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Before this I was not unacquainted with the more obvious laws of

electricity. On this occasion a man of great research in natural

philosophy was with us, and excited by this catastrophe, he

entered on the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the

subject of electricity and galvanism, which was at once new and

astonishing to me. All that he said threw greatly into the shade

Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus, and Paracelsus, the lords of

my imagination; but by some fatality the overthrow of these men

disinclined me to pursue my accustomed studies. It seemed to me

as if nothing would or could ever be known. All that had so long

engaged my attention suddenly grew despicable.