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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. 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.