Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 65.djvu/177

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THE PRUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE.
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the approval of the government censor. Thus the right of free publication, which the academy and its members had long enjoyed, was invaded, and in spite of protestations, freedom of publication was suspended for five years, and was not formally removed till July, 1843. But a petition for freedom on the part of the academy to issue its official papers without submitting them to censorship was favorably received by the king, although that privilege was denied to its members as individuals.

The physical class of the academy, stimulated by what the historical class had accomplished, set itself about great enterprises. In 1820 it sent Ehrenberg, who had already won fame as a microscopist, to Egypt. He and Hanpricht, his associate, explored the Libyan desert, Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt as far as Nubia, the coast of the Red Sea and passed through Arabia, Petrea and Syria. To the funds required in 1823 the king made generous gifts from his private resources. The year 1825 was given to travel and study in Abyssinia. In the 85 boxes sent to Berlin at different times there were geological specimens of great variety, many fossils, a large selection of dried plants, as well as of woods, fruits, seeds, weapons and instruments in use in northern Africa. Of animals there were above 4,000 different specimens in ten times that number of individual examples, and 2,900 specimens of plants. This journey and its outcome were significant for both the academy and the progress of science.

The scientific section of the academy put forth a special effort in 1825 to strengthen its influence by securing men of the first rank for its various departments. As the astronomer had failed to keep abreast of the times, Oltmans and Encke were brought into the academy. Encke served it forty years, and till 1863 was secretary of the mathematical class. It was through his influence and discoveries that the academy gave such an impulse to astronomical studies. The new building for astronomical uses, begun in 1832, was completed in 1835, and $375 a year for six years was set aside by the government for its support. A map of the heavens was planned, on which the position of all fixed stars above the ninth and tenth magnitudes was to be shown. The heavens were divided into 24 sections and assigned to as many observers. It was supposed that the map, which was a pioneer of its kind, would be completed in four years. In fact, it was only partially completed in 1859, but it prepared the way for the more accurate and extensive work of later days. Not a little was done by the historical class in archeology, and the need of special funds and accurately trained laborers in this field was seen to be so pressing that in 1829 the Archeological Society of Berlin was formed. Aid was given Graff for a German dictionary and to Bopp for an edition of the Indian poem, 'Mahabharata.'

Hegel's philosophy with its theories of panlogism and its doctrine