1 He was an uncouth man, but deeply imbued in the secrets of his science.
2 None but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science.
3 As a child I had not been content with the results promised by the modern professors of natural science.
4 He then took a cursory view of the present state of the science and explained many of its elementary terms.
5 He asked me several questions concerning my progress in the different branches of science appertaining to natural philosophy.
6 The ambition of the inquirer seemed to limit itself to the annihilation of those visions on which my interest in science was chiefly founded.
7 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.
8 It was very different when the masters of the science sought immortality and power; such views, although futile, were grand; but now the scene was changed.
9 There only remained a resolution to return to my ancient studies and to devote myself to a science for which I believed myself to possess a natural talent.
10 Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate; I desire, therefore, in this narration, to state those facts which led to my predilection for that science.
11 In this mood of mind I betook myself to the mathematics and the branches of study appertaining to that science as being built upon secure foundations, and so worthy of my consideration.
12 After having made a few preparatory experiments, he concluded with a panegyric upon modern chemistry, the terms of which I shall never forget: "The ancient teachers of this science," said he, "promised impossibilities and performed nothing."
13 Chemistry is that branch of natural philosophy in which the greatest improvements have been and may be made; it is on that account that I have made it my peculiar study; but at the same time, I have not neglected the other branches of science.
14 He then took me into his laboratory and explained to me the uses of his various machines, instructing me as to what I ought to procure and promising me the use of his own when I should have advanced far enough in the science not to derange their mechanism.
15 I prepared myself for a multitude of reverses; my operations might be incessantly baffled, and at last my work be imperfect, yet when I considered the improvement which every day takes place in science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success.
16 By one of those caprices of the mind which we are perhaps most subject to in early youth, I at once gave up my former occupations, set down natural history and all its progeny as a deformed and abortive creation, and entertained the greatest disdain for a would-be science which could never even step within the threshold of real knowledge.
17 I accompanied the whale-fishers on several expeditions to the North Sea; I voluntarily endured cold, famine, thirst, and want of sleep; I often worked harder than the common sailors during the day and devoted my nights to the study of mathematics, the theory of medicine, and those branches of physical science from which a naval adventurer might derive the greatest practical advantage.
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