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 LEIPSTO 329 the Augusteum, 300 ft. long and three stories high, containing a great hall, lecture room, museums of natural history, and a library with 200,000 volumes and 2,500 manuscripts. The use of the German language as a medium of public learned instruction was first introduced at Leipsic in 1688 by Thomasius, the son of the teacher of Leibnitz. The university is one of the few scholastic establishments on the con- tinent which have retained their own landed estates. The property of the institution is very considerable, and embraces, besides a number of landed estates, 41 large buildings in the city ; and the endowment for stipends, free board, &c., amounts to over $500,000, nearly 200 poor students being sometimes supported by the university. Philology was long the great spe- cialty of the university, although many of its leading members have been eminent in other branches. About the middle of the present century the university suffered greatly from the anti-liberal policy of the Saxon government, which caused a number of the most eminent professors to leave, and the attendance of stu- dents diminished from 1,300 in the early part of the century to about 800 in 1860. Since then it has not only recovered from these losses, but become in every respect one of the most prominent universities of Germany. The number of matriculated students rose to 1,179 in 1866, 1,803 in 1871, 2,204 in 1872, 2,650 in 1873, and 2,876 for the winter of 1873-'4, in- cluding 45 from the United States. The num- bers for the last two years exceeded those of any other German university. Among its 107 professors were some of the most eminent scholars of Germany ; as Delitzsch and Ti- schendorf in the theological faculty ; Wachter and Hanel in the law faculty ; Weber, Wunder- lich, Czermak, Bock, and Carus in the medi- cal faculty ; the philosophers Ahrens and Dro- bisch, the geographer Peschel, the astronomer Bruhns, the naturalists Kolbe and Leuckart, the historians Wuttke and Voigt, the philolo- gists Ritschl, Curtius, and Lange, and the orien- talists Ebers, Brockhaus, and Fleischer. The university building has been greatly enlarged ; a third chemical laboratory was established in 1867, a physiological laboratory in 1869, and a pathological laboratory in 1871. A new building for the physical institute was begun in 1872, and another for the anatomical insti- tute in 1873. The budget for 1872 appropri- ated for the university 169,000 thalers. Besides this university, Leipsic has an agricultural in- stitute, two gymnasia, a Realschule, one of the largest commercial schools of Germany, an in- dustrial school, institutions for the deaf and dumb and the blind, and a number of other schools. It possesses also a town library with a remarkable collection of oriental manuscripts and Turkish works, and a considerable number of societies and journals for the promotion of science, letters, and art. A conservatory of music was founded by Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in 1843, and a professorship of music was es- tablished in the university in 1860. Few towns are more devoted to the cultivation of music and the drama. Since 1871 Leipsic has been the seat of the supreme commercial court of the German empire. The three annual commercial fairs of Leipsic are the most important in Europe, and are attended by persons of almost all nations, but chiefly by Germans and merchants from Poland, Russia, and other Slavic countries. The number of visitors is usually about 60,000, and the transactions amount to about $50,000,- 000 annually. Notwithstanding the commer- cial magnitude of its fairs, Leipsic is still more extensively known by the book trade of which it is the centre. In 1871 there were in the city 249 publishers and booksellers. The principal publishing houses are those of Brockhaus and B. Tauchnitz. The number of printing offiftes was 50, and of bookbinding establishments 180. Five principal railways have their depots at Leipsic, and a number of less important lines branch off from here. Among the chief manu- factures are tobacco, cigars, and pianos. Leip- sic is first mentioned as a town in the beginning of the llth century, and its commercial impor- tance began as early as the 13th. It suffered much during the thirty years' war, and the great victory of Gustavus Adolphus over Tilly, Sept. 7, 1631, was gained in its vicinity at Breitenfeld. On Oct. 16-19, 1813, was fought the memo- rable battle of Leipsic, called by the Germans the great Volkerschlaclit, which precipitated the downfall of Napoleon, already weakened in his resources by the disasters of the Russian campaign. On the 16th the main army of the allied troops of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, about 160,000 strong, under Prince Schwar- zenberg, attacked the French stationed in and around Leipsic, and from 9 o'clock in the morning until noon a series of villages on the south of the city occupied by the French were furiously but unsuccessfully assaulted. Napo- leon, assuming the offensive, then adopted his favorite measure of a grand attack on the ene- my's centre, and a powerful column of the old and young guards, preceded by a train of ar- tillery, pierced the allied army. Schwarzen- berg ordered up his reserves, and Napoleon doing the same, a general engagement ensued along the whole line of attack, distinguished by frequent charges of immense bodies of cav- alry. At one time Murat at the head of the cuirassiers of the old guard nearly succeeded in capturing the emperor of Russia and the king of Prussia ; but the Cossacks of the im- perial guard and the Austrian reserves coming up to the front at all points, the French were checked, and at nightfall both armies remained nearly in the position they had occupied in the morning. The only decided success of the French was on the western side of Leipsic, where Bertrand drove back the Austrians under Gyulai, and preserved a line of retreat through Lindenau in case of disaster. During the en- gagement between the main armies Blticher ar- rived from Halle with the army of Silesia, about