and manners, but not on that account the less
valuable. In M. Waldman I found a true friend. His gentleness was never tinged
by dogmatism; and his instructions were given with an air of frankness and good
nature, that banished every idea of pedantry. In a thousand ways he smoothed for
me the path of knowledge, and made the most abstruse enquiries clear and facile
to my apprehension. My application was at first fluctuating and uncertain; it
gained strength as I proceeded, and soon became so ardent and eager, that the
stars often disappeared in the light of morning whilst I was yet engaged in my
laboratory.
    As I applied so closely, it may be easily conceived that my progress was
rapid. My ardour was indeed the astonishment of the students, and my proficiency
that of the masters. Professor Krempe often asked me, with a sly smile, how
Cornelius Agrippa went on? whilst M. Waldman expressed the most heartfelt
exultation in my progress. Two years passed in this manner, during which I paid
no visit to Geneva, but was engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit of some
discoveries, which I hoped to make. None but those who have experienced them can
conceive of the enticements of science. In other studies you go as far as others
have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific
pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder. A mind of moderate
capacity, which closely pursues one study, must infallibly arrive at great
proficiency in that study; and I, who continually sought the attainment of one
object of pursuit, and was solely wrapt up in this, improved so rapidly, that,
at the end of two years, I made some discoveries in the improvement of some
chemical instruments, which procured me great esteem and admiration at the
university. When I had arrived at his point, and had become as well acquainted
with the theory and practice of natural philosophy as depended on the lessons of
any of the professors at Ingolstadt, my residence there being no longer
conducive to my improvements, I thought of returning to my friends and my native
town, when an incident happened that protracted my stay.
    One of the phenomena which had peculiarly attracted my attention was the
structure of the human frame, and, indeed, any animal endued with life. Whence,
I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed? It was a bold question,
and one which has ever been considered as a mystery; yet with how many things
are we upon the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did
not restrain