Hermann

Hermann, JOHANN GOTTFRIED JAKOB, a German classical scholar, was born at Leipzig, 28th November 1772. He studied there and at Jena, and was made in 1798 extra-ordinary professor of Philosophy at Leipzig; in 1803, ordinary professor of Eloquence; and in addition, in 1809, professor of Poetry. He died as senior of the university, 31st December 1848. The first department which he began to cultivate on original principles was the science of classical metre, of which he attempted to develop a philosophical theory, based upon the categories of Kant; on this subject he wrote, besides his Handbuch der Metrik (1798), several Latin treatises, among which the Epitome Doctrinæ Metricæ (1818) reached a fourth edition in 1869. Of wider importance, however, was the new method which he introduced into the treatment of Greek grammar, and which has had its influence on the grammar of Latin and of German. The principles of this method are explicitly developed in De Emendanda Ratione Græcæ Grammaticæ (1801), and are practically illustrated in his numerous excellent editions of the ancient classics. Hermann's power of dealing with chronological, topographical, and personal questions is shown in his Opuscula (8 vols. 1827-77), which also contain some poems breathing the spirit of Roman poetry. See Memoirs by Jahn (1849) and Köchly (1874).