DESCENT AND EARLY MANHOOD 5 



was fondly called, was the instructor, mentor, com- 

 panion, and idol of his kinsfolk. 



On leaving school young Goessmann, like Davy, 

 Liebig, Heinrich Rose, and the French chemist Pelouze, 

 first became interested in pharmacy. He pursued his 

 studies with a kinsman at Gudensberg near Cassel, to 

 whom he had been apprenticed, and in 1846 passed 

 the state examination required to qualify him as an 

 assistant in pharmacy. The next four years were passed 

 as an apothecary's assistant at Gottingen, Mainz, and 

 Fulda, Goessmann devoting his spare moments to the 

 pursuit of his favourite studies, chemistry, botany, and 

 geology. Inheriting, however, a love of science and 

 wishing to perfect himself yet further in his vocation, 

 he entered the University of Gottingen at Easter, 27 

 April 1850, matriculating in the philosophical faculty 

 as a student of pharmacy. It was natural that in seek- 

 ing a university he should turn to Gottingen, where 

 three years earlier he had been assistant to Julius Post, 

 the University apothecary, and where his father's 

 friend and fellow-student at Marburg, Friedrich Woh- 

 ler, then at the height of his fame, filled the chair of 

 chemistry. 



The following letter from Wohler to Kreisphysikus 

 Dr. Goessmann has fortunately been preserved : - 



GOTTINGEN, 12 April 1850. 

 MOST ESTEEMED SlK AND FRIEND, 



Your lines have recalled to me most vividly the 

 scenes of my first university year and my associations 

 with you hi old Marburg. Although more than 30 



