Greece prevented the study of human anatomy' among the civilized nations of the fourteenth century. A papal decree of about 1303 peremptorily forbade the dissecting of human bodies, and, though this met with much opposition from the Emperor Frederick II., he found that all his efforts to change public sentiment were useless. Others, like John Gerson in France and Petrarch in Italy, sought to dispel this superstition, but it was too firmly intrenched in the thoughts of the people to be easily removed. Still the new ideas gradually found acceptance, but always more slowly in Germany than in the other lands where the intellectual quickening had begun. Not until the sixteenth century was the first anatomical school founded in Prague.

It probably cannot be questioned that, in general, in the older German universities, the position of preeminence was given to philosophy. Even in the oldest statutes we find it spoken of as a true fosterer of the other sciences, because the students were required to pursue their philosophical studies before entering upon any others. It was originally called the faculty of arts (Facultas artium), having received this name from the seven liberal arts, of which the first three, grammar, rhetoric, and dialectics formed the trivium, and arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy the quadrivium. These seven arts were expressed in the following verse:

"Lingua, tropus, ratio, numerus, tenor, angulus, astra."

When the title Magister artium liberalium was used these seven arts were meant. The study of the first two was considered neces. sary to a proper understanding of the third, to which the greatest importance was attached; for, the discussion of those subtle questions of dialetics, as has been already stated, was believed to be the best preparatory exercise for securing true discipline in all other branches of learning.

The works of Aristotle, of Hispanus and Boethius, were the principal authorities in dialectics; Priscian, Donatus, the "Doctrinale" of Alexander de Villa Dei, the Latin metrical grammar, and the poem called "Labyrinthus" of Eberhard de Bethune and the "Poetria Nova" of the English Gottfrid, furnished the models for grammar and rhetoric. In the study of the last four arts, the Quadrivium, the work known as Algorismus was authority for arithmetic; the six

In the flourishing period of Alexandria, the dissection of human bodies was for a time practiced, and also in Italy at the beginning of the fourteenth century by Mondini de Luzzi.

2 Derived from the Arabic al and uos, or, perhaps, better according to Reinaud from the name of the Arabian author, Al-Kharizmy whose writings when translated into Latin introduced the "numeration system" of India in the West.

books of Euclid and the Perspectiva (1280) of John Pisanus, for geometry; the Sphaera materialis of de Sacro Bosco, the Computus cyrometricalis (almanac) and the Ptolemaic system, for astronomy; and the work of John de Muris (1330) for music.

No Revival of Classical Study in the Fourteenth Century. Two centuries before the German universities were founded the pure forms of the Latin language were taught at Naples in Italy, at the universities of Toulouse, Paris, and Montpellier, in France, and Latin continued the chief literary language of the whole south and west of Europe, while as yet it remained almost unknown in Germany. In the fourteenth century, which witnessed the rise of the German universities, a great intellectual awakening had begun in Italy, and Petrarch and his friend Boccaccio were using their extended influence with states and princes for the restoration of the old literature, and by the success which was crowning their effortsthey were already making the critical study of the works of Roman and Greek masters the common property of the world. Still, during even this century, it is not easy to discover to the north of the Alps any trace of this movement. It did not affect France and England; nor was Germany, though it had in many respects made rapid ad. vancement, ready to welcome this new spirit of the renaissance.

Even in the first half of the fifteenth century, Aeneas Silvius. found it very difficult to arouse the spirit of reform. In the lower schools he complains of a lack of preparation; among the university professors, that there was no determined coöperation; in all Germany, a reluctance on the part of the rich and powerful to establish and endow chairs for the study of the languages and historical sci Not until the latter part of this century do we learn of pro fessors of oratory and poetry at Erfurt, who were ready to proclaim the new doctrine that "only in the school of the ancient classical writers could one learn the art of speaking and writing well "

ences.

But even in the fourteenth century the basis was laid for the restoration of classical study, and this honor belongs to a few men of culture who wandered to Italy to secure at any sacrifice the treasures of ancient learning. Among these Gerhard de Groote (1340), born in Holland, deserves the chief praise, since it was he who put an end to the pernicious influence of the Mendicant Friars, secured endow ments for the schools and made collections of the rarest manuscripts It was to him also that Germany was indebted for the training of Florentius, Thomas á Kempis, John Reuchlin, Rudolph Agricola, and many others of less influence who became afterwards the leaders and encouragers of classical study in Germany.

Though the century which gave rise to the universities failed in

many respects to meet the expectations which had been formed, it is not the less true that great progress was made. This is especially seen in the German language which gained much in richness and pliability, and began to adapt itself more and more to the purposes of a written language.

The Founding of Leipsic Universtty. - The last years of the fourteenth century were about to close when a struggle began which was destined to aid much in the emancipation of thought, and in preparing the way for a better civilization. The leaders in this new movement were John Wickliff in England and John Huss in Bohemia, and the views of the former had already been embraced by a large number of the professors in the University of Prague, and made the subject of their lectures. In the dark, stormy years which followed there was no braver defender of these views or more moderate, dispassionate spirit, than John Huss, - the head of the Bohemian national party in the university, and the reform party in the church. He was master of arts and bachelor of divinity; dean of the philosophical faculty in 1401, and rector of the university in 1402; confessor to the queen and preacher in the university chapel; and, more than all, the favorite of the people, and well fitted to be the fearless exposer of vice and the leader of a great reform.

It was at this time that the three foreign nations, as already stated, arrayed themselves against the single Slavonic nation, the native Bohemian. In self-defence the king decreed that, in the settlement of all university questions, the Bohemians should have three votes to one for the three other nations. This action greatly incensed the three foreign nations, which numbered some five thou sand teachers and students, and resulted in their withdrawal in May, 1409. Nearly all of these set out for Leipzic, and there founded the Leipzic University, which they divided (according to Von Raumer) into four nations, a division which was retained, in name at least, until some time after the opening of the present century. By this withdrawal the University of Prague suffered such loss in numbers and prestige that it was never again able to regain its position and influence. Still the seed which had there been sown had taken root, and only a century later it brought forth the golden fruit of the Reformation.

NOTE. In the preparation of the foregoing article the writer acknowledges special indebtedness among others to a small work on the first German universities by Passow, to Heeren's historical writings, and to Meiner's history of the German high schools (hohen Schulen).

MANUAL LABOR TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

BY CHAS. O. THOMPSON, PH D.,

President Rose Institute, Terre Haute, Ind.

Whether it is expedient or not to teach handicraft in the public schools is a simple, practical question. It does not involve any discussion of workshops in endowed institutions, for what is entirely proper and necessary in such places where the expense is met by the income of funds given for a specific purpose, is quite another thing in a public school where the expense is not necessary and is met by taxation. And our theme can be discussed without any reference to drawing or to sewing, for the need of these is universal; the need of a knowledge of tools is not. Some dexterity in the use of tools is handy, but not, necessarily, so essential to every person that without it he is likely to be unfitted to discharge in a proper manner the duties of life.

Ever since the close of the war the public mind has been more and more disturbed with suspicions and inquiries and surmises in regard to the public school, and at last a vague but more or less justifiable notion that their work is not practical enough has taken shape in a demand that manual training be included among the subjects to be taught. Who makes this demand? Not any body of teachers or of superintendents; not pupils nor trades unions; not societies organized for social economic or social reform; not newspapers, except in occasional paragraphs as a matter that is talked about; not any body of voters; not any Legislature; yet the project is discussed a good deal, and being now in the gristle, can be profitably shaped by thorough treatment.

Whatever definite plans have been prepared can be easily reduced to two; viz., one to make workshop practice a part of general, compulsory education, and the other to erect optional high schools, in which study and shopwork shall each occupy one-half the student's time, where boys who like the manual arts can be properly trained. Before discussing these plans I will venture to call to your attention a chapter in the history of Athens, which seems to me to suggest in a most instructive manner the important truth which lies at the heart of this subject.

Under the ancient division of the people there were four tribes,

cultivators, warriors, goat-herds, and artisans. Of these, the artisans were lowest in social standing, wealth, and influence. The reforms of Clisthenes, which about 500 B. C. gave birth to the Athenian Democracy, failed to change the popular estimate of handicraft. The education of the Athenians, wonderful as it was in its results, did not reach down to the workingmen. There was Socrates to teach Alcibiades, but no one to teach those Greeks whose names have not reached us. The demiurgi or artisans held the lowest place in Athens; not because they were poor workmen,-the Parthenon forbids,—but because they were ignorant; and it has resulted from this unequal diffusion of intelligence that, while Greek art reached an unattainable perfection, her arts are forgotten. The work of the artisans of Greece show that the utmost skill in handicraft is compatible with the densest ignorance, and offers in itself no security to private character or to public virtue. The truth which is contained in this passage may well run as a sub-base tone through the whole of this discussion.

We are first to consider the proposition to incorporate workshop instruction with the lower grades of the public schools, so as to add new force to the education of the masses. The end in view is to keep boys in school longer by offering them additional aid toward securing a subsequent livelihood and to check an alleged tendency among boys to shun plain life; some even go so far as to regard the fingers as a new avenue to the brain, and think that great pedagogic advantages will be given by the new method, so that boys may make equal attainments in arithmetic, reading, and grammar in less time. The latter claim I do not think I fully understand; if I do, it is analagous to that of one of my shipmates on a steamer, who having heard that in consequence of a failure in one engine, the propeller which had been making forty revolutions could not make but thirty, argued with much warmth that so much additional force could be received and imparted by the thirty revolutions as to produce a speed equal to that of the previous forty. Undoubtedly some boys will take an interest in tools who do not like their books, and others are benefited by the exercise so that the shop-work acts like the phosphorus on a match; but few good teachers will demand such an indirect and costly auxiliary in order to stimulate a few dull boys. They will still find the eye and ear nearer to the brain than the hand.

But the suggestion of correcting the aversion of pupils to plain. living is very important, and deserves serious attention. There is some truth in the complaint that boys and girls are educated away from the life they must lead; that they know too much of books and too little of things; that they seek the softer labors of life, and are