Let us hope so; for of all pestilences which have ever scourged humanity, and desolated empires, none approach in magnitude those of the plague. Under the name of "the black death," it fills, as Hirsch remarks, one of the darkest pages in the history of the human race. It devastated every known country of the earth, and penetrated to the remotest mountain hamlets and granges, sometimes sweeping away in a few days every inhabitant, leaving not one to remember the name or to inherit the goods of the family or the village. Long years afterward, travelers would come upon these unknown villages, the houses rotting, the bones of the plague-stricken owners bleaching in the rooms and streets, and no one to say who they had been.
As an epidemic disease, it no doubt spreads from India, that mother of pestilence, where, in the province of Kutch and Guzerat, it is found as an endemic of great malignancy. Far more fatal in its historical appearance than the cholera, it is well that the medical mind of Europe is on the alert to meet its approach with the most energetic measures; and should they fail, it will devolve upon us to lose no time in taking up the defensive in the most energetic manner.—Medical and Surgical Reporter.
Education in Germany.
The compulsory school laws of Prussia are frequently pointed to as models for similar laws, perhaps with the hope that by imitating her lower schools we can bring up our high schools to an equal rank with hers, and place our universities on a level with those which are producing the most finished scholars, the deepest thinkers, and the greatest investigators. We are likely to forget that the conditions are different, and especially that nascitur, non fit, is as true of a chemist as of a poet. The state of popular education in Germany is, however, a matter of interest, and is best illustrated by the following table, showing the percentage of unschooled men among the recruits from different German provinces:
| Per cent. | |
| Prussia | 3.19 |
| Bavaria | 1.79 |
| Saxony | 0.23 |
| Würtemberg | 0.02 |
| Baden | 0.22 |
| Hesse | 0.35 |
| Mecklenburg | 1.09 |
| Thuringia | 1.42 |
| Alsace | 3.45 |
These figures seem to indicate a higher grade of intelligence and wider diffusion of knowledge among all classes, for recruits are from every class, than in Austria, although in the latter the figures are arranged so differently as to make any accurate comparison of Austria and Germany rather difficult and unsatisfactory.
| Name of District. | Number of Common Schools. | Number of inhabitants to each school. | Percentage of school children who attend. | Number of Normal Schools. | ||
| Bohemia | 4,190 | 1,254 | 77 | 12 | ||
| Bukowina | 167 | 3,121 | 9 | 1 | ||
| Dalmatia | 241 | 1,864 | 12 | 2 | ||
| Galicia | 2,374 | 2,341 | 15 | 1 | ||
| Carinthia | 318 | 1,060 | ? | 2 | ||
| Carniola | 234 | 1,187 | 48 | 2 | ||
| Custrin | 396 | 1,496 | 38 | 5 | ||
| Moravia | 1,866 | 1,082 | 78 | 5 | ||
| Lower Austria | 1,267 | 1,578 | 76 | 5 | ||
| Upper Austria | 506 | 1,455 | 82 | 2 | ||
| Salzburg | 155 | 982 | 85 | 1 | ||
| Steiermark | 690 | 1,657 | 59 | 3 | ||
| Schlesia | 433 | 1,208 | 77 | 4 | ||
| Tyrol | 1,926 | 457 | ? | 6 | ||
Total |
|
|
Over 3,000 teachers' positions are said to be vacant at the present time.