180 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
The course is four years, of two terms each of about live months, 
making nearly ten months a year study. These schools are emi - 
nently practical; they place immense stress on the value of an¬ 
atomy in all its forms, and also give great attention to operative 
surgery, and are admitted to be the masters in these two branches 
by nearly all Germans. The balance of the education is good, 
and there is no doubt that a person going to either Alfort or 
Lyons will be an intelligently educated man and tine practitioner, 
and further, will gain much collateral information of value. The 
cost is, I think, 200 francs ($50) per year. With an examination 
fee, the student will find every opportunity to study, and abun¬ 
dance of anatomical material free of extra cost. I can but cheer¬ 
fully recommend these schools to my countrymen, and to one de¬ 
siring only a first-class practical education, with a fair basis, there 
will be no disappointment. 
I come now to the more difficult part of my task, the schools 
of Germany, or rather the school at Berlin. I say more diffi¬ 
cult, because whether a man proves a success, finds himself fully 
satisfied, depends infinitely more upon the man himself at Berlin, 
than at the French schools. I have above recommended the man 
desiring a really practical education to go to France, and I warn any 
one who is not a natural-born .horseman, and who has had some ex¬ 
perience in such matters, or who cannot apply a bandage with all 
the skill of a Mace or Woodruff, either to learn it first, or not to 
come to Berlin, unless he intends to go to France afterwards ; for 
that part of our art, which can be called clinical handiness and 
skill as well as horsemanship, is not only foreign to the Berlin 
school, but foreign to the nation. On the other side, to the man 
to whom these things are natural, (and what man in America 
would think of entering our profession to whom they are not ?) or 
to one who feels himself confident of acquiring them ; and further¬ 
more, to one who desires a truly scientific education, who is burn¬ 
ing over with ambition to enter into the “ holy of holies,” and to 
become more and more acquainted with the hidden processes of 
animal life ; to one who desires to gain the spirit of this glorious 
and advancing Gerfrian method, which is conquering the world, 
to him I say, Berlin offers every opportunity, except one, and 
