German Catholics

pl. ( Eccl. Hist.) The name of a religious sect which has recently been formed in Germany, by sece ion from the Roman Catholic Church. It originated in a proclamation of a special pilgrimage and service of Bishop Arnold i, of Treves, to the "Holy Coat" of that city, to be accompanied by remi ion of sins. This proceeding called forth a letter from Johannes Ronge, an excommunicated priest of Silesia, dated October 1, 1844, characterizing it as an idolatrous festival, and calling upon the bishop to suppre it. A short time before, another Catholic priest, Johann Czerski, had seceded from the Romish Church, and attempted the foundation of an independent Christian congregation. The letter of Ronge met with many sympathizers, and a union having been effected between Ronge and Czerski, a number of congregations sprang up in a very short time, calling themselves German Catholics. The "Confe ion of Schneidemühl," drawn up by Czerski, Oct. 19, and presented to the government Oct. 27, 1844, rejected as unscriptural, and as a merely human ordinance, the reception by the priests alone of the Lord's supper in both kinds; the canonization and invocation of the saints; indulgence and purgatory; fasting; the use of the Latin language in divine service; ma and vespers; the celibacy of the priests; the prohibition of mixed marriages; the supremacy of the Pope, and other points. They de German i a, in Pennsylvania , a P. O. of Potter co. Germaʼnia, in Wisconsin , a post-office of Marquette co. German'ic, a. [Lat. Germanic us, from German i a , Germany.] Pertaining to Germany; as, the Germanic Confederation. German'ic Confederation. ( Hist . ) See GERMANY. German'icus, TIB. DRUSUS NERO, son of Drusus Nero and the younger Antonia, B. at Rome about 16, в. с. Не was nephew and adopted son of Tiberius, and married A grip pin a, grand-daughter of August us, while he was yet quite young. August us intrusted him with important commands in Dalmatia and Pannonia, and raised him to the consulate A. D. 12. On the death of August us (14), he had to repre a terrible revolt of the Germanic legions, who wished to salute him emperor. He refused the title with indignation, and forced the soldiers back to their duty, but Tiberius saw in him from that time a dangerous rival. Being intrusted soon afterward with the command of the war against the Germans, he beat Arm in i us (Herrman), their chief, A. D. 16, retook the eagles lost by Varus, and, by various feats and exploits, earned for himself the surname of German i cus. Tiberius, jealous of his succe , recalled him to Rome, and then sent him to the east. After pacifying the troubles in Armenia, and giving a king to that country, he had a difficulty with Piso, governor of Syria, and an intimate friend of Tiberius, who, according to the current belief both then and since, had incited the quarrel. He succeeded in ousting Piso from Lis prov ince, but died himself very soon after, viz., A. D. 19. When dying, he a erted that he had been poisoned, and urged his friends to avenge him. A grip pin a, his widow, carried his ashes to Italy, and accused Piso of his murder, but the latter anticipated punishment by committing suicide. G. was universally beloved for his goodne , generosity, justice, and talent. He was much addicted to literary pursuits, and has left us a translation of the Phenomena of Aratus . Tacitus makes him the hero of his Annales . His son Caius Cæsar Caligula, afterwards emperor of Rome, did no honor to his memory. German ism, n. An idiom peculiar to the German language. German Language and Literature. [Ger., Deutsche Sprache und Literatur.] The German language is a branch of the Indo-Germanic cla of languages, which separated from the parent stock at a very early period. The Germans called the language Deutsch , or Teutsch , from their ancestors, the Teutons. In its widest sense the Teutonic consists of two branches, the Northern, or Scand in avian , and the Southern, or German. The latter has three subdivisions, - the Eastern or Gothic , the High German , and the Low German . The Gothic is the earliest of these of which we po e any literary remains, there being still in existence portions of a translation of the Bible into Gothic made by Bishop Ulfilas in the 4th century; but we po e nothing of the High or Low German till the 7th century. Hence many persons have been led to regard the Gothic as the original source of the German; but, according to Max Müller, the grammatical differences between the two are of such a nature as to show that this was impo ible. "There never was," he says, "a common uniform Teutonic language, nor is there any evidence to show that there existed at any time a uniform High German or Low German language, from which all High German and Low German dialects are respectively derived." The Gothic language died out in the 9th century. The Low German ( Platt - Deutsch ) comprehends many dialects in the north or lowlands of Germany, as well as the Frisian, Dutch, and Flemish dialects. The oldest literary document of Low German on the continent is the Christian epic the Heljand , (Healer or Saviour,) which is preserved to us in two MSS. of the 9th century. There are traces of a certain amount of literature in Saxon or Low German from that time onward, through the Middle Ages, up to the 17th century, but, little of that literature has been preserved; and after the translation of the Bible by Luther into Iligh German, the fate of Low German literature was sealed. High German ( Hoch - Deutsch ) has been the literary language of Germany ever since the days of Charlemagne. Its history may be traced through three periods, - the Old High German, extending from the 7th to the 12th century; the Middle High German, from the 12th century to the time of Luther; and the New High German, from Luther down to the present time. In the present day there are various dialects of the German spoken in different parts of the country; as the Suabian, Bavarian, Franc on i an, Saxon, . (See Müller's Lectures on the Science of Language .) The earliest existing monument of German literature is the translation of the Bible into Gothic by Ulfilas, already alluded to. After the Gothic language ceased to be spoken, nothing was known of this work until toward the close of the 16th cent., when a portion of it-namely, the Four Gospels was found in the abbey of Werden. The letters are in silver upon purple vellum; whence it is called the Codex Argenteus, and it is now preserved in the library of Upsala. Afterwards, in 1818, the Epistles of St. Paul, of the same work, were discovered by Cardinal Mai and Count Castiglione in the monastery of Bobbio, in Lombardy. Of the translation of the Old Testament only a few lines remain. The earliest literature of Germany is known to us only by report or tradition. According to Tacitus, the Germans celebrated in songs, which were old even in his time, the praises of their national deity Tuis o, and his son Mannus, as well as the deeds of their great heroes. When the nations began to migrate, heroes of greater and greater renown march into the scene of song, and the historic forms of Attila, Theodoric, Günther, and others, appear. The two most ancient German poems are the Lay of Hildebrand and Hadubrand, and the Prayer of Wei enbrun , which belong to the 8th century. Many of the legends of this period were afterwards embodied in the lay of the Nibelungen , the most celebrated production of German med iæval poetry. The introduction of Christianity exercised an important change in the early literature of Germany. The Latin language came to be that of the church, the court, and the law. A kind of religious poetry, after the model of the Roman poets, was introduced in place of the ancient heroic and mythical songs, and was fostered by the court as well as by the clergy. Charlemagne, indeed, was fondly attached to the ancient lays of his fatherland, and caused a collection of them to be made'; but his succe or, Louis the Pious, looked upon everything German as heathenish; and the consequence was, the almost total destruction of every poem which bore a special mythological character. The Heljand , a poem giving the life of Christ, was written at the instance of Louis the Pious in the 9th century, and is one of the noblest productions of poetic genius that has ever appeared. Thirty years later appeared another sacred poem, known as the Krist , composed by Otfried, a Benedictine monk of We is sen burg. Another poem of this period is the so-called Ludwigslied , a poem in honor of the victory of the Frankish king, Louis III., over the Normans in 883. The other poetical remains of this period are chiefly of a religious nature, and, together with the contemporary prose literature, are not worthy of notice. Germany, The American Dictionary and Cyclopedia IMG:content-0355.jpg:[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed] The American Dictionary and Cyclopedia IMG:content-0357.jpg:[graphic] IMG:content-0358.png:[ocr errors] IMG:content-0359.jpg:[ocr errors] IMG:content-0360.png:[ocr errors] IMG:content-0361.png:[ocr errors] IMG:content-0362.png:[ocr errors] by losing its French and Italian provinces, had become Germany again; and a desire to cultivate the national literature again began to manifest itself. The monks of St. Gall, Pa au, and other places, translated some of the German epics into Latin verse; such as the poem of the Nibelungen, of Walther of Aquitaine , and of Rudo's Lied, the last two of which have been preserved and published. The stories of the fox, the bear, and other animals, so peculiar to German poetry, attracted the attention of the monks; and it is owing to their Latin translations that this curious style of poetry can be traced back so far as the 10th century. The lith century presents almost an entire blank in the history of German literature. The old High German had become a literary language chiefly through the efforts of the clergy, and its character was pre-eminently clerical. The Crusades, however, put an end to the clerical element in the literature of Germany. The chivalrous emperors of the Hohenstauffen dynasty formed a new rallying point for all national sympathies; and the interest of the people was with the knight, not with the priest. Poetry changed hands, and the royal courts and knightly castles offered a new and more genial home to the poets of Germany than the monasteries of St. Gall and Fulda. Middle High Ger., the language of the Suabian court, became the language of poetry, and the poets took their inspiration from real life, though they borrowed their models from the romantic cycles of Britt any and Provence. The stories of Arthur and his knights, of Charlemagne, of Achilles, Æneas. and Alexander, imported by French and Provençal knights, served them as their first models; and while foreign influence is seen in every branch of German poetry at this time, yet nothing can be more different than the same subject, as treated by French and German poets. The German Minnesängers , in particular, were far from being imitators of the Trouvères and Troubadours. Poets made bold for the first time to expre their own feelings, their joys, and sufferings, and epic poetry had to share its honors with lyric songs. The poetry which flourished at the castles was soon adopted by the lower ranks, and the poems of the Nibelungen and Gudrun , as we now po e them, were composed at that time by poets who took their subjects, their best thoughts and expre ions, from the people; but imitated the language, the metre, and the manners of the court poets. Thus there are two kinds of poetry of this period, the national , or people's poetry, the production of strolling minstrels; and the art poetry, or that of the courts, composed chiefly by kings and courtiers. Many of the poets were nobles by birth, several of them princes. Among the distinguished poets of this period are Walther von der Vogelweide, He in rich von Veldecke, Hartmann von Aue, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Gottfried von Strasburg, and Conrad von Würzburg. The fall of the Suabian dynasty of the house of Hohenstauffen, in the latter half of the 13th cent., was the death-blow to German chivalric poetry. Lyric poetry continued to flourish for a time; but it degenerated into an affected sentimentality and unworthy idolatry of the ladies. Didactic poetry, however, began to be cultivated with some degree of succe . The middle cla es, the burghers of the free cities of Germany, were now beginning to rise into power, and poetry again changed hands. It now pa ed from the abodes of princes and knights to the homes of burghers and the workshops of artisans; and instead of the Minnesänger, we have the Meistersänger, and their strains were more subdued, practical, and homely. Poetry became a trade, like any other, and guilds were formed, consisting of master-singers and their apprentices. He in rich Frauenlob is called the first Meistersänger, and during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, new guilds or schools were formed in all the principal towns of Germany. The poetry of the 14th and 15th centuries is interesting historically, but is not otherwise of much value. The best songs of the period are those of Halbsuter and Veit Weber, celebrating the victories of Switzerland over Austria and Burgundy. Attempts were made to revive the chivalric poetry of the Crusades, both in the beginning and towards the close of the 15th century, but without succe . In the 15th century, prose literature begins to flourish, and several local chronicles appear, as well as works on jurisprudence, and some Bermons. In the 14th century, Germany po e ed several mystic theologians, as Eckart and Tauler, men of clear intellect and energy of purpose, whose sermons and writings contributed to pave the way for the Reformation. In 1373 the first complete translation of the Bible Into German was made by Matthias of Beheim. An important event in this century, in its general influence upon the future progre of German literature, was the establishment of the university of Prague, followed soon after by universities in almost all parts of Germany. The 15th century was rich in scholars, but poor in men of genius and strong thinkers. The invention of the art of printing was a reform in this century, the benefits of which were chiefly felt by the great ma es of the people. It extended to them the privilege which had previously been confined to the rich. Between 1470 and 1500, several you sand editions of books were printed in Germany. The 16th century introduces, along with the Reformation, a new era in the history of the literature of Germany. Luther's translation of the Bible is so pure in language, and so beautiful in style, that it is still regarded, even in the present day, as a model of elegant expre ion. The religious quarrels which agitated Germany during the 16th century gave to literature a theological direction, and the first scholars of that time were more or le engaged in religious controversy. Prominent in this cla , after Luther himself, stand Zwingli, Johann Arndt, Bugenhagen, Bullinger, Melancthon, and Ulrich von Hutten. Some of the best poets of this period, as Johann He ius, composed their poetry in Latin; and, indeed, there came out from the universities a tendency to exalt Latin above their mother-tongue, which was very prejudicial to the latter. The period before and after the Reformation was especially fruitful in satirical and allegorical works. One of the most remarkable of the former cla was the "Ship of Fools" (Narrenschiff), by Sebastian Brant, a metrical satire on the follies of the age; and which was afterwards imitated by Thomas Mürner, in his Narrenbeschwörung (Conjuration of Fools.) The most able satirical and didactic poet of the 16th century was Johann Fischart, the author of numerous works; among which may be mentioned Flohatz , a remarkably witty poem on fleas; and a romantic poem, Das glückhafte Schiff . He has been called the German "Rabelais." Of the popular songs ( Volkslieder ) of this period, some have been much admired. The works of Hans Sachs, the poet and cobbler of Nuremberg, display a very remarkable degree of fertility, liveline , and humor. A great poet, in the strict sense of the word, he was not; but he po e ed an uncommon talent for mastering any given subject, and he was the most popular poet in Germany during that century. His works are numerous, and in all styles of composition, from the most tragic touch of feeling to the most comic turn of thought. This period produced several distinguished scholars and men of science; among whom may be mentioned Melancthon, Camerarius (cla ics and philology), Cornel i us Agrippa, Theophrastus Para cels us (mystical philosophy and natural history), Copernicus (astronomy), Leon hard Fuchs (botany and medicine), Conrad Gesner (botany and zoology), and Agricola (mineralogy). Towards the end of the 16th century, everything seemed drifting back into the Middle Ages; and then came the Thirty Years' War, which, in its consequences, was most disastrous to Germany. The physical and moral vigor of the nation was broken. We meet with no trace of originality, truth, taste, or feeling, in the poetry of that period, except, indeed, in the sacred poetry, many of the hymns of Paul Gerhard being still sung in the Protestant churches of Germany. A rage for everything foreign that then prevailed was utterly opposed to nationality or originality. Opitz, the founder of the so-called Silesian school, is the true representative of the cla ical poetry of the 17th century. He was a scholar and a gentleman, most correct in his language and versification, never venturing on ground which had not been trodden before by some cla ic poet, whether of Greece, Rome, France, Holland, or Italy. Literary societies were formed at several of the courts of Germany, profe edly for the improvement of the language and poetry of the country, after the model of those of Italy; but they were mere silly imitations, and produced little good. The "First Silesian School" is represented by men like Opitz and Week herl in, and is characterized as pseudo-cla ical. It was imitated in the north of Germany by Simon Dach, Paul Flemming, and a number of le gifted poets, who form the "Königsberg school." The chief heroes of the "Second Silesian school" are Hoffmannwaldau and Lohenstein, whose compositions are more ambitious, bombastic, and full of metaphors than those of Opitz; but also more disappointing. There were some independent poets who kept aloof from either of these schools, as Fried rich von Logan, Andreas Gryphius, and Moscherasch. Among the other works of this period, we may mention the Simplici imus , a novel giving a lively picture of German life during the Thirty Years' War; the patriotic writings of Profe or Schupp; the historical works of Puffendorf; the pietistic sermons of Spener and of Franke, the founder of the orphan school at Halle; Profe or Arnold's ecclesiastical history; the first political pamphlets of Prof. Thomas i us; and among philosophers, Jacob Bœhme at the beginning, and Leibnitz at the end of the century. The 18th century was marked by a revolution in the literature and modes of thought in Germany. Johann Chris toph Gottsched, profe or of eloquence at Leipsic, in the early part of this century, exercised great power as a critic, and was the means of defeating the Second Silesian school. He was, however, an advocate of French models in art and poetry; and it was through the opposition which he roused by his Gall oman i a , that German poetry was at last delivered from the trammels of that foreign school. Gottsched and his friends at Leipsic were opposed by Bodmer and his friends in Switzerland, who advocated the English style of literature; and a long literary warfare was carried on. For a lor period Gottsched and his party prevailed; but at length public opinion became too strong against them, and the dictator lived to become the laughing-stock of Germany. Among those who distinguished themselves as advocates of the new school were Gärtner, Gellert, Kärtner, Adolf Schlegel (father of the brothers Schlegel), Kleist, and Gleim. Of greater influence, however, than any of these here named, were Hagedorn of Hamburg, whose fables and songs have immortalized him in Germany; and Albert von Haller, the physiologist, remarkable also as a writer of descriptive and didactic poetry. During this literary struggle, the great names of German poetry sprang up, Klopstock, Wiel and, Le ing, Herder, Gæthe and Schiller. Klopstock's Me iah made a profound impre ion by its mystic, devout, and rapturous faith, as well as a work of art. The fashionable and elegant portion of society was attracted by the semi Grecian, semi-Paris i an muse of Wiel and. But it was reserved for Le ing to give a new direction to German literature. He established a new school of criticism, and exerted a powerful influence upon the progre of the drama, by unfolding, for the first time, to the German mind, all the beauty, originality, and vigor of Shakspeare. His tragedy Emilia Galotti , his comedy Minna von Barnhelm, and his philosophical drama Nathan der Weise, are models of dramatic composition. Herder. a man of vast learning as well as of poetic genius, exerted a strong influence upon the poets of his time, and contributed powerfully to promote the study of Oriental poetry, as well as the ancient popular songs of different nations. The crowning work of his life is his Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Mensch he it. Another great impulse was given by Winckelmann, whose writings on the remains of ancient art modified all the old theories of the beautiful. Gæthe came forward in 1773 with his Gætz von Berlichingen , which was greeted as the commencement of an entirely new period in German dramatic literature. In 1781 appeared Schiller's first piece, Die Räuber (the Robbers), followed by Fiesco and Cabale und Liebe. These impa ioned tragedies gave a new impulse to the literary excitement. His Don Carlos (1784) shows greater moderation, and opens a long series of tragedies, in which the highest aspirations for liberty and humanity are interwoven with historical a ociations expre ed in language of the most cla ic purity It was only, however, after Schiller's union with Goethe (1795) that, by their combined labors, German literature was brought to that cla ic perfection which, from a purely local, has since given to it a universal influence. Schiller, by his enthusiastic and sympathetic eloquence and tenderne , became the favorite of the people; while Gæthe, with his many-sided intellect and boundle sensibilities, controlled by a strong will, became the acknowledged sovereign of German literature. The philosophic spirit of this age also gave birth in rapid succe ion to the master minds of Kant, Fichte, Hegel, and Schelling. Jean Paul Richter is a peculiar and powerful writer of this period, whose works, though charасterized by obscurity and irregularity, are frequently lighted up by flashes of humor and brilliant gems of thought and feeling. Novalis (von Harden burg) is another strangely-constituted writer, whose works, though few and fragmentary, contain scattered thoughts of such wisdom and genius as to give them a high place in the literature of his country. Ludwig Tieck, a more voluminous and connected writer than his friend Novalis, was also much more of a creative genius. His dramas, and collection of ancient fairy and popular tales, often reflect the romance of med iæval poesy with much beauty and genius, but with a mystic feeling bordering almost on superstition. To the so-called Romantic school belong the brothers Schlegel, - August Wilhelm, author of various critical and æsthetical works, and a metrical translation of Shakspeare; and Fried rich, known as a writer on the history of ancient and modern literature, and the philosophy of history. The other writers of that and the subsequent period to the present time are so numerous, that we can only afford to mention a very few of them. In almost every department of literature, the writers of the present or last century, in Germany, occupy a chief place. In philosophy, the names are numerous; but they are all eclipsed by the great names of Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel, and generally belong to one or other of these schools. (See GERMAN PHILOSOPHY.) In theology, Schleiermacher, Paulus, Bretschneider, Reinhard, Eichhorn, Hengstenberg, and a host of others, have done good service in the field of biblical inquiry. In philological and critical inquiries, occur the names of Wolf, Hermann, Bæckh, Otfried Müller, W. von Humboldt, the brothers Grimm, Franz Bopp, Bunsen, Benecke, Lachmann, Haupt. In history, Johannes von Müller, Heeren, Wachler, Fried rich von Raumer, Ranke, Lappenberg, Pertz, Niebuhr, Neander, Dahlmann, Gervinus, Menzel, Schlo er. In poetry, besides the names already mentioned, are Arndt, Körner, Heine, Uhland, Kinkel, Rückert, Schwab, Kerner, W. Hauff, Novalis, Mörike, Börne. In dramatic literature are distinguished Kotzebue, Müllner, Houwald, Grillparzer, Raupach, Grabbe, Immermann, Gutzkow, Mosen, Prutz, Laube, Hebbel, and Freytag. In the field of historical or social romance, are Witzleben, Van de Velde, Pichler, Häring, Spindler, Steffens, König, Gutzkow, Prutz, Mugge, Von Sternberg; besides several ladies; as Ida von Hahn-Hahn, Paalzow. Among other literary writers of note may be mentioned F. de la Motte Fouqué, Achim von Arnim, Brent an us, Von Kleist, A made us Hoffmann, Chami o, Kühne, Auerbach, Spielhagen, Mühlbach, Rodenberg, Zschokke, Stifter. The labors of A. von Humboldt in the field of natural science have given a powerful impulse to the German mind in that direction. Among their travellers, are Martius in Brazil, Pöppig in S. America, Tschudi in Peru, Schubert in Greece, Lepsius and Brugsch in Egypt, Schomburgk in British Guiana, Siebold in Japan, Gützlaff in China, Barth and Vogel in Africa, the brothers Schlagentweit in Central Asia, and Leichhardt in Australia. In geography, ethnology, ., are the works of Berghaus, Petermann, Stein, Hübner, Wappäus, Klöden, Kohl. In astronomy and mathematics, are Be el, Encké, Struve, Gau , Mädler; while in medicine and the natural sciences, are J. Müller, Ehrenberg, Burdach, Carus, Oken, Cotta, Schleiden, Von Buch, Liebig, Dove, Bur meister, Poggendorf, Erdmann, Gmelin, Gräfe, Vogt, Rokitansky, Wagner, and Dieffenbach. In the history of language and literature, politics, and the social sciences, are Vilmar, Gervinus, Bouterwek, Becker, Wachler, Waagen, Savigny, . Germa'no, San (anc. Casinum or Casca ), a town of south Italy, situated at the base of Monte Casino, 50 m. N.N.W. of Naples. Pop . (1895) 8,750. Germa'no, in Ohio , a former post-office of Harrison co.; now NEW JEFFERSON, a post-village. German Philosophy. The philosophic spirit which characterizes Germany in the present day is only of comparatively modern origin. The old scholastic ther in common with science than the name, and on Ger'man Valley, in New Jersey, a post-village of this account many dark opinions in the regions of poetry, religion, and social life came to unite themselves with the philosophy of Schelling, and which often led to the most strange aberrations into romanticism, mysticism, and a tendency to Catholicism. In the direction ind i- cated by Fichte and Schelling, the philosophy of Hegel also a erted itself, and attempted to develop in regular succe ion the contents of the intellectual intuition by the dialectic method. He indeed threw off the lawle play of fanciful combinations; but he sought for the expre ion of speculative thought, not in those laws of the connection of thought which have been recognized for you sands of years, but in a dialectic, the e ence of which consists in the analysis of all the established principles of thought, and whose proce consists there- in that every conception generates out of itself its op- posite, and uniting this with itself, inwardly enriches itself, and in this way proceeds to still higher stages. This method pretended to be identical with the thing itself; Hegel, with enduring perseverance, sought to carry out through the whole field of philosophic inquiry, and divided his system into the three provinces of logic, the philosophy of nature, and the philosophy of mind. While the systems above mentioned form a tolerably straight line of progre , there arose certain other sys- tems, as that of J. F. Herbart, in opposition to the ideal- ism of Fichte, and which took a direction quite contrary to the philosophy of the time. Herbart, Schelling, and Hegel are the only thinkers that can claim to have ex- erted any general influence since the time of Kant. Among the numerous other thinkers of this time, who were chiefly occupied in defending or remodelling the older systems, we may mention Krug, Fries, and others, who were employed in the development of the Kantean system; Steffens, Oken, Schubert, F. von Baader, and Eschenmayer, who were employed chiefly in physical researches; those who attempted to exhibit system at i- cally the philosophy of Jacobi; the different attempts to bring back philosophy to an empirical psychology; the peculiar speculative attempts of Schleiermacher, J. J. Wagner, Krause, Wei e, the younger Fichte, Brani , E. Reinhold, A. Trendelenburg, H. Ritter, A. Günther, and others; the different tendencies within the Hegelian school; and, finally, the relation which Schelling lat- terly took up to his own earlier teaching, as well as to that which had been developed out of them. In the same proportion in which during the las fifty years the science of philosophy has been prosecuted in Germany, has also its history been studied; and indeed the Ger- mans were the first who sought to comprehend and represent the history of philosophy as a whole, and to throw light upon the more important parts of it by val- uable special treatises. The rapid change in the philo- sophic systems, and the extravagances which character- ized some of them, have often been much blamed and made sport of, and it seems, as a consequence of that, that there has been for some time a lull in the interest taken in speculation, and a sort of sceptical aversion to all proper philosophic inquiry has taken the place of the former enthusiasm. Yet the influence of philosophy in elevating and strengthening the scientific spirit in Ger- many has been great and beneficial; and there is almost no region of inquiry in which a deeper and more thor- ough mode of treatment is manifest as the fruits of this philosophic spirit. German Silver, n. A useful silver-like alloy com- posed of copper, nickel, and zinc. Different proportions are given. One of the best is copper 51, zinc 306, nickel 184. It resembles the tutenag of the Chinese, and is used for table-articles and in electro-plating. German Settlement, in West Virginia, a village of Preston co. Germansville, in Pennsylvania , a village of Lehigh county. German town. in Illinois , a post-village of Clinton co. Pop . (1890) 537. excitement was general for twenty or thirty years. The German town, in Indiana , a village of Marion co. meteors which made their appearance in the philosophic -A village of Wayne co.; the P. O. is E. GERMAN TOWN. heavens of Germany, for the most part disappeared as German town, in Kentucky , a post-village of Mason suddenly as they had blazed forth. Schelling was the co., on Pamlico Sound, about 135 m. E.S.E. of Raleigh. -A post-village of Stokes co., 110 m. W.N.W. of Raleigh. Also spelled GERMAN TON. German town, in New York , a post-town and township of Columbia co. Pop . (1890) 1,683. German town, in Ohio , a post-village of Montgomery co., 45 m. N. of Cincinnati. Pop . (1897) about 1,600. -A village of Washington co., about 16 m. N. N. E. of had been again brought into notice by Jacobi), into the German town, in North Carolina, a village of Hyde so-called philosophy of identity. This system set out originally with the a ertion that, as Fichte has deduced nature from the Ego, so, by reversing the proce , the Ego may be deduced from nature; that both forms of philosophy find their basis in the absolute, as the iden- tity of all opposites, - the ideal and real, subject and object, spirit and matter. In order to carry out this as- sertion, Schelling a igned intellectual intuition as alone corresponding to the absolute; yea, as representing, and identical with, the absolute itself. The organ of this intuition was called reason and, as such, was opposed to the reflection of the understanding, which was held to be quite incapable of comprehending absolute iden- tity. The relation of the actual phenomenal world to the absolute was held to consist in this, that the latter represents itself in a multiplicity of appearances, steps out of "indifference" into difference, manifests itself in the latter, . He sought to demonstrate this identity German town, in Pennsylvania, a village of Fayette co., about 135 m. W. by S. of Harris burg. -A beautiful suburban section, since 1854 included within the chartered limits of Philadelphia, about 6 m. N.W. of the City Hall. Here, Oct. 4, 1777, a battle took place between the armies under Washington and the English unper Howe. After several hours of severe struggle the Americans were defeated, the lo being about equal on both sides. N. GER. CONFEDERA'N.