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But here were books, and here were men who had penetrated deeper

and knew more. I took their word for all that they averred, and I

became their disciple. It may appear strange that such should

arise in the eighteenth century; but while I followed the routine

of education in the schools of Geneva, I was, to a great degree,

self-taught with regard to my favourite studies. My father was

not scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child's

blindness, added to a student's thirst for knowledge. Under the

guidance of my new preceptors I entered with the greatest

diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and the

elixir of life; but the latter soon obtained my undivided

attention. Wealth was an inferior object, but what glory would

attend the discovery if I could banish disease from the human

frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!