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science. He succeeded posthumously in inculcatingwestern customs and ways of living and eventuallywestern ideas among the upper class, but almost solelyamong that class.This was the beginning of the cultural divorce betweenthe minority, European Russia, and the great majority,non-European Russia. It was largely due in the lastresort to the character of education.Primary education, even in the towns, was not developedfrom Peter's small beginnings. It was only slightlyfurthered by the educational reforms of Catherine theGreat and Alexander I, and it was not until Alexander II(1864) that it began to receive continuous, widespreadattention. On the other hand, secondary education onEuropean lines eventually became relatively well developedamong the upper class, and to a lesser extent the childrenof the clergy; while, from the early nineteenth century,universities, very few in number but on the whole high instandard, drew a very mixed class of students.Nicholas I (1825-55) acted on the principle that" children belonging to different social groups must notbe educated together,'' and that as far as possible educationshould be confined to the gentry and the civil service.It could not be entirely confined, even in theory, to theupper class, if only because the enormous needs of theadministration could not possibly be met by that classalone. Hence Nicholas adopted the principle, in hisdecree of 1827, that schooling was to be such "thatnobody should aim at rising above that position in whichit is his lot to remain. ,, That meant as regards primaryeducation that, except for the state peasants, nothing wasdone by the government, and it continued to be left tothe usually nominal initiative of the clergy and localbodies.The period of the great reforms of Alexander IInecessarily involved a comprehensive recasting of education(1863 and 1864). Considerable independencewas restored to the universities; the limitations on thenumbers of students at them were abolished, and theprohibition (since 1848) on study abroad was removed.A large section of the university students, however, were338