they said, "whether you are examined in October or in November. In fact, the delay will rather suit us, because it will give us more time for working off prior applications. Hand in your dissertations, which we can then read at our leisure, take a holiday of a fortnight or more, and when you are back inform us of your return. The rest can be easily arranged." [A trip to Heidelberg, where one or two Kneipen were arranged in honor of the guest, rambles over the castle, an excursion to Schwetzingen, and to Strasburg, set our Student up in strength and spirits for his examination.]

At four o'clock punctually, the door of the Hofrath's study opened, and the beadle ushered me into the august presence of the examiners. Like myself, they were in grand toilet, seated in a sort of semi-circle facing the door, and looking quite unconcerned. An unoccupied chair stood in the centre of the circle. Off in one corner was a small table; on it were two or three bottles of wine and a basket of cake. The festive aspect of the room suggested a reception rather than an examination. After I had bowed to the company in general, and shaken hands with them individually, the dean motioned to me to be seated.

The examination was opened without preamble or ceremony, by the head of the faculty, the dean. Hofrath Kraut's specialty was German law, but as that did not form a part of my examination, he took up Ecclesiastical Law. This covered the entire field of matrimony and matrimonial rights and obligations, the mode of contracting marriage according to the early Roman Law, according to the law of the Empire, according to the practice of the early Church, according to the Council of Trent, according to the Code Napoleon. I was called upon to state the Catholic theory of marriage as a sacrament, and the obstacles to marriage between certain parties, the impedimentum aetatis, erroris, vis ac metus, cognationis, and the like, the papal dispensations, divorce a vinculo, a mensa et thoro. The next topic was the nature of the priesthood in the Catholic church and in the Protestant, the right of patronage (advowsons), and the composition of the corpus juris canonici clausum.

*

The next examiner was Ribbentropp. His questions were much sharper than I had anticipated from one who had proved himself such a good friend. Perhaps the Geheimjustizrath had confidence in his protégé's claims and wished to demonstrate to some of his colleagues that his partiality was not without foundation. Of course I did not get a single question on the contractus innominatus or the condictiones. But I was questioned most unmercifully on the general theory of contracts, upon suspensive and abrogating conditions, upon times and terms, and especially upon the contract of sale. Had I been writing a monograph on the subject, I could not have been called upon for more exact and detailed statements. Suddenly the topic was changed, and we were in the midst of the rights of real

property. I had to give all that I knew or was supposed to know of the ways of acquiring and losing real property, from the laws of the XII. Tables down to the codification of Justinian. This led to the servitudes (easements) of the Roman Law, their classification, their nature in general and in particular, and their operation. The questions came so fast that I had barely time to answer them.

It was quarter past five. The Pandects had "blown " me a trifle. The dean, probably suspecting as much, said, with a good-natured smile: "We will now make a little pause." Going to the table, he filled the glasses with wine. The professors helped themselves liberally, and enjoyed the refreshments with a gusto that seemed to me cold-blooded. I declined the proferred wine; the relaxation was very acceptable.

The pause did not last longer than five minutes. The third examiner was Zachariae, in Criminal Law. His questions, like those of Kraut, were not difficult, and were put even more deliberately. They were mainly upon the general theory of the right of punishment, the criticism of the Roman system, the views of Beccaria, Rossi, Bentham, Abegg, Feuerbach, and Mittermaier, the doctrine of punishment as a divine ordinance, the lex talionis, the theory of expiation, prevention, determent, reformation, self-preservation on the part of society. The nature and kinds of punishment, the death penalty, imprisonment, fines, the several penitentiary systems in force in Europe and the United States, the definition of criminal intent and criminal negligence completed the examination. At one question I suppressed with difficulty a smile. "Can you give me the precise meaning of crimen, as it is used in the corpus juris?” Ans. "The word denotes the Strafsache (the indictment and trial, procedure), rather than the criminal act itself. This latter is designated by the Roman jurists by the terms delictum, maleficium, scelus, and the like." In themselves considered, there was nothing about either question or answer to provoke risibility. The joke lay in the circumstance that I knew long before the examination that this particular question would be given. It had occurred in Dr. Maxen's Repetitorium, and the doctor warned us at the time, saying: "If any of you are examined by Zachariae, be sure that you know what crimen is. It is one of his hobbies."

Francke opened the interesting field of Erbrecht. It was evident from his manner, and from the first few questions, that he meant to be thorough. Forewarned, however, is forearmed. During the forty-five or fifty minutes that he kept me on the "anxious-bench,” I was sustained by one, and only one, reflection. It was this: Treat me fairly; give me such questions as ought to be given; examine me only on things that you yourself have explained, and I ask no favor. You shall have an answer to every question. And such was the case. The examination was very long and exhaustive. Each question

came as quick and searching as though the examiner himself were in doubt and sought for information.

The fifth and last examiner, Briegleb, had things pretty much his own way. I had gone into the examination knowing that Procedure was the weak side of my preparation, and had supposed that I should be spared any questions touching upon the special developments of the Roman law in Germany. Had the examiner confined himself to the Formular-process (procedure by formulae) of the ante-Justinian law, he would have elicited more satisfactory answers. Instead of doing this, he dwelt, apparently with great delight, upon the theory of appeals according to the practice of the medieval courts of the church, a matter about as familiar to me as were the laws of Manu. About five or ten minutes past 7, Briegleb closed his examination. I withdrew to the ante-room, to await the decision. Over three hours, I muttered; they have not shown me much mercy. The suspense was almost intolerable. With the consciousness of having done so poorly at the close, and the general reaction, I was overpowered by a nervous chill. The time of waiting was only five minutes, yet it dragged as though it had been as many hours. The beadle opened the door, and I was ushered once more into the presence of the judges to listen to the sentence. They were all standing. The dean stepped forward and said, in a measured accent, as if to make sure of each word: "Candidate, in consideration of the dissertations submitted in writing, and of the oral examination just concluded, we, the faculty of degrees of the Georgia Augusta, have resolved to confer upon you the second degree, raised, vera cum laude. Permit me to congratulate you." With that, he extended his hand.

The legal faculty of Göttingen distinguish three grades. The lowest was entitled simply examine superato. The one above it was entitled examine cum laude superato. The next in order was the vera cum laude. There was still another, nominally the first, called insigniter, or post insignia exhibita specim na. It was given, however, very seldom, and only to such candidates as displayed extraordinary knowledge, both in their examinations and in their dissertations. The last instance of its conferment had occurred eight or ten years before. Even had my work been twice as good as it was, it would not have entitled me to an insigniter, for the reason that it did not cover the entire field of jurisprudence. Practically, the examiners had conferred upon me the highest degree in their power.

Ribbentropp, who certainly showed his delight more than I did mine, patted me most paternally on the shoulder and whispered: "You did yourself credit. Come and see me to-morrow morning at eleven. We will talk it up then." There was nothing more to do. I shook each examiner's hand in turn, muttered a few words of thanks, and fled.

The candidate who has passed his university examination is not

yet a doctor. He is only a doctorandus. The ceremony of conferring the diploma is distinct from the examination, and is confined to the dean and the candidate. On the Monday after the examination, I called, by appointment, upon Hofrath Kraut to receive the diploma. This document, printed on parchment-paper and not on parchment, is signed by the dean alone in the name of the faculty, and sealed with the great seal of the university. It is worded, as might be expected, in Latin. It is not my intention to inflict the text upon the reader, especially as it does not differ much in style from the pompous declarations of a like nature issued from our American colleges. Before receiving the diploma from the dean the doctorandus was obliged to sign a declaration that he would not pervert his legal attainments to the frustration of human and divine justice, and that done, he was in full possession of his academic honors.

Within twenty-four hours after my examination every one in town who knew me at all seemed to have heard of my success. Even the waiters put on an extra touch of politeness, and greeted me as Herr Doctor. Titles have great weight in Germany. Perhaps some of my readers have heard of the German Mrs. Partington, who divides mankind into two classes, the orderly (ordentlichen) and the unorderly (unordentlichen). The orderly are those who have an order, and the unorderly are those who have not. The case is not quite so bad as that. Still there can be no question but that the man who is able to put Doctor, or Professor, or Rath before his name is much better off, in the eyes of the community at large, than one who is simply Herr. The title is an official recognition that the wearer is a person of some culture and attainments.

Several universities make a practice of excusing the candidates for Ph. D. from the oral cxamination. This is called taking the degree in absentia. The candidate submits his dissertation and goes out of town for a few days. The fiction is, of course, that he is called away by some unexpected and urgent business. To obtain the degree in absentia, however, one must prepare a very elaborate dissertation, containing a good deal of original matter. In chemistry, physics, and the like, when the candidate has worked two, or three years, perhaps, under the constant supervision of the professors, so that they have had abundant opportunity of testing his knowledge from week to week, this dispensing with the examination is not such an evidence of laxity as it would seem. No German University showers down honorary degrees upon business men and generals, after the fashion of our American Colleges.

SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION IN SCOTLAND.

INTRODUCTION.*

PREVIOUS to the establishment of Universities in Scotland, a residence abroad was considered indispensable for all who aimed at advancing their fortunes by other means than the sword; and even after these institutions arose, the custom continued for more than a century in green observance. At a much later period, and indeed down to the middle of the eighteenth century, we meet with few eminent Scotchmen who were not partially educated on the Continent; and it is probable that the generation now at maturity had less intercourse with foreign countries in their youth than any other within the range of our authentic history. During the last thirty years the custom has in some degree revived; and it is productive of so many advantages, both intellectual and social, that we would gladly see it more generally reinstated. So long as even a highly instructed man has not actually seen political relations, social life, civilization, and refinement, under more than one form, however much he may have heard of the manner in which they exist, some degree of narrowness will invariably belong to his character. By such a person the accidental peculiarities of that phase which society exhibits in his own country, will be continually mistaken for the necessary consequences of a normal human development; and with Chinese exclusiveness he will be become as intolerant of a custom which sins against his conventional notions, as of one which violates a universal law. It is by no means sufficient that the distinction, when pointed out, should be admitted; the practical conduct of the individual will be the same so long as he does not feel that whilst the one is as universal as the heaven which is over all, the other may be set at nought, not only innocently, but frequently with advantage. Now this feeling, so far as we have observed, is to be found only in those who have, so to speak, absorbed more than one nationality; that is, to whom the manners and modes of thinking of some foreign people have at one time been so familiar, that those of their own country would have been felt to be strange. At first sight it may appear that that rigidity in trifles, by which it will be admitted our countrymen frequently expose themselves to ridicule, is too insignificant a fault to merit so costly a cure as a foreign education, but it should not be forgotten that in magnifying trifles to the level of moral and religious duties, we run no small risk of occasionally degrading these latter to the level of trifles, or what is still more frequent in this country, the half interest with which we regard, and the half strictness with which we perform the one extends to the other, and a sort of unmeaning and undiscriminating stiffness, which speedily becomes the grave Lorimer's Universities of Scotland. 43

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