Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
Jan.,  1877.  I 
Varieties. 
35 
emblematical  of  high  honor,  from  the  resentment  of  some  often  imaginary  injury 
or  feeling  of  wounded  pride. 
There  being  no  class  recitations  as  in  many  American  Colleges  and  Universities> 
the  Professors  are  much  less  restricted,  and  able  to  devote  much  more  time  to 
independent  study ;  the  developments  of  which  are  soon  communicated  to  the 
students.  As  might  be  expected  from  their  position,  the  Professors  are  usually 
indefatigable  workers  and  searchers  after  truth  in  the  explorations  of  their  favorite 
and  special  departments  of  science  ;  and  it  is  indeed  only  upon  this  basis  that  they 
meet  with  official  recognition  by  the  Government  or  the  University.  That  the 
German  Universities,  as  a  class,  are  extended  in  their  scope  and  high  in  their  standard 
and  aim  is  a  fact  which  has  long  since  met  with  universal  recognition,  and  is  veri- 
fied by  their  attendance  by  students  from  almost  every  part  of  the  civilized  world  5 
in  the  words  of  Heinrich  von  Seybel  (a  leading  Professor  at  Bonn),  "  they  are 
workshops  of  science  and  not  mere  institutions  where  instruction  is  given."  They 
offer  to  the  student  a  wide  field  for  independent  thought  and  development,  and  as  it 
lias  been  stated  that  they  were  in  their  prime  in  the  time  of  Goethe,  it  certainly 
cannot  be  intimated  that  they  have  since  declined,  as  the  Prussian  Government,  fully 
realizing  their  importance,  has  extended  to  them  every  required  support.  That  the 
German  scientists  have  in  the  past  and  do  still,  through  their  labors,  render  inesti- 
mable service  for  the  advancement  of  Pharmacy  and  allied  sciences,  is  a  fact  so- 
patent  as  to  admit  of  no  refutation,  and  one  need  but  to  look  over  the  scientific 
literature  of  the  past,  and  the  unreceding  current  of  the  present,  as  distributed 
through  the  various  journalistic  exponents,  to  be  assured  of  and  appreciate  its  vast 
importance  ;  and  although  it  has  been  sometimes  stated  that  the  German  scientific 
literature  is  imprabticable  and  abstruse,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  divulge- 
ment  of  theoretical  speculations  often  illumine  the  way  which  may  lead  to  practical 
results,  and  their  subsequent  useful  application  in  Medicine,  Manufactures  and  the- 
Arts,  a  most  striking  example  of  which  may  be  observed  in  the  history  of  the 
development  of  the  coal  tar  colors  and  other  artificial  dyes,  the  results  of  muck 
patient  study  and  research,  performed  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  elucidating  some 
scientific  theories,  with  little  preconception  of  the  important  part  they  were  destined 
to  play  in  the  world's  industry. 
At  the  more  important  Universities  there  exists  the  Akademische  Pharmaceuten- 
Verein,  an  organization  of  pharmaceutical  and  chemical  students,  for  social  inter- 
course and  the  discussion  of  scientific  subjects,  and  which  is  inaugurated  each  year 
by  a  so-called  Antritts-Kneipe,  upon  which  occasion  new  members  are  accepted,  the 
popular  student  songs  are  sung,  short  speeches  made,  and  many  other  festivities 
peculiar  to  the  time-honored  customs  of  German  students,  and  which  indeed  form 
an  integral  part  of  student  life. 
It  is,  however,  an  unfortunate  fact  that  the  number  of  pharmaceutical  students 
throughout  Germany  has  so  perceptibly  decreased  within  the  past  few  years,  although 
the  number  of  votaries  to  strictly  chemical  science  gradually  increases ;  but  this 
is  hardly  surprising  in  view  of  the  fact  of  the  prevailing  tendencies  in  the  direction 
of  free  trade,  and  the  long  preparatory  course  required  by  law,  extending  through 
a  period  of  about  8  years,  before  a  candidate  can  purchase  an  established  Pharmacy 
or  obtain  a  concession  from  the  Government  for  the  erection  of  a  new  one  in  such 
