Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 65.djvu/87

Rh those of Herder, Kant, Wulff, Goethe, Schiller, William von Humboldt, to say nothing of scientific treatises which were constantly appearing and indicating the discovery of new fields of knowledge to be explored, it is easy to see that nothing could prevent the incoming of an era in which the largest liberty of thought and entire freedom in investigation would he demanded for every branch of study. If at first the academy

was somewhat conservative, it soon became a regulative force in the discoveries to which its members devoted themselves with untiring enthusiasm.

Herder's 'Philosophy of History,' a remarkable work, exerted great influence on German thought as did Wulff's writings on Homer and especially his 'Science of Antiquity.' Schleiermacher's 'Reden' or addresses to the German nobility and the educated classes of the country produced a wonderful moral and religious effect. Niebuhr imparted a new spirit to the study of history through the publication of his 'Roman History,' raising it at once to the rank of a science. Schleiermacher, recognized in the academy as the clearest thinker in its membership, impressed himself on wide circles by his translation and study of Plato, his improvement of Kant and his powerful sermons in Trinity