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PRUSSIA AND THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 597
tasks to execute which monopolize all their bodily and
mental powers.
The decree that medical studies must be carried on to
their termination exclusively in the universities of the
German empire excited surprise. Such a regulation could
be easily understood in the case of law students who after­
wards become State-officials : but permission should be
granted to those who are destined for the medical pro­
fession—a calling of an international character—to visit
foreign universities to complete their education or to
enlarge their intellectual horizon.* It has hitherto been
^uite characteristic of the German race to accept and
assimilate the intellectual achievements of other peoples
and by no means to shut their eyes to them.
The doctorate in Germany takes up a singular position
in relation to the system of medical examinations. Inas­
much as it neither confers the right to practise nor is a
•condition upon which admission to the State-examination
depends, it appears to be really superfluous. If the object
is to satisfy the prejudices of the public by preserving
amongst practitioners the title of Doctor it ought to be
granted to everyone who has passed the State-examination.
If it is intended to be a mark of distinction for remarkable
scientific attainments it is desirable that the claims on the
knowledge of those who are candidates for it should be dis­
tinctly higher than they are.
It is an extraordinarily happy and suitable arrangement
to intrust the management of the examinations chiefly to
the faculties, the members of which are for the most part
without any doubt elected on account of their special per­
sonal acquirements, and at the same time to preserve to the
authorities of the State a proper amount of that influence
which they are empowered and intended to use in the
interests of the public.
Some particular points in the arrangement of the exami­
nations could no doubt be improved. Thus it may be
* K. KOESTEU : Die Freiziigigkeit der Studierenden der Medicin, Bonn 1884.