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1When I returned home my first care was to procure the whole works of this author, and afterwards of Paracelsus and
2Albertus Magnus. I read and studied the wild fancies of these writers with delight; they appeared to me treasures known
3to few besides myself. I have described myself as always having been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the
4secrets of nature. In spite of the intense labour and wonderful discoveries of modern philosophers, I always came from
5my studies discontented and unsatisfied. Sir Isaac Newton is said to have avowed that he felt like a child picking up
6shells beside the great and unexplored ocean of truth. Those of his successors in each branch of natural philosophy with
7whom I was acquainted appeared even to my boy's apprehensions as tyros engaged in the same pursuit. The untaught peasant
8beheld the elements around him and was acquainted with their practical uses. The most learned philosopher knew little
9more. He had partially unveiled the face of Nature, but her immortal lineaments were still a wonder and a mystery. He
10might dissect, anatomise, and give names; but, not to speak of a final cause, causes in their secondary and tertiary
11grades were utterly unknown to him. I had gazed upon the fortifications and impediments that seemed to keep human beings
12from entering the citadel of nature, and rashly and ignorantly I had repined. But here were books, and here were men who
13had penetrated deeper and knew more. I took their word for all that they averred, and I became their disciple. It may
14appear strange that such should arise in the eighteenth century; but while I followed the routine of education in the
15schools of Geneva, I was, to a great degree, self-taught with regard to my favourite studies. My father was not
16scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child's blindness, added to a student's thirst for knowledge. Under the
17guidance of my new preceptors I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and the
18elixir of life; but the latter soon obtained my undivided attention. Wealth was an inferior object, but what glory would
19attend the discovery if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent
20death! Nor were these my only visions. The raising of ghosts or devils was a promise liberally accorded by my favourite
21authors, the fulfilment of which I most eagerly sought; and if my incantations were always unsuccessful, I attributed
22the failure rather to my own inexperience and mistake than to a want of skill or fidelity in my instructors. And thus
23for a time I was occupied by exploded systems, mingling, like an unadept, a thousand contradictory theories and
24floundering desperately in a very slough of multifarious knowledge, guided by an ardent imagination and childish
25reasoning, till an accident again changed the current of my ideas. When I was about fifteen years old we had retired to
26our house near Belrive, when we witnessed a most violent and terrible thunderstorm. It advanced from behind the
27mountains of Jura, and the thunder burst at once with frightful loudness from various quarters of the heavens. I
28remained, while the storm lasted, watching its progress with curiosity and delight. As I stood at the door, on a sudden
29I beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak which stood about twenty yards from our house; and so soon
30as the dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted stump. When we visited it
31the next morning, we found the tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely
32reduced to thin ribbons of wood. I never beheld anything so utterly destroyed. Before this I was not unacquainted with
33the more obvious laws of electricity. On this occasion a man of great research in natural philosophy was with us, and
34excited by this catastrophe, he entered on the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject of electricity
35and galvanism, which was at once new and astonishing to me. All that he said threw greatly into the shade Cornelius
36Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus, the lords of my imagination; but by some fatality the overthrow of these men
37disinclined me to pursue my accustomed studies. It seemed to me as if nothing would or could ever be known. All that had
38so long engaged my attention suddenly grew despicable. By one of those caprices of the mind which we are perhaps most
39subject to in early youth, I at once gave up my former occupations, set down natural history and all its progeny as a
40deformed and abortive creation, and entertained the greatest disdain for a would-be science which could never even step
41within the threshold of real knowledge. In this mood of mind I betook myself to the mathematics and the branches of
42study appertaining to that science as being built upon secure foundations, and so worthy of my consideration. Thus
43strangely are our souls constructed, and by such slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity or ruin. When I look back,
44it seems to me as if this almost miraculous change of inclination and will was the immediate suggestion of the guardian
45angel of my life--the last effort made by the spirit of preservation to avert the storm that was even then hanging in
46the stars and ready to envelop me. Her victory was announced by an unusual tranquillity and gladness of soul which
47followed the relinquishing of my ancient and latterly tormenting studies. It was thus that I was to be taught to
48associate evil with their prosecution, happiness with their disregard. It was a strong effort of the spirit of good, but
49it was ineffectual. Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.
50Chapter 3 When I had attained the age of seventeen my parents resolved that I should become a student at the university
51of Ingolstadt. I had hitherto attended the schools of Geneva, but my father thought it necessary for the completion of
52my education that I should be made acquainted with other customs than those of my native country. My departure was
53therefore fixed at an early date, but before the day resolved upon could arrive, the first misfortune of my life
54occurred--an omen, as it were, of my future misery. Elizabeth had caught the scarlet fever; her illness was severe, and
55she was in the greatest danger. During her illness many arguments had been urged to persuade my mother to refrain from
56attending upon her. She had at first yielded to our entreaties, but when she heard that the life of her favourite was
57menaced, she could no longer control her anxiety. She attended her sickbed; her watchful attentions triumphed over the
58malignity of the distemper--Elizabeth was saved, but the consequences of this imprudence were fatal to her preserver. On
59the third day my mother sickened; her fever was accompanied by the most alarming symptoms, and the looks of her medical
60attendants prognosticated the worst event. On her deathbed the fortitude and benignity of this best of women did not
61desert her. She joined the hands of Elizabeth and myself. "My children," she said, "my firmest hopes of future happiness
62were placed on the prospect of your union. This expectation will now be the consolation of your father. Elizabeth, my
63love, you must supply my place to my younger children. Alas! I regret that I am taken from you; and, happy and beloved
64as I have been, is it not hard to quit you all? But these are not thoughts befitting me; I will endeavour to resign
65myself cheerfully to death and will indulge a hope of meeting you in another world."
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