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Page 14
Thus ended a day memorable to me; it decided my future destiny.
Chapter 4
From this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the
most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole
occupation. I read with ardour those works, so full of genius and
discrimination, which modern inquirers have written on these subjects.
I attended the lectures and cultivated the acquaintance of the men of
science of the university, and I found even in M. Krempe a great deal
of sound sense and real information, combined, it is true, with a
repulsive physiognomy 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 inquiries 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 wrapped 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 this 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
our inquiries. 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 minutiae 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 inquiries
towards the same science, that I alone should be reserved to discover
so astonishing a secret.
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