ce
as well as through the applied branches), I was thus encountered and
appealed to by the unity, the simplicity, and the unalterably necessary
course, of human development and human education. I became impelled by
an irresistible impulse towards the setting forth of that unity and
simplicity, with all the force, both of my pen and of my life, in the
shape of an educational system. I felt that education as well as science
would gain by what I may call a more human, related, affiliated,
connected treatment and consideration of the subjects of education.

I was led to this conviction on another ground, as follows:--Although my
friends Langethal, Middendorff, and Bauer served with me all through the
war in the same corps, and even in the same battalion, we were a great
deal apart towards the close of the campaign, especially at the time we
were quartered in the Netherlands, so that I, at all events, at the
disbanding of the corps, knew not whither the others had gone. It was,
therefore, an unexpected pleasure when, after a while, I found them all
at Berlin again. My friends pursued their theological studies with
earnestness, and I my natural science; therefore, at first we came
little into contact with one another.

So passed several months, when suddenly life threw us closer together
again. This came about through the call to arms in 1815. We all enlisted
again together as volunteers. On account of our previous service, and by
royal favour, we were at once promoted to officer's rank, and each one
was appointed to a regiment. However, there was such a throng of
volunteers that it was not necessary for any State officials to be
called upon to leave their posts, or for students to interrupt their
studies, and we therefore received counter-orders commanding us to stay
at home. Middendorff, who felt sure of his speedy departure for the
army, preferred not to take lodgings for the short time of his stay in
Berlin, and as there was room enough in mine for us both, he came and
stayed with me. Yet we still seemed to draw very little closer together
at first, because of the diversity of our pursuits; but soon a bond of
union wove itself again, which was all the stronger on that very
account. Langethal and Middendorff had endeavoured to secure a
sufficiency for their support at the university by taking private
tutorships in families, making such arrangements as that their
university studies should not be interfered with. In the beg