12 THE HESPERIAN own subject although he can consult the- pro fessor before beginning work. The select ion of a subject is an important matter. The candidate for a doctor's degree must make a contribution to knowledge. If he cannot do this he can never take his examinations. If he select his subject carelessly and simply thresh over old straw through ignorance of the fact that the topic has already been treated, it will avail him nothing and his dissertation will be rejected. He must be certain that his subject has never been treated in any language or that he can cast new light upon it. Until that point is set tled it is not safe to go ahead. The subject once selected he gives a year or a year and a half to the treatment of it. When com pleted and in shape for publication, the dis sertation is presented to the philosophical faculty. With the presentation of the dis sertation the student is for the first time olli cally recognized as a candidate for a degree. He is no longer a "I I err Student" but a "Herr Kandidat". The paper is submitted to a searching examination. It may be defi nitely rejected ; it may be accepted with the proviso that 'before it is printed certain changes shall be made. The acceptance of the dissertation admits the "Kandidat" to the three oral examinations, each three quar ters of an hour long, with fifteen minutes in termission. The student is allowed to select his examiners from the full professors, one for each subject. If he fail in his oral ex aminations, it means a long delay and per haps the choice of other subjects. The Rubi con once passed it remains simply to print the dissertation, to present several hundred copies to the university for distribution and to receive in exchange the much coveted diploma. So much for the students. Their position does not differ materially from that of graduate students in our large universities with the exception that the German stuJents are thrown mom upon their own resources; often, it seems to me, more than is desir able. There are no general meetings of the student body at prayers, nor can the stud ent, for the most part,, consult a professor unless he seek him out in his homo. If he does not take seminar work, his time in the university is devoted to hearing lectures or to reading. The seminars can provide for but a handful of students, a few hundred at the most. It follows that the major part of the university work is done through lectures. Every complete German university has four faculties: Theology, Jurisprudence. Medicine, and Philosophy. Philosophy em braces, Philology, the Philosophical and Historical Sciences; Mathematics and the iNatural Sciences. There are three grades of instructors, the lowest being the Privat-do-cent or instructor: the next higher "Pro fessor Extraordinarily," or associate pro fessor, and the highest "Professor Or dinarius," or full professor. There is much wire pulling in appointments and able men often find it difficult to rise. There is one practice that is rather startling to an American. It is that of allowing men to lecture when they no longer have hearers, and young instructors to win their spurs without any support in the way of salary. If the latter draws a crowd and shows that he is a scholar he will be made Professor Extraordinarily. If . he does not draw he will be obliged to go into some other busi ness to make his bread and butter. So soon as he shows himself to be a better man than some old professor, the hitter's lecture room will be deserted. It often happens that while one man is delivering a free lecture to three students, right across the hall another may be lecturing to an audience of three hundred, each member of which pays one dollar a semester for the course. The pro fessor draws his income from two sources, first from the government and second from the students ; and with the popular men the last scource is more productive than the first. Here the importance of being able to present a subject attractively was most noticeable. It was not always the most exact scholars that drew the largest audiences. Mauren brecher was no more scholarly than Arndt. yet he attracted ten times as many hearers m