f science[2]--that their vital principle is unceasing scientific
productivity. Hence it is that the state assembles the best men of
all Germany as professors at its universities, so that the phenomenon,
common enough in England and France, of a distinguished savant without
a university chair is with us a very unusual exception. Hence it is
that in appointing to such a chair the first and last demand is for
published evidences of such activity. As for the so-called ability to
teach _(Lehrtalent im formellen Sinne),_ we are satisfied if it is not
utterly and notoriously wanting. The question upon which everything
turns is, Has the candidate given evidence of his capacity for
original investigation and production? Whoever has this capacity
is sufficiently qualified, according to our German notions, for
fulfilling the essential function of university instruction."

[Footnote 2: _Science_ is used here in the broad German sense to
denote any study, whether in the direction of natural phenomena,
history or philosophy, which is pursued systematically and with a view
to eliciting truth.]

In other words, a German professor is a man who has devoted himself
to special and original research--to "science" as Von Sybel uses the
term--and whose discoveries and works give strength and increase of
dignity to the university with which he is connected. He is
appointed upon his merits as a discoverer or an author. The further
consideration--namely, whether he is what we Americans style a "good
teacher"--was not so much as an afterthought in the minds of those who
gave him his call. The explanation of this disregard of the personal
element in the professorial character is obvious. The professor is not
called upon to teach. It does not constitute any part of his vocation
to spur up the sluggish, to keep the idle busy, to give each student
enough to do, and make first principles perfectly clear to all. So far
from coming down to the level of the students, the professor expects
that the students will make every possible exertion to rise to his
level, while he himself can scarcely be said to lend a helping hand.
To the sentimentalist, then, he might appear a very selfish mortal.
But by going beneath the surface of the relation between professor and
student, and examining into its essence, we shall find that it is an
eminently healthful relation, because it is based upon the recognition
of mutual rights and duties. The professor, as a man of sc