ins to be considered as out
of date at our universities. Nevertheless, a new pedantry, that of the
wholly extempore lecture, should not be introduced; but a brief summary
of the extempore unfolding of the lecture may be dictated and serve a
very important purpose, or the lecture may be copied. The great efficacy
of the oral exposition does not so much consist in the fact that it is
perfectly free, as that it presents to immediate view a person who has
made himself the bearer of a science or an art, and has found what
constitutes its essence. Its power springs, above all, from the
genuineness of the lecture, the originality of its content, and the
elegance of its form: whether it is written or extemporized, is a matter
of little moment. Niebuhr e.g. read, word for word, from his manuscript,
and what a teacher was he!--The catechetical way of teaching is not
demanded at the university except in special examinations; it belongs to
the private work of the student, who must learn to be industrious of his
own free impulse. The private tutor can best conduct reviews.--The
institution which presupposing the lecture-system combines in itself
original production with criticism, and the connected exposition with
the conversation, is the _seminary_. It pursues a well-defined path, and
confines itself to a small circle of associates whose grades of culture
are very nearly the same. Here, therefore, can the dialogue be strongly
developed because it has a fixed foundation, and each one can take part
in the conversation; whereas, from the variety of opinions among a great
number, it is easily perverted into an aimless talk, and the majority of
the hearers, who have no chance to speak, become weary.--

Sec. 130. As to the way in which the lecture is carried out, it may be so
arranged as to give the whole stock of information acquired, or, without
being so exact and so complete, it may bring to its elucidation only a
relatively inexact and general information. The ancients called the
first method the esoteric and the second the exoteric, as we give to
such lectures now, respectively, the names _scholastic_ and _popular_.
The first makes use of terms which have become technical in science or
art, and proceeds syllogistically to combine the isolated ideas; the
second endeavors to substitute for technicalities generally understood
signs, and conceals the exactness of the formal conclusion by means of a
conversational style. It is possible to