave an American college, and obtain a degree in a German university by attending less than two semesters. In other cases students

their college course, and in two yearsabout the time that they would have received the degree of B. A. or B.S. at home-have returned to exhibit a Ph.D. to their envious classmates. The unrestricted liberty which is allowed to students abroad, in the choice of lectures, often occasions a loss of time from mistaken and tentative efforts in wrong directions. The lack of any systematic course or graded advancement from year to year produces often great waste of ef

[graphic]

fort.

PROFESSOR MATTHIAS DE VRIES.

These dangers are corrected in part in Germany by the requirements of the state examination, which are more or less clearly known. The success of a student in after-life, and his promotion in the civil service, often depend on the faithfulness of his university work.

Considerations of this nature have brought about the changes in the law for higher education in Holland. A general correspondence with the German university system still exists, of which the chief excellences are retained. There is a slight approach to some features of our American colleges. The instruction preparatory to the university in Holland has not been equal to that of the German gymnasia. The new law provides for the careful and thorough reorganization of these schools and courses of study.

The university has five faculties, viz., of theology, law, medicine, science and

A doctorate may be taken in theology, law, political science, medicine, surgery, and obstetrics; in mathematics and astronomy, or physics, chemistry, geology and mineralogy, botany and zoology, pharmacy; in Semitic, classic, Germanic, or Indian philology, and in philosophy. The thoroughness of a course of study in these departments may be illustrated by the requirements for a degree in classics and natural science. A preliminary examination, which admits the student to be a

held. This embraces, in classics, a grammatical discussion of Greek and Latin writers, the history of the Greeks and Romans, with the development of their civil institutions, literature, philosophy, and The doctor's examination embraces the critical philological treatment of Greek and Roman writers, and the general history of antiquity. For a degree in botany and zoology, an examination is required in higher mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, mineralogy, geology, and palæontology.

mathematics, and philosophy and letters. Each faculty has a dean chosen for four years from among the ordinary professors. The rector magnificus serves for one year. He is appointed by the Minister of the Interior upon the nomination of the senate, which submits to him three names for that position. The office is generally held in turn by a representative of each faculty. Discipline rests in the hands of the rector magnificus and four assessors chosen annually by the senate. Their authority is limited to a deprivation of university priv- candidate-candidaats-examen-is first ileges for from one to five years. This is the only remnant of the former university court. Professors are nominated to the curators by each faculty. A list of these, with the appropriate recommendations, is sent to the minister by whom the appoint-art. ment is made. The professors are always elected to a particular chair of instruction. This does not abridge the celebrated liberty of instruction, Lehrfreiheit, for which the German universities are noted. A professor may, with the consent of the senate, lecture upon other subjects than those connected with his immediate department. The lectures for each year are fixed by the senate. These are divided into courses extending through a semester, or an entire year. The senate is composed of all the professors in the university. A subordinate class of instructors exists, called lectores, corresponding in part to the privat-docenten of the German universities. They have an official connection with the university, and are appointed and dismissed by the minister. They receive an annual salary from the state.

The professors are no longer paid, as formerly, by a fixed salary supplemented by fees for promotions, etc., but receive a uniform salary of 6000 florins. The number of professors is at present fifty, and there are between eight and nine hundred students. The students pay an annual fee of 200 florins, which admits them to all lectures, and to the use of laboratories and museums. A student may, however, pay thirty florins for a single half-yearly course of lectures if he desires. Connected with the university, but upon a separate foundation, is a special department for instruction in the Indian languages. The object of this is to train officers for the civil service in the East Indian colonies. The languages, literature, and laws of the East, as well as Indian history and institutions, are thoroughly studied.

Leiden is rich in all the facilities for study. Its vast museum of natural history is probably the largest in Europe in mounted specimens. Dutch scientists and government officers have brought hither the treasures of the East in almost matchless profusion. The botanical garden was long the finest in Europe, though now surpassed by the magnificent garden at Kew.

The museum of antiquities is especially rich in Egyptian relics, in papyri, and in Greek and Roman remains. The home of the university has been almost unchanged for two hundred years. It is an odd building, partly a cloister and partly a church. The rooms are lofty, with pointed windows, high cathedras, and hard wooden benches. I always felt that a company of monks with shaven heads and gowns, books and beads, chanting responses, would be more fitting in the old place than a body of students listening to modern lectures on science. The room in which the greatest interest centres is the famous senate-chamber. It is adorned with portraits of the most distinguished professors since the foundation of the university. The picture of William of Orange occupies the place of honor. Upon the table lies still a little book, bound in vellum, containing the maxims of Hippocrates, which has undoubtedly served to puzzle the brains of generations of candi

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »