We may insert here some information concerning Mr. Dillmann, which is not found in his book but will throw light upon his plans and theories. Mr. Dillmann is the son of a schoolmaster. He inherited from his father the aspiration of acquiring a higher education and having passed through the gymnasium he went to the university to study theology. The study of theology is the only one in which a poor youth finds support and material help from his fellowmen. Having passed his examinations he was engaged for about seven years as a vicar in the service of the church. He felt however the need of completing his education in mathematics and the natural sciences. He went again to the university (this time to the polytechnic school at Stuttgart) and devoted himself with great zeal to his favorite studies. Having passed his examinations in these branches he was appointed professor of mathematics at the Stuttgart gymnasium. While here engaged in preparing his pupils for the university, he became more and more convinced that the whole plan of teaching then followed was inadequate. Our youth receive much information about trifles which are useless to them in after life, while the main things are treated with indifference. He wrote a book "The demands of the Realistic Sciences on Education," which excited general interest and called the attention of Kultus-minister von Golther to his ideas. Herr von Golther founded a new kind of a high school which besides giving good philological instruction, Latin included, was to be devoted mainly to a thorough mathematical education; and Professor Dillmann was appointed president of the school, which first bore the name of "mathematical gymnasium." The authorities soon considered it best to change the name into Real-gymnasium. The school was started in 1867 as a mere trial and in 1871, when its success appeared to be assured, it became a permanent institution. For 15 years it counts an average of from 800 to 900 pupils.
In spite of the confidence of the public, the new school had and has still its hard times. The views now prevalent among the German authorities are less favorable to great reformatory ideas than ever. The restrictions put upon the Real-gymnasia have also hit Mr. Dillmann's school, although his institution is different in plan from the other Real-gymnasia, the latter being, as a rule, schools in which the scholastic severity of the gymnasia is neglected without replacing it by other systematic studies.
The present book has been written to explain and justify Mr. Dillmann's methods, and we cannot but say that we heartily sympathise with his aspirations. At the same time we express here the sincere hope that another Dillmann might rise on American soil and institute a real mathematical high school which will give a more solid foundation for the education of scientists than our present educational systems can give. We do not mean that the philological and historical studies should be neglected in such a mathematical school. We trust that they can be taught with less waste of energy than has been done in the past. There is perhaps no need of preaching against Greek and Latin in our American schools, because philology, it appears, is the most neglected study on this side of the Atlantic and the ignorance in classics often of highly educated scholars is sometimes astounding and would be shocking to pedants of European philology. But I have not as yet been able to discover that this ignorance concerning a few grammatical rules of two dead languages has wrought great harm. At the same time I have noticed that European savants in spite of their enormous philological scholarship are sometimes grossly ignorant of the spirit that lived in the so-called classic nations. They have translated Homer, have analysed the Ionic and Aeolian and Dorian forms of Homeric speech, but they have rarely read Homer and imbibed the beauties of Greek poetry. Philological scholarship is dry and hard work, but the study of historical evolution, to be nourished with the spirit of the past and to see it develop into the spirit of modern times is rather recreation than drudgery. We can keep the latter without plaguing our boys so much as before with the former.
The present book contains as introduction an "open word" by the author to his Excellency the Prussian Secretary of Education, Dr. von Gossler, pointing out the error of his policy not to admit the pupils of Real-gymnasia to the universities. The bulk of the book is devoted to an explanation of the importance of mathematics in all the sciences. Mr. Dillmann declares it is a mistake to believe that the objective world is unknowable. Kant has torn the world in two halves and by making space and time purely subjective, he created a gap between the subject and the object, between mind and nature, a gap which, if Kant's assumption be true, cannot be bridged. Kant's division of the world however is wrong. Does not every thinking subject with his feelings and concepts lie in the sphere of objectivity of other subjects? Time and space are not purely subjective and the science of time and space is destined to reconcile the conflicting parties, it will restore peace and harmony again between mind and nature. Our world of conception is in immediate contact and interconnection with the world of reality. All intellectual activity is motion of our organ of thought. Sensations are produced by motions of the objective world and these sensations are gradually transformed into concepts. Words are the embodiment of concepts. The phenomena of the outer world reappear in the symbolism of language, and thus our intellectual activity can lead to a faithful representation of nature. The world is cognisable, truth can be born in us and we need not lose the self-confidence in our own abilities.
These theoretical explanations are of great interest, and we need scarcely add that Mr. Dillmann's plan would still retain its value, if they were proved to contain inaccuracies or errors. We look upon it as the author's philosophical confession of faith, the main idea of which is indubitably correct while many of its details are without great consequence. We would express the main idea of Mr. Dillmann's book in the following way: Formal thought is the basis of all knowledge and a correct comprehension of the main formal sciences especially of mathematics is the primary condition of a scientific education.
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GEISTESSTOERUNGEN IN DER SCHULE. Ein Vortrag nebst 13 Krankenbildern.
By Christian Ufer. Wiesbaden: J. F. Bergmann. 1891.
The subject-matter of this pamphlet was read as a lecture on November 9th, 1890, before the Verein für wissenschaftliche Pädagogik at Weissenfels. The author's aim is, to bring home to parents and teachers the important idea, that the treatment of psychical disturbances must be based on our best knowledge of psychology, and especially of physiological psychology. A deeper insight into pathological conditions, says Krafft-Ebing, will remove many mistakes and tyrannies in our education. Teachers as a rule have to deal with healthy children, but diseased conditions are sufficiently frequent to demand of our teachers that they should learn how to treat them. The cases with which the author illustrates his doctrines show that one of the most common causes of psychic diseases in children must be sought in the nervous disposition of their parents, their unequal treatment and also their over-anxious ambition which produces excitement in the child's mind without helping him to overcome the rather heavy demands of German school-life.
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THE SOUL OF MAN. An Investigation of the Facts of Physiological and
Experimental Psychology. By Dr. Paul Carus. Chicago: The Open
Court Publishing Co. 1891.