features, and accompanied by a brief history of the different doctrines, their literature, and the modes of studying them. Ecclesiastical history, sometimes connected with the literary history of theology, is communicated to the student in a course of lectures, which is seldom completed in less than two terms. Moral theology follows next in order. Doctrinal theology, which, in Germany, is designated by the name of dogmatics contains all the doctrines of the New Testament, illustrated, proved, and arranged in a system. Comparative theology shows the changes, which the doctrines of christianity have suffered under the different creeds of the established churches and religious sects. Lectures on this interesting subject are among the last which the advanced student attends. The study of education as a science is of prime importance to divines, since they officiate as instructers for several years subsequent to the completion of their academic course, and since the religious education of children, till their fourteenth year, is committed to the care of the parochial clergy. The theological seminaries, established in most of the universities, instruct a certain number of students, during the last year of their professional course, in practical theology, and exercise them in the performance of parish duties, in composing and delivering sermons, catechizing, &c.

2. German jurisprudence is a strange mixture of the most heterogeneous materials, which render this science exceedingly complicated; so that uncommon talents are necessary to pursue the intricacies of the labyrinth, and to comprehend the whole science, in one full view, in its application to practical life. The study of the law in England and America suffers from similar difficulties. The different form of the administration, however, and the different state of the judiciary of the two countries just named, give greater encouragement to the practical lawyer, and raise him to a more conspicuous place of honor and emolument in public life, than a German practitioner can ever expect from the great labor he has spent in the study of his profession. The publicity of the courts is the principal cause of the superiority of the law as a practical science in England and in this country. Yet Germany, though deprived of these political advantages, has, at all times, had lawyers of great practical ability. The number of men, however, who have devoted their lives to deep researches into the single parts of jurisprudence, especially to the study of the civil code, is by VOL. XXVII.-NO. 61.

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far greater. The literature relative to subjects of the Roman civil law extends with great accuracy and minuteness over all the particulars of that department, on which numerous lectures are given in the German universities. It is partly for this purpose that Englishmen frequent Germany, since the civil law is not included in the course pursued in the English law schools. Jurisprudence embraces the law of nature, sanctioned by reason alone, and the statute law (called positive law by the Germans) of the legislatures and municipalities of the several German states. Hence arise three legal departments; civil law in the widest sense, public law, and the law of nations.

The civil law (private law in Germany), in reference to the civil relations of private persons, is founded either on the principles of the Roman law, as ratified by the Emperor Justinian; or on the German common law, composed of those customs and usages, which have, by long prescription, obtained the force of laws; or on the acts of the legislatures of the several states, as the statute law of Prussia, Saxony, or Bavaria. Subdivisions of this large department are, 1. Feudal law, drawn from the feudal customs of the Lombards, from the common feudal system of all Germany, and from the acts of the several German states, 2. Ecclesiastical law, founded upon the principles of the Corpus Juris Canonici (canon law), upon the statutes of the Roman Catholic church, and of the Protestant church. 3. Still smaller branches of this department are, the law of police, administration law, military law, commercial law, maritime law. 4. Criminal law, derived from the criminal codes of Charles the Great, called the Caroline, and from the acts of the several states. 5. Theory of civil and criminal procedure.

Public law refers to the constitution and administration of states, and contains at present the laws sanctioned by the states after the dissolution of the German empire in 1806; the new principles established since the origin of the German confederation; and, finally, the public acts of the several states.

The law of nations forms the third part of jurisprudence, and consists of public treaties, and other positive regulations of the powers of Europe, in their political relations.

Practical jurisprudence teaches the art of making up and keeping records in cases relative to the three departments just mentioned; it superintends the course of civil and criminal procedure; and teaches the manner of making a quick and profitable use of written records. Auxiliary studies of the law are

languages, history, geography, statistics, antiquities, philosophy (principally logic), political science, mathematics, and forensic

medicine.

An encyclopædia and methodology of jurisprudence generally precede the study of the Institutes of the Roman law. Both introduce the student into his profession, and prepare him for attendance upon lectures on the Digests or Pandects (the name properly given to one of the three parts of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the book of reference of several continental nations), which illustrate the system of the civil law, as still in practice. This is the most important and most extensive, but, at the same time, the most troublesome part of the professional course of a lawyer. Two, sometimes three hours a day, are devoted to these lectures, which every student endeavors to attend twice during the continuance of his academic career. The Digests are generally explained by more than one professor in the same term, before crowds of hearers.

Besides the abovementioned subjects of the three legal departments, separate lectures are delivered on the philosophy of the German civil law, on the history and antiquities of the civil law of the Romans, on the literary history of jurisprudence, and on the principles of legal interpretation.

3. The study of medicine, no longer relying upon vague hypotheses, uncertain theories, or mere empirical knowledge, has, at present, founded its laws on the sound principles of the inductive philosophy, the glorious triumph of our age. The writings in all its branches are numerous and valuable. Vienna and Berlin have advanced this science to a high degree of perfection, and the medical institutions of these cities are conducted on a very liberal scale, as may be perceived from the following plan of study. The auxiliary acquirements of the medical student generally consist of a competent knowledge of classical literature, history, rural economy, mathematics, philosophy, and belles-lettres. A professional course lasts four or five years, though the law in some parts of Germany prescribes only three. An encyclopædia and methodology of medicine guide the student in distributing his time and arranging his studies. In connexion with this, he attends lectures on botany and vegetable physiology, which do not require great preliminary attainments, as, likewise, osteology and syndesmology. The other parts of anatomy are explained in separate lectures. Zoology, natural philosophy, chemistry, and natural

history form the next stage of the course. The next important subject is physiology, accompanied by psychology or the philosophy of the human mind, anthropology, dietetic philosophy, and mineralogy. Thus the student is well prepared for attendance upon lectures on the morbid state of the human body, and on the nature and treatment of diseases. Pathology, therefore, which explains the symptoms, diagnosis, and morbid characters of diseases, materia medica, morbid and comparative anatomy, and psychiatry or treatment of the diseases of the mind, become in their order the subjects of his diligent attention.

After this the various modes of curing diseases are discussed in copious lectures on therapy or therapeutics, on surgery, and on obstetrics. A separate course is generally devoted to the distempers of women and children, to ophthalmology, and to the anatomy and physiology of the human eye. At the same time the study of pharmacy (pharmacology and toxicology are, for the most part, treated separately), medical jurisprudence, the history and the nature of the healing art, the systems of nosology and semiology, or semiotics, are not neglected. Lectures on the last topic teach the result of the application of anatomy, physiology, and pathology, in the practice of medicine. Private instructers superintend the various societies that are formed every term for the purpose of reviewing the most important subjects of medicine. This exercise is styled repetitorium and examinatorium; or disputatorium, if it be a debating society. The last part of the academic course is devoted to the practical studies of medicine and manual surgery. Establishments and hospitals, superintended by professors of the university, afford the best opportunities for the practice of clinical medicine, clinical surgery, and obstetrics. The anatomical theatres and anatomical cabinets are conducted and used on an extensive plan. In regard to practical surgery, a separate course of lectures is delivered on aciurgy, or the demonstration of all the surgical operations, and the description and use of surgical instruments. There are also separate institutions for the education of veterinary surgeons. The subjects of lectures here are zoötomy, zoöphysiology, osteology, myology, and zoöpharmacology. 4. Philosophy, as a science, investigates and ascertains the original laws of the human mind in its full activity, and thence proceeds to the noble contemplation of our Creator, the world, and the destination of man. The scope of philosophy is wisdom and truth, which determine the laws and principles of all

other sciences. The different modes chosen by genius, for the analysis of this problem, have produced the different systems of philosophy, to which, on the other hand, a strong desire of bursting the fetters of all systems has, at different times, been opposed. This desire, if prompted by the design of extending the spacious field of inquiry, becomes skepticism (in the good sense of that term); but, if led by an uncertain impulse of the feelings, and not kept within systematic bounds, it degenerates into mysticism. Wisdom, as the fairest fruit of philosophy, transfers her knowledge into practical life, places the sciences and conduct in a mutual relation, and cooperates in the advancement of humanity. The mere knowledge of the form of a philosophic system, without freedom of thought, promoting the great interests of life, is of little utility. The laudable tendency of the present German philosophy, is to confirm by the explanation of the intellectual faculties, and by the discussion of the powers of reason, the eternal truths of religion and the practice of christian virtue. This direction is owing to the great reform of Kant, who, not satisfied with the material system of Spinoza, nor with the ideal speculations of Leibnitz, much less with the empiric philosophy of Bacon and Locke, was roused by Hume's skepticism, and struck out a new light in his philosophy of pure reason, which created dissatisfaction and opposition, and called into existence all the systems now taught in Germany. Thus Fichte's science took its origin, and soon after it, the mystical philosophy of Schelling, with its various branches; and the sounder speculations of Jacobi, which have found many admirers. From this sketch it appears that the spirit of philosophy is, by no means, uniform. Erlangen and Berlin are the seats of Schelling's doctrine; and Göttingen has improved the system of Kant and Jacobi, whose own original views have created original thoughts in others. The common subjects of lectures on the several branches of speculative and practical philosophy, are the encyclopædia of the philosophical sciences, logic, the fundamental doctrines of philosophy, metaphysics, psychology or the analysis and critical demonstration of the intellectual powers of man; the philosophy of religion, the general history of philosophy, ancient and modern; the latest systems of German philosophy; a system of morals and ethics, of physical, moral, and intellectual education; finally æsthetics, a favorite term with the Germans, first introduced by Baumgarten, and now in general use, designating the philosophy of the fine arts, poetry, and ele