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CHAPTER 4 WHICH QUALIFICATIONS DOES

FRIEDRICH MAXIMILIAN ACQUIRE AT

LEIPZIG UNIVERSITY?

We are reconstructing the life of Friedrich Maximilian Müller as it was. We have done our research - we mean re-search – getting into the primary sources. We have searched for facts and for the facts behind the facts. All existing secondary sources are fed by the writings of Max Müller and by his British wife Georgina Max Müller. We are crosschecking now the stories told by Max Müller on the biography of Friedrich Maximilian Müller. Thereby we stick to working out hard facts only.

Friedrich Maximilian avails the privilege, when he is 12 years old, of staying in the affluent household of Professor Carus and of being taught in the famous Nikolai-Schule at Leipzig. We find absolutely no information on how Friedrich Maximilian fared in that famous school. We know from Max Müller that Friedrich Maximilian did not take his “Abiturienten-Examen” at the Nicolai school. He does not disclose the reason behind it. He simply states it was hard for him. What is behind this fact?

With “Abiturienten-Examen” (high school certificate) one earns in Germany the right to enter universities for higher studies. This rule is valid since centuries. The lower the marks, the fewer are the choice of subjects. This was the rule then and this is the rule this day as well. There were and are, of course, high schools maintaining different standards. Teachers of the Nicolai-Schule at Leipzig were fair enough suggesting Friedrich Maximilian to try his “Abiturienten-Examen” at a school where the standard was not as high as it is in the Nicolai-Schule. As a rule, such suggestions are given after the 11th class, i.e. two years before the “Abiturienten-Examen”.

This hard fact that Friedrich Maximilian was compelled to take refuge at a school having a lower standard and less reputation has not been noticed by any of his biographers or admirers yet. Max Müller packed it so elegantly and served so slyly in “My Autobiography” that the focus is shifted to the need of a “scholarship”. We recall the statement given by Max Müller on this issue two years before he expired:

“It was rather hard on me that I had to pass my examinations for admission to the University (Abiturienten-Examen) not at my school, but at Zerbst in Anhalt. This was necessary in order to enable me to obtain a scholarship from the Anhalt Government”.

We apologise to look a little ahead. Friedrich Maximilian will get a scholarship from the “Anhalt Government”. It was not a scholarship on merits, nor was it any school-bound. He got a scholarship for poor students belonging to the Anhalt-Dessau-Duchy. He would have got this scholarship even if he could have passed his “Abiturienten-Examen” in any other European country. Not to talk of his getting “Abiturienten-Examen” from the famous Nicolai School. This hard fact does not fit into a school career of a brilliant brain, of a to-be demigod, isn’t it?

We were also puzzled calculating the years exactly. Friedrich Maximilian had begun school in Dessau when he was six years old. He came under the guardianship of Professor Carus when he was 12 years old. At most, he could be admitted in the Nicolai School in the seventh of 13 classes needed for the “Abiturienten-Examen”. He would have stayed in the household of Professor Carus for seven years in the normal case. It is however mentioned that he stayed there for five years only. Where did he stay for two years of his school life? He must have stayed “at Zerbst in Anhalt” for two years to attend the school there. We pointed out in our last chapter that a “Zerbst in Anhalt” did never exist in the history. Zerbst was in Prussia.

There is another puzzle calculating the years. 13 classes plus 6 makes 19. Friedrich Maximilian was born in December 1823. He was admitted in Leipzig University in April 1841. He was then 17 and half years old only. He must have skipped one class. Where and how? On what basis?

Then, why did he not get back to his previous school at Dessau where his mother and all his relatives were residing? These questions remain unanswered. We wonder that Max Müller did not even mention the name of the school at Zerbst. None yet has wondered. Why? We think this aspect is important and we are reluctant to speculate. But our questions remain. There are more questions.

We take liberty repeating a small part from the beginning of our last chapter to be accurate rather than narrating. We wrote:

“The source Georgina Max Müller is inadequate. As referred in the last chapter she marries Friedrich Maximilian Müller 1859. She is then 24 years old. She belonged to a copper-smelter and merchant family in the British Kingdom. Her educational background is unknown. Both of her volumes include in the main letters written in German, translated into English. We are unable to ascertain whether she ever learnt German.

She devotes in her book approximately 6 pages to this life period of Friedrich Maximilian under headings: “Nicolai School Leipzig”, “Dr. Carus”, “Music”, “Letters to his Mother” and “Examination at Zerbst”. She does not care for chronology. She quotes letters without referring to dates. Amongst them, there are also six letters of Friedrich Maximilian to his mother. These letters are translated into English from German original. We do not know by whom. We know only that the diction, the style in English, is almost that of an English scholar and not of a schoolboy.

We take liberty to quote her only once. We refrain from our comments on Georgina Max Müller’s presentation, but presently parts are highlighted by us.

“Before leaving the house of Dr. Carus, Max writes to his mother :— Translation.

'When I remember the time that I first sent you my birthday greetings from Leipzig, and now see that this period of life is nearly over. I must gratefully acknowledge how good God has been to us in various ways, and has given us many compensations. But above all, how grateful we should be that God has preserved you, our dear mother, to us, to sweeten for us all that is bitter, to reward all effort. How I rejoice over next year, in which a new existence opens for me, a higher aim in life floats before me, and I shall have you both with me. I cannot tell you how I rejoice at the thought of this time, when I must take another step forwards, and shall again, at all events for a time, be with my own people.'”

It has not escaped our attention that this quoted letter did not carry a date. But we know by now that he was fifteen and half years old when he should have left the household of Professor Carus to join the school at Zerbst. How could it be “next year” that “I shall have you both with me”, unless we assume that his mother joined him at Zerbst in Prussia? There are more questions.

Why was it necessary for Max Müller to conceal this important information that Friedrich Maximilian was not merited enough to obtain his “Abiturienten-Examen” from the “Nicolai Schule” at Leipzig? Why did he pack his lack of “excellent merit” so slyly, very casually only?

The second sentence is more deceptive. It diverts attention to the need getting a scholarship. We have already dealt with this aspect. It comes even worse. He continues in the same paragraph with schools systems in Anhalt-Dessau and in Prussia and then returns to music. He informs that Friedrich Maximilian has just resisted the lure of music encountering in the household of Professor Carus. Quite a few pages have then been bestowed to music. Professors in those days were topping the list of all professions in terms of accorded social prestige. Musicians were glad being invited by professors in their social gatherings. There is no doubt that Friedrich Maximilian was exposed to music in the household of Professor Carus. Did Max Müller want us to assume that the real reason for Friedrich Maximilian’s leaving Leipzig was his exposure to music in the household of Professor Carus?

Well! The next issue is more important. Friedrich Maximilian comes back to Leipzig in 1841 and takes admission at Leipzig University. Why does he not get back to the household of Professor Carus? Why didn’t he stay with his friend Victor in the household of Professor Carus while both of them were admitted at Leipzig University? We could not get to the bottom to find an explanation. We are puzzled by another contradiction.

The fact is that mother Adelheide shifted to Leipzig with her daughter before Friedrich Maximilian got his school-final certificate at Zerbst in 1841. Therefore, the question did not arise that Friedrich Maximilian eventually stayed in the affluent household of Professor Carus and studied together with his friend Victor at Leipzig University. But why did she shift to Leipzig and robbed Friedrich Maximilian the chance to study at Leipzig University not in poverty again? No questions, no answers.

Instead we read on page 112 in the “My Autobiography” what Max Müller wanted us to believe: “In order to enable me to go to the University, my mother and sister moved to Leipzig and kept house for me during all the time I was there – that is two years a half”. This is another example of the wrapping-technique used by him that conceals facts, distorts facts. And the hard fact remains for our judgement of the situation: Friedrich Maximilian falls back to poverty.

We must refer back to the casual remark by Max Müller on pages 103-104 to comprehend his wrapping technique:

In the first sentence, he reports that Friedrich Maximilian had to pass his examinations for “admission to the University not at my school, but at Zerbst in Anhalt”. As if passing “Abiturienten-Examen” from his Nicolai School would have excluded him from “admission to the University”, which is absurd. For “admission to the LeipzigUniversity or to any other University” he by no means needed to go to Zerbst.

Now we look into the second sentence: “This was necessary in order to enable me to obtain a scholarship from the Anhalt Government.” We all know that Friedrich Maximilian is poor. University studies are a privilege of well-to-do people only. We all sympathetically note that passing his examinations at Zerbst enabled him “to obtain a scholarship from the Anhalt Government.” What should be wrong in this bypass? Who will care to know or will know that Zerbst had nothing to do with the “Anhalt Government”? And who will care to raise the simple question as we did? Was it “a scholarship” on merit? It was not on merit, as already mentioned.

Before we get into Friedrich Maximilian’s studies at the Leipzig University we must recall another obvious issue. On the pages 45 to 111 “The Rt. Hon. Professor F. Max Müller, K.M.” wanted us inform how the life of Friedrich Maximilian had been during the “schooldays at Dessau” as well as during the “schooldays in Leipzig”. We have put together all scattered information to get an adequate picture regarding the school life of Friedrich Maximilian. These are rather meagre.

What did Max Müller want us to believe? We are inclined to conclude that Max Müller wanted us to believe in the extraordinary brilliance of Friedrich Maximilian manifested already during his schooldays. That is why Max Müller has imported in these two chapters a lot of “scholarly” lectures of his own. On topics which were totally off the way for a boy as Friedrich Maximilian was up to 1841. Thus, Max Müller escaped his duty in an autobiography to deal with the schooldays of Friedrich Maximilian. An evaluation of his schooldays by Max Müller was not the purpose in those two chapters: “Childhood at Dessau” and “School-days at Leipzig”.

We are also inclined to conclude that the schooldays of Friedrich Maximilian had 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 Müller scattered 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 Maximilian begins 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 Maximilian obtains a modest scholarship of 15 thaler per month from the Anhalt Government. Not for his studies at the Leipzig University, not as an encouragement for his merits. 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 Maximilian avails 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 Maximilian faces 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 semesters passing through a tightly stipulated study-plan and has to complete his 21 years of 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 Müller from 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 Müller is in search of finding out his interests 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)

A more ambitious journey I took in 1841 with a friend of mine, Baron von Hagedorn. He was a curious and somewhat mysterious character. He had been brought up by a great-aunt of mine, to whom he was entrusted as a baby. No one knew his parents, but they must have been rich, for he possessed a large fortune. He had a country place near Munich, and he spent the greater part of the year in travelling about and amusing himself. He had been brought up with my mother and other members of our family, and he took a very kind interest in me. ... Hagedorn, with all his love of mystery and occasional exaggeration, was certainly a good friend to me. He often gave me good advice, and was more of a father to me than a mere friend. He was a man of the world, and therefore his advice was not always what I wanted. (Hagedorn is already introduced. We won’t repeat our comments mentioned in our chapter three.) He was also a great friend of my cousin who was married to a Prince of Dessau, and they had agreed among themselves that I should go to the Oriental Academy at Vienna, learn Oriental languages, and then enter the diplomatic service. As there were no children from the Prince’s marriage, I was to be adopted by him, and, as if the princely fortune was not enough to tempt me, I was told that even a wife had been chosen for me, and that I should have a new name and title, after being adopted by the Prince. (His only cousin Emilie is also introduced. We won’t repeat our comments in our chapter three.) To other young men this might have seemed irresistible. I at once said no. It seemed to interfere with my freedom, with my studies, with my ideal of a career in life; in fact, though everything was presented to me by my cousin as on a silver tray, I shook my head and remained true to my first love, Sanskrit and the rest. Hagedorn could not understand this; he thought a brilliant life preferable to the quite life of a professor Not so I. (Friedrich Maximilian with all his handicaps is only seventeen years old.) He little knew where true happiness was to be found, and he was often in a very melancholy mood. He did not live long, but I shall never forget how much I owed him. When I went to Paris, he allowed me to live in his rooms. They were, it is true, au cinquième, but they were in the best quarter of Paris, in the Rue Royale St. Honorè, opposite the Madeleine, and very prettily furnished. This kept me from living in dusty lodgings in the Quartier Latin, and the five flights of stairs may have strengthened my lungs. I well remember what it was when at the foot of the staircase I saw that I had forgotten my handkerchief and had to toll up again. But in those days one did not know what it meant to be tired. Whether my friends grumbled, I cannot tell, but I myself pitied some of them who were old and gouty when they arrived at my door out of breath.”

End of the chapter on page 111. A palatable account. Entertaining. Nicely written. We shall keep this account, his first love, Sanskrit and the rest, the friend Hagedorn and cousin Emilie in memory. The next chapter titled “University” begins on page 112 with the lines:

“In order to enable me to go to the University, my mother and sister moved to Leipzig and kept house for me during all the time I was there – that is two years a half”, ...”

*****

The first semester of orientation of Friedrich Maximilian is over. We apologise for taking a tiny break to look back. This was needed. There is no indication that he discusses with his mother also “to get an idea of what I should like to study.” After this Semester of orientation, he has started selecting his subjects and his academic teachers. In the Winter Semester 1841/42 he attends 10 lectures:

1 Aeschyli Persae Gottfried Hermann

2 On Criticism Gottfried Hermann

3 German Grammar P. M. Haupt

4 Walther von der Vogelweide P. M. Haupt

5 Latin Society P. M. Haupt

6 Tacitus, Agricola, and De Oratoribus P. M. Haupt

7 On Hegel Weisse

8 Disputatorium (in Latin) Nobbe

9 Modern History Wachsmuth

10 Sanskrit Grammar Hermann Brockhaus

Friedrich Maximilian continues with Greek and Latin and puts special weight on the German language, which is his vernacular, and on vernacular literature. Other subjects of his first semester he has deleted. Lectures on Aesthetics, Anthropology, Psychology and Hebrew Grammar he will not repeat at Leipzig University. Instead, he adds Modern History and Sanskrit Grammar.

We note that “Sanskrit Grammar” taught by Hermann Brockhaus in WS 1841/1842 is Friedrich Maximilian Müller’s first encounter with Sanskrit.

One year at Leipzig University has passed. Friedrich Maximilian Müller is presently 18 and half years old. There is no indication that he discusses any matters regarding the progress of his life as a student at the university with his mother or with anybody else. In his third semester (SS 1842), he has further selected his subjects. He attends the following seven lectures:

1 Pinder Gottfried Hermann

2 Nibelungen P. M. Haupt

3 Latin Society P. M. Haupt

4 Plauti Trinumus Becker

5 Arabic Grammar Fleischer

6 History of Oriental Literature Hermann Brockhaus

7 Nala Hermann Brockhaus

Obviously, Friedrich Maximilian Müller continues with Greek, Latin and German literature. He adds Arabic Grammar. Why does he add "Arabic Grammar”? Is this an indication that he has begun to develop an affinity towards “Orient” in general? “Hebrew Grammar” in his first semester we have noted. Obviously, he is not confident yet about which oriental language would suit to his interests. We raise this issue as a question because we do not get any indication from Max Müller in this regard.

Friedrich Maximilian does not know yet where “Orient” begins and how far it is stretched. It is not his personal deficiency. Europe does not know yet where “Orient” begins and how far it is stretched. Again, we apologise looking a little ahead. We shall deal with this issue in the next chapter. Moreover, how should he be able to differentiate at the age of just passed 18, if the only teacher for Sanskrit at Leipzig University, Hermann Brockhaus, mixes up “Oriental Literature” and “Sanskrit Literature”? Hermann Brockhaus does not include Arabic literature in his “Oriental Literature”. Arabic Grammar is taught, as indicated, by Professor Fleischer whose first name is not known to us. And Hermann Brockhaus does not know Arabic.

Hermann Brockhaus offers “History of Oriental Literature” and “Nala”. Nala is a tiny episode in the gigantic epic Mahabharata written in a language called Sanskrit, which was “deciphered” by the early European “Indologists” through plenty of available Arabic and Persian translations of Sanskrit literature. Hermann Brockhaus obviously uses this tiny Sanskrit Text as a follow up course of his lecture on Sanskrit Grammar.

We withdraw the term ‘early European “Indologists”’ as it might lead to misunderstandings. The term “Indology” is created in Germany only. There is no record that the language named Sanskrit has ever been taught in Europe before 1803. It was a private lesson in Paris then. Institutional teaching of the language named Sanskrit in Europe begins quite a few years later. Presently we write the year 1842. We shall deal with Sanskrit and “Indology” in separate chapters later in due course.

In our present context we put two strong marks of attention looking a little ahead. None of the protagonists teaching “Sanskrit” in Europe at the post-high school level has taken trouble to learn the Sanskrit language in India. This is number one. Secondly, none of them has ever an opportunity to hear the original sound of the language “called” Sanskrit. These “Indologists” have claimed to have learnt the language named Sanskrit all by their own self on the basis of hand written Sanskrit manuscripts only. These manuscripts were brought to Europe indiscriminately as part of the booties of European robbers in India. Is it comprehensible how it could have functioned to learn the Sanskrit language solely on the basis of these booties?

Hermann Brockhaus learnt Sanskrit from persons who believed that the ancient language called Sanskrit could be learnt by reading tiny simple episodes in Mahabharata like Nala with the help of available Arabic and Persian translations of Sanskrit texts. As already mentioned, we shall get into the language named “Sanskrit”, on “Indologists” and on Hermann Brockhaus who teaches “Sanskrit Grammar” and “Nala” at Leipzig University later in the next chapter. Here we just maintain that the knowledge of the language called Sanskrit of Hermann Brockhaus has been at best rudimentary.

Before Friedrich Maximilian Müller begins his 4th semester, i.e. WS 1842/1843, he does not try to earn his first academic degree of “Baccalaureates”. How could he? He is still in the phase of orientation. We recall here the stipulation of the then Leipzig University. The first academic degree of “Baccalaureates” can be earned after completing three semesters. No age limit is stipulated. An age limit is stipulated only for acquiring the academic degree of “Magister artium”. One has to complete his 21 years of age, at least six tightly organized semesters and having a “Baccalaureates” as the first academic degree.

It appears, however, that Friedrich Maximilian Müller intends to earn his first academic degree of “Baccalaureates” after completing his winter term. He almost doubles the number of lectures to be attended:

1 Aristophanes’ Vespac Gottfried Hermann

2 Plauti Rudens Gottfried Hermann

3 Greek Syntax Gottfried Hermann

4 Greek and Latin Seminary Hermann & Klotze

5 Latin Society P. M. Haupt

6 Juvenal Becker

7 Metaphysics and Logic Weisse

8 Philosophy of History Weisse

9 Philosophical Society Weisse

10 Philosophical Society Drobish

11 History of Indian Literature Hermann Brockhaus

12 Probodha Chandrodaya Hermann Brockhaus

Friedrich Maximilian Müller has obviously deleted his fancy for German Literature. He concentrates on Greek, Latin and Philosophy. He continues attending lectures offered by Hermann Brockhaus: History of Indian Literature and Probodha Chandrodaya. Probodha Chandrodaya is one of the dramas with allegories, originally written in the Sanskrit language, composed in a simple form, which arrived in Europe via British occupants rather accidently. When it arrived in England, it is already a translation, a translation and a translation of translations. Hermann Brockhaus gets hold of a translation done in 1812 by one J. Taylor, M.D, (Doctorate in Medicine).