In 1794, the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek_ is prohibited in Prussian dominions as constituting an influence against the Christian religion. This is an example of a long series of similar prohibitions. In 1816, the _Rheinische Merkür_ of the poet Görres, who had done so much to arouse public opinion against Napoleon, was suppressed under a Cabinet order. The royal censorship was ameliorated under Frederick William but was again strengthened in 1848 and during the years immediately succeeding. In 1844–5 was published at Jena a catalogue entitled _Index Librorum Prohibitorum_, giving the titles only of books prohibited in Germany. In 1882, was published in Berlin what is probably the latest of the State Indexes. It is devoted to a list of works maintaining the principles of the Social Democrats, which works had been condemned and prohibited under the authority of an act of the Reichsrath of 1878. The list includes several hundred publications, chiefly pamphlets. The political censorship existing to-day throughout Prussia and the German Empire under the imperial control is of course familiar to all readers of the 20th century. Between 1878 and the close of the century, a very long list of Social Democratic writings, pamphlets, books, and journals came under condemnation and suppression. This policy was continued into the 20th century, although under present conditions its thorough enforcement is a matter of increasing difficulty. Hilgers points out that the instances of Protestant political censorship against works which are purely literary or intellectual in their character, that is to say, which had no direct concern with either religion or politics, are far more numerous than under the action of the censorship authorities of Rome. Among other examples, he points out the action of Luther against the works of Erasmus and the writings of a number of the Humanists; the decree of the Duke of Weimar (acting at the initiative of Goethe) against _Isis_, and for the suppression of the epoch-making writings of the philosopher Fichte; the acts of Frederick the Great against Voltaire, and the measures taken by Bismarck against a long series of writings that came into print during the _Kulturkampf_. An order issued in January, 1903, by the rector of the University of Berlin, prohibits the delivery of a lecture on Proudhon and Lasalle on the ground that it was necessary to take “all possible precautions for the protection of young souls from the pernicious and poisonous influence of sociological errors.”[82] In November, 1902, in a convention held at Hamburg of the teachers of Germany, it was proposed to prohibit the use in schools of the catechism of Luther and of the Protestant Scriptures.[83]