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meant no satisfaction to him. That is why he started writing poems. After he
finished his apprenticeship in 1822, he still remained in the Arnstadt pharmacy for
two additional years. In 1824, he moved to Meiningen and two years later to
Salzungen. Here again, he did not enjoy his profession. He improved his low
income by means of an extra salary as a writer. In 1828 he released his volume of
poetry titled ‘Sonnet Chaplets’ (‘Sonettenkränze’) and attracted the attention of the
young Duke Bernhard Erich Freud of Saxony-‐Meiningen (1800–1882). He
sponsored him three years of academic studies of philosophy, history, literature
and arts in Leipzig and Munich. Bechstein was now able to abandon his unloved
job as pharmacist. In 1831 he returned to Meiningen and became the ducal
librarian. His work as a poet contains a collection of popular fairy tales and legends
as well as historical novels, poems and travelogues in which he proves himself to
be a careful observer of nature. His detailed descriptions of plants, animals,
minerals and stars echo the scientifically skilled eye of a botanizing pharmacist.
Likewise, his “tendency towards the mystical and mysterious” does not appear to
be untypical of a pharmacist (6).
Figure 2.-‐ Bechstein pharmacy in Arnstadt.
The pharmacist and poet Theodor Fontane (1819–1898) (Figure 4) had a
profound impact on the German historical and social novels. As the son of a
pharmacist he gained an early insight into this profession and does not seem to
have started his apprenticeship reluctantly. In his autobiography ‘From Twenty to
Thirty’ (‘Von Zwanzigbis Dreißig’), he fondly illustrates his time as an apprentice. It
was with Wilhelm Rose (1792–1867), the son of a famous pharmacist from Berlin
and owner of the pharmacy ‘To the White Swan’ (‘Zumweißen Schwan’), who was
