 our enquiries. I revolved these circumstances in my mind, and
determined thenceforth to apply myself more particularly to those branches of
natural philosophy which relate to physiology. Unless I had been animated by an
almost supernatural enthusiasm, my application to this study would have been
irksome, and almost intolerable. To examine the causes of life, we must first
have recourse to death. I became acquainted with the science of anatomy: but
this was not sufficient; I must also observe the natural decay and corruption of
the human body. In my education my father had taken the greatest precautions
that my mind should be impressed with no supernatural horrors. I do not ever
remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition, or to have feared the
apparition of a spirit. Darkness had no effect upon my fancy; and a churchyard
was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life, which, from being
the seat of beauty and strength, had become food for the worm. Now I was led to
examine the cause and progress of this decay, and forced to spend days and
nights in vaults and charnel-houses. My attention was fixed upon every object
the most insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings. I saw how the fine
form of man was degraded and wasted; I beheld the corruption of death succeed to
the blooming cheek of life; I saw how the worm inherited the wonders of the eye
and brain. I paused, examining and analysing all the minutiæ of causation, as
exemplified in the change from life to death, and death to life, until from the
midst of this darkness a sudden light broke in upon me - a light so brilliant
and wondrous, yet so simple, that while I became dizzy with the immensity of the
prospect which it illustrated, I was surprised, that among so many men of genius
who had directed their enquiries towards the same science, that I alone should
be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret.
    Remember, I am not recording the vision of a madman. The sun does not more
certainly shine in the heavens, than that which I now affirm is true. Some
miracle might have produced it, yet the stages of the discovery were distinct
and probable. After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I
succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became
myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter.
    The astonishment which I had at first experienced on this discovery soon
gave place to delight and rapture. After so much time spent in painful labour,
to arrive at once at the summit of my desires, was
