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My application was at first fluctuating and uncertain; it gained

strength as I proceeded and soon became so ardent and eager that

the stars often disappeared in the light of morning whilst I was

yet engaged in my laboratory.

As I applied so closely, it may be easily conceived that my

progress was rapid. My ardour was indeed the astonishment of the

students, and my proficiency that of the masters. Professor

Krempe often asked me, with a sly smile, how Cornelius Agrippa

went on, whilst M. Waldman expressed the most heartfelt

exultation in my progress. Two years passed in this manner,

during which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was engaged, heart

and soul, in the pursuit of some discoveries which I hoped to

make. None but those who have experienced them can conceive of

the enticements of science. In other studies you go as far as

others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know;

but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery

and wonder.