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bining several distinct paragraphs into one, and an infant would be at least as well employed in practising the complete development of the idea, accompanied by the word of abbreviation, as in learning by heart some verses full of words and phrases, which it cannot understand, for no purpose that we can see, except that it may repeat the same to all visiters who come into the house, as a proof of genius on the one side, and an exercise of patience and politeness on the other. We have often thought, while undergoing How doth the little busy bee,' or something else equally unintelligible at four years of age, what a pity it is the poor child is not dumb, at least, if not deaf, till the age when he will be allowed to talk only of what he understands.

We cannot close this article, without noticing the success of the method employed by M. Deleau, at Paris, for the cure of deafness, although it is not immediately connected with our subject. It consists simply in injecting into the Eustachian tube a quantity of air, supplied by a forcingpump. The communication between this pump and the ear is made by a flexible tube, which enters at the nostril. Whenever the disease arises from any obstruction that the air can reach, the cure is possible. This happens, we believe, in about five cases out of thirteen. We have seen this operation performed in various stages of the cure, and are convinced of its efficacy. Further information on the subject is to be found in a little pamphlet of M. Deleau, entitled 'Sur le Cathéterisme de la Trompe d'Eustache, &c.,'* and in various reports presented by that gentleman to the Academy of Sciences.

We have said nothing about the establishments in England for the deaf and dumb, reserving for some future occasion a more particular account of them. Our present object has been to explain briefly those general principles, which are applicable to the education of persons deprived of the faculty of hearing, and to suggest that some of the methods may probably be equally useful in the instruction of those who possess all their senses.

* Paris: Chevot, Rue de l'Ecole de Medecine; Madlle. de Launay, Place de l'Ecole de Medecine; Martinet, Rue du Coq.

GERMAN UNIVERSITIES.-BONN.

DIFFERENT periods produce illustrious men, and a nation may lie dormant for ages without a spirit ever arising to wake it from its slumbers. Of all modern European nations, Germany seems to have been among the latest to repair that loss, and with difficulty to have shaken off that lazy languor, and inactivity of mind-the characteristic of its ancient inhabitants, who remained deaf to everything except to the summons of war. But, like a giant refreshed with sleep,' it has arisen with increased strength, and new-born vigour, having waited for an hour of full maturity, when it might spring forth, like the goddess from the brain of Jove clothed in complete armour, with wisdom stamped upon its brow. This may be said to be the golden period of its literature. The creator of it, or more properly of its poetry, as he is complimentarily termed by Byron, and the acknowledged poet of all nations, Göthe, is still alive. The admiration and respect for this great man are universal; the natural character of his compositions, his rich fancy, to which may be added a long life of uninterrupted enjoyment, and an unaffected candour of mind, have hallowed his name with a sacred veneration.

Criticism has been cultivated in Germany, almost as an indigenous plant. We are accustomed to couple with the name of a German critic, a dull, plodding, heavy fellow,' with a vast quantity of knowledge, and little tact to bring it into play. In our intercourse with those, from whom we may be allowed to form a judgment, namely, students, we have found them, in general, a quick, penetrating, and intelligent people; but rather seeking after the root of what they have got, than with a genius for enterprise, or invention. That many of the earlier writers in this department are chargeable with heaviness, we cannot deny; but that they are improved in the art of criticism, as in other arts, inasmuch as they become less wordy, and more useful, their strongest detractor will allow*. Though they are too fond of laughing at the manner of education among us, we are inclined to think that their prolixity arises from their not adopting it in part; -and from their not giving sufficient attention to the formation of the youthful mind in exercises of taste. We will not include versification, for that can be cultivated according to the genius of the pupil; but elegance in simple composition, and emulation to excel,

*Bekker, one of the first critics in Germany, is proverbial for his sparingness of words, seldom exhausting more than fifteen lines on his prefaces, and never adding a note, but the collation of MSS.

may yet be added to their literary wants. The utility of information consists in its being intelligibly conveyed to others, and the man who possesses little, and can properly develope that little, has more real merit than he who possesses more, and does himself violence in bringing it forth. Here they are marvellously in the back-ground; they cannot comprehend how a man in the possession of multifarious erudition is at a loss to cast it into shape. Nothing is easier to account for. A man may have an excellent piece of marble, without being able to hew it into any tolerable human form, though in the possession of all the necessary implements; nay, more: a statuary may complete a bust perfect in art, and yet fail to give it that expression of reality which supersedes art's correctness. Every man may artificially possess himself of information without being either a genius, or having good taste. Thus it happens, that the German writers fall much beneath the English in taste, perception, and judgment. A crude and undigested mass is daily poured out from the press, where now and then something valuable may be found, but, scattered like green spots in a sandy desert, it requires a camel to carry you over the weary waste.

The diffusion of knowledge, so universal throughout Germany, could not but be productive of valuable fruits. Though by some considered a calculating people, the Germans are by no means devoid of sensibility, and sympathize deeply in whatever they read. An anecdote has just reached us of some young men having been taken up as robbers, who, upon investigation, were found to be stimulated to depredation from the influence of reading romances, or probably the adventures of Baron Trenck. This is attested in the newspapers, though we cannot vouch for the infallibility of the story; these publications being at times quite as faithless as our own. True it is, however, that Schiller's Tragedy of the Robbers worked on the nation's nerves with a most inspiring effect. This is rather a virtue than otherwise; but it is singular that the impetus should have leaned to robbing. Those who visit the Rhine will no doubt be surprised to what an alarming length this predatory infatuation has attained since the hosts and hostesses have lately taken to the reading of romances! But, to speak of education; the easy means of attaining it, is amply repaid by the zeal with which it is cultivated. Of its universities, and the mode of education there, it may not be altogether uninteresting or useless for a mature member of one of its more illustrious ones to be allowed to speak.

Bonn is a town situated on the Rhine, the first of any consequence after Cologne, and opens the scenery of this

noble river; lower down, that stream is without the charm of natural beauty. Above it rise the seven mountains, the most celebrated of which is Drachenfels, whose hoary ruin has been a theme for the lay of Childe Harold. The scenery around it is rich and interesting, and made doubly so by the numerous legends of ancient times. The advantages of selecting such a situation for a university must have been at once obvious, though it was for some time disputed with Cologne. From Aix la Chapelle, where, after the peace, the chief potentates of Europe had assembled on the 18th of October, on the same day on which five years before the independence of the nation was contested, the royal mandate was issued for the foundation of a university at Bonn. It had been earlier the residence of one of the six petty princes of Germany, a spiritual one, (for they were divided into spiritual and temporal,) under whom, in 1786, a college of Jesuits was established, which continued till the Rhenish provinces fell into the hands of the French, when it was converted into a school of science, adapted to the exigencies 'of war. The castle at Poppelsdorf, but a few minutes walk from Bonn, approached by two long avenues of trees, was more properly the place of the elector's residence: this has been occupied as a museum, principally valuable for mineralogy, and well deserves the traveller's attention. Attached to it is a garden, devoted to botany, open only at certain hours in the day, but always accessible to the student of this department. The university itself consists of five faculties or departments :-the Evangelic Theologic (i. e. Protestant), Catholic Theologic, Juristic, Medical, and Philosophic. To these are appointed forty-three professors, six to each Theological faculty, to the Juristical seven, the Medical six, and the Philosophical eighteen. Under this last head are included several kindred branches philology, mathematics, history, and a number of other studies, amounting in all to fourteen. The professors are paid by government; the highest salary does not exceed 5001. per annum, which decreases with the ability, or capacity of each; for they are in general weighed according to their merits. They have besides what they obtain from the attendance upon their lectures, which varies according to the professor's reputation. Between the two first faculties there exists no distinction with regard to precedence, and all offices of honour are alike shared by each. In a Protestant government, like the Prussian, this favour ought not to pass unnoticed. There are seventy Catholic students clothed, and fed, and entirely educated at its expense; they live in the wing of the university nearest the Rhine. The object

seems to be, to place all on an equal footing in the pursuit of learning, and to give the Catholic part of their subjects (the most numerous on the Rhine, and in Westphalia) the same rights and protection as those of their own religion. They are taken from the lower orders of the people, and cannot be said to be regarded with any degree of respect by the other students. There are besides these, forty other Catholic students of theology, Belgians, who study here by permission of the government, and at the request of the King of Holland. As they pay, the permission cannot be said to be of a very gracious nature.

The university has a separate government of its own; it consists in a senate of twelve persons, and a rector, before whom all academical matters of importance are laid. The student is amenable to this authority alone, and a card, which he procures on entrance, exempts him from the intervention of the civil police. The university has a police peculiar to itself, and only in criminal cases is the student liable to be brought before a civil magistrate. Every man is supposed to be within his rooms after eleven o'clock at night, but cognizance is never taken of the violation of this rule, except on occasions of large drinking parties, when the company is becoming rather noisy, and the beadle exercises his voice to admonish them to return home. The rector's office is annual, and the election of a new one is generally accompanied with a procession of torches and a band of music, which ends in forming a large circle, when an old Latin song is pealed by hundreds of voices under the open air. The following is a mode of conferring distinction, which has passed from age to age: seven, or eight students, armed, and arrayed in a conspicuous garb, present the rector with an address, and he returns their greeting from an elevated window, though his voice is often mingled with the ascending fumes of smoke. The glare of the torches, and the wild look of the delighted student, with the eager gaze of the populace, form a most singular contrast. A popular professor is sometimes honoured with this procession, and it is also the mourning accompaniment of the dead. At the head of the university is the curator, in dignity above the rector, whose office is perpetual: he superintends the business of the university, and makes reports to the government; he is looked upon as little better than a respectable spy. The Protestant students of theology live in the town like others, without any distinction of residence or board, unless the student be too poor to support himself. Though they are entered as theologians, they can at their will study philology, or any other branch of science, if it does

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