Volume 37 — 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 14,763 51

Over 3,000 teachers' positions are said to be vacant at the present time.