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172 the years 1817-20 to careful study of the material in the libraries of Italy, Holland, Belgium and France as a preparation for his editorial work, which began in April, 1821. Although it was decided as early as 1817 that an edition of Grecian inscriptions should be published, nothing was actually done to bring this about till 1826. Prior to this last date it had become evident that it would not be enough to publish inscriptions which had already appeared, as Zumpt proposed, or were in the libraries, but that all of them must be copied anew from the ruins and monuments on which they were found and then patiently studied and criticized by the best scholars of the day. For defraying the cost of this undertaking, a grant from the government was sought and obtained. A third work of very great importance interested the academy and received a good deal of assistance from it, the Monumenta Germaniæ. So important was this work that the Society for the Study of Old German History was organized to care for it, a society in which all German-speaking countries have shown an interest. A long step forward was taken by the academy in 1821, when it secured a printing-press of its own, with fonts of type in Arabic and Sanscrit as well as in Greek, Latin and German. Of course, there were troubles with the printer, but it was now possible for the academy to watch closely its own work and to send it out into the world in such shape as it desired. Henceforth the 'Transactions' or 'Proceedings' appeared in a greatly improved form.

There were many serious discussions among the members of the academy as to the wisdom of retaining four distinct classes, each with its own special secretary or director. Some like Schleiermacher wished the number reduced. He did not care to have the philosophical class continued. He and its members preferred to be in the historical class. Others thought science had been neglected, although as many men prominent in its various branches as could be persuaded to come to Berlin had been invited thither as members of the academy or as professors in the university. Minister Altenstein in 1820 sent an order to the academy to put a statement of the changes it desired into writing, but with the understanding that the philosophical class would be retained, and the historical class, if possible, be made more efficient. That meant that the four classes would be continued substantially as they were.

Meanwhile the government had grown suspicious of Schleiermacher and Savigny. They were looked upon as 'demagogues and spies.' The police were ordered to listen to Scheiermacher's sermons. William von Humboldt was dismissed from the cabinet as Cultus minister because of the liberality of his views, and the academy was rebuked for publishing such papers as those of Niebuhr. A decree was issued on October 19, 1819, by order of the king, which forbade any member of the academy to publish anything, whether literary or scientific, without