Professor Harris' Lecture.

The second in the series of lectures delivered under the auspices of the Dentscher Verein took place last night. After a brief introduction by Professor Francke, Professor W. T. Harris, the lecturer, said that no obstacle is so great for a self-active individual that he cannot derive some benefit from it. The same can be said of nations. Take for instance the Greeks: after a long struggle against barbarism and clouded thought, they contributed to civilization the intellectual standard. The Romans handed down the forms of the will, the forms of legality. With the German the tendency towards intellectual theory is natural. He thinks before he acts; does not get his knowledge from experience-as is the case with the English-but from a careful and deep insight into himself. Then, when it is time to reap the fruit of this study of his mind and conscience, he acts. In other words, internal activity precedes external activity. Owing to this ability of looking into himself, the German in his scientific works is comprehensive, systematic, systematic, and to the point. His process of going to work is as follows: He takes a wide subject and divides it into special topics, defining each, and limiting it so as not to encroach on another. He then chooses his topic, and works to exhaust it. When his topic has become exhausted, the knowledge of experience becomes essential; he can tell from the scale of fish everything science tells us about the fish; from a chip he can recognize a Greek statue; from a bone he can draw the skeleton. In fine, his object is to make the part reflect the whole. To this tendency of the German towards specialization is due the rise of comparative history, comparative art, religion, philology, jurisprudence, etc. In philosophy also the German has done noble work; he treats it psychologically, and not as the Greek did, auto-logically. He looks into the conditions of human knowing, and reaches the conclusion that reason is all-important. In music we find Beethoven and his followers getting at the divine part of music. By carrying music up to double counterpoint, they have made it a most effective vehicle for the portrayal of human feelings.

Individuality plays an important role in modern German thought. In every branch of learning, the individual is emphasized and respected. In the drama the lesser characters are no longer machines; they are free-acting and free-thinking individuals. The result of this exhaustive specialization of intellect of the Germans will be that it will compel all other nations sooner or later to adopt it.