THE SCHOOLS OF GERMANY. 313 



founded a menagerie filled mostly -with exotic animals, and gave 

 great attention to the breeding of sheep, rabbits, fowls, and even 

 silk- worms. To the formation of the so-called ''royal cabinet," stu- 

 dents and teachers were sent at great expense to the sea-coast to 

 •rather examiiles of different sea-animals. Thev studied the anato- 

 my of the dolphin and ray, and forgot that of the domestic animals. 

 This superficial learning of a little of many things was especially cul- 

 tivated by Bourgelat to the cost of a true scientitic method, and 

 found, fortunately, little imitation in Germany. But instead of pass- 

 ing quietly by these French extravagances, and copying them in 

 what good things they had, we fell into the opposite extreme of 

 developing one-sided empirics, the so-called " Rossiirzte " (horse-doc- 

 tors) and " Kursehmiede " (farriers). Every attempt of individual 

 men at the schools to introduce the true scientific method was ener- 

 getically combated, and the French schools quoted to strengthen 

 the ground of the opponents. Bojanus, medical councilor in Hesse, 

 enjoys the nnenviable reputation of having most successfully op- 

 posed all improvement. I can not refrain from telling you how 

 Bojanus would have the veterinarians educated and the schools con- 

 ducted, lie had a controlling power at the Munich school until 

 1S52. 



Bojanus looked upon the education of i'>ractlcal men as the sole 

 task of the schools. They would fail of our purpose were they edu- 

 cated to be scientific veterinarians. (The English have most reli- 

 giously followed in this direction even to our day, and here in Amer- 

 ica a good practical ignoramus is in general more prized tlian the 

 man of genuine scientific attainments ; let it be understood, I claim, 

 a trnhj scientific man can never be aught else than practical.) Cer- 

 tain axioms were to be learned as articles of jiractical belief, the 

 students being reduced to mere mechanical machines. The state 

 needed only veterinary hand-workers (in some parts of France the 

 veterinarians are still spoken of as '* artistes vi'terinaires "), who would 

 follow the rules learned at school with blind confidence. Such a 

 practitioner never asks the cause of the phenomena which he sees 

 presented to him by a diseased organism ; he does not seek to enter 

 into the real nature of the disease, but is contented to know that dis- 

 ease is before him. He does not seek to arrange a special method 

 of treatment, but u.ses that which he has learned as something dis- 

 covered for all time. lie is all content when the patient recovers, 

 and asks not why, nor under what neccsi?ary laws, it lias taken place, 

 lie enters pul)lic life as a common artisan, and must always be 

 classed as such ; he never feels the power in him that is given to 



