STUDY AND RESEARCH.! 



By Rudolph Virchow. 



Our university, since its tbuiidation eighty-two years ago, has been 

 in the habit of celebrating- the beginning- of its scholastic year with par- 

 ticularly solemn feelings. Among the festivals it observes, this Octo 

 ber day above all invites self-scrutiny, a review of past successes, an 

 examination of the methods pursued, and, on the other hand, a consid- 

 eration of new problems, a survey of the future. Have we proved our- 

 selves able to perform the tasks devolving upon us ? Have we used to 

 good purpose our means for the training of youth to fulfill the highest 

 aims of the state and of humanity? Do we enjoy the consciousness 

 that the hopes have been realized which our activity aroused in our- 

 selves and in our country? 



Upon the new rector rests the heavy responsibility of interpreting 

 these and similar reflections. But who has the eloquence to sum up in 

 a general statement all the widely diverging ideas of his colleagues? 

 How few succeed in gaining- eveit a superficial view of the changes 

 unceasingly taking place in the sciences ! Not one of us, we frankly 

 confess, is an authority on all branches of human knowledge; not one 

 can do more than judge the course of studies at the university from 

 the iwint of view of his specialty, his individual experience. The temp- 

 tation thus assails the speaker to discuss the branch to which he has 

 devoted himself rather than study in general. I shall endeavor to steer 

 clear of this danger. Forty-six years ago I became a member of this 

 faculty in the capacity of prixatdocent; for forty- three years I have been 

 ordinarius in an out-of-town university and here, and now the confi- 

 dence of my colleagues has honored me with this high post. In the 

 interval great changes, greater than those of centuries before, have 

 taken place in science as well as in political life. All dei)artments of 

 human endeavor have been remodeled, some undergoing radical trans 

 formation, others being subjected to incisive criticism. Who that has 

 been interested in jiublic life can have failed to note and seriously con- 

 sider these great happenings? University life is surely not an isolated 

 phenomenon amid the spiritual experiences of the nations. We uui 

 versify teachers are forced to keep constant watch upon all departments 



'Translation of an address by Radolph Virchow on assnmiug the rectorship of the 

 Friedrich-Wilhelm University, at Berlin, October 15, 1892. 



653 



