Prodosh Aich - Truths

We are also inclined to conclude that the schooldays of Friedrich Maximilianhad been extremely uneventful, dull and morbid. When he took his admission at Leipzig University, he was at best an average beginner of university studies. This is the hard fact that was to be veiled by those scattered facts in two chapters. Who will feel a need to recall the following deliberations by Max Müllerscattered in the chapter : “Childhood at Dessau” :

“The more I think about that distant, now very distant past, the more I feel how, without being aware of it, my whole character was formed by it.”

“... but for many years my mother never went into society, and our society consisted of members of our own family only. All I remember of my mother at that time was that she took her two children day after day to the beautiful Gottesacker (God’s Acre), where she stood for hours at our father’s grave, and sobbed and cried. ... At home the atmosphere was certainly depressing to a boy. I heard and thought more about death than about life, though I knew little of course of what life or death meant. I had but few pleasures, and my chief happiness was to be with my mother, I shared her grief without understanding much about it. She was passionately devoted to her children and I was passionately fond of her. What there was left of life to her, she gave it to us, she lived for us only, and tried very hard not to deprive our childhood of all brightness.”

“As far back as I can remember I was a martyr to headaches. No doctor could help me, no one seemed to know the cause. It was a migraine, and though I watched carefully I could not trace it to any fault of mine. The idea that it came from overwork was certainly untrue. It came and went, and if it was one day on the right side it was always the next time on the left, even though I was free from it sometimes for a week or a fortnight, or even longer. It was strange also that it seldom lasted beyond one day, and that I always felt particularly strong and well the day after I had been prostrate. For prostrate I was, and generally quite unable to do anything. I had to lie down and try to sleep. After a good sleep I was well, but when the pain had been very bad I found that sometimes the very skin of my forehead had peeled off. In this way I often lost two or three days in a week and as my work had to be done somehow, it was often done anyhow, and I was scolded and punished, really without any fault of mine own.”

*****

Friedrich Maximilianbegins his studies at Leipzig University in the summer semester of 1841. He is seventeen and a half years old. In Germany summer semester begins in April/May as ever. Friedrich Maximilianobtains a modest scholarship of 15 thaler per month from the Anhalt Government. Not for hisstudies at the Leipzig University, not as an encouragement for hismerits. He obtains a scholarship for poor students for four years at most. This was a part of a general educational programme of the Anhalt-Dessau Government. Thus, Friedrich Maximilianavails a chance to take up university studies at Leipzig University. He gets matriculated there in “philology” .

Studying at Leipzig University is expensive in those days as it is in other German states as well. At every stage, one has to pay fees. The university teachers are not paid well. They raise their income by lecturing and examining. The more students are attracted, the more they earn. Attending to a lecture is not permitted without fees. Friedrich Maximilianfaces a hard time. We shall come to this aspect in a little while.

The term Philology is a deceptive package. In real practice, it means, in term of hard facts, simply learning languages at a higher level. The “Nikolai Schule” offers classical education, which means along with general school subjects a good basic instruction in vernacular, in Greek and in Latin. Studies in Philology mean mere continuation of learning those two classical languages at the level of post-higher schools. Nothing less, nothing more. Studies in “philology” do not mean studies in sciences or in philosophy.

Leipzig University runs then four faculties: Theology, Law, Medicine and “ Artisten ” (Philosophy). The faculty of “ Artisten ” includes also the subjects: Mathematics and Natural sciences, Philology and Philosophy. In all subjects one can make his Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate. One has to go through a special post-doctoral examination called “Habilitation” to become a University teacher. This stipulation is basically valid also in the present German universities as ever.

Before one can acquire his “Magister artium” one has to complete at least six semesterspassing through a tightly stipulated study-plan and has to complete his 21 yearsof age. Before one is permitted to the examinational formalities for “Magister artium” one must have acquired his first academic degree of “Baccalaureates” . The minimum stipulated time-period to obtain this first academic degree of “Baccalaureates” is completing three semesters. No age limit is stipulated to obtain this first academic degree of “Baccalaureates” .

It is on record that Friedrich Maximilian Müllerfrom Dessau begins his studies in Philology at Leipzig University in the summer semester of 1841. Everything is new for him. He is not bright. He is not very fit. He suffers from regular severe headaches. He is not engaged in sport activities. He is poor. He does not have optimal beginning of his university studies.

Naturally, Friedrich Maximilian Mülleris in search of finding out hisinterests in the new academic environment. He has to identify the right academic teachers corresponding to his interests. To begin with, he attends 12 lectures in SS 1841. He has not completed his eighteen years yet. Here is the list of lectures he attends:

1 The first book of Thucydides Gottfried Hermann

2 On Scenic Antiquities Gottfried Hermann

3 On Propertius P. M. Haupt

4 History of German Literature P. M. Haupt

5 The Ranae of Aristophanes Stallbaum

6 Disputatorium (in Latin) Nobbe

7 Aesthetics Weisse

8 Anthropology Lotze

9 System of Harmonic Composition Fink

10 Hebrew Grammar Fürst

11 Demosthenes Westermann

12 Psychology Heinroth

We read in the autobiography by Max Müller(p. 120): “It was enough for the summer half-year. Except Greek and Latin, the other subjects were entirely new to me, and what I wanted was to get an idea of what I should like to study.”

For the first time we get a glimpse of the mental disposition of Friedrich Maximilian. In the beginning semester he wanted “to get an idea of what (he) should like to study.” We are reading the page 120 of “My Autobiography” written by Max Müller. Here, we must confess, we are caught in that wonder some cute tear breaking story we read on pages 109 -111. We recall the story told of his “first love, Sanskrit and the rest” . We would like begin the story from the beginning of the paragraph and quote up to the last sentence of the chapter “School-days at Leipzig” , i.e. just before the beginning of the chapter “University” . The story begins with the lines on the page 109:

“While at school at Leipzig I had but little opportunity of travelling, for my mother was always anxious to have me home during the holidays, and I was equally anxious to be with her and see my relations at Dessau. ... (Then, details on the troublesome journeys to Dessau)