upon physical exercises as an obligatory part of
education in the higher schools. But the physical exercises thus
introduced, though salutary in themselves, were divorced from the
artistic influences of the Greek gymnastic. Humboldt's chief aim had
been forgotten. His system of organization had rooted itself, but his
educational ideal, to which he attached far greater importance than to
administrative regulation, was ignored.

In later years, though such Neo-Hellenism as Humboldt's had long gone
out of fashion, the weakness of the higher schools on the side of
artistic training was recognized. But a corrective for this was sought
in instruction about art, not (except so far as a little teaching of
drawing went) in the practice of an art. An attempt was made to
cultivate aesthetic appreciation by lessons which imparted knowledge but
did not attempt to train the power of artistic production--an aim which
was regarded as unrealizable, except in vocal music, and of course
through literary composition, in a secondary school. Thus Humboldt's
original purpose has been almost wholly unachieved. The schools,
admirably organized on the intellectual side and, within certain limits,
increasingly efficient in their physical training, are, as a rule,
lacking in the influence of art, as indeed in most cases are the
corresponding schools in other countries. The spring of artistic
training has not been touched. The divorce between intellectual
discipline and artistic influence (except indeed so far as the latter is
operative through the study of literature, through a little drawing, and
through vocal music) is complete. This defect is felt even more keenly
in Germany than in England, because in the German schools the
intellectual pressure is more severe, and the schools do less for the
cultivation of those interests which lie outside the limits of regular
class-room work.

Wilhelm von Humboldt gave little direct attention to the work of the
elementary schools. His chief concern was with higher education. But in
the elementary schools also, except in so far as they gave much care to
vocal music, the course of training failed to make use of the educative
power of art. A conviction that there is an error has led in Germany, as
in England and America, to an increased attention to drawing and to
attempts to interest children in good pictures. But there is still
(except in the case of vocal music and a little drawing) an unbridged
gap betwe