One of the methodological emphasis of this project was the study of mathematical teaching in the Czech lands through a variety of sources. Syllabi, namely lists containing the courses of a given academic year, represent just one example of a major, and yet neglected source of information to reconstruct the teaching of mathematics (and other disciplines) at various colleges in the early modern and modern periods. In 18th century Prague, for instance, syllabi were often printed as flying charts, but they can also be found within magazines and popular publications, such as almanachs. In the pictures above, on the left, we can read an excerpt from a syllabus listing the courses imparted at the philosophical faculty of Prague in the a.a. 1770. It was printed in Gehlerte Nachrichten, a magazine connected to Prague Enlightement. One can find, among the subjects taught at the philosophical faculty, a new entry, namely the Bergswerkswissenschaften, "mounta-" or "mining science". The lecturer was professor T. Peithner. Although this chair was short lived (it would not appear in the programmes of the subsequent years), it was a clear sign that the content of the philosophical faculty was opening to "useful" sciences according to the spirit of the Enlightenment.

 

On the right, the syllabi for the year 1775 (Philosophical Faculty). We can read at the bottom the advertisement for the classes of "Herr Franz Leonard Herget", professor of Engineering Sciences. According to the printed information, Herget would not lecture at the university building, but in the old town, at the corner of Schweselgasse, n. 222 (can anybody locate it in a modern map?). Engineering science, a subject that dealt, at the time, both with the study of machines and with architecture (civil and military), is another example of useful knowledge reshaping the core of the Artes Liberalium.